Skip to main content

Action demanded to meet EU recycling targets

The European Quality Association (EQAR) held a congress on Recycling of Building Materials in Europe and concluded there is a need for action. Manfred Wierichs, president of EQAR, demanded intensified efforts for reaching more efficiency of resources in the field of mineral building materials. Jo Leinen, chairman of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, speaking at the meeting in Brussels, Belgium,
May 9, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The 5473 European Quality Association for Recycling (EQAR) held a congress on Recycling of Building Materials in Europe and concluded there is a need for action.
Manfred Wierichs, president of EQAR, demanded intensified efforts for reaching more efficiency of resources in the field of mineral building materials.
Jo Leinen, chairman of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, speaking at the meeting in Brussels, Belgium, told participants that climate protection, efficiency of resources and recycling, range among the priority targets of the EU.

The EU Commission estimates that so far only 50% (20% in some countries) of the 300-700 million tonnes of mineral construction and demolition waste produced throughout Europe every year are recycled. It is the target of the EU to achieve a recycling rate of at least 70% for building and demolition waste.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • CDE focus on multiple benefits of premium waste recycling technology  
    October 25, 2022
    The environmental and commercial gains to be had from utilising innovative waste recycling operations is a key theme for CDE.
  • Success of toll road operators' conference
    July 12, 2012
    The 37th ASECAP Annual Study and Information Days held in Krakow, Poland, gathered some 300 road transport CEOs, experts and government decision-makers making the event "a huge success." Patrick Smith reports Toll road operators from across Europe have met to discuss the state of their businesses in the current economic climate and how to tackle it. Fabrizio Palenzona, the outgoing President of ASECAP (the European professional Association of Operators of Toll Road Infrastructures) and president of AISCAT (
  • “It’s road maintenance stupid,” MEP Michael Cramer tells pavement preservation and recycling summit PPRS Paris 2015
    February 23, 2015
    Road owners around the world “need a highway to heaven” according to Michael Cramer MEP, chairman of the European Parliament transport committee. Speaking at PPRS Paris 2015, the pavement preservation and recycling summit, Cramer said that Europe’s current road policy “lies somewhere between AC/DC’s Highway to Hell and Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven” and that, to mis-quote Bill Clinton, the EU needs to start thinking “it’s road maintenance stupid” whenever the subject of highway investment is under consi
  • The new agile world of the construction equipment industry
    June 22, 2015
    while worldwide for 2015 a crystalball would be helpful, in Europe the sector has already listed specific priorities it wants to tackle, and among these are the upcoming emissions regulations (see separate story), external trade and access to foreign markets, and market surveillance.