Politics

The European Parliament’s draft report on the End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Regulation, currently discussed, raises serious concerns about its impact on circularity in the automotive sector.

The new EU Waste Shipment Regulation WS threatens to disrupt global recycling markets and put Europe’s recycling industry at a severe competitive disadvantage. EuRIC calls for an immediate extension of the WSR deadlines to provide non-OECD countries with adequate time to comply and prevent a catastrophic impact on international trade in recycled materials and the competitiveness of the EU recycling industry.

FEAD welcomes the publication of the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass, a strategic tool that will guide the work in the coming years and aims to strengthen the European Union’s competitive edge in a rapidly changing global economy.

An alliance of companies and associations from the plastics, packaging, consumer goods and recycling industries, has called on the European Commission to urgently implement existing as well as introduce legal mechanisms to control and certify imports of recycled plastics.

The plastic value chain is hit by a strong recession caused by persisting issues such as increased imports of non-EU recycled plastics, reduced investments in domestic raw materials production and recycling, as well as a lack of demand for EU-virgin and recycled plastics.

EuRIC’s Ship Recycling Group (ESRG) has published a manifesto calling for measures to strengthen the EU’s ship recycling sector, ensuring that more vessels are recycled within the EU in compliance with stringent environmental and safety standards, rather than being exported to third countries whose facilities do not meet similar criteria.

FEAD hosted its conference on ‘Circular Economy Priorities’, which united key stakeholders, policymakers, and industry leaders to address the potential and challenges of the EU waste management sector.

FEAD has announced that Herwart Wilms will succeed Claudia Mensi as President of FEAD in 2026.

EuRIC Textiles, FEAD & Decathlon have published a joint position paper calling for effective EPR schemes and a level playing field in the revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD) to strengthen Europe’s circular textile economy.

EuRIC has published its position on the future of the European steel industry, calling for measures that promote the use of recycled steel to achieve both environmental and economic resilience.

With the final scheduled Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC5) meeting due to begin in Busan, South Korea on Monday 25th November, negotiations on an internationally legally binding agreement to end plastics pollution by 2040 have reached a pivotal moment.