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After frying frites, bitterballen, churros or arancini, many people don’t think twice about disposing of used cooking oil. Yet one litre of waste oil can contaminate one million litres of water, according to the European Commission. At Cargill’s facility in the port of Ghent, Belgium, used cooking oil and other residual oils and fats are treated as raw materials, cleaned and converted into biodiesel for trucks and ships. This puts circularity into practice on an industrial scale at one of Europe’s largest facilities of its kind. Since production began, Ghent’s biodiesel is estimated to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1,188,000 tonnes compared with fossil diesel, equivalent to taking about 550,000 cars off the road for a year. Read the full story on Invested in Europe.

On Wednesday, 9 September, AmCham EU hosted a roundtable on transatlantic consumer cooperation as a part of the European Union’s International Product Safety Week and the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization’s International Symposium. The discussion explored how closer EU-US cooperation could improve consumer outcomes in practice, from product safety and recalls to fair commercial practices, as the European Commission prepares to revise the Consumer Protection Cooperation framework.

The exchange began with reflections on the state of play of transatlantic consumer cooperation from Sarah Wilson, Partner and Chair of the Product Safety Practice Group, Covington; Pierre Minoves, Acting Policy Assistant, Cabinet of Commissioner McGrath, European Commission; and Léa Auffret, Director, Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue. This was followed by a discussion with leading EU and US experts, officials and AmCham EU member representatives about how improving EU-US cooperation in consumer protection can deliver benefits for businesses, consumers and regulators. Thank you to Covington for sponsoring and to Razvan Antemir (Amazon), Chair, Consumer Affairs Committee, AmCham EU for moderating.

Together with 21 other associations, AmCham EU is calling on EU policymakers to modernise product information requirements and allow regulatory information to be delivered digitally, as a complement or alternative to physical documentation. Paper-based obligations and fragmented language requirements complicate supply chains and generate unnecessary waste. Digital delivery can make information more accessible and available in consumers’ preferred languages, while supporting the EU’s simplification goals. As the Commission revises the New Legislative Framework, policymakers should establish a clear legal basis for digital product information across sectors, while preserving flexibility where physical information remains necessary across the EU. Learn more in the joint statement.