Circular Economy Action Plan
The revised EU waste legislation under the Circular Economy Package
The transition towards a circular economy at EU level has put the spotlight on the need to treat waste as a resource with energy and materials embedded in products which must be kept in the economic process for as long as possible and at the higher level of quality 
. According to the provisions of the CE Package the main targets are the following:
- A target to recycle 65% of municipal waste by 2030;
- A target to recycle 75% of packaging waste by 2030;
- The use of economic incentives for producers to produce greener products and support recovery and recycling schemes;
- Measures to promote re-use and stimulate industrial symbiosis;
- A binding target to reduce landfill to a maximum of 10% of municipal waste by 2030;
- A ban on the landfilling of separately collected waste;
- The promotion of economic instruments to discourage landfilling; and
- Simplified and improved definitions and harmonised methods to calculate recycling rates throughout the EU.
Moreover, given that the development of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Europe has already contributed to improvements in waste prevention, reuse and recycling, the new requirements under CE for increasing both recycling and landfill reduction targets will provide a further incentive for better implementation of EPR schemes across EU. This is confirmed in the wake of the recent revision of the WFD, as the Directive 2018/851/EU added to article 8 that “Member States may decide that producers of products that undertake financial or financial and organizational responsibilities for the management of the waste stage of a product’s life cycle of their own accord should apply some or all of the general minimum requirements laid down in Article 8a”, seeking to -among others– determine clear roles and responsibilities of all relevant actors involved, set waste treatment targets in line with the waste hierarchy, establish a reporting system, ensure equal treatment of producers, define geographical, product and material coverage, provide an appropriate availability of collection systems, adopt the necessary financial and organizational means .
In addition to this, the amended WFD 2018/851 reiterated the strategic importance of waste prevention by confirming its place as a top priority for waste legislation according to the waste hierarchy. According to the revised Article 9, the waste preventive measure taken by MS shall
- “(a) promote and support sustainable production and consumption models,
- (b) encourage the design, manufacturing and use of products that are resource-efficient, durable (including in terms of life span and absence of planned obsolescence), repairable, re-usable and upgradable,
- (d) encourage the re-use of products and the setting up of systems promoting repair and re-use activities, including in particular for electrical and electronic equipment, textiles and furniture, as well as packaging and construction materials and products,
- (f) reduce waste generation in processes related to industrial production, extraction of minerals, manufacturing, construction and demolition, taking into account best available techniques”