Sustainability work prioritized for APPLiA and member companies

Our industry is continuously working on improvements to products, production and distribution, both in terms of technology and the environment. Here, Matts Spångberg, APPLiA, summarizes current regulations and trends in sustainability right now.

The member companies continuously strive to use materials and methods that are gentle on the environment. The APPLiA companies have worked for a long time with product development and environmental work, meaning that the products are continuously improved, not least from an environmental point of view. All member companies have their own CSR report where you can follow the companies' social responsibility for how they affect society, from both an economic, environmental and social perspective.

APPLiA strives for environmental work to be done globally or at least at EU level. National specific regulations are difficult to manage in production because manufacturing is done for a global market in order to be cost-effective for users. It is then not entirely easy, but above all time-consuming, to adjust production for national specific requirements and ultimately also more expensive for consumers. APPLiA companies have worked for a long time with product development and environmental work, meaning that the products are continuously improved, not least from an environmental point of view.

Environmental declaration, Energy labelling and Ecodesign
APPLiA was one of the pioneers in sustainability work in the late 1990s and created an environmental declaration about the content of the products. In 1998-2000, APPLiA, together with the Swedish Energy Agency and retailers, carried out a joint campaign for energy labelling for consumers. The energy label is now found on many products in several different industries. The declaration states the product's energy class and helps the customer to compare the products from an energy point of view at the time of purchase.

The Ecodesign Directive aims to improve the environmental performance of products throughout their life cycle. Ecodesign sets minimum requirements for energy performance and bans the most energy- and resource-intensive products on the EU market.

REACH, RoHS, ECHA and Electronics Tax
REACH (restrictions on chemicals) and RoHS (ban on certain chemicals) are European legislation in the chemicals sector. The legislation is clear and applies equally throughout the EU, which makes it clear during production. It is regularly revised by the EU. ECHA, the European Chemicals Agency, works for the safe use of chemicals. The agency implements the EU's new chemicals legislation and thereby contributes to better public health, the environment, innovation and competitiveness in Europe.

The electronics tax is a special national rule for Sweden and involves a tax on the use of certain substances in flame retardants. The design of the tax also means that regardless of whether a product has been produced without specified substances, the tax does not disappear. APPLiA has continuously campaigned to ensure that the rules on chemicals in flame retardants are handled within the framework of EU chemicals legislation. Substitution requires that the products are manufactured for a larger market than just a national market, which constitutes significantly less than 1 percent of the total market.

The EU's Green Deal and CBAM
A European Climate Law is one of the most important elements of the Green Deal with climate targets and reduced net emissions to be implemented in various plans until 2030-2050. CBAM is one of the regulations currently being discussed where APPLiA is actively working with advocacy to make it competitively neutral. Today's proposal may mean that products manufactured outside the EU will have a lower cost than products manufactured within the EU. This is because the carbon border adjustment mechanism with the aim of regulating greenhouse emissions does not treat input materials and products equally.

Producer responsibility for products and batteries
The APPLiA companies have purposefully and early on prioritized fulfilling all parts of producer responsibility that affect the companies' products. APPLiA was one of the driving parties in the work of starting up The Electric Circuit which handles recycling and reuse of products and batteries. All member companies are affiliated. The member companies are also affiliated with FTI which handles producer responsibility for glass, paper, plastic, metal and newspapers.

Reuse
In addition to the recycling that has begun within El-Kretsen (see above), several direct initiatives are now taking place from some of the member companies. For example, Philips has launched a website where consumers can shop for recycled products, see Shop refurbished products | Philips.

Matts Spångberg, industry manager APPLiA

Environment & sustainability