Eleven civil society organisations, including NGOs, think tanks and progressive business groups, have written a joint open letter to all 28 EU Environment Ministers, calling on them to adopt ambitious and binding recycling targets. The European Council is currently debating changes to EU waste laws, which were proposed in December 2015 by the European Commission as part of their Circular Economy Package. The legislative proposals on waste include setting common EU targets for recycling waste by 2030. Recent discussions in the Environment Council have included suggestions that targets should be watered down or even abandoned, with one leaked paper suggesting that more work is needed to test the methodology before any targets are adopted.
In response, we are calling upon all Member States to support binding targets, as a means to enable the transition to a circular economy. The letter argues that the case for action is clear and compelling and that binding targets are needed to bring long-term certainty and to create the conditions needed to improve recycling rates across Europe.
