Credit: European Commission
Fourteen EU Member States have received letters of formal notice and/or reasoned opinions from the European Commission for failing to meet waste recycling targets, and for not transposing elements of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, Single-Use Plastics Directive, or Waste Framework Directive into national law.
Letters of formal notice have been sent to Germany, Greece and Cyprus, while reasoned opinions have also been sent to Greece, Bulgaria, Czechia, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, and Romania – all concerning shortcomings in meeting waste recycling targets in the latest reported data.
Under the Waste Framework Directive, Member States were required to prepare 50% of municipal waste for reuse and recycling by 2020. Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, and Romania have all missed the target.
Furthermore, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive previously required Member States to ensure that between 55% and 80% of all packaging waste was recycled by 31 December 2008. This included recycling thresholds of 60% for glass, 60% for paper and cardboard, 50% for metals, 22.5% for plastics, and 15% for wood.
Reportedly, seven Member States have failed to meet several targets between 2020 and 2023. Cyprus and Portugal have fallen short of the necessary target for glass, while Greece, Romania and Hungary missed the targets for glass and total packaging.
Croatia has missed the mandated recycling rates for glass, metals, and total packaging; and Malta missed targets for paper, cardboard, metals, and total packaging.
As such, the Commission is sending letters of formal notice to Germany, Greece and Cyprus. Each has two months to respond to the concerns, or else the Commission may choose to issue reasoned opinions.
Since Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania already received letters of formal notice about their shortcomings in July 2024, each case has been escalated to a reasoned opinion. Failure to address the issues may result in escalation to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The Commission asserts that Member States must boost their implementation efforts to meet increased targets for 2025, 2030, and 2035. Doing so is expected to foster a single market for secondary raw materials, help the EU reduce its dependence on third countries, and improve the bloc’s competitiveness.
Meanwhile, Slovakia has received a reasoned opinion for failing to correctly transpose certain provisions of the Single-Use Plastics Directive – namely, its requirement to introduce extended producer responsibility schemes and cover the necessary costs of waste management, litter clean-up, and awareness-raising measures to prevent and reduce pollution.
The Commission points out that tobacco producers are not obliged to cover waste collection costs under Slovak law. Furthermore, the producers of food and beverage containers, cups, lightweight plastic carrier bags, and other products are not required to cover transport and treatment costs; and Slovak legislation does not cover rules on the costs for cleaning up litter.
A letter of formal notice was previously issued in May 2025, to which Slovakia replied that it would correct the transposition. So far, the amending legislation has not been adopted.
Now Slovakia has two months to respond to the letter of formal notice and take the necessary measures, otherwise the Commission will consider referring the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Additionally, the Commission has addressed a letter of formal notice to Finland for failing to correctly transpose certain elements of the Waste Framework Directive into national law by the deadline of 5 July 2020.
The requirements included the Directive’s provisions on the scope of municipal waste, its definition of material recovery, its rules on handling hazardous waste, and its conditions to derogate from the separate collection obligation.
According to the Commission, the Waste Framework Directive is ‘crucial’ to ensuring the EU’s competitiveness and securing its transition into a circular economy. If Finland does not address the Commission’s concerns within two months, it may receive a reasoned opinion.
These are the latest measures in ongoing legal action against non-compliant Member States. Back in 2024, an infringement procedure was commenced against all 27 Member States for falling short of legally binding collection and recycling targets; legal action was also taken against 17 Member States for incorrect waste sorting labels, reusable and recyclable materials ending up in landfill, and more.
More recently, the Commission has opened infringement procedures against 20 Member States for failing to report on the transposition of EU-wide green claims and sustainability label legislation into national law. Specifically, they are accused of failing to fully transpose the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition into national law.
France has also been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union due to its enforcement of a nation-specific sorting logo and its failure to disclose the law before it was adopted.
Yet the Commission has also withdrawn its detailed opinion regarding Germany’s draft Packaging Law Implementation Act, with the Member State successfully proving that the Commission had mistranslated the notified draft and misinterpreted elements of German packaging law.
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