Enlarge image
Garbage mountains: Wheel camps distribute the delivered yellow bags
Photo: Bernd Thissen / dpa
To protect the environment and health, the European Parliament has spoken out in favor of stricter regulations when exporting waste.
On Tuesday in Strasbourg, the majority of MPs largely voted in favor of a corresponding reform proposal from the EU Commission.
According to this, EU countries should export less waste to third countries in the future, as the parliament announced.
Parliament and EU countries must now negotiate the law before it can come into force.
According to the Parliament's proposal, waste should in future only be exported to certain countries outside the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
These countries would then have to be able to prove that the waste is processed in an environmentally friendly manner.
There should be an explicit export ban for certain regions for waste that has to remain in the EU and for hazardous waste.
According to the Commission, around 33 million tonnes of waste were exported from the EU in 2020, around half of them to countries outside the OECD.
Much of the garbage went to Turkey.
Overall, metal scrap, paper, plastic, textile and glass waste in particular were disposed of outside the EU.
"In the internal market we have to convert waste into resources and thus take better care of our environment and competitiveness," demanded MEP Pernille Weiss from the Christian Democratic EPP Group.
According to the proposal, the export of plastic waste should also be restricted.
According to the Commission, waste is repeatedly not recycled properly and ends up in the sea or in illegal landfills.
That is bad for the environment and health.
In addition, failure to recycle waste wastes important resources that could potentially be reused.
According to estimates by the Commission, between 15 and 30 percent of waste is transported illegally.
axb/dpa