RREUSE welcomes the report on an EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles that the European Parliament (EP) adopted on 1 June 2023. Whereas the EP report could have gone further in tackling key issues, it does address some of the missing pieces in European Commission’s proposal and is a crucial step toward a more ambitious circular and social framework for the future of the textile sector.
RREUSE welcomes the Commission’s intention to tackle misleading claims and greenwashing practices through the introduction of minimum criteria for the substantiation of green claims. However, the initiative still presents remaining issues.
The proposal is a cautious step forward towards promoting repair and refurbishment, but still falls short of introducing a true right to repair for EU citizens. A “right to repair” legislation was initially announced in the 2021 State of the Union address as part of the European Green Deal, with the aim of extending the lifespan of products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste, while also creating green and local employment opportunities.
RREUSE welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Critical Raw Materials that was first announced by President Von der Leyen in her 2022 State of the European Union address, but reaching the aims of the Regulation will not be possible without a concrete commitment to reduce material demand by prolonging the useful life of products through re-use and repair activities.
Close cooperation on harnessing digital trends across the social enterprise community was at the heart of discussions at RREUSE’s 4th International Conference on the digital era of social enterprises active in the circular economy. November 16th and 17th 2022 found over 100 enthusiastic participants in Vienna for the highly anticipated event.
RREUSE’s latest briefing, Job creation in the re-use sector: Data insights from social enterprises, highlights the opportunities for job creation in the re-use sector. Based on first-hand experience and expertise provided by the wider RREUSE network, the data was...
Yesterday, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted positively on a text calling for a more ambitious Circular Economy in the EU. Providing an opinion on the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) released by the Commission in March 2020, it complements the...
After seven years of impeccable leadership as President of RREUSE, Antigone Dalamaga has passed on the presidency to Matthias Neitsch following a unanimous vote at RREUSE’s Annual General Assembly. Matthias is the Managing director of RepaNet, the Austrian NGO for...
Today a group of 53 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) from across the political spectrum have written a letter to Commissioners Sinkevičius, Hogan, Reynders, and Urpilainen endorsing civil society’s approach to rethinking the global textile value chain. In...
Today, the EU Commission published its much-anticipated Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP). Mathieu Rama, Senior Policy Officer at RREUSE, shared the following reaction: “A comprehensive upstream approach ensuring products are durable, repairable and re-useable is...
On 20 February 2020, the European Interreg project, 2LIFES, met in Brussels to discuss re-use initiatives from the public sector. Organised by RREUSE, this Workshop for Capacity-Building Building aimed to train and inform the partnership about the best re-use...
The newly released “European Green Deal” contains a palpable sense of support for improved social inclusion in a green and just transition but lacks urgency and detail on exactly how the EU proposes to implement such change. The deal, referring to “new business...