EU adopts the 2025–2030 Ecodesign working plan
The European Commission has adopted the first working plan under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), setting out which products will face new rules on durability, reparability and recyclability over the next five years.
Six priority product groups
The plan prioritises six product groups: steel and aluminium, textiles and apparel, furniture, tyres, mattresses, and energy-related products. Alongside these it introduces a horizontal repairability requirement that can apply across categories, pushing manufacturers to design goods that can be opened, serviced and kept in use rather than replaced.
Digital Product Passports
The working plan also underpins Digital Product Passports — structured records of a product's materials, components and repair information. Such passports make reversible processes practical at scale: a repairer or remanufacturer can know exactly what a product contains and how to take it apart before they start work.
From recycling to keeping value
By aiming at durability, reparability and recyclability together, the ESPR shifts emphasis from end-of-pipe recycling towards keeping products and materials in use. That is the heart of reversible manufacturing: preserve the embedded labour and energy of a product instead of grinding it back into raw material.