to feed into the European Commission's preparations for the evaluation and review of the waste legislation in 2014.
Introduction of more stringent standards with respect to waste prevention, based on the best results obtained to date. By 2020, the quantity of municipal waste generated per person should be reduced by 10% in comparison with the levels recorded in 2010;
Member States to be given binding, quantitative, separate, minimum targets for each category of waste that is defined as reusable;
Raising the current mandatory target for the recycling of solid municipal waste to 70% by 2025, with intermediate targets and transitional periods to be negotiated;
Adoption of recycling targets for industrial waste. These targets could be set for specific types of material rather than types of waste and should be just as ambitious as those set for household waste;
Adopting the most stringent common standards for waste sorting and cleaning. By 2020, 100% of waste should be subjected to selective sorting;
Landfilling of all forms of organic or biodegradable waste that can be reused, wholly or partly recycled or that has value in terms of energy recovery, to be prohibited by 2020;
Targets for recycling plastic packaging – for plastics of all kinds – to be raised to 70%, and the recycling targets for glass, metal, paper, cardboard and wood to 80%.
The Outlook Opinion has substantially increased the profile, inter-institutional role and visibility of the CoR in the field, in particular:
• The Opinion allowed the CoR to feed at an early stage the concerns of the EU's local and regional authorities into the preparations of the European Commission of its review of EU waste Directives and within the context of its circular economy package in 2014. It included a bilateral meeting of the rapporteur with Environment Commissioner Potočnik.
• The activities of the rapporteur and good press coverage reached for the Opinion have contributed to increasing the profile, inter-institutional role and visibility of the CoR in the field, in particular the presentations given by the rapporteur at various events, including OPEN DAYS, and the close cooperation of the rapporteur and ENVE secretariat with key associations of local and regional authorities and their waste management operators, as ACR+ and Municipal Waste Europe.
• The Opinion has contributed, as an Outlook Opinion referral from the European Commission, to the successful implementation of the CoR/EC Cooperation Agreement.
The European Commission on 2 July 2014 adopted its "Circular Economy Package", which includes a legislative proposal that revises several waste Directives.
The legislative proposal reflects most key recommendations of the CoR Opinion:
• raising the current mandatory target for the recycling of solid municipal waste to 70% (yet by 2030, whereas the CoR was more ambitious, calling for by 2025);
• raising the current mandatory recycling targets for packaging waste;
• phase out of landfilling of recyclable and biodegradable waste by 2025 (CoR called yet for by 2020);
• maximum landfilling of 5% of municipal waste by 2030,
• introduction of single definition and calculation method for municipal waste;
• streamlined calculation method of re-use/recycling rates, with a move towards out-put based measuring;
• introduction of compliance promotion plans under the early warning system, which reflect CoR recommendations for individual roadmaps for each Member State;
• reinforced extended producer responsibility, and accelerated systematic introduction of economic instruments in waste management by the Member States and LRA by promoting economic instruments in the waste management plans and compliance plans and by introducing minimum requirements for extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes;
However, the European Commission in its legislative proposal did not take on board the following key recommendations of the CoR Opinion, which stay more ambitious:
• Introduction of more stringent standards with respect to waste prevention. By 2020, the quantity of municipal waste generated per person should be reduced by 10% in comparison with the levels recorded in 2010.
• Introduction of binding, quantitative, minimum re-use targets for each category of waste that is defined as reusable;
• Adoption of recycling targets for industrial waste, preferably material-based, and set as ambitious as those set for household waste;
• Adoption of target of that by 2020, 100% of waste should be subjected to selective sorting;
Banning the incineration of recyclable waste and bio-waste by 2020.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- stresses that more effective waste prevention as well as fully implementation of the "polluter pays" principle would limit the financial and organisational burden on the local and regional authorities; calls for the introduction of ambitious, binding targets, based on the best results obtained to date. By 2020, the quantity of municipal waste generated per person should be reduced by 10% in comparison with the levels recorded in 2010;
- calls for Member States to be given binding, quantitative, separate, minimum targets for each category of waste that is defined as reusable; taking into account the level of compliance with the current targets throughout the EU:
- is in favour of exploring options to raise the current mandatory target for the recycling of solid municipal waste to 70% by 2025, taking into account the level of compliance with the current target throughout the EU, and with intermediate targets and transitional periods to be negotiated;
- calls for the adoption of recycling targets for industrial waste. These targets could be set for specific types of material rather than types of waste and should be just as ambitious as those set for household waste;
- stresses the need to adopt the most stringent common standards for waste sorting and cleaning. By 2020, 100% of waste should be subjected to selective sorting;
- calls for the landfilling of all forms of organic or biodegradable waste that can be reused, wholly or partly recycled or that has value in terms of energy recovery, to be prohibited by 2020. The overall target could be that 5% or less of the amount of waste of all kinds and origins are placed in landfill;
- is in favour of exploring options to raise the target for recycling plastic packaging – for plastics of all kinds – to 70% and the recycling targets for glass, metal, paper, cardboard and wood to 80%, taking into account the level of compliance with the current targets throughout the EU, and with intermediate targets and transitional periods to be negotiated.