Using waste as a resource should be the cornerstone of the EU’s resource efficiency strategy.
With this in mind, we are promoting a ban on/ phase-out of recyclable and highly combustible
waste going to landfill; this ban/phase-out should be set as a 2020 target in the revised Landfill
Directive. Furthermore the concept of using waste as a resource should embrace both material
recycling and energy recovery. Indeed, from a life cycle perspective, it is not sustainable, for
example, to recycle all plastics. While material recycling enables the EU to become more selfsufficient
in raw materials for its production facilities, energy recovery, in line with the waste
hierarchy, should remain a complementary option since it increases the diversity of the EU’s
energy supply and contributes to energy security while helping to mitigate climate change
through the replacement of virgin fossil fuel.