The Spanish Association for Standardization has published the new report "Standards to support the circular economy", promoted by the UNE's Circular Economy Advisory Committee.
This annual document facilitates the identification of UNE, EN, and ISO-IEC standards that support the transition towards a circular economy. It aims to be a useful resource for both private and public stakeholders seeking references for implementing circular measures and highlights the contribution of standardization to these objectives.
It compiles the standards published by UNE in 2023 that address aspects such as the characterization of secondary raw materials, requirements for circular products, communication of product circularity features, integration of circular practices, efficiency in infrastructure performance, waste management and characterization, and the management of material circularity.
The information is organized by sectors of application and includes, for each standard, a description of its specific contribution to the circular model. This document aims to facilitate the transition by providing entities of all types with practical tools already available. These standards, developed through transparent, consensus-driven, and open processes, reflect agreements reached by numerous entities in each area. Moreover, given the common European or international scope of many of these standards, they also incorporate a shared vision from organizations across different countries.
The circular economy is on the agendas of European, national, regional, and local public and private sectors. It is a central element of sustainability policies, both environmentally and economically, and represents an essential approach to mitigating the effects of resource extraction, raw material transformation, and waste generation, as well as addressing the economic impacts caused by the scarcity of essential raw materials, rising costs across the value chain, and new regulatory frameworks.
This initiative originates from the UNE Circular Economy Advisory Committee and complements the actions promoted by this Committee to contribute to national and European objectives in this field. The report was presented during its meeting of 20 November.
