Ms Ettinger is a lawyer in Germany and holds a Master of Law degree from George Mason University (USA). Before joining EuRIC, she worked at a Brussels-based consultancy, advising multinational companies on environmental, health and safety matters.
EuRIC is a confederation which represents the interests of European recycling industries within the EU. It spans the majority of waste streams, and so can facilitate cooperation between national recycling and resource management federations and companies from over 23 European countries, operating both locally and globally.
EuRIC represents:
5 500+ companies generating an aggregated annual turnover of about €95 billion, including large companies and SMEs involved in the recycling of and trade in various resource streams
300 000 local jobs which cannot be outsourced to non-EU countries
a million tons of waste recycled each year (metals, paper, glass, plastics, WEEE, ELVs, tyres, textiles, construction & demolition, etc.).
By turning waste into resources, recycling loops recycled materials back into value chains. Recyclers play a key role in bridging resource efficiency, climate change policy and the industrial transition.
Linked to the BATRAW project that develops circular approaches for electric vehicle batteries, this CEPS report delves into the new EU regulatory framework for batteries and the expanding EU digital product passport landscape. It identifies key opportunities and challenges for battery passports based on data collected from companies at different stages of the battery value chain.
The data suggest that the battery passport can help break down information silos among supply chain actors and support recycling and reuse. It also provides opportunities for increasing transparency about carbon footprint impacts across battery supply chains, while creating a level playing field with horizontal requirements for all supply chain actors.
A modern society needs access to all the critical raw materials (CRM) necessary to maintain and develop its industries, infrastructure and welfare. CRM are especially important for ongoing technology shifts like the European Green Deal and digitalisation processes.
Five milestones must be reached to establish Nordic secondary value chains for CRM:
A system that makes it possible to identify waste streams with CRM-recycling potential.
A system for cost-effective and efficient collection of waste streams with CRM-recycling potential.
A system for separating materials enriched with CRM from other materials in the waste stream.
A recycling technology that allows for recovery of all relevant CRM at acceptable rates.
Biorefine Cluster Europe (BCE) links up projects and people in the area of bio-based resource recovery, with a view to contributing to more sustainable and circular resource management.
It focuses on the biorefinery sector, i.e. chemicals, materials, energy and products from bio-based waste streams:
Bio-based (waste) streams as an input for the circular economy
Bioprocesses
Sustainable bio-energy production in its various shapes, and
Resource recovery: extracting minerals, chemicals, water and materials from biomass.
Its main objectives:
Strengthening interaction between projects
Fostering dissemination and stakeholder outreach
Enhancing research
Identifying gaps in knowledge.
BCE aims to build its community and promote knowledge exchange.
EuRIC, a leading voice in Europe's recycling industries, is organising an event on "Plug into sustainability: e-waste recycling", to take place on 3 June from 14:00 to 17:30 CEST, in Brussels.
It will be an opportunity to explore the latest developments and sustainable practices in e-waste recycling, bringing together industry leaders, policy makers and innovators.
On 29 February at 13:00 – 14:30 CET, the Nordic Working Group for Circular Economy will hold a webinar to present the report on 'Recycling of Critical Raw Materials in the Nordics'.
The report provides a comprehensive overview of the Nordic region's secondary value chains for CRMs.
The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) has commissioned a study on the development of recyclability indexes for photovoltaic products (PV modules and inverters).
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has just published a report on construction & demolition waste (CDW) which confirms that the circular economy is crucial for reaching climate neutrality by 2050:
- construction & demolition waste accounts for almost 40% of all waste generated in the EU - the new JRC study estimates the potential for recycling and preparing for re-use of CDW to be roughly 83% - realising this potential would lead to an additional 33 Mt CO2e savings annually (equivalent to the combined annual emissions of e.g. Estonia, Latvia and Luxembourg).
The European Commission is taking important legislative and non-legislative steps to ensure CDW is managed in an environmentally sound manner and contributes to the circular economy.
