COM(2018)0656
EUR-Lex

The Commission presented a report on the implementation of EU waste legislation for the period 2010-2012.

Of the 27 Member States under the obligation to report, most have submitted replies to the implementation questionnaires for the directives this report covers, namely:

· Directive 2008/98/EC on waste,

· Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge,

· Directive 1999/31/EC on landfilling,

· Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste,

· Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE),

· Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators.

Quality of reporting : not all Member States have fulfilled the obligation laid down in the Directives to report to the Commission on their implementation every three years. Some did not submit replies to the Implementation Questionnaire 2010-2012.

The Commission noted the highly variable nature of the quality and accuracy of the reports and information provided. Answers frequently only referred to national legislation or to answers given in previous reporting periods, without providing further information on the implementation of the directives on the ground, even when this was explicitly requested.

The Commission considered that the triennial implementation reports prepared by the Member States have not proven effective for verifying compliance with the directives, their implementation and their impact.

Directive 1999/31/EC on landfill : this Directive has been in force for a long time and there has been little change since the previous reporting period.

The main findings are as follows:

· the landfill of municipal waste in the EU-27 has decreased from a total of 96.055 million tonnes/193 kg per capita in 2009 to a total of 78.036 million tonnes/152 kg per capita in 2012;

· the average rate of landfilling of the total waste generated decreased to 32% in 2012. Some Member States reported landfilling rates for municipal waste below 5% in 2012;

· in a number of Member States, however, landfilling is still the predominant municipal waste treatment operation , with landfilling rates of more than 80% of the total waste generated. These Member States have a lot to do to reduce landfilling;

· most Member States reported a year-by-year reduction of landfilling of biodegradable municipal and other biodegradable waste . They took measures to provide for the collection, treatment and use of landfill gas and to minimise nuisances and hazards. They also transposed the requirement for waste acceptance criteria into their national legislation;

· 15 Member States reported that all of their hazardous waste landfills meet the requirements of the directive and seven reported that they still had non-compliant landfills;

· the number of non-compliant landfills in operation for all waste streams (hazardous, non-hazardous and inert) remains a matter of concern in certain Member States.

General conclusions : the Commission considered that Member States should make greater efforts to improve the quality, reliability and comparability of data for assessing waste management performance. They could do this by benchmarking reporting methodologies and introducing a data quality check report, so that when reporting on the achievement of the targets set out in the legislation, Member States use the most recent and harmonised methodology.

The Commission recalled that in the recent review of waste policy and legislation , it proposed to repeal provisions obliging Member States to produce triennial implementation reports and to base compliance monitoring exclusively on quality statistical data that Member States must provide the Commission with annually.

COM(2017)0088
EUR-Lex

The Commission presents a report on the implementation of the EU legislation on waste over the period 2007 - 2009 . It covers Directives 2006/12/EC on waste , 91/689/EC on hazardous waste, 75/439/EEC on waste oils, 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge, 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste , 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste , 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) , and 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles .

The Communication recalls that evidence shows that full implementation of EU waste legislation would save EUR 72 billion a year, increase the annual turnover of the EU waste management and recycling sector by EUR 42 billion and create over 400 000 jobs by 2020. However, the report states that illegal waste operations or missing infrastructure in Member States are causing missed opportunities for economic growth, which the EU cannot afford, and leading to environmental threats. It is therefore paramount to take decisive steps to bridge the implementation gap in waste management and move towards a resource efficient society.

The report notes that Member States’ reports for the period 2007 to 2009 indicate that EU legislation on waste is to a large extent properly transposed into national legislation .

However, for other Directives, there are important problems with practical implementation and enforcement, with the Hazardous Waste Directive, the 2006 WFD, and the Landfill Directive raising biggest concerns.

Landfill Directive : whereas its strict requirements are often transposed into national law and measures are taken to reduce biodegradable waste going to landfill, the number of non-compliant landfills that are still in operation remains a matter of concern. Another serious problem is the overall rate of landfilling, whilst some Member States have shown that reduction to near zero rates is feasible, several others largely depend on this least favourable waste management option. This requires particular attention in view of the policy priority of the Roadmap for a Resource Efficient Europe to virtually eliminate landfilling.

Many Member States have taken measures to eliminate it completely, and were very successful in this respect (landfilling rates for municipal waste had fallen below 5% in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden).

However, in many countries landfilling is a predominant (if not the only available) municipal waste management option for. Significant efforts need to be made by the latter countries to change the situation and drastically reduce landfilling.

All Member States reported having taken measures to reduce the landfilling of municipal waste, including prevention programmes, and to have adopted national strategies and measures to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfills. Data provided on the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfills show that the amount of such waste is continuously reduced: out of the 19 Member States for which data can be compared with that from the previous report, 11 were able to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills.

According to the available data, at the end of the reporting period 2007 - 2009, there was still a considerable number of non-compliant landfills in operation , although their number has decreased in comparison with the previous report (especially in the case of landfills for non-hazardous waste). The majority of Member States indicated that all landfills in operation, including landfills for inert waste, complied with the requirements of the Directive. Four Member States reported only a small share of compliant landfills, with the rest requiring upgrading and modernisation.

The Commission will review the targets for diversion of biodegradable waste from landfills and present a report to the European Parliament and the Council in 2014, if appropriate accompanied by a proposal.

COM(2013)0006
EUR-Lex

This Commission Staff Working Document accompanies the Commission Communication on the implementation of the Community waste legislation (2004-2006):

Directive 2006/12/EC on waste, Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils, Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge, Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste, Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment.

To recall, each year or every two years Member States have to report to the Commission on the achievement of the collection, re-use, recycling and/or recovery targets for certain waste streams such as packaging waste, waste electrical and electronic equipment, and end-of-life vehicles.

The 2004-2006 report reveals that EU waste law is being poorly implemented and enforced in many Member States . The assessment highlights the need for significant efforts by Member States to ensure that waste management meets the standards set by EU legislation.

SEC(2009)1586
EUR-Lex

This report aims to inform the other Community institutions, the Member States and the public about the implementation of the EU legislation on waste over the period 2004-2006 . It covers Directives 2006/12/EC on waste , 91/689/EC on hazardous waste, 75/439/EEC on waste oils, 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge, 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste , 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste, 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment , and 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles .

As regards the implementation of this Directive, the report recalls that the Landfill Directive is intended to prevent or reduce the adverse effects of the landfill of waste on the environment, in particular on surface water, groundwater, soil, air and human health. It sets stringent technical requirements for landfill sites, specific requirements for waste acceptance on the sites, and introduces landfill categories depending on the waste intended to be disposed of. The Directive obliges Member States to ensure that competent national authorities issue permits to operate the sites. One of the key provisions includes targets for a gradual diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfills in order to reduce methane emissions, coupled with technical requirements for capture and treatment of landfill gas.

Implementation : the practical implementation of the Landfill Directive remains highly unsatisfactory and considerable efforts need to be undertaken to improve it. Ten years after the adoption of the Directive, not all Member States report having transposed and implemented all its provisions and the Commission continues to open a significant number of infringement cases against Member States for bad transposition or implementation of this legislation. It receives on a daily basis a vast number of complaints related to illegal landfills lacking the permits required by EU waste legislation, causing serious adverse effects to the environment and risks to human health. These complaints have demonstrated a general and persistent nature of significant implementation deficiencies in a large part of the EU. In the cases observed, Member States have often tolerated serious deficiencies for long time periods without ensuring that illegal activities are brought to an end and punished. A large number of landfills do not comply with the requirements of the Directive and there is a real risk that a vast majority of Member States will not meet the deadline of 16 July 2009 by which all sub-standard landfills that existed before the introduction of the Directive need to comply with its requirements (unless specifically derogated). Only nine Member States report having met the 2006 targets for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfills and capture of landfill gas appears insufficient.

The problem seems particularly acute in the EU-10 where landfilling remains a predominant option since no alternative waste management infrastructure is available. Despite a quick progress in these countries in closing sub-standard landfills, efforts need to be stepped up to ensure full compliance.

In 2009 , 13 non-conformity cases and 11 bad application cases were pending against Member States related to the Landfill Directive. In response to these systemic failures of Member States to properly implement the EU waste legislation, the Commission has taken a strategic approach. So-called "horizontal" infringements and court cases have been launched addressing the lack of national infrastructures and effective enforcement measures. Vast numbers of individual cases have been used as illustrations. This approach allows problems to be solved in more places than if focus would only have been on individual landfill sites.

General conclusions : whilst Community legislation is reasonably well transposed into national legislation, although sometimes with significant delays, the lack of adequate enforcement causes widespread failure in achieving the agreed environmental protection objectives in practice. The implementation and "real-world" application" of waste legislation in the reporting period 2004-2006 remained unsatisfactory in many areas. As demonstrated by a large number of infringement cases, the state of practical implementation remains critical in respect of the Waste Framework Directive, the Landfill Directive, and the Waste Shipment Regulation where coordinated efforts are required to bring the situation in line with the legislation.

In particular, it is advisable that, together with the Commission, Member States and The European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL) increase their actions to bridge the implementation gap of the Landfill Directive. Also in various Member States the results of the WEEE, Packaging and ELV directives remained below the agreed binding targets and numerous infringement cases continued to be open.

Even though progress was made in some Member States, huge implementation efforts need to be undertaken in many countries. Some reported problems are particularly common in countries which joined the Community in 2004 where over 90% of waste continues to be landfilled .

Efforts need to be stepped up in order to bring the waste management infrastructure in line with the requirements of the Community legislation, including:

creating separate collection systems for different waste streams, education of citizens, investments in pre-treatment of waste before its final disposal.

These efforts are crucial to make the letter of law effectively protect the environment and human health.

COM(2009)0633
EUR-Lex

SEC(2006)0972
EUR-Lex

This report from the Commission aims to inform other Community institutions, Member States and the public about the implementation of EU waste legislation over the period 2001 to 2003. In particular, it examines the following specific directives :

- 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;

- Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste;

- Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste.

The report is based on information provided by the Member States and is accompanied by a Commission staff working document which gives a more detailed account of the information and data received from them.

Overall, in spite of the progress made, implementation of EU waste still cannot be considered satisfactory, as demonstrated by the large number of infringement procedures concerning waste. Significant efforts therefore need to be made towards full implementation, especially in the form of promoting waste prevention and recycling. These issues in particular are now addressed by the recently adopted EU Thematic Strategy on waste prevention and recycling, which focuses on the environmental impact of waste and on life cycle thinking in waste management.

COM(2006)0406
EUR-Lex

This report is published pursuant to Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste on the national strategies drawn up by Member States to reduce the amounts of biodegradable waste going to landfills.

To recall, the objective of Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste is to prevent or reduce as far

as possible negative effects on the environment, in particular the pollution of surface water, groundwater, soil and air, and on the global environment, including the greenhouse effect, as well as any resulting risk to human health, from landfilling of waste, during the whole lifecycle of the landfill.

Pursuant to Article 5(1) of the Directive Member States must set up a national strategy for the implementation of the reduction of biodegradable waste going to landfills not later than 16 July 2003 and notify the Commission of this strategy. The strategies should include measures to achieve the targets set out in Article 5(2) by means of in particular recycling, composting, biogas production or materials/energy recovery.

Article 5(2) requires the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills to

– 75% by 16 July 2006

– 50% by 16 July 2009 and

– 35% by 16 July 2016

calculated on the basis of the total amount of biodegradable municipal produced in 1995 or the latest year before 1995 for which standardised Eurostat data is available.

Member States that landfilled more than 80 % of their municipal waste in 1995 may postpone each of the targets by a maximum of four years.

By January 2004 the Commission had received the national strategies from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden as well as regional plans for England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region. Ireland and Spain have not submitted their strategies. Finland’s strategy was submitted too late to be included in this report. In addition, the ten new Member States had to submit their national strategies after accession. The Commission will continue to liaise with these Member States in order to obtain information covering the whole Community.

The report draws together the strategies submitted. As no format was provided for the strategies, the structure and detail of the strategies submitted vary significantly. The report consists of a description of the current status in Member States and their national strategies as well as general conclusions. It is accompanied by a Commission staff working paper which contains a more detailed summary of the strategies and the data received from Member States.

Only twelve Member States have submitted their national strategies. Two of the twelve Member States have submitted these strategies on a regional basis. For the United Kingdom all the regional strategies were submitted. For Belgium no strategy was submitted for the region of Brussels.

The promotion of composting, recycling of paper and energy recovery are elements of all strategies. Most strategies stress the importance of using source segregated organic waste to obtain good quality compost. The level of detail of the strategies and the measures to achieve the targets vary considerably. Some Member States have chosen legally binding measures, while others have chosen voluntary measures and incentives. Greece and the United Kingdom will postpone the reduction targets by four years.

EUR-Lex
COM(2005)0105

32003D0033
OJ L 011 16.01.2003, p. 0027-0049

Directive 1999/31
OJ L 182 16.07.1999, p. 0001

EUR-Lex
COM(1999)0116

EUR-Lex
COM(1999)0116

OJ C 150 28.05.1999, p. 0019-0078
T4-0082/1999

T4-0082/1999

Debate in Parliament

A4-0028/1999
OJ C 150 28.05.1999, p. 0005

A4-0028/1999

06919/3/1998
OJ C 333 30.10.1998, p. 0015

06919/3/1998

EUR-Lex
SEC(1998)0906

EUR-Lex
OJ C 126 24.04.1998, p. 0011
COM(1998)0189

EUR-Lex
COM(1998)0189

OJ C 080 16.03.1998, p. 0185-0204
T4-0080/1998

T4-0080/1998

Recalling that the Commission’s first proposal on this issue had been withdrawn in 1996 after Parliament’s rejection of the Council’s common position, the rapporteur considered that the new proposal was a vast improvement. She also stressed that illegal landfills were a Europe-wide problem. In this respect, Mrs Jackson cited the cases of Portugal and Greece and highlighted the problems in Germany posed by storage in old abandoned mines. Commissioner Bjerregaard accepted 16 of Parliament’s amendments but rejected Amendments Nos 2, 3, 7, 12, 16, 23, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33 and 36.

Debate in Parliament

A4-0026/1998
OJ C 056 23.02.1998, p. 0004

A4-0026/1998

2062

2033

CES0980/1997
OJ C 355 21.11.1997, p. 0004

2017

CDR0112/1997
OJ C 244 11.08.1997, p. 0015

EUR-Lex
OJ C 156 24.05.1997, p. 0010
COM(1997)0105

EUR-Lex
COM(1997)0105