The Maltese Commissioner made the revelation in his speech at the European Business Summit in Brussels. In his speech he reiterated the Commission’s commitment to adopt a new set of proposals before the end of the year.
And, the Commissioner added that the adoption of any new plans will be preceded by a public consultation, which is due to commence in the coming weeks, ahead of a proposed stakeholder event being hosted by the Commission next month (June 25).
He said: “Right now, as part of the preparation phase, we are about to launch an online public consultation on the main options of the plan.
“The idea is to collect the views of all the interested parties. And by that, I mean people like you – business and civil society representatives with know-how… with ideas… and ready to speak up.”
Proposed new targets for the recycling of packaging were put forward last summer, amongst a series of proposals drawn up by the former Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik, under plans to revise EU waste legislation, published in July.
Proposals
Commissioner Potocnik’s proposals included an 80% by 2030 reuse and recycling target for packaging waste, including individual targets for packaging streams such as 90% of paper and cardboard by the end of 2025, 60% of plastic packaging, 80% for wood and 90% for ferrous metal, aluminium and glass by the end of 2030.
However, these proposals were scrapped by the new Commission late last year in favour of a new ‘more ambitious’ policy package that is set to be published this autumn. The Commission has also claimed that the new package will take a ‘more holistic’ approach to waste legislation and not just focus on ‘end of pipe’ solutions such as recycling targets.
Commissioner Vella also revealed that the new proposals will be ‘significantly ambitious’ and highlighted the business opportunities available in moving towards a circular economy.
He said: “Hearing your viewpoints will convince me more than ever that the circular economy is the way to go. It will help us tackle some of the most urgent problems that Europe is facing today. And it makes sense from both the environment and the economics point of view.
“I can assure you the Commission initiative will be significantly ambitious. To be successful, it will need your support.
“Investors will have to capitalise on innovation; industry will have to be flexible and efficient; consumers will have to adopt new habits.”
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