European States Miss Deadline for Tough Packaging Waste Law

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 18, 2005 (ENS) - Europeans are being asked to recycle a much higher percentage of their used packaging - paper, glass, metals, plastics or wood - under a new law that was supposed to be written in every state across the EU by today.

August 18 is the date set for all EU member states to have written their own national legislation to match an EU Directive setting higher recycling and recovery targets for packaging waste. But only five of the 25 states have met the deadline.

The new Directive updates and strengthens an earlier Directive from 1994 by requiring greater amounts of materials to be recycled or incinerated in facilities that recover energy. The law aims to further reduce the negative environmental impacts created by the landfilling and incineration of packaging waste and by the production of virgin packaging materials.

So far only Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom have informed the European Commission that they have transposed the Directive into their own national laws.

Recycle more of all packaging wastes is the message the European Commission is attempting to communicate. (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, “The new recycling targets are a further step on our way towards a more sustainable society. They strengthen the recycling industry. They also enable consumers to actively participate in recycling schemes and to show their commitment to a more responsible management of packaging waste."

The new Packaging Directive roughly doubles packaging recycling targets and strengthens the target for recovery. It also clarifies the definition of packaging and allows certain provisions to be implemented by voluntary agreements if they deliver what is legally required.

Once the member states have sent their legislation to the Commission, it checks the laws for compliance and can, if necessary, take further action. The Commission can open infringement procedures against member states that do not meet transposition deadlines, but often holds back on taking legal action in the hope that member states will comply voluntarily.

"I am confident that member states will do their utmost to implement the new rules swiftly so they can have full effect throughout the EU,” Dimas said.

Georgina Bloomfield, recycling campaigner at Friends of the Earth UK said, "Recycling in England has been improving, but we need to ensure that the momentum for providing better services continues."

Cereal box joins other paper waste in a British recycling bin. (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

The new targets need to be achieved between 2008 and 2015, depending on the member state. The original 12 EU countries, including the UK, must meet the targets by 2008.

Most of the newly admitted EU member states must meet the targets by 2010 - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia.

Greece, Ireland and Portugal have until 2011 to meet the targets, while Malta, Poland and Latvia have even longer to comply.

One target is to achieve 60 percent recovery of packing or incineration at waste incinerators with energy recovery, by those dates.

For overall recycling the target is raised from 25-45 percent under the previous law to 55-80 percent under the new one.

Each member state has a different percentage of overall recycling it must achieve - Germany has the highest target, 74 percent, while Greece has the lowest, 33 percent.

Germany has managed to become European leaders in tackling household packaging waste, achieving up to 70 percent recycling rates for many materials through the green dot system.

Packaging fillers pay a corporation, Duales System Deutschland (DSD), a licensing fee to put the green dot trademark on their packaging. The fee depends on the type of packaging material and its volume or weight.

Householders have two bins - one for normal waste and another for packaging showing the green dot. DSD arranges for the collection of all material from householders' green dot bins using local collection firms. Recyclers enter into contracts with DSD to reprocess the packaging waste.

The green dot is placed on packaging that is picked up from a designated bin.

Throughout Europe, there are now 100,000 licensed packaging producers who use the green dot, recovering 460 billion pieces of packaging waste a year.

Still, DSD has been criticized for the cost of its service, and has clashed with the German government and the EU administration over the company's monopolistic tendencies.

For some member states, the new targets are much higher than the old ones. In Belgium, for instance, the old glass recycling target was 15 percent - the new one, which must be met by 2008, is 93 percent.

Recyling avoids the environmental impacts related to the production of virgin materials and saves resources and avoids emissions to air and water during the production process. Less packaging waste is sent to final disposal, which avoids further air and water emissions, and also reduces the need to create new landfills and incinerators.