THE European Commission is causing great consternation in Britain’s packaging and waste industries. The controversy surrounds tough new targets for the recovery and recycling of specific packaging wastes. The targets will have to be achieved in the next five to six years (Packaging and Packaging Waste: Revised Recovery and Recycling Targets, HM Stationery Office).
In 1994, when the commission last set recovery targets for glass, metals, paper and plastics, they had to be met by 2001 and there was a recycling target of 15 per cent for all materials. Britain, in fact, achieved this, even for plastics – a…
