Europe now has the framework to make the Circular Economy really work, says European Aluminium, after the Council of Ministers has voted for the amended Waste Directives of the Package. With impressive recycling rates of over 90% in transport and building and over 60% in packaging, aluminium is already contributing to the European circular economy. However, there is still room for improvement and Member States need to invest more in their existing collection and sorting infrastructure in order to meet the new and more ambitious recycling targets, including on aluminium packaging.
Director General Gerd Götz said: “Europe should promote the use of innovative sorting and separation technologies and make funding and other financial incentives available to all materials, not only to plastics. This would improve the uptake of used materials in Europe and reduce scrap leakage to third countries, certainly if waste exporters have to prove that the recycling is performed under the same environmental, health and safety conditions as in Europe. The latter should be addressed in the upcoming revision of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation”.
European Aluminium also encourages the EU Commission to propose a recycling target for construction and demolition waste before 2024. On top, Europe should further clarify the proposed harmonized reporting of national recycling statistics including the quantities of metals recycled from incinerator bottom ash.
