EU President to Push 'Sustainable Materials' Initiative

EurActiv - The Belgian EU Presidency wants to clean up industrial processes in Europe by promoting a "cradle-to-cradle" approach to resource management in the manufacturing sector, EurActiv has learned.  The study, obtained by EurActiv, advocates "a fully integrated way of addressing materials use" in manufacturing in order to limit resource depletion and air, soil and water pollution.

The objective is to move from waste policies to "materials policies," which cover the full life-cycle of products and manufactured goods, from the extraction of raw materials to product design, manufacture, consumption and disposal...In total, the study has identified twelve areas where the SMM approach could be applied, including closed loop industry systems for residues (of construction waste for example), biomaterials, cradle-to-cradle or IT systems that track the logistics supply chain. "IT can give enterprises tools to effectively manage supply chains and to monitor the product and material flow up- and downstream, in turn allowing for material savings," the study says.