In a joint statement, the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC), Brussels, through its paper recycling branch ERPA, and the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD), Brussels, have rejected proposed revised standards published by the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI). In their statement, the two groups acknowledge that that the production of quality secondary raw materials is a priority for the paper recycling industry to compete with and is a substitute for virgin materials.
Hence, EuRIC says that through ERPA and FEAD it will continuously support and will further support the work done by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on Pulp, Paper & Board. Recycled paper has been a raw material subject to European quality standards for more than 20 years since EN 643 Standard, which benefited from the work done by the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and ERPA. The standard was adopted and published in 1994 and has been updated since then.
However, the two groups say they noticed that the revised version of the “Paper for Recycling Control Guidelines,” published in early April by CEPI, have not been co-signed by either the EuRIC or FEAD. “It seems that CEPI undertook this revision to “facilitate a common understanding of the “revised EN 643 standard” and “facilitate commercial relationships” between suppliers of recovered paper and paper mills. However, these guidelines, unilaterally published by CEPI, have neither been co-signed by EuRIC nor FEAD. We therefore consider that these revised guidelines do not bind our Members’ Associations or the waste management and recycling companies we represent.”
Despite not signing on to the update, the two groups note their member companies are committed to give clear priority to the on-going work by CEN of developing standards and/or technical specifications that support the implementation of the revised EN 643 Standard. “Our members consider this as a crucial first step before assessing the need for additional joint industry recommendations.”