Recovered paper excluded from solid recovered fuels standard

Archiv – The Technical Board of the CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation, has passed a resolution stating that separately collected paper is excluded from the solid recovered fuels standard. This is completely in line with recommendations made by CEPI, the Confederation of European Paper Industries. The Technical Board of the CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation, has passed a resolution stating that separately collected paper is excluded from the solid recovered fuels standard. This is completely in line with recommendations made by CEPI, the Confederation of European Paper Industries.
In August last year, the European Commission issued a mandate for CEN on solid recovered fuels which could have been interpreted as promoting the burning of paper as opposed to encouraging its recycling. The purpose of this standard is to encourage the use of waste as fuel, which in itself forms part of the overall promotion of renewable energy sources (RES) as a means of combatting climate change and of increasing EU self-sufficiency in energy terms. While the European pulp and paper industry is very much in favour of this development, it was concerned about what constitutes ’waste to fuel’ and the possibility of market distortions. CEPI subsequently requested the European Commission to exclude recovered paper and board collected separately and suitable for recycling from the solid recovered fuels standardisation.
The reason for the decision by the CEN Technical Board to exclude recovered paper and board from the solid recovered fuels standard was the existence of the EN 643 standard, The European List of Standard Grades of Recovered Paper and Board, which was adopted in December 2001. This is designed to help industry in the buying and selling of this raw material intended for recycling.