MEPs to renew demands for European-wide recycling targets

If the Parliament is not to sabotage the formula, then the Council will have to agree to the recycling and waste prevention targets.

 
Caroline Jackson MEP

That was the message from Caroline Jackson, who is leading the European Parliament's negotiation of the revised Waste Framework Directive.

Speaking in Paris on Thursday, Dr Jackson said she believes personally that the most efficient incinerators should be viewed as “recovery” plants under EU law.

But, she said her colleagues were not as easily persuaded, and that for European Union governments, via the EU Council, to have their way they will have to back European-wide recycling targets.

“Ignored” by the EU Councils' latest opinion on the revision to the Directive, MEPs want the targets to force Member States to recycle 50% of municipal waste and 70% of commercial and construction waste by 2020.

The prevention target would call for waste generation levels to stabilise at 2008 levels from 2012.

In return, MEPs could support a formula to determine how efficient energy-from-waste incinerators must be to be classed as “recovery” plants rather than “disposal” facilities, thereby avoiding certain regulations like the ban on exporting waste for disposal and gaining a greater acceptance amongst the public.

In a speech to the Academy of European Law, Dr Jackson said: “The way I hope to deal with this is to put forward a package of changes to make it plain to the Council that if the Parliament is not to sabotage the formula, then the Council will have to agree to the recycling and waste prevention targets which we put into the directive – and which it ignored.”

Five EU countries have already achieved the 50% recycling rate for municipal solid waste, with others having set similar targets – including the UK government in England – demonstrating that this target is easily achievable. The UK government has not set a target for recycling business wastes, nor has it set a stabilisation or prevention target.

Second reading

The European Parliament is just about to start its second reading of the revised Waste Framework Directive, which aims to bring the ground rules for EU waste management up-to-date. Its environment committee will make changes to the EU Councils' version of the Directive by April, with a full Parliamentary debate expected in June.

If the EU Council does not then accept MEPs' changes, including the recycling targets, Dr Jackson said there would be a tough conciliation period during the French Presidency of the EU, July to December 2008. This will involve a series of meetings between MEPs and the Council to hammer out a compromise.

What has been agreed by both sides of the table is a five-stage waste hierarchy for European law, prioritising waste prevention and re-use followed by recycling, energy recovery and finally disposal. There is some disagreement in how Member States would be able to depart from the hierarchy for certain waste streams, with MEPs wanting more assessments and cost analyses than the Council.

Letting the assembled lawyers know during her speech that there will be plenty for them to get their teeth into within the new EU waste legislation, Dr Jackson warned of the complexities of the proposed Directive.

“End of waste”

One of the difficult areas she noted was the “end of waste” provisions seeking to de-classify certain materials that have been fully recovered, so that they are no longer seen as “wastes”.

MEPs want the EU Commission to work towards declassifying compost, aggregates, paper, glass, metals, tyres and textiles. But, the EU Council pushed the measure out of the main part of the Directive which “ensures that nothing will happen”, Dr Jackson said.

“I am going to restore the Parliament's text,” she went on, “changing only the words 'secondhand clothing' into the word 'waste textiles'. If we can get this accepted it will put more pressure on the Commission for immediate action.”

NGOs

As Dr Jackson laid out her thoughts ahead of the second reading of the Directive, European NGOs published a study claiming that the proposed binding minimum EU recycling targets of 50% for municipal waste by 2020 could save emissions equivalent to more than 89 million tonnes (mt) of carbon dioxide per year.

This is the equivalent to taking 31 million cars off the road, it said. The study followed up the May 2006 report from the UK's Waste and Resources Action Programme on the climate change benefits of recycling.

Dr Michael Warhurst, senior waste campaigner for Friends of the Earth said: “Recycling our waste helps to tackle climate change, and targets are the best way to make sure recycling really happens across Europe. This study shows the massive potential benefits of targets for municipal waste. Friends of the Earth's analysis shows that it is crucial that targets for business waste are also agreed. The UK Government must support and implement these targets if it is to follow through on its vision of a low-carbon economy.”

The study also calculated the climate benefits of waste prevention, suggesting that if waste volumes were stabilised at 2006 levels, a total of 1.1 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalents would be saved by 2020.

Nathalie Cliquot of European Environmental Bureau said: “This study provides further evidence that we must make waste prevention a reality, as it has the potential to save significant quantities of climate-changing emissions and to avoid serious environmental damage in the use of natural resources. The European Parliament has already supported a target to stabilise waste production across the EU at 2008 levels by 2012 – they must not let EU Governments dodge this crucial issue.”