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

It can be seen that against this measure, the Irish position is one with very high per
capita generation, and reflecting this, given that many other countries have decent
recycling performance, the performance in respect of residual waste is not especially
good. Having said that, the quality of the data is not what it might be, and the
calculation in respect of per capita quantities might not be especially robust. The
figure also suggests that this type of target would be much fairer across the EU as a
whole, with countries at lower income levels effectively performing better than those
at higher income levels, even at relatively low recycling levels.
13.5.2 Packaging Regulations Essential Requirements
Three countries – the UK, France and the Czech Republic - have put enforcement
measures in place to enforce compliance with the Essential Requirements for
packaging (Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Packaging Waste Directive). These include
minimisation of packaging weight and volume to the amount needed for safety and
consumer acceptance of the packed product, and suitability for reuse, material
recycling, energy recovery or composting. Packaging materials must also keep the
concentration of heavy metals below certain targets.
The UK and France both use the CEN (European Committee for Standardisation)
standards as a baseline for packaging. PIRA and Ecolas in 2004 identified a
correlation between enforcement of the Essential Requirements in France and the UK
and a decoupling of GDP from packaging waste generation. This decoupling is
comparable with that in Belgium and Spain, where the requirement to develop
prevention plans appears to have had broadly similar effects, and is greater than for
EU-15 as a whole. 262 The CEN standard on prevention by source reduction (EN
13428: 2000) provides companies with a methodology for a systematic evaluation of
their packaging reduction opportunities.
13.6 Implementation Costs
The implementation costs of the producer responsibility will depend upon a range of
factors in a given country, amongst other being:
243
• The baseline waste management system (what was happening before the
system was introduced);
• What are the background costs of residual waste collection and treatment;
• How the market for waste collection is configured;
• Whether or not countries operate pay-by-use schemes;
• The quality of the material being collected for recycling; and
• The possibilities for marketing materials in a pro-active manner;
262 Study On The Progress Of The Implementation And Impact Of Directive 94/62/Ec On The
Functioning Of The Internal Market, Perchards, 2005
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes