Circular materials Archives

Getting enough volume is the first challenge for recyclers when it comes to dealing with lightweight packaging such as crisp packets and food wrappers. To boost quantities and make recycling worthwhile, the European Commission is looking at ways of harmonising waste collection across the EU.

Simple design and using at least 90% of the same plastic is the key to easy-to-recycle packaging for foods like crisps and chocolate, according to the industry.

The European Commission plans to introduce a "digital product passport" early next year that would contain information about the composition of goods on the European market to help boost their chances of being reused and recycled.

Not all recycling is equal. As the European Commission prepares to revise the EU's packaging waste directive, policymakers want to remove degradation and waste from the process.

Ecodesign and energy labelling rules on everyday products could save consumers billions and help the EU meet its climate targets, but a lack of staff and resources means the European Commission is slow to put them forward, according to a report by environmental organisations.

While certain metals, like lithium and cobalt, are essential for decarbonisation, Europe needs to shift the focus away from mining these materials towards reducing the amount needed and recycling what is used, writes Ann Dom.

A binding global treaty is needed to phase out the production of “virgin” or new plastic by 2040, scientists have said. EURACTIV's media partner, The Guardian, reports.

Despite the initial impression that carbon capture and storage would be a good idea to reduce emissions from waste incineration plants, the climate will not benefit from this, argue Mick Wallace and Janek Vähk.

What if China were to cut off the United States and Europe from access to rare minerals that are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines and drones?

The European Commission’s proposed battery regulation was alternatively branded too ambitious or too restricting at a meeting of EU environment ministers Thursday (11 June), highlighting the gap between the 27 member states on the issue.

While vehicles provide economic and societal benefits, they come with a sizeable carbon footprint. The European Green Deal is a chance for car manufacturers to make their processes more circular, write Maya Ben Dror and Tilmann Vahle.

The European Commission will come forward at the end of 2022 with a proposal to remove the most polluting end-of-life vehicles from EU roads, European Green Deal Commissioner Frans Timmermans said on Thursday (10 June).

Ten EU member states are planning to switch to deposit schemes for beverage container recycling in order to meet new Green Deal requirements. Germany has 20 years of experiencing in operating the world’s largest such scheme.

Recycling organisations have urged Brussels lawmakers to make the use of recycled plastic mandatory in new vehicles, a move they say will help to bring cars in line with circular use principles. But car manufacturers are hesitant to back the proposal.

French company Veolia is demonstrating that companies can introduce recycled petroleum-based plastics (PET) plastics into their production chain and still be successful. EURACTIV France reports.

Europe's metals recycling industry could collapse under the European Commission's proposed changes to waste shipments that clamp down on exports to encourage recycling, members of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) have warned.

Increased recycling has come at the expense of greener activities like reuse. The European Union now needs to adopt a multidimensional approach to tackle Europe's waste problem and move towards circularity, writes Joan Marc Simon.

Only two European countries are anywhere close to being on track to achieving the EU's recycling targets for electronic waste – or e-waste – the European Court of Auditors warned on Thursday (20 May).

The European Commission on Wednesday (21 April), tabled a first set of implementation rules under the EU's sustainable finance taxonomy, but changes made since a draft leaked last week have weakened criteria on waste management, campaigners say.

An EU regulation on tyre labelling due to come into force on 1 May will not cover the rate at which tyres shed particles – a major contributor to microplastics in Europe – as an agreed method for the calculation of abrasion is still not in place.

Thirty-one lawmakers in the European Parliament have signed a manifesto calling for the end of plastic waste exports outside Europe and the facilitation of intra-EU shipment procedures to promote a genuine circular economy within the EU.

Green campaigners have warned that failure by the EU to designate rubber infill derived from tyres as a banned microplastic will lead to significant environmental harm – a claim the tyre and recycling industries strongly reject.

Europe has an opportunity to use the textiles strategy, due to be published this year, to build on its history of textile manufacturing and switch to a more sustainable industry, benefitting citizens and the environment, writes Valérie Boiten.