Deconstructing the Bottlenecks Caused by Waste Legislation: End-of-Waste Regulation

The wide interpretation of the concept of waste in EU waste legislation caused by the precautionary principle might cause bottlenecks for the efficient recovery of waste materials. Article 6 of the Waste Framework Directive regulates on the end-of-waste criteria according to which materials can cease to be waste and be removed from the scope of application of the waste legislation and its precautionary measures. Precautionary measures are based on the insufficient knowledge on the impacts of using waste materials and therefore should be replaced with more precise quality standards if the information is available. The criteria of Article 6 require a lot of information on the quality of the materials ceasing to be waste. The bottlenecks of waste recovery can be removed through end-of-waste provisions where the adequate information is provided and the provisions have been laid down to ensure that no adverse environmental or human health impacts are created.