To determine the order in which the Commission should develop end of waste (EoW) criteria for waste streams, a study was conducted assessing and scoring the potential of various materials. With a score of 55, recovered paper, or “paper and cardboard waste” ranked lowest among the five waste streams ultimately considered priority materials. In most of the areas of evaluated “potential” recovered paper was highly rated, or was at least viewed as favourably as the top-scoring stream PET, which received a priority score of 63.
According to the scoping study carried out by the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), recovered paper fulfils many conditions for the development of end-of-waste criteria. It is in demand, has a high market value and is traded in large volumes within and outside the EU. Furthermore, there are already quality standards for recovered paper which would support the development of EoW criteria....