It is becoming increasingly clear that linear modes of production and consumption are unsustainable. A circular economy would help to minimize both environmental and social problems. As a result, the concept is gaining momentum in the political discourse. However, current policies do not seem sufficient to transform linear value chains to circular ones. This paper compares the potentials of and prerequisites for a circular economy along two important value chains. As a best practice example, the legal framework along the battery value chain is analyzed. This analysis is used to derive recommendations for how to improve the legal framework along the building value chain. We find that the battery value chain is already addressed by targeted instruments and the instruments addressing the building value chain have to be aligned and their credibility improved through mandatory requirements. A value chain-specific approach to develop the legal framework is promising for key sectors, while both general frameworks and value chain-specific instruments are required to fully exploit the CE for every product.
Electric kettles are found in almost every household in the European Union. Within the preparatory study to establish the Ecodesign Working Plan 2015–2017, the electricity consumption of this product group in Europe was estimated at 20 to 33 TWh in 2012, with an energy-saving potential of more than 20%. This led to an Ecodesign preparatory study on kettles in 2020 to analyse the potential role of environmental policy-making for electric kettles in Europe in more detail. Based on elements from this study, this paper reviews worldwide policies covering this product group, methods to assess its energy efficiency and analyses of the potential of technical improvements to enhance energy efficiency. A method is suggested for measuring the power of kettles, and corresponding power-temperature measurements of selected kettles are presented. Overall, the findings indicate that technical optimization alone has a limited potential to improve the energy efficiency of kettles and to highlight the absence of a standard for measuring the energy consumption of electric kettles. However, user-related aspects of operating kettles offer a substantial saving potential. Heating too much water or at higher than required temperatures increase the energy consumption and related energy costs of private households. This could provide leverage for policy makers to improve the market and to reduce the environmental impact of this product group beyond mere technical optimization of energy efficiency, including aspects related to circular economy and energy sufficiency.
The EU Ecodesign Directive was introduced as a framework to improve the environmental impact of energy-using and later energy-related products. From the beginning, the directive offered the possibility to consider not only the energy consumption of a product during its use phase, but a wider range of environmental aspects throughout the life cycle of a product, including circular economy aspects. We developed a circular economy taxonomy and analysed the coverage of functional and informational circular economy requirements in the 27 product groups regulated by ecodesign implementing measures from 2008 until 2021 by performing a content and keyword analysis of the legislative texts of 30 implementing measures and 16 amendments or repeals. We found circular economy requirements in 75% of currently regulated product groups and an increase in circular economy requirements over time and in particular in the legislations published in 2019. We found lighting products to be outliers, with many circular economy requirements early on and a focus on durability. For white goods, the focus was found to be on repairability requirements.
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