The European
Commission proposal on End-of-Waste (EoW) criteria for paper fails to address
the objectives of increasing the quality and availability of paper for
recycling and will have an adverse impact on making Europe a resource efficient
recycling society.
Europeans
are champions in paper recycling - but for how long? In 2012, 71.7% of paper
consumed in Europe was recycled. Used paper has become the single most
important raw material for the European paper industry with some mills being
completely reliant on it for their feedstock. The Commission proposal threatens
Europe's ability to maintain its recycling rates for paper, let alone improve
them.
The
European Commission's End-of-Waste criteria for paper move the recycling and
EoW point from its current location at the paper mill to an earlier stage in
the collection. As a result of this move ‘recycled paper' will be unusable
without further reprocessing.
The
Commission cannot demonstrate any environmental benefit for doing this. As a
result the European paper industry fears the new legislation risks a lower
quality of paper for recycling and poses a threat to current high levels of
paper recycling. In fact, as the Waste Shipment Regulation would no longer
apply, environmental impact will be negative.
