Section outline

  • The Waste Framework Directive establishes key concepts and definitions for waste management, including what constitutes waste, recycling, and recovery. It also sets out fundamental principles for how waste should be managed. These include ensuring that waste is handled:

    •     without posing a threat to human health or the environment
    •     without endangering water, air, soil, plants, or animals
    •     without creating nuisances such as noise or unpleasant odours
    •     and without negatively impacting the countryside or protected areas of interest

    The targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive (2025), which entered into force on 16 October 2025,  has a specific focus on Extended Producer Responsability (EPR) schemes for textiles (Article 22). The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for textiles mandates that manufacturers and brands are financially and operationally responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, particularly for collection, sorting and recycling.

    In this section, we further focus on the SCIP database, a database that collects information about hazardous substances in products placed on the EU market.

    Overview of the SCIP database

    The SCIP database, which stands for "Substances of Concern in articles as such or in complex objects (Products)" was established under the Waste Framework Directive to manage hazardous substances in products. Since 5 January 2021, companies placing articles on the EU market that contain substances of very high concern (SVHCs) from the Candidate List in concentrations above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) are required to submit information about these articles to ECHA. This information is stored in the SCIP database, which ensures transparency about the presence of Candidate List substances throughout the entire lifecycle of products and materials - including at the waste stage. The database makes this information accessible to both waste operators and consumers.

    Detailed information and guides on SCIP notifications can be found on ECHA’s website.