Brussels, 5 December 2018 The new project “Voluntary certification scheme for waste treatment” (CEWASTE) has been launched in Brussels this month. Over the coming two years this European Horizon 2020 project will validate and launch a voluntary certification scheme for collection, transport and treatment facilities for an improved recovery of valuable and critical raw materials (CRMs) from key types of waste. CEWASTE is coordinated by the World Resources Forum and implemented together with a consortium composed of key European stakeholders in the area of electrical and electronic waste.
In her introduction for the kick-off event, EC policy officer Maria Nyberg from DG GROW emphasized the importance of CEWASTE to support the EU action plans in the area of raw materials towards circular economy. The project will be addressing the 54th action for “promotion of industry-led voluntary certification of treatment facilities for key waste and recyclate streams”.
Based on existing recovery practices, standards and verification schemes, the project will develop sustainability and traceability requirements, an assurance system and related verification procedures. The new voluntary scheme will be validated through pilots with selected and committed stakeholders of the value chain, also including partners outside of the European Union, such as in Turkey, Colombia and Rwanda.
The consortium stressed on several occasions during the kick-off, that CEWASTE will not develop a new voluntary scheme from scratch, neither formally amend existing standards. The project will focus on developing the scheme based on the current developments in recovery technologies and on the existing normative landscape in the field of waste treatment and responsible sourcing of raw materials. As a synthesis, CEWASTE will present a clear roadmap for necessary amendments of existing mechanisms and a large-scale roll-out of the scheme.
“The well-balanced composition of the consortium and adjoint advisory board will lead the way to success and sustainable results in this project”, Mathias Schluep pointed out, who together with his WRF colleague Shahrzad Manoochehri is coordinating CEWASTE.
Key consortium partners include the International Association of Electronic Waste Producer Responsibility Organisations (WEEE Forum) and European Electronic Recycler Association (EERA), who together with their members will be testing the feasibility of the certification scheme.
Other partners, such as Austrian Standards International (ASI), the European Environmental Citizens’ Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS) and the Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) will ensure high level expertise on standardization and auditing processes.
The consortium is complemented by internationally well-known experts in the area of e-waste management from Oeko Institute, Sofies, and the United Nations University (UNU).
WRF will also bring in its broad experience from international cooperation projects in waste management and raw materials and ensure a transparent stakeholder process. Previous experience in that area include the H2020 Towards a World Forum on Raw Materials (FORAM) project and the Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) programme.
More information about the project will be available soon on the project website www.cewaste.eu
