There are several contentious points in the proposals agreed at a first reading stage by the European Parliament earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story), including the refusal to extend the deadline to 2008 and the fact that the overall recycling target (65%) is higher than the overall recovery target (60%).
But a Whitehall source said that when the proposal goes through to the next stage in Europe, to the Council of Ministers on 17th October 2002, it is almost certain to be rejected on the grounds that it is unworkable. If rejected, the proposals would then go through an arbitration process in which the document would be amended once again before going back to the European Parliament for second and third readings.
“If the Council of Ministers do reject it,” the government insider said, “it probably won't be sorted out until next summer.”
Meanwhile, the Brussels-based Paper Packaging Co-ordination Group has made a statement concerning the Corbey proposals, which reveal that it isn't only UK industry that is unhappy with the European Parliament's actions.
The statement from the PPCG, which represents members of the European paper and board packaging sectors, said: “The PPCG is concerned about the way in which the Parliament voting has resulted in a very confusing proposal concerning recovery and recycling targets.”
Although the PPCG agreed with the European Parliament's overall recovery and recycling targets, their statement said that the deadline should be moved to 2008 and that the minimum targets for each packaging material should be merged into a single figure.
“The Parliament missed an opportunity to give a clear signal against the material-specific minimum recycling targets,” the statement said. “Hugely differentiated material-specific minimum recycling targets at EU level as proposed by the Commission cannot be justified on environmental grounds.”
Click here for more information on the Paper Packaging Co-ordination Group.
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