Highlight on high quality recycling: HWE in the spotline at the EU Commission’s conference on plastic
On 26th September, a numerous number of stakeholders among them representatives of industries, European federations, civil society, national public authorities and EU institutions gathered for the conference “Reinventing plastics – Closing the circle” in view of the forthcoming plastic strategy. Nicolas HUMEZ, as chairman of HWE, delivered a targeted presentation – that you can find in the panelist cession dealing with “Interface between product, waste and chemical policy: how to balance phasing out legacy substances with higher recycling rates?” It was the opportunity to highlight the key necessity to promote high quality recycling -and to use the words of First Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans “not only because it is the right thing to do for the environment, but because it is the smart thing to do for the economy”- in discussions that often focus merely on quantitative targets. HWE puts the emphasis on the absolute necessity to couple high quality recycling rates with quality criteria. Waste producers and operators should avoid operations that circumvent the rules by using declassification and dilution so as to reach recycling targets more easily, and which unfortunately considerably contaminate the quality of recyclates with substances of concerns and endanger at the same time health and the environment. It implies notably to make a clear distinction between waste –
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