ETRMA and EuRIC are committed to support the European Commission in developing EU harmonized End of Waste (EoW) criteria.

The rubber supply chain is ready for the next step in the advancement and uptake of the recycling of ELT-derived Rubber.

This will secure that trade across European borders happens normally in equal conditions and with equivalent opportunities across borders, while reducing the administrative burdens associated with trading.

Since many regulations, like Declarations of Performance for construction products, or the REACH restriction of chemical substances only apply once the material has ceased to be waste, EU harmonized EoW criteria will also secure the material’s accountability for safety and quality criteria.

All this is of key importance to increase the uptake of ELT derived rubber in the manufacture of new rubber products for high-value end-use markets.

ETRMA and EURIC believe that securing a common starting point for end-of life tyres rubber to cease to be waste is essential to foster the circular economy in Europe. This can only be achieved with a European End-Of-Waste criteria, that is translated in a legal text, applicable in all Member States. This will add trust to the market, increase investors security and boost the research and development on innovative solutions of this valuable material.

Nearly 300 European national federations and companies from the recycling industry have issued a powerful warning to European Union leaders over the potentially disastrous effects of a blanket restriction on exports of Raw Materials from Recycling (RMR) in the upcoming Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR).

RMR are currently labelled as non-hazardous waste under EU law and would therefore be impacted by any regulation that issues a blanket ban on waste.

In fact, RMR are not waste but high-quality commodities with a green carbon footprint. They are materials recovered from old products that go into making new ones and as such are an essential component of Europe’s - and the international community’s - circular economy.

Addressed to the Executives of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Slovenian Presidency of the Council, the letter calls for a clear distinction in the legal regime between “problematic waste streams” and RMR, meeting quality specifications.

While European recyclers entirely support restrictions on exporting unprocessed waste, like electronic waste and end-of-life cars, to places that lack infrastructure for proper treatment, RMR that can be used to substitute extracted raw materials should not be made subject to rules equivalent to export restrictions.

“RMR are intrinsically climate-friendly and circular materials, which are priced and traded globally as commodities. European recyclers are supplying quality materials to both the European industry and globally. Subjecting RMR - which are still classified as non-hazardous waste - to export restrictions will pose a vital threat to European recyclers, be them SMEs or large multinational companies, in the absence of secured end-markets for circular materials in the EU. They will result in massive green job cuts and put a lasting brake on the growth of one of the most dynamic industries in Europe, for no environmental gains. Worse still, with unhampered imports of extracted raw materials in Europe, the competitiveness of RMR will drop and thus the incentive to properly collect, recycle, and invest will be lost, putting at risk the ability to achieve present recycling targets set by legislation”, stressed Cinzia Vezzosi, President of EuRIC.

With only 12% of raw materials used coming from recycling, the EU’s industry remains mostly linear, as opposed to circular, the co-signatories urge the EU to ensure that:

1. Export restrictions foreseen in the revised WSR solely target problematic waste streams: a “one-size-fits-all” solution whereby no distinction is made between untreated problematic waste streams and RMR that can be used directly in circular value chains will run against the very objectives of the EU Green Deal;
2. Free and fair trade of RMR, which is essential to the competitiveness of the European recycling industry, is upheld: restricting exports of raw materials meeting quality specifications based on their waste classification will significantly impact the competitiveness of the European recycling industry;
3. A stable legislative framework with a proper classification for RMR and incentives is implemented to reward the environmental benefits of circular materials and mandate their use in products.

The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) strongly welcomes the call made by Plastics Europe for a mandatory EU recycled content target for plastics packaging of 30% by 2030, and looks forward to working with the entire packaging value chain to support an ambitious revision of the  Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD).

As consistently stressed^[1] by EuRIC, European recyclers strongly support mandatory and quantitative recycled content targets for packaging production as an efficient policy instrument to steer the demand for high-quality recycled materials and invest throughout the packaging value chain – from design to end-of-life collection and recycling.  

For Paul Mayhew, President of EuRIC Plastics Recycling Branch, “this call made from the voice of plastics manufacturers is a major step forward towards more circularity in the field of packaging and a recognition that binding recycled content targets in EU legislation are a powerful market signal to scale-up circular value chains. It has proved to be an extremely efficient tool for beverage bottles in pulling the demand for food-grade rPET and de-correlating prices from the ever-fluctuating oil market. Extending such an obligation to plastic packaging at large will give the long-term certainty the packaging value chain needs to scale-up and be in a position to supply high-quality recycled polymers”, he added.

With substantial room to improve the uptake of raw materials from recycling (RMR) in a number of plastic packaging types, the recycling industry looks forward cooperating with the plastics industry to meet such a target by 2030.

Emmanuel KATRAKIS, Secretary General of EuRIC, stressed that “transitioning towards a circular economy is key to achieve climate-neutrality. Binding recycled content targets for plastics and other materials will play a key role in achieving that goal. On top of push-and-pull measures, a comprehensive policy framework that gives an edge to circular value chains in the EU and globally is absolutely essential”, he concluded.

^[1] See for instance EuRIC position paper on the Assessment for the revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) 94/62/EC.

A variety of associations involved in the used clothing trade around the world have joined forces to dispel myths about the industry. The truth is that the used clothing industry is gaining momentum with tremendous environmental, social, and economic benefits. The industry is working towards a circular economy by offering sustainable solutions for used textiles that will benefit everyone and help to reduce the major environmental impacts caused by the global fashion industry.

EuRIC welcomes the publication of the Fit for 55 Package, which sets in stone the EU’s ambition to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG) by at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 and reach climate neutrality by 2050.

The substitution of extracted raw materials with Raw Materials from Recycling (RMR) saves massive amounts of GHG and energy, on top of being intrinsically resource efficient, and thus has a key role to play in supporting energy intensive industries to decarbonise and become more circular.

Using recycled steel, copper, or aluminium scrap saves respectively 58%, 65%, and 92% of CO2 when compared with extracted raw materials¹. To exemplify the magnitude of these savings, in 2018, the use of 93.8 million tonnes of recycled scrap in steelmaking enabled the saving of 157 million tonnes of CO2. This is equivalent to the emissions released by the automobile traffic in France, Great Britain and Belgium all together.

For Ms. Cinzia Vezzosi, President of EuRIC, “Climate policy and the circular economy goes hand-in-hand. Recyclers expect from the implementation of the Fit for 55 Package a high-level of ambition linked to the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to support investments in climate neutral and circular industrial value chains. With only 12% of raw materials used by Europe’s industry coming from recycling², strong incentives such as mandatory recycled content or a better framed EU ETS are urgently needed to increase the demand for circular materials usage and send strong signals to the market”, she stressed.

Last but not least, it is equally essential to ensure that the right framework is in place to accelerate the transition towards a circular and climate-neutral economy, while protecting the competitiveness of Europe’s energy intensive industries. In that respect, reciprocity is important to meet the EU’s circular and climate objectives. “European recyclers call for the CBAM to adequately price the carbon footprint of imported semi-finished metal products, but also to level the playing field for raw materials (be them mined or recycled), which are sourced from non-European countries often under environmentally and socially poor conditions”, she added.

EuRIC looks forward to work with the European Parliament and the Council to support an ambitious implementation of the Fit for 55 Package.

¹ EuRIC Metal Recycling Factsheet
² Circular material use rate, EUROSTAT