Tag: waste management

• Waste Framework Directive – Sort recyclable materials from mixed waste before incineration and landfill

  The squandering of recyclable resources, losing their material value to incineration and landfilling, constitutes a significant yet avoidable hindrance to realising the circular economy. Though a further comprehensive revision of Waste Framework Directive (WFD) is anticipated, the ongoing revision should urgently address the incineration and landfilling of recyclable waste. This is pivotal for achieving municipal and packaging waste recycling targets, already enshrined in EU law for multiple years but challenging for many Member States.

• Joint letter | Expand the scope of the EU Waste Framework Directive

  NGOs and industry have written a joint letter to the European Parliament's Environment Committee to express their support for a limited expansion of the current scope of the proposal to revise the EU Waste Framework Directive.

• E-waste is going to waste – but a new international standard could change that

  E-waste, or WEEE, (waste from electrical and electronic equipment) is the fastest-growing and most complex waste stream worldwide. A new international standard for the sustainable management of e-waste will set requirements to achieve the best environmental outcome by focusing on the recovery of products, components, and materials.

• New Joint Paper – Why we need waste prevention targets now

  ECOS has joined other NGOs and representatives of waste treatment operators to create this joint paper, which shows the lack of effectiveness of existing waste prevention policies. We need European level quantitative waste prevention targets, as well as effective national measures. This joint position paper also highlights manufacturers’ role in reducing resource use and the size of the circular economy loop. Lastly, it offers some clarity on the differences between waste prevention and recycling, emphasising that recycling is lower in the European waste hierarchy than prevention.

• Setting a truly circular recycling system – joint pledge

  ECOS co-signs a pledge on chemical recycling with Zero Waste Europe and Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), calling for circular economy principles for plastic. We encourage civil society and recycling industry organisations to endorse these principles.