Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Environment — Waste — Packaging and packaging waste — Directives 75/442 and 94/62 — Link — (European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62; Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156)

2. Environment — Packaging and packaging waste — Directive 94/62 — Recycling — Meaning — Reprocessing of metal packaging waste by transformation into a secondary raw material — Not covered — Reprocessing rendering such waste useable for the production of ingots, sheets or coils of steel — Covered — Concepts of recycling and waste under Directive 75/442 — No effect — (Art. 174(1) and (2) EC; European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62, Art. 3(7); Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156)

Summary

1. Directive 94/62, inasmuch as it contains specific rules or rules supplementing Directive 75/442 on waste, within the meaning of Article 2(2) of the latter as introduced by Directive 91/156, which are for the management of a particular category of waste, namely packaging waste, must be considered to be special legislation (a lex specialis ) vis-à-vis Directive 75/442, so that its provisions prevail over those of Directive 75/442 in situations which it specifically seeks to regulate. Nevertheless, Directive 75/442 remains very important for the interpretation and application of Directive 94/62. First, as stated in the seventh recital in its preamble, Directive 94/62 forms part of the Community strategy for waste management set out, inter alia , in Directive 75/442, second, Directive 94/62 contains provisions which expressly refer to Directive 75/442 and, third, since packaging waste is waste within the meaning of Directive 75/442, the latter remains applicable to such waste in so far as Directive 94/62 does not otherwise provide.

see paras 51-57

2. "Recycling" within the meaning of Article 3(7) of Directive 94/62 on packaging and packaging waste, defined as "the reprocessing of waste materials in a production process for the original purpose or for other purposes excluding energy recovery" , is to be interpreted as meaning that the packaging waste must be worked in order to produce new material or make a new product possessing characteristics comparable to those of the material of which the waste was composed, in order to be able to be used again for the production of packaging or in order to be used for other purposes, so long as the reprocessing does not take the form of energy recovery and is not effected by means of disposal. Accordingly, "recycling" does not include the reprocessing of metal packaging waste when it is transformed into a secondary raw material, such as material meeting the specifications of Grade 3B, but covers the reprocessing of such waste when it is used to produce ingots, sheets or coils of steel.

That interpretation would be no different if the concepts of "recycling" and "waste" referred to by Directive 75/442 on waste were taken into account, given that, under Article 3(2) of Directive 94/62, packaging waste is defined as any packaging or packaging material covered by the definition of the term "waste" in Directive 75/442 and that, should the term "recycling" , which is not defined in Directive 75/442, not have the same meaning as the term appearing in Directive 94/62, only the latter term would be applicable to packaging waste since the provisions of Directive 94/62, as special legislation, prevail over those of Directive 75/442.

see paras 64, 66-69, 88, 90, 92-93, operative part 1-2