3.144 The Government's strategy for waste management is to improve performance across the waste hierarchy, from reducing material use all the way to minimising disposal without recovery. This will require appropriate behaviour change, delivery of infrastructure, and improvements in efficiency and service quality.
3.145 In relation to waste infrastructure, the Government will assess progress against the following key impact indicators:
• EU Landfill Directive targets on reducing biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill to 50 per cent of the 1995 level in 2013 and to 35 per cent in 2020. The current proportion of UK municipal waste going to landfill is at 49 per cent, compared to an EU-27 average of 37 per cent; and
• the EU Waste Framework Directive targets that, by 2020, 50 per cent of waste from households is recycled (the recycling rate in England in 2010-11 was 41 per cent), and that at least 70 per cent of construction and demolition waste is recovered.
3.146 It is important that as the population expands and the economy grows, the UK continues to adhere to EU obligations and reduce the environmental impacts of waste. The Government wants to move beyond the existing trajectory to deliver the vision of a zero waste economy, with emissions cut by further preventing waste arising and reducing the overall greenhouse gas impacts of waste treatment.