Within the European Commission’s Circular Economy package, in 2018 a new waste ‘framework’ directive came to light. How will these changes to come (in matters of selective collection, mandatory recycling goals, waste hierarchy...) affect Spain?

Directive 2018/851/EU, published in June 2018, represents a substantial revision of the 2008/98/EC Framework Directive on waste. The main modifications have, from my viewpoint, two general objectives: to advance in the area of circular economy and to standardise certain waste provisions within the EU.

In order to move forward in the circular economy, on the one hand they have maximised the principle of waste hierarchy, particularly prevention, preparation for re-use and recycling, so as to reduce its dumping or disposal, by establishing new obligations to separate waste collection, medium and long term objectives for municipal waste and the use of economic instruments; and on the other, they are promoting the application of the concepts of by-product and end of waste status.

With regard to standardisation, they have attempted to establish common rules for all Member States regarding definitions, method of calculation of objectives and application of Extended Producer Responsibility.

All these developments must be incorporated into the domestic legal system, and must consequently have a direct effect on the Spanish waste prevention and management model, by introducing new waste separation obligations and improving existing ones, so that we increase our waste recycling (which in 2016 was 34% for municipal waste) and recovery rates and we reduce dumping (54% in 2016).

In the case of the modification of the waste 'framework' directive, it is expected that the support of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mechanisms will be reinforced, introducing new requirements for collective systems. What are the main requirements for these systems? Are Spanish collective systems prepared for these new regulations?

Extended Producer Responsibility is primarily an economic instrument that has been used in waste legislation to involve product manufacturers in the prevention and proper management of the waste generated by their products at the end of their useful life, allocating them to the first options of the waste hierarchy; that is to say, in preparation for reuse and recycling. Albeit each Member State had developed this instrument differently, which entailed variations in its effectiveness and performance and even involved a certain distortion in the internal market as it generated certain competitive advantages of certain systems over others. For this reason, the approved directive has sought to clarify what is an Extended Producer Responsibility system (financial obligation and, in some cases, also organisational obligation) and establish minimum requirements to be met in all countries at the time of using this instrument. This will support a boost in the field of prevention, the incorporation of the cost of waste management into products, as well as greater efficiency and transparency of the operation of these systems throughout the EU. Among the main developments are the obligation to define the roles and responsibilities of all participants, establish the management objectives, the specification of the costs that must be covered by the financial responsibility of producers, more information to the public about the operation of collective systems or the establishment of an adequate monitoring and control framework, among other matters.

Law 22/2011, of 28 July, on contaminated waste and soil already carried out a similar exercise by establishing a systematised and consistent legal framework for Expanded Producer Responsibility, a framework that we must review in light of the new minimum requirements for the community directive, and that we will subsequently have to apply and define in the waste flows in which this has already been regulated or in which it is decided to regulate such an instrument. I am fully convinced that existing systems will be able to adapt to this new regulation, since they have a lot of experience and, to a large extent, part of the new requirements are already being met.

 

The truth is that with the aim of making more efficient use of resources and advancing in a circular economy, the new directive encourages the application of both concepts, which will force the review of the law on waste in that sense, in order to establish the necessary mechanisms to expedite the incorporation of secondary materials to production cycles, guaranteeing both the protection of human health and the environment.

In short, we all have an important challenge ahead to move significantly towards the circular economy: public bodies by providing more resources to speed up the evaluation and analysis processes, and the requesting operators by submitting the documentation and reports with sufficient quality to be carried out.

Without a doubt, Europe's objectives are very ambitious. In the case of Spain, at what stage of development is the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy directed and coordinated by MITECO?

Indeed, the goals established by the Community regulations that we have provided to Member States are very ambitious, especially since the method of calculating what is actually being recycled or deposited in landfills has also changed, but this is so in order to increase waste recovery, a key pillar of the Circular Economy, although not the only one.

To move forward in this new economic model that is inspiring Europe, a draft Circular Economy Strategy (EEEC) has been prepared for Spain. The EEEC is a multidisciplinary planning instrument for the long term: 2030, together with an initial Action Plan with specific actions in the short term: 2020. The ultimate goal is to improve our productivity of materials by 30% compared to 2015, guaranteeing both the protection of people's health and of the environment also contributing to the achievement of the sustainability goals.

The EEEC is transversal since it identifies the five most relevant sectors of the Spanish economy that must necessarily contribute to an efficient use of resources and, ultimately, to Spain moving towards the circular economy. Those sectors are construction; agri-food, fisheries and forestry; industry; tourism and the production of consumer goods. The I Action Plan includes the 74 measures to be developed within the AGE in the short term. These measures revolve around 8 thematic axes: of these, 5 specialising in matters of production, consumption, waste management, secondary raw materials, and water reuse; and transversally, three more: awareness and participation; Research, innovation and competitiveness; and employment and training.

It is worth noting the importance of the involvement of other ministerial departments - up to 13 - in the preparation of the Strategy, since the paradigm shift towards the circular economy should not be based solely on environmental policies, but also on economic, competitive and social policies. Finally, it must be said that both documents are in the final stages of approval.

What can be the role of Extended Producer Responsibility Collective Systems, EPRCS, in the development of this new economic paradigm? To what extent should their application to new waste flows be considered?

Extended Producer Responsibility, whether exercised individually or collectively, is an important instrument in the circular economy: firstly, because it should serve as an incentive for product manufacturers to improve their products’ eco-design, not so much in terms of energy which is what they’ve been doing for some years now, but in matters relating to extending the useful life, the reparability, their capacity for reuse or recyclability, and secondly, because thanks to the financing of management, this is oriented towards the first options of the waste hierarchy, which enables an increase of efficiency in the use of the materials contained in waste. Consequently, collective systems must also take into account all these orientations in their operation, especially in regards to the adjustment of the fees to be paid by producers. Also with to the application of Extended Producer Responsibility to new flows, this instrument may be used when there is a desire to significantly improve their management as waste.

Law 22/2011 on contaminated waste and soil contemplates the creation of a single shared waste production and management Register throughout the national territory, which will collect data from the autonomous registers. At what stage is the regulatory development of this register?

The MITECO has been working jointly with the autonomous communities for several years to develop an electronic waste information system (eSIR), which hosts the production and management Register indicated in that Law. The process has been slower than we expected because the starting point in the autonomous communities was different and it was also necessary to adapt the authorisations and communications to the requirements established in Law 22/2011. At present, almost all the Autonomous Communities have dumped practically all the authorisation data, with just a few communications pending in certain Autonomous Communities.

Likewise, we have worked together with regional authorities in the software development of a waste shipment electronic procedure, which guarantees the control and traceability of proper waste management, that is expected to start operating as soon as possible, pending the approval of the modification of Royal Decree 180/2015, of 13 March which regulates waste shipment within the territory of the State.