Zero Waste Europe and 20+ organisations have signed a joint letter urging the European Commission to include waste incinerators and landfills in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) by 2028. These major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must no longer be exempt from carbon pricing if the EU is serious about climate and circular economy goals.
Available in English.
A new study by CE Delft, commissioned by Zero Waste Europe and Reloop, confirms that including waste incineration in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) would deliver powerful climate and employment benefits.
The main findings of the study include:
1. Massive emissions cuts. Adding incineration to the EU ETS would slash CO₂ emissions by 4 to 7 million tonnes in 2030, rising to 18 to 32 million tonnes in 2040.
2. Thousands of new jobs. Transitioning from incineration to recycling would create 8,700 to 16,400 new jobs by 2030, and 11,600 to 21,700 by 2040, as recycling is far more labour-intensive than burning waste.
Available in English.
Together with EuRIC and six other organisations, Zero Waste Europe wrote to the Members of the European Parliament expressing concerns about the recent postponement of the European Parliament’s plenary vote on the revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD).
Now scheduled for October 2025, this four-month delay is a big setback for establishing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles, which are urgently needed to tackle Europe’s growing textile waste crisis.
Available in English.
In view of the announced EU Circular Economy Act, this report stresses that current circular policy measures are insufficient to reduce the absolute levels of resource use in the EU – a blindspot that threatens the EU’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness. Crucially, ensuring that future generations can live well within planetary boundaries requires a fundamental shift in material use.
The failure to fully internalise externalities, like environmental degradation and carbon emissions, keeps the market skewed in favour of primary materials, undercutting the competitiveness of secondary materials and circular business models. The report sets out a roadmap for how the EU can internalise such costs and reshape economic incentives. While the report presents three alternatives, the most immediate measure it proposes is expanding the scope of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to cover additional downstream products and organic chemicals. In the long term, it also recommends pricing a wider set of pollutants and introducing border tax adjustments to reflect their true environmental impacts abroad. Crucially, it calls for a transition toward a tax-based scheme targeting resource use and pollution as a long-term strategy, shifting the burden away from labour-based taxation.
The report also suggests investing additional revenues into projects addressing the consumption of primary resources and targeted policy support to boost the uptake of high-quality recycling and increase the availability of secondary materials.
Available in English.
Europe’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes are failing to deliver on circularity and strategic autonomy.
Our latest study, “Designing EPR to Foster the EU’s Competitiveness and Strategic Autonomy”, analyses 30 years of EPR implementation and proposes a comprehensive framework to transform EPR systems into catalysts for the circular economy transition.
The study lays out a two-pillar plan to unlock EPR’s full potential. The first pillar focuses on system optimisation, calling for harmonised rules across Member States, greater transparency, the creation of a central registry of producers, and the establishment of a European EPR oversight body to reduce administrative burden, tackle free-riding, and support a functioning single market for producer responsibility. The second pillar positions EPR as a circular economy enabler, arguing that EPR fees must go beyond cost-coverage to actively finance waste prevention, reuse, and repair, through dedicated repair funds, reuse infrastructure, and supportive policy measures.
Full repost available in English.
Executive summary available in English, Polish, Estonian, and Croatian.
This report by Zero Waste Europe and Za Zemiata reveals major misreporting in Bulgaria’s plastic packaging waste data. While official stats claim 50.6% recycling, over half of municipalities report below 10%. Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) are underreporting waste flows by up to 30%, echoing similar issues in Spain. As such, both organisations are demanding EU-level oversight to enforce transparency and real recycling targets. Accurate data is essential for a true circular economy.
Available in English.
The European Union stands at a critical juncture. With six planetary boundaries already breached and a rapidly shifting global economy, the Circular Economy Act (CEA) should serve as a guiding compass to drive how we consume and produce differently, how we empower communities, and build resilient economies through job creation in circular sectors. It must promote value preservation and ensure the strategic use of our resources, while ensuring a safe and toxic-free transition for workers, SMEs, and citizens.
Ahead of the European Commission’s publication of the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), Zero Waste Europe presents its position paper laying out the vision for the CEA: more than a technical fix to the waste crisis, it should serve as a guiding compass within a broader industrial strategy.
Available in English.
Executive summary available in English, Portuguese, and Croatian.
With the final round of negotiations of the Global Plastics Treaty approaching, this industry landscape overview analyses the dynamic around chemical recycling/recovery over recent years in Europe.
Among the overview takeaways is the industry’s acknowledgement that pyrolysis is not ready to help tackle plastic waste and the climate crisis. In fact, it will need fifty additional years to be implemented at a large scale.
In light of this overview, Zero Waste Europe recommends bringing the plastic sector in line with the Paris Agreement by reducing the production of virgin plastic, stopping funding for pyrolysis and gasification facilities, and that methodologies for determining recycled content in plastics follow rigorous transparency and reliable claims.
Available in English.
Executive Summary available in Hungarian, and Croatian.
Written by Zero Waste Europe’s Founder, Joan Marc Simon, and published by Break Free From Plastic, this study critically examines 30 years of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Europe and around the globe, revealing its successes and limitations.
While EPR has mobilized resources for waste management, it has struggled to reduce waste generation, promote reuse, and ensure full cost coverage. The report offers a reimagined approach to EPR—one that prioritises waste prevention, fair compensation for waste workers, and transparent governance, aiming to make EPR a true catalyst for sustainability within planetary boundaries.
Key takeaways:
– While EPR has successfully mobilised resources for waste management, it has not led to a reduction in waste generation. In many cases, waste volumes and absolute environmental impact have increased despite EPR implementation.
– EPR systems have generally improved collection and recycling rates in those places where legislation has provided the right guidance, but have struggled to promote waste prevention and reuse or discourage waste disposal (landfilling or waste burning technologies).
– The implementation of EPR in the Global South faces unique challenges, particularly in ensuring fair prices for waste workers and integrating informal sector workers.
– Governance issues, including lack of transparency, compliance with guidelines and conflicts of interest, have hindered the effectiveness of many EPR systems in delivering the best environmental and social outcome.
Full study available in English.
Adapted study and executive summary to include the national context and examples from Spain) available in Catalan.
Mixed waste bins still contain large amounts of recyclable materials that aren’t sorted correctly.
Looking at examples from cities in Sweden and Poland, this factsheet by Reloop and Zero Waste Europe shows how waste facilities can rescue these valuable materials using central sorting systems – helping the environment and saving money in the process. Among other benefits, central sorting systems lead to increased recycling rates, reduced CO2 emissions, and lower costs related to incineration and emissions trading.
While this extra sorting step is proving successful, it needs better recognition, support, and a level playing field between producers and waste processing entities to become more widely adopted.
Available in English, and Ukrainian.
In this open letter to Members of the European Parliament ahead of the hearings of EU Commissioner-designate candidates, a group of NGOs, EU organisations, and sustainable businesses calls out for stronger circular economy policies in Europe.
With the EU’s Circular Material Use Rate showing minimal improvement over the past decade, the letter asks for rigorous questioning of EU Commissioner-designate candidates on twelve critical areas, including binding resource reduction targets, improved Extended Producer Responsibility frameworks, a healthy circular economy, and circular taxation systems.
Available in English.
This report developed by Equnimator urges for the immediate and comprehensive inclusion of municipal waste incineration in the EU’s emission trading system (ETS). It emphasises the critical need to include both electricity and heat incineration, along with biogenic CO2, in the ETS. This move is seen as essential for the EU to meet its climate goals and ensure that all sectors contribute fairly to emission reductions.
The report follows the European Parliament’s 2022 ETS reforms, which opened the possibility of including municipal waste incineration within its scope. Despite this, as of January 2024, these facilities are only required to monitor, report, and verify their emissions without the need to surrender allowances. Zero Waste Europe calls for the European Commission to study the feasibility of full inclusion by July 2026, with a potential implementation by 2028.
Available in English.
Chemical experts have told the EU that it must ban polyvinyl chloride (PVC) if it wants to comply with its own laws.
The move by ClientEarth, European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Zero Waste Europe, comes after the three NGOs analysed a 2023 report by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) concerning PVC and the danger this plastic and its additives pose.
Used in everything from flooring and pipes to packaging and toys, PVC is one of the world’s most produced and widely used types of plastic. But it is associated with a variety of environmental and health problems, including cancer, reproductive impairment and birth defects. Like PFAS, tiny particles of PVC end up in the environment and remain present for long periods of time.
Available in English.
This second chapter of our two-part series on textiles sketches out what a truly circular and toxic-free system for textiles looks like. The report investigates the current barriers to circularity, identifies solutions, and makes recommendations for policy measures in the EU.
The European textile sector, characterised by its staggering waste generation and significant environmental impact, is at a crossroads and requires immediate action to transition towards the circular economy. Key challenges include the environmental impact of production and health risks for consumers posed by the use of harmful chemical substances, fossil fuel-based synthetic fibres, and the release of microplastics. Furthermore, the low rates of local reuse, repair, and upcycling of textiles as well as the insufficient separate collection capacity hamper circularity.
Another significant obstacle is the insufficiency capacity for recycling in Europe; operations are often not economically viable due to a lack of design for recycling, investments in technologies for closed-loop recycling, but also the slow uptake of recycled content. Finally, the negative social and environmental impacts of exported second-hand textiles pose a huge challenge to regulators.
In the first chapter of this two-part series, ‘A Zero Waste Vision for Fashion – Chapter 1: All We Need Is Less’, we outlined that without a shift to sufficiency in the fashion sector, the industry is on track to exceed several planetary boundaries.
Executive Summary available in English.
Full paper available in English.
Zero Waste Europe joined over 100 organisations in an open letter calling for EU legislation on Sustainable Resource Management. Signed by various NGOs, academics, think tanks, trade unions, and industries, this letter advocates that legislation on Sustainable Resource Management is crucial to address the challenges of global crises, and to ensure that the EU economy operates within planetary boundaries.
Available in English.
Now is the time to build an effective EU policy framework for managing materials – one that will accelerate Europe’s transition to a circular economy, support a strong industrial strategy, and make it easier to do business in Europe.
This joint report by Eunomia Research & Consulting, Handelens Miljøford, Minderoo Foundation, TOMRA, and Zero Waste Europe sets out the components of a regulatory framework that will:
– Harness the power of the Single Market and sustain its unity, enabling a fair and competitive system for all: business, industry, and consumers.
– Minimise administrative burdens for businesses operating in the EU.
– Support a fit-for-the-future industrial strategy that keeps Europe internationally competitive.
– Safeguard the bloc’s material security amid geopolitical uncertainties and price volatility.
– Consolidate Europe’s global leadership in circular economy and digital product policy.
Available in English.
Executive summary available in English and Ukrainian.
For too long in the EU, regulators have sidestepped the issue of dealing with the health impacts of chemical exposure. Our economies are still set up in such a way as to prioritise efficiency and convenience, when we urgently need to strive for a set-up that prioritises sufficiency, wellbeing, and resilience. Member State governments and Members of the European Parliament have the opportunity to lead truly transformative change, responsibly shaping legislation around products and waste to prioritise health outcomes for citizens, instead of sweeping them under the rug. This is Zero Waste Europe’s manifesto for a health deal for Europe – which goes beyond the Green Deal to confront hidden dangers in products and ensure a safer, healthier continent.
Available in English.
Over 58 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in the EU, with losses happening across the entire supply chain – a waste stream that not only causes between 8-10% of global GHG emissions, but also could be put to much better use on people’s plates.
This infographic makes a compelling case for halving food waste in the EU by 2030, presented as a delicious legislative (and culinary) recipe!
Available in English.
