‘Auto-Oil’ style talks possible on new packaging waste legislation

Date: 08/10/1998

By Simon Coss

THE European Commission is considering inviting industry representatives to round-table talks aimed at drawing up revised EU legislation on packaging waste.

Jim Currie, head of the Commission's Directorate-General for environmental policy (DGXI), has floated the idea of taking the same approach the institution used when drafting the recently adopted 'Auto-Oil' rules on pollution from cars.

Currie said last week that he wanted to set up a "structured dialogue" with industry and other interested groups such as non-governmental organisations as part of the process of updating the 1994 packaging waste directive. The Commission is due to present its plans for revised legislation in the middle of next year.

Currie's comments have been welcomed by representatives of the packaging industry, many of whom have in the past accused the Commission of not listening to their point of view.

"Auto-Oil was a good example of how people sat around a table and came up with some real solutions," said Julian Carrol of industry lobby Europen, who described Currie's comments as "very encouraging".

But the packaging sector is still not entirely satisfied with the Commission's approach to the waste issue. In particular, Carrol is angry that the institution seems to be proceeding at a "snail's pace" with legal action against Denmark and Germany for adopting stringent national recycling laws. Such rules are deemed to be incompatible with the single market because they restrict the free movement of packaged goods.

The long-running case against Denmark finally moved a step forward yesterday (7 October) when the Commiss-ion decided to progress to the second stage of infringement proceedings.

The institution also unveiled plans this week for new, tougher laws on the incineration of municipal waste.

Under its proposals, strict new limits on emissions of particulate matter, dioxins and nitrogen oxide (NOx) would be laid down, with the aim of creating a level playing-field for waste incineration across Europe and stamping out what is seen in Brussels as a senseless cross-border trade in waste.

Such trade has created a furore in continental Europe, with incineration plants which are forced to comply with higher standards complaining that they are being undercut by their more weakly regulated counterparts. The direction of trade has also been influenced by differing local taxes on the disposal of rubbish in landfill tips.

In drawing up its proposals, the Commission has been heavily influenced by technological advances. As a result, the planned new limits on particulate matter are ten times tougher than previous ones, ceilings on dioxins are stricter than in the EU's existing hazardous waste directive and emissions of NOx are covered for the first time.

"We have filled many of the existing gaps," said one Commission official.