GARWER WasteXchange News

Conservative MEP wins support for mandatory Europe-wide recycling targets Posted: 09 Apr 2008 07:21 AM CDT Mandatory recycling targets may be applied to all local councils after Dr Caroline Jackson MEP won overwhelming backing for amendments to the Waste Framework Directive yesterday (Tuesday). This is the first time that the European Parliament has intervened to insert such targets and reflects the Environment Committee's concern that recycling must accompany incineration in order to process waste diverted from landfill. The new targets stipulate that EU Member States must achieve a recycling rate of 50% for household and similar waste by 2020, and 70% for construction and demolition waste by the same date. MEPs also voted to set an EU wide waste prevention target. This means that by 2012, Member States will have had to stabilise the amount of waste they are producing to an amount no higher than they produced in 2008. Dr Jackson, Conservative spokesperson on the environment in the European Parliament, said "These targets are very important. Recycling represents a sustainable way of dealing with waste and many countries need to put more effort into developing recycling schemes. EU targets will be a considerable incentive to countries whose recycling schemes are slow to develop. "I was delighted that my colleagues voted for energy from waste plants to qualify as 'recovery' rather than 'disposal' operations when they meet the energy efficiency criteria that the new directive sets out. Caroline Jackson now hopes that the Parliament will give its agreement to the directive for the final vote in June.

Ireland smashes packaging recycling targets Posted: 09 Apr 2008 07:19 AM CDT Ireland has smashed EU targets for recycling packaging waste for the past ten years - but government chiefs have challenged industry to meet new tougher targets. Figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that in 2005, 64% of packaging waste was recovered against a target of 50%. Tony Killeen, Minister of State at the Environment Department, congratulated industry and residents for their efforts, but warned there was no room for complacency. Speaking at the 2008 Repak Service Providers Conference in County Kildare, he said: "The recycling of packaging waste is probably the leading Irish environmental success story. "For the past number of years, Ireland has consistently exceeded EU and national targets for the recovery and recycling of this waste stream." But he said industry must meet higher recovery targets from the EU that apply from this year. Minister Killeen said: "Achieving our targets in the face of unprecedented growth will mean that we all have to work even harder than before to build on the progress that we have made over the past decade. "I remain confident that by continuing to work together we can achieve this objective." However, it was not all good news for delegates. Dr Andrew Hetherington, CEO of Repak - an industry-funded organisation to encourage packaging recycling - warned that social and economic circumstances in Ireland had changed. He said the higher targets would have to be met against the backdrop of rapid population increase, smaller household sizes, increased consumerism, and the problem of more than 80% of packaging in Ireland being imported. Dr Hetherington said: "This means that our ability to determine and control recycling activity is limited." Stuart Foster, senior project manager at Recoup - a charity developing plastics recycling - showed that Ireland is lagging behind much of Europe when it comes to recycling plastics. The country recycles 27% of plastics and does not process any waste plastic at energy recovery facilities. However, the European average for recycling and energy recovery of plastics is 49% and among EU member states it is 54%. Kate Martin

EU must limit growing mountain of waste, MEPs say Posted: 09 Apr 2008 07:17 AM CDT EU states could end up with a new environmental task, as the European Parliament's environment committee on Tuesday (8 April) gave its blessing to legally binding targets for reducing waste. Under the MEPs' proposal, aimed at updating the 1975 EU law on waste, member states should meet two specific demands by 2020 - the recycling of a minimum of 50 percent by weight for household waste and a minimum of 70 percent by weight for construction and demolition waste. "Recycling represents a sustainable way of dealing with waste and many countries need to put more effort into developing recycling schemes," British centre-right MEP Caroline Jackson, in charge of the dossier, said after the vote. Some 42 MEPs supported the stricter rules, none voted against, while 14 parliamentarians abstained. Over 1.8 billion tonnes of waste are generated each year in Europe, with huge discrepancies among member states when it comes to recycling. Some countries send 90 percent of their waste to landfill and only 10 percent is recycled. Ms Jackson, for her part, cited two examples from her home country to demonstrate the wide gap: While England's county of South Shropshire recycles 53 percent of waste, Tower Hamlets recycles only 13 percent. "EU targets will be a considerable incentive to countries whose recycling schemes are slow to develop," she stressed. In addition, the parliament's environment committee has called for total waste production to be stabilised by the year of 2012. "This means that by 2012, member states will have to stabilise the amount of waste they are producing to an amount no higher than they produced in 2008," said Ms Jackson. In practice, this means that EU governments should establish waste prevention programmes no later than five years after the new rules enter into force and stick to a five-step approach to waste treatment from the most to the least environmentally-sound. On a green scale, prevention of waste is best followed by re-use, recycling and energy recovery, while disposal in landfills should be used as a last resort. Tuesday's vote in the environment committee has kicked off final negotiations between the council, representing EU capitals, and MEPs. The agreement, with the subsequent vote in the parliament as a whole, is expected in June.

UK: Protocol for anaerobic digestate Posted: 09 Apr 2008 07:14 AM CDT The Environment Agency (EA) and Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have launched a draft protocol for the outputs from anaerobic digestion (AD). The quality protocol aims to define when the anaerobic digestate ceases to be a waste and is no longer subject to regulatory control. According to the EA, the protocol could make it easier to turn biodegradable waste into products such as fertilisers and soil conditioners. Dr Richard Swannell, director of retail and organics at WRAP, said: "Anaerobic Digestion and the market for products from the AD process are still in their infancy in England and Wales. However, the development of a Quality Protocol will help remove a major barrier to deploying this important technology and open up the market for digestate by giving users confidence in the end product. "Quality compliant products from the AD process will provide users with confidence that these new products derived from waste material conform to agreed quality standards. This in turn will make it easier for industry to market and sell them. "In the long term, greater use of products derived from the AD process could reduce the amount of organic waste being sent to landfill and save producers the associated disposal costs." Martin Brocklehurst, head of environment protection external programmes at the EA, said: "By clearly defining the standards required to collect, transport, store, recycle and reuse source-segregated biodegradable waste, a Quality Protocol for AD could save businesses the time and costs associated with meeting waste regulations, without harming human health and the environment." Anaerobic digestate is one of 15 materials to be included in the Waste Protocols Project with others including tyre-derived products.

You are subscribed to email updates from GARWER WasteXchange News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of GARWER WasteXchange News in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: GARWER WasteXchange News, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610