The European legislation on Ecodesign sets out minimum environmental requirements for the so-called 'energy-related products' that are authorised for sale in Europe. This results in products using less energy.

In the search for a circular economy, it may also be useful to impose requirements in relation with material efficiency. For instance, it may be required to make better recyclable and more repairable products. This may reduce the waste amount and increase consumers' satisfaction. Attempts are currently being made to transform those concepts into measurable requirements ('standards') in order to use them in legislation.

With the purpose of supporting the elaboration of standards, the FPS HFCSE ordered a research into a 'RRR-index'. This a theoretical score for the 'Recyclability', the appropriate use ('Recoverability') and the reusing possibilities ('Reusability') of a product.

The research demonstrates that it is possible to set up a score for the appropriate use and the recyclability of a product, and provides a first sketch for calculating this score.