{"id":88710,"date":"2017-12-18T17:27:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T16:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=88710"},"modified":"2018-02-12T15:28:34","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T14:28:34","slug":"eu-takes-timid-steps-towards-circular-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/eu-takes-timid-steps-towards-circular-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"EU takes timid steps towards circular economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU institutions reached a compromise today with member states on crucial waste laws to accelerate the transition to a circular economy in Europe. But all parts could have done much more to secure stronger recycling rates and prevent waste, says the EEB.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After three years of discussions, the European Parliament and Commission reached an agreement with member states to boost recycling targets and waste prevention across Europe.<\/p>\n

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is Europe\u2019s largest network of environmental organisations with around 140 member organisations in more than 30 countries.<\/em><\/p>\n

The EEB said that the new laws and targets will be crucial to help Europe transition towards a circular economy, but regrets that member states slashed almost all targets proposed by a more ambitious European Parliament.<\/p>\n

Piotr Barczak, waste policy officer<\/strong> at the EEB<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the outcome we all hoped for, but it is nonetheless a significant improvement compared with the laws that are currently in place. <\/em> We are happy the discussions are now over. Now member states and EU institutions need to build on this decision to fully transition to a circular economy.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cMember states lacked the ambition shown by the European Parliament and Commission throughout the negotiations, especially with regards to recycling and preparation for reuse.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Below is an overview of the most significant agreements.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Member states will be required to recycle at least 55% of their municipal waste by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035, whereas the European Parliament proposed a 70% by 2030.<\/p>\n

The agreement also includes a 10% cap on landfill by 2035. But Barczak warned that:<\/p>\n

\u201cWith no similar restrictions on the amount of waste being burned, the risk is that some member states will now shift to incineration rather than recycling and reuse.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

With regards to marine litter, the new laws include provisions allowing countries to restrict the use of single-use plastics without facing legal action.<\/p>\n

Other positive notes include improvements in the traceability of hazardous substances in products and waste, decontamination of hazardous waste as well as restrictions on oxo-degradable plastics and planned obsolescence.<\/p>\n

The new laws will come into force in the beginning of 2018 and will need to be transposed into national legislation within 24 months from that moment.<\/p>\n

Notes to Editors<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Less than 50% of waste in the EU is recycled. This is a missed opportunity for both the environment and the economy, with producers forced to import more raw materials and increase production costs and wasteful consumption.<\/li>\n
  • Higher recycling targets can result in 580,000 new green jobs and save businesses across the EU over \u20ac72 billion a year.<\/li>\n
  • Figures for job creation could go up to 867,000 if, on top of recycling, the waste directive included better policies for reuse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The EU institutions reached a compromise today with member states on crucial waste laws to accelerate the transition to a circular economy in Europe. But all [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":88712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138,137,139],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-88710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circular-economy","category-resource-efficiency","category-waste-recycling","tag-circular-economy"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/AdobeStock_102472568.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}