Europe’s war on waste

Date: 15/09/05

The problems of dealing with the 1.3 billion tonnes of waste generated in Europe each year are economic as well as environmental.

Companies producing waste, firms engaged in recovery and recycling, incineration plants that burn waste and landfill sites that bury it, all are affected by EU legislation. So too are the local authorities that have to deal with domestic waste, which in 2004 accounted for 550kg per EU citizen per year (European Commission figures).

EU legislation on waste consists of a broad framework directive, which commits member states to reducing, preventing, recovering and recycling waste. This directive is then backed up by around a dozen more specific laws.

According to a Commission survey published in August, waste cases account for almost a third of total EU infringement cases, and the number has nearly doubled since last year.

For the most part, the problem is that the member states have not defined waste correctly or have not made sufficient plans to deal with waste correctly.

One of the problems facing the Commission when legislating is that waste disposal and recycling methods are so diverse.

In Greece, Ireland, the UK and Italy, almost all municipal waste is sent to landfill sites, while in Denmark and Luxembourg incineration is the main method.

Recycling rates also vary greatly, with Austria at the top of the class with a rate of more than 60% of its municipal waste (statistics from the UK's department of the environment, food and rural affairs, 2004).

Partly to make life easier for governments, the European Commission has decided to update the current waste framework directive as part of the 'thematic strategy' on the prevention and recycling of waste.

The strategy will include what the EU executive describes as a "moderate amendment" of the 30-year-old law.

It is expected to clarify those areas where there has been confusion - such as the definition of waste and recycling - and add new criteria to help businesses, such as when waste is no longer waste.

It will also integrate a directive on hazardous waste and repeal one on the recycling of waste oil.

The revision will also include a new policy outlook to guide the future of waste legislation.

"We want to recycle where the saving will give a good environmental income, but if there isn't that return on investment then we should not promote recycling above other solutions," said the official. "Environmentalists don't like it but it will help companies to find the right solution for them."

The Commission has also refused to bow to environmentalists' demands to set government targets for waste prevention.

"We have found that targets don't really work, often reducing the waste but increasing the environmental damage," the official said. "Also, we have set targets for the prevention of waste at EU, national and local level before, and people generally just forget them."

Instead, the EU executive will work on assessment programmes with member states and adopt prevention policies.

A first draft of the proposal is to be released to all relevant Commission departments for consultation this week (15 September).

The final version could be published in November, although Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas' cabinet has yet to give the green light. Critics outside the Commission have attacked the timing, pointing out that other pieces of waste legislation are being decided ahead of the revision.

"We are making decisions on shipping waste before the waste framework proposal has come out, it's crazy timing," complained one industry lobbyist.

Article reports on the European Commission's plans to 'moderately amend' the 30-year old Framework Directive on Waste. A first draft of the proposal was to be released to all relevant Commission departments for consultation at the end of September 2005 and the final version could be published in November of the same year.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG Environment: Policies: Waste: EU Waste Legislation http://ec.europa.eu/comm/environment/waste/legislation/index.htm

European Commission: DG Environment: Policies: Waste http://ec.europa.eu/comm/environment/waste/index.htm

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