Last year European Commission published a series of planned actions and proposed options to combat the problem of substances of concern in products and waste. European Commission assessed EU rules applicable to waste management and opened a consultation to receive stakeholder feedback to these options and questions posed with regard to four issues:

• insufficient information about substances of concern in products and waste.
• the presence of substances of concern in recycled materials.
• uncertainties about how materials can cease to be waste.
• difficulties in applying EU waste classification methodologies and impacts on the recyclability of materials.

The Commission said it will launch a feasibility study, to be completed by the end of 2019, on the use of different information systems, tracing technologies and strategies which could enable relevant information to flow along article supply chains and reach recyclers.