Recycling and preparing for reuse of packaging waste is to be increased to 80% (by weight) by 2030 with individual materials? required to recycle more.
Paper, ferrous metal, aluminium and glass have been set a 90% target while plastic recycling rates are to rise to 60% by 2030. The target for wood has been set at 80%.
By 2020, the packaging recycling target is 60% while by 2025 it needs to hit 70%. UK councils would also have to recycle 70% of household waste by 2030.
The proposals fall under the Waste Framework Directive, the Landfill Directive and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. The legislative proposals will be passed to the European Parliament and Council of Ministers.
Dick Searle, chief executive of the Packaging Federation, said that the proposals would be bad for business and hit the manufacturing sector hard.
"The targets are laughably unachievable," he said. "Everyone is talking about rebalancing the economy through manufacturing but theses targets will load more and more costs to business."
Searle added that he did not want to see a scenario where retailers would place more burdens on the supply chain. He also argued that the EU documents did not mention consumers. "Everything we do is to satisfy consumer demand," he said.
"This is not a done deal and we will launching a strong political campaign against these targets," said Searle.
Jane Bickerstaffe, director of Incpen, added that the targets were unattainable. "Recycling does not come for free," she said. "Packaging is like a red rag to a bull for politicians and these targets would have unintended consequences. We could end up using more resources to achieve these targets."
