WIREDGOV

The European Commission yesterday published a report on Member States' performance in the prevention and recycling of waste. This shows that some Member States have made excellent progress, but that we are still some way from achieving the long-term goal of becoming a 'recycling society' – one that not only avoids producing waste but also uses it as a resource.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "My old mobile phone contains gold, platinum, palladium and copper: all resources that we have too little of in Europe. A tonne of these handsets would contain about 280 grams of gold, 140 grams of platinum and palladium and 140 pounds of copper. This is not waste that we should bury or burn; it is a resource that we should respect. We are serious about making Europe a "resource efficient economy" as we set out to do in the Europe 2020 Strategy. This is not just about reducing negative environmental impacts and green house gas emissions, it will also create jobs; in the waste recycling sector alone half a million jobs could be created."

More growth, less waste

The report shows that in most Member States overall waste generation seems to be increasing (or at best stabilising) but at a lower rate than economic growth. Over the last 10 years municipal waste generation has stabilised at around 524 kg per year per person, although household consumption has increased by around 16% during the same period. More could be done, therefore, to reduce the absolute generation of waste. For example, 25% of food bought by EU households is thrown away. Some 60% of this waste could be avoided, saving each household around €500 per year.¹

Contrasting results – significant margin for progress

There are huge differences between Member States. Recycling rates vary from a few percent up to 70%. In some Member States landfilling has virtually disappeared, in others more than 90% of waste is still buried in the ground. This shows a significant margin for progress beyond the current EU minimum collection and recycling targets. The introduction of a combination of economic and legal instruments used by the best performing Member States should be encouraged, including landfill bans and applying the producer responsibility concept to additional waste streams across the EU. More consistency between product design and waste policies is needed to further boost recycling. As meeting ambitious recycling and prevention targets requires the participation of society as a whole, the report insists on continuous efforts to improve stakeholder participation and raise public awareness.

Better legislation - Proper implementation

Waste still represents about 20% of all environmental infringement cases. As recent events in Hungary and Italy have shown, full implementation of waste legislation is vital to protect the environment and human health.

The new Waste Framework Directive, which should have been transposed by 12 December 2010, has still not passed into national law in many EU countries. Member States had a transitional period of two years to put the necessary measures in place to comply with the new Directive. However, only a small number have so far informed the Commission of the transposition of the legislation. The Commission is monitoring the situation closely and, if necessary, will take action against those failing to implement the Directive.

The new Directive modernises and simplifies our approach to waste policy around the concept of 'life cycle thinking'. The Directive introduces a binding waste hierarchy defining the order of priority for treating waste. Top of the list is waste prevention, followed by re-use, recycling and other recovery operations, with disposal such as landfill used only as the last resort. The Directive obliges Member States to modernise their waste management plans and to set up waste prevention programmes by 2013. They must also recycle 50% of their municipal waste and 70% of construction and demolition waste by 2020.

Next steps

The Commission will continue to monitor the implementation and enforcement of waste legislation at national level, including the requirements of the new Waste Framework Directive. But it will also seek to develop support for Member States in designing appropriate strategies and policies upstream. To further consolidate its waste policies, the Commission will make further proposals in 2012 including setting out the concrete steps it will take in order to move closer towards an EU resource-efficient recycling society.

More information

The report and its annex, which includes detailed results for individual Member States, is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/strategy.htm