The new national Spanish waste management plan, which will be implemented between 2016-2022, aims to recycle and re-use half of the household goods, and mostly electrical waste which used to be wasted through incineration or landfilling. 

Spain has been the first country in the EU to set a re-use target with this plan, followed by Flanders region of Belgium. Other countries have already set different plans to prevent waste, such as France aiming to implement for furniture waste.

Spanish legislation also aims to create a new job market for the goods in recycling and re-use process for people who are disenfranchised in the current system. Michal Len, director of RREUSE, emphasizes the waste of a great of a number of reusable goods and is hopeful about the new Spanish law. He thinks that the EU and other European countries will follow Spain to create a job market for the re-use sector.

Further links

Spain first country to set target to stop reusable goods ending up in landfill

Spain first EU country to mandate re-use of electrical goods

The Spanish Waste Management Plan (2016-2022) (in Spanish)