Environment:
Getting Gold From Garbage –
How Some Are Making Waste A Resource
Top performing Member
States have recycling rates of up to 70 % and bury virtually nothing, whilst
others still landfill more than three-quarters of their waste. How have the
best performers turned waste from a problem into a resource? A new report from the
European Commission today explains that it is by combining economic
instruments. A mix of landfilling and incineration taxes and bans, producer
responsibility schemes and pay-as-you-throw prove to be the most effective
tools in shifting waste streams to more sustainable paths.. If the EU is to
meet the objectives set out in the Resource Efficiency Roadmap – zero
landfilling, maximising recycling and reuse, and limiting energy recovery to
non recyclable waste – these economic instruments will need to be introduced
more widely across all Member States.
Environment
Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "Waste is too valuable to just throw
away, and if you manage it right you can put that value back into the economy.
Six Member States now combine virtually zero landfilling and high recycling
rates. Not only do they exploit the value of the waste, they have created
thriving industries and many jobs in the process. This report shows how they
achieved it: by making prevention, reuse and recycling more economically attractive
through a selection of economic instruments. We now have a common
responsibility with the Member States and local authorities to ensure that
these instruments are effectively used and spread across the EU. This is one of
the central goals of the Resource Efficiency Roadmap."
Experience in the
Member States shows that a combination of the following instruments is the best
way to improve waste management:
Landfill and
incineration taxes and/or bans – the results of the study are unequivocal:
landfilling and incineration rates have decreased in countries where bans or
taxes have driven up costs for landfilling and incineration.
"Pay-as-you-throw"
schemes have proved very efficient in preventing waste generation and
encouraging citizens to participate in separate waste collection.
Producer
responsibility schemes have allowed several Member States to gather and
redistribute the funds necessary to improve separate collection and recycling.
But cost-efficiency and transparency vary greatly between Member States and
between waste streams, so these schemes need careful planning and monitoring.
Significant
differences between Member States
There are significant
differences in waste management between Member States. According to a Report
published by Eurostat on 27 March (see STAT/12/48), the most advanced six
Member States - Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Sweden and The Netherlands
- landfill less than 3 % of their municipal waste. At the other extreme, 9
Member States are still landfilling more than 75 % of their municipal waste.
Recent statistics published by Eurostat show continuous progress in some new
Member States, where recycling rates are increasing rapidly. Municipal waste
generation has also decreased in several Member States probably due to the economic
downturn.
Economic Instruments
needed to reach EU objectives
Replicating these
instruments in all Member States will be necessary if the EU is to meet the
targets set out in its waste legislation and its targets for resource
efficiency. This is why the possibility of making their use legally binding in
some cases will be assessed in a 2014 review of EU waste targets. The
Commission is also including sound waste management in conditions for receiving
certain European funds (see IP/11/1159 and MEMO/11/663).
Waste is good
business
Meanwhile the
Commission is encouraging Member States to implement existing waste legislation
more effectively. Waste management and recycling industries in the EU had a
turnover of € 145 billion in 2008, representing around 2 million jobs. Full
compliance with EU waste policy could create an additional extra 400 000 jobs
within the EU and an extra annual turnover of € 42 billion (see IP/12/18).
Improved waste management would contribute to achieving several objectives and
targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart sustainable and inclusive growth.
More information
The report and
detailed results for each Member State:
ESTAT Report on
municipal waste management:
STAT/12/48
Study on
macroeconomic modelling of sustainable development and the links between the
economy and the environment:
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