Snapshot of some of the most interesting features

The package outlines plans that will affect the public and private sector, suppliers of raw materials, product manufacturers (especially those that include or are packaged in plastics), recyclers and many others. The circular economy programme may vary certain existing EU laws like REACH, WEEE and others in some respects but will largely supplement rather than replace those existing EU environmental laws.

Here are just some of what we consider to be the more noteworthy proposals for future action:

• Extending an open invitation to private and public actors to come forward with voluntary pledges (to be made public through a dedicated webpage) by June 2018 as to their use of recycled materials in the production stage of their products, on the understanding that the Commission will present an assessment of all pledges received and, if they are deemed insufficient, start work on alternative steps, potentially including regulatory action.
• Revising the essential requirements for placing packaging on the EU market, including:
  • A definition of design (of packaging) for recyclability, to ensure that, by 2030, all plastic packaging placed on the EU market is reusable or easily recycled
  • Harmonised rules for defining and labelling materials as biodegradable or compostable
  • An investigation of the issue of ‘over-packaging’.
• Maximising the impact of new rules on extended producer responsibility through eco-modulation of producer responsibility scheme fees, to provide a meaningful financial reward in return for more sustainable product design choices.
• Developing innovative tracing technologies and strategies (potentially including compulsory information systems) to ensure that chemicals (including legacy substances that were once, but are no longer, unrestricted in the EU) are easier to trace in recycled material streams, to prevent lack of information regarding the possible presence of chemicals of concern creating a significant obstacle to achieving higher recycling rates.
• Developing product requirements under the Ecodesign Directive that take account of circular economy aspects, including recyclability, to make it easier to recycle plastics used in a wide variety of electrical appliances and electronic goods.
• Working with the European Committee for Standardisation and industry to develop quality standards for sorted plastic waste and recycled plastics (to create producer confidence in raw materials).
• Working on integrating recycled content in line with Green Public Procurement criteria.
• Putting forward a legislative initiative on single-use plastics at EU level.
• Restricting the use of oxo-plastics in the EU.
• Continuing the process to restrict the use of intentionally added micro-plastics.
• Developing working procedures to make sure that imported published articles (as opposed to raw materials) do not contain substances which are not authorised for use in the production of articles in the EU, potentially including potential future restrictions on the use of the existing exemption Article 2 (7) (d) from REACH registration for recovered substances recovered from waste.
• Preparing an online EU repository for all adopted national and EU end-of-waste and by-product criteria.
• Publishing guidance on waste classification to assist waste operators and competent authorities to have a common approach to waste characterisation and classification.
• Placing additional emphasis on circular economy aspects in future product requirements under the Ecodesign Directive in relation to critical raw materials (CRMs). There are currently 27 materials classified as CRMs in the EU. They are:

Of these, the electrical and electronic equipment sector, for example, depends on a variety of CRMs including antimony, beryllium, cobalt, germanium, indium, platinum group metals (PGMs), natural graphite, heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), silicon metal, and tungsten.

Client Alert 2018-028