Incineration ruling still a burning issue

By James Drew

Date: 23/10/03

EARLIER this year, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that energy recovered from dedicated waste incinerators does not count towards overall waste recovery targets.

It's a decision that has left Denmark fuming.

The country incinerates a large proportion of its waste and is still strongly opposed to the change.

The Scandinavian state hopes to either get the law changed, or to have a declaration made stating that incineration will count temporarily towards targets until a permanent resolution is found.

Industry groups have also expressed dismay at the decision, which was confirmed by the European Commission in June.

Europen, the association which represents Europe's packaging firms, warned that the change would have "very serious economic consequences".

But the green group, European Environmental Bureau, said the confirmation was a "strong message to those trying to undermine the separate collection of waste" by promoting incineration.

However, it still objects to the Commission view that "co-incineration" of waste as fuel is a "recovery operation".

The ECJ ruled that the principal objective of a waste incinerator was to dispose of waste and that its EU classification should therefore be waste disposal, whether or not it recovers energy.

To meet the packaging directive's recovery target, member states must therefore increase recycling rates or instead co-incinerate waste as fuel in industrial operations or power plants, the Commission stated. Increased composting was put on the table as an option for biodegradable waste matter.

Conciliation talks between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament aimed at ironing out their remaining differences after Parliament's second reading were due to start in June. Instead, informal talks will continue into November, while both sides seek legal advice.

Present member states will now have to achieve 65% recovery and 55% recycling of packaging waste under the revised law, by December 2008.

Some countries already recycle at least 65% of packaging and are therefore unaffected. Others, such as Denmark, have been counting on incineration to help hit the higher recovery target.

The other big issue obstructing agreement is the process for settling on the deadline by which new EU member states joining next year are to meet waste recovery targets.

There are also rumblings over how much longer other existing members Greece, Ireland and Portugal should be given to meet the new targets. The Council agreed on 2012, with Parliament arguing in favour of 2010. A 2011 compromise seems likely.

Article forms part of a survey on recycling.