The European Commission has given notice that only nine Member States—Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovenia—are on track to meet the recycling targets set for 2025 by the EU’s waste legislation.
Published on Thursday, 8 June, its early warning report assesses the likelihood that Member States will achieve the recycling targets set for 2025 in the Waste Framework Directive and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive: 55% recycling of municipal waste and preparing it for reuse, 65% recycling for all packaging waste, and recycling targets for packaging waste that are specific to each material (75% for paper and cardboard, 70% for glass, 70% for ferrous metal packaging, 50% for aluminium, 50% for plastic, and 25% for wood).
It mentions the great disparities among countries and makes specific recommendations for the 18 Member States at risk of not meeting one or more of the targets.
These recommendations cover a wide range of actions: reducing non-recyclable waste, increasing reuse, improving separate collection, developing waste treatment capacities for sorting and recycling, improving governance, deploying economic instruments, and raising awareness.
According to the European Commission, further reforms are needed, especially to ensure the treatment of biowaste, which represents one-third of municipal waste; the separate collection of waste, which is a prerequisite for recycling; and improvement in data quality.
The institution believes that the proposals for new regulations on shipments of waste, on packaging and packaging waste, and on ecodesign for sustainable products—currently before the EU Council and the European Parliament—should help Member States improve their waste management performance.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/7cj (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)