The Nature Restoration law, which was agreed upon between the European Parliament and the Council a year back, came into force this Sunday August 18, is a big win for the environment and EU citizens.
The Nature Restoration Law, the very first for the Bloc, is a regulation that aims to put in action measures to restore at least 20% of EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems that require restoration by 2050.
More importantly, the law spells out specific legally binding targets for all ecosystems, such as terrestrial, marine, freshwater and urban.
The law responds to an urgent redressal of Europe’s declining natural habitat, more than 80% of which is in a poor condition, and the rich diversity of species it supports.
According to the fine print, the law calls upon EU members states to restore degraded land and sea habitats across member states’ territories, with the overarching objective to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts and enhance food security across the bloc.
In relation to restoration of habitats deemed in poor condition, the regulation directs the members states to put in place measures to ensure restoration of three ambitions: at least 30% of habitats; at least 60% by 2040, and at least 90% by 2050.
The law states that EU nations develop and submit draft national restoration plans within two years of the law coming into force, charting the path forward for 2030, 2040, and 2050. For more detailed information on the regulation, click here.
Wood2Wood (W2W) project steadfastly supports the Nature Restoration law because it serves to restore nature and biodiversity for European citizens to be able to enjoy quality of life in sync with protecting the living environment and enable EU to meet its international climate commitments. In doing so, the law promotes both restoration and resource efficiency.
Fundamentally, EU’s Nature Restoration law and W2W’s objectives have three linkages. Firstly because, W2W project aims to recycle, upcycle, and sustainably use untapped wood waste derived from construction, demolition (C&D), and furniture waste into cost-effective secondary raw material source, thereby reducing the need for virgin resources and enhancing resource efficiency. On the other hand, the EU law aims to restore ecosystems across the bloc.
Secondly, the EU law is critical to achieve climate neutrality. W2W project contributes on this front by ensuring that wood from C&D and furniture waste are separated, sorted and cleaned to increase circularity of secondary raw materials but also demonstrate efficient and sustainable value chains for wood with pollutants, thereby promoting a circular economy.
Lastly, both the law and W2W signal regulatory compliance. For both to succeed, robust regulations and compliance are required. For W2W, enhanced regulations are needed to support the use of upcycled and recycled wood materials by the industry to promote circularity of secondary raw materials. To facilitate and empower this process, the project will focus on skills development, collaborative training, capacity building, standards and certification contributions, policy influence, and circular business models.
Why is the project focus on C&D, Furniture Waste?
The project’s focus on utilising waste from the C&D (20%-30% of total building-related), and furniture sectors (10 million tonnes discarded each year by businesses and consumers) is prudent. Both sectors generate significant volume of wood waste, which carry enormous recycling potential to generate abundant and cost-effective secondary raw materials.
For example, while Construction and Demolition waste accounts for more than a third of all waste generated in the EU (EU Environment), total yearly furniture waste is around 10.78 million tonnes, of which 80-90% is either incinerated or sent to landfills, and around 10% recycled (CORDIS Europe).
Under the EU’s Waste Framework Directive, C&D waste stream is a priority sector with the dual objective to ensure environmentally-sound waste management practices and utilise the untapped potential to maximum value for transitioning to a closed-loop circular economy.
The transition to a Circular Economy is a key driver for a more cleaner and competitive Europe, and the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), part of the Green Deal, spells out the new action plan for sustainable growth in the bloc.
Our project doesn’t just stop at recovering wood from waste. From these waste streams (industrial and urban), W2W aims to further recycle using innovative processes (such as chemical processes, among others) fossil-based carbons from coatings, plaints, plastics and preservatives, thereby ensuring further valorisation of other substances.
But this isn’t the only issue with wood waste. Recycling and upcycling them are riddled with challenges, such as irregular and unpredictable availability of such waste streams, complexity of sorting and cleaning mechanisms, coupled with inadequate rules and regulations that don’t fully support uptake of upcycled raw materials. On top of that, prevalent waste management strategies privilege landfilling and energy recovery over material recovery.
Thus, W2W proposes a comprehensive framework for multi-dimensional cascade-valorisation of wood from C&D and furniture waste, consisting of four core components/pillars:
1) Advanced Separation and Sorting Technologies;
2) Upcycling Processes and Technologies;
3) Digital Tools for Improving Circular Flows of Secondary Materials; and
4) Supportive Framework in Policy, Market, and Skills.
Ultimately, W2W’s holistic approach will reduce the demand for virgin materials, reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or incineration facilities, allow for the creation of new value-added products from waste materials, and support the transition towards a circular economy by promoting closed-loop systems where materials are continually repurposed and reused, extending their useful life.
To view our pillars of innovation, head over to our Research Areas section for details.