WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

In contrast, Dutch pipe recyclers could increase pipe recycling if associated landfill controls were
improved.

Economic instruments
Economic instruments are financial tools which are softer in their application than legislative
instruments, although they can be very effective in changing behaviour. Essentially, they provide an
economic incentive to change current management practices. This maybe either through increasing the
costs of traditional disposal methods or financing collection and recycling activities and thereby
making plastic collection and processing more economically attractive.

Landfilling or incineration costs or tax

In an open economy, the cost of the different ways of disposal have a considerable impact on the
decision to recycle those wastes for which the sale of the sorted materials does not cover the cost
of collection and sorting. The costs of landfilling and incineration have increased in recent years as
new obligations have been introduced, i.e. the adoption of the landfill and incineration Directives.
Belgium: The example of Recyhoc for C&D wastes
Recyhoc SA is responsible for the C&D waste in the Walloon Region. It applies differential tax rates
according to the composition of the waste, see below.
The non-inert fraction include wood, plastics, paper, cardboard, gypsum, non-ferrous metals,
carpets, mattresses, window frames, tyres and insulating materials.
Table 26: Recyhoc landfill taxes (/T at April 2002, excluding VAT 21 per cent)
Mixed inert Non-reinforced
concrete

7.45

3.00

Reinforced
concrete

Asphalt

Mixed inert
with<20
percent
noninert

Mixed inert
with<40
percent
noninert

Mixed inert
with<60
percent
noninert

6.20

5.00

25.00

42.00

62.00

Subsidies for collection (and sorting)

Subsidies are a controversial instrument. Its supporters claim that they are necessary in order for
recycling schemes to achieve an economic balance, whilst its detractors argue that they favour
uneconomic recycling schemes. The use of subsides should only be considered where economic
activities which are capable of producing positive externalities require addition support, otherwise
they may distort pricing mechanisms and lead to the uneconomic allocation of resources.

France: The example of the Department of Aveyron

Since 1999, the Department of Aveyron has had in place a collection scheme for the agricultural
plastic films.
The General Council of the Aveyron initiate a partnership between the different actors: SOPAVE and
the Local Agricultural Syndicate.

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WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

The Syndicate has the responsibility for coordinating thecollection of plastics, whilst SOPAVE undertakes to receive and recycle the collected films. The scheme was initially planned to last three years,
but as of 2002, the scheme was still in operation. A renegotiation will occur next year. Collection is
organized twice a year, in April and October during two or three weeks. The collection point can be
a public or a private place (e.g. a farm yard). The plastic films are unloaded onto a platform where
they are then loaded into a container with compactor to reduce the volume for transportation.
As the collection scheme is not economically self-sufficient, the General Council gives a grant
of 38/t collected films to support it. This grant must cover transport costs, but it covers only
two-thirds of them. It is paid directly to the SOPAVE, which organises transportation, on the basis
of collected quantities.
Tax credits for recycling stakeholders
The city of San Jose (California, USA) requires contractors to pay a construction waste fee as part
of the building permit process. The fee is returned to contractors that can demonstrate on-site reuse
of materials or provide receipts for materials from recycling facilities.

Producer responsibility
"Extended producer responsibility is an environmental protection principle to reach an environmental objective of a decreased total environmental impact from a product, by making
the manufacturer of the product responsible for the entire life-cycle of the product and
especially for the take-back, recycling and final disposal of the product. The extended
producer responsibility is implemented through administrative, economic and informative
instruments. The composition of these instruments determines the precise form of the
extended producer responsibility."58
Producer responsibility is widespread for municipal packaging wastes, but is also applied to other
waste streams.
Belgium: Wallonia decree on takeback
A governmental decree of the Belgian Walloon Region (25/04/2002) on the take-back obligation for
certain wastes illustrates a local and regional approach to the management of these wastes.
This decree gives a sense of responsibility to the person who puts on the market, products including
agricultural plastics, vehicles and E&EE. Those responsible should either organise the collection
themselves or finance it through a certified organisation. They may also conclude a convention or
agreement with the Region.
The decree fixes the following objectives:
for plastics from E&EE, reuse and recycling rates must reach 20 per cent.
for agricultural plastics, recycling must reach 20 per cent by 2003 and 50 per cent by
2005
for ELVs, there are no specific goals for plastics, but there is an overall reuse and recycling
rate target of 80 per cent by 200659

58- Thomas Lindhqvist - Swedish Ministry of the Environment in 1990

59- Those goals are the same than those defined by the EU Directive on ELV (Directive 2000/53/CE)

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