FIS Pre-cycle Agreements
The FIS PreCycle Agreement provides a direct link between the manufacturer and user of a construction product to ensure that at end-of-service-life, the material can be recovered, repurposed, recycled or processed in the most environmentally way by keeping the product at its highest value application and importantly avoiding landfill.
FIS has developed a new approach to planning for end of life, “precycle agreements”. The pre-cycle scheme is new, after verification,
it will allow a manufacturer to engage with individual clients at the point of sale and agree to take the product back, either into a closed-loop recycling or for refurbishment and offered back to the market.
It takes away the challenge of a take back all, which would currently be impossible, and it will encourage design for disassembly and the use of materials that can be recycled”. A pre-cycle agreement is a two-stage process:
STAGE 1
The first stage is to create a manufacturer’s “declaration”.
The manufacturer provides evidence that they have an active take-back scheme, i.e. that they can take back products in the factory for close-loop recycling or reuse.
The evidence is checked by a third-party verifier appointed by FIS to confirm that the evidence meets the requirements of the scheme.
STAGE 2
A pre-cycle declaration is signed by the manufacturer and the user of the product. The agreement is project-specific and provides a clear description of; the product that is covered, the requirements for the manufacturer to take back the product, e.g. logistics, packaging and which parts of the product are recycled or reused – the pre cycle agreement only applies to close loop recycling so where the product is recycled within the manufacturer’s factory or reuse.
FIS engaged members and our Sustainability Leadership Group throughout the development of the scheme and feedback on the pilot scheme has been positive. It will enable manufacturers to engage with end users at an early stage. Once installed in a building, manufacturers lose control of their products making take-back schemes difficult.
The pre-cycle agreement will bring early engagement and give more chances for products to be reused or recycled through a more efficient process that is considered at tender stage.
Scheme Criteria
Read the detailed scheme criteria here
If you are interested in getting involved as a manufacturer in this exciting initiative email: flavielowres@thefis.org