WRITTEN QUESTION E-3137/97 by Jessica Larive (ELDR) to the Commission (13 October 1997)

Subject: Recycling of old plastic

Every year in Europe some 17.5 tonnes of plastic disappear into the mountain of household waste which accounts for 6% of the total weight of our household waste and a quarter of the total volume of waste. 6% of the plastic is recycled, while the rest is incinerated or disposed of. Although incineration releases energy, this is not a good solution. Disposal should also be avoided since most plastic is not biodegradable or at least not to any significant extent. For some years now a new technology has existed for the recycling of old plastic, developed by Bennet Europe with the support of the European REWARD Technology Programme. This represents a very environmentally friendly solution to our growing plastic waste mountain.

On 13 September this year the new Gelredome Stadium in Arnhem launched an initiative in collaboration with the Nature, Environment and Information Foundation, involving the collection from the public of plastic garden chairs and the manufacture of 26 000 new bucket seats for the stadium entirely out of recycled plastic. The Arnhem Gelredome is the first place in the world where old plastic garden chairs have been completely recycled into usable products by means of new technology.

1. Can the Commission produce figures, both in total and broken down by Member State, on the quantity of plastic household waste produced annually by the citizens of the European Union?

2. Is the Commission aware of this new technology?

3. Is the Commission aware of this unique plastic chair project in Arnhem which involves the citizen directly in environmental issues in a new and original way?

4. If so, what does the Commission think of this project, and does it consider that such projects should take place at European level?

5. Is the Commission prepared to take the Gelredome project as the starting point for a European pilot scheme considering on the one hand the logistics and positioning of recycling banks (i.e. the collection of waste) and on the other hand the ways of increasing the awareness of the local population?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (1 December 1997)

1. The Commission has no standardised data regarding the quantity of plastic household waste produced annually in the Community. However, the environment statistics of 1996 from Eurostat provide the following figures for municipal waste (MW) which includes household waste and waste from commercial activities, institutions and small businesses etc.:

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2. The Commission supported the specific research and development technology (R& D) project REWA 5, 'The recycling of mixed plastic waste', which resulted in the development of methods to separate, sort and treat samples of plastic waste collected in container parks. It was demonstrated that it is possible to adapt and optimise the properties of the plastic granulate after sorting and cleaning by incorporation of different additives in view of the final product. More specifically, a specific substance is used, which makes it possible to mix different types of plastics, in particular polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) with polyvinylchloride (PVC). The quality of the product and its compatibility with the environment depends strongly on the purity of the recycled material. In order to increase the purity, the Environment and climate programme supported further R& D work aimed at recognising different plastic materials and automating the separation procedure. Combining the results of various R& D projects should result in a better separation of waste streams and in the development of cleaner products using less additives. This would also reduce the creation of hazardous emissions once the product will be used for energy recovery.

3. The Commission is not familiar with the plastic chair project in Arnhem.

4. The Commission has doubts about the environmental soundness of the project because different plastic materials are being mixed. Furthermore, the Commission is not aware of the possible environmental effects of the substance used in this specific recycling technology. Therefore, this process needs to be thoroughly analysed with respect to its environmental performance.

5. Initiatives which improve the recycling of waste and thus save virgin materials in an environmentally sound manner would be welcomed by the Commission. Whether the specific project in Arnhem represents recycling in an environmentally sound manner remains to be shown.

In order to improve and initiate recycling in general, the Commission is at present preparing a communication on the recycling industry.