Brussels, 27/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament environment committee's recommendation that waste landfill should be phased out has been met with delight by PlasticsEurope, a European association of plastic producers, which is overjoyed that the parliamentary vote on the roadmap towards a resource-efficient Europe echoes its own demand for a zero landfill objective by 2020 (see EUROPE 10602). It sees the Gerben Jan Gerbandy report as “an important step in the right direction”.
“This proposal is really encouraging”, said Jan-Erik Johansson, Programme Director for Resource Efficiency at PlasticsEurope, adding: “We believe that a landfill ban is key to managing waste as a resource. Every year 10 million tonnes of plastics are still buried in landfills in Europe. These plastics could provide a resource for recycling and energy recovery and stimulate the creation of thousands of new jobs.”
On the subject of restrictions to the use of waste-fuelled energy-generating installations, PlasticsEurope supports the phasing out of such installations for plastics that could be recycled, with all the benefits that recycling has for the economy and for the environment.
Seven EU member states, as well as Norway and Sweden, already landfill less than 10% plastics waste, while 15 EU member states still landfill more than 60% of their end-of-life plastics. This is the result of poor enforcement of existing European legislation and due to the fact that landfill is still the cheapest waste management option in many member states, PlasticsEurope points out. (AN/transl.jl)