Resources and waste management are singled out as one of four areas needing attention in the strategy issued last week.
The Commission says that “the planet’s resources, especially renewable resources like soil, water, air and timber, are under severe pressure from human society.”
It notes that a strategy is needed with measures, such as
taxes and incentives, to ensure a more sustainable use of resources.
A reason for this is that waste volumes are predicted to continue rising unless remedial action is taken and so waste prevention will be a key element of an integrated product policy approach.
The strategy says that further measures are needed to encourage recycling and recovery of wastes and to ensure the consumption of renewable and non-renewable resources does not exceed the carrying capacity of the environment.
The aim, it says, is “to achieve a de-coupling of resource use from economic growth through significantly improved resource efficiency, dematerialisation of the economy and waste prevention.”
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrm said: “Environment policy is one of the EU's success stories – thanks to EU legislation we have seen big improvements in cleaning up the air and our rivers, to take an example. But we still face major problems and in some cases the environment is actually getting worse. Citizens are concerned about their environment. Therefore we have to act urgently and this is what we are proposing in the new programme.”
A summary of the Programme can be found at Environment Programme.
Register for free to comment