European Parliament votes for stronger re-use and social economy sector

14th March 2017 | News

The European Parliament has endorsed several changes to the EU Commission’s proposed update to the Waste Framework Directive that would help support social enterprises working in the field of re-use and repair. The full parliament agreed to back a number of changes proposed in January by the Environment Committee. The vote represents an important step towards a final legislative text; negotiations on a final deal will now begin with member state governments.

Whilst some details could still change during these negotiations, RREUSE welcomes the following amendments in particular:

  • a definition of ”preparing for re-use” that exclusively refers to products / materials that have become waste;
  • a definition of recognised ”preparing for re-use” operators;
  • separate, ambitious “preparing for re-use” targets;
  • promotion of the use of social clauses in tendering procedures to support the role of social enterprises in waste management;
  • preferential access to the waste stream for social enterprises active in preparing for re-use activities, in order to sort potentially re-useable goods;
  • encouragement of waste prevention in the construction and demolition sector through the use of pre-demolition audits;

RREUSE hopes that this ambition will be maintained throughout negotiations between the European Parliament and Council.

Read More:
RREUSE position on the Commission’s Circular Economy Package available here