However, the experts for ferrous slags, who have formulated similar goals in their core demands for sustainable resource management, are calling for rapid implementation: for example in European public procurement law and in the regulations for the use of new slags from decarbonized steel production.
The aims of the CID include increasing demand for sustainable products, particularly in the awarding of public contracts, as well as a law on the circular economy. The aim is to make efficient use of European resources and increase the supply of circular materials. To this end, specific proposals are also to be obtained with regard to the European Framework Program for Research and Innovation “Horizon Europe”. CID will have a total volume of over 100 billion euros.
Thomas Reiche, Managing Director of the FEhS Institute: “The European Commission’s initiative as part of the Clean Industrial Deal to decarbonize industrial processes, reduce climate-damaging emissions and strengthen the circular economy is good and right. It will be important to put the many planned measures into practice quickly. For example, in European public procurement law: binding requirements for a circular public procurement system must be implemented to ensure that secondary building materials are permitted across the board and that they are given conditional preference in public procurement contracts in a legally binding manner. This is the main outcome of a legal opinion, which was commissioned by the FEhS Institute already in 2020.”
In its core demands for the further improvement of the framework conditions for the use of secondary raw materials and products, the FEhS Institute also calls for fair treatment of the new by-products of decarbonized steel production. To be able to use “granulated blast furnace slag 2.0” in cement or aggregates in concrete, the relevant regulations must be adapted. In addition, the FEhS Institute is calling for a practical assessment of environmental compatibility through technically up-to-date, eluate-based tests instead of solid limit values. The assessment of environmental compatibility should also be standardized for all building materials.
