In its just published report on EU and national packaging and environment legislation1, EUROPEN, The European Organization for Packaging and the Environment, has  reminded readers that the EU packaging recycling targets will not be revised at the end of this year as originally intended.

When the EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste was revised in 2004, it was agreed by the European Parliament and Member States that targets for a five year phase from 2009 until 2014 should be set not later than 31 December 2007 but now this will not be acted upon.

The EUROPEN report notes that the most recently published European Commission data shows that many of the original EU Member States have already surpassed the 2008 targets and that even new Member States are making rapid progress towards achieving them by the extended timelines they were granted at the time
they joined the European Union.

The European Commission in its report late last year on the implementation and impact of the Directive already signalled its opinion that it considers the current targets optimal and that they should remain stable to enable new Member States to catch up. The Commission stated that it intends to include an assessment of the progress made by the member states in recycling and recovering packaging waste in the promised 2010 review of the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of all waste. Currently, the EU Framework Directive on waste is under revision and Commission officials have indicated their reluctance to propose changes to any daughter directives until the revision process has been completed and its outcome assessed.

The EUROPEN publication also reports on how each of the 27 EU Member States has adapted the EU Directive into national laws and the systems established to reach the EU targets. Material specific collection of packaging waste from households and business establishments remains the prevailing method. EUROPEN’s Managing Director, Julian Carroll, notes that, “Significantly, countries such as the United Kingdom which have not fully adopted this type of strategy are among those where packaging waste remains a political and social issue”.

As EU legislation on waste undergoes further changes EUROPEN hopes that a more integrated approach will be adopted thus reducing costs to industry and citizens alike.

For further information contact EUROPEN’s Managing Director Julian Carroll on +32-2 736 36 00.