Waste recovery in Europe: Current status of regulations, obstacles, and incentives

Summary

In view of the lack of harmonisation between national policies on waste issues, RECORD has undertaken a forward-looking study, both regulatory and applied, to gain a better understanding of the waste-to-energy sector and identify the obstacles and incentives. The study includes a summary of current and planned regulations on material recovery for 9 European countries. It identifies and describes the limitations and areas for improvement in 8 materials recovery sectors, namely paper/cardboard, glass, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, minerals and end-of-life products such as WEEE and used tyres. The obstacles and incentives are described according to 5 factors: technical, economic, communication, environmental and regulatory. The global approach of this study provides the necessary hindsight to better understand the draft revision of the Waste Framework Directive. In addition, areas for improvement have been highlighted to enable the materials recovery sector, which represents significant economic and environmental potential, to develop favourably.