The European Union increased its waste management targets in June. By 2020, EU households must reuse or recycle at least 50 percent of their waste, and construction waste is required to meet a 70-percent recycling target.

The general recycling targets are a first for the EU. Yet in a region

European Parliament legislators overwhelmingly supported more ambitious reforms that would halt the steady rise of all waste at 2009 levels by 2012. The Council of the European Union opposed those targets due to "recycling imbalances" among member states. Western European nations, led by the Netherlands and Denmark, send less than 10 percent of their waste to landfills, whereas many eastern European nations, Malta, and Cyprus send more than 90 percent.

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The European Commission first proposed that the 1975 Waste Framework Directive undergo an overhaul in 2005. "We have come a very long way from the original Commission draft, which contained no recycling targets," said Caroline Jackson, a European Parliament member.

Critics also say the recycling targets encourage member nations to incinerate their trash, which the new policy labeled as garbage "recovery" rather than "disposal." According to Parliament statistics, 49 percent of EU municipal waste goes to landfills, 18 percent is incinerated, and 27 percent is recycled or composted. Municipal waste is expected to grow 25 percent between 2005 and 2020.

by Ben Block

(unless otherwise credited)