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EU’s Ambitious Circular Economy Faces Challenges from Toxic Chemicals in Recycled Materials

Recycling and Waste Management

Business Honor
22 January, 2026

Zero Waste Europe warns that without stricter chemical regulations, recycling targets for plastics, textiles, and electronics could compromise public health and environmental safety.

Brussels, a prominent European waste advocacy organization, Zero Waste Europe, has called for more robust chemicals policies in the Circular Economy Act in the European Union because the lack of attention to the potential risks of exposure to these toxins could derail the processes of recycling as well as the well-being of citizens. The report, “Building a Healthy Circular Economy: Integrating Chemicals, Products, and Waste in the Circular Economy Act,” has noted the conflict in Europe between the need for a high recycling rate and the need to reduce exposure to toxins in recycled materials.

A brief description from the group provides information about how EU countries “have established ambitious goals for the amount of plastics, textiles, and electronics to be recycled by 2030.” However, the group continues to state that “together, these materials contain hazardous chemicals: some are legacy substances that are currently making the rounds in the environment through the circulating wastes, and some are in use today.” They continue to say that “recycling these materials without greater clarity about the chemicals they contain risks contaminating the environment through the resulting recycled materials.”

Dorota Napierska, Toxic Free Circular Economy Policy Officer at ZWE, explained that even with decades of evidence on the exposure of humans to dangerous chemicals, this has not been reflected in any effective way by policy. She asked that the European Commission embed safer chemicals and high standards of transparency into the CEA to support both health and economic security.

Co-author Lauriane Veillard added, "Europe's circular economy cannot rely solely on recycling if it does not tackle the root problem of chemical-contaminated products." ZWE's briefing calls for systemic change along the value chain, to better track chemicals and more stringently regulate hazardous substances, so that the practice of recycling is sustainable and safe well before the CEA's adoption in 2026.