European Council calls on Commission to develop quality standards for recycled materials

0
86

A call has been made by the European Council for quality standards for recycled materials to be developed.

In its response to the European Commission’s circular economy package, the Council stressed the need for a well functioning and efficient market for secondary raw materials and underlined the importance of stimulating demand for these materials.

Advertisement

It added: “[The European Council] calls upon the Commission to develop uniform EU end of waste criteria where appropriate, and to promote the development of EU and international quality standards for secondary raw materials, in order to facilitate cross border movement, while safeguarding the environment and human health.”

The Council also called on the Commission to explore possibilities to encourage that used products that are exported from the EU will be recycled in an environmentally sound and safe manner once they become waste inside or outside the EU.

It also recognised that export of waste can make it harder to achieve higher recycling rates and called for reinforcement of controls within the EU and its borders to prevent illegal transport of waste, in line with the revised waste shipment regulation.