Jackson specialised, as parliamentary rapporteur, on waste legislation. She took the Landfill Directive through the Parliament in 1997–8. In 2008 she was rapporteur on the Waste Framework Directive. Initially criticised as being too close to the waste industry lobby, Jackson managed to unite most of her opponents in support of an ambitious final text which the Council of Ministers only agreed with reluctance. This placed an obligation on Member States to achieve recycling rates of 50% by 2020, created for the Commission the possibility of putting in place waste reduction targets and cleared up the question of the status of incineration of waste as a form of "recovery" rather than "disposal".