Addressing an event on the final day of the conference, prime minister said that circular economy is what people used to do in the past.

"History holds many answers, among them the awareness that not everything started with us. In the past we did not throw everything away, we used to fix things," said Šarec.

There is only so much governments and local communities can do, change starts with the individual, Šarec believes.

"If one is aware that they can only eat one stake at a time, live in one house at a time, drive only one car, if we are aware that we do not need much to live on and function. The more we think we need, the more damage we do to the planet."

The planet will survive although humans have managed to exterminate many species, but the question is whether we will survive, said the prime minister.

"Together, we can do a lot, although there are many people applying the breaks while climbing uphill," said the honorary sponsor of the two-day conference.

The foreign minister addressed the conference via videolink. He said that Slovenia believes that transition to circular economy was necessary not only to reach environmental goals but also to improve the competitive edge and boost economic growth.

Thus Slovenia is thinking of making circular economy one of its priorities for the EU presidency in 2021.