Activites

• 2015/09/22 Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2015/03/07 Proposal withdrawn by Commission
  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/environment/', 'title': 'Environment'}, {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/research/home.cfm', 'title': 'Research and Innovation'}],
• #3363
• 2014/12/17 Council Meeting
  • 3363 summary

    The presidency briefed the Council on the state of play of the legislative proposal amending six directives addressing the management of different types of waste. proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 2008/98/EC on waste, 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste, 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles, 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment This proposal was presented in July 2014 as part of the Circular Economy Package, seeking to improve waste management in the European Union, with a view to protecting the quality of the environment and ensuring prudent and rational use of natural resources. Discussions on this proposal looked at, amongst others, the definitions, targets and calculation method, end of waste criteria, by-products, permitting requirements, electronic registry and reporting. Ministers also expressed serious concerns about the Commission's intention to withdraw this proposal and to replace it with a more ambitious one, as it was announced on 16 December 2014 during the presentation of the Commission work programme for 2015. The importance of the current waste legislative proposal in relation to circular economy and its relevance for the positive impacts on economic growth and jobs creation has been underlined by a large majority of delegations in the course of the discussions so far. Therefore, the Council expressed its willingness to continue working on the basis of the current proposal and asked the Commission to clarify its intentions on the next steps concerning the Circular Economy Package. The Commission reassured the Council that work already done will be taken into account in its new and more ambitious proposal to promote a circular economy, which will be presented in 2015.

• #3342
• 2014/10/28 Council Meeting
  • 3342
• 2014/07/14 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2014/07/02 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2014)0397 summary

    PURPOSE: to improve waste management in the Union, with the view to protecting the quality of the environment and ensuring prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources. PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: the Commission has reviewed the targets laid down in Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste and of  Directive 94/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. In its review, the Commission found that it was appropriate to amend these targets to make them better reflect the needs of the circular economy by increasing preparing for re-use and recycling of municipal and packaging waste and eliminating landfilling of waste destined for landfills for non-hazardous waste. The Union’s economy currently loses a significant amount of potential secondary raw materials which are found in waste streams. In 2011, total waste production in the EU amounted to approximately 2.5 billion tons. By way of example, only a limited share (40%) of the municipal waste generated in the Union was recycled, with the rest being landfilled (37%) or incinerated (23%) of which around 500 million tons could have been otherwise recycled or reused. The Union thus misses out on significant opportunities to improve resource efficiency. Many Member States have not yet completely developed the necessary waste management infrastructure and are planning investments now. In 2011, while six Member States landfilled less than 3% of their municipal waste, 18 lost resources by landfilling over 50%, with some exceeding 90% of landfilling. It is therefore essential to set clear policy objectives in order to avoid locking secondary raw materials at the bottom of the waste hierarchy. The waste hierarchy gives the preference to prevention first followed by reuse, recycling before energy recovery and disposal which includes landfilling and incineration without energy recovery. IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the Commission has chosen a combination of two options which will bring the following benefits: administrative burden reduction in particular for small establishments or undertakings, simplification and better implementation including by keeping targets ‘fit for purpose’; more than 180.000 direct jobs could be created by 2030, most of them impossible to delocalize outside the EU; around 443 millions of tons of GHG could be avoided between 2014 and 2030; positive effects on the competitiveness of the EU waste management and recycling sectors as well as on the EU the manufacturing sector (better EPR, reduced risks associated with raw material access); reinjection into the EU economy of secondary raw materials which in turn will reduce the dependency of the EU on raw materials imports. CONTENT: the proposed Directive amends six Directives addressing the management of different wastes and affects an important number of legally binding obligations, including a comprehensive amendment of the targets contained in the Waste Framework Directive, the Landfill Directive, and the Packaging Directive and a simplification of the WEEE, ELV and Batteries Directives. In doing so, it addresses the above-mentioned situation in line with the objectives of the Resource Efficiency Roadmap and the 7th Environment Action Programme, and contributes to the implementation of the EU Raw Materials Initiative. The main amendments of the proposal are: alignment of definitions and removal of obsolete legal requirements; simplification and streamlining of reporting obligations; introduction of an Early Warning System for monitoring compliance with the recycling targets; introduction of minimum operating conditions for Extended Producer Responsibility; encourage Member States to take measures to prevent food waste generation along the whole food supply chain. The measures shall endeavour to ensure that food waste in the manufacturing, retail/distribution, food service/hospitality and household sectors is reduced by at least 30% between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2025; minimize contamination of waste materials, Member States shall ensure separate collection of bio-waste by 2025; increase of the preparing for re-use and recycling target for municipal waste from 50% by 2020 to 70% by 2030; increase of the packaging waste re-use and recycling targets: by the end of 2020, a minimum of 60%; by the end of 2025, a minimum of 70%; by 2030 a minimum of 80%; restrict the landfilling of non-residual municipal waste by 2030; DELEAGTED ACTS: the proposal contains provisions empowering the Commission to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/environment/', 'title': 'Environment'}, {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/research/home.cfm', 'title': 'Research and Innovation'}],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2014)0397
• Debate in Council: 3342
• Debate in Council: 3363

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)