Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) has criticised revisions to the EU Waste Framework Directive and called for a greater emphasis on reduced consumption of resources.
“The European Commission seems to shut its eyes to what is needed today and prefers kicking the can down the road,” said ZWE waste policy officer Theresa Mörsen.
In light of increased volumes of municipal waste over the last decade, low recycling rates and low-quality recyclate, the European Commission (EC) is currently revising the directive.
The new policy revisions will focus on circular and sustainable management of textile waste, as well as the feasibility of setting food waste reduction targets.
A report last month from food policy group Feedback EU called for a legally mandated 50% food waste reduction target – in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The report revealed that the amount of food the EU was wasting each year was greater than its total agricultural imports.
The EU’s policy revision will also focus on options to implement the objectives of the Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which includes implementing an extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for the sector.
Ongoing consultations have not covered waste prevention and preparation for reuse and recycling, which are not included in the revisions, though the Commission has noted that a “large number of the respondents reflected on the need to address consumption”.
But ZWE has said policy tackles “only a fraction of the waste crisis”, criticising EU for focusing “only on a quantitative increase in recycling and a reduction of landfilling” which it argued will lead to more incineration.
“The transition towards a circular economy should have resource use reduction at its core: instead of closing an ever-increasing loop, we need to reduce the size of material flows,” continued Mörsen.
“This requires completely reshaping our extraction, production, and consumption patterns.”
ZWE is calling for EU policy to match the European Green Deal’s ambitions and narrative – to achieve carbon neutrality and circularity by 2050:
“The current rate of 12.8% circularity, calculated by the 2022 Circularity Gap Report, is unacceptable and outright dangerous for Europe’s future.”
