A study conducted by German consultancy Ökopol calculates, for the first time, the CO2 emission reduction potential of establishing EU-wide legally binding recycling targets for municipal solid waste (MSW).
The European Parliament has asked for such binding targets in its first reading of the EU framework directive for waste.
According to preliminary figures in the study, the current EU average MSW recycling rate of 37% saves some 160 million tonnes of CO2 every year. Presently, the EU minimum target is 50%. If every member state reached at least that by 2020 and those who are already above the target did not diminish their efforts, then CO2 emission savings would improve by 88 million tonnes.
If all member states reached the current maximum achieved by the Netherlands (65%) by 2020, an additional 144 million tonnes of CO2 would be saved every year.
The data used in the study was taken from existing life-cycle assessments and 2005 Eurostat waste statistics and assumed that incineration rates remain constant. A complete final version of the 'CO2 emission saving potential of EU recycling targets' will be published at an international conference on waste and climate change in London on 31 January 2008.
The conference, organised by the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management (ACR), will present a number of recent studies on the CO2 balance of different waste management options such as prevention, reuse, recycling and energy recovery.
