Eurometaux (European Association of Metals)
Resource Efficiency
Circular Economy
The EU’s Circular Economy Package is a landmark in creating a more resource-efficient economy. It paves the way to capitalising on Europe’s urban mine, where valuable metals can be recycled from cars, buildings, packaging, e-waste and other applications.
Why it’s important
Metals recycling creates economic value for Europe, as well as saving up to 95% of the energy needed to manufacture new metals from primary sources. Despite those benefits, too many of Europe’s metals still get landfilled, incinerated, or exported without guarantee of quality treatment.
The EU’s Circular Economy waste proposals and Action Plan will help make sure those metals are recycled, safely and efficiently.
What we are seeking
We’re calling on EU policymakers to prioritise material recovery in their work on the Circular Economy waste proposals:
- Introduce a single EU method for measuring real recycling rates
- Promote high-quality treatment of metals
- Ensure exported waste is recycled under equivalent conditions
- Establish ambitious and effective recycling targets
- Harmonise definitions for by-products and classification of waste
Product Environmental Footprint
The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is a single EU methodology to measure the environmental footprint of products. We are part of the European Commission’s pilot process, testing how the PEF methodology can be applied to metal sheets.
Why it’s important
As part of the transition to a sustainable Europe, it’s crucial that society understands the impacts of their products. To reach that understanding, we need a robust methodology for evaluating products across their whole life cycle. The PEF methodology is an opportunity to achieve that, but only if it’s well designed.
What we are seeking
We aim to ensure that the PEF methodology is well-fitted to the characteristics of metals. In particular:
- Recognising that metals are a permanent material, which can be recycled again and again
- Accepting that we cannot accurately model environment and human health toxicity, until major advances are made
- Ensuring a workable methodology for resource depletion and land use
Source: https://eurometaux.eu/eu-policy/resource-efficiency/
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