The European Commission is pursuing legal action against all member states for failing to meet waste collection and recycling targets, including targets for plastic waste and packaging.
The Commission has opened an infringement procedure against all 27 member states.
According to the latest reported data, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden failed to meet the 2020 target for preparing 50% of municipal waste (plastic, paper, and glass) for reuse and recycling, as set out in the Waste Framework Directive.
The Commission said that ‘many’ of the 2008 targets set out by the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) were missed, without specifying which and by which member states. The PPWD required member states to recycle 22.5% of plastics, 60% of glass, 60% of paper and cardboard, 50% of metals, and 15% of wood by Dec. 31, 2008.
A majority of member states also failed to abide by the Directive on Waste and Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE), the Commission said without specifying which countries failed to meet targets. The WEEE, amended in March this year, requires the separate collection and proper treatment of 65% of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market in the three preceding years in the member state concerned, or alternatively 85% of WEEE generated on the territory of that member state.
Both the Waste Framework Directive and the PPWD have been amended and now set more ambitious collection and recycling targets for 2025, 2030, and 2035.
Despite all member states’ poor performance with 2008 and 2020 targets, some have better changes to meet the more ambitious targets next year. According to a 2022 report by the European Environment Agency, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden are on target to meet the plastic packaging waste recycling targets by 2025.
Overall, 10 member states may not meet both the 55% recycling target for municipal waste and the 65% recycling target for total packaging waste (Lithuania, Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Malta). Eight member states are at risk of missing the recycling target for municipal waste but are on track to meet the packaging waste target for 2025 (Estonia, Latvia, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Portugal, France).
Following the initiation of infringement procedures, all member states are now required to send a detailed reply within two months. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a formal request to comply with EU law.