Revision of the EU Ecolabel criteria for Paper products Technical Report 3.0 Draft criteria proposal Malgorzata Kowalska, Shane Donatello, Oliver Wolf January, 2018 EUR xxxxx xx This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of this publication. Contact information Name: Malgorzata Kowalska Address: Edificio Expo, c/ Inca Garcilaso, 3. 41092 Seville (Spain) Email: [email protected] Tel.: +34 954 488 347 JRC Science Hub https://ec.europa.eu/jrc JRCxxxxx EUR xxxxx xx PDF ISBN xxx-xx-xx-xxxxx-x ISSN xxxx-xxxx doi:xx.xxxxx/xxxxxx Seville: European Commission, 2018 © European Union, 2018 The reuse of the document is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the original meaning or message of the texts are not distorted. The European Commission shall not be held liable for any consequences stemming from the reuse. How to cite this report: Malgorzata Kowalska et al., Revision of the EU Ecolabel criteria for Copying and Graphic Paper and Newsprint Paper, EUR, doi All images © European Union 2016 unless otherwise specified January 2018 EUR xxxxx xx Contents Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Brief background to the EU Ecolabel ............................................................... 4 1.2 The criteria revision process .......................................................................... 5 2 Preliminary Report summary ............................................................................... 6 2.1. Key environmental aspects and relation with the criteria proposal ..................... 6 3 Product group names, definitions and scopes proposal ......................................... 11 3.1 Name, definition and scope of EU Ecolabel .................................................... 11 3.2 Rationales for the revised proposal .............................................................. 13 3.2.1 Copying, graphic paper and newsprint paper .......................................... 15 3.2.2 Tissue paper ....................................................................................... 15 3.3. Outcomes from and after the 1st and 2nd AHWG meetings: ............................. 17 3.4. Further considerations and main changes ..................................................... 17 4. Proposed framework for the revision of the EU Ecolabel criteria and main changes ... 19 5. Criteria proposal .............................................................................................. 20 5.1. Criterion 1: Emissions to water and air ........................................................ 20 5.1.1. Criterion 1a) Chemical Oxygen demand (COD), Phosphorus (P), Sulphur (S), Nitrogen oxides (NOx) .................................................................................. 23 5.1.2. Criterion 1b) AOX ............................................................................... 42 5.1.3. Criterion 1c) CO2 ............................................................................... 50 5.2. Criterion 2: Energy use ............................................................................. 62 5.2.1. Rationales for the revised proposal ....................................................... 66 5.2.2. Outcomes from and after the 1st AHWG meeting .................................... 69 5.2.3. Outcomes from and after the 2nd AHWG Meeting ................................... 69 5.2.4. Further research and main changes ...................................................... 70 5.2.5. Summary of the reference sources for the proposed values ..................... 83 5.2.6. Methodology for reporting on energy consumption ................................. 84 5.3 Criterion 3: Fibres – conserving resources, sustainable forest management ...... 86 5.3.1 Criterion proposal – fibre sourcing ......................................................... 86 5.3.2 Rationale of proposed criterion text ....................................................... 86 5.3.3 Outcomes from and after the 1st AHWG meeting ..................................... 89 5.3.4 Outcomes from and after the 2nd AHWG meeting ..................................... 92 5.3.5 Further research ................................................................................. 94 5.4. Criterion 4: Restricted hazardous substances and mixtures .......................... 102 1 5.4.1 Horizontal hazardous substance and mixture restrictions ........................ 102 5.4.2 Specific hazardous substance restrictions ............................................. 114 5.5. Criterion 5: Waste Management ................................................................ 136 5.5.1. Outcomes from and after the 1st AHWG meeting ................................. 137 5.5.2. Outcomes from and after the 2nd AHWG meeting ................................. 137 5.5.3. Further research and main changes .................................................... 137 5.6. Criterion 6: Fitness for use (graphic paper) ................................................. 140 5.6.1. Rationales for the revised proposal ..................................................... 140 5.6.2. Outcomes from and after the 1st AHWG meeting .................................. 141 5.6.3. Outcomes from and after the 2nd AHWG meeting ................................. 141 5.6.4. Further research and main changes .................................................... 142 5.7. Criterion 6: Final product requirements (tissue paper and tissue paper product) 143 5.7.1. Outcomes from and after the technical meeting ................................... 143 5.7.2. Further research and main changes .................................................... 144 5.8 Criterion 7: Information on the packaging (graphic paper) ............................ 149 5.9 Criterion 7 / Criterion 8: Information appearing on the EU Ecolabel ................ 149 6. Impact of changes to criteria ........................................................................... 151 References ....................................................................................................... 153 List of abbreviations and definitions ..................................................................... 163 List of figures .................................................................................................... 164 List of tables ..................................................................................................... 166 Appendices ....................................................................................................... 168 Appendix I. Forest Europe criteria and indicators (2015)..................................... 168 Appendix II Guarantees of origin certification across Members States................... 170 2 Abstract The current revised technical report (TR3.0) provides an update on the criteria revision, based on new information collected during the revision and provided by the involved parties (i.e. through stakeholders' discussion at the AHWG meetings, technical meeting for tissue paper and tissue paper products, further stakeholder inputs following the meetings, emission, energy, and chemical sub-groups co-operation followed by additional desk research). The most significant proposals and changes are: Following the recommendations given in Commission Communication COM(2017)355 product groups ´graphic paper´, and tissue paper and tissue paper product´ are proposed to be published under one common Commission Decision. The specific criteria of the two product groups are proposed to be displayed in two separate Annexes of this Commission Decision. The list of the complementary definitions has been extended under the common Act Emission limits and scoring system for Criterion 1(a) have been revised, specific values have been added for magnefite pulp; AOX emission limit has been revised - Criterion 1(b); CO2 emission criterion has been revised and reformulated following the feedback received. For tissue paper and tissue paper product, the addition of separated reference value for structural paper has been proposed. – Criterion 1 (c); An energy consumption criterion has been reformulated; it is proposed to refer to the sum up of energy consumed (total energy consumed in form of fuel and electricity). The energy consumption reference values have been updated. For tissue paper and tissue paper product, reference value for structural paper has been proposed - Criterion 2; Introduction of a common ambition level for fibre sourcing criterion for all three product types– Criterion 3; Harmonization of the chemical criterion according to recent findings of Chemical Task Force – Criterion 4. An update of fitness for use criterion for tissue paper and tissue paper product. For criteria that addresses emissions to water and air and energy use, the recently published BREF document for pulp, paper and board products has been taken as the main reference for the revision of reference values. Further