AUTHORS: Catherine Bowyer – Emma Watkins – Megan Lewis – Andrew Farmer

In 2010 IEEP – leading a consortium including BIO Intelligence Services, Ecologic, Arcadis, Umweltbundesamt and VITO – was contracted by DG Environment to undertake a study reviewing the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste. The final study, published by DG Environment in January 2011, formed a major contribution to the Commission’s mid-term review of the Thematic Strategy, with much of the study’s text being included in a Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the Commission’s Communication on the review (COM(2011)13).

The scope of the study was very broad; it summarises available data on waste management performance in the EU and its Member States, assesses progress towards the EU’s goal to become a ‘recycling society’, outlines the achievements (and failings) of the Waste Thematic Strategy, and makes recommendations for any forthcoming revision of the Thematic Strategy and the development of future EU waste policies more generally.

As well as being available on our own website, the study can be found on DG Environment’s web page on the Review of the Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste.