On Tuesday 14 March, the European Parliament plenary held a debate on the reports on the legislative proposals on waste. Throughout the debate MEPs thanked the Rapporteur for good job and congratulated on the final ENVI report.
The debate was followed by a vote on the reports. The reports were referred back to the Environment Committee for interinstitutional negotiations.
Waste and packaging waste
By 2030, at least 70% by weight of so-called municipal waste (from households and businesses) should be recycled or prepared for re-use, (i.e. checked, cleaned or repaired), say MEPs. The European Commission proposed 65%.
For packaging materials, such as paper and cardboard, plastics, glass, metal and wood, MEPs propose an 80% target for 2030, with interim 2025 targets for each material.
Landfilling
The draft law limits the share of municipal waste to be landfilled to 10% by 2030. MEPs propose reducing this to 5%albeit with a possible five-year extension, under certain conditions, for member states which landfilled more than 65% of their municipal waste in 2013.
Food waste
Food waste in the EU is estimated at some 89 million tonnes, or 180 kg per capita per year. MEPs advocate an EU food waste reduction target of 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2030, compared to 2014. They also propose a similar target for marine litter.
Next steps
The four adopted reports represent Parliament’s negotiating position, ahead of negotiations with Council of ministers, which yet has to adopt its own position.