Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (recast)

The recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive is addressed to Member States, which must transpose it by 31 July 2027, ensure collection and treatment, and set up an extended producer responsibility scheme. No company files anything under the Directive itself. Producers of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics will fund at least 80% of the cost of quaternary treatment through that scheme, unless they show the substances they place on the EU market are below 1 tonne a year.

The producer scheme must be in place by 31 December 2028; court cases and calls for a pause continue, but the Directive still applies as adopted.