The European Union has come forward with a series of waste management legislation. Besides waste stream specific legislation, such as Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, the Directive on End of Life Vehicles or the Directive on batteries and accumulators, the following EU regulation is of interest and concern to the European engineering industry:

 

 

 

 

In order to remove overlaps and in the interest of clearer and simpler legislation, a proposal for a revised waste Directive has been issued as key implementing measures to the Commission’s broader Thematic strategy on Waste Prevention and Recycling. Fundamental issues, such as the definition of waste, end of waste criteria, how to handle by-products or classify secondary raw materials, recovery and disposal activities, are addressed in the proposal.

Orgalime follows closely the legislative developments concerning the definition of waste, a proper distinction between disposal and recovery activities, the establishment of recycling targets at the level of waste streams or materials and the overall coordination and coherence among legislative texts, and especially the existing Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment Directive (WEEE) or Eco Design of Energy Using Products Directive, which, with its life cycle approach, includes environmental aspects occurring at the waste phase.

During the ongoing revision process of the waste directive, Orgalime’s focus is on:

  • The relationship between waste and product legislation. Orgalime advocates for a legal base of article 95 of the EC Treaty for any aspects in waste legislation that constitute product policy
  • An alternative way forward, in which regulators provide clear-cut environmental objectives for treatment, recycling, incineration and landfill in order to open the option to move away from targets, be they waste-stream oriented or material specific, coupled with
  • A coherent waste policy framework without overlaps between a potential new material specific approach and a waste stream specific approach
  • Proper stakeholder involvement

For Orgalime’s activities on the waste stream specific WEEE Directive, please consult Orgalime’s WEEE webpage.

 

Picture Courtesy of NVMP