Regulation and Legislation of the Circular Economy GREENLIGHT ALLIANCE
In this issue, the GreenLight Alliance speaks to several members about the obstacles and opportunities to push towards a circular economy within lighting.
The lighting industry has begun to lean into its environmental responsibilities. It has far to go, but it’s happening. What more can be done? When the topic comes up, very often it is followed by a discussion on the associated legislation. This month we enquired of a few GreenLight Alliance members how they feel on the subject of legislation, asking “where are the obstacles and opportunities in terms of accelerating transition to a circular economy within our industry?”
Nigel Harvey, CEO, Recolight
Many companies within the lighting industry are undoubtedly starting to adopt circular economy principles. That is being driven by a growing awareness of the need for real sustainability which goes beyond energy efficiency, and embraces material efficiency as well. Many manufacturers, specifiers, and end users are now building circularity within their products. But to enable us to go further and faster, we undoubtedly need legislation and enforcement to drive the change. That legislation should incentivise manufacturers and end users to do the right thing, and should also include mandatory requirements for products that are more “circular”. Incentivise reuse and remanufacture The easiest way to apply circularity in almost any situation is to keep existing product in use for longer, but with component upgrades to maximise energy efficiency. And although there is now significant interest in remanufacture within the lighting industry, it still only comprises a few percent, at best, of the total market. Government is already giving consideration to amending the WEEE regulations to recognise and reward remanufacture – possibly via a reduction in the WEEE financing obligations. But that should be extended to include fiscal measures that make reuse and remanufacture even more attractive to end users. 110 / 111
Incentivise ecodesign Designing new products to embed greater longevity, durability, and upgradeability is also important. The government is currently considering incentives that could “ecomodulate” WEEE costs – with lower WEEE fees for “good” products and higher fees for “bad” products. The system is not without its challenges, but may well have merit. Changes could also include product standards with a mandatory percentage of reused materials – particularly plastics. The painful reality is that unless recycled plastic is used in the manufacture of new products, the need for recycling at all comes into question. Standardise the metrics The industry is awash with a multiplicity of environmental product declarations, life cycle assessments, and similar. Knowing which to adopt is undoubtedly a challenge for all in the sector. Government could provide much needed direction and focus by encouraging or mandating a few methodologies. Packaging Defra has already legislated to make producers responsible for the full costs of collection and recycling of consumer packaging waste. For companies selling packaged consumer products, this will mean a significant increase in compliance costs next year. This will act as a strong incentive to reduce the amount of packaging used. Options should also be explored to extend this to commercial packaging. Enforcement New legislation is only effective when it is enforced. For far too long, there has been an underbelly of non-compliant product sold within our industry. With the continued growth of online marketplaces, that underbelly has swollen hugely in recent years. It is totally unacceptable for UK based manufacturers and sellers to comply with