EU urged to improve sorting of mixed household waste to boost recycling

In a rare show of unity, business and environmental groups have published a joint letter calling on EU policymakers to back mandatory sorting of mixed household waste, saying this is the only way to meet EU recycling goals and prevent the incineration of recyclable paper, metals, and plastics.

The letter, published in late January, urges the European Parliament to introduce an obligation on EU countries to sort mixed household waste in order to extract recyclable materials before they are sent to incineration or dumped in landfills.

It is backed by an unusual coalition of 19 green NGOs and business groups, including Zero Waste Europe (ZWE), the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the association of European Plastics Converters (EuPC), Flexible Packaging Europe, Metal Packaging Europe (MPE) ,and the European Manufacturers of Expanded Polystyrene (EUMEPS).

“One third of the total amounts of household flexible packaging collected were found in the mixed household waste stream even though separate collection was in place,” says Flexible Packaging Europe, one of the signatories of the letter, published in late January.

Waste Framework Directive revision

The changes are being pushed as the European Parliament’s environment committee considers amendments to the proposed revision of the EU’s Waste Framework Directive put forward by the European Commission last year.

The proposed revision, tabled in July, targets textiles and food waste, and obliges all EU member states to collect used clothing and textiles in order to recycle them.

But environmental groups say the revision must go beyond its initial focus on textiles to also address mixed waste streams – the residual waste left over after households sort their paper, glass, metals and plastic in separate bins.

“Mandatory sorting of mixed waste is the only viable option” in cases when recyclable materials are not captured by separate collection, the joint letter says.

“The squandering of recyclable resources, losing their material value to incineration and landfilling, constitutes a significant yet avoidable hindrance to realising the circular economy,” it argues.

For the signatories of the join letter, this is the only way to meet higher recycling targets set out in the waste framework directive and the packaging waste regulation, which are both currently under revision.

EU Parliament getting cold feet

The Parliament’s speaker on the proposal, Polish MEP Anna Zalewska (European Conservatives and Reformists – ECR), has tabled a number of amendments that go beyond the targeted revision tabled by the Commission last year.

She is fully behind moves to boost sorting of mixed household waste – but only after separate collection infrastructure is put in place for glass, paper, metals, and plastics.

“We need to first improve the infrastructure to increase separate collection of municipal waste,” Zalewska told Euractiv in emailed comments, saying this is the first step to ensure higher quality recycling.

“Complementing this, then, municipal mixed waste should undergo sorting before reaching the incinerator or landfill, as a safety net,” she adds. “Stuff that can be recycled that unfortunately is put into the municipal mixed waste stream should be extracted from it, so it does not end up in the incinerator or landfill, where currently, too much of it still does.”

The amendments tabled by the Polish MEP – and backed by the business-NGO coalition – are now being considered for a vote in the Parliament’s environment committee later this month.

But other political groups in Parliament are sceptical. While left-wing parties and the Greens broadly support the initiative, the Parliament’s largest political faction, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), has warned about the extra costs this would entail for municipalities.

Mandatory sorting of mixed waste “would mean another rising of price for taxpayers,” cause “logistical” issues, and create a “big financial burden” on municipalities, according to EPP comments made on the proposed amendments, seen by Euractiv.

Therefore, the EPP is “not able to support” the amendments on the collection and sorting of municipal mixed waste, according to the EPP’s comments. Besides, waste collection systems are a matter of “national competence,” the party adds.

At the centre of the political spectrum, the Renew Europe group is also getting cold feet, and has decided to withdraw its own amendments in support of collection and sorting of municipal mixed waste.

Compromise amendments

As a result, mandatory sorting of mixed waste was not retained in the compromise amendments that will be voted in the Parliament’s environment committee on 14 February.

Instead, EU member states are merely “encouraged, where appropriate, to introduce prior sorting of municipal mixed waste,” according to a tentative agreement reached between the Parliament’s political groups and seen by Euractiv.

“The compromise text reflects a careful balance, encouraging Member States to consider the introduction of municipal mixed waste pre-sorting, where feasible,” says Dace Melbārde, a Latvian MEP who is the speaker on the proposal for the EPP.

“This stance is a marked departure from the more aggressive mixed waste sorting initiatives proposed by some political groups,” which argued for immediate, widespread implementation, she told Euractiv.

The EPP’s stance, she explained, was to ensure EU member states first implement comprehensive separate waste collection systems, including for new streams such as food waste and textiles. This was an essential first step setting the stage for any future initiatives on mixed waste sorting, she said.

Committee vote on 14 February

According to people familiar with the matter, the sudden scepticism in Parliament was partly due to the fact that the proposed amendments on municipal waste went beyond the scope of the Commission proposal and risked delaying approval of the directive.

“Our concerns were many,” the EPP’s Melbārde told Euractiv. “Firstly, signalling to consumers that all waste, regardless of segregation efforts, would eventually be sorted, could significantly dilute the incentive for meticulous recycling. Secondly, this perspective could lessen the impetus for local authorities to establish essential sorting systems, particularly under the EPR scheme where manufacturers would also be financially responsible for the recovery of recyclable materials. Finally, it would also not be fair to financially burden the manufacturers with what are essentially choices made by the consumers (not to recycle in the first place).”

This came as a disappointment to environmental NGOs pushing for higher ambition on recycling.

“We should see mixed waste sorting as an enabling factor that allows member states to achieve the current packaging and municipal solid waste recycling targets,” said Janek Vahk, a campaigner at Zero Waste Europe, one of the environmental groups that signed the joint letter.

“Approximately half of the countries have received an early warning for not meeting these targets, and mixed waste sorting could contribute significantly, as recent studies suggest it could provide about 10 million tonnes of additional feedstock for recycling,” Vahk told Euractiv.

The vote in the Parliament’s environment committee is expected on 14 February. A plenary vote could still be scheduled in March or April, before the European Parliament officially goes into recess for the June EU elections. Otherwise, the reform will be passed on to the next Parliament.

Cover photo: Environmental groups say the revision of the EU's Waste Framework Directive, tabled in July last year, must go beyond its initial focus on textiles to also address mixed waste streams – the residual waste that is left over after households sort their paper, glass, metals and plastic in separate bins. [Photo credit: zlikovec / Shutterstock]