Implementation of legislation on waste - 1998-2000

1) OBJECTIVE

To give an overview of the implementation of five Community directives on waste during the period 1998-2000.

2) ACT

Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 19 May 2003 on the implementation of Community waste legislation, in particular Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils, Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge and Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, for the period 1998-2000 [COM (2003) 250 final - Official Journal C 76 of 25.03.2004]

3) SUMMARY

The report stresses that, while progress has been made between 1998 and 2000 in implementing Community legislation on waste, it is not yet satisfactory. Additional efforts will have to be made to ensure full application of Directives 75/442/EEC, 91/689/EEC, 75/439/EEC, 86/278/EEC and 94/62/EC. A special effort will have to be made to implement the hierarchy of principles in waste management.

The report highlights that there has been an increase in domestic waste per inhabitant and that the production of hazardous waste has stabilised.

Definition of waste

Several Member States have not yet correctly transposed the definition of "waste" into their national legislation. The same applies to the definition of hazardous waste. However, most Member States have notified the Commission, in accordance with Directive 91/689/EEC, of the waste which in their opinion is of a hazardous nature. The number of Member States which have set up different systems for collecting hazardous domestic waste has risen in the reference period.

Hierarchy of principles of waste management

The hierarchy of principles established by Directive 75/442/EEC is as follows: prevention, recycling, energy recovery and safe disposal. The average level of domestic recycling in the European Union is 26% but it varies considerably from one country to another (from 8% to 63%). For hazardous waste, the average recycling rate is about 27%. There is an upward trend, and the same applies to recycling of packaging waste.

The average domestic waste incineration rate is 23%. However, incineration remains a little used option compared with re-use and recycling.

Landfill of domestic waste remains the option chosen by many member countries, accounting for 45% on average. There is a downward trend. The average rate of landfill of hazardous waste is 22%.

The hierarchy of principles for the specific management of waste oils (regeneration, combustion and safe destruction/tipping) is not sufficiently complied with. Combustion remains the most frequently used option; regeneration is very rare within the Union. Eleven Member States apply derogations from excise duties on waste oils used as fuel. This practice is contrary to the priority given to regeneration as it encourages combustion. The average rate of waste oil collection increased during the reference period. However, 20% of this oil is still illegally dumped or burnt.

During the reference period, the use of sewage sludge as fertiliser in agriculture has diminished compared with disposal by incineration. The Commission believes that the best option is to use sludge on farmland if it does not pose a danger to the environment or to human and animal health. The provisions of Directive 86/278/EEC have proved very effective in fighting pollution arising from the use of sewage sludge.

Waste management plans

The introduction by the Member States of waste management plans is an essential component of Community waste management policy. In France, the United Kingdom and Italy there are problems in guaranteeing the introduction of such plans.

Statistics on waste

The quality of data concerning waste should improve with the implementation of Regulation 2150/2002/EC on waste statistics. The following problems have been encountered:

• household and municipal waste are often considered as equivalent even though the latter may, in addition to domestic waste proper, include waste from business, industrial and institutional sources;
• Member States do not clearly distinguish between incineration with and without energy recovery;
• not all Member States interpret "other treatment" in the same way;
• quantities of waste oil produced are not calculated in the same way in all countries;
• the available information on "other waste" (i.e. waste that is neither household waste, nor hazardous or municipal waste), accounting for most of the waste produced, is very inadequate.

Waste registers

Most Member States comply with Directives 75/442/EEC and 91/689/EEC which require operators of waste management installations and producers of hazardous waste to keep registers. However, some countries do not comply with Directive 86/278/EEC which lays down similar provisions on sewage sludge.

Monitoring and infringement procedures

Community legislation provides that the Member States must designate competent authorities responsible for implementation and monitoring of waste management. Since the Member States have widely different administrative structures, there is considerable variation in the powers of these authorities. The problem highlighted by the report is that the countries do not carry out systematic inspection of all waste producers.

The report lists all infringement procedures initiated by the Commission in connection with the application of the five Directives covered by the report.

Last updated: 05.05.2006