A minimum recovery target equivalent to 60% of all packaging in circulation, a recycling target of between 55-80%, targets for glass and paper of 60%, 50% for metals and 22.5% for plastic. These are the highlights of the revisions to Directive 94/62, together with a technical guide as to what packaging is and what it is not. It is also highly probably that the time limit for reaching the targets will be 2007, rather than 2005. The move towards harmony on this issue by the EU does not seem to have stopped action by member states: Germany is working on a proposal for the payment of a deposit on all returnable packaging. Now that the EU Commission has given its opinion on the wording of the proposed directive modifying the Packaging Directive 94/62, an end is in sight for the legislative process which began in 2001.
