Tag: resource efficiency

When the Talent 2 suburban trains used in the German city of Nürnberg, or Sweden’s Regina intercity railway wagons reach the end of their lives, more than 90% of the metals, plastics, glass and other materials could be melted down and turned into other products.

If European Union countries implemented existing waste-management regulations, they could create some 400,000 jobs and save diminishing resources, a senior Commission environment official said.

MEPs will vote tomorrow (28 February) on proposals for binding energy efficiency standards for computers and servers, but clean energy groups say that without more ambitious targets the whole exercise could be a "waste of time".

SPECIAL REPORT / Bulgaria loses as much as half its urban water supply through leaks, and across the European Union, some as much as 40% of piped water never makes it to consumers. But emerging technology could help reduce waste and turn water systems into energy sources.

Access to natural resources in Europe through 2040 will depend on economic, political and technological factors that are hard to predict. Therefore, the policy approach from the EU has to be broader and more flexible, according to a new EU-funded research project.

SPECIAL REPORT / The REACH chemical safety regulation is creating headaches for recycled products manufacturers, hampering the European Union's efforts to decrease its reliance on imported raw materials. The European Commission has only begun acknowledging the problem, saying it will take time to address.

SPECIAL REPORT / Metal industries want EU member states to implement legislation on waste, recycling and sustainable development. At the same time, they are concerned about the loss of profits resulting from "rushed" laws that could force them to do business outside Europe, says Oliver Bell.

SPECIAL REPORT / Aircraft makers are increasingly turning to retired airplanes as a source of metals and other materials that can be recycled, possibly to fly again in new generations of aircraft.

SPECIAL REPORT / Faced with strong political headwinds against new environmental legislation in the current economic crisis, the European Commission is multiplying initiatives to keep resource-efficiency on the political radar.

The meaningful energy labelling of household heating boilers is being gutted behind the scenes, green campaigners have warned, saying this could undermine the EU's 2020 target to cut energy consumption by 20%.

Chinese President Hu Jintao's three-day visit to Denmark may ostensibly have been about signing billions worth of business deals, but a stake in Greenland's huge mineral wealth may have been the elephant in the room.

The EU has established resource efficiency as one of its seven flagship initiatives for the 2020 agenda, and its roadmap is supported by many programmes and initiatives on the ground. Yet, it is a tiger without teeth, claims the latest report by the Transatlantic Academy, a research institution that aims to create common approaches for the long-term challenges faced by Europe and North America.

The European Parliament's environment committee backed a proposed resource efficiency roadmap for Europe on 25 April, marking an important step in EU policymakers' efforts to decouple natural resource use from economic growth. However, in an effort to find a compromise, they left aside proposed ambitious deadlines and measures.

Investing in sustainable industries is a win-win situation that will boost the much-needed growth in the EU while creating a sustainable and eco-friendly environment, writes Antonio Tajani, commissioner for industry and Entrepreneurship.

The European Commission is understaffed for its ambitions regarding the eco-design directive that sets energy savings requirements for products, despite the huge potential it has for achieving significant carbon dioxide reductions, says Edouard Toulouse.

After years of delays, hopes are high that 2012 will be the year Europe’s Ecodesign Directive will finally kick into action, saving billions of euros and the environment, says Stéphane Arditi, coordinator for the 'Coolproducts' campaign to promote energy-efficient appliances and other consumer goods.

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, a Dutch Liberal MEP who is drafting a resolution on resource-efficiency for the European Parliament, proposes a ‘Schengen area’ for waste that would allow all sorts of second-hand resources to be traded more freely between member states.

The European Parliament yesterday (19 January) approved legislation to strengthen the recovery of computers and other electronic and electrical waste while tightening exports of used goods to developing countries, ending months of hard-fought negotiations.

Encouraging consumers to ‘buy green’ by making environmentally-friendly goods cheaper might have drawbacks as the much feared ‘rebound effect’ could offset gains by pushing for ever more consumption, environmentalists argue.

European steelmakers warn they have reached the limits of how much recycled metal can feed their mills as competition for scrap is driving exports to emerging Asian economies. EurActiv reports from ArcelorMittal's factory in Ghent, Belgium.

Recycling less than 1% of high tech metals, Europe has no moral justification to blame the Chinese for restricting their exports of rare earths, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker from the United Nations Environment Program argued in an interview with EurActiv.com.

While the EU seeks to curb its import dependency on raw materials through better re-use and recycling, the bloc remains a top exporter of all sorts of waste – including paper, plastics and metals.