The EU Parliament voted on July 2 to pass a bill that allows its member states to set the time limit for doubling the minimum indicators for the recycling of beverage cans, glass bottles, and cardboard packaging to 2008. In this way, they have gradually reached the standard for more than four years. The bill must be approved by the member states before it can become a new law.
According to the current EU rules, 15 member states must recycle at least 25% of the solid waste produced before 2001. If the EU member states pass this motion, member states must recover 55% of solid waste by 2008.
While people in the business community are happy with this vote, there is still some concern that the new law may increase the price of packaged goods. Julian Carroll, head of the European Packaging and Environment Group, said: "Overall, people in the business community are satisfied with the results of this poll."
Prior to this, environmental groups had urged EU legislators to increase their recycling targets – recycling 65% of their waste before 2006.
EU environmental official Roberto Ferrigno said: “Packaging production is on the rise. We need to raise the standard for waste reduction and reduce the amount of garbage that goes into landfills.â€