Battle rages over waste plans

Date: 10/02/2000

By Peter Chapman and Renée Cordes

As the debate over scrap cars reaches a climax, other industries are beginning to weigh up the costs of pending EU waste management laws designed to replace the patchwork of member state rules and regulations with a unified EU-wide code.

The linchpin of Environment Commmissioner Margot Wallström's plans are draft rules to govern the collection and treatment of old electrical and electronic kit, batteries and packaging waste which could revolutionise the ways products are produced, sold and recycled in the Union. But she will have to work hard to convince fellow Commissioners, member states and MEPs to support her proposals.

Arguably the most contentious issue is the draft electronic and electrical waste plan which would call for the setting up of collection, treatment and recovery systems for old equipment.

Companies are lobbying hard for changes to planned directive which, if adopted, would require them to pay a share of the costs of collecting and recycling goods already on the market.

This is unfair, they argue, because they could not have foreseen these rules and therefore did not factor the cost - estimated at 75 billion by EU engineering lobby group Oragalime - into their prices. Firms also oppose the proposal to ban the lead-based solder used in their products.

Wallström faces similar oposition to her draft battery rulebook, which calls for a ban on the use of cadmium - one of the main ingredients in rechargeable NiCd batteries - because of possible links between exposure to the metal and diseases such as cancer.

However, battery companies and sectors such as the power tools industry insist there are still no real alternatives to NiCd batteries in many cases and claim the ban could fall foul of world trade rules if importers suffer.

Wallström is also pressing ahead with tough new EU-wide recycling and reuse targets for paper, glass and other types of packaging despite fierce opposition from industry.

The Swedish Commissioner is seeking to revise 1994 legislation designed to reduce the environmental impact of waste from packaging.

Work on the new goals began after most Union governments said they would surpass the recycling targets set by the current legislation, with only Ireland and Portugal, lagging seriously behind.

Although the Commission is still considering various options, it is expected to call for a substantial increase in recycling and reuse targets in the next five-year phase.

But the recycling and recovery industry is urging the Commission to delay proposing changes to the legislation until it has more information about the environmental impact of its work. The European Recovery and Recycling Association also argues that the rules cannot be reformed unless there is a way to compare reuse and recycling figures directly. Recyling targets are currently based on weight, while those for reuse are set by volume.

The lobby group argues that it would make more sense from an environmental standpoint to set a limit on the amount of packaging waste EU member states can send to landfills, and leave it up to individual governments to decide on precise recycling targets.

As the debate over scrap cars reaches a climax, other industries are beginning to weigh up the costs of pending EU waste management laws designed to replace the patchwork of Member State rules and regulations with a unified EU-wide code. Article forms part of a survey 'Environment'.