The agenda at EuRIC annual conference, titled ‘Boosting recycling through futurefit policies’, offered insights into various topics from design as driver for recycling to enhancing the circularity of critical raw materials, a press release from the confederation said.

EuRIC recently held its annual conference in Brussels to discuss how Europe can become more circular while reaching a climate neutral economy through the right policies.
The conference covered various topics including the role of design in recycling, circularity of critical raw materials, and the importance of recycled content for plastics.

Member of European Parliament Delara Burkhardt said textile waste should not be considered as a burden but an economic asset.

EuRIC textiles president Mariska Boer cited an EuRIC study on life cycle assessment of European used clothing that found that reusing clothing has a 70 times lower environmental impact than producing new clothing.

Regarding packaging, Ioannis Antonopoulos from the European Commission emphasised the giant leap expected from the proposed regulation that will boost the sustainability of packaging products in comparison with a business-as-usual scenario.

“To boost the transition towards a circular and climate neutral economy, we need more harmonised end-of-waste criteria at EU level, recycled content for and beyond plastics as well as design for recycling,” EuRIC secretary general Emmanuel Katrakis said in his opening remarks. 

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)