Study to provide recommendations to Member States at risk of non-compliance with recycling targets in 2025 and the landfill target in 2035 – Early Warning Reports

An inherent tool of compliance-promotion is the provision of Early Warning Reports . Since 2018, this tool is equally anchored in the Waste Framework Directive (Article 11b) , the Packaging and Packing Waste Directive (Article 6b) and the Landfill Directive (Article 5b) . These reports contain an estimation, to which degree the targets of the respective laws on waste treatment may be reached by each MS and which MS are at a risk to fail these targets. Early Warning Reports are to be published three years prior to an imminent recycling target. Since the focus of this study is the compliance of MS with 2025 recycling targets for municipal waste and Packaging Directive and 2035 target set in the Landfill Directive (please refer to the Table 2 ‑ 1 ), the Early Warning Report shall be finalized in 2022.

Based on the description of the service request, the tenderer will assist the European Commission (EC) in particular in

• the critical review of draft early warning assessments for all Member States prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA), considering inconsistencies/ weaknesses/ uncertainties in these drafts;
• the in-depth analysis of selected MS (maximum 15) for which there is some uncertainty, based on the available information, whether they will meet the targets that are considered in the upcoming Early Warning report – the aim of this analysis is to close existing data and information gaps;
• the provision of general and country-specific (maximum 16 countries) recommendations (linked to all three directives under consideration in this study) to support countries to reduce the risk of not meeting the targets and help them to improve their performance;
• the provision of best practices (including possible case studies, linked to the general recommendations and to all three directives under consideration in this study) that could help MS progress towards attaining the targets;
• the compilation of the Early Warning report upon the outcomes of the above-listed assignments;
• the development of a template for implementation plans.

Consequently, the tenderer assists the Commission in the preparation of the upcoming Early Warning report, to be published in 2022, that shall, inter alia:

• identify the prospects of each MS to meet the targets set up in the three directives (WFD, PPWD, Landfill Directive) with the focus on countries that are considered at risk; and
• include general recommendations and best practices but also specify one recommendation for Member States that might not meet the targets.