Green groups in Europe say the European Union's new goals for dealing with the bloc's growing mountain of electronic waste are timid.

Environment ministers from member countries decided that by 2016, each country should be required annually to collect 45 percent of the average weight of electric goods in their national markets, Deutsche Welle reported Friday.

Environmental advocates called the new requirements a watering down of proposals put forward by the European Parliament last month that called for EU countries to process 85 percent of their e-waste by 2016.

The 45-percent approach is too soft and too slow if the EU is serious about tackling its fastest growing source of waste, environmentalists said.

"They have clearly delayed the collection target," Stephane Arditi, policy officer for the European Environmental Bureau, said. "The main problem is the fact that we don't have a proper collection system or an economic system to incentivize proper collection and treatment of e-waste."