Today in the European Parliament we will be voting on new EU laws on waste. There have been European laws to try and control how we deal with our rubbish since 1975 but they are out of date and we've been pushing for changes for years. These days, there is much more awareness of the environmental impact waste has and the urgent need to prevent waste and reuse or recycle things that were previously seen as 'rubbish'.

But unfortunately the European Commission's proposal is not only a missed opportunity to move ahead, it's a step backwards. It's a worrying combination of no action or targets on preventing, reusing and recycling waste, plenty of legal loopholes for unscrupulous companies and wholehearted promotion of incineration.

I've worked with colleagues in the Parliament's Environment Committee to try and strengthen this proposal and refocus on reducing the amount of waste we produce and recycling, with binding targets and planning.

In general, it doesn't affect agricultural waste laws but I have put in an amendment saying that untreated catering waste shouldn't be used as animal feed. Although this is already the case in Wales and throughout the UK there are still some countries that do not have controls over this waste being fed to animals.

There has been progress in Wales but it is slow and patchy. The national recycling level is around 15% and there's a target of a 40% recycling and composting level by 2009-10. Flanders on the other hand is leading the way in Europe if not the world on waste management. It only started recycling collections in the 90s but now has 72% recycling, achieved by regular doorstep collections and numerous collection sites. It's also run successful public awareness campaigns explaining waste systems and the positive results, have consulted widely and involved schools. Economically they've used incentives for recycling, government subsidies for local authorities and taxes on landfill and incineration as a disincentive. By 2002 they halted the growth in waste production. This is an example of what Wales could achieve.

Simple things like the amount of packaging on our food is one way of reducing our waste. Having fruit wrapped in as many as three layers of cardboard and plastic is ridiculous and unnecessary. In supermarkets it's often as a result of how far our food travels, with the packaging protecting food for hundreds of miles. So buying local food makes good sense from a waste point of view as well.

The waste we cannot yet reuse or recycle must be dealt with safely. Incineration plants, or burning waste, are not the answer. Even when they create energy, a recent Friends of the Earth report showed that waste incineration produces a third more carbon dioxide than gas fired power stations. It is not a form of green energy or safe waste disposal and we should not get caught up in this lie.

The only way to achieve results is to have strong planning and vision, coordinated action involving the public, and businesses and government and sticking to key targets.

We need actions not words. It's fashionable to speak about saving the environment these days, but not much has been done about it. Fine words won't make the problem go away. The real political will is shown in what laws we're willing to pass and what help we're willing to provide to tackle problems and reach definite goals.

Jill Evans MEP