Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-01-16-Speech-3-210"
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"en.20020116.14.3-210"2
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"Mr President, this report walks a tightrope between the need to increase production of consumer goods and services and environmental protection requirements. I welcome the Commission’s proposal and the rapporteur’s tough, practical, calm handling of the subject.
Each product has a life cycle, which starts when it is made available to the consumer. When the consumer uses it, the product’s environmental sustainability – a rather complex term although now universally understood – immediately becomes part of the equation. The relationship is delicate and it does not end with the use or end, so to speak, of the product’s life. Indeed, the most serious problems often arise when the product ceases to perform its function and needs to be disposed of, pensioned off, in other words eliminated from the world in which it has performed its function.
It is at this point that the most critical environmental implications come into play, for not all products can be disposed of using the same technology, nor are they all hazardous to the same degree or all biodegradable to the same degree. That is why the Commission is proposing an initiative which deals with the problem at source: if a product is to be easy to dispose of at the end of its lifecycle, this must be taken into consideration right from the design stage, and this is where the greatest merit of the report lies. Here, then, is the proposal to create incentives to encourage initial research on how to keep manufacturers better informed of the technologies and raw materials available to this end.
The proposal does not overlook a factor which could give rise to opposition from manufacturers: cost. The text states in quite practical terms that, in addition to encouraging the provision of aid to producers who will face greater costs if they supply these biodegradable goods, a pricing policy also needs to be established allowing manufacturers to set different prices on the market and, moreover, why not, allowing variable taxation to be introduced as well.
In other words, those involved in protecting the environment, who are therefore helping us, deserve some support."@en1
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