Push for stricter emission standards poised to fail

Date: 17/06/1999

By Renée Cordes

EU governments will next week reject the European Parliament's calls for proposed new rules to limit emissions from incinerators burning hazardous waste to be strengthened.

Environment ministers are expected to approve the measure at their meeting next week, despite opposition from Denmark and the Netherlands, which support the Parliament's view that stricter standards are needed.

The proposed new rules drawn up by the European Commission would impose fresh ceilings on emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides from heavy metals churned out when waste from large chemical plants and other industrial premises is burnt.

Some countries initially resisted the move to set new standards for incinerators on the grounds that a 1994 EU law on hazardous waste had not yet been fully implemented.

But they have been won over by a compromise proposal tabled by German Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin which would allow governments more time to introduce some of the measures contained in the proposed directive and permit exemptions from the requirements in certain cases.

Supporters of the latest compromise insist that the measure would still ensure adequate environmental protection. But critics argue that it does not go far enough to ensure that pollutants from incineration plants do not harm air and water quality.

"These kinds of loopholes will bring a competitive disadvantage to waste incineration which respects environmental standards," said Christian Hey, EU policy director for the European Environmental Bureau, which has written to environment ministers from all 15 member states voicing its concerns.