Fwd: [zwiaplan] Fwd: [GAIA] The European Parliament passes an important resolution on Resource Efficiency
Neil Seldman
From: Sonia Mendoza <soni...@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, May 26, 2012 at 11:12 PM
Subject: [zwiaplan] Fwd: [GAIA] The European Parliament passes an important resolution on Resource Efficiency
To: Ric Anthony <RicAn...@aol.com>, zwia...@googlegroups.com, zw...@googlegroups.com
From: Sonia Mendoza <soni...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 27, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Subject: Re: [GAIA] The European Parliament passes an important resolution on Resource Efficiency
To: Joan Marc Simon <jm.s...@no-burn.org>
Cc: gai...@lists.riseup.net, gaia-m...@lists.riseup.net
Wow! Congratulations to the European Parliament, the EU Commission, GAIA Europe, and Joan Marc for such a BIG step in promoting Zero Waste sans incineration!!
Hi everyone,
Today the plenary of the European Parliament voted in favour of a very important resolution which reaffirms –among other things- the initiative of the European Commission to bring residual waste close to zero and phase out –by 2020- incineration of what can be composted or recycled.
So far this are only words and we continue to lack deeds but it is important that the EU starts to state clearly what kind of future does it want so that we can hold the policy-makers accountable when they pass laws that contradict their own resolutions. It is a step in the right direction that we should spread in our countries: according to this resolution and according to the views of the European Commission and the European Parliament it makes no sense to build any new incinerator in Europe ever again!
To read the whole text go: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A7-2012-0161&language=EN&mode=XML#title7
Small summary of important points can be read below.
Joan Marc
On Zero Waste and incineration:
33. Calls on the Commission to streamline the waste acquis, taking into account the waste hierarchy and the need to bring residual waste close to zero; calls on the Commission, therefore, to make proposals by 2014 with a view to gradually introducing a general ban on waste landfill at European level and for the phasing-out, by the end of this decade, of incineration of recyclable and compostable waste; this should be accompanied by appropriate transition measures including the further development of common standards based on life-cycle thinking; calls on the Commission to revise the 2020 recycling targets of the Waste Framework Directive; is of the opinion that a landfill tax – as has already been introduced by some Member States – could also help achieve the above ends;
On Biomass:
37. Urges the Commission also to promote such a cascading approach in the case of use of biomass, favouring recycling and highest value-added and resource-efficient products, such as bio-based products and industrial materials, over bioenergy;
On monitoring:
4. Urges the Commission and the Member States to agree, by 2013, on clear, robust and measurable indicators for economic activity that take account of climate change, biodiversity and resource efficiency from a life-cycle perspective, for example in the form of a basket of four resource use indicators, namely land footprint, water footprint, material footprint and carbon footprint, and to use these indicators as a basis for legislative initiatives and concrete reduction targets; underlines that this process has to be transparent and include key stakeholders;
On fiscality:
2. Urges the Commission and the Member States to remove the obstacles to a functioning European market in recycling and reuse, and to stimulate such a market by fostering the demand for and availability of recycled materials and by-products, through measures which should include the swift further development of stringent end-of-waste criteria and economic incentives, such as reduced VAT rates for secondary materials in areas where there is a market failure, or the promotion of innovative collection and sorting technologies, by 2013; in this context, underlines the urgent need to fully implement all existing waste legislation and step up enforcement and monitoring;
On ecodesign:
5. Calls on the Commission to propose an extension of the scope of the eco-design directive to non-energy related products, and to come forward with additional eco-design requirements for the overall resource efficiency and performance of products, including recycled content, durability, recyclability, reparability and reusability, in order to improve their environmental impact and promote recycling markets; underlines that any such proposal must be based on comprehensive impact assessments and must be coherent with other relevant regulations;
Sonia S. Mendoza
Chairman
Mother Earth Foundation
Email: soni...@gmail.com
Website: www.motherearthphil.org
Sonia S. Mendoza
Chairman
Mother Earth Foundation
Email: soni...@gmail.com
Website: www.motherearthphil.org
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Neil Seldman
President
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
2001 S Street NW, Suite 570
Washington, DC 20009
202 898 1610 X 210
nsel...@ilsr.org