More still needs to be done on waste prevention - de Brún

17 June, 2008

Speaking in Strasbourg on a debate on waste prevention and prior to a vote on a report on waste management on Tuesday, Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún has said that proposals on waste prevention have weakened to the point where they will not help in stabilising and reducing waste.

Ms de Brún said:

“First of all I would like to thank Mrs Jackson for her work and for the open and inclusive way she has engaged with the shadow rapporteurs. We have worked together to make some improvements to the original Commission proposal.

“Many people throughout the EU will be very concerned at the proposal to ‘re-brand’ incinerators as a form of recovery if they meet certain efficiency criteria. We remain opposed to the ‘re-branding of incineration and have put down an amendment to have this deleted.

“With regard to recycling, the latest proposed deal sets out targets which may be very difficult to enforce, due to vagueness in the wording which states that, “member states shall take the necessary measures designed to achieve recycling targets”.

“Good legislation demands that we be more precise in our wording on targets and do not leave interpretation up to the European Court of Justice. Therefore we want to defend and keep the wording voted by the committee.

“Proposals on waste prevention have weakened to the point where they will not be able to make a substantive enough contribution or to clearly help Member States in stabilising and reducing their waste. The weakness of the reference to prevention targets means that a harmonised prevention initiative and indicators is not yet enshrined in legislation.”