European Parliament approves Circular Economy package


The Circular Economy package was finally agreed on 18 April 2018 by the European Parliament.

When it comes to municipal waste, the following targets were included:

  • Municipal waste recycling target: 55% by 2025, 60% by 2030, and 65% by 2035
  • Packaging waste recycling target: 65% by 2025 and 70% by 2030
  • No more than 10% of landfilling by 2035

Specific targets were also set for the various packaging materials: 85% for paper and cardboard, 75% for glass, 55% for plastics, 80% for ferrous metal, 60% for aluminium and 30% for wood.

Selective collection schemes have to be set up by Member States for several waste fractions:

  • They will have to ensure that bio-waste is either collected selectively or recycled at source by 31/12/2023;
  • They will have to set separate collection schemes for textiles and hazardous waste from households by 01/01/2025

Regarding EPR systems, general minimum requirements were set to improve the homogeneous enforcement of the EPR regulation in the various Member States.

In addition, stricter calculation rules for recycling rates will improve the monitoring of progress toward the circular economy, and make national data more comparable, and ensuring that sorting residues are not reported as recycled.

By collecting an exhaustive database of comparable waste management figures, the COLLECTORS project wishes to propose an overview of local recycling performances allowing the identification of effective strategies enabling to address specific challenges, such as high density or remoteness.