FEAD position on the draft Delegated Act setting rules for the calculation and verification of average loss rates for sorted waste

FEAD, the European Waste Management Association, representing the private waste and resource management industry across Europe, welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the draft Delegated Act establishing rules for the calculation and verification of average loss rates (ALR) for the sorting of waste under the Waste Framework Directive.

Accurate and harmonised calculation of recycling rates is essential to ensure a level playing field between Member States and to maintain the credibility of EU waste statistics. This is particularly important in the context of the EU own resource based on non-recycled plastic packaging waste, which directly links Member States’ financial contributions to their reported recycling performance. We must therefore ensure that all Member States apply the same rules and that the reported data reflect the actual performance of the recycling system.

FEAD supports the objective of improving the harmonisation and reliability of recycling rate calculations across the EU. However, the proposed methodology raises several concerns regarding its consistency with the principles established in the WFD and its potential impact on the accuracy and comparability of recycling statistics across Member States.

Use of ALR should remain exceptional

The WFD establishes that recycling should normally be measured at the point where waste enters the recycling operation. The use of ALR is foreseen only in situations where reliable data cannot be obtained from recycling facilities where the waste reaches the calculation point.

The information provided in Annex and feedback from FEAD’s members shows that, in many Member States, recycling rates are already reported on the basis of real operational data, and that the use of ALR remains limited in practice. In this context, it is unclear why other Member States should not also be able to implement reporting systems based on actual input-output data from facilities.

Waste treatment facilities generally collect and have access to detailed information on the waste they treat, including quantities entering and leaving the installation. Such data are necessary not only for regulatory reporting but also for operational and business purposes, as well as to ensure compliance with authorised treatment capacities. Member States should therefore be able to request these data from installations and compile them into national statistics.

In light of the above, the use of ALR should remain an exceptional solution and should only be applied where Member States have demonstrated that reliable operational data from recycling facilities cannot be obtained. It would therefore be necessary to clarify more precisely when the conditions set out in Article 11a(3) of the WFD are met, and to define objective criteria to determine when available data can be considered reliable or not.

Methodology should reflect losses occurring at the recycler

The draft Delegated Act recognises that the losses relevant for the calculation of ALR shall include those occurring in pre-treatment operations taking place before the calculation point, including operations carried out within recycling facilities.

Currently, the proposed methodology to calculate ALR relies largely on the characterisation of sorted bales and sampling at sorting facilities. National authorities must ensure that such an approach correctly capture the losses that occur during pre-treatment operations carried out by recyclers prior to the calculation point, including additional sorting, removal of contaminants, washing and other preparation steps. For waste streams, such as plastics, these losses can be significant and depend on a range of operational factors, including the quality of sorted bales, the recycling technology and the required output quality.

Therefore, the methodology used to calculate ALR can be based on the classification and evaluation of sorted bales, but national authorities should ensure that it correctly reflect the material flows and losses occurring within recycling facilities, depending on factors such as the bale quality, the recycling technology and the output quality. Additionally, a clear definition of ‘recycling facility’ should be introduced to clarify certain points of the methodology and ensure that losses occurring at the recycler facility are properly taken into account.

Additionally, certain fractions removed during sorting or pre-treatment may subsequently undergo further processing or be sent to other facilities for high-quality recovery at a later stage. In such cases, these materials should not be classified as losses. The methodology should therefore ensure that materials that are subsequently reprocessed or recovered are not deducted as losses and are appropriately reflected in the calculation of ALR.

Regular updates of the ALR and transition period

Given the rapid evolution of sorting technologies and the continuous changes in the composition of waste streams, the frequency of updates of ALR should be reconsidered. More frequent updates, for example every three years, would allow the methodology to better capture these developments and ensure that reported recycling rates remain accurate. This would be particularly important for less advanced Member States where waste management systems and sorting technologies are quickly evolving.

Additionally, the text defines that ALR must be updated at least for 2030 and subsequently every five years. It would be useful to clarify that until 2030 Member States are free to use their own method or may already adapt it to the one described in this Delegated Act.

Granularity of the Annex on waste streams to be covered by ALR

The proposed approach to calculating ALR may lack sufficient granularity in terms of waste streams covered. Indeed, the approach proposed in Annex risks grouping together waste streams that have significantly different processing characteristics and loss profiles.

For instance, within plastic waste, loss rates can vary considerably between different polymer streams such as PET, PE or PP. A single ALR applied to all plastic waste may therefore fail to accurately reflect the actual losses occurring in recycling processes. A similar issue may arise for other material streams, such as paper or metals.

With regard to mixed waste, further clarification would also be necessary. In particular, the methodology does not clearly specify which types of waste streams, treatment technologies and expected outputs are covered. For example, it remains unclear whether the calculation of ALR in this case should refer to plants treating mixed waste streams (e.g. multimaterial flows) or to mechanical-biological treatment plants.

Additionally, several improvements could be considered regarding this Annex:

• Bio-waste could be moved to Table 1, to ensure that ALR are calculated separately for household and commercial and industrial waste streams.
• Inert materials derived from street sweeping activities, which represent a relevant recycling flow in several Member States, could be explicitly included in Table 2 to ensure that ALR calculation also applies to this stream.
• A review clause could be introduced to allow for periodic updates of the tables, ensuring that emerging or increasingly relevant recycling streams are incorporated into the common ALR calculation framework.

Avoiding distortions between Member States

It must be ensured that the system is applied uniformly, correctly and transparently across all Member States and that the use of ALR does not lead to distortions in the reporting of recycling rates. In this regard, FEAD appreciate that Article 4 mandates Member States who make use of ALR to designate a contact point which shall be used for notifying ALR to the Commission. This should help the Commission in ensuring full transparency regarding the calculation of ALR in each Member State. The underlying methodologies and data sources should be clearly documented and provided to the Commission for critical review in order to guarantee the fair and consistent application of the system.

In this context, appropriate monitoring and verification mechanisms are essential: very low ALR should be carefully assessed where their application results in significantly higher reported recycling rates compared to Member States that calculate their recycling rates based on actual operational data reported by facilities and do not rely on ALR.

Finally, it must be ensured that, in Member States using ALR, recycling operators are not disincentivised from achieving high levels of traceability or from investing in improving the performance of their facilities.

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