Progress possible on EU waste directive, says MEP

The insertion of targets for recycling levels and for waste prevention remains the biggest point of disagreement over the commission’s proposed waste directive, says Caroline Jackson.

The UK MEP, who is the rapporteur on the directive for the environment committee, told the Parliament Magazine that it was “appropriate to have targets in a directive which is setting the scene for possibly another 25 or 30 years”.

As a result, the environment committee has insisted on some general targets covering household or domestic waste, with the goal of achieving 50 per cent recycling levels by 2020.

“These targets sound quite dramatic... but many member states are currently reaching that level anyway,” said Jackson.

Rather than concentrate on targets, the council believes that the focus of the directive should be on ensuring energy efficiency when it comes to dealing with waste.

“The council ticked the box on the commission’s proposal that the directive should contain an energy efficiency formula, whereby if energy from waste plants, otherwise known as incinerators, reach a certain level of energy efficiency, it will qualify as a ‘recovery’ operation rather than a ‘disposal’ operation.”

Jackson believes that a compromise can be reached.

“The bargain is that we say to the council that they can’t have the directive without targets, and they say to us that we can’t get the targets without the energy efficiency formula,” she said.

“The situation at the moment is a constructive dialogue rather than a stalemate.”

There have been some discussions within the parliament itself over the targets, but Jackson says that she has ironed out the differences among the members of the environment committee in order to use the collective strength of the parliament to fight member states.

She is optimistic that the recycling targets will make it into the directive.

“If I was a betting woman I would put several euros on us actually having targets eventually.

“But we’ve got to get these definitions right, otherwise there will be a little procession of lawyers going to and from the court of justice."

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