Longer life, lower costs!
To the European Commission, European Parliament, European Council, Member States, and local and regional authorities
Petition
We call on you to ensure the EU Circular Economy Act delivers a real shift towards a circular economy by:
- Setting binding, science-based targets on resource use to reduce Europe’s material footprint within planetary boundaries
- Setting binding reuse and repair targets, ensuring that EU policies deliver tangible waste prevention outcomes
- Harmonising and reforming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes through revisions of the Waste Framework Directive and WEEE Directive to focus on reuse and repair before recycling
- Requiring Member States to integrate repair and reuse infrastructure and services into national waste prevention plans.
- Requiring the sorting and assessment of all collected used devices and e-waste items by qualified professionals to determine their reusability before recycling.
- Ensuring safe and transparent material cycles by removing harmful chemicals from products and improving traceability
- Supporting cities and regions to scale local circular systems, repair networks, and reuse infrastructure
Why is this important?
Your phone breaks. You buy another. Companies profit, you pay.
It’s not your fault. It’s by design.
Think about it. A screen that cracks easily. A washing machine that fails just after the warranty. Across Europe, products are made to be replaced - not to last. [1]
And the result? Bins overflowing. Drawers filled with dead devices. Cities struggling with the waste.
But right now, EU leaders are deciding on a new law that could finally change this. [2]
Done right, it means products that last. Fixable devices that don't force you to buy again. Done wrong, we’re back to square one - paying again and again while greedy companies profit. [3]
Cities across Europe are already stepping up - from Paris to Seville - investing in repair, reuse and making products last longer. [4] But without strong EU rules, we stay stuck in the same cycle: break, replace, pay.
That’s where you come in.
If enough people speak up now, EU leaders are far more likely to stand up to corporate pressure - and back a law that works for all of us.
If you’re tired of paying again and again for products designed to fail, sign now to stop this cycle!
References:
1. https://uxplanet.org/planned-obsolescence-dark-truth-of-the-smartphone-industry-c9131c5ff7c4 ; https://www.unibocconi.it/en/news/disposable-smartphones-trick-planned-obsolescence ; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/01/appliances-were-once-built-to-last-now-theyre-built-to-break-how-do-we-fix-it
2. The Circular Economy Act - https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/circular-economy_en ; https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/eu-circular-economy-act
3. To really reduce waste, the EU should prioritise repair and reuse before recycling - for example by funding measures like repair vouchers. While current talks focus heavily on recycling, keeping products in use longer is the most effective way to prevent waste. The Circular Economy Act could support this shift. https://repair.eu/resources/r2r-input-for-circular-economy-act/
4. https://circularcitiesdeclaration.eu/current-signatories ; https://errin.eu/news/unlocking-circularity-europes-cities-and-regions-release-ccri-recommendations-circular-economy