Europe aims to develop a circular economy to drive the internal market towards production, traceability, and consumption of more sustainable products by reducing environmental and social pressure while retaining the product’s value. It is part of a larger plan, Circular Economy Action Plan to fight climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

The general objectives are reflected in the European Green Deal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth. It aims to transform the EU into a fairer and more prosperous society with a modern, competitive, climate neutral resource-efficient circular economy. This also entails engaging third countries and trading partners to ensure the sustainability of global value chains and ensuring that European emission reductions contribute to a global emissions decline instead of pushing carbon-intensive production outside Europe.

We as users will benefit through high-quality products that are efficient and affordable, last longer and are better for the environment.

The European Industrial Strategy recognizes that we now need a new industrial way for Europe, fit for the ambitions of today and the realities of tomorrow. Industries must now and again become the accelerator and enabler of change and innovation.

Europe seeks to lead the change on the transition towards climate neutrality and digital leadership in a world that is changing and is more unpredictable than ever. The twin ecological and digital transitions will affect every part of our economy, society, and industry. They will require new technologies, with investment and innovation to match. They will create new products, services, markets, and business models. They will shape new types of jobs that do not yet exist which need skills that we do not yet have. And they will entail a shift from linear production to a circular economy. It would reduce Europe’s dependence on imported raw materials, and the inherent price volatility, and geopolitical weakness it implies.

The European Commission impact assessment found that the consumption and production are not suitable and not adequately addressed by existing EU product and internal market rules, leading to increasingly divergent  national rules on the sustainability of products.

A broad working-level concept including the environmental, social, and economic dimensions for sustainable production, consumption, and use of products encompasses:

• Minimal use of natural resources and toxic materials, during production and use.
• Minimal pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions, and minimal generation of waste over the product’s life cycle.
• Design allowing for products to be kept in use for as long as possible.
• Not negatively impact on quality of life and human dignity (i.e. impacts on health, deterioration of social conditions, violation of human rights, including labour rights);
• Minimal compromise of a product’s functionality and safety as a result of the above.

Figure 1. United Nations Goal 12.

Some products in the EU meet the criteria mentioned above; however, many products do not. An examination of the wider context of this problem shows that:

• Resources are being used too inefficiently.
• Some environmental impacts of the consumption of an average EU citizen are outside the safe operating space for humanity.
• The EU economy remains largely linear by design.
• And production is sometimes taking place in poor social conditions

As a result of the above, attempts to improve the sustainability performance of products are being pursued individually by some EU Member States, leading to increasingly divergent national approaches.

Figure 2. EU circular material use rate. 12.8% of material resources used in the EU in 2020 came from recycled waste materials.

In 2020 the EU used only 12.8% of material resources from recycled waste materials, it shows a stable yearly growth rate but is still far from being a functional circular economy.

The EU Circular Economy Action Plan sets initiatives along the entire life cycle of products. It announces a sustainable product policy legislative initiative to make products fit for a climate neutral, resource-efficient and circular economy, reduce waste and ensure that the performance of frontrunners in sustainability progressively becomes the norm.

On March 2022, the European Commission advanced a proposal establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products. It includes regulations to establish the framework of requirements to make products in the EU sustainable. The current regulation concentrates on energy-related products only, but planned that it would apply to all products on the European market with the aim of making them:

• More durable
• Reliable
• Reusable
• Reparable
• Upgradable
• Recyclable and
• In general, less harmful to the environment.

The regulation would include rules on a digital product passport, green public procurement and banning the destruction of unsold goods.

The European Parliament, in its resolution on 10 February 2021, highlighted the fact that the circular economy, in combination with the zero-pollution ambition for a toxic free environment, is key to reducing the overall environmental footprints of European production and consumption, respecting planetary boundaries, and protecting human health, while at the same time ensuring a competitive and innovative economy. In the same resolution, the European Parliament strongly endorses the broadening of the scope of the Ecodesign Directive to include non-energy-related products and set horizontal sustainability principles and products-specific standards for performance, durability, reusability, reparability, non-toxicity, upgradability, recyclability, recycled content, and resource and energy efficiency in products placed on the EU market. Soon after the regulation will be in place, FOM Technologies will support circularity and information flow by pioneering in the introduction of product passports to some of FOM Technologies’ machines, slot-die heads and accessories.

A 2020 Eurobarometer on the attitudes of European citizens towards the environment showed that most citizens think that big companies, citizen themselves, their own city, their own government and the EU are not doing enough to protect the environment.

Figure 3. Eurobarometer 501. Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment. (left) EU28 and Denmark, (right) EU28 and Spain.

On average, EU citizens completely agree (43%) or tend to agree (38%) with the statement: The EU should assist non-EU countries to improve their environmental standards.

Figure 4. Eurobarometer 501. Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment. Should the EU assist non-EU countries to improve their environmental standards?

Of the 27498 face-to-face interviewed EU citizens, 33% (EU28) are most likely to mention changing the way we produce (31%) and changing the way we consume (33%) as the most effective ways of tackling environmental problems. 41% of Danish citizens choose investing in research and development to find technological solutions to tackle environmental problems. In 2021 FOM Technologies invested 4% of its turnover on R&D, to show its commitment to find new technological solutions to new and old unsolved problems.

Figure 5. Eurobarometer 501. Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment. In your opinion, which of the following would be the most effective ways of tackling environmental problems?

You can follow the development of the legislative proposal Ecodesign requirements for Sustainable Products Regulation (COM(2022) 142 30.3.2022) in the web of the Legislative Observatory (OEIL), European Parliament. At the moment of writing this blog (July 2022) the status of the proposal was awaiting committee decision.