Alejandro Navazas, Scientific & Policy Advisor at EURIC (the European Recycling Industries Confederation), articulates that Europe is presently navigating a "green regulatory tsunami."

This phenomenon pervades various waste streams, encompassing materials from tires to plastics, and extending to steel, glass, and paint, profoundly influencing market access dynamics.

Central to this transformative wave is the European Green Deal, underpinning a secondary economy action plan. Navazas underscores three pivotal pillars within this framework:

The initial pillar revolves around eco-design principles, dictating the environmental considerations that products must adhere to prior to market introduction.

Subsequently, the focus shifts to post-consumer product life cycles, specifically addressing the nuances of recycling protocols and procedures.

The third pillar bridges the initial two, spotlighting the integration of recycled materials into the production of new goods.

Navazas emphasizes the critical quality threshold that recycled materials must meet, especially when they are destined to be reconstituted into products equivalent to their original form. This necessitates that the output of the recycling process must be of sufficient quality to merit reintroduction into the manufacturing cycle.

Inextricably linked to eco-design principles is the regulatory framework governing the transition of a product from its end-of-life phase to its classification as waste. This phase is encumbered with specific regulations concerning its management and disposal. However, once the waste material is successfully recycled into a viable product, it ought to transcend the 'waste' classification. This transition facilitates a parity of treatment with virgin materials and is encapsulated in the concept known as the 'end-of-waste criterion.'