NGOs, including the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), think tanks and business groups have written to all 28 EU Environment Ministers, calling on them to adopt ambitious binding recycling targets.

EU Member States are currently debating a package of draft Waste Directives being proposed by the European Commission. The legislative proposals include setting common EU targets for recycling waste by 2030. These would be set at 65 percent for municipal waste and 75 percent for packaging waste.

While the European Parliament is likely to respond positively to the proposals, discussions in the Environment Council have included suggestions that the targets should be watered down or even abandoned, with one leaked paper implying that more work is needed to test the methodology before any targets are adopted.

In response, a group of eleven civil society organisations have called on all Member States to support binding targets as a means to enable the transition to a circular economy. The letter argues that the case for action is clear and compelling, and that binding targets are needed to bring long-term certainty and to create the conditions needed to improve recycling rates across Europe.

The organisations signing the letter are The Aldersgate Group, the Environmental Investigation Agency, the European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth Europe, Green Alliance, De Groene Zaak, Healthcare without Harm, Seas at Risk, Surfrider, Unternehmensgruen, and Zero Waste Europe.

The letter to the Slovak Minister for the Environment, currently holding the Presidency of the EU, can be found here.