EP Approves and Enforces the “Circular Economy Package"

A wide majority of the European Parliament approved March 14th 2017 the so-called “Circular Economy Package” which is a set of 4 EU Directives undergoing revision in order to improve the European waste management system, Strasbourg decided to boost recycling and limit landfill usage, by restoring the targets contained in the 2014 version of the package that had been modified and lowered by the European Commission. Next step is supposed to be the final approval by the EU Council.

According to the version recently approved, by 2030 at least 70% of municipal waste and 80% of packaging materials should be recycled or prepared for reuse. On the other end a maximum of 5% of waste can be sent to landfills. No change will be applied to end-of-life tyres recovery target as it is already set at 100%. Some modifications could be introduced in ELT sector through the revision of the so called “end-of-life vehicles Directive”

According to the assessments, raising recycling rates to 70% could mean an increase in occupation of about 867,000 units.

29 March 2017