- Ecodesign for Sustainable Products regulation
The Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on ecodesign requirements for sustainable products was presented as part of the Circular Economy Package.
In particular, under the Commission’s proposed text, the Regulation would address the design of every product placed on the EU market in order to make such products more durable, reliable, reusable, upgradable, reparable, easier to maintain, refurbish and recycle, and energy and resource-efficient.
The proposal would ensure that better environmental sustainability information for consumers and supply chain actors is provided by introducing a Digital Product Passport that will make repairability and recyclability of products easier, while also ensuring better tracking of substances of concern along the supply chain.
As such, the proposal aims at introducing requirements not only for energy efficiency but also for circularity and reduction of the environmental footprint of products.
The legislative process is now ongoing with the European Parliament and European Council of Ministers preparing their position on this proposal.
Once both the European Parliament’s Committee and the Council have finalised their position on the proposal, informal negotiations with the aim of reaching a first reading agreement on the proposal are then expected to begin.
Any resulting compromise would need to be approved by the European Parliament and by the Council.
Once adopted, the Regulation would be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Under the Commission’s proposed text, the measure would enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication.
- Revision of EU legislation on packaging and packaging waste
The proposed revision of the EU legislation on Packaging and Packaging Waste has three main objectives
- to prevent the generation of packaging waste: reduce it in quantity, restrict unnecessary packaging and promote reusable and refillable packaging solutions.
- to boost high quality (‘closed loop’) recycling: make all packaging on the EU market recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030.
- to reduce the need for primary natural resources and create a well-functioning market for secondary raw materials, increasing the use of recycled plastics in packaging through mandatory targets.
Specific measures include:
- The headline target is to reduce packaging waste by 15% by 2040 per Member State per capita, compared to 2018.
- To foster reuse or refill of packaging, which has declined steeply in the last 20 years, companies will have to offer a certain percentage of their products to consumers in reusable or refillable packaging, for example takeaway drinks and meals or e-commerce deliveries. There will also be some standardisation of packaging formats and clear labelling of reusable packaging.
