Europe – Commission issues report on extended impact assessment on waste & recycling thematic strategy

Aim of the Study



The aim of the study was to support and assist the European Commission in its task to develop the Impact Assessment (ExIA) for the TSPRW package by preparing specific and targeted information and data of relevance to the ExIA. The purpose of this Specific Contract was to assist the Commission in:





understanding the economic, environmental and social impacts of the considered policy options

putting together the necessary information for this understanding

The Thematic Strategy will cover a wide variety of policy issues, including options for which there are considerable geographical, structural and social differences throughout the EU. Many policy options do not work in isolation but in combination with a variety of other policy tools, both within waste and in the wider field of environmental protection. Given the breadth of the TSPRW, the degree of complexity renders any attempt to quantify every impact impossible. The ExIA will need to be expressed in qualitative terms, using quantitative data to illustrate and exemplify particular issues. It also means that choices must be made on what to look at in the context of the ExIA. It will not be possible to analyse all combinations of policy options, even qualitatively.



Conclusions



Materials or product-based approaches to increase recycling



A materials approach is more cost effective than a product based approach based on existing regulated products. Although the analysis is constrained by the quality of the existing information the results suggest that the materials based approach would lead to the inclusion of cheaper recycling activities than would be possible through additional efforts focused on the presently regulated products. However, given the large share of current and future recyclable volumes already covered by existing Directives, the scope to make a major difference in the costs of given increases in overall recycling rates for a given waste stream is not extensive.



Comparative Impacts



The relatively cheaper social and financial costs of a materials approach indicates that at least as far as paper and plastics are concerned, there are economic benefits to a materials-based approach which arise from exploiting the lower costs per tonne recycled of some applications not currently the subject of a major recycling effort. For paper, the environmental benefits of a materials or a product based approach to recycling would be the same. In contrast, for plastics a materials approach to recycling has environmental advantages over a product based approach. This is because a materials based approach would be more efficient in promoting recycling of homogenous uncontaminated flows that delivers higher environmental benefits than recycling of mixed plastics.



To the extent that the lower cost implies a slightly lower employment intensity, it implies that the employment benefits may be less with a materials approach