This fact sheet is based on the findings of the RISERS project and provides an overview of the EU’s present End-of-Waste (EoW) system, highlighting main regulatory pathways, challenges that arise, and real case studies. It explains how dispersed regulation and excessively complex procedures hinder circular economy development and cross-border trade. The factsheet further presents the RISERS proposal to replace traditional EoW criteria with harmonized standards, to simplify waste-to-secondary raw material transition and facilitate industrial symbiosis in Europe.