Greek wastewater study challenges assumptions of EU directive
Pharma Deutschland calls for suspension of Extended Producer Responsibility. A Greek study on wastewater contaminants suggests pharmaceuticals constitute a smaller fraction of toxic load than EU assumes.
Pharma Deutschland e.V. has urged the European Commission to immediately suspend and reassess the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD). The call follows new real-world data from a peer-reviewed study on micropollutant fractions in municipal wastewater.
The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, was conducted by the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. It analyzed samples from two Greek treatment plants, including Psyttalia, one of Europe's largest.
The findings indicate that the actual toxicological load in treated wastewater, particularly after tertiary treatment, differs significantly from the assumptions made in the European Commission's impact assessment for the directive. The commission's assessment largely relies on model-based assumptions that pharmaceuticals and cosmetics are the primary contributors to toxic load.
However, the Greek investigation, based on actual measurement data, presents a different overall picture. Jörg Wieczorek, CEO of Pharma Deutschland, stated, "The results from one of Europe's largest treatment plants show that pharmaceuticals account for only a single-digit percentage of the total toxic load in treated wastewater." He argued that since the commission's prior assumptions have been proven incorrect, the implementation of EPR must be halted.
Pharma Deutschland is calling on the German Federal Minister for the Environment to reconsider the national approach to EPR and to clarify who is truly responsible for toxic micropollutants in Germany's wastewater. The organization emphasizes that the new directive should be based on measurable facts rather than theoretical models. The Greek study identified tire additives and plant protection products as the main drivers of ecotoxicological risk, with pharmaceuticals contributing only about 7% to the total toxic load at the Psyttalia plant.