New EU Waste Rules approved
by Ellen Thornton at 13:59 in Circular Economy, Emerging, Packaging, Environmental
Today, 18th April, the European Parliament voted to approve the package, a key part of the Circular Economy Action Plan, to update the current waste management rules. There was an overwhelming majority with 639 votes to 13 and 17 absentions. There are new, ambitious recycling and landfilling targets which will be used to increase the re-use of materials and improve municipal and packaging waste to work towards a circular economy. The targets further strengthen the use of the waste hierarchy by placing priority on prevention, re-use and recycling above landfill and incineration.
The new recycling targets for municipal waste are: 55% by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 2035 65%. In addition, there are new recycling targets for different waste streams:
There will be additional new provisions for separate waste collection as well as those existing for paper and cardboard, glass, metal and plastic. The new provisions consist of hazardous household waste collections by 2022, bio-waste by 2023 and textiles by 2025. Landfilling will be phased out as it does not contribute to the circular economy. The amount of municipal waste sent to landfill must be reduced by 10% or less of the total amount of municipal waste generated by 2035.
Mandatory extended producer responsibility scheme schemes must be introduced for all packaging by 2025. This creates a greater incentive for producers to reduce and prevent packaging waste for each stage of a products life cycle to reduce their costs. The new extended producer responsibility requirements will lead to better performance and governance of these schemes. Furthermore, there are targets to aim to reduce food waste by 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2030 through incentives provided by Member States for the collection of unsold food products and their safe redistribution.
The general aim of the new legislation is to place a greater focus on waste prevention and use objectives to make this effective. This will help to achieve the UN sustainable development goals in reducing food waste and preventing marine litter. The package will not be submitted to the Council for final adoption. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official journal. If you have any questions about the Circular Economy legislation in the EU, please contact us here.
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