The European Parliament Environment Committee has backed a report calling for the increase, along with a 70 percent municipal recycling rate.
The report was compiled by Sirpa Pietikäinen, and includes recommendations on resource efficiency and moving towards a circular economy, REBnews reported. Now it has been approved, the document will be used to create a motion to be debated by the full parliament.
MEPs on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee voted in favour of adopting the report, which calls for the instigation of a number of targets and indicators. Among them is the introduction by the European Commission of a lead indicator and additional sub-indicators on resource efficiency and ecosystem devices, by 2019.
The indicators would measure resource consumption, including imports and exports, taking account of “the whole lifecycle of products and services”. In addition to the 30 percent resource efficiency target, there would be individual targets for each member states. Proposals are also included to review the Ecodesign Directive by the end of 2016 and make resource efficiency mandatory in product design, including reuse and recyclability.
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With regard to zero waste, the politicians want to submit the announced review of waste legislation by the end of 2015, which they posit should include extended producer responsibility, introducing a ban on landfilling recyclable and biodegradable waste by 2025 and a ban on landfilling by 2030, and an introduction of fees on landfilling and incineration.
Further suggestions include a compulsory green public procurement procedure considering reused, repaired, remanufactured, refurbished and other resource-efficient products and solutions, which are to be preferred.
Ariadna Rodrigo, Resource Use Campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: “Today’s vote gives a strong signal to the Commission that the new circular economy package has to be genuinely ambitious. This means not taking the easy route and simply improving our management of waste close to home – we need concrete proposals to tackle the hard task of reducing our overall resource use.”
In June 2015, the European Commission introduced a Circular Economy ‘roadmap’, promising implementation of the system in product design and procurement, after it scrapped a previous set of plans in January 2015.