EurEau and FIEC call on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to safeguard the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme enshrined in the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD), which entered into force on 1 January 2025.
The Directive marks a major milestone for public health and the protection of Europe’s water resources, introducing ambitious new requirements to remove micropollutants from wastewater. The EPR scheme, based on the polluter-pays principle, ensures that producers of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics cover at least 80% of the costs of advanced ‘quaternary treatment’ required to remove these pollutants.
This balanced approach shares costs fairly between polluting industries and water users, while maintaining a level playing field for EU manufacturers by applying the same rules to producers inside and outside Europe.
The Water Resilience Strategy’s recognition of water resilience as a key economic opportunity. Protecting the EPR scheme will enable water operators to invest in modernising networks, reducing leakage, and building new treatment facilities, creating thousands of local jobs.
Together we urge the European Commission to uphold the EPR mechanism as adopted and avoid any revisions that could undermine the timely and effective implementation of the Directive.