EU lawmakers back tougher measures to cut waste, require greener products

Lawmakers in European Parliament's environment committee on Tuesday called for stricter EU measures to stop materials being thrown away or wasted, including binding requirements to include recycled content in products and curb raw materials use.

As it seeks to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shrink its negative environmental impact, the European Union's executive Commission is drafting laws to encourage companies to reuse materials and recycle more. Those plans received a boost on Tuesday, when Parliament's environment committee backed the Commission's plan to propose, in 2021 or 2022, mandatory requirements on recycled content in certain products, and binding green public procurement targets.

While the Commission intends to propose mandatory requirements on recycled plastic content, lawmakers said the requirement to use recycled content should not be limited to plastic only. Parliament's report aims to inform upcoming EU legislation. The committee will formally approve its position on Wednesday before the full Parliament votes on it.

Some low-carbon or recycled products struggle to compete with conventional versions - such as recycled plastics, which cost more than virgin plastics. The EU wants to help create a market for sustainable products, including by harnessing the purchasing power of public authorities, which represents 14% of EU GDP. The lawmakers also asked the Commission to propose an EU target to reduce the use of primary raw materials - a measure not included in the Commission's original proposal.

Jan Huitema, parliament's lead lawmaker on the issue, said reducing waste was key to the EU's plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, since sourcing some primary raw materials produces up to 80% more emissions than the secondary - or reused - equivalent. "The CO2 emissions are tremendously higher," Huitema told Reuters. "The whole process of recycling has a way lower environmental impact than gaining those resources from our environment."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)