On 5 July 2023, the European Commission published their proposal for the revision of the Waste Framework Directive, whose primary aim is to update its approach to food and textile waste. In a policy paper written in response to the proposal, CEN and CENELEC welcome the increased focus on these two types of waste and put forward suggestions on how to implement the revision.
European Standards can play a vital role in ensuring the success of the proposal: they provide the technical guidance needed to implement the practical changes to transform its ambitions into a reality.
Therefore, CEN and CENELEC suggest that the European Commission consider the use of standards to define criteria in textile and food waste management. In particular, the position paper elaborates on how standards can be used to set requirements for the sorting of textiles waste and to standardize methodologies for the measurement of food waste.
Bodies within the CEN and CENELEC system working on the topics of circularity, textile, and food waste at both a strategic and technical level include:
- CEN and CENELEC Strategic Advisory Body on Environment (SABE)
- CEN/CLC/JTC 10 Material efficiency aspects for products in scope of Ecodesign legislation
- CEN/TC 473 Circular Economy
- CEN/TC 248 Textiles and textile products
- CEN/TC 309 Footwear
- CEN/TC 275 Food analysis - Horizontal methods
- CEN/TC 189 Geosynthetics
CEN and CENELEC remain committed to the use of standardization as a tool to achieve the green transition and support the circular economy. The revision of the Waste Framework Directive provides an opportunity to utilize standards to ensure its successful implementation across the Single Market.
The text of CEN and CENELEC’s response as submitted can be found on the website of the European Commission here.
