Westminster diary

摘要

The European Commission is causing great consternation in Britain's packaging and waste industries. The controversy surrounds tough new targets for the recovery and recycling of specific packaging wastes. The targets will have to be achieved in the next five to six years (Packaging and Packaging Waste: Revised Recovery and Recycling Targets, HM Stationery Office). In 1994, when the commission last set recovery targets for glass, metals, paper and plastics, they had to be met by 2001 and there was a recycling target of 15 per cent for all materials. Britain, in fact, achieved this, even for plastics- a material that can be difficult to recycle. But now the commission is proposing targets of 55 per cent for paper, 60 per cent for glass, 50 per cent for metals and 20 per cent for plastics. However, on 3 September, the European Parliament voted to extend the overall date for recycling targets to 2008.