International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

1.4 Waste Recycling and Composting / Anaerobic Digestion
The WFD defines ‘recycling’ as follows: 12
11
"recycling" means any recovery operation by which waste materials are
reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or
other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not
include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be
used as fuels or for backfilling operations.
As such, for the purposes of this report, we consider recycling to include the
composting and anaerobic digestion of waste where this leads to the production of a
useful output.
Article 4(1), which sets out the waste hierarchy, places recycling below ‘prevention’
and ‘preparing for re-use’, but above ‘other recovery’. Article 4(2) suggests that other
than where life-cycle thinking suggests otherwise, recycling should be encouraged
more strongly than either ‘other recovery’ or ‘disposal’, but not at the expense of
‘prevention’ and ‘preparing for re-use’.
Article 10 states that:
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that waste
undergoes recovery operations, in accordance with Articles 4 and 13.
2. Where necessary to comply with paragraph 1 and to facilitate or improve
recovery, waste shall be collected separately if technically, environmentally
and economically practicable and shall not be mixed with other waste or other
material with different properties.
Whereas this does not establish any specific targets, Article 11, on Re-use and
Recycling, states that:
1. Member States shall take measures as appropriate to promote the re-use
of products and preparing for re-use activities, notably through encouraging
the establishment and support of re-use and repair networks, the use of
economic instruments, procurement criteria, quantitative objectives or other
measures.
Member States shall take measures to promote high quality recycling and to
this end they shall set up separate collection of waste where technically,
environmentally and economically practicable and appropriate to meet the
necessary quality standards for the relevant recycling sectors.
Subject to Article 10(2), by 2015 separate collection shall be set up for at
least the following: paper, metal, plastic and glass.
2. In order to comply with the objectives of this Directive, and to move towards
a European recycling society with a high level of resource efficiency, Member
12 Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 19 November 2008 on Waste
and Repealing Certain Directives.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes