Plaid MEP Jill Evans has criticised a 'done deal' in Europe to reclassify some waste incineration as 'energy recovery'. This would greatly promote incineration as more environmentally friendly. Ms Evans has campaigned for new laws that clearly favour waste reduction, re-use and recycling.

Over 1.8 billion tonnes of waste are generated every year in Europe, a figure that is on the increase. New EU wide laws to tackle the problem are being debated by the European Parliament's Environment Committee, of which Ms Evans is a member.

Meeting in Brussels this week the MEPs called for binding rules to introduce more reduction, re-use and recycling and stabilise waste production across the EU by 2012. The MEPs want targets set for a minimum of 50% of household waste, and 70% of industrial waste to be recycled by 2050.

Wales currently recycles and composts around 27% of its municipal waste but figures vary greatly from county to county and the Welsh Assembly Government has set a target of 40% for recycling by 2010.

The MEPs also want dramatic cuts in the amount of waste sent to landfill sites. Currently almost half of all municipal waste in Europe is disposed of through landfill. In the UK, around 80% of this waste is still disposed of in landfills. There would also be a requirement for countries to introduce national plans to cut waste and provide separate collection schemes for different types of waste.

But an amendment to class incinerators with certain energy efficiency as waste recovery rather than waste disposal was passed despite opposition from Ms Evans' parliamentary group. This could lead to a dramatic increase in incineration when the focus should be on reduction, re-use and recycling.

Jill Evans, who represents the whole of Wales in the European Parliament, said:

"Whilst I strongly welcome the broad alliance in Parliament calling for binding targets for waste reduction, re-use and recycling, this is not won yet. On the other hand, the reclassification of many incinerators is more or less a done deal. It is of paramount importance that we counterbalance this with strong and binding reduction and recycling targets, otherwise, we will simply shift from dirty landfill to hazardous airfill.

"Waste incinerators are designed to dispose of rubbish. They are not efficient at producing energy and produce more CO2 per unit than a coal fired power station. They also depend on a continuous stream of waste over decades - undermining efforts to reduce waste"

"Neither landfill nor incineration is the answer. They are not clean or safe methods of waste disposal and there is massive public opposition as we have seen in Wales to incinerators like Crumlin Burrows and landfill sites like Nantygwyddon, Hafod and Trecatti. We voted for a very clear priority for reduction, re-use and recycling, which represent the cleanest and most sustainable options.

"Don't waste our climate. If we are to effectively tackle climate change then we must also tackle the ever growing waste mountain. We need to develop a "recycling society" but we are still a long way away from that. In Wales we are still landfilling an incredible 67% of household waste.

"We need sustainable, long-term solutions and we need to take into account the effects on local communities. That is something I've always campaigned for and will continue to do so."

NOTES

The European Parliament is reviewing EU waste legislation which has remained largely unchanged since the 1975. Overhauled plans for a new Waste Framework Directive will be put to the European Parliament in June this year-

Agreement has to be reached with governments who are resisting the binding targets.