On 25 October 2011 the Commission arranged a seminar for stakeholders on the use of Waste Economic Instruments. Christian Fischer represented the ETC/SCP and the EEA and gave a presentation about an upcoming ETC/SCP report about "Overview of the use of landfill taxes in Europe". The report is at the moment in Eionet consultation and will hopefully be released in the beginning of January 2012. 

The background for the seminar was the Commission’s Report on the Thematic Strategy adopted in January 2011. This report demonstrated significant differences between Member States in the implementation of EU legally binding minimum targets (recycling/recovery rates/landfill diversion targets) and clear links between the performance of Member States and the use of economic instruments.

In follow-up to the adoption of the Report on the Thematic Strategy, the Commission launched a study on the use of economic instruments and their impacts on Member States’ waste management performances. The seminar conducted on 25 October was aiming to present the interim results of the study, to ensure a minimum level of validity of the data gathered so far; to discuss and interpret the results; to identify the success stories, to analyse to what extent and how they could be reproduced in other Member States and to discuss the possible role of the European Union to ensure the diffusion of the most efficient economic instruments.

Further information This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  and http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/use.htm