EU-wide landfilling ban would slash methane emissions
Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation, calls on the European Commission to pursue an EU-wide ban on landfill for non-pre-treated municipal waste by 2030 in view of the methane pledge at COP26 and the overall target of climate neutrality by 2050.
At COP26, more than 100 countries committed to reducing methane emissions to prevent 0,2 degrees Celsius of global warming. Being a short-lived and powerful greenhouse gas, reducing methane now can have a relatively swift effect on global temperatures.
Landfills are one of the major sources of methane emissions, also in Europe. Measures to reduce these emissions can easily be implemented. A landfill rate of almost zero is possible. Across the EU, this would save millions of tons of CO2 annually. However, the new target of the Waste Framework Directive to landfill only 10 percent of municipal waste by 2030 is not far-reaching enough. Instead we advocate an EU-wide landfilling ban for non-pre-treated municipal waste.
At the same time, lock-in effects and the creation of additional incineration capacity as a result of the ban must be prevented. This requires waste prevention using circular models and a fee structure for waste treatment in line with the EU waste hierarchy.
For the full position paper click here.
