Enhancing ecodesign and circularity of consumer electronics

From the Commission's own budget table for this call. Confirm against the topic page before you plan around it: these move when a work programme is amended.

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: material and product manufacturers apply relevant ecodesign, including design for circularity and design for recycling principles in developing and manufacturing products that contribute significantly to EU climate and through reduction of emissions and resource extraction to biodiversity goals, zero pollution, water resilience, circular economy, as well as open strategic autonomy; consumers benefit from more sustainable and circular products, i.e. durable, reliable, reusable, reparable, upgradable, recyclable products including increased recycled content. Scope: Electrical and electronic equipment continues to be one of the fastest growing waste streams in the EU, with current annual growth rates of 2%. It is estimated that less than 40% of electronic waste is collected in the EU. [1] Value is lost when fully or partially functional products are discarded because they are not reparable, the battery cannot be replaced, the software is no longer supported, or materials incorporated in devices are not recovered. Increasing recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic equipment is a strategic priority to mitigate supply risks. Today, CRM recovery rates are generally low, with increases requiring new recovery processes and interface optimisation with pre-processing to ensure appropriate material flows for efficient recovery are generated. [2] Proposals should: develop, test and demonstrate new or improved ecodesign of consumer electronics, including design for durability, reusability, reparability, disassembly, separability, recyclability, uptake of recycled content. This may include design solutions for the reuse of components and for easier dismantling leading to increased reparability, remanufacturing or recycling with use of solutions and technologies such as active disassembly/debonding materials and adhesives, and design solutions targeting critical and strategic raw materials; assess and provide recommendations for mechanisms and incentives to address the trade-offs with costs and innovation limitations and to reward design for circularity and product durability – such as extended guarantees, “second” VAT reduction, or others –, and test and demonstrate new business models such as leasing and product-service-systems, to the extent that they reinforce positive design changes. Proposed solutions need to be aligned with chemical safety principles (SSbD) and in compliance with relevant legislation such as RoHS. The environment…

2 projects have been funded under this line (HORIZON-CL6-CIRCBIO-01) in Horizon Europe and H2020. This is what they were made of — not a recommendation, just what the Commission signed.

The mix of organisations

Who coordinated them

Coordinating an EU project is a demanding, specific job. These organisations have done it on this topic line before.