The decision came at a meeting of Environment Committee yesterday, where MEPs were considering amendments to the Waste Framework Directive under its second reading in the European Parliament.
Members were divided over whether incineration should be regarded as a “disposal” or a “recovery” operation, but backed the Commission and Council position that it should be categorised as recovery, provided they met a certain standard of energy efficiency, set through a formula.
Amendments seeking to delete the energy efficiency formula in protest were rejected in a close vote of 24 to 29, but MEPs agreed that the formula should be reviewed within two years of the Directive's entry into force.
The vote is now expected to taken into account when the legislative proposals go to the next phase of negotiation between the European parliament and Council.
However, the move has been criticised by the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) and healthcare campaign body HCWHE for undermining recycling.
Joan-Marc Simon, waste policy advisor for both organisations, said: “The decision is subtle but important: by rewarding so-called “efficient” incinerators with the status of recovery operations, more waste will be burned rather than less.”
“Recycling rates of 60-85% are being achieved in many communities, and more and more evidence is coming to light showing that recycling is better for the environment than even the most efficient forms of incineration.”
Dr Michael Warhurst, senior campaigner for Friends of the Earth added: “This re-branding of slightly less inefficient incinerators as recovery is misguided and counter-productive, and we would expect that any future review of this measure will result in its deletion.”
Targets
To help safeguard member states against these concerns, the European Parliament's Environment Committee also voted yesterday to reinstate most of parliament's first reading amendments to the revised WFD which were not taken up by the council, including a call for re-use and recycling targets.
Forty-two MEPS voted in favour of a second reading report by parliament's rapporteur, Caroline Jackson MEP, which called for total waste production to be stabilised by 2012, compared to the 2009 position.
Member states are asked to establish waste prevention programmes no later than five years after the revised directive comes into force and to determine specific targets to achieve the 2012 target and further waste reduction in waste generation by 2012.
MEPs also called for re-use and recycling targets to be increased to a minimum of 50% by weight for household waste and a minimum of 70% by weight for construction and demolition waste and manufacturing and industrial waste. Member states with less than 5% recycling in either category or no official figures would be given an additional 5 years to reach the targets.
By 2012, the committee also proposed that member states would have to set up separate waste collection schemes for materials including paper, metal, plastic, glass, textiles, other biodegradable wastes, oils and hazardous wastes.
MEPs also want to make the application of a five-stage waste hierarchy, which is designed to prevent and reduce waste production, more certain and comprehensive. They are pushing for it to be treated by member states as a “general rule” rather than a “guiding principle” as proposed by the Council.
Departing form the hierarchy may be possible where it is justified by “life cycle” thinking of the overall impacts of the generation and management of such waste, they claimed.
Caroline Jackson said: “These targets are very important. Recycling represents a sustainable way of dealing with waste and many countries need to put more effort into developing recycling schemes. EU targets will be a considerable incentive to countries whose recycling schemes are slow to develop.”
The decisions to support recycling targets were strongly supported by the European Environmental Bureau and Friends of the Earth Europe.
Nathalie Cliquot, EEB's Waste Policy Officer, said: “We're thrilled to see positive results from our long campaign to attain strong but achievable targets on waste prevention and recycling. EU-level targets will give a true sense of direction to all Member States, and create drivers for investments in resource efficient systems. ”
Caroline Jackson now hopes to negotiates a “second reading agreement” with the Council so that the Parliament can give its final agreement to the directive in the June plenary (see letsrecycle.com story).
Otherwise, negotiations will continue into the autumn under the conciliation procedure.
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