**2.4 Eco-design Directive, energy labelling regulation, and the EU ecolabel**

The EU's Eco-design Directive is different from most directives in that it is a framework directive, it does net set any standards in itself but provides a framework for regulations that now cover over 30 product groups, mostly within in the EEE sector2,3 [27]. While most legislations under the Eco-design Directive are mandatory, some are voluntary agreements. Most of the requirements stemming from these legislations regard the sustainability of products and can cover a wide range of rules, such as material requirements, ease of disassembly, the availability of service manuals and spare parts, cleaner production processes, and (further) rules on EPR.

The EU's Energy Labelling Regulation, which came into force this year and replaced Directive 2010/30/EU, requires products from certain product groups to carry energy labels on their packaging [28]. The label assigns an energy class to products so consumers can easily compare products on their energy consumption as well as some other product-group specific information. Labels also carry a QR code so consumers can easily find more information regarding a product in the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling database.

The EU's Ecolabel Regulation, most recently updated in 2009, provides a voluntary scheme so producers can market their products as best of class [29]. Ecolabel requirements are set up for specific product groups and aim to identify the top 10% most sustainable products within a product group. The Ecolabel certification of a product often involves performing a life cycle assessment and life cycle costing analysis. The development of requirements is an ongoing process performed by the European Commission's Product Bureau<sup>4</sup> .

The eco-design, energy labelling, and Ecolabel regulations often set high voluntary standards. These standards provide a way for producers to differentiate their products. Furthermore, they are often used as requirements in green public procurement within the EU in addition to other product group specific criteria<sup>5</sup> . As public procurement forms 14% of the EU's market purchases, green public procurement has become a key policy instrument for the European Green Deal and the EU's Circular Economy Action Plans [2, 28, 29].

### **2.5 WEEE collection trends in the EU**

As of 2017, only 2 EU countries managed to reach the 65% household WEEE collection target, of which one country (Bulgaria) only achieved it by using a different definition in their reporting according to the Eurostat env\_waselee

<sup>1</sup> https://www.euractiv.com/section/batteries/news/brussels-in-balancing-act-to-gain-eu-support-forbattery-regulation/

<sup>2</sup> https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-products/list-regulationsproduct-groups-energy-efficient-products\_en

<sup>3</sup> https://ec.europa.eu/info/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/productslabelling-rules-and-requirements/energy-label-and-ecodesign/energy-efficient-products/voluntaryagreements-under-eco-design-legislation\_en

<sup>4</sup> https://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/product-bureau/product-groups

<sup>5</sup> https://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/eu\_gpp\_criteria\_en.htm

database on WEEE6 . 18 out of the EU27 countries, as well as the UK, did reach the 45% collection rate target that was at that time still the requirement. Over time, the amount of household WEEE collected per capita, within the EU27, has gone up from 5.88 kg in 2011 to 7.37 kg per capita in 2017 according to Eurostat estimates, a total increase of 1.49 kg, as is shown in **Table 1**. While this means a higher amount of household EEE put to market has been collected as WEEE, the total amount of household WEEE that is not collected has also increased. In 2011, 17.36 kg of household EEE was put to market, while in 2017 20.27 kg of household EEE was put to market, an increase of 2.91 kg, nearly double amount of the WEEE that was additionally collected in 2017 over 2011, as is shown in **Table 1**. Thus, the amount of uncollected WEEE in the EU is still rising year on year. Take note that for the collection targets under the WEEE directive, the rate of household WEEE collected in a year is set against the average amount of EEE in the preceding three years, as the amount of EEE put to market is rising this results in a lower percentage in our calculations compared to those used by the EU. Nonetheless, globally Europe performs as the best region in WEEE collection, both in absolute and relative metrics [9]. Globally, the amount of WEEE generated has grown from 44.4 Megaton in 2014 to 53.6 Megaton in 2019 and is expected to grow to 74.7 Megaton in 2030, meanwhile the amount WEEE collected has only grown from 7.5 Megaton (17%) in 2014 to 9.3 Megaton (17.4%) in 2019, meaning that currently 44.3 Megaton (82.6%) of household WEEE globally ends up dumped or in the informal recycling sector [9].
