The European Parliament opposed by 606, votes to 77, with 10 abstentions, the adoption of the Council Regulation on defining criteria determining when recovered paper ceases to be waste pursuant to Article 6(1) of Directive 2008/98/EC on waste.
It should be recalled that the proposed Council regulation stipulates that waste paper with a non-paper component equal to or less than 1.5% of air dry weight shall cease to be waste when it is destined for the use of paper fibres for paper manufacturing, subject to certain additional criteria.
Parliament considered that the Commission has not properly assessed the impacts of the draft regulation on paper recycling, on the waste paper value chain, on shipments of waste paper and on the overall effects of the draft regulation on the environment. It encouraged the Commission to reconsider the draft Regulation and improve the proposed end-of-waste criteria in light of the objections raised in this resolution.