Voluntary certification scheme for waste treatment (CEWASTE)

"The CEWASTE project contributed to an improved recovery of valuable and critical raw materials (CRMs) from key types of waste through traceable and sustainable treatment processes in the entire supply chain of secondary raw materials. As such, CEWASTE addressed the specific challenge to secure the sustainable access to CRMs for the EU economy and objectives set by the EU action plan for the Circular Economy, the issue of illegal trade of wastes within the EU and to non-EU countries and the need to support the development of environmentally and socially sound recycling systems globally. Specifically, the project developed, validated and launched a voluntary certification scheme for collection, transport and treatment facilities of key types of waste containing significant amounts of valuable and critical raw materials. To ensure a comprehensive approach and a robust result, the project was developed along the following six specific objectives: Objective 1 - Understand existing recovery practice, standards and verification schemes; Objective 2 - Develop sustainability and traceability requirements; Objective 3 - Develop an assurance system and related verification procedures; Objective 4 - Validate the new voluntary scheme; Objective 5 - Ensure long term sustainability of the scheme; Objective 6 - Ensure a transparent stakeholder process."