Extended Impact Assessment on the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste

On behalf of European Policy Evaluation Consortium (EPEC) Technopolis assisted the European Commission DG Environment in the drafting of an Extended Impact Assessment on the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste.

The project was led by GHK and the main tasks was to extract information on potential economic, environmental and social impacts, assessing its quality and identifying any gaps. Technopolis assessed the effects of extending the IPPC Directive to all waste treatment processes. We have selected three cases to study in detail the possible effects of IPPC extension. These are biological treatment of organic waste, pre-treatment for co-incineration of waste in cement kilns, and dismantling of end of life vehicles.

Based on the case studies and interviews with stakeholders and experts we have developed a quantitative model to determine the effects and impacts of IPPC extension to all waste treatment processes currently not covered by IPPC. The results show that the positive effects of IPPC extension may be rather limited, while it may lead to extra administrative costs and in some areas significant negative effects. It was expected that trade effects, where waste is traded to those countries where processing costs are lowest, are very importance, but our research showed that it has only a limited effect. IPPC does not level the playing field to a large extent because local considerations can always be taken into account, and transportation costs are often too high compared to the margins that can be made on waste processing, or compared to disposal costs.

More information
For more information please contact Geert van der Veen or Jan-Frens van Giessel

Downloads
The final report contains specific and targeted information and data of relevance to the Impact Assessment. This report can be downloaded from the Commission's website.