REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste    SEC(2011) 70 final
Date: 2011-01-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, environmental law, prevention of pollution, waste management, waste recycling

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 19.1.2011 
COM(2011) 13 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE 
COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE 
COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

on the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste 

SEC(2011) 70 final 

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   EN 

 
 
  
 
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE 
COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE 
COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

on the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

EU  waste  policy  contributes  to  increasing  the  EU's  resource-efficiency  and  reducing  the 
negative  environmental  and  health  impacts  over  the  life-cycle  of  resources.  The  Thematic 
Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste ("Strategy")1 adopted in 2005 sets as long-
term goal for the EU to become a recycling society that seeks to avoid waste and uses waste 
as  a  resource.  To  this  end,  the  Strategy  sets  out  key  actions  to  modernize  the  existing  legal 
framework and to promote waste prevention, reuse and recycling, with waste disposal only as 
last resort.  

This  Communication  reviews  progress  towards  achieving  the  Strategy’s  objectives  and  will 
feed into the evaluation of the 6th Environment Action Programme2.  

It  is  accompanied  by  a  Staff  Working  Document  which  provides  further  background 
information on the key actions of Section 2 and detailed references to the data used in section 
3  and  to  the  pieces  of  legislation  mentioned  below.  It  also  includes  a  summary  the  key 
findings of the stakeholder consultation.  

2. 

PROGRESS ON THE STRATEGY'S KEY ACTIONS 

The  Strategy  identified  7  key  actions  to  achieve  its  objectives.  This  section  assesses  the 
progress made with implementing these actions.  

Implementation and enforcement of existing EU waste legislation 

Since  2005,  the  Commission  has  stepped  up  supporting  actions  to  improve  implementation 
and  enforcement  of  the  EU  waste  acquis  at  national  level.  It  has  organised  more  than  60 
meetings, over 40 awareness raising and information exchange events in all Member States. 5 
EU  guidelines  on  the  interpretation  and  implementation  of  key  concepts  of  the  waste 
legislation were published, to resolve disputed interpretation problems.  

More than 10.000 joint inspections on waste shipments were carried out in cooperation with 
national  inspectorate  bodies,  involving  22  Member  States  and  neighbouring  countries, 
demonstrating  that  about  19%  of  transfrontier  shipments  of  waste  were  in  violation  of  the 
waste  legislation.  Financial  support  to  improve  waste  management  has  been  made  available 
through Cohesion policy. Between 2005 and 2006 around 4.1 billion € were spent to support 
landfills,  develop  waste  management 
the  closure  or  rehabilitation  of  unauthorised 
infrastructure and support separate collection and recycling schemes.  

1 
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COM (2005) 666 
Decision 1600/2002/EC 

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A  recent  Commission  report  confirms  that  the  lack  of  proper  implementation  continues  to 
cause  widespread  failure  in  achieving  the  agreed  environmental  protection  objectives  in 
practice and shows significant disparities between Member States. At the end of 2009, waste 
represented on average 20% of all environmental infringement cases. 

Simplification and Modernisation  

Since the adoption of the Strategy, the Commission has taken continuous action to make the 
EU waste legislation more cost-effective in order to provide the basis of sustainable growth. 

The revised Waste Shipment Regulation3 came into force in 2007, reinforcing and simplifying 
the existing procedures for controlling waste shipments and improving cooperation between 
Member States. The Directives on waste from the titanium dioxide industry were included in 
the  new  Directive  on  Industrial  Emissions4  which  reduces  administrative  burden  at  an  EU 
level by €32 million for the activities within its scope. 

In  2008,  the  Commission  proposed  to  further  modernize  and  streamline  the  Directives  on 
electronic  waste  (WEEE5  and  RoHS6)  and  to  ensure  coherence  with  more  recent  legislation 
such  as  REACH7  and  the  revised  Waste  Framework  Directive8,  (WFD).  The  Commission 
proposal  on  the  registration  requirements  under  WEEE  could  lead  to  administrative  burden 
reductions up to €66 million.  

The  WFD  has  further  modernized  and  simplified  the  waste  acquis.  For  example  the 
Hazardous  Waste  and  the  Waste  Oils  Directives  were  incorporated  in  the  WFD  and  the 
requirements  for  national  waste  management  plans  were  streamlined.  The  Commission  will 
further assess the possibility of improving consistency of the EU waste acquis through an ex-
post  evaluation  to  be  launched  in  2011Finally,  many  of  the  recommendations  of  the  High 
Level Group on Administrative Burden were taken into account.  

Introducing life-cycle thinking in waste policy 

Life-cycling  thinking  looks  at  environmental  impacts  throughout  the  entire  life  cycle  of  a 
product,  from  extraction  of  resources  to  their  disposal  phase.  The  waste  hierarchy  favours 
prevention of waste, followed by reuse, recycling, recovery, with disposal of waste being the 
last  resort.  However,  since  different  waste 
treatment  methods  can  have  different 
environmental  and health  outcomes,  Member States can deviate from the waste hierarchy if 
justified by life-cycle thinking. The Commission will use this tool when assessing the national 
waste management plans and will publish in 2011 a set of guidance documents on how to use 
this tool in waste policies.  

The  WFD  also  modernised  the  concept  of  ‘waste’  to  encourage  a  life  cycle  approach,  for 
example, by clarifying the distinction between wastes and 'by-products' and introducing ‘end-
of-waste criteria' clarifying when waste ceases to be waste. The definition of 'energy recovery' 
was  simplified  and  modernized  with  the  introduction  of  a  clear  energy-efficiency  threshold 

3 
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8 

Regulation 1013/2006. 
COM(2007) 843. 
2002/96/EC. 
2002/95/EC. 
Regulation 1907/2006.  
2008/98/EC. 

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which  facilitates  the  functioning  of  the  internal  market.  The  Eco-design  Directive9  applies 
life-cycle  thinking  when  establishing  eco-design  measures  to  improve  the  environmental 
performance of products.  

Waste Prevention  

Waste  prevention  remains  a  clear  priority  in  waste  management.  Since  the  adoption  of  the 
Strategy,  the  WFD  introduces  a  number  of  new  provisions  aiming  to  maximise  prevention 
efforts,  in  particular,  through  national  waste  prevention  programmes.  The  Commission  will 
publish prevention guidelines and update its set of best practice examples from across the EU.  

Other  legislation  such  as  the  Batteries  Directive10  and  the  Directive  on  the  management  of 
extractive  waste11  -  both  adopted  in  2006  -  REACH,  the  Industrial  Emission  and  the 
Ecodesign Directive also has the potential to improve waste prevention. Additional initiatives 
that address design, production and consumption aspects were launched through the adoption 
of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan12 in 2008.  

In 2009, the European Waste Prevention Week was launched in the EU with the support of 
the Commission.  

Improving the knowledge base 

Evidence-based policy making remains one of the principles of the Commission, including in 
a complex area of waste management policies. Required expertise in life-cycle thinking and 
assessment  is  being  provided  by  a  specific  platform  hosted  by  the  Joint  Research  Centre 
(JRC).  The  Commission  also  cooperates  with  Eurostat,  the  European  Environment  Agency 
(EEA),  and  International  Organisations.  Eurostat  hosts  a  Waste  Data  Centre  as  the  central 
entry point for reporting and access to waste data. EEA regularly publishes on developments 
in waste and recycling, supported by its Topic Centre. 

To improve the quality of national reporting, the Commission launched an exercise in 2010 
focusing on the Directive on end-of-life vehicles13. Similar exercises could be launched in the 
future for reporting obligations under other pieces of waste legislation. 

Development of recycling standards 

The  Strategy  proposes  a  number  of  measures  setting  minimum  EU  standards  for  recycling 
activities  in  order  to  ensure  the  proper  functioning  of  the  internal  market  for  recycling  and 
spreading good practices across the EU, particularly for bio-waste derived products.  

A  reference  document  on  the  best  available  techniques  for  the  Waste  Treatments  Industries 
was  published  in  200614.  The  Commission's  proposal  on  the  Directive  on  Industrial 
Emissions15  of  2007  includes  detailed  specifications  on  permitting  of  waste  treatment 
installations.  

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2009/125/EC. 
2006/66/EC. 
2006/21/EC. 
COM/2008/0397.  
2000/53/EC. 
See: http://eippcb.jrc.es/reference/wt.html  
COM/2007/0844.  

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The  Commission  has  started  to  develop  “end-of-waste  criteria"  for  waste  which  –  after 
recovery – has ceased to be waste, starting with steel and aluminium scrap to be followed by 
copper, glass, paper, and compost.  

Further elaboration of the EU's recycling policy  

Since 2005, new or revised collection and recycling targets at EU level have further fostered 
the internal market for recycling.  

The 85% reuse, recycling and recovery targets of the Directive on end-of-life vehicles, which 
are  complemented  with  legislative  design  requirements  on  recyclability  and  reusability  of 
vehicles  placed  on  the  market16,  have  been  examined  in  2006  and  maintained  at  their 
ambitious  levels.  The  Batteries  Directive  adopted  in  2006  included  collection  and  recycling 
targets for all batteries types.  

In  2008,  the  revised  WFD  introduced  a  50%  target  for  recycling  of  municipal  waste 
comprising  at  least  paper,  metal,  plastic  and  glass;  and  a  70%  target  for  construction  and 
demolition  waste  (both  to  be  met  by  2020).  In  the  same  year,  the  Commission  proposed  to 
revise the collection and recycling targets for electronic waste, including a target for reuse.  

The  application  of  targets  of  the  Landfill  Directive17  has  helped  promoting  the  recovery  of 
resources from waste by progressively diverting certain wastes from landfills: by 2006 (or 4 
years later for some Member States having a derogation), the amount of biodegradable waste 
going  to  landfills  had  to  be  reduced  to  75%  of  1995  levels  and  to  50%  by  2009.  Bio-waste 
management  in  the  EU  still  has  not  realised  its  full  potential.  Therefore,  the  2010 
Communication  on  bio-waste  management  in  the  EU18  proposes  further  action  and  notably 
the production of a guideline on bio-waste prevention and on applying life-cycling thinking to 
bio-waste  management.  A  study  to  further  analyse  the  possibility  of  setting  EU  bio-waste 
collection  and/or  recycling  objectives  has  been  launched.  Next  initiatives  include  compost 
standards  through  end-of-waste  criteria  and  quality  standards  for  applying  compost  on  land 
through a revision of the Sewage Sludge Directive19.  

3. 

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVES  

One of the main expected achievements of the Strategy was to make progress towards an EU 
recycling society seeking to avoid waste and use waste as resource. More and better recycling, 
less  waste  going  to  landfills  and  more  compost  and  energy  recovery  from  waste  were 
expected  leading  to  significant  environmental,  economic  and  social  benefits.  This  section 
assesses the progress made towards these long term objectives of the strategy.  

In  most  Member  States,  waste  generation  seems  to  increase,  or  at  best,  stabilize.  However, 
due to a strong decrease in 4 Member States, for the EU-27, total annual waste generation 
decreased with 10% between 2006and 2008. . Additional analysis is needed to verify to what 
extent  these  decreases  are  due  to  the  impacts  of  the  economic  crisis,  to  modified  reporting 
methods and/or to progress in term of prevention. Municipal solid waste (MSW) generation 
(7%  of  total  waste)  has  now  stabilised  around  524  kg  per  year  and  per  capita  (2008)  in  the 

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Directive 2005/64/EC. 
99/31/EC. 
COM/2010/235. 
86/278/EC. 

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EU-27.  There  is  a  relative  decoupling  between  waste  generation  and  consumption  (which 
increased  by  16.3  %  between  1999  and  in  2007).  Large  differences  exist  between  Member 
States - from around 400 to 800 kg per capita. This compares to 750kg in the USA, and 400kg 
in Japan. .  

If  little  tangible  progress  can  be  seen  in  quantitative  waste  prevention,  some  results  have 
been obtained in qualitative waste prevention. For instance, the application of the substance 
ban  of  the  RoHS  Directive  since  2006  has  reduced  the  amount  of  potentially  harmful 
substances in electronics placed on the EU market by about 110.000 tonnes annually.  

Hazardous waste (3% of total waste) continues to decrease in the EU-12, notably due to the 
introduction  of  cleaner  technology  and  mine  closures  although  at  EU-27  level  an  annual 
increase of 0.5% can still be observed. This also represents a relative decoupling with GPD 
growth.  

Generation of manufacturing waste (12% of total waste) decreased by 5.4% between 2004 
and 2006. Waste from mining and quarrying (25% of total waste) decreased by 14% over 
the  same  period.  This  is  probably  a  consequence  of  efficiency  measures  in  industry  or  as  a 
result of changing economics within the EU favouring service industries rather than industrial 
activities  such  as  manufacturing  and  mining.  In  the  same  time,  waste  from  other  economic 
sectors (services) increased by 6.2%.  

In a number of areas, re-use markets are supported by public authorities. A clear definition of 
"re-use" has been introduced in the WFD, as well as new re-use targets in the proposal on the 
WEEE Directive recast. Therefore, data should become available in the coming years. Re-use 
also  generates  other  benefits  in  terms  of  job  creation,  reduction  of  over  consumption  and 
providing second hand products at accessible prices.  

Whilst recycling rates vary from one waste stream to another, overall waste recycling in the 
EU has increased. In 2008, waste recycling was estimated at 38%, a progress of 5% compared 
to 2005 and 18 % compared to 1995. 40% of municipal waste was recycled or composted in 
2008,  a  progress  of  11.4  %  between  2005  and  2008,  with  significant  disparities  between 
Member States (from few percent to 70%).   

Energy recovery from waste has increased (from 96 kg per capita in 2005 to 102kg in 2008), 
having  led  to  an  increase  in  energy  production:  around  at  1.3%  of  the  EU  27  total  energy 
production  comes  from  incineration  of  MSW.  It  has  been  estimated  that  50  to  60%  of 
municipal  waste  incinerators  in  the  EU  will  meet  the  new  energy  efficiency  criteria  of  the 
WFD.  

Since  the  adoption  of  the  Strategy,  less  waste  was  sent  to  landfill:  roughly  40%  in  2008, 
compared  to  49%  in  2005,  and  65%  in  1995.  The  modernisation  and  simplification  of  the 
  However,  large  implementation  and 
waste  acquis  makes  it  more  cost-efficient. 
enforcement  differences  persist  between  Member  States. Depending  on  the  targets  and  the 
waste streams, some Member States have gone far beyond achieving the minimum European 
recycling or landfill diversion targets although others will have to make additional efforts to 
respect the EU requirements. In addition to good governance and a strong political will, the 
advanced  Member  States  have  created  better  conditions  for  the  recycling  markets  by 
optimally  using  legal  and  economic  instruments  such  as  landfill  bans,  applying  taxes  and 
charges consistent with the waste hierarchy and applying the producer responsibility concept 

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to  various  waste  streams.  This  had  led  to  a  progressive  internalisation  of  the  waste 
management costs into the price of products and services.  

Improved  waste  management  reduces  negative  environmental  and  health  impacts  due  to 
emissions  to  air,  soil  and  water  as  well  as  greenhouse  gas  (GHG)  emissions  from  waste 
disposal. Direct GHG emissions from the waste sector in the EU-27 – representing 2.8% of 
the total emissions in 2007, have decreased by more than 30% between 1995 and 2007. 

Since the adoption of the Strategy, the closure of sub-standard landfills and incinerators has 
led  to  significant  reduction  of  water,  soil  and  air  pollution.  A  high  number  of  sub-standard 
landfills  have  been  closed  down  (around  3.300  closures  between  2004  and  2006). 
Nevertheless,  approximately  1000  substandard  landfills  have  been  identified  by  the 
Commission as sub-standard landfills to be upgraded or closed as soon as possible.  

Recycling  provides  new  economic  opportunities.  It  contributes  to  varying  degrees  to 
increasing the supply of valuable raw materials required for the EU economy. For example, 
scrap  now  contributes  between  40%  and  56%  of  input  into  EU  bulk  metal  production. 
However, the EU's recycling of specific metals which are essential for some key applications 
remains low. It was estimated in 2009 that waste management and recycling industries in the 
EU  have  a  turnover  of  €95  bil lion.  The  sector  provides  between  1,2  and  1,5  million  jobs 
contributing to meet the EU 2020 objective of 75% employment rate and representing around 
1%  of  GDP.  Apart  from  waste  avoidance,  re-use  generates  other  benefits  in  terms  of  job 
creation,  reduction  of  overconsumption  and  providing  second  hand  products  at  accessible 
prices.  

4. 

INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS  

The international context has become more and more important. Increased globalization and 
changes  of  the  EU  economy  had  led  to  increased  imports  of  raw  materials  and  semi-
manufactured  materials.  At  the  same  time,  exports  of  waste  which  can  be  transformed  into 
valuable  secondary  raw  materials,  and  would  thus  reduce  our  raw  material  demand,  also 
increased.  This  raises  questions  on  the  raw  materials  supply  for  the  EU  and  the  potential 
export  of  environmental  problems  to  third  countries  in  cases  where  resources  or  semi-
manufactured  materials  are  imported  from  sub-standard  production  facilities  or  exported 
waste ends up in substandard waste management facilities.  

The  Commission  has  taken  several  initiatives  to  promote  sound  waste  management  notably 
through  the  Environment  and  Natural  Resources  Thematic  Programme.  Several  actions  to 
support  approximation  to  the  EU  acquis  related  to  waste  have  also  been  financed  in  the 
European Neighbours.  

The  Commission  is  also  addressing  these  issues  through  the  Raw  Materials  Initiative20,  in 
which  recycling  policies  play  an  important  role,  as  well  as  through  support  for  better 
enforcement  of  the  EU  Waste  Shipment  Regulation.  Despite  these  efforts,  illegal  export  of 
waste is a continuous problem which is by essence difficult to quantify. The Commission also 
actively  participates  in  the  international  discussions  on  the  Basel  ban  which  prohibits  the 
export of hazardous waste to non-OECD countries.  

20 

COM/2008/699. 

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Since the adoption of the Strategy, third countries are introducing similar waste and recycling 
policies  to  those  of  the  EU,  which  creates  frontrunner  advantages  for  EU  industry.  For 
instance China, the US and India have introduced similar provisions on the restriction of the 
use of hazardous substances in electronic equipment.  

5. 

FUTURE TRENDS 

With continued growth of the world population combined with stronger emerging economies, 
total consumption is expected to increase significantly. This will lead to increased pressure 
on  resource  use  with  associated  environmental  and  health  impacts,  in  particular  related  to 
biotic materials, minerals and metals. As the demand for raw materials in the EU continues to 
grow, and given the EU's dependence on the importation of many raw materials, the role of 
recycling will become increasingly important.  

Projections  into  future  trends  in  waste  generation  and  treatment  indicate  that  without 
additional  waste  prevention  policies,  waste  generation  is  expected  to  increase  by  7%  from 
2008  to  2020.  The  application  of  REACH  combined  with  national  prevention  policies  is 
expected 
the  generation  of  hazardous  waste.  With  full 
implementation  of  existing  acquis,  recycling  would  increase  from  40%  in  2008  to  49%  in 
2020.  Landfilling  would  decrease  by  10%  and  stabilize  at  28%.  More  bio-waste  should  be 
diverted  from  landfilling  over  the  coming  years  offering  new  growth  perspectives  for 
composting and gas production.  

to  contribute 

to  reducing 

On top of the expected effects of the Landfill Directive, more prevention and recycling could 
lead  to  additional  significant  benefits.  Full  implementation  of  EU  waste  legislation  and 
increased  prevention  and  recycling  could  lead  to  additional  GHG  emission  reduction 
corresponding  to  a  significant  part  of  the  European  climate  reduction  targets  by  2020. 
Recycling will continue to offer economic opportunities whilst contributing to the resource-
efficiency  of  the  EU  economy.  It  is  estimated  that  the  job  creation  in  the  waste  recycling 
sector could amount up to half a million jobs. 

Large implementation and enforcement differences are expected to continue persist between 
Member  States,  unless  additional  measures  are taken  at  EU  level  to  support  Member  States 
and  to  ensure  a  level  playing  field,  in  particular  in  the  field  of  national  inspections. 
Compliance  with  EU  targets  on  collection,  recycling  and  landfill  diversion  will  remain  a 
priority and some Member States will have to make serious efforts to meet those EU targets. 

6. 

CONCLUSIONS  

The Strategy has played an important role in guiding policy development. Significant progress 
has been achieved on a number of fronts, particularly in the improvement and simplification 
of legislation, the establishment and diffusion of key concepts such as the waste hierarchy and 
life-cycle  thinking,  on  setting  focus  on  waste  prevention,  on  coordination  of  efforts  to 
improve knowledge, and on setting new European collection and recycling targets.  

Overall, recycling rates have improved, the amount of waste going to landfill has decreased 
and the use of hazardous substances in some waste streams has been reduced. Current policies 
have  led  to  a  decrease  of  the  relative  environmental  impacts  per  ton  of  waste  treated. 
However,  this  is  offset  by  the  negative  environmental  impacts  caused  by  the  expected 
increase in waste generation.  

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Without further and complementary initiatives, opportunities will be missed to reduce green 
house  gas  emissions  and  environmental  impacts  in  general,  create  jobs  and  meet  the  future 
demands for resources.  

Continuous efforts are needed to improve the knowledge-base: new indicators are needed to 
measure  progress  towards  a  recycling  society  and  to  map  waste  and  material  streams  and 
resource flows. Better information and forecasts of life cycle based environmental and health 
impacts of the waste policies with a specific focus on resource and climate policies should be 
developed.  

Proper  implementation  and  enforcement  of  the  existing  EU  waste  acquis  must  remain  a 
priority notably by ensuring compliance with key EU targets and to the full implementation of 
the WFD and the WSR. In this context, a proactive verification procedure combined with an 
early  warning  system  on  compliance  with  key  EU  targets  will  be  developed  based  on  the 
national  waste  management  plans.  The  Commission  will  adopt  measures  to  further  support 
national waste prevention policies, including bio-waste prevention and reduced food wastage.  

The Commission will explore new tools to support implementation and enforcement activities 
notably in the light of the recent accident in Hungary. A particular focus will be set on the EU 
coordination of national inspection activities to be based on result-oriented strategies and on 
the  promotion  of  peer-review  inspections  and  independent  auditing  schemes  notably  for 
facilities with a potential transboundary impact.  

Significant margin for progress still exist beyond the current EU minimum collection and 
recycling  targets.  To  this  end,  the  introduction  of  instruments  used  by  well  performing 
Member  States  should  be  strongly  encouraged  particularly  in  worse  performing  Member 
States. Optimal combination of economic and legal instruments should be promoted notably 
though landfill bans and by applying the producer responsibility concept to additional waste 
streams on the basis of a common European approach.  

Improving  the  competiveness  of  EU  recycling  industries  is  essential  for  the  generation  of 
jobs  in  the  EU.  In  that  context,  ensuring  that  competition  takes  place  within  a  framework 
maintaining high levels of environmental protection is a key priority for the Commission. In 
addition, the Commission will look into how to better prevent illegal exports of waste and 
ensuring  that  waste  exported  to  third  countries  is  treated  in  high  standard  facilities, 
particularly for ship dismantling.  

Waste  policies  can  help  develop  the  markets  of  secondary  raw  materials  and  strengthen 
their  supply  in  the  EU,  thus  improving  the  resource-efficiency  of  the  EU  economy.  New 
market  mechanisms  favouring  secondary  raw  materials  should  be  explored,  including 
economic incentives, notably to better take into account the significant potential in terms of 
GHG  emission  reduction  conferred  by  recycling.  Defining  new  and  more  ambitious 
prevention  and  recycling  targets  as  well  as  moving  towards  material-specific  targets  can 
directly  contribute  to  meet  the  Europe  2020  objective  of  "promoting  a  resource  efficient 
economy"  and  to  the  related  Flagship  Initiative.  In  that  sense,  materials  having  negative 
environment  and  health  impacts  over  their  entire  life  cycle,  including  on  energy  use  and 
climate change should be better targeted. These targets could be incorporated into monitoring 
of  Member  States'  progress  towards  resource  efficient  growth  in  the  national  reporting  for 
Europe 2020. As meeting ambitious recycling and prevention targets requires the participation 
of  the  whole  civil  society,  continuous  efforts  will  be  achieved  to  improve  stakeholder 
participation and raising public awareness.  

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New  initiatives  to  support  innovation  through  Framework  Programme  and  Innovation 
Partnerships  and  better  incorporate  life-cycle  thinking  in  policy  development  will  deserve 
particular attention. This would imply more consistency between waste and product design 
policies, including considering rules on the uptake of minimum content of recycled materials 
in  priority  products,  the  recyclability  and  durability  of  products  and  reducing  the  use  of 
hazardous substances.  The  use  of structural and cohesion funds will  be encouraged  along 
the lines of the waste hierarchy and for adoption of best available technologies.  

After 5 years, the Strategy's main objectives remain valid. Intervention has focussed on better 
implementation and enforcement, moving up the waste hierarchy, promoting prevention in all 
its aspects and shifting to more holistic and consolidated resource policies which encompass 
waste management as an essential element of a wider picture. The Commission sees a need 
for  further  consolidation  of  its  waste  policies  and  will  make  further  proposals  in  2012, 
including concrete steps it intends to take in order to further move towards an EU resource-
efficient recycling society.  

EN 

10 

   EN