Brussels, 17/04/2012 (Agence Europe) Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands landfill less than 3 % of their municipal waste. In other words, 97% of their waste is processed. Waste assessment, recycling and composting have created a thriving industry and many jobs. In Germany, 45% of waste is recycled and 40% in Belgium. On the other hand, in the other member states, between 90% and 100% of waste is not recycled at all and therefore mainly ends up in landfills. In Bulgaria, for example, 100% of waste is landfilled and in Romania, Lithuania and Latvia the figures are 99%, 94% and 91% respectively. In an effort to overcome this disparity and encourage countries lagging behind in this area to exploit the economic potential of recycling waste, the European Commission presented a report on Monday 16 April. In it, the Commission explains that in light of the experience of the highest performing member states prevention, reuse and recycling can be made more economically attractive through a selection of economic instruments.
These instruments include: (1) Landfill and incineration taxes and/or bans - the results of the study are unequivocal: landfilling and incineration rates have decreased in countries where bans or taxes have driven up costs for landfilling and incineration; (2) “Pay-as-you-throw” schemes have proved very efficient in preventing waste generation and encouraging citizens to participate in separate waste collection; (3) Producer responsibility schemes have allowed several member states to gather and redistribute the funds necessary to improve separate collection and recycling. But cost-efficiency and transparency vary greatly between member states and between waste streams, so these schemes need careful planning and monitoring.
During the presentation of the report, Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said that if the European Union wants to reach the specific Resource Efficiency Roadmap objectives, namely zero landfilling, maximising recycling and reuse, and limiting energy recovery to non recyclable waste - these economic instruments will need to be introduced more widely across all member states. This is why the possibility of making their use legally binding in some cases will be assessed in a 2014 review of EU waste targets.
Waste management and recycling industries in the EU had a turnover of €145 billion in 2008, representing around 2 million jobs. Full compliance with EU waste policy could create an additional extra 400,000 jobs within the EU and an extra annual turnover of €42 billion in the sector. (OL/transl.fl)