Commission proposes end of recycling
The European paper industry represented by CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) organised a press action on 11 September 2013 in front of the Berlaymont with the title: End-of-Waste = end of recycling?
The European paper industry is on the ‘barricade’ and displayed seven bales of paper for recycling worth 2000 euros in front of the main European Commission building – the Berlaymont in Brussels from 7 am to 7 pm.
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 detailed reasons for this action are explained in the CEPI press release: http://www.cepi.org/topic/recycling/pressrelease/endofwaste
The Council could not reach an opinion on the End-of-Waste criteria for paper, which leaves the European Parliament to give their opinion and finally the European Commission to decide whether to publish these criteria as they are or to re-work them.
Here pictures of the press conference and the press action in front of the Berlaymont: http://www.cepi.org/photogallery/endofwasteprotest, http://www.cepi.org/photogallery/endofwastepressconference
Video footage: http://youtu.be/guXtZf7XKSk
Commission proposal for end-of-waste
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2013:0502:FIN:EN:PDF
European Paper Recycling: monitoring report
http://www.paperforrecycling.eu/uploads/Modules/Publications/WEB_lowres_Monitoring%20report%202012.pdf
For more information, contact Daniela Haiduc or at +32 473 562 936