OBJECTIVE: European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC seeks to harmonize national measures in order to reduce the levels of packaging waste produced and promote the recovery of such waste.
SUBSTANCE:
- The Directive applies to all types of packaging placed on the market in the Community and to all types of packaging waste;
- As regards prevention, Member States should see to it that measures are implemented in the form of national programmes or similar actions adopted in consultation with economic operators;
- As far as reuse is concerned, Member States could encourage reuse systems for packaging which was suitable for recycling in an environmentally sound manner;
- As regards recovery and recycling, Member States should take the necessary measures to attain the following targets, which were to apply in a first five-year phase from the entry into force of the Directive:
. recovery: 50% as a minimum and 65% as a maximum by weight of the packaging waste;
. recycling: 25% as a minimum and 45% as a maximum by weight of the totality of packaging materials contained in packaging waste, with a minimum of 15% for each packaging material;
- No later than 10 years from the implementation of the Directive, a substantial increase in these percentages must be determined by the Council following a proposal from the Commission. Transitional derogations were granted to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, because of their geographical situation and their low level of packaging consumption;
- Member States putting in place programmes whose recovery and recycling targets exceeded those laid down in the Directive were permitted to pursue these objectives provided that the measures being applied in this area did not produce distortions of competition. To this effect a verification procedure would be set up by the Commission, in collaboration with the Member States, to ensure that the said measures complied with the principles of the single market;
- The Directive defined the essential requirements which would have to be met by the packaging in respect of its composition and suitability for reuse and recovery. Member States were to ensure that three years from the adoption of this Directive, packaging could be placed on the market only if it complied with these essential requirements;
- A series of practical measures was proposed in order to achieve these results:
. Member States would introduce systems for the return, collection and recovery of used packaging;
. Member States were to draw up suitable management plans;
. packaging would bear the appropriate marking to indicate its suitability for reuse or recovery;
. users of packaging would be provided with the necessary information.
- Member States were to comply with the Directive on or before 30.06.1996.
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