A number of ECESP Coordination Group members have published their contributions to the call for evidence on the Circular Economy Act, to be proposed next year. The Group covers a wide spectrum of interests, and this necessarily influences their views on what should be included in the CEA and just how the Act should drive on the circular economy. Have a look!
Drawing on more than 30 years' experience, lessons learned from EU-funded projects and the expertise of local and regional authorities across Europe, ACR+ is sharing its recommendations for the Circular Economy Act.
This position paper outlines 26 recommendations to strengthen the EU’s circular transition, focusing on:
Establish a Circular Single Market with binding targets to increase circular material use and reduce residual waste;
Leverage public procurement to drive demand for sustainable and circular products;
Reinforce EPR to support prevention, repair and reuse;
Tackle WEEE through stronger collection, treatment and recovery of critical raw materials;
Create a more circular built environment via sustainable (de)construction practices;
GCE welcomes theCircular Economy Act initiative as a very important step forward in enhancing the circular economy in the EU. It highlights the need to rethink the current economic system in order to secure intergenerational and resource justice, uphold planetary boundaries and ultimately ensure the resilience and security of the EU.
However, incentivising the market for secondary materials will not suffice, and additional actions are needed:
recycling is not enough: reusing and remanufacturing must be prioritised;
steps must be taken to address overconsumption and overproduction;
harmonised end-of-waste criteria, a systemic shift in business model, appropriate waste collection and the promotion of reuse and repair are particularly necessary in the textiles and electronics sectors.
While welcoming the EU’s recognition of the circular economy’s transformative potential for the EU economy, RREUSE expressed concern about the current narrow focus on recycling and the lack of ambition to promote waste prevention and reuse.
Its recommendations are as follows:
Establish a right to reuse:
Set binding separate targets for (preparing for) reuse;
Set EPR fees in line with the waste hierarchy;
Ensure full cost coverage of (preparing for) reuse activities;
Prioritise reuse in future criteria for circular public procurement.
Unlock the full potential of social circular enterprises:
Guarantee social enterprises’ access to waste streams and collection points, as well as ownership of collected materials;
Allocate earmarked EPR funding for social enterprises;
The Horizon Europe RECREATE (REcycling technologies for Circular REuse and remanufacturing of fiber-reinforced composite mATErials) project aims to develop a set of innovative technologies which will exploit the potential of end-of-life complex composite waste.
It is organising a webinar looking at practical and emerging approaches for recovering value from end-of-life composite parts.
This webinar will explore the international used clothing trade.
It will present the report on From Collection of Used Clothes in Sweden to Reuse in Kenya: A Case Study of Humana LT’s Value Chain for Second-Hand Clothes and look at the economic and environmental value of second-hand clothing exports and how policy can best support circular textile flows.
The workshop will bring together EU policymakers, researchers and construction stakeholders to explore how innovative materials, digital technologies and reuse strategies can together advance circularity in Europe’s built environment.
It aims to mirror the circular lifecycle of materials, from innovation and data acquisition to reuse and regeneration, and show how circular economy principles can be embedded into the construction sector.
This event will focus on identifying and advancing circular solutions that can be applied across diverse sectors of the national economy, while also addressing the needs and opportunities at the local community level.
This session will launch RREUSE's report on targets for reuse and preparing for reuse in the European Union. It will delve into the report’s key findings and explore how ambitious, measurable reuse targets can accelerate Europe’s circular economy transition.
The EU SMILE CITY project has come up with Pilot, an off-grid PV panels e-bike charging station made using as many recycled materials as possible. Hear experts from various fields and countries describe the project, the materials and components developed, their performance and their use.
