Aware of the role they can play in reducing the environmental impact of their renovation and deconstruction activities and in facilitating the adoption of sustainable products and secondary raw materials, European SMEs in the construction sector (EBC) called, on Monday 14 September, for their specificities to be taken into account in order to best serve the EU's second action plan for a circular economy (see EUROPE 12444/1).
To this end, EBC is asking in particular for regulatory initiatives to be assessed and designed taking into account the specific needs and constraints of SMEs.
According to the organisation, these initiatives need to:
- ensure the availability of a sufficient number of waste treatment facilities located close to companies or construction sites;
- establish a multilingual online platform to exchange best practices on deconstruction and renovation activities and on the integration and promotion of recycled/reused materials and products;
- to provide EU funding for awareness/training programmes on deconstruction works and waste prevention activities at all levels in the building sector;
- to revise building product standards to increase the incorporation of secondary raw materials;
- establish rules on the reuse of materials and products in terms of liability and insurability;
- ensure that the Construction Products Regulation (EU 305/2011) is the only piece of legislation governing the declaration of durability of the performance of construction products and the accompanying technical specifications;
- guarantee an appropriate financial framework to stimulate measures to improve the sustainability and adaptability of the EU's built environment;
- make the digital transformation of the built environment and the construction sector a priority in European funding programmes and to pay particular attention to the inclusion of SMEs.
See the position paper: https://bit.ly/3kgIogM (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)