Raw materials are crucial to Europe's economy, and sustainable access to these materials is key for net zero objectives. However, Europe relies heavily on imports, mostly from third-country suppliers. It needs to mitigate supply chain risk arising from this strategic dependency in order to enhance its economic resilience.
The ECESP Leadership Group on Critical Raw Materials is holding this #EUCircularTalks on 11 October to highlight opportunities to improve existing life cycles for products containing CRMs.
Join us and explore how EU policy can scale up improvement opportunities and overcome the obstacles to creating a more circular economy for products reliant upon CRMs.
"Dialogues on the Circular Economy: Strategies for Transitioning from Food Waste Reduction to Zero Food Waste in the EU" will be held by Greenio on 4 September 2023 in Paris. The event will bring together top minds in sustainability, business and policy to explore and promote effective strategies for eliminating food waste in the European Union.
The European Commission is hosting a webinar on 27 July on the implementation of Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint methods. Find out about these methods, a tool for assessing, reporting and achieving circularity throughout the life cycle.
On 20 September, the Fraunhofer EU Office in Brussels will be holding a workshop to discuss its Roadmap for the Future Development of the Circular Bioeconomy. The workshop will explore the scientific and technological potential and challenges of the bioeconomy, how the bioeconomy can meet ecological and socioeconomic needs, and the policy framework needed to achieve this.
Participants will seek to identify solutions for the four application areas of bioeconomy: nutrition, biomass material utilisation, CO2 value creation and the socio-economic aspects of the bioeconomy.
The European Recycling Conference 2023 will take place on 28 September in Brussels.
This year, EURIC is teaming up with DENUO, the Belgian waste management and recycling federation, to shine a spotlight on car recycling. Why? The automotive industry is going through a major revolution. By 2035 - practically tomorrow in terms of industrial value chains - combustion engine vehicles will be phased out and replaced by electric vehicles (EVs). This transition will have a significant impact on all the players involved, considering that the industry provides 12.6 million direct and indirect jobs in the EU. Recycling is no exception.
The European Commission has launched a new call for tenders under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) which will be particularly relevant to stakeholders working on ship recycling.
The call will finance a study providing the European Commission with an up-to-date analysis of the economic dynamics and effects of the use of controversial open registers for vessels, including the impact on the environment.
The boating industry in Europe, represented by EBI (European Boating Industry), has developed a roadmap for solving the roadblocks to end-of-life boat recycling. It sets ambitious targets and policy recommendations to reach by 2030. The boating industry also commits to phasing out unsustainable recycling practices.
The roadmap and recommendations were developed by EBI following the work of the Stakeholders’ Group on end-of-life recreational boats. The Group is co-chaired by the European Commission's DG MARE and EBI and includes national authorities of the Member States and key stakeholders (industry, users, academia and related industries).
The European Commission has launched an open public consultation to offer users of imaging equipment and stakeholders involved in all areas of the value chain (original equipment manufacturers, component suppliers, users, repairers, remanufacturers of cartridges, recyclers, etc.) the opportunity to express their views on how to best address the policy challenges outlined in the call for evidence for this initiative. The initiative aims to ensure that:
imaging equipment, such as printers, is designed to be energy- and resource-efficient
consumers have the information needed to use their devices sustainably, including through maintenance and repair
the generation of waste through the use of consumables (e.g. ink cartridges) is minimised.
On 3 July, the Court of Auditors issued a special report on the roll-out of the circular economy in the EU, entitled "Circular economy: slow transition by member states despite EU action".
The report provides recommendations on monitoring and investments. These are currently being addressed by the Commission which will take them into account when developing future circular economy policies.
In recent years, plastic waste generation has become a prime concern in the global political arena.
A dedicated strategy on plastics was adopted at EU level, leading to the Single-Use Plastics Directive. Nonetheless, plastic waste management data show that achieving a circular economy for plastics in the EU is still a long way off. Available studies suggest that plastic waste generation may stay high in the future or even increase without ambitious circularity policies.
This report looks at the challenges associated with plastic waste generation and discusses the potential for using chemical recycling technologies as part of an ecosystem of solutions for increasing the circularity of plastics. It is based on evidence collected through desk-research.
