European Union increases recycling targets.

• Author: Block, Ben
• Position: EYE ON EARTH - Brief article

The European Union increased its waste management targets in June. By 2020, EU households must reuse or recycle at least 50 percent of their waste, and construction waste is required to meet a 70-percent recycling target.

The general recycling targets are a first for the EU. Yet in a region where municipal waste has increased 13 percent over the past 12 years, environmentalists say the targets are too lenient. "They are too low to address the urgency of resource and climate threats," said Michael Warhurst of Friends of the Earth Europe.

European Parliament legislators overwhelmingly supported more ambitious reforms that would halt the steady rise of all waste at 2009 levels by 2012. The Council of the European Union opposed those targets due to "recycling imbalances" among member states. Western European nations, led by the Netherlands and Denmark, send less than 10 percent of their waste to landfills, whereas many eastern European nations, Malta, and Cyprus send more than 90 percent.

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