Waste prevention and management
The average European citizen generates around 5 tonnes of waste, of which only a limited share (39% for 2014 with a total EU waste production of 2,6 billion tonnes) is recycled. Much of the rest still ends up in landfills or incinerators.
Europe can simply not afford to continue this practice and waste an essential opportunity to improve its resource efficiency. Preventing products and materials from becoming waste for as long as possible and turning waste that cannot be avoided into a resource are key steps to achieve a greener, more circular economy. This can boost growth, create jobs, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the EU dependency on imported raw materials.
The EU waste policy provides a framework to improve waste management, stimulate innovation in separate waste collection and recycling, limit the use of landfilling, and create incentives to change consumer behaviour. It also aims to reduce the actual quantity of waste generated and the amount of harmful substances it contains.
To protect the environment and human health, the EU Waste Framework Directive has two key objectives: to prevent and reduce the negative impacts caused by the generation and management of waste and to improve resource efficiency. The Directive defines a 'hierarchy' to be applied by EU Member States in waste management. Waste prevention and re-use are the most preferred options, followed by recycling (including composting), then energy recovery, while waste disposal through landfills should be the very last resort. The EU waste legislation also sets specific targets to increase the recycling of specific waste streams, such as electronic equipment, cars, batteries, construction, demolition, municipal and packaging waste, as well as to reduce the landfilling of bio-degradable waste.
Boosting recycling
To become a successful circular economy requires the consistent implementation and enforcement of existing waste legislation across the EU. But this is currently not yet the case and some Member States perform much better than others. For instance, recycling rates for household waste vary from 70% in some areas to less than 20% in others.
The Commission has put forward new waste proposals to stimulate Europe's transition towards a more circular economy. Setting clear targets to increase recycling and reduce landfilling, these proposals strengthen the application of the waste hierarchy and provide a long-term vision at EU level. One barrier to higher recycling rates is the illegal transport of waste which often results in unsound waste treatment and can be very damaging both to human health and the environment. The Commission is taking measures to strengthen inspections on waste shipments.
Waste to energy
When waste cannot be prevented or recycled, recovering its energy content is usually better than landfilling it. The Commission has developed a waste to energy initiative to improve the recovery of energy in the incineration of waste.


废物预防及管理
平均每个欧洲公民产生的垃圾约为5吨，其中只有有限的一部分(2014年的39%，欧盟的垃圾总产量为26亿吨)被回收。剩下的大部分仍被填埋或焚化。
欧洲完全不能继续这种做法，浪费一个提高资源效率的重要机会。尽可能长时间地防止产品和材料成为废物，将不可避免的废物转化为资源，是实现更绿色、更循环经济的关键步骤。这可以促进增长，创造就业，帮助减少温室气体排放，并减少欧盟对进口原材料的依赖。
欧盟的废物政策提供了一个框架，以改善废物管理，刺激在废物分类收集和回收方面的创新，限制使用填埋，并创造改变消费者行为的激励措施。它还旨在减少实际产生的废物数量和它所包含的有害物质的数量。
为了保护环境和人类健康，《欧盟废物框架指令》有两个关键目标:预防和减少废物的产生和管理所造成的负面影响，以及提高资源效率。该指令定义了欧盟成员国在废物管理方面适用的“等级”。预防废物和废物再用是最优先的选择，其次是循环再造(包括堆肥)，然后是能源回收，而垃圾填埋应是最后的选择。欧盟废物立法还设定了具体目标，以增加对特定垃圾流的回收，如电子设备、汽车、电池、建筑、拆除、城市和包装垃圾，以及减少生物可降解垃圾的填埋。
提高回收
要成为一个成功的循环经济，需要欧盟各国一致执行和执行现有的垃圾处理立法。但目前情况并非如此，一些会员国的表现要比其他会员国好得多。例如，家庭垃圾的回收率从某些地区的70%到其他地区的不到20%不等。
欧盟委员会已经提出了新的废物处理方案，以刺激欧洲向更循环经济的过渡。这些建议制定了明确的目标，以增加废物循环再造和减少堆填，加强废物等级制度的应用，并在欧盟层面提供长远的愿景。提高回收率的一个障碍是非法运输废物，这往往导致废物处理不健全，对人类健康和环境都可能造成极大损害。委员会正在采取措施加强对废物运输的检查。
浪费能源
当废物无法防止或回收时，回收其能量含量通常比填埋要好。委员会制定了一项从废物到能源的倡议，以改进在焚烧废物时回收能源的工作。

更多信息请点击：https://ec.europa.eu/environment/green-growth/waste-prevention-and-management/index_en.htm 

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