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Circular Economy & Recovered Substance Rossella Demi Chemistry 19 Novembre 2019 WEBINAR - ENEA e Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico “REACH ed Economia Circolare”
Circular Economy & Recovered Substance
Rossella Demi
Chemistry
19 Novembre 2019
WEBINAR - ENEA e Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico
“REACH ed Economia Circolare”
2
Content
• Setting the scene
• Moving from linear to circular economy
• Is circular economy necessarily better?
• Is it only a question of chemistry?
• Circular economy in EU
• REACH and recovered substance
• Take-home messages
Setting the scene
•3
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What is circular economy?
• An economy where:
• the value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible
• waste and resource use are minimized
• Resources are kept within the economy when a product has reached the end of its life, to be used again and again to create further value
5
Is circular economy a new concept?
• Circular economy has been applied for decades in specific sectors
• Example of batteries
• Acid-lead batteries is a reference example in the recycling of batteries • Lead is the most recycled of all commonly used metals
• >95% of the lead in acid-lead batteries are recycled
• Not a success story for all battery types • Most rechargeable batteries are not recycled profitably
• The prices manufacturers pay for primary materials is lower than the price of recycled materials!
From linear to circular economy
•6
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Linear economy…
Take Make Use /
consume Dispose
Make
consume
enrich
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Return
Make
Make
Use
Circular economy
Biological cycle Technical cycle
Is circular economy always better?
•9
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Circular economy looks safer at the outset…
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Is circular economy really clean?
• Hazardous substances can impact the interest for ‘closing the loop’
• Stretching the lifetime of banned substances
• Contaminating the feedstocks
• A sustainable circular economy requires the control of the risk with the substances in the “feedstock”
Traceability/monitoring
• A dirty circular economy is not sustainable and will not maintain public confidence!
https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13641/echa_rest_proposals_rubber_granules_en.pdf/1a8a254c-bd4a-47b1-a091-99ae4a94a8c2
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Phthalates in PVC
• PVC is a well-suited material for recycling
• It can be recycled up to 7 times without loss of performance
• PVC can contain >>20% of phthalates
• Recycled soft PVC is likely to contain DEHP (a phthalate for which an authorisation under REACH is required for its use)
• Virgin PVC is a sales argument
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Avoid solutions becoming problems
DecaBDE
Wood preservatives
PFOS/PFOA
Is circular economy only about getting the chemistry right?
•15
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The chemical challenge of the Circular Economy
• To have sufficient information to identify and assess which substances are of potential concern for the circular economy
• Which substances are in “products” which may be recycled?
• Properties of these substances?
• To ensure information flow on substances throughout the supply chains and cycles
• To make informed decisions to reduce or exclude substances from materials cycles
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REACH contribution to circular economy
• Industry responsible for safe manufacture and use
• Deal with the ‘burden of the past’ with a systemic program for registration of ‘old’ chemicals
• Get adequate information on hazards while minimising the use of experimental animals and the costs
• Promote substitution of hazardous substances with safer alternatives
• Authorities will focus on substances of highest concern
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Circular economy is also about societal changes
• Different economical models
• Product-oriented services (selling products with a lifetime extended through maintenance/take-back agreements)
• User-oriented services (product rentals, product sharing)
Circular economy in EU
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Commission's Circular Economy Package • Revised legislation on waste to stimulate Europe's
transition towards a circular economy
• An action Plan on the Circular Economy complements this proposal
• Setting out measures to "close the loop" of the circular economy and
tackle all phases in the lifecycle of a product.
• Targeting market barriers in specific sectors or material streams, such
as plastics, food waste, critical raw materials, construction and
demolition, biomass and bio-based products
• Horizontal measures in areas such as innovation and investment.
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A snapshot
• A common EU target for recycling 65% of municipal waste by 2030;
• A common EU target for recycling 75% of packaging waste by 2030;
• A binding landfill target to reduce landfill to maximum of 10% of municipal waste by 2030;
• A ban on landfilling of separately collected waste;
• Promotion of economic instruments to discourage landfilling ;
• Turning one industry's by-product into another industry's raw material;
• Economic incentives for producers to put greener products on the market and support recovery and recycling schemes (e.g. for packaging, batteries, electric and electronic equipments, vehicles).
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SCIP Database
Establish and maintain a database
for info communicated down in the supply chain on substances
in articles
Legal basis:
Waste Framework Directive (WFD)
EU action plan for the Circular Economy
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Roles and milestones
5 January 2021
Suppliers of articles submit info to ECHA
Q1 2020
ECHA database
established
4 July 2018
Entry into force of
Directive (EU) 2018/851
• Establish a database + Enable submission of info by EU suppliers of articles
• Provide access to the database to “waste treatment operators”, and to consumers (upon request)
5 July 2020
Member State transposition
MSs • Transpose into national law
• Enforce
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SCIP database - Objectives
Push for substitution of substances of concern and prevention of (hazardous)
waste generation
Increase authorities' information basis on
substances in articles
Contributing to a more circular
economy: improve waste treatment
operations
Reduce the content of hazardous substances in materials and products, including recycled materials
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SCIP database flow
Manual upload of
file
Manual preparation
online
System to System
Data submission Storage
SCIP database Dissemination
Duty holders
(Article suppliers)
Publication of the information as received (duty holder responsibility for submitting accurate data)
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Dissemination
Consumers and other interested parties
Waste operators Authorities
Available info to drive waste stream
decisions support compliant
re-use increase recycled
materials
SVHC monitoring to address regulatory actions
Available info to support (waste) policy decisions
Support enforcement
Empower informed choices Improve targeted disposal
SCIP database
No confidential business information disclosed
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SCIP- duty holders
Any supplier of articles containing above 0.1% w/w of a substance of very high concern on the Candidate List
EU producers & Importers
Assemblers
Distributors*
* Except retailers that supply directly and exclusively to consumers
5 January 2021
Duty holders need to
submit info to ECHA
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Many areas to further develop
• Improve tracking substances in materials and products
• Better information on substances in imported articles
• How to assess the exposure from waste, recycling, and reuse?
• When recycling is better than elimination, especially for substances of very high concern (SVHCs)
• …
Thank you!
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