FEAD feedback to JRC’s February proposal on EU-Wide End-of-Waste Criteria for inert construction and demolition waste

FEAD, the European Waste Management Association, representing the private waste and resource management industry across Europe, welcomes the progress made in the latest JRC proposal for EU End-of-Waste (EoW) criteria for recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste. The revised proposal reflects several improvements that respond to concerns raised by stakeholders during the consultation process. In particular, FEAD acknowledges the following positive developments in the updated proposal:

• The scope has been clarified by removing the fixed particle size range (0.063–90 mm).
• The validity period of compliance testing under output monitoring has been extended from 24 to 36 months.
• Several previously proposed composition thresholds have been removed, including limits for floating materials, glass and other materials, and bituminous content.
• The previously proposed two-pronged approach for leaching tests, which distinguished between bound or low-permeable applications and unbound and uncapped applications, has been reviewed to a single set of EU limit values for leaching.
• The proposal establishes an EU-wide baseline protection through harmonised minimum criteria for leaching values while allowing Member States to introduce stricter or additional requirements through national construction codes.
• The conditions governing the use of recycled aggregates have been significantly simplified.

These developments represent an important step towards a more workable and coherent framework for EU End-of-Waste criteria for recycled aggregates.

However, several important methodological and implementation issues remain insufficiently addressed. These issues could significantly affect the practical applicability of the criteria and risk undermining the circular economy objectives that the initiative seeks to support. FEAD therefore wishes to highlight the following points that require further clarification or adjustment before the proposal moves forward.

Arbitrary exclusion of national limit values

FEAD reiterates the concerns already raised in its previous submission regarding the exclusion of certain national regulatory frameworks and datasets from the statistical analysis used to derive EU limit values.

In particular, in its presentation, the JRC mentions that the ‘set of limit values from Member States/Regions are not considered if the limit values are for bound application only’. FEAD would like to remind the JRC that the proposed scope of the EU-wide EoW includes bound applications and that specific national EoW criteria have been developed for these bound applications. Therefore, it is counterintuitive to include these applications in the scope while removing the specific leaching limit values for these applications from the datasets used to derive EU limit values.

These exclusions, such as the Irish limit values for low permeability use or the Walloon dataset, directly correspond to the exclusion of certain legitimate uses of recycled aggregates and implicitly redefine which uses are deemed acceptable at the EU level.

FEAD demands that any set of leaching limit values developed in the framework of national EoW criteria for aggregates, included in the scope of the EU-wide EoW in terms of inputs and applications, shall not be arbitrarily excluded from the study.

Additionally, FEAD maintains its reservations regarding the continued use of the 90th percentile statistical approach as the primary basis for determining EU leaching limit values. Indeed, integrating all limit values from France has demonstrated the method’s high sensitivity to the selection of initial limit values, highlighting the risks of an arbitrary approach replacing a real environmental risk-based approach.

Concrete evidence of negative circular economy impacts

In addition to methodological concerns, FEAD reiterates that there is concrete evidence that some leaching limits are overly restrictive and could have a negative impact on existing recycling practices and the outcomes of the circular economy.

This is particularly true for some of the 20 million tonnes of recycled aggregates certified each year by COPRO in Belgium, which are all fully compliant with existing regional EoW criteria and are safely used in the market. It must be noted that Flemish ‘norm’ for sulphates is actually a reference value and thus has no impact on materials reaching EoW if they surpass these values. Such approach is needed as Belgian demolition streams contain a relatively high proportion of mixed masonry and plastered brick constructions, leading to a higher proportion of gypsum residues, and therefore of sulphates level, in the recycled mineral fraction than in countries with more concrete-based construction systems.

Based on the JRC’s proposed EU-wide leaching limit values, a significant proportion of the certified Belgian aggregates currently meeting the EoW criteria would no longer do so. More specifically, at least 5% of Belgian recycled aggregates, which have been assessed as compliant with regional EoW, would no longer meet the criteria. This represents around one million tonnes of material losing its product status and being discarded, in Belgium only. The only alternative for these materials would be landfilling: given that Belgium currently only sends around 3 million tonnes of waste to landfill per year, this would mean an increase of 33% in Belgian landfill rates.

Such outcomes would contradict the core objective of the EoW initiative, which is to facilitate recycling and strengthen the circular economy. Similar effects can reasonably be expected in other Member States, although data have not yet been collected to quantify them.

Sampling frequency for compliance monitoring

The proposed requirement for representative sampling either per batch or every 5,000 tonnes (whichever occurs first) raises concerns regarding proportionality and operational feasibility.

While FEAD recognises the need for robust material quality monitoring, we suggest adapting the testing frequency according to the material’s inherent risk, reducing it if analyses consistently demonstrate compliance. The Flemish framework could serve as inspiration here, distinguishing between crushed or sieved sand, which is tested every 5,000 tonnes, and coarser materials, which are tested every 15,000 tonnes. Testing frequency can be lowered to two analyses per year if consecutive compliant results are achieved.

FEAD therefore encourages the introduction of a flexible monitoring scheme that allows the sampling frequency to be reduced without compromising environmental protection.

Leaching test method

FEAD supports the proposal made by the JRC to introduce conversion factors for Member States using different leaching test methods, and to develop corresponding leaching limit values for the methods commonly used across the EU.

At present, the JRC proposal refers only to the use of the EN 12457 batch test with a liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S) of 10. However, this method is not uniformly applied across Member States, as some countries use different L/S ratios or column-based percolation tests. All leaching measurement methods have inherent strengths and limitations, and their application often reflects different regulatory objectives and national contexts. The EU-wide End-of-Waste criteria should therefore avoid prioritising one testing method over another, particularly where Member States have already developed appropriate regulatory frameworks and testing capacity based on specific methods.

Providing reliable conversion factors and establishing corresponding leaching limit values for the most widely used leaching test methods would therefore facilitate a smooth and practical implementation of the EU End-of-Waste criteria, without introducing duplicative testing.

Clarifying the limited scope of the End-of-Waste criteria

It is important to clarify that the proposed EU EoW criteria represent only one pathway for the use of recycled aggregates and should not be interpreted as the only possible regulatory framework for their placement on the market.

Not all recycled aggregates currently used in construction applications will necessarily meet the proposed EoW criteria. Many materials are safely used under national frameworks while retaining waste status. Recycled aggregates that remain classified as waste should still be able to be placed on the market under existing European and national regulatory systems and in accordance with the Construction Products Regulation.

More broadly, it must be emphasised that the EU-wide EoW is limited in scope and should not prevent other secondary aggregates from being used under existing regulatory mechanisms. For example, materials such as incineration bottom ash may be used in applications similar to recycled aggregates through case-by-case EoW decisions under Article 6 of the Waste Framework Directive or through national regulatory frameworks. This EU-wide EoW should therefore clearly confirm that is does not restrict other national already established or future mechanisms for the recovery and safe use of similar secondary materials that are not covered by the scope of the EU EoW criteria for aggregates.

In conclusion, FEAD welcomes the improvements introduced in the latest JRC proposal, which represent an important step towards creating a harmonised framework that can facilitate the safe use of recycled materials across the EU.

However, several methodological and implementation issues still require further refinement to ensure that the criteria remain workable. In particular, the methodology used to derive leaching limits, the consideration of national datasets and uses, the potential impacts on existing recycling streams, the sampling frequency requirements and the compatibility of different leaching test methods should be carefully addressed.

FEAD therefore encourages the JRC to further refine the proposal in close consultation with stakeholders and Member States, ensuring that the final framework supports both environmental protection and the continued development of high-quality recycling markets across Europe.

FEAD is the European Waste Management Association, representing the private waste and resource management industry across Europe, including 21 national waste management federations and 3,000 waste management companies. Private waste management companies operate in 60% of municipal waste markets in Europe and in 75% of industrial and commercial waste. This means more than 500,000 local jobs, fuelling €5 billion of investments into the economy every year. For more information, please contact: info@fead.be