Paolo Falcioni, APPLiA Director General, was invited to speak at the third edition of the Home Appliance AGD Congress, to share the European perspective with regards to the achievements of the industry in fostering circularity.
Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the globe. In this sense, “the EU Green Deal represents a reaction to a changing world where each one of us needs to do its utmost towards sustainability,” kicked off Mr Falcioni. To this end, all dimensions to the discussion need to be taken into account: economic, environmental and societal. “Over the years, the home appliance industry has been working to deliver increasingly higher efficiency standards and ensure circularity is pursued throughout the whole product lifecycle,” he continued. From the design to end-of-use, each step is carefully designed to deliver on more sustainable production and consumption patterns, fostering a ‘Circular Culture’ among European citizens.
To meet this target, it is key to ensure that materials and resources are maintained in the economy for as long as possible, that the generation of waste is minimised, and that long lasting products, sharing, digitalisation, as well as resource recovery become the standard. ”Today, 90% of the materials coming from the officially collected appliances, are recovered, recycled and ready to enter again into manufacturing loops, still one-third of resources remain undocumented,” explained Mr Falcioni, underlining the importance for Member States to commit to close the loop of material flows. "Setting the right requirements ensuring that all waste is correctly collected, reported and treated, providing a sufficient competitive economic environment for all actors is key to mitigate the impacts on society and the environment," he noted.
Overall, the home appliance industry embraces the challenge of striving towards more sustainable solutions to pave the way towards a circular economy.