Part of the EU's sixth environmental action plan, the thematic strategy is now being prepared by the European Commission for adoption in September 2004.
– Karl-Heinz Florenz, MEP
The strategy aims to broaden action to other waste streams than are covered by existing EU waste legislation – such as the Landfill Directive – which mainly targets a reduction of biodegradable waste to landfill.
In its consultation document issued last year, the Commission's two main proposals for the strategy were new targets for waste prevention and the use of “market forces” to increase recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
But it has now emerged that the European Parliament's rapporteur on the strategy wants much tougher measures than those put forward by the Commission.
In a report accompanying a draft European Parliament Resolution to the Commission, German MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz said: “The Commission should propose a specific timeframe, in particular for the most extensive ban possible on landfill in order for the waste to be recycled.”
The resolution's suggested timeframe for a phased-in landfill ban is:
- Ban on landfilling of untreated biodegradable waste by 2010
- Ban on landfilling of recyclables by 2015
- Ban on landfilling of recoverable waste by 2020
- Ban on landfilling all residual waste by 2025 – except where “unavoidable” or hazardous.
Recovery
To the dismay of anti-incineration groups, the resolution points to the “importance of energy recovery for sustainable waste management” in meeting the landfill ban.
Mr Florenz explained: “The emphasis (of the Commission's proposals) is placed too heavily on waste prevention and recycling…only a combination of the different potential offered by prevention, recycling, energy recovery and environmentally-friendly disposal can result in sustainable waste management.”
Mr Florenz said the incineration of waste where energy was recovered should be classed as recovery, and even urged the Commission to change the title of its strategy to the 'Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Treatment of Waste'.
” The narrow focus on targets for prevention of disposal wrongly presumes that the environmental impact of waste can be solved by incineration and clean recycling. “
– European Environmental Bureau
Commenting on the German MEP's report, the European Environmental Bureau – a confederation of pressure groups including Friends of the Earth – said it “deeply regrets the narrow and regressive approach taken by the European Parliament's rapporteur, Mr Florenz”.
It said: “The narrow focus on targets for prevention of disposal, rather than prevention of the generation of waste and the excessive emphasis on incineration wrongly presumes that the environmental impact of waste can be solved by incineration and clean recycling.”
At source
The EEB called for the strategy to deal with waste “at source”, and said without harmonised EU taxes on resources and disposal, the only option left were for new targets on the prevention of waste.
The average European now produces about 550kg of waste each year – much more than the 330kg target the EU had set out in its fifth environment action programme.
Other proposals from Mr Florenz to reduce this waste included a crackdown on construction and demolition waste, as well as other waste of low or negative value.
He also requested that the Commission investigate the possible use of “pay as you throw” variable charging schemes and the use of tradeable certificates as an instrument for achieving recovery targets.
The MEP mirrored calls from the UK government (see letsrecycle.com story) for new material-specific recycling targets beyond those already set for packaging waste producers.
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