January was an active month for the EuRIC team as we kicked off the new year with some exciting activities for our members and partners across the European recycling value chain!

We had the privilege to welcome Mr Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, Director of DG Environment, in charge of the circular economy, to visit a prominent recycling facility of one of our member companies, Galloo. The site visit was an opportunity to demonstrate recycling in action by demonstrating how old metal appliances can be turned into high-quality recycled #metals and #plastics.

Our enthusiastic Board and secretariat joined forces to brainstorm on EuRIC priorities and our membership activities.

A number of notable achievements for recyclers were realised as the European Parliament voted on the Waste Shipment Regulation, including mandatory recycled content for plastics and certain measures facilitating shipments within the EU. There is still a lot of work ahead of us, as negotiations move to the Council. It is now imperative that progress is made on end-of-waste criteria and departing from a one-size-fits-all approach to material exports.

A first-of-its-kind #textile study, commissioned by EuRIC, was launched revealing that the environmental impact of reusing textiles is 70 times lower compared to producing new garments. The study also noted the importance of recycling, in particular its potential to tackle rising amounts of low-quality and non-reusable clothing.

We held our first Recyclers’ Talks webinar in 2023 as we discussed how to enhance the circularity of the of WEEE sector with representatives from across the value chain.

Registration (euric.link/tyres-event) also opened for the next in-person Recycler Talks’ – ‘Tyre recycling: making the wheel go round’, where we will unite industry experts and policymakers to tackle the regulatory challenges facing the tyre recycling value chain.

Registration was also opened for EuRIC’s next annual regulatory event in Brussels on 30 March (https://lnkd.in/efZ6eK6N).

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