In the January 2018 Resource Recycling, Clarissa Morawski highlights recent legislative amendments to six key waste directives in Europe as part of their Circular Economy Package:

• 55% binding target for recycling of household waste by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035.
• A cap on landfilling of waste to 10% by 2035.
• A new recycling calculation, which moves the point of measurement of the weight of material from collection (or the first sort) to the input of the final recycling facility, after all sorting has taken place.
• While not yet public, information on extended producer responsibility (EPR) suggests that producers will be required to pay for up to 80% of the costs for new EPR programs and EU programs and 50% for existing national programs.
• For packaging, EU member states will need to recycle by 2030 at least:
• 85% of their paper and cardboard
• 75% of their glass
• 60% of aluminum
• 80% of ferrous metal
• 30% of wood
• and 55% of their plastic packaging
• Overall target for packaging is 65% for 2025 and 70% for 2030.