A meeting of the Council of Ministers this week welcomed the “overall thrust” of the Commission's proposals for a Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste. But, ministers called for more work on waste prevention targets, materials-based recycling targets and the introduction of producer responsibility into new areas.
The Commission's Thematic Strategy was proposed in May 2003 (see letsrecycle.com story), aiming to build on existing waste legislation such as the Landfill Directive in improving sustainable waste management and its impact on the environment. The Strategy contained two main intentions, to introduce targets for waste prevention and to use market forces to recycle more.
Click here for the Commission's proposals for a Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste
The Commission said in increasing recycling, it preferred a materials-based approach, which would mean new recycling targets for materials (glass, paper, plastics, and so on) rather than just the existing waste-stream recycling targets (packaging, end of life vehicles and electronics, for example).
Ministers see materials-based recycling targets as complementary to existing waste stream targets, but said introducing producer responsibility into more areas requires further analysis. Ministers want to see “more efficient, less costly” options into increase recycling rates in Europe.
Meaningful
On waste prevention, ministers want the Commission to carry out further work looking at how to extend product lifetimes and re-use measures such as deposit-return schemes and markets for second-hand products. And, they said the Commission should draw up “appropriate and meaningful” waste prevention targets and instruments.
As was discussed at an informal meeting of the Council in Ireland earlier this month, (see letsrecycle.com story), ministers want to see a level playing field provided through common standards for certain waste types and recycling facilities throughout Europe.
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) measures should be extended to other forms of waste management than are already covered, they said, although this would need sector-specific analysis.
Ministers said more needed to be done to stimulate demand for recycled products, particularly through green procurement measures. Other demands from the European Council included for the Commission to prepare proposals to revise the Waste Framework Directive to clarify the legal distinction between waste and non-waste.
And, ministers called on the Commission to bring forward as soon as possible the Thematic Strategy on Soils, which is to introduce regulations and standards on compost and sewage sludge.
Parliament
Reflecting concerns voiced by the European Parliament in February, the ministers said that the Thematic Strategy should see waste prevention and recycling as “part of a broader waste management strategy, including elements in relation to energy recover and landfill of residual waste.”
The European Parliament had said that the Commission's proposals placed too much emphasis on waste prevention and recycling, insufficiently highlighting the need for energy recovery and “environmentally. MEPs want to phase in the “most extensive ban possible” on landfill as part of Thematic Strategy (see letsrecycle.com story). Preferably, it wants a ban on the landfilling of all waste by 2025 except where it is “unavoidable” or hazardous.
UK
The UK government has been cautious concerning the effectiveness of waste prevention targets, but has said that material-based recycling targets could be more environmentally beneficial than waste stream recycling targets, as they would cover materials across a range of waste streams (see letsrecycle.com story).
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