Waste and Recycling
We have recently (July 2007) lobbied one of our local MEPs, Linda McAvan on waste and recycling to try to get better policies put in place across Europe. Rules on waste and recycling are being updated, an update of the Waste Framework Directive, and we are calling for
- the directive to make compulsory a five level hierarchy where waste reduction should be the top priority, followed by reuse > recycling and composting > energy recovery > disposal.
- the European Commission's policies on waste prevention to be strengthened
There need to be a range of measures to boost recycling, including:
An EU-wide, "Recycling society" recycling target of 50% of municipal waste and 70% of industrial manufacturing and construction & demolition waste by 2020 (or 5 years later for countries with very low recycling rates).
A provision to ensure that materials exported from the EU for recycling or reuse can only count towards recycling targets if it can be demonstrated that the reuse or recycling operation took place under conditions that are equivalent to those in the EU.
A phase-out, by 2020, of the incineration or landfill of any waste that can be reused, recycled or composted.
A requirement for incinerators to be as efficient as possible, but not for municipal waste incinerators to be reclassified as (energy) recovery.
A continued commitment to further legislative measures on individual product or material streams.
For more information on this see the Friends of the Earth briefing "Stopping the waste".
Locally, it is not yet clear how our waste will be dealt with in future. To keep up to date with what is happening contact The City of York Council, North Yorkshire County Council or see the Y-RAIN website.