EU approves plans to phase out landfill

The European Parliament has agreed upon proposals that could see the end of landfilling waste, at a vote in Brussels yesterday (May 24).

As well putting an end to waste to landfill, the plans approved yesterday will see a cap set on the amount of recyclable and compostable waste that can be sent for energy recovery via incineration imposed across the continent.

MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of proposals in the Report on a resource-efficient Europe put forward by the European Commission at the beginning of May (see letsrecycle.com story).

The UK government has welcomed the move and has said that it will be launching a consultation on banning certain materials from landfill shortly.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com rapporteur Gerban-Jan Gerbrandy, said: It is of the utmost importance that politicians, but also society as a whole realise that waste is not something bad, but that we should start seeing waste as a valuable resource. Europe is not rich in raw materials. Most of it comes from China, Brazil and Russia.

By recycling our old jeans and mobile phones we secure a stable flow of sustainable secondary raw materials for our economy. We need to do this together, because Member States alone lack the economies of scale that are necessary for effective recycling.

Landfill

With regard to the ban on landfill, Mr Gebrandy explained that a date had not yet been drawn up for when Member States would have to stop sending material to land entirely, but suggested that deadlines might be drawn up on a country-by-country basis.

He said: In the report of the EP we ask the Commission to come up with a proposal by 2014 to gradually introducing a general ban on waste landfill at European level, the differences between Member States are massive so a timescale would need to be defined per country so that it is actually possible for Member States to comply.

If you would impose a general ban next year without transitionary measures the effects on landfilling would be very small. In the mean time we encourage Member States to introduce taxes on landfilling as in the UK it has proven to be an effective way of decreasing landfilling. It is up to the Member States to do so or not, as on taxes the EU only has very limited competencies.

The resolution was adopted by the Parliament with 479 votes in favour, 66 against and 63 absentions.

Targets

MEPs agreed that recycling targets set in the Waste Framework Directive, which was formally adopted in 2008, will be revised by 2020 as well as deciding that work on standardised recycling guidelines across the Union would be expanded.

The EU will also take a tougher stance on the illegal export of waste, in particular hazardous waste, and has said it will put measures in place to ensure member states take more effective action against illegal waste export.

A spokesman for Defra, said: We fully support the need for better value and use our natural resources in a more sustainable and efficient way. We agree with the reports recommendations on the need to increase research into resource efficiency and to embed it into policy decisions. The UK published a Resource Security Action Plan earlier this year to help UK businesses benefit from the multi-billion global market in extracting and reusing natural resources.

Our vision for the zero waste economy is that landfill should be the last resort and only for wastes where there is no better use. We are taking measures to drive down the amount of waste going to landfill, including increasing the landfill tax to 80 per tonne from 2014/15 and examining the possibility of restricting some materials from landfill, starting with a consultation on wood waste later this summer.

The Parliament has also decided that cross-border monitoring of waste movement should be made stronger, and has agreed that a European external waste policy will be set up to spread treatment standards expected within the EU outside of the continent.

Among the other proposals agreed upon in the resolution, the EU has pledged to take concrete action to oversee a significant reduction in the amount of food that is wasted, claiming that as much as 20% of all food produced is disposed of as refuse.