General

At Simac Tanning Tech 2025 in Milan, BASF will present new materials and processes for the footwear industry. The focus is on polyurethane solutions that enable recycling, reduce weight, and support automated manufacturing.

Reiling acquired the Swedish company with effect from 1 January 2025.

Around 150 professionals gathered in Valencia for two days to review regulatory developments through the insights of 25 expert speakers at the fifth edition of Okplast, organised by Aimplas.

In July 2023, the European Commission adopted its proposal to revise and
merge the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive and the 3R Type-Approval Directive
into a single Regulation on Circularity Requirements for Vehicle Design and
on Management of End-of-Life Vehicles. The proposal aims to strengthen the
EU single market while improving the circularity of the sector and reducing
the environmental impacts associated with the design, production, use, and
end-of-life treatment of vehicles.

As the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) works on the development of harmonised End-of-Waste (EoW) criteria for textiles, EuRIC, the voice of Europe’s recycling industries, calls for an approach that is practical, market-driven, and innovation-friendly.

Creating a circular automotive sector requires more than just commitments; it demands a robust regulatory framework that promotes fair, transparent practices and ensures the uptake of recycled materials.

This initiative is in line with the work the Thermoform team is carrying out in the CEN Standardization WG.

By-products from steel production make an important contribution to resource efficiency and the circular economy in Europe. The workshop “The role of slags and other by-products within circular economy in the steel industry” on March 5 and 6, 2025 at the Wyndham Duisburger Hof in Duisburg focused on the current state of research into slags and other materials and the challenges expected in the future.

On 26 February, the European Commission presented its Clean Industrial Deal. Several associations and organisations have commented on the deal.

After having run twenty pilots across Europe in the past two years, the ECOSWEEE project, co-funded by the EU, has presented vital insights for enhancing the collection of small end-of-use electricals and batteries.

In light of ongoing discussions on steel and aluminium, EuRIC warns against imposing any restrictions on scrap exports.