Europe poised for review of recycling targets

Views areto besought on the future of the European Unions legally binding waste and recycling targets under a consultation planned later this month.

The twelve week consultation will form part of a review of targets in key EU waste legislation – the Waste Framework, Landfill and Packaging and Packaging Waste Directives -which set out the minimum recyclingand landfill diversion levels that Member States must achieve.

The review has been triggered by clauses in each of the Directives stating that they must be subject to regular evaluation, with the European Commission keen to ensure that the targets are in line with its broader objectives to reduce waste, maximise recycling rates and decrease landfill use.

Among the areas covered in the assessment will be whether there is a need for the current targets for household and packaging waste to be revised in order to help meet the aims of the Directives and whether the method that Member States report their performance should be changed.

Review

UK environmental consultancy Eunomia is heading up the review, as part of its work as lead contractor in a consortium to provide the technological, socio-economic and cost-benefit assessments related to EU waste legislation for the Commission, awarded in 2011.

Stakeholders can register online to take part in the consultation.

Dominic Hogg, chairman of Eunomia, encouraged those interested in the review to submit responses.

He told letsrecycle.com: The review will aim to establish how we deliver the vision of the Commission, or something close to it across Europe, and what that means for the existing targets. The consultation will be up and running very soon and I would encourage people to register their interest on the website in order to contribute.

Eunomia will use the results of the consultation to establish a number of preferred options which will be subject to detailed analysis, due to be completed in spring 2014.

Meanwhile, the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD), which represents waste management companies across the continent, met yesterday (April 9) to begin preparing its response to the consultation.

Response

Following the meeting, FEADs policy and communications officer, Chrysa Baltzaki said: Our general approach is that we would be more or less in favour of revising the targets but only provided that there is a cost benefit analysis carried out and that it makes sense environmentally.

The idea is also that we would be in favour of one calculation measure and not two or three different ones, so that Member States can be directly compared, but it would need to be necessary to ensure that this is practical for all Member States.

Finally, it is important to have ambitious targets but it is also important that they bridge the gap between the Member States that have lower recycling rates and those who are performing better.

Eunomia is conducting the research with support from the German research body ko-Institut, the Copenhagen Resource Institute and environmental statistics firm ARGUS. The review is being delivered under Eunomia’s contract with the Commission on Technological, Socio-Economic and Cost-Benefit Assessments Related to the Implementation and Further Development of EU Waste Legislation.

Currently under the Waste Framework Directive, Member States are required to recycle or reuse 50% of household waste by 2020. The Landfill Directive sets targets for Member States to progressively reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) being sent for disposal in landfill up to 2016.

And, targets set out under the Packaging and Packaging Waste have required Member States to recover 60% of all packaging waste since 2008.