The European Committee of permanent representatives – or COREPER – today accepted wide-ranging revisions to the Waste Framework Directive put forth by the European Parliament which also include a recycling target of 70% for construction and demolition waste.
The committee includes civil servants representing the UK and works for the Council of Ministers, which includes environment secretary Hilary Benn.
The revisions – including the 50% target – follow months of discussions over the draft directive and have widespread connotations for councils in the UK, which are currently recycling 33% of household waste overall (see letsrecycle.com story).
It is also being seen as likely to provide a strong driver for the UK to keep up its recycling efforts.
Policies under the directive revisions also encourage waste prevention and separate bio-waste collections which will give more emphasis to food waste treatment and composting, and encourage products to be designed in an eco-friendly way.
Other provisions include a new definition for some by-products produced through industrial processes to separate them from waste. However, the changes are smaller than some sectors have argued for.
Now, the draft directive only needs to be voted through at the plenary session of the European parliament on June 17-18 in order to become law.
For more information on the revisions, see our earlier report.
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