The circular economy implies reducing waste to a minimum as well as re-using, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products. What used to be considered as 'waste' can be turned into a valuable resource.

In December 2015 the European Commission presented an action plan for the circular economy, as well as four legislative proposals amending the following legal acts: Waste Framework Directive; Landfilling Directive; Packaging Waste Directive; Directives on end-of-life vehicles, on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, and on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

In February 2020 the European Commission adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan as one of the main blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth.

Considering that the construction equipment are high value and long-life capital goods, main circular economy principles have been integrated naturally in the sector. Construction machinery is characterised by a high level of reparability, re-use and remanufacturing.

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Union regulation dated 18 December 2006. REACH addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment.

On 10 September 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) announced that the notification process of an Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) in an article under the REACH Regulation applies to ‘each article in an entire article’ (each component in an entire article) when the concentration of an SVHC is more than 0.1%. Therefore, the checking and reporting in a given construction machine should be done component by component, with the high associated cost.

EU legislation restricting the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS Directive) and promoting the collection and recycling of such equipment (WEEE Directive) has been in force since February 2003. The RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS II) entered into force on 21 July 2011 and the WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE II) entered into force on 13 August 2012.

Construction equipment generally benefits from scope exclusions defined in both directives. Excluded are: non-road mobile machinery (NRMM), large-scale stationary industrial tools (LSSIT), large-scale fixed installations and equipment specifically designed for these excluded products.