EuRIC was proud to attend the first kick-off meeting of this Green Deal aiming to make shimpments of secondary raw materials faster and easier. ‘Fast-Tracks’ is the fifth case for the International Green Deal North Sea Resources Roundabout (NSRR) - after compost, PVC and non-ferrous metals from bottom ash and struvite. The case, initiated by Müller-Guttenbrunn GmbH and HKS Metals deals with the concept of ‘Fast-Tracks’ for WEEE: making shipments to compliant EU WEEE recyclers easier and faster. Article 14 of the European Waste Shipment Regulation provides ample basis for the concept of ‘Fast-Track Notification’, but implementation can be improved. For this case Flemish, French, UK and Dutch public and private sector experts are joined by Austrian colleagues to explore possibilities for commonly accepted criteria for pre-consents and mutual accepted processes, amongst other things. The Commission (DGENV) is following the case as an observer. 

EuRIC welcomes the introduction of the roadmap laying down the European Commission’s “Strategy on plastics in a circular economy” (‘the communication’).  As outlined in ‘the communication’, plastics is an important material for the economy, and the next great challenge will be to decouple its production from fossil feedstocks. To achieve such an objective, plastic recycling is the only solution, but it faces a number of obstacles that different policy actions must alleviate.

ERPA – EuRIC Paper Recycling Branch – is a founding Member of the European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC), created in 2000 at a time where the concept of the circular economy had not yet become a major political and economic objective. It has since the outset supported the very objectives of ERPC and promoted the value chain approach that ERPC embodied. For the first time, EuRIC Paper Recycling Branch decided not to co-sign the new “European Declaration on Paper Recycling” 2016 – 2020. 

The European Parliament’s ENVI Committee voted on 24 January 2017 on hundreds of amendments tabled on the proposals reviewing the waste legislation. The vote resulted in certain improvements supported by the European Recycling Industries Confederation (EuRIC). Nevertheless, recyclers regret that overall, on key issues, the outcome of the vote will impede the shift from a linear to a circular economy, if not corrected during the vote in plenary session.

Leading federations representing the paper value chain call for the co-legislators to support the further increase of paper recycling and safeguard the “quantity” criterion in the definition of municipal waste.