European Parliament resolution on implementation of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste (2000/2319(INI))
Date: 2001-11-15
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: domestic waste, national implementing measure, packaging product, prevention of pollution, vacuum industry, waste management, waste recycling

C 140 E/564

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.6.2002

Thursday 15 November 2001

85.
Calls on the Commission to compile a coherent and consolidated collection of all the provisions
banning or imposing restrictions on substances or products (including those incorporated under other
subject-headings), or to bring them together in a single EU legislative instrument, thereby ensuring legal
clarity and certainty (particularly including provisions in the fields of the Water Framework Directive,
the directives on electrical appliances and cars for disposal, and health and safety at work), to make
those texts available on the Internet and to update them at least once a year;

86.
Calls for all new legislation to be as practical and transparent as possible, so that implementation to
improve the protection of consumers, the environment, workers and all parties concerned ) particularly
by the authorities and small and medium-sized enterprises ) can be undertaken swiftly;

87.
Calls on the Commission to test new legislation and its possible implementation immediately in
practice by means of special projects in order to ensure that it is as efficient and practical as possible for
all parties concerned in terms of bureaucracy, cost and collection of data, particularly for the authorities
and small and medium-sized enterprises;

Invites the Commission to consider the possibility that the JRC and in particular the European
88.
Chemical Bureau of this centre may become the centralised site for registration, evaluation and authori-
sation of new chemical substances, thus avoiding heterogeneous criteria in the different Member States;

Calls for the approach adopted in the White Paper of a consistent and integrated European sub-
89.
stances and products law not to be confined to chemicals, but for acquired data collection and risk assess-
ment procedures to be applied also to other areas of EU legislation on workplace, consumer and environ-
mental protection;

Asks the Commission to produce a consistent and clear definition in European law of the so-called

90.
‘substitution principle’;

91.
Calls on the Commission to encourage other countries to (a) make existing and future animal test
data publicly available and (b) accept the validity of data from non-animal tests which are accepted within
the European Union;

92.
Requests the Council and Commission to urge all parties at the UN Rio+10 meeting in Johannes-
burg to make a commitment to a global chemicals policy built on sustainable development and the pre-
cautionary principle, in accordance with the definition of the precautionary principle given by the Com-
mission in its communication on the precautionary principle;

93.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

10. Packaging

A5-0323/2001

European Parliament resolution on implementation of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and pack-
aging waste (2000/2319(INI))

The European Parliament,

) having regard to Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste (1),

) having regard to the Council resolution of 7 May 1990 on waste policy (2),

(1) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 47.
(2) OJ C 122, 18.5.1990, p. 2.

13.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 140 E/565

Thursday 15 November 2001

) having regard to European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on

packaging and packaging waste (1),

) having regard to Commission Decision 97/129/EC of 28 January 1997 establishing the identification
system for packaging materials pursuant to European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC on
packaging and packaging waste (2),

) having regard to Commission Decision 97/622/EC of 27 May 1997 concerning questionnaires for

Member States’ reports on the implementation of certain Directives in the waste sector (3),

) having regard to the Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament )
Interim Report according to Article 6(3) (a) of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
(COM(1999) 596),

) having regard to the Strategy for Sustainable Development (Conclusions of the Göteborg European

Council, 15/16 June 2001),

) having regard to Rules 47(2) and 163 of its Rules of Procedure,

) having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy

(A5-0323/2001),

A. whereas packaging waste continues to require attention in order to control its effects on the environ-
ment; whereas the environmental, economic and social issues of packaging and packaging waste need
to be addressed in the framework of the Strategy for Sustainable Development, the Sixth Environ-
mental Action Programme 2001-2010, integrated product policy and the EU’s waste management
policy,

B. whereas the deadline for transposition was 30 June 1996, a majority of the Member States had only

transposed the Directive by late 1998,

C. whereas prevention of waste is the highest step in the waste hierarchy for all packaging materials, the
Directive does not contain a concrete prevention target; whereas Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands
and the United Kingdom have experienced a decrease in amounts of packaging put on the market
from 1997 to 1998, Belgium, Finland, Germany and Italy have experienced an increase,

D. whereas in 1998 the Member States that had submitted data (all except, Greece, Ireland and Portugal)
had reached the target of 25 % recycling of all packaging by a good margin, with a positive trend in
all Member States except for Spain,

E. whereas in 1998 all Member States had reached the mandatory 15 % recycling of glass by a good
margin, with most Member States having increased the recycling rate; whereas all Member States
that had submitted data (all except, Greece, Ireland and Portugal) had met the mandatory target of
15 % paper and cardboard recycling; whereas 10 of the 12 Member States having submitted data
(all except Finland, Luxembourg, and Portugal) had reached the mandatory target of 15 % for metal,

F. whereas in 1998 only Austria, Belgium, Germany and Sweden had reached the mandatory 15 %
recycling of plastics, which indicates that plastics are difficult to collect, sort and recycle and that
additional efforts are needed,

G. whereas of the 12 Member States that had submitted data (all except Greece, Ireland, and Portugal)
only Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom had not reached the target of 50 % recovery of all packaging
waste in 1998,

H. whereas the European Parliament wishes to ensure the quality of EU rules and regulations, so that they
can be complied with and enforced; whereas EU rules and regulations need to be subject to careful
monitoring to assess whether there is a need to strengthen them,

(1) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10.
(2) OJ L 50, 20.2.1997, p. 28.
(3) OJ L 256, 19.9.1997, p. 13.

C 140 E/566

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.6.2002

Thursday 15 November 2001

I. whereas according to Article 6(3)(b) of Directive 94/62/EC, the Commission was due to come forward

by the end of 2000 with a proposal including targets for the period 2001-2006,

J. whereas, due to the absence of reliable data, environmental performance defined as the savings in
consumption of natural resources, energy, water and the reductions on emissions related with new
production, is difficult to express,

K. whereas the lack of reliable data is in some cases due to the lack of harmonisation of the declarations

filled out by those producing and marketing packaging in each Member State,

L. whereas the packaging sector involves competition between different materials, each with specific

characteristics,

M. whereas ensuring the functioning of the internal market is one of the two fundamental principles of

the Directive,

N. whereas the Directive makes it more difficult for some Member States with a progressive packaging

policy to go ahead on a more environmentally friendly way,

O. whereas all quantitative targets set should be realistic, proportional and achievable and set in such a
way that they help achieve the objective of preventing any negative environmental impact of packag-
ing and packaging waste on the Member States or non-member countries or reduce such an impact,
thus providing a high level of environmental protection while recognising the function of packaging,

P. whereas recycling is a job-creating industry which has a potential for continuous growth; whereas the
market for recycled materials may be developed and can be boosted by public procurement decisions,

Q. whereas today Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a method to be taken into account when assessing a
product’s environmental impact, if consumption of raw materials, water, energy, emissions to the air
and water and residues are taken into account and if the impact on global warming, human and
environmental toxicity, acidification, waste and depletion of natural resources are fully considered,

R. whereas transport of waste is an issue of growing concern and the environmental pressures caused by
the transport of waste must be reduced, since these pressures are likely to increase in the future as
waste is separated into more fractions for different treatment,

S. whereas certain Member States, which do not have satisfactory waste management plans, should
ensure compliance with the packaging recycling targets and not invest solely in new waste inciner-
ation facilities,

T. whereas the Community packaging waste policy should aim at maximising diversion from landfill and

optimising the resources efficiency for the different packaging materials,

U. whereas some recycled materials are subject to administrative restrictions and obligations because they
are classified as ‘waste’ under Community legislation, despite the fact that they are valuable raw
materials,

V. whereas the waste management hierarchy ) prevention, re-use, recycling, incineration (with energy
recovery), landfill ) may not reflect the best environmental option in all situations in view of the
nature and scale of the transport operations it requires,

W. whereas, in cases where prevention, re-use and recycling are not possible, incineration with energy

recovery is the least-worst option and preferable to landfill,

13.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 140 E/567

Thursday 15 November 2001

X. whereas different policy-options exists and whereas results are best reached by a mix of policies;
whereas differentiation is needed between the limited short-term revision of the Directive and the
more fundamental change foreseen in the medium term,

Y. whereas packaging has no raison d’être on its own, its only purpose being to protect packaged goods,

and it must therefore save more resources than have been consumed in its production,

1.
Notes that most Member States were late in transposing the Directive into their national legal system,
but that all but one Member State have now communicated implementing measures to the Commission;
regrets that the Commission is late in coming forward with a revised proposal;

2. Welcomes that in general the targets set out in the Directive have been met by the Member States;
regrets that the recycling target for plastics in 1998 was only met by four Member States;

Considers that the Directive can be improved by clarifying the meaning of the definitions; calls on
3.
the Commission to issue a harmonised reporting technique and clear guidelines for data providers on how
to obtain reliable data on packaging and packaging waste;

Regrets that there is no clear evaluation of the environmental impact of the Directive or of its impact
4.
on the functioning of the internal market and free competition between the various packaging materials;

5.
Underlines the importance of the timely availability of data on the implementation of the Directive
by Member States and considers that the European Environment Agency can play a useful role in drafting
reports on the implementation and in evaluating the environmental impact of the current Directive;

6.
Considers that a meaningful outcome to the work of CEN is particularly important to all stakeholders
with a view to issuing material-related standards relating to paragraph 1 of Annex II to Directive 94/62/EC
which afford producers greater legal certainty as regards compliance with prevention requirements; notes
the fact, however, that the Commission has formally rejected three out of five CEN environmental stan-
dards for packaging; requests that CEN be asked to continue its work on drawing up standards for meeting
the essential requirements in Annex II based on guidance on criteria for environmental friendly packaging;
urges the Commission to ensure that all stakeholders are properly represented in the process, including
representatives from consumer and environmental organisations; requests that that the essential require-
ments be put into the body of the revised legislation in clear terms with a view to ensuring democratic
control and scrutiny;

7.
Notes that some two-thirds of packaging is for food and that a proportion of this will be contami-
nated by food and will therefore be more difficult to separate from the domestic waste stream for recyc-
ling;

Reminds the Commission that, in line with Article 2(2) of the Directive, any policy of packaging

8.
prevention must take account of hygienic protection of foodstuffs and other products;

9.
Considers that problems with cross border transport of packaging waste that limit the possibilities of
creating scale economies need to be addressed carefully and that action needs to be taken to promote the
use of less polluting means of transport such as the railways;

10.
Underlines that retailers have a responsibility to collect packaging and packaging waste and asks
Member States to encourage retailers to provide for the organisation of the take-back of packaging and
packaging waste;

Considers that the environmental burden of packaging and packaging waste will decrease by using a

11.
policy mix of:

) ensuring that a waste management approach is adopted, which takes account of all possible forms of

recycling and recovery,

) increasing targets for recycling,

C 140 E/568

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.6.2002

Thursday 15 November 2001

) introducing producer responsibility for the prevention of all unnecessary packaging and setting targets

for prevention and reduction,

) internalising environmental cost in the price of packaging,

) introducing a binding general target on the reduction of the amount of packaging waste going to

landfill,

) introducing easily-accessible means of collecting packaging for consumers,

) encouraging the use of materials that are easy to separate from the waste stream;

Urges the Commission to initiate and guide stakeholder dialogue on the sectoral level to encourage
12.
development of standards for packaging in the spirit of the Sixth Environmental Action Programme (saving
energy,
limiting use of natural resources, banning hazardous substances and minimalisation of waste);
encourages the development of indicators, e.g. product/packaging ratios;

Calls on the Commission to carry out a study on the implementation of the CEN standard on

13.
prevention and to measure its impact in the different Member States;

Calls on the Commission to present a proposal for the introduction of a prevention and reduction
14.
target per material for the quantity of packaging material placed on the market, where appropriate, and in
the long term to ensure that in-depth reviews of such targets are conducted in order to adapt them to
technical progress;

15.
Calls on the Commission to present a proposal for a strategy for module-based transport packaging
to reduce the number of transport operations which takes proper account of the role of packaging
throughout the logistics chain;

16.
Urges the Commission to develop means to introduce producer responsibility in preventing packag-
ing waste, meaning that each producer has to prove on the basis of a LCA that he has chosen the environ-
mentally best option to satisfy the essential functions of packaging;

17.
Calls on the Commission to present a proposal to introduce re-use targets for certain packaging
products consisting of materials where re-use is placed higher in the hierarchy than recycling and in cases
where the burden of transport does not exceed the environmental benefit, account being taken of the fact
in the case of materials which occur in comparatively small quantities on the European market
that,
(<10 000 t/a) and whose collection cannot be concentrated, recycling generally does not make sense;

Calls on the Commission to present a proposal to increase the recycling targets for the period

18.
2001-2005;

19.
Notes that in order to make recycled material more competitive as a secondary raw material the
price difference with virgin raw materials needs to be reduced by internalising environmental costs in the
price of these virgin raw materials; commends the introduction of a mandatory fee on the use of packag-
ing materials that are unable to generate a positive price when recycled;

20.
Urges the Commission to develop a definition and criteria on waste streams suitable for recovery
with the aim of maximising energy use and minimising releases of hazardous substances; underlines that a
sufficient increase in recycling targets will make an increase of the recovery target obsolete;

21.

Calls for a general reduction target on packaging waste going to landfill;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the govern-

22.
ments and parliaments of the Member States.