MUNDOMATERIAL

source: www.freefoto.com I have already discussed the WEEE directive, dealing with waste of electronic and electrical equipment, in my post on WEEE and RoHS. Today I shall talk about another waste directive, the one dealing with vehicles, commonly known as the ELV directive, or directive 2000/53/EC. Similarly to the WEEE directive, the ELV directive promotes waste reduction, sets progressive recovery and recycling targets and puts responsibility on vehicles producers. These are the recycling and recovering targets set for 2006 and 2015: 2006: 85% of reuse and recovery and 80% of reuse and recycling 2015: 95% of reuse and recovery and 85% of reuse and recycling The unusually high targets were not chose at random. Before the introduction of the directive around 75% weight of a car was already being recycled, as the metal content is over 80%. This percentage tends to diminish in new cars, as more plastic alternatives are used. By increasing the percentage that needs to be recycled, the directive... 
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Introduction A bit lost about the legal status of your rubbish? Believe me, you are not alone! The European Union has many different directives legislating the “waste” issue. The European Union presents the waste management issue like this at http://europa.eu: Every year, some 2 billion tonnes of waste – including particularly hazardous waste – are produced in the Member States, and this figure is rising steadily. Stockpiling waste is not a viable solution and destroying it is unsatisfactory due to the resulting emissions and highly concentrated, polluting residues. The best solution is, as always, to prevent the production of such waste, reintroducing it into the product cycle by recycling its components where there are ecologically and economically viable methods of doing so. If you want to know about waste and European legislation, you have to visit this link: Europe waste management, it definetely is where you should start. The mother of all waste directives,... 
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In March 2008 the European Commission adopted Regulation EC 282/2008, setting out the requirements for recycled plastics to be used in food contact applications. The aim of the regulation is to level the field accross Europe, since up to now the legal status of recycled plastics varied from country to country. Also, the lack of specific legislation made it more difficult for recycled plastics to compete with virgin polymers in this type of end market. The EC is just being consequent with what is already established in Directive 94/62/EC, promoting the recycling of packaging waste. However, the recent regulation covers not only food packaging, but also cutlery, dishes, processing machines, containers, etc. Only plastics already used in food contact applications, or complying with food contact requirements, are covered by the Directive. Excluded from it are the following: materials obtained by chemical recycling, which are covered instead by Directive 2002/72/EC on monomers and additives recycled... 
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