The objective of the Action was to define and develop the options for the reduction and disposal of waste arising from the paper and board making process. This should be achieved by determining the best approaches to reducing the generation of waste arising in original use or in the mill and assessing the options for reuse of paper mill sludge. The action wanted to provide benefits to the key industrial sector of pulp and paper manufacture and to the wider European community by providing further knowledge to assist the development of an effective European waste management policy. The Action had a severe slow down in the middle of the life time due to institutional restructuring and a change in the management. It achieved however the objectives in a good manner in spite of the bottlenecks. Meetings, workshops and mills involved, provided potential solutions for the utilisation of the pulp and paper production residuals although the industry participation could have been more extensive. The action probably started too early, the industry is in fact more aware now of the waste problems/challenges than several years ago. The Action was classified as a spearhead as it operated as a pioneer in an area where little knowledge had been accumulated and documented. As a result the Action served as a creator of a new network on waste arising from the papermaking. The Action also created the awareness of the lack of appropriate legislation in an area where common action is required. During the COST Action several universities throughout Europe started research and training programmes related to solid wastes. It was also stated that extensive lobbying is necessary for not considering the pulp and paper residuals as waste. A link was made between COST E26 and COST E46 (Improvements in the understanding and use of de-inking technology) and a very specific link was made with CEPI (European Federation of national papermakers associations in Brussels). Specialists of CEPI participated actively in the Action and output of the action was used as input for policy documents of CEPI. The action contributed to new norms and standards in the area of both characterization of recovered paper via the CEPI Task Force on this matter and to the discussions between commission and industry concerning solid waste definitions.
