Activites

• #1989
• 1997/02/24 Council Meeting
• #1978
• 1996/12/09 Council Meeting
• 1996/12/02 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1996/11/14 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0597/1996 summary

    In adopting the report by Mrs Kirsten JENSEN (PSE, DK), Parliament called on the Commission to present an action programme on Community waste management in 1997 pursuant to Article 130s(3) of the EC Treaty setting out priority waste policy objectives and measures. It called for the drawing up of a proper waste strategy based on the principle of sustainable development, which respects the hierarchy of prevention, recovery, recycling, recovery of materials, energy recovery and final disposal. This strategy should allow 50% recycling/reuse of paper, glass and plastics and a stabilization of waste production of 300 kg per capita per year by the year 2000. It would also be necessary: - to avoid 'waste tourism', including the shipment of waste for incineration with recovery of energy; - to take steps aimed at introducing uniform taxes on tipping and environment-friendly incineration; - to outlaw mixed landfilling; - to promote a market for the recovery of waste by putting forward proposals for the taxation of virgin raw materials and for the internalization of environmental costs in order to enforce the 'polluter pays' principle and the principle of pollution prevention at source; - to reduce the presence of hazardous substances in waste such as chlorine, mercury, PVC, cadmium and other heavy metals. Parliament called for an environmental liability Directive; it also called for application of the principle of shared responsibility for waste management, by virtue of which all public and private entities must have a role in waste management. It urged the Commission to present: - before the end of 1996, a Directive for the marking of packaging which includes mandatory reusability or recyclability of 'recycled content'; - in the first half of 1997, an Incineration of Non-hazardous waste Directive in order to achieve a 90% reduction of dioxin emissions in the EU by the year 2005; - a Directive on aqueous discharge from hazardous waste. �

• 1996/11/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1996/11/11 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0364/1996
• #1956
• 1996/10/15 Council Meeting
  • 1956
• 1996/09/05 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1996/07/30 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1996)0399 summary

    OBJECTIVE: the Commission communication aims at reviewing the Community waste strategy introduced in 1989 and to adapt it to the requirements of the next five years. It is followed by a draft Council resolution on waste policy. SUBSTANCE: the proposed review confirms the following hierarchy of principles established by the strategy document of 1989: 1. prevention of waste; 2. recovery; 3. safe disposal. The implementation of this hierarchy should be guided by considering the best environmental solution taking into account economic and social costs. - As regards prevention: emphasis will be laid on the following measures: promotion of clean technologies and products; reducing the hazardous character of waste; development of technical standards and Community rules limiting the presence of certain dangerous substances in products; promotion of systems for re-use and recycling; promotion of economic instruments capable of influencing waste prevention; development of eco-audit and eco-label schemes; consumer information and education campaigns; - as regards recovery: preference should be given to the recovery of material over energy recovery operations; - as regards final disposal: care should be taken to avoid incineration operations without energy recovery. The Commission will present a new proposal for a Directive which will fix strict requirements for authorizing landfill sites. The new strategy will also propose that the principle of producer responsibility should now be integrated in all measures adopted by the EU under its waste management policy. As regards shipment of waste: the Commission proposes actions designed to encourage cooperation between Member States aimed at further reducing illegal shipments of waste and related criminal activities. Finally, to achieve the targets set, the Commission calls for the employment of the following instruments: regulatory and economic instruments, reliable and comparable waste statistics, waste management plans, implementation of existing legislation, and impartial application of life-cycle analyses and eco-balances. �

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1996)0399
• Debate in Council: 1956
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0364/1996
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0597/1996

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)