The EU climate law is intended to turn the political promise to make the EU climate neutral by 2050 into a binding obligation. This would be linked to an increase in the EU emissions reduction target from 40 to at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, which would lead to legal changes not only in Europe but also in Germany, according to the bvse-Bundesverband Sekundärrohstoffe und Entsorgung e.V. (German Association for Secondary Raw Materials and Waste Disposal). In the avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions, the recycling and disposal industry can make an important contribution to achieving the target, points out its chief executive Eric Rehbock, who calls for the landfilling of household waste in the EU to be banned much more quickly than planned. Waste incineration plants would also have to participate in CO₂ emissions trading and the entire spectrum of waste treatment would have to be linked together as sensibly as possible in order to use the waste materials along a cascade. This would start with keeping waste separate as far as possible, starting with collection, in order to keep the proportion of recycled materials as high as possible. Another component was the substitution of virgin materials with recyclates, which, when used in new products, save around 50 percent in CO₂eq emissions compared with virgin materials. So far, however, the use of recyclates has only been economically driven, according to bvse Vice President Herbert Snell.

 

Sources:

• umweltwirtschaft.com (29.4.2021)
• Photo: © bvse