Governance & Policy
Waste Framework Directive
Definition
The Waste Framework Directive, Directive 2008/98/EC, is the EU's core waste legislation. It defines waste and key concepts such as reuse, recycling and recovery, establishes the five-step waste hierarchy as a binding priority order, sets municipal-waste recycling targets, and provides for extended producer responsibility schemes and end-of-waste criteria.
References
Legal text, waste hierarchy and definitions
Policy context
Overview
What it means
It supplies the legal definitions and hierarchy — prevention first, disposal last — that every other EU waste and circular-economy measure builds on.
How it is used
Regulators transpose and enforce it; businesses determine when a material is waste, by-product or product; lawyers cite it in classification disputes.
Why it matters
Nearly all EU circular-economy law, from packaging to textiles, plugs into the framework this directive created.