1. Waste in the Circular Economy package: policy update
Rozalina Petrova
DG Environment
1 March 2016
Luxembourg

2. Policy context From a Linear Economy… WASTE
NATURAL RESOURCES
TAKE
MAKE
DISPOSE
WASTE
lost value of materials and products
scarcity of resources and unstable supply of raw materials
volatile prices of resources
waste generation
environmental degradation & climate change

3. …to a Circular Economy
maintaining the value of products, materials and resources in the economy for as long as possible
alleviating security of supply risks
boosting the economy by up to +7% GDP
Increasing competitiveness, creating new business opportunities, and introducing innovative products and services
creating jobs in the EU
reducing waste generation, GHG emissions and other environmental impacts
Growth and job creation – Up to +7 % GDP: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, (2015) “Growth within: A circular Economy vision for a competitive Europe"
Up to €600 billion in savings – 8 % of annual turnover for business in the EU, Reducing total annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2-4 %

4. Circular Economy Package
Adopted by the Commission 2 December 2015
Action Plan
Communication
List of Follow-up
Initiatives (Annex)
4 Legislative
proposals on waste

5. Diversity of actions
Production: Promote reparability, durability, and recyclability in future Eco-design requirements (first steps: requirements on electronic displays, e.g. TV screens); Promotion of best practices for waste management and resource efficiency in industrial sectors; Facilitate industrial symbiosis (waste or by-products of one industry becomes inputs for another).
Consumption: encourage reuse activities (e.g. waste proposal); eco-design: availability of spare parts; guarantees and action on false green claims; Circular Economy criteria in Green Public Procurement
independent testing programme to assess possible planned obsolescence better labelling: EU Eco-label, Environmental Footprint
Waste management: Revised legislative package on waste; Work with Member States to improve waste management on the ground, including to avoid overcapacities in residual waste treatment (e.g. incineration and MBT); Ensure that Cohesion Policy contributes to EU waste legislation, guided by the EU waste hierarchy.
Secondary raw materials: quality standards for secondary raw materials, EU regulation on fertilisers, legislative proposal on minimum requirements for reused water, analysis on the interface between chemicals, product, and waste legislation, EU-wide electronic system for cross-border transfers of waste
Innovation & investment: Horizon 2020 initiative launched on ‘Industry 2020 in the Circular Economy’ (€650 million) ; pilot ‘innovation deals’ to address potential regulatory obstacles for innovators
targeted outreach of EU funding, as Cohesion Policy Funds and for SMEs, new platform for financing the Circular Economy with European Investment Bank and national promotional banks
Monitoring: develop a monitoring framework for the Circular Economy in close cooperation with the European Environment Agency (EEA)
Priority sectors
Plastics
Objectives
Increase efficiency in recycling - less than 25% of plastic waste collected is recycled, and about 50% goes to landfill
Actions
New strategy on plastics, including marine litter.
A more ambitious target for the recycling of plastic packaging in the legislative proposal on waste.
Food Waste
Reach Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste by 2030 – today around 100 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in the EU.
Develop an EU methodology to measure food waste.
Create a platform for the SDG on food waste and to share best practice and results achieved.
Clarify EU legislation relating to waste, food and feed, and facilitate food donation.
Improve the use and understanding of date marking along the food chain (e.g."best before" label).
Critical Raw Materials
Increasing efficient use and recovery of CRMs.
Prepare a report on best practices and options for further action at the EU level.
Incentives/requirements in the waste directives.
Construction & Demolition
Identify and increase recovery of valuable materials
Ensure recovery of valuable resources and adequate waste management in the construction and demolition sector, as well as facilitate assessing the environmental performance of buildings
Develop pre-demolition guidelines to boost high-value recycling as well as voluntary recycling protocols aimed to improve quality of and build confidence
Biomass & bio-based products
Support an efficient use of wood and bio-based products
Increase recycling of bio-waste
Promote an efficient use of bio-based resources through a series of measures, such as the promotion of the cascading use of biomass and support to innovation in the bio-economy
New target for recycling wood packaging and a provision to ensure the separate collection of bio-waste

6. Waste Proposals

7. Why is action needed? low levels of recycling
high levels of landfilling
incineration of recyclable waste
lack of long-term certainty to plan investments
loss of valuable materials
missed growth and jobs opportunities
negative impacts on land, water and climate
review clauses in the waste legislation by 2014
even with full implementation of existing legislation, valuable resources are being lost
gap between existing targets and ambition level of the Resource Efficiency Roadmap and the 7th EAP
possibility to do more than existing targets – important benefits to capture
1st package withdrawn in January 2015 with a view to adopting a more ambitious package by the end of 2015
better, more consistent EU legislation
not only focusing on waste management
a robust set of medium and longer-term targets
addressing MS difficulties and specificities
provisions on EPR and economic instruments
improved reporting and statistics

8. Background Review clauses in existing Directives (WFD, PPWD, LD)
Extensive stakeholder consultations and impact assessment
Discussions with MS on Commission's July 2014 proposals
New proposals: ambitious while taking account of differences between MS

9. Common EU target for recycling 65% of municipal waste by 2030

10. New targets: municipal waste recycling
one calculation method based on effective recycling
possible 5-year extension for 7 MS recycling less than 20% in 2013
review clause (2025) to consider more stringent targets
Note: Data for 2014 is not based on ‘effective’ recycling.
Exemptions: Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Malta, Romania and Slovakia

11. New binding target to reduce landfill to 10% of municipal waste by 2030

12. New targets: municipal waste landfilling
by 2030: maximum 10% landfilling
possible 5-year extension for the same 7 Member States suggested for the recycling rate
review clause (2025) to consider more stringent targets
7 Member States: Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Malta, Romania and Slovakia

13. Common EU target for recycling 75% of packaging waste by 2030

14. New targets: recycling packaging waste
clarification on measuring (same as for municipal waste)
repeal of the recovery and maximum recycling targets
new target for aluminium

15. Recycling calculation rules
Coverage of ‘municipal waste’: one single method (OECD/Eurostat-based definition)
Main rule to calculate recycling rates: input to the final recycling (derogation: output of sorting operation if losses are < 10% and quality control/tracking system is in place)
'Preparation for re-use' activities (in extended definition) and recycling of metals resulting from incineration can be taken into account
Current rules:
Decision 2011/753/EU (art.2, par. 2)
"The weight of the waste prepared for reuse, recycled or materially recovered shall be determined by calculating the input waste used in the preparation for reuse or the final recycling or other final material recovery processes. […]. Where waste is collected separately or the output of a sorting plant is sent to recycling or other material recovery processes without significant losses, that waste may be considered the weight of the waste which is prepared for reuse, recycled or has undergone other material recovery."
Decision 2005/270/EC (art. 3, par. 4)
"The weight of recovered or recycled packaging waste shall be the input of packaging waste to an effective recovery or recycling process. If the output of a sorting plant is sent to effective recycling or recovery processes without significant losses, it is acceptable to consider this output to be the weight of recovered or recycled packaging waste."
Rationale for change:
Improve reliability and comparability of statistics
Lack of definition of “non-significant” losses
Divergent outcomes depending on the point of measurement
Extensive consultation of stakeholders & MS
Two options to report recycling:
- Input into final recycling process (cf. definition)
- Output of sorting under the following conditions:
- Output of the sorting operation is sent into final recycling
- Weight of rejects below 10%
- Effective system of quality control and traceability
Possibility to count recycling of metals taking place in conjunction with incineration 15

16. Taking into account reuse
Main change
MS may choose to count prep for reuse of non-waste (products & components) against the new WFD & PPWD targets
Conditions
Products & components prepared for reuse by recognised preparation for reuse operators/deposit-refund schemes
Use verified data from operators and use the formula in Annex VI:

17. Reporting System of triennial implementation reports to be repealed
Monitoring on the basis of annual reporting on waste statistics (with quality assurance measures)
Commission can issue early warning reports 3 years ahead of target deadline (link to 'compliance promotion')
MS notification of 5-year time extension 2 years ahead of target deadline to be accompanied by implementation plan + technical assistance from COM 17

18. Waste prevention & economic instruments
Reinforced waste prevention measures (compulsory measures incl on food waste; use of indicators & targets by MS; implementing acts incl on food waste measurement methodology)
By-products and end-of-waste status (conditions as such unchanged; more active role for MS to apply them; possibility for EU-wide and national criteria to apply conditions + ad hoc decisions)
General requirements for EPR schemes
MS to put in place economic instruments to promote waste hierarchy
Food waste: The use of food that is no longer appropriate for human consumption to produce animal feed should be supported. Plant based substances used for feed are therefore excluded from the scope of the WFD. This should prevent food waste, particularly, in the primary production, in processing and manufacturing. 18

19. Other key provisions MS to ensure separate collection of bio-waste
MS to promote sorting systems for C&D waste
MS to set electronic registries on hazardous waste data
Exclusion of feed materials defined in art 3(2) g of Regulation 767/2009 from scope of WFD
Possible exemption from registration requirement for companies collecting/transporting small amounts of non-hazardous waste
Provisions on littering 19

20. Benefits
More efficient waste management system: €30 billion savings ( )
More employment: direct jobs
GHG emissions reduction: 600 million tonnes ( )

21. Learn more about the waste policy and targets review:
Next steps: more than 50 key actions included in the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy
timeline for implementation
progress report 5 years after adoption
actions to be developed in line with the Better Regulation principles
European Parliament and Council to decide on the 4 waste legislative proposals – discussions have started.
Compliance promotion is going on, eg a seminar on separate collection in January.