EC on the landfill of waste for the period 2001-2003 - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2006)406 - Implementation of the EC waste legislation Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, Directive ...
document	COM(2006)406
date	July 19, 2006

Annex IB to the Directive. This applies to both the EU-15 and the new Member States for which data are available. Although disparities still exist between the individual Member States, the general trend towards a slow but steady decrease in concentrations is confirmed.

On the whole, Directive 86/278/EEC is a long-standing instrument which has been quite effective in preventing any spread of pollution due to use of sewage sludge. Use of sewage sludge as fertiliser on agricultural soils can therefore be considered as one of the best environmental options, if and only if it poses no threat to the environment or to animal and human health.

6. DIRECTIVE 94/62/EC ON PACKAGING AND PACKAGING WASTE

Directive 94/62/EC[8] has two main objectives: to protect the environment and to ensure the functioning of the internal market. To this end, the Directive lays down measures aimed, as the first priority, at preventing the production of packaging waste and, as additional fundamental principles, at reusing packaging, at recycling and at other forms of recovering packaging waste and hence, reducing final disposal of such waste.

All Member States have provided the Commission with details of their laws, regulations and administrative provisions introduced to comply with the Packaging Directive. Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands have informed the Commission of programmes setting higher targets than Article 6(1)(a) and (c). The Commission confirmed all these programmes by adopting decisions pursuant to Article 6(10). Currently, infringement proceedings are in progress against two Member States (Germany and the Netherlands).

All Member States have introduced measures to prevent the production of packaging waste . These include various types of plans, agreements, information campaigns, subsidies, targets and economic instruments (taxes, producer responsibility fees, etc.). Despite these measures, the quantity of packaging waste generated has increased from 65.5 million tonnes in 2000 to 66.6 million tonnes in 2002. This growth is, however, slower than GDP growth over that period.

Most Member States have introduced measures to encourage reuse of packaging. These include various types of plans, agreements, information campaigns, targets and economic instruments (taxes, deposits on one-way packaging, differentiated producer responsibility fees, etc.).

By 2002 all Member States had achieved their targets under Article 6(1)(a) and (c). Greece, Ireland and Portugal were allowed to postpone achievement of these targets until 2005 and have achieved their interim target of 25% recovery and incineration at waste incineration plants with energy recovery. In 2002 the EU-15 average rate of packaging recovery and incineration at waste incineration plants with energy recovery was 62%, and the average recycling rate was 54%. The following average recycling rates were achieved for packaging materials: glass 58%, paper and board 68%, metals 57% and plastics 24%.

All Member States have set up return, collection and recovery systems for packaging waste. Most use producer responsibility systems, some of which cover the entire cost of collecting, sorting and recycling packaging waste. In other systems, municipalities pay all or part of the cost of collecting, sorting and recycling household packaging waste. Similarly, producer responsibility systems or industrial/commercial waste holders pay for industrial/commercial packaging waste. The United Kingdom uses a tradable certificate scheme (“packaging recovery notes” or PRNs) as part of its producer responsibility regulations. Denmark and the Netherlands do not use producer responsibility systems but base their return schemes on action by municipalities and voluntary agreements with industry. At the end of 2003 Denmark, Sweden and Germany had obligatory deposits on certain types of one-way beverage packaging.

Most Member States have measures to encourage the use of recycled material . These include various types of plans, agreements, information campaigns and economic instruments (taxes and subsidies, in particular for research and development).

All Member States have widely publicised the measures under the Directive. There is a wide range of information activities run by all levels of government, business organisations and recycling schemes. These are targeted on a wide range of players, such as obligated companies, consumers and schools.

During the reference period covered by this report, only EN 13428:2000 and EN 13432:2000 were considered harmonised standards [9]. They were transposed into national standards in most Member States. The Commission is unaware of any other national standards connected with compliance with the essential requirements in Annex II to the Packaging Directive.

All Member States have included a chapter on the management of packaging and packaging waste in their waste management plans [10].

Among the economic instruments , taxes or differentiated taxation are used in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary and Ireland. The United Kingdom uses a tradable certificate scheme as part of its producer responsibility obligations. Subsidies are applied in a number of Member States.

The results show that Directive 94/62/EC has succeeded in pushing the rates for recycling and for recovery and incineration with energy recovery at waste incineration plants above the targets set for 2001. In addition, although the total tonnages of packaging waste are still increasing in most Member States, the growth in packaging waste was decoupled from economic growth for the EU as a whole and for many individual Member States in the period 2000 to 2002. An in-depth analysis of the costs and benefits of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive will be given in a separate report pursuant to Article 6(8) of the Directive.

7. DIRECTIVE 1999/31/EC ON THE LANDFILL OF WASTE

DIRECTIVE 1999/31/EC [11] regulates landfill in order to prevent or reduce as far as possible any negative effects on the environment and human health, also taking into account the global environment. To this end, the Directive contains provisions on the wastes and treatment methods acceptable or unacceptable in landfills and lays down conditions for the authorisation, operation, closure and after-care of landfills. The Directive also requires a gradual reduction of the volume of biodegradable waste sent to landfill.

All the Member States that replied have submitted their measures for transposition into national legislation . The European Court of Justice ruled against the United Kingdom for incomplete transposition of the Directive (case C-423/02). In the mean time the missing transposition measures have been notified to the Commission. The European Court of Justice also ruled against France for incomplete transposition of the Directive (case C-172/04). As the missing transposition measures concerning non-industrial inert waste still have not been notified, the Commission has started a procedure against France under Article 228 of the Treaty.

The Commission is assessing whether the transposition measures notified by the Member States are in compliance with the Directive.

Some Member States have made use of the possibility of excluding certain wastes or landfills from some provisions of the Directive (Italy, Slovakia and Sweden for non-hazardous mining waste, France, Greece and Spain for islands and isolated settlements, and Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden for underground storage). The Commission will assess whether these exclusions meet the conditions laid down in Article 3(3) to (5). In line with Article 3(5), the lists of excluded islands and isolated settlements notified to the Commission were posted on the Commission’s website (http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/waste/landfill_index.htm) and a notice was published in the Official Journal (OJ C 316, 13.12.2005).

The Member States reporting had adopted measures to meet the technical requirements of the Directive, including provisions concerning the design, operation, closure and after-care of landfills.

All Member States reporting had incorporated in their legislation the obligation on the landfill operator to include all the costs of construction, operation, closure and after-care in the price charged for accepting waste.

As regards waste acceptance criteria , most Member States have defined some criteria or lists for wastes acceptable in landfills, but only Sweden has already implemented Decision 2003/33/EC establishing criteria and procedures for the acceptance of waste.

All Member States reporting had submitted their national strategies for reducing the biodegradable waste going to landfills , except the Czech Republic, Ireland and Spain. The Commission is taking all necessary measures to ensure that their strategies are submitted as soon as possible.

The data submitted by Member States on the amount of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995 and the amounts landfilled in each year of the reporting period are incomplete and must be further discussed. It can be seen from the data reported that Austria, Flanders, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden have already met the target for 2016 (reduction of the amount landfilled to 35% of the amount of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995), France and Germany have already met the 2009 target (reduction of the amount landfilled to 50% of the amount produced in 1995) and Finland and Italy have already met the 2006 target (reduction of amount landfilled to 75% of the amount produced in 1995).

Concerning the need for adaptation of existing landfills , the data supplied indicate that in some Member States many landfills, in particular for hazardous waste, already comply with the Directive. However, a very high number of landfills for non-hazardous waste and for inert waste will have to be re-equipped or closed in the next two reporting periods in order to ensure that by 16 July 2009, as stipulated by Article 14, no landfill that does not comply with the Directive will still be in operation.

Also, the information on the number of existing landfills in several Member States, and their compliance with the Directive, is incomplete. This could be because not all the conditioning plans have been submitted and assessed yet. The conditioning plans had to be presented in July 2002 (as of accession in the case of the new Member States). In the next reporting periods a more accurate figure should be available for the number of existing landfills and of landfills to be closed or re-equipped.

In response to complaints, the Commission has started infringement proceedings against Spain, Greece, Ireland and Belgium for failing to ensure that all operators of existing landfills had presented their conditioning plans by 16 July 2002, as required by Article 14 of the Directive.

In addition, the Commission has initiated “horizontal” infringement cases against Italy and France for incorrect application of Articles 4, 8 and 9 of the Waste Framework Directive and of Article 14 of the Landfill Directive because of the numerous unauthorised landfills in these Member States. The European Court of Justice ruled against Spain for failing to take the measures necessary to apply Article 14 of the Directive in the case of an uncontrolled landfill in Punta de Avalos, La Gomera (case C-157/2004).

Finally, several other specific Court cases have been brought against Spain on the issue of uncontrolled landfills, while the Court has also ruled against Ireland (case C-494/01) and Greece (case C-502/03) for systematic failures.

[1] OJ L 377, 23.12.1991, p. 48.

[2] COM(2005) 666 final, 21.12.2005.

[3] OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 47. Directive amended by Directive 91/156/EEC (OJ L 78, 26.3.1991, p. 32).

[4] Commission Decision 2001/118/EC, OJ L 47, 16.2.2001, p. 1.

[5] OJ L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 20.

[6] OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 31, as amended by Directive 87/101/EEC (OJ L 42, 12.2.1987, p. 43).

[7] OJ L 181, 4.7.1986, p. 6.

[8] OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10, as amended by Directive 2004/12/EC, OJ L 47, 18.2.2004, p. 26 and by Directive 2005/20/EC, OJ L 70, 16.3.2005, p. 17.

[9] The references to standards EN 13427:2004, EN 13428:2004, EN 13429:2004, EN13430:2004, EN 13431:2004 and EN 13432:2000 were published in a Commission Communication in OJ C 44, 18.2.2005, p. 23.

[10] Slovenia reported that the measures concerned are part of a separate programme.

[11] OJ L 182, 16.7.1999, p. 1.