According to David Barrio, director of Recycling at ASPAPEL, “this new legislation upholds the legality of Recycling ‘Made in Europe’ and gives Spanish generators of recyclable waste materials powers to decide on the final destination of their waste”.

The 2011 Waste Act was the first bill in the Spanish law to introduce the possibility of town councils giving priority to recycling within the European Union. Now, with the recently passed Law on urgent measures concerning environmental matters, which amends the previous Waste Act, the possibility of applying recycling in proximity and circular economy is extended to all producers or initial holders of recyclable waste.

As David Barrio explains: “Thanks to proximity recycling, the European recycling society turns the six tonnes of waste that each European citizen produces in a year into an opportunity to create wealth and green employment in Europe, in a sustainable, efficient and environmentally responsible manner, thereby giving value to the significant efforts made across Europe in recent years in terms of waste recovery”.

“The Spanish paper industry,” continues David Barrio, “supports this initiative in favour of the circular economy with our own significant and expanding recycling capacity. Nowadays, we are the second largest paper recycling industry in Europe - second only to Germany – a level that enables us to close our cycle by recycling all the used paper and board collected in the country”.