Private waste management sector welcomes European Parliament resolution

Waste management activities are integral to circular industrial chains and have a crucial role to play in ensuring circularity of our economies. In this capacity, we support the significant points raised in the resolution highlighting the need:

• to enhance the demand for secondary raw materials (SRMs) through mandatory recycled content and mandatory Green Public Procurement rules,
• to reinforce separate collection and selective sorting systems,
• to set up mandatory eco-design rules for recyclability,
• to establish recycling and recovery targets for key product value chains, and
• to put in place safe and efficient waste exports’ procedures.

However, we remain concerned about the following issues:

• – Paragraph 96: The establishment of targets to cap the generation of residual waste is not needed if recycling targets are in place, and it is not feasible in practice, especially since residual waste has no legal definition. Measures for tackling residual waste are sufficiently mentioned in the resolution;
• Paragraph 104: we deem that the aim of “minimising incineration” goes in the wrong direction. Energy recovery from waste (R1 criterion) is a necessary treatment for non-recyclable waste. Waste-to-Energy recovers the energy content of non-recyclable waste, which is safely treated, while avoiding CO2 emissions from the production of heat/electricity that would be otherwise produced through fossil fuels. Waste-to-energy installations are covered by the most stringent rules for reduction and control of pollutants emissions from industrial installations;
• Paragraph 105: selective collection should not be harmonised at EU level. Local and national considerations can be key drivers for success in finding the most adapted, efficient, environmentally, and economically sound collections systems, and for not impacting well- functioning existing systems.

Peter Kurth, FEAD’s President states: “The waste management sector is a key contributor to the decarbonisation of the EU economy. The demand for recyclates must be significantly increased. Public support for investment in separate collection, and in capacities for recovering non-recyclable waste must be given, alongside other strong measures in line with the waste hierarchy. To fully achieve the goals of the new CEAP, robust implementation and enforcement of these measures is required.”