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Study
on the definition of waste recovery and disposal operations
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Commissioned by:
Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission
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Carried out by:
Oekopol, Institute for Environmental Strategies, Hamburg,
Germany
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Duration:
October 2002 - October 2003
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Background |
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The Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July
1975 as amended by 91/756/EEC and adapted by 96/350/EC, defines disposal
and recovery operations as operations included in two lists, respectively
Annex II a and Annex II B of the Directive.
These operations as they are performed in practice have undergone
significant technological changes with both modernisation of exiting
practices and development of new processes. Thus, the Commission might
intend to adapt the lists of operations in order to reflect these
as they exist in practice. |
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The main needs for adaptation arise from: |
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- the lack of clarity of certain entries of the lists giving ground
to diverging interpretations as to in which entry a given process
is to be included (for example R 11, R12)
- The emergence of certain processes that are difficult to classify
in the existing lists (for example sorting of mixing waste for
submission to recovery operations, mechanical-biological treatment)
- The unclear distinction between disposal and recovery operations
for certain entries (for example R 13 and D 15)
- The uncertainty on at what stage of a recovery chain recovery
may be considered completed (for example in the plastic recycling
process, the waste will undergo selective collection, sorting,
cleaning, shredding, pelletising and transformation)
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Objectives |
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The objectives of the study are to provide
the Commission with the following information needed for the preparation
of a revision of the lists of disposal and recovery operations: |
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- An overview of disposal and recovery operations as they occur
in practice
- Identification of the operations which are difficult to classify
in the existing lists due either to missing entries or to ambiguity
of the lists and identification of potential new entries or criteria
which could solve the ambiguity
- Description for recovery operations of the resulting materials
with reference to any widely used or recognised technical standard
that applies.
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Tasks |
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- Give an overview of disposal and recovery operations as they
occur in practice
- Identification the operations other than operations R1 and D10
for which there is ambiguity in their classification in a disposal
and/or a recovery entry. Identification of criteria which could
help differentiating between the competing entries
- Concerning material recovery of the main waste materials (paper/cardboard,
polymers, metals and inert materials and others, but without sludge
and the organic fraction of municipal waste) following points
shall be described:
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- the recovery chain
- the main environmental impact associated with the waste and
identify at which step of the recovery chain the impacts are
neutralised
- the technical requirements or specifications that are applied
to input and/or output of the facility and where applicable
- widely used or recognised technical requirements or specifications
that apply to comparable products
- an analysis which additional requirements would be needed
to address the environmental issues that remain in comparable
wastes.
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Interim results will be discussed during an expert workshop
in July organised by the Commission services. Experts will be given
15 days to provide Ökopol with written comments. The draft final
report will be prepared by Ökopol on the basis of the comments
of the experts and of the conclusions of the workshop as drawn by
the Commission services. |
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Contact |
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Knut
Sander |
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Dirk
Jepsen |
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Christian
Tebert |
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Stephanie
Schilling |
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