European Commission begins review of waste management and recycling targets

It is seeking industry views as part of the first phase of its 'Targets Review Project', which will consider options for amending the targets in line with non-binding aspirational levels set out in various recent policy documents. The second phase of the project will consider the impacts of the preferred options that emerge from phase one.

On the review project website, the Commission said that the review was intended to bring existing targets into line with its " ambitions of promoting resource efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions". The project also meets the review requirements set out  in the three directives.

Under the Waste Framework Directive, member states are currently required to recycle or reuse 50% of household waste by 2020. The Landfill Directive sets targets for member states to progressively reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) being sent to landfill up to 2016, while targets under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive have required member states to recover 60% of all packaging waste since 2008.

Legal obligations to review these targets by 2014 are contained in each of the directives. The Commission said that the review would be informed by its Roadmap on Resource Efficiency, published in 2011, as well as the public consultation exercise. The Roadmap  sets out aspirational targets for EU waste policy by 2020. By this date waste generation should be in "absolute decline", reuse and recycling should be at their "maximum level", EU waste policy should have been fully implemented and the use of landfill should have been "virtually eliminated", according to the  the  Roadmap.

Among the options considered by the consultation are extending the existing targets to include specific waste streams not currently covered by the directives such as wood, food waste and textiles. It also suggests setting new targets that reflect environmental weightings, such as greenhouse gas savings achieved through recycling, for different materials. A short section at the end of the consultation considers the effectiveness of waste management targets implemented unilaterally by member states more generally, and considers whether the EU should go further in ensuring compliance.

"Member State performance is still highly variable where waste management performance is concerned," the consultation said. "In those countries where targets seem unlikely to be met, it seems fair to say that the failure can be attributed to a reluctance to implement the policy instruments which have transformed waste management practice in the more successful Member States."

"Member States have often relied upon producer responsibility schemes to ensure proper funding of separate collection and recycling of various waste streams. These schemes have been of uneven quality. The relationship with municipalities takes different forms, the transparency of the systems is not always ensured, they can appear to vary considerably in their cost effectiveness and the nature of the financial set up can lead to a situation where the system deployed gravitates towards the bare minimum that needs to be done to report a successful achievement of the desired targets," it said.