Major industry groups have signalled their support the EU’s circular economy package of waste and recycling goals, but they are pushing for some major changes to its provisions.

Umbrella lobby group BusinessEurope wants the package to be withdrawn and re-tabled as “an economic piece of legislation” rather than as an environmental one.

The dossier “should take account of issues of wider economic interest including manufacturing and product design, consumer affairs, research and innovation, security of supply and raw materials, as well as markets, beside the environmental dimension which includes recycling, reuse or land-filling”, BusinessEurope said in a position paper published on Friday.

The European Commission is in the process of screening pending legislative proposals to decide which ones should be pursued and which ones withdrawn. BusinessEurope wants the proposed new air pollution emissions limits to be scrapped.

Non-ferrous metals industry association Eurometaux says the circular economy package should be “improved rather than withdrawn”.

Eurometaux has expressed concern about the potential withdrawal of the package in a letter to the EU commissioner for better regulation, Frans Timmermans. It argues that the proposals are “an important attempt to promote quality recycling” although the targets should be made “realistic”.

Glass industry association FEVE told ENDS the Commission should “definitely” stand by the proposals.

It backs higher recycling targets but believes the proposed 90% glass recycling target for 2030 is likely to prove unrealistic, given that almost 100% of glass placed on the market would have to be collected to achieve it. It is also worried that such a high target will have an impact on the quality of recyclate, a concern that has been raised by some member states.

“A pre-condition to higher targets has to be separate collection systems, i.e. bottle banks, to ensure that recycled glass is of good quality to be actually recycled into new bottles,” FEVE said.

It welcomed the proposed landfill ban on recyclable materials. But it noted that “without major improvements in separate collection systems, there will be contaminated residues that will need to be discarded and a landfill ban on its own will not solve the issue as it is likely to result in more incineration to deal with the residues”.

Source: endseurope.eu