“Steel is 100% recyclable and the steel industry is itself one of the largest recyclers in Europe. The scrap sourced by steel companies is efficiently transformed by our industrial processes into various products” said Axel Eggert, Director General of the European Steel Association (EUROFER). “It is therefore important that the revision of the Waste Framework Directive recognises this through the adoption of the definition of final recycling process, in order to better support recycling in Europe.”
“Passing from the various existing recycling calculation methodologies to just one new methodology cannot be achieved overnight, but it is necessary and needs the cooperation of all the stakeholders involved”, added Eggert. “The measurement of real recycling – i.e. assessing the recycling rates at the input into the final recycling process – is one of the cornerstones that needs to be in place to build-up a functioning circular economy in which unintended trade-offs are avoided”.
“EUROFER call on the European Parliament to support this view, laying thus the foundation elements of the Circular Economy within the Waste Framework Directive”, concluded Eggert.
In December 2016, the European federations representing circular materials – paper, steel and non-ferrous metals – joint forces backing real recycling.
