Brussels, 4 February – The European Court of Auditors has issued a report strongly criticising the EU’s waste management infrastructure for its limited effectiveness and has proposed measures to improve the situation. Such measures include implementing land fill taxes and encouraging publics to separate waste before disposal.
Brussels, 4 February – The European Court of Auditors has issued a report strongly criticising the EU’s waste management infrastructure for its limited effectiveness and has proposed measures to improve the situation. Such measures include implementing land fill taxes and encouraging publics to separate waste before disposal.
Member States have received over €10.8 billion in strucutural funding since 2000 to improve their waste infrastructure, but in the opinion of the Court, “the effectiveness of EU funding for municipal waste management infrastructures was limited due to the poor implementation of supporting measures.”
The Waste Framework Directive set a target of 50% waste recycling by 2020, but only a handful of Member States are on track to meet this goal. Under the Directive, Member States are expected to treat waste according to the waste management hierarchy, which places waste prevention, re-use, recycling and recovery before disposal. The Court’s report argues that further financial support from the EU budget should be provided only if there is evidence of improved performance and stricter enforcement of the waste hierarchy.
To read the full report, click here.