MEPs laid the foundations for a green jobs boom across Europe in the European Parliament’s Environment Committee by voting for high recycling targets, said the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) today.

Piotr Barczak, Waste Policy Officer at the EEB, said:

“The strong support shown for the recycling and repair sector by MEPs today can pave the way for over 800,000 jobs to be created across Europe by 2030. But for this boom to materialise, the Council must now put the economy and the planet first and support these ambitious targets.”

Environment committee MEPs also set a target for member states to halve the amount of food wasted within the EU by 2030, but this target was only voluntary rather than binding.

Piotr Barczak said:

“Halving the amount of food wasted within the EU by 2030 would cut greenhouse gas emissions, save households money and reduce the pressure on land exerted by Europe’s insatiable demand for food. Unfortunately, MEPs missed an opportunity to guarantee these rewards by not making them legally binding – potentially letting countries that waste large amounts of food off the hook.”

Notes to Editors

• MEPs in the European Parliament’s Environment committee voted to set a 70 percent target for all waste across the EU to be recycled by 2030, and for five percent of that waste to be prepared for re-use or repaired.
• The 7 countries who have been granted extra time to hit recycling targets are Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Malta, Romania and Slovakia.
• The 867,000 new jobs assessment comes from the EEB report Advancing Resource Efficiency in Europe. The European Commission’s own impact assessment estimated that Bonafe’s Directive would create 530,000 new jobs by 2030 – without taking stronger reuse and recycling incentives into consideration.
• For more information, you can find a press release on the Waste Directive vote issued by the EEB yesterday here.