The European Committee of the Regions (CoR), which is made up of representatives from local authorities, cities and regions from each EU member state, says the proposals voted on by the Environment Committee last week mirror its own position on recycling and reuse targets.
The Environment Committee last week voted in favour of proposed amendments to the EU Circular Economy Package supporting an increase of the recycling target up to 70% by 2030, after amendments were tabled by the Italian MEP Simona Bonafè (see letsrecycle.com story).
Existing recycling targets stand at 50% by 2020, although the European Commission has instead put forward a proposed target of 65% by 2030.
The adopted amendments are due be discussed more widely by MEPs at a Plenary session scheduled to take place during March – and will need to be agreed with European ministers before they can be adopted into EU law, but CoR’s support adds further weight to calls for a higher target.
The UK is known to be among those reluctant to commit to a higher recycling target, with Defra minister Thérèse Coffey having described the 65% goal as “too high to be achievable”.
Measures
Domenico Gambacorta, (IT/EPP), president of the Province of Avellino in Southern Italy and CoR rapporteur on the waste legislation proposals, said: “We are pleased to see members of the European Parliament sharing our positions on important measures such as increasing the reuse and recycling of municipal waste from 65% to 70%, strengthen the extended producer responsibility and phasing out landfilling.
“We reaffirm our call for specific targets applying to construction and demolition waste, to be met by 2025 and 2030, and separate binding targets for waste streams such as furniture, fabrics and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).”
Negotiations over the Circular Economy proposals have been identified as a priority area for the European Commission and the Council under the Maltese Presidency (see letsrecycle.com story).
Priority
José Herrera, minister for environment of Malta said: “The Maltese Presidency is prioritising the waste legislative proposals with several Working Party meetings currently ongoing. We aim at first reading negotiations with the European Parliament to commence under our Presidency.
“We welcome contributions of local and regional authorities to the waste legislative proposals. We are now working with Member States to advancing in balanced compromises on some of the main issues, such as key definitions, targets and calculation rules, as well as extended producer responsibility.”
Register for free to comment