EU Circular Economy & Product Design Domain

The EU Battery Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542) comprehensively overhauls the former Battery Directive (2006/66/EC) and is a directly applicable regulation governing the entire lifecycle — from raw material sourcing through design, production, reuse, and recycling — of all batteries placed on the EU market, including electric vehicle, industrial, light means of transport (LMT), portable, and starting-lighting-ignition (SLI) batteries. It imposes some of the world's most stringent environmental and traceability requirements, including disclosure and caps on carbon footprint, the introduction of the Digital Battery Passport, mandatory supply chain due diligence, minimum recycled-content requirements for raw materials (cobalt, lithium, nickel, and lead), and raised targets for waste-battery recycling efficiency and material recovery.

The EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is a comprehensive framework regulation requiring environmentally sound design for nearly all physical products placed on the EU market, excluding categories such as food, feed, and pharmaceuticals. It represents a fundamental strengthening and expansion of the previous Ecodesign Directive, positioning environmental design as an integrated discipline within the EU market by mandating that sustainability requirements be built in from the earliest stages of product planning. The framework rests on four main pillars. First, ecodesign requirements that set product-specific rules covering durability, repairability, reusability, recyclability, environmental footprint, energy efficiency, and restrictions on hazardous chemical content (in coordination with REACH). Second, the Digital Product Passport (DPP), which requires products to carry a data carrier such as a QR code so that material composition, repairability and recyclability, carbon footprint, and other data can be provided and tracked digitally to ensure supply chain transparency. Third, a phased rollout through product-specific delegated acts covering priority product categories one at a time (textiles, steel, aluminum, furniture, tyres, and others). Fourth, market surveillance and conformity control, including exclusion of non-compliant products from the EU market and labelling where required by delegated acts.

This proposed regulation manages the design, manufacturing, end-of-life collection, dismantling, and recycling of vehicles in the EU as an integrated circular product framework. It represents a shift from the previous end-of-life vehicle directive to a regulation that strengthens design-stage requirements and mandates resource circularity, functioning as an integration hub for the outbound side of the automotive supply chain, covering resource efficiency and environmental impact reduction across the full vehicle lifecycle — design, materials, collection, and resource recovery. The framework rests on three main pillars. First, circular design and recyclability requirements, covering material-separable design at the vehicle design stage, ease of dismantling and disassembly, design premised on reuse and resource recovery, and minimum recycled-content targets (particularly for plastics) in new vehicles. Second, a collection, dismantling, and processing system, covering the manufacturer's (OEM's) obligation to collect end-of-life vehicles free of charge, certification and infrastructure requirements for Authorized Treatment Facilities (ATFs), and traceability management of critical components during dismantling. Third, a substance restriction interface that connects and integrates the management of restricted hazardous chemicals in automotive applications (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, and others) and alternative material design with REACH and related regulations.

The EU WEEE Directive aims to prevent the generation of waste electrical and electronic equipment, promote its reuse, recycling, and other forms of recovery, and reduce the volume of waste sent to final disposal. Producers bear extended producer responsibility (EPR), meaning they are financially responsible for the collection, treatment, and recycling of their products once discarded. Companies selling electrical and electronic equipment in the EU must register as producers in each member state and participate in a collection scheme, whether individual or collective. Since August 15, 2018, an "open scope" applies, reorganizing coverage from the original 10 categories into 6 broad categories, substantially expanding the range of products covered.

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is a new, comprehensive regulation covering all packaging placed on the EU market, designed to advance the circular economy. It formally entered into force on February 11, 2025, with full, phased application beginning August 12, 2026. Unlike a directive, the PPWR does not require transposition into each member state's national law — as a regulation, it applies directly and uniformly across the entire EU with binding legal force. As a result, any company shipping products to the EU market — not only packaging material manufacturers, but also manufacturers, importers, and online sellers of packaged goods across sectors such as automotive, electronics, and consumer products — is subject to strict requirements covering packaging waste reduction, minimization of packaging (banning excessive packaging), mandatory reuse and recyclability, and packaging conformity assessment together with a Declaration of Conformity. The PPWR represents a complete overhaul of the earlier Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD, Directive 94/62/EC), replacing it with a regulation that applies directly across the EU. The PPWD, adopted in 1994, was a landmark environmental directive that systematically advanced the reduction, reuse, and recycling of packaging waste across EU member states and became the foundation for packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems worldwide. Following phased amendments under the 2015 and 2018 Circular Economy Packages, the EU has now moved to a single, uniform set of rules across all member states to eliminate inconsistencies in national implementation, further strengthening requirements for packaging reduction, reuse, recyclable design, and mandatory use of recycled content.

The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA, Regulation (EU) 2024/1252) is an EU regulation aimed at reducing dependence on external suppliers — particularly excessive reliance on specific countries — for the 34 critical raw materials and 17 strategic raw materials (including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements) needed for clean technology, electric vehicles, digital, and defense industries, thereby strengthening supply chain resilience and security. It sets clear domestic benchmarks for 2030 (10% extraction, 40% processing, 25% recycling, and no more than 65% of any single raw material sourced from a single third country), together with an accelerated permitting process for strategic projects, mandatory supply chain risk assessments (stress tests) for large companies, and disclosure requirements for recyclability and recycled content in products containing permanent magnets (such as neodymium magnets).

The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD, Directive (EU) 2019/904) regulates the ten single-use plastic (SUP) items most commonly found on European beaches, along with oxo-degradable plastics, with the aim of reducing marine plastic litter and advancing the transition to a circular economy. It bans the placing on the market of products for which alternatives exist (such as plastic straws, cutlery, plates, cotton buds, and expanded polystyrene food containers), requires tethered-cap designs for beverage containers (from July 2024), mandates minimum recycled PET (rPET) content in PET bottles (25% from 2025, 30% from 2030), places the cost of litter clean-up on producers under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and requires plastic-content labeling on products such as sanitary items and tobacco filters.

The EU Right to Repair Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/1799) aims to prevent the premature disposal of products by making it easier and more affordable for consumers to repair and continue using them. It works in tandem with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo). It requires that repair be prioritized over replacement during the statutory warranty period, and establishes a continuing "obligation to repair" for manufacturers — lasting five to ten years after a product's release — that extends beyond the warranty period for covered product categories such as smartphones, tablets, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners. It also guarantees independent repairers and DIY consumers access to spare parts and repair manuals (banning discriminatory pricing and software-based repair restrictions, such as blocking third-party parts), and establishes a common EU-wide digital repair platform.

The EU Plastic Tax (the Plastics Own Resource) is a funding mechanism introduced to simultaneously secure financing for the EU's recovery fund (NextGenerationEU) and reduce single-use plastic waste while promoting recycling. Under the mechanism, Member States pay the EU a contribution of €800 per tonne (€0.80 per kg) of non-recycled plastic packaging waste. In response, and to avoid or pass on this burden domestically, several Member States have introduced their own national taxes directly on manufacturers, importers, and distributors of plastic packaging — including Spain (in force since 2023, €0.45/kg), the United Kingdom (in force since 2022, £210.82/tonne, applying to packaging with less than 30% recycled content), and Italy (scheduled for 2026).

The EU's revised Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) is a powerful piece of environmental legislation aimed at restricting waste exports outside the EU, promoting circularity within the EU, and eliminating illegal shipments. It introduces, in particular, a near-total ban on waste exports to non-OECD countries and substantive supply-chain requirements that hold exporters strictly accountable for environmental audits at the destination. Under this framework, the "DIWASS" (Digital Waste Shipment System) — a digital platform for centrally tracking and managing shipment data for hazardous and non-hazardous waste across the EU — became fully operational from May 2026. This fully digitizes shipment notification and approval procedures that were previously paper-based, requiring all exporters to register with DIWASS and log shipment data in real time. In particular, audit and certification requirements for exports of recyclable secondary raw materials outside the EU — such as used office equipment, components from remanufactured toner cartridges, waste plastics, metal scrap, and e-waste — have become extremely strict, with major implications for companies' global reverse logistics and circular economy strategies.

Under the EU's Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and railway interoperability regulations, "TSI Noise" (the Technical Specification for Interoperability relating to Noise) is a strict set of technical standards aimed at drastically reducing environmental noise pollution across Europe's major rail networks. The regulation requires that all new and existing freight and passenger rail vehicles operating within the EU — including their braking systems — meet specified maximum noise decibel (dB) limits. From 2025 to 2026, the use of conventional cast-iron brake blocks is being progressively banned entirely on designated "Quieter Routes," with mandatory conversion to composite brake blocks.

The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is a method developed by the European Commission to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products. Its counterpart for organisations is the Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF); together they are called the Environmental Footprint methods. Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) standardize the calculation at the level of each product category. Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279 of 15 December 2021 recommends that Member States and private and public organisations use these methods when they measure or communicate life cycle environmental performance. It is a recommendation and does not create binding obligations, although EU legislation or policy may refer to it as a calculation method.

Directive (EU) 2025/1892 of 10 September 2025 (published in the Official Journal on 26 September 2025 and in force since 16 October 2025) amends the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC and requires Member States to establish extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes for the textile, textile-related and footwear products listed in Annex IVc. Producers — manufacturers, importers and distributors, as well as sellers that supply consumers directly by distance contract from another Member State or a third country — must cover the costs of separate collection, sorting for re-use, preparing for re-use and recycling (Article 22a). Producers entrust these obligations to producer responsibility organisations (PROs). The fees paid to PROs are based on weight and, where appropriate, quantity, and are modulated on the basis of ecodesign requirements adopted under Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 or other harmonised Union sustainability criteria (Article 22c).

Note: Although this card is placed under the EU Domain, the United Kingdom is not an EU member state. This card describes the UK's independently operated extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging. This new extended producer responsibility scheme requires businesses that supply packaging or packaged goods in the UK to fund the full cost of local authorities' collection and treatment of household packaging waste. It replaces the previous PRN system with detailed packaging data reporting through the RPR portal and introduces eco-modulated fees based on recyclability.

Note: Although this card is placed under the EU Domain, the United Kingdom is not an EU member state. This card describes the UK's independently operated plastic packaging tax. The UK Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) is an environmental tax that has been in effect since April 1, 2022, aimed at promoting the circular use of plastic resources and encouraging the use of recycled materials. It applies to plastic packaging manufactured in, or imported into, the UK that contains less than 30% recycled plastic content. Businesses that manufacture or import 10 tonnes or more of plastic packaging annually are required to register with HMRC and file and pay the tax, with transparency required across the entire supply chain.