Analyzing Circular Economy Aspects in ISO Type I Ecolabelling Criteria

Abstract

In recent years, a trend that moves towards the concept and development of circular economy models has appeared, focusing on ensuring that the values of products, materials and resources remains in the economy for as long as possible and also on minimising waste generation. This means optimising resource yields by circulating products, components and materials for the best utility at all times. For this purpose, the European Commission introduced a series of measures that cover the whole life cycle of products and materials to increase the value of products by promoting their longer use so as to minimise the amount of waste by designing for repair, remanufacturing, durability, refurbishing or recycling, among others. ISO-type I environmental programmes play an important role in this context as they are intended to educate and raise consumer awareness of the impacts of a product by identifying its best environmental performance during its life cycle. This encourages both producers and providers to offer environmentally friendlier choices and, in turn, compatible with the circular economy concept. With this approach, this preliminary study analyses how circular economy aspects are promoted by different ISO-type I environmental programmes. To do so, the ecolabel criteria proposed for each product category in different ISO-type I environmental programmes were reviewed to identify which circular aspects related to the life extension are already considered and in which terms. It was also determined how specific circular aspects can be further strengthened in some product groups that do not currently integrate them.