Friday 7 February 2020

EU ‘on track to hit 70% construction waste recovery target by 2020’

EU countries are on track to hit the target of recovering 70% of construction and demolition waste by 2020, with most countries already exceeding the target in 2016.

That's the suggestion from the European Environment Agency (EEA), which says while work to make the largest waste stream in the EU more circular has already seen strong progress, there are still a range of challenges that must be overcome and a wealth of opportunities that must be exploited.

It notes currently, the majority of waste recovery is based on backfilling operations and low-grade recovery - it suggests both the quantity and the quality of recycling must be stepped up while reducing the volume of hazardous materials found in the waste.

The report says low-grade recovery applications reduce the potential to move towards "truly circular waste management" and predicts better quality recycling can be achieved by overcoming uncompetitive pricing with measures such as green taxes, improving trust in the quality of secondary materials, sharing information on the composition of materials used in existing buildings and accelerating the time it takes to implement actions on new buildings and realise their effect on waste management decades later.