WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

Ban of landfilling and/or incineration

The landfill and incineration directives impose controls on the amounts of waste that can be
disposed through traditional measures. Some countries have however also introduced bans on waste
disposal through traditional methods. By the introduction of such a ban waste generators are obliged
find alternative ways to manage there waste, i.e. through reuse or recycling. However, it is difficult
to apply and control such restrictions for household waste and these limitations are usually only
applied for commercial and industrial wastes.
France
In France, Decree N 94-609 forces holders of industrial and commercial packaging waste to sort
and recover packaging. The only recovery options are reuse, material recovery (recycling) and energy
recovery. Landfilling and incineration without energy recovery is prohibited, except for treated
wastes.
The Netherlands
In The Netherlands, the production of construction and demolition waste is estimated at 15 million
tonnes per annum , ie 940 kg/inh/year or the volume equivalent to a six-lane speedway of 250 km
length, 20 metres wide and 2 metres thick. In order to reduce this huge amount of waste, the Dutch
government introduced, in April 1997, a landfill ban on reusable or burnable C&D waste. The objective
of this ban is to promote material separation and to maintain the materials into the C&D cycle.
This ban includes PVC and PE films. Two factors weaken the enforcement of this ban. Firstly, residues
can be landfilled if they contain less than 12 per cent of recyclable materials. Secondly, since the
Provinces define the landfill charges and control the landfills, there are differences between the
provinces in how the landfill ban is enforced. However, as result of this ban, alongside other
measures, 90 per cent of C&D waste is recycled in the Netherlands.
Germany
Mixed construction and demolition waste may not be landfilled after 2005.

Obligatory environmental or planning measures

The waste plans are obligatory in all the EU countries. They permit the integration of legal obligations
but they can also includes their own objectives, such as the implementation of specific collection
schemes for certain type of waste plastics, recycling goals, prevention policies for defined sectors etc.
France: The Waste Plan of the Department of Aveyron
The Departmental Plan of Household and Assimilated Waste Elimination from the Department of
Aveyron in 2001 established several objectives concerning the collection of the waste plastics. For
household waste, a target for the collection of 5 kg of plastics/inh/year has been set, from which 4.3
kg/inh/year must be recovered. The preferential way of recovery must be recycling.
For bulky waste, the Plan recommends reuse, repair or recovery. Containers parks will be equipped
with specific containers for the collection of the agricultural films. They can also be collected
through existing collection schemes.

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WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

Germany: Ordinance on the Management of Municipal Wastes of Commercial Origin

and Certain Construction and Demolition Waste (19/6/02)57
This is piece of national legislation that has a direct influence on waste plastics. The Ordinance
applies to producers and holders of municipal wastes of commercial origin and of certain
construction and demolition waste, and to operators of pre-treatment facilities in which those
wastes are treated.
Commercial waste
As with household waste, certain materials from municipal wastes of commercial origin (paper and
cardboard, glass, plastics, metals, biodegradable wastes from kitchens, canteens, parks, gardens and
markets) should be consigned to a recovery operation after separate collection. It is permissible to
collect these fractions together, as long as subsequent sorting permits the separation into different
fractions with a quality equivalent to that yielded by source separation. Where separation as
described is not technically possible or economically reasonable, the mixed municipal waste can be
consigned to a recovery operation.
Construction and demolition (C&D) waste
Where they are produced separately, certain C&D wastes (glass, plastics,
metals, concrete, bricks, tiles and ceramics) must be consigned to a recovery
operation as separate fractions. Again, separation can be undertaken in a sorting
plant provided that the quality is the same as for source separation.
Derogation is possible for those wastes which cannot be separated for
technical or economical reasons.
A pre-treatment facility is defined as an installation in which mixed wastes
undergo pre-treatment before further material or energy recovery. It must
achieve a recovery quota of at least 85 per cent from 2005. There are no
specific targets set for individual materials.

Strengthening environmental controls

Legislation is only effective if the system is policed and enforcement correctly controlled. For example,
in Germany and The Netherlands similar legislation on the landfilling of C&D waste exists, where only
the fraction of waste that can not be reused or recycled can be landfilled, However, the different
control measures imposed by each country has resulted in different recycling rates. Only the fraction
that cannot be re-used or recycled can be landfilled. In Germany, which represents 55 per cent of
the PVC roofing market in Western Europe and where there are strict landfill controls, the Edelweiss
programme is underway. ESWA (EuPC sectoral association for roofing membranes) started a study in
2002 on the Collection and Recycling of end-of-life PVC roofing. This study looked into projecting
theoretical waste streams through 2015. This made it possible to evaluate the conditions for further
development of recycling operations at the premises of AfDR during the transition years 2003 and
2004. (AfDR, or Arbeitsgemeinschaft fr PVCDachbahnen- Recycling, is a mechanical cryogenic
recycling unit located in Germany. It is owned and operated by ESWA members since 1994).
The present recycling capacity will not be sufficient to implement the industrys Voluntary
Commitment after 2005. ESWA is currently examining three possible routes for boosting capacity:
an investment into added AfDR capacity, or agreement with partners on two different solventbased recycling units by 2005.

57- From Background paper Environmentally sound recovery of municipal wastes of commercial origin and Certain Construction and Demolition
Wastes - German EPA http://www.bmu.de/english/download/waste/files/gewerbeabfallv_hintergrund_engl.pdf

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