The proposed ban on the destruction of unsold clothing and footwear is a critical step to address overproduction and environmental harm caused by the textile sector. In our joint paper, we urge the European Commission to significantly tighten and clarify the conditions for derogations to the ban. The current draft proposal risks creating loopholes that undermine the regulation’s intent and allow continued wasteful practices by fast fashion operators.
Ecodesign, an EU success story, is expanding. More products than ever will soon be designed from the outset with sustainability in mind — a development that will be good for the environment and consumers. But how? And when? The Ecodesigned4LIFE project consortium, ECOS, BEUC, and ANEC, break it down.
ECOS has long advocated for ecodesign principles to apply broadly across products and sectors. This month, the first working plan for the ESPR was published, bringing us one step closer. These new ecodesign rules will eventually apply to almost all products sold on the EU market, but we are only at the beginning of a lengthy implementation process. We will continue to push for the most ambitious implementation.
Press release | The European Commission’s first Working Plan for implementing the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) has been published. It confirms the list of priority products this policy will tackle first to improve their sustainability – with almost all products on the EU market due to be covered eventually. The list includes textile apparel, furniture, mattresses, tyres, iron and steel, and aluminium.
Press briefing | By 19 April, the European Commission will adopt its first Working Plan to implement the new EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). It will confirm which products will be addressed first before developing performance requirements to improve their environmental sustainability – including measures on durability and repair. The Working Plan will supplement other ongoing work on ESPR implementation, such as a ban on the destruction of unsold goods. What can we expect and when? Find out in our Q&A.
Join our webinar on how the EU can lower the cost of spare parts for electronics, hosted by ECOS with the Right to Repair Europe coalition.
As a newly appointed member of the EU's Ecodesign Forum, we submit our contribution ahead of the forum's first meeting in February 2025. We include our feedback on the first ESPR working plan as well as discussions on the ban on destroying unsold consumer products.
Plastics in products have a huge impact on human health and the environment - yet they are not prioritised in the EU's new ecodesign rules. In the final text of the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation the plastics and polymers sector is not listed in the intermediate product priorities. With the Rethink Plastic alliance, we sent a letter to the European Commission outlining the crucial reasons why plastics should be prioritised in the first ESPR working plan.
Ecodesign is one of the EU’s crowning achievements, making products more sustainable by ensuring environmental impacts are considered from the outset. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) will make this a reality for more products than ever. What will happen in 2025? How will this framework be implemented? How can every product become sustainable by default?
In our joint letter to the European Commission, we express concern that addressing ‘textiles and footwear’ in a single product group under the EU's new ecodesign rules (ESPR) will focus on developing ecodesign requirements for apparel, considerably delaying specific requirements for footwear. Footwear must be a priority product group in the ESPR work plan and we need a preliminary study on ecodesign requirements specifically for footwear as quickly as possible.
ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
