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Thematic Strategy on Waste Prevention and Recycling
In 2003, the European Commission published a draft Communication "Towards a Thematic Strategy for the prevention and recycling of waste". The Communication includes an assessment of EU waste policy on prevention and recycling, with a view to identifying how waste management policy can develop in line with the Community's waste strategy. It focuses on the means to promote more sustainable waste management, by minimising the environmental impacts of waste while also taking into account economic and social considerations.
Waste recycling
Waste recycling has traditionally been promoted by targeting waste streams on an individual basis, for example, by introducing producer responsibility legislation on packaging waste, end of life vehicles (ELVs) and WEEE. Whilst these measures have succeeded in increasing levels of recycling and improving the quality of material separated for recycling they cover only a limited proportion of total waste generation. For example, packaging represents about 5% of total waste while ELVs and WEEE both are about 1%.
Whilst packaging legislation requires the recycling of particular waste materials such as paper and cardboard packaging, there is no requirement to collect and recycle paper from other sources. There is a similar situation with plastics from WEEE and ELVs. The draft Communication proposes that future policies should focus on materials from all applications rather than specific products.
Instruments to promote waste recycling
Economic instruments
The Commission considers that economic and market-based instruments are the most promising ways to close the economic gap between recycling and disposal to promote recycling. For example, the Commission wishes to explore the closer alignment of landfill taxes across the EU.
Producer responsibility
The current approach to producer responsibility for certain waste streams has yielded some benefits, although the Commission acknowledges that it would be inappropriate to address all waste streams in this way. Therefore, the Commission will make an assessment of where producer responsibility can be extended to other waste streams.
Tradable environmental permits
The Commission is keen to explore the use of tradable permit, such as the UK's PRN system, which is generally accepted to be a cost-effective means of achieving specified environmental objectives.
Pay-As-You-Throw schemes
Pay-As-You- Throw (PAYT), or variable charging schemes are identified as being applicable to waste from retail, small businesses and householders. However, the extent to which PAYT schemes could be mandated at the Community level may be limited by the principle of subsidiarity and differing local conditions.
Prescriptive instruments
Prescriptive instruments, such as the biodegradable municipal waste diversion targets set by the Landfill Directive, have already been implemented, and nationally some Member States have introduced other restrictions on landfill. The Commission favours incentives that would direct waste towards recycling rather than incineration, such as obligatory source separation. Prescriptive instruments fulfilling this aim could include obligatory source separation of specific wastes.
Standards for recycling
The aim of harmonising standards for recycling would be to ensure that recycling does not result in unacceptable emissions to the environment and that high-quality recycling is achieved. This could be achieved in a number of ways:
- extending IPPC to all waste technologies, to include emission limits and other process conditions;
- setting quality standards for recycling to clarify when a treatment process should be classed as 'recovery' or 'disposal'; and
- setting treatment standards for specific waste flows.
Definitions of recovery and disposal operations
The Commission recognises the difficulties surrounding the current definitions of disposal and recovery, given in Annex II A and II B of the Waste Framework Directive and is collecting the technical information necessary to revise annexes II A and II B of the waste framework directive, including the use of the definitions contained in these annexes to specify quality criteria for recycling.
Definition of waste
The Commission does not believe that the current definition of waste is a barrier to higher levels of recycling and the draft Communication is clear that the definition of waste must underpin a high level of protection of the environment.
Waste prevention
The Communication aims to develop a comprehensive strategy which includes prevention targets and measures needed to achieve them. The Commission proposes to address both quantitative (reducing the amount of waste produced) and qualitative (reducing the hazardousness of waste generated) waste prevention.
A debate will be launched on the fundamental analysis that can justify waste prevention targets and, in particular, on the link between waste prevention, resource management and Integrated Product Policy.
Next steps
The draft Communication is currently being considered by the European Parliament and the Commission aims to produce the final strategy during 2004. The Thematic Strategy will be developed alongside the Commission's Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of resources and the Soil Protection Strategy.
March 2004 
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