Guidance for Separate Collection of Municipal Waste
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Guidance for separate collection of municipal waste Final deliverable of the study to support the Commission in establishing guidelines for separate collection of waste under Framework Contract N° ENV/B.3/FRA/2017/0005 "Assistance to the Commission on the implementation of the revised waste legislation, assessment of Waste Management Plans and monitoring of compliance with the Waste Framework Directive" April 2020 Guidance for separate collection of municipal waste Document prepared by EY, PlanMiljØ, ACR+, RWA and Öko-Institut Framework contract: N° ENV/B.3/FRA/2017/005 Main authors: Maarten Dubois, Edward Sims, Tim Moerman, David Watson, Bjorn Bauer, Jean-Benoît Bel, Georg Mehlhart The authors thank all stakeholders and representatives of the Member States that have contributed to the study. Moreover, we thank the representatives of the different directorates of the European Commission that have provided inputs and have reviewed the manuscript. EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Environment Directorate B - Circular Economy and Green Growth Unit B3 - Waste Management and Secondary Materials European Commission B-1049 Brussels 2 The report is the opinion of the consultant and does not bind the Commission LEGAL NOTICE This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 PDF ISBN 978-92-76-18818-6 doi:10.2779/691513 KH-04-20-251-EN-N © European Union, 2020 The Commission’s reuse policy is implemented by Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39 – https://eur- lex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2011/833/oj). Unless otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed, provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the EU, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective rightholders. The EU does not own the copyright in relation to the following elements: Guidance for separate collection of municipal waste Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 5 2 Obligations for separate collection .............................................................. 7 Definitions ............................................................................................ 8 Rationale for more focus on separate collection ........................................10 Obligations ..........................................................................................11 Derogations .........................................................................................21 Monitoring ...........................................................................................31 References ..........................................................................................33 3 Success factors and risks ..........................................................................35 Economic incentives .............................................................................35 Legal enforcement ................................................................................39 Customized facilities .............................................................................41 Engaging communication .......................................................................50 References ..........................................................................................52 4 Separate collection of bio-waste ................................................................54 Volumes ..............................................................................................54 Recycling.............................................................................................56 Success factors for separate collection of bio-waste ..................................58 References and further reading ..............................................................62 5 Separate collection of Plastic waste ............................................................65 Volumes ..............................................................................................65 Recycling.............................................................................................66 Success factors for separate collection of plastics .....................................68 References and further reading ..............................................................73 6 Separate collection of textile waste ...........................................................75 Volumes ..............................................................................................75 Reuse and recycling ..............................................................................76 Success factors for separate collection of textile waste ..............................79 References and further reading ..............................................................85 7 Separate collection of household hazardous waste .......................................88 Volumes ..............................................................................................88 Management of classified HHW streams ..................................................89 Success factors for separate collection of HHW ....................................... 102 References and further reading ............................................................ 105 8 Annex .................................................................................................. 109 4 Guidance for separate collection of municipal waste 1 Introduction This guidance document focuses on separate collection of municipal waste. It reviews the EU obligations put forward by the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC as amended by Directive 2018/851 (the revised WFD) and identifies good practices for implementation. The revised WFD aims to improve the quantity and the quality of the resources fit for reuse and recycling by fostering separate collection of waste. In order to support the Member States (MS) in transposing the EU directive in national or subnational legislation, chapter 2 contains guidance for the interpretation of the legal requirements. More specifically, it focuses on the obligations for separate collection and the derogations that can be invoked. The targets put forward by the revised WFD are ambitious. For example, the average recycling rate for municipal waste in Europe is 46% (Eurostat, 2017 data, EU-28) while the revised WFD aims for reuse and recycling targets of 55%, 60% and 65% by respectively 2025, 2030 and 20351. Substantial efforts will be needed across Europe to transpose the directive and achieve the targets successfully. Figure 1: Recycling rate of municipal waste (2017, % of generated, Eurostat) The average recycling rate in Europe has increased substantially in the last two decades: from 17% in 1995 to 46% in 20172. However, the current recycling rates differ significantly between MS as shown by the figure above. This disparity highlights on the one hand, that some countries will need to make structural reforms, and, on the other, that the potential improvements from applying good practices from forerunners consistently across the EU are substantial. In order to support to the MS in achieving the targets of the revised WFD, this guidance document provides an overview of good practices and recommendations for efficient 1 The MS that have to do the biggest efforts to achieve these targets have the option to postpone the deadline for up to 5 years. See revised WFD, article 11(2). 2 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php/Municipal_waste_statistics#Municipal_waste_treatment 5 Guidance for separate collection of municipal waste and effective waste management schemes. Municipal waste is only 10% of total waste generation in the EU but it is highly visible and the potential for improvement is large (Eurostat 2017)3. Although the obligations of the revised WFD apply to all waste streams, the overview of best practices given in chapter 3 of this guidance document is limited to municipal waste4. Figure 2: Composition of household waste in Europe Bio-waste 22% Paper and cardboard 31% Plastics 4% Glass 5% Metals 5% Textiles 12% 21% Other Source: based on Worldbank (2018) and Eurostat (2008)5 The composition depicted in the figure above highlights that the bulk of municipal waste comes from six waste streams. The separate collection of paper and cardboard, glass and metals is well known and widely implemented. Therefore, the chapters 4 - 6 focus on good practices for the other three waste streams: bio-waste, plastics and textiles. Moreover, the revised WFD contains obligations for separate sorting of Hazardous Household Waste (HHW). Chapter 7 brings forward good practices for the management of this waste stream. The insights from this report are based on a review of legislation, available data, studies and reports. Moreover, the many discussions with stakeholders have deepened the research6. Finally, the report has taken into account good practices reported by