The Bureau of International Recycling restructured its Environment Committee during the recent BIR World Recycling Convention in Monte Carlo and launched the International Environment Council, an initiative that was endorsed by BIR’s Advisory Council during its main session.
Alvaro Rodriguez from Lajo y Rodriguez, Spain, was appointed chairman of the new IEC.
The structure of the International Environment Council is fundamentally different from the Environment Committee, which was composed of representatives from the different BIR Commodity Divisions. The IEC puts the emphasis on a national representation, and in consequence its members will be environmental experts appointed by BIR’s national member associations, a fact that allows a more direct consideration of the various national environmental topics influenced by international legislation.
The IEC will meet twice a year for a full plenary session, in the framework of BIR’s spring and autumn conventions. The council will then be co-chaired by the environmental expert of the respective host country of the BIR Convention (Belgium in autumn 2002, Norway in spring 2003, Austria in autumn 2003).
Between sessions, the IEC will be represented at meetings of the United Nations Environment Program, the Basel Convention, and the OECD Working Group on Waste Prevention and Recycling through the Business and Industry Advisory Council to the OECD.
Although the IEC’s main focus will be on sustainable use of resources, it will also dedicate a substantial effort to trade and environment issues, extended producer responsibility schemes for end-of-life goods, and specific topics related to impacts on human health and the environment.