European Union agrees new recycling targets

European Union lawmakers approved new targets today for the recycling and re-using of waste, and measures to reduce the amount of waste that is incinerated or dumped in landfill sites.

The European Parliament voted for the target of re-using or recycling 50% of the main types of EU household waste by 2020, and 70% of all building and demolition waste.

Europe generates a staggering 1.8 billion tonnes of waste each and every year.  This amounts to around 3.5 tonnes of waste per person, with less than a third of this waste being recycled.  About one seventh of Europe’s rubbish is municipal waste, with the rest coming from shops, restaurants, industry and agriculture.  In some member states up to 90% of its waste is sent to landfill sites.

The agreement, which will have to be approved by member states before becoming law, also laid down the hierarchy that member states should use for dealing with waste.  Top priority is to reduce the amount of waste generated in the first place, secondly to increase the amount of items being re-used, thirdly they will be recycled, fourthly they will recover at least the energy contained in rubbish, and finally as a last resort, rubbish can be sent to landfill.

Lawmakers had been divided over whether incinerating rubbish should be regarded as a “disposal” or a “recovery” operation, eventually reaching a compromise that would count only the most efficient types of incineration as recovery.

In 2005, 49 percent of municipal waste in the EU overall was disposed of through landfill, 18 percent was incinerated and 27 percent recycled or composted.