"The Environment Committee has shown that it believes in the transition towards a circular economy. We decided to restore the ambitious recycling and landfill targets in line with what the Commission had originally proposed in 2014", said MEP Simona Bonafè, the committee's rapporteur, following the vote on the EU waste package on 24 January.
Among other amendments, the Committee voted in favour of raising the minimum quota for the recycling and preparation for reuse of municipal waste to be reached by the year 2030 to 70 per cent, an increase by five percentage points compared to the EU Commission's current proposal. The share of municipal waste which may be landfilled was limited to 5 per cent by the same year, compared to 10 per cent proposed by the Commission. A potential five-year derogation is foreseen under certain conditions for member states which still landfilled more than 65 per cent of their municipal waste in 2013.
As the next step in the legislative procedure, the European Parliament will hold its first plenary reading of the package during the session from 13 to 16 March in Strasbourg. The representatives of the EU member states will continue to work towards a common position in the Council's Working Party on the Environment.
