‘More action needed to achieve 50% recycling target’

Europe – European states will have to make ‘extraordinary effort’ in order to achieve the 50% recycling target set by the Waste Framework Directive for 2020. This disheartening message emerged from the European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production during the R4R conference held in Odense, Denmark.

Regions for Recycling (R4R) is a three-year European project designed to improve recycling and exchange good practices. Besides presentations on current expertise and long-term aspirations, the conference focused on tools to help cities and regions improve their waste collection and recycling performance.

A presentation from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) underlined the importance of more recycling installations and reduced reliance on incineration. However, the Technical University of Denmark demonstrated that a high recycling rate is not necessarily synonymous with good environmental performance.

For more information, visit: www.regions4recycling.eu