Recyclingpercentage metaalverpakkingen in Nederland in 2017: Volgens de nieuwe EU rekenmethode

The European commission has decided to change the calculation rules for the recycling rates of packaging waste. For plastic packages, glass and paper & board based packages the recycling rates can be calculated according to the new EU rules for the Netherlands in 2017 with relative ease. For metal packages this was much more complex since important data has not been measured previously. To enable the estimation of the recycling rate for metal packages the missing data was approximated with material flow analysis. In this analysis, the known parameters are linked with each other via mathematical relationships which can resolve unknown parameters. This was separately executed for aluminium and steel packages. In the material flow analysis of aluminium packages the following recycling pathways are discerned: bottom ash, separate collection of lightweight packages, mechanical recovery from mixed municipal solid waste, collection with glass packages. In the material flow analysis of steel packages the following recycling pathways are discerned: bottom ash, separate collection of lightweight packages, mechanical recovery from mixed municipal solid waste, collection with glass packages, metal salvage companies, drop-off collection of only metal packages and postconsumer chemical waste. This rendered the new recycling rates, according to the new calculation rules, for the Netherlands in 2017 of 70-77% for aluminium packages, 94-97% for steel packages and 90-94% for the metal packages overall.