Solid Recovered Fuels – ECOS says “no” to ISO/TC 300 scope extension
At the beginning of April, we communicated our position against the expansion of the scope of ISO Technical Committee 300 on Solid Recovered Fuels (SRF).
The proposal for expansion has been driven by the European Recovered Fuel Organisation (ERFO) and fundamentally seeks to include material recovery into solid recovered fuels standards, typically developed for purely waste-to-energy purposes. Such expansion risks creating incentives for the wasteful and environmentally harmful incineration, pyrolysis and gasification of new waste streams, and especially plastic waste.
ECOS opposes this development as the proposal is in direct contradiction to the definition of material recovery under the Waste Framework Directive, and it will counteract efforts under the EU Plastics Strategy, the Basel Convention, and weaken the broader work on ecodesign of plastic products. Additionally, the relevant expertise for such claimed material recovery activities, primarily in relation to plastics, is not currently present within ISO/TC 300.
Unfortunately, the initial proposal was approved in principle with a Task Group having been created to formulate a more concrete proposal for a final vote by the Technical Committee.
ECOS will continue to strongly oppose the proposed scope expansion and seek to drive alignment of any future standards in this area with EU regulations and policy commitments.
