On Wednesday 29 March, an EPR Club event led by EXPRA took place. Stakeholders within the EPR Club agreed to work together towards finding common ground around a new EU-wide calculation method for recycling.
The latter must optimise current recycling practices and considerably enhance waste materials’ quality. In so doing, EPR Club stakeholders recognise that the European Commission’s proposal, under the revised waste legislation, is not ideal. In particular, this concerns the suggested ‘default measurement’ which could often take place following a number of preliminary operations in the recycling plant. This calculation would neither be feasible nor reliable.
On behalf of EXPRA, Paul Christiaens, Senior Business Analyst / International Relations Manager, Afvalfonds Verpakkingen, gave a presentation on EXPRA’s position on recycling and measurement point.
In his presentation he again underlined that following EXPRA’s own assessment of the effect of changing the current recycling calculation on the circular economy, recycled waste should be measured at the gate of the recycling plant. At the same time, EXPRA is fully aligned behind the need for ensuring that waste materials that are accounted for as recycled have adequate quality attributes. This is why we are also proposing that, in parallel, specific quality standards for waste materials be introduced at EU level, building on current national best practice.
The discussion that followed reflected a preliminary alignment behind certain premises such as the quality dimension and the need to shift to market-driven recycling. Some examples also emerged on existing national and material-specific quality standards, which could, in fact, be used to back up our approach. The proposal for a certification for recyclers was furthermore acknowledged.