Paper recycling is one of Europe’s greatest circular economy achievements. However, regulatory fragmentation, market imbalances and rising operational risks are placing pressure on recyclers.
Recycling Europe calls on EU policymakers to act. This manifesto proposes four measures to safeguard the success story of paper recycling:
Design circular paper products: recycling should be expected and the CEA should drive demand;
Reduce EU administrative burdens: EU-wide rules on end-of-waste criteria for recovered paper and shipments are needed;
Secure access to global markets for recovered paper: not all recovered paper can be re-used within Europe;
Address the fire risk from lithium batteries in waste management facilities: proper waste sorting is crucial.
SUSBOARD is a new Horizon Europe Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Europe (CBE-JU) innovation project. It aims to develop a 100% bio-based, formaldehyde-free and cost-competitive adhesive for particleboard and medium-density fibreboard. The adhesive is manufactured using secondary biomass streams, and will greatly facilitate recycling and recovery.
The Horizon Europe iCOSHELLs project aims to reduce soil pollution and promote restoration, improve soil structure and biodiversity, and increase soil literacy. It has launched an open call for new stakeholders and prototypes (innovative practices, technologies, circular solutions or tools), to be tested in real-life conditions within the Living Labs.
The Government of Chile and the European Union invite Chilean and EU companies to submit detailed proposals describing innovative solutions to build or strengthen a sustainable and circular value chain that can contribute to Chile's environmental, social and economic development. The focus is on textiles, organic materials, photovoltaic panels and plastics.
This edition of Science for Environment Policy is a collection of seven previously published articles on scientific studies relevant to the circular economy. Read about battery collection, whether laypeople can really understand LCA data, chemical recycling and why people throw away clothing.
This webinar will look at how the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is affecting Indian textile and fashion suppliers exporting to the EU. It will explain what is involved and what exporters need to do to comply with the rules.
With a significant number of ships expected to reach the end of their service life shortly, ship recycling presents a strategic opportunity for Europe. Boosting domestic ship recycling will:
secure a steady supply of secondary raw materials and so strengthen Europe’s industrial resilience and strategic autonomy;
make a meaningful contribution to the decarbonisation of the EU steel and construction sectors, supporting Europe’s broader climate and circular economy goals;
create green jobs in the recycling and waste management sector;
align with EU environmental policies preventing the export of hazardous materials and restrict exports of waste that harm the environment and human health in third countries.
This report looks at how scrap steel from the EU's increasing numbers of end-of-life ships can help decarbonise the European steel industry, strengthen industrial resilience, create green jobs, preserve and develop maritime skills and build a truly circular economy.
The steel industry expects demand for scrap to rise due to calls for lower carbon footprints and the implementation of new steelmaking technologies. Ship recycling is a significant and largely untapped opportunity to meet this demand.
Policies should support the development of safe and environmentally sound ship recycling, and stimulate material recovery and reuse. This will enable the EU to reduce dependence on imports, conserve valuable resources and advance toward climate neutrality.
On 3 December, the European Commission adopted the RESourceEU Action Plan to accelerate and amplify its efforts to secure the EU's supply of critical raw materials. The plan aims to reduce strategic dependencies and contains a number of measures relevant to the circular economy.
Circul'R believes that it is vital to unite regulation, innovation and cooperation if circularity is to drive competitiveness and sovereignty. It feels that it is a mistake to prioritise recycling over circular business models, such as repair and reuse.
It therefore recommends:
supporting circular business models by making them more competitive and boosting market access and financing,
setting an EU target for reducing the material footprint, involving reducing consumption and coming up with more reliable and comprehensive indicators,
changing the tax environment, including incentives for circular solutions and disincentives for linear ones, establishing European standards on repairability and binding circular targets and models of circular-oriented public procurement.
