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

materials onto the packaging industry, rather than the household / municipality. They
all have more or less universal household waste collections for packaging, and thus
would be expected to have some of the higher fees in Europe. Some cases suggest a
gradual move towards a higher percentage: for example, Italy’s producer
responsibility organisation was estimated to cover 65% of costs in 2001, but now
covers around 83% (with the intention being to have 100% cost coverage).
Table 13-5: Packaging Recycling Rates (all packaging)
238
29/09/09
Country Country Country 2001 2001 % % Recycling Recycling Recycling 2001 2001 % % Recovery Recovery 2006 2006 % % Recycling Recycling Recycling 2006 2006 % % Recovery
Recovery
Belgium 71 88 79 94.5
Austria 64 73 68 87.5
Germany 76 79 66.5 88
Luxembourg 57 69 64 92.5
Netherlands 56 59 60 88
Sweden 63 66 58 81
UK 42 48 57.5 62
Denmark 57 90 56 94
Portugal 38 52 56 56
Italy 46 51 55 65
France 44 59 55 64
Ireland 27 27 54.5 57
Spain 44 50 54 61
Finland 47 62 49 77
Greece 33 33 43 43
Source: European Commission, accessed 2009
Many of the European countries’ producer responsibility organisations work with the
municipalities to some degree to organise collection and sorting of waste packaging.
The UK solution is different as accredited reprocessors of recyclates sell packaging
recovery notes (PRNs) for each tonne of material they process into what amounts to a
market for compliance credits, some of which are openly traded. Companies that put
packaging on the market (or the compliance scheme of which they choose to be a
member) then buy these PRNs to the tonnage value of that packaging. This process
supports the market for reprocessing; it has no direct link with the collection and
sorting of packaging waste (household or non-household). It therefore does not fund
the collection of recyclable materials directly, but it may influence the price of
materials offered by reprocessors at any moment in time (though this is likely to be
incremental for local authorities operating services through contracts with operators).