EU Parliament backs waste prevention goals

In late November, the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee backed a report on the revision of the EU’€™s waste framework directive.
For the first time, the directive introduces waste prevention targets. The aim is that, by 2012, EU member states should peg waste production at the 2008 levels. The report also establishes a clear hierarchy in the way waste is to be treated, giving priority to prevention, reuse and recycling over energy recovery through incineration and landfilling. The committee rejected a proposal to change the classification of incineration from ’disposal’€™ to ‘€˜recovery for energy production’€™.
Environmental groups welcomed the new waste prevention targets but expressed regret that additional measures were not adopted. The report will be presented to the EU Parliament in February.
For more information: www.euractiv.com