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MEPs bolster EU recycling and landfill targets
January 25, 2017
MEPs bolster EU recycling and landfill targets
By James Crisp
25 January 2017
Members of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee yesterday (24 January) moved to increase draft EU recycling and landfill targets that had been lowered by the European Commission in its re-tabled Circular Economy Package.
Supporters of the circular economy argue that there needs to be a shift towards sustainability, where as little of the planet’s finite resources are wasted as possible as the world population booms
The suite of six bills of rules for waste, packaging, landfill end of life vehicles, batteries and accumulators, and waste electronic equipment was put forward by the Commission in December last year.
It had previously withdrawn an earlier version of the package, prepared under the Barroso Commission, as part of its ‘better regulation’ strategy.
Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans promised that the new Circular Economy Package would be “more ambitious” than its 2014 predecessor.
But although it included new legislation to encourage easy-to-recycle design of products, it had lower targets for recycling and landfill than the first version.
MEPs in Brussels voted to restore the lowered targets to the level of the original proposal yesterday.
They backed a 2030 recycling target for municipal waste of 70%, the same as the 2014 package but 5% more than the new proposal. They also called for a new 2030 reuse target of 5%. This sub-target aims to encourage the repair and fixing of products.
The 2030 target for packaging recycling was set at 80%, the same as in 2014, but higher than the 75% backed by the executive.
Read more at EurActiv.com.
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