EuRIC Welcomes the Proposal to Make Sustainable Products the Norm in Europe
The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) welcomes the Circular Economy Package that was published by the European Commission on 30 March and aims at making products more sustainable in the European Union.
EuRIC strongly welcomes the increased emphasis placed on recycled content in products as it is a key enabler to boost investments in recycling technologies and will speed up the transition to a true circular economy. The proposal for a Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products will in addition be a game-changer in making products more durable, reliable, reusable, upgradable, reparable, easier to maintain, refurbish and recycle, and energy and resource efficient.
Emmanuel Katrakis, Secretary General of EuRIC highlighted: “80% of products’ environmental impacts are determined at design stage. Still, the vast majority of products placed on the market are designed without any consideration for their end-of-life stage. Design for circularity together with pull measures, in particular recycled content, are hence of paramount importance to move towards a circular economy and we are glad to see that it will be extended to further product categories”.
Mariska Boer, President of EuRIC Textiles added: ‘’The publication of the long-awaited EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and its ambition to move the textiles sector towards more sustainability is strongly welcomed by our industry. The emphasis placed on EPR schemes as a tool to improve separate collection and the management of waste in line with the waste hierarchy as well as the establishment of a specific distinction between waste and second-hand textile products are very much in line with our priorities. We are looking forward to continue doing our part in making the textile industry more sustainable”.
Source: EuRIC (Brussels, March 30, 2022)
