Activites

• 1999/07/16 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 1999/31
  • OJ L 182 16.07.1999, p. 0001
• #2173
• 1999/04/26 Council Meeting
• 1999/04/26 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1999/04/26 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1999/03/26 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1999)0116 summary

    The Commission's re-examined proposal incorporates a number of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at its second reading. The amendments accepted by the Commission aim in particular to : - draw attention to the waste hierarchy for the order of preference to be followed in the elimination of waste, the use of economic instruments in certain cases and the need to integrate the cost of the financial guarantee in the price to be charged for the landfilling of waste; - clarify the definition of liquid waste; - tighten the common position by reintroducing a reduction target for biodegradable waste of 25%; - give only a 2 year derogation for those countries which today landfill more than 80%; - change the time frame for existing landfills to comply with the Directive to 5 years; - ensure that the cost of the financial guarantee is included in the price which is charged for the landfilling of waste; - ensure that the Member States monitor the waste which is landfilled in those landfill sites which are exempted from the provisions of the Directive and to keep these data available to the public; - introduce further specifications regarding the obligations on the operator during the aftercare period; - re-introduce the rules already proposed with respect to the minimum distance of landfills from housing, recreation areas, reservoirs, waterways, as well as other agricultural or urban sites.�

• 1999/02/09 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0082/1999 summary

    At second reading under cooperation procedure, the decision on common position 49/98/EC established by the Council with a view to adopting a Council Directive on the landfill of waste was adopted by the European Parliament. This recommendation by Caroline F. Jackson (PPE,UK) amends the common position in the following areas: - defining landfill of waste as the option of last resort in the hierarchy of prevention, recovery, recycling, incineration and landfill; - asking the Commission to propose a directive on composting and biomethanisation; - providing for the option of using economic instruments such as a tax on waste going to landfill to achieve the objectives of the proposed directive; - ensuring that the price charged for waste disposal in a landfill reflects the true cost for the whole lifetime of a landfill and that these costs are not borne by the public purse; - making a much more specific definition of "liquid waste"; - making a distinction between non-hazardous and inert waste; - requiring a stricter limit on biodegradable municiple waste going to landfills no later than 15 years after the date laid down in Article 18(1) - namely 25 rather than 35% of the total amount (by weight) of such waste as defined by standardised Eurostat data for 1995 or the latest available year before that; - requiring Member States to give a progress report to the Commission at each of the three stages and the Commission to report to the European Parliament within 3 months on the extent to which the targets are being met and any according adjustments to the directive which may be needed. - allowing any Member States which, according to the standardised data mentioned above, put more than 80% of their collected municipal waste to landfill to postpone the attainment of the targets for two and not four years; - penalising any failure by Member States to give the Commission prior warning of such a decision and requiring the Commission to inform the European Parliament of such a decision; - tightening up the provision on measures to be taken by Member States to ensure that the cost of the financial security or its equivalent for a landfill site is covered by the price to be charged by the operator for waste disposal in that site; - making the proposed site register on quantities of waste deposited publicly available; - specifying that responsibility for monitoring the site after its closure will rest with the operator for at least 30 years unless he can prove that it is no longer a threat to the environment; - requiring Member States to close down any landfill sites which haven't been granted a permit under framework Directive 75/442/EEC on waste; - Shortening from 8 to 5 years the time period allowed for landfills already in operation at the time of transposition of the proposed directive to comply with the steps outlined in the proposal and hence be allowed to continue operating; - suggesting minimum guidelines for the distances from the boundary of the site to residential and recreational areas, waterways, water bodies and other agricultural and urban sites; - specifying that the leachate collection and sealing system,required for landfills by the proposal, must cover the landfill base, sides and surface and ensure that leachate accumulation cannot enter the subsoil but can be collected and drawn off; - limiting the drainage layer for the leachate collection and sealing system from greater than or equal to 0.5 metres to greater than or equal to 0.3 metres.�

• 1999/02/08 Debate in Parliament
• 1999/01/20 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0028/1999
• 1998/10/09 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2102
• 1998/06/04 Council Meeting
  • 06919/3/1998 summary

    The common position incorporates either totally or in part 13 of the 33 amendments proposed by the European Parliament at first reading. Apart from the changes resulting from the European Parliament's amendments most of the changes in the common position tend to make the proposal less stringent by introducing new exemptions and by extending time frames. They deal mainly with the following aspects: - definitions: the period of exemption for temporary storage prior to recovery or treatment has been extended from one to three years. The definitions of isolated settlements or small islands have been modified. A new parameter for areas with difficult access has been introduced. Also, the total capacity of exempted landfill sites on small islands has been increased from 10 000 tonnes to 15 000 tonnes where the annual intake does not exceed 1 000 tonnes; - scope: an exemption for landfill of non-hazardous waste other than inert waste from mining activities has been included. Exemptions have been included for water control, leachate management and control of gas provided for in Annex I and Annex III for underground storage; - wastes and treatments not permitted in landfills: the aim of reducing biodegradable waste to 75% in 2002, 50% in 2005 and 25% in 2010 have been modified, becoming 75% in 2006, 50% in 2009 and 35% in 2016. Furthermore, a possibility of exemption (of up to four years for the Member States which deposit over 80% of the waste collected in landfills) and a revision clause have been introduced; - waste permitted in the various categories of landfills: the possibility of eliminating stable, non- reactive hazardous wastes from landfills for non-hazardous wastes has been introduced; - cost of the landfill of waste: the period considered for estimating the costs involved in the closure and aftercare of the closed landfill is changed from 50 years to 30 years; - existing landfills: the period within which existing landfills must conform to the directive has been extended from five to eight years. For existing landfills for hazardous wastes, the period has been changed from two years to one year for certain provisions of the directive and increased from two to three years for other provisions of the directive; - general requirements for all classes of landfills (Annex I): the requirement seeking to specify a uniform minimum distance between landfills and residential areas has been deleted; - waste acceptance criteria and procedures (Annex II): this annex has had added to it the various criteria for acceptance which must be determined by the technical committee. �

• 1998/03/26 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1998)0189 summary

    The amended proposal incorporates 13 of the 29 amendments adopted by the European Parliament at first reading. The main changes made by the Commission have the purpose of: - introducing into one recital a reference to the waste hierarchy; - stressing the need for legislation on the processing of dredging sludges; - ensuring that the cost of the financial security is included in the price to be charged for the landfilling of waste; - drawing attention to the need to improve monitoring and reporting systems; - inserting in the definition of inert waste a specific reference to the proposed water framework Directive; - defining liquid waste more specifically in relation to percentage of solids; - clarifying that mine storage and underground storage are covered by the overall definition of landfill; - introducing an exemption for non-hazardous sludges to be deposited in surface water including the waterway bed as well as an exemption for the deposit of unpolluted soil or non-hazardous inert waste from various mining activities; - introducing an obligation for the Commission to forward to Parliament and the Council a report on national strategies and an obligation for Member States and the Commission to report on compliance with the reduction targets; - deleting the exemption for tyres with a diameter above 1400 mm; - specifying the obligations for the operator during the aftercare period (a period of 30 months); - introducing a provision to ensure that landfills without a permit in accordance with Directive 75/442/EEC are closed down. �

• #2076
• 1998/03/23 Council Meeting
• 1998/02/19 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0080/1998 summary

    Adopting the report by Mrs Caroline JACKSON (PPE,UK) the European Parliament took the view that the landfill of waste is the option of the last resort in the hierarchy of prevention, recovery, recycling and incineration and landfill. In order to strengthen the new directive, Parliament adopted amendments seeking to: - include in the scope of the directive risks for the global environment including the greenhouse effect; - calling on the Commission to table by the end of 1998 a directive on the incineration of non-hazardous waste in existing and new incinerators on the basis of strict standards for dioxins. - calling on the Commission to put forward by the end of 1998 a directive on composting and biomethanization, since it is ecologically more sensible to make compost and biogas from biodegradable waste than to landfill or incinerate it; - calling on the Council to adopt economic instruments such as a tax on waste going to landfill, such measures being the responsibility of the Member States in the absence of community measures; - calling for European legislation on the processing of dredging sludges; - proposing authorization for the disposal of whole tyres. Parliament also seeks to ensure that: - by 2002 biodegradable municipal waste is reduced to 75% of the total amount by weight of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1993; - for Member States to submit a progress report to the Commission on each of the three stages (31/12/2002, 2005 and 2010). - for as long as a discharge is likely to cause a hazard to the environment, the operator of the site shall be responsible for monitoring and analysing landfill gas and leachate from the site for a period of at least 30 years after closure of the landfill; Finally, Parliament calls for the following criteria to be applied in order of importance with regard to landfill sites following the entry into force of the directive: - the existence of groundwater; - local geological and hydrogeological conditions; - the risk of flooding, subsidence, landslides or avalanches on the site; - protection of natural or cultural heritage and coastal and nature protection zones in the area; - the distances from the boundary of the site to residential areas which should be a minimum of 0.5 km in the case of municipal landfills and 2 km in the case of hazardous waste. �

• 1998/02/17 Debate in Parliament
• 1998/01/21 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0026/1998
• #2062
• 1997/12/16 Council Meeting
  • 2062
• #2033
• 1997/10/16 Council Meeting
  • 2033
• #2017
• 1997/06/19 Council Meeting
  • 2017
• 1997/04/11 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1997/03/05 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1997)0105 summary

    OBJECTIVE: To provide for measures, procedures and guidance to prevent or reduce as far as possible negative effects on the environment, in particular the pollution of surface water, ground water, soil and air, as well as the resulting risks to human health, from landfilling of waste. SUBSTANCE: The proposal for a directive sets high standards for the treatment of waste and seeks to discourage landfilling. The main points of the proposal are as follows: 1. A gradual reduction in the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfills. The proposal sets objectives for the reduction in the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills, with target dates for their completion: by 2002, the amount must be 75% (by weight) of the total amount produced in 1993; by 2005, it must be down to 50%; and by 2010 to 25%. These last two stages are mandatory. It should be noted that the Member States will be allowed flexibility in choosing the means for achieving these objectives. 2. Pre-treatment of waste before landfilling: all waste must be treated before it is landfilled. Treatment is defined as 'the physical, chemical or biological processes, including sorting, that change the characteristics of the waste in order to reduce its volume or hazardous nature, facilitate its handling or enhance recovery'. 3. Ban on the disposal of used tyres. This ban applies both to whole and shredded tyres, and will encourage their recovery and at the same time reduce the risk of fire. 4. Increased cost of landfilling. The Member States must ensure that the price charged for the disposal of any type of waste in a landfill covers at a minimum all costs involved in the setting up and operation of the site, the cost of the financial security and the estimated costs of the closure and aftercare of the site for a period of at least 50 years. 5. Ban on joint disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste; it should be noted that in the majority of Member States this is no longer practised. 6. General requirements for landfills. The general environmental requirements for all classes of landfills (Annex I) have been improved by introducing a minimum distance from landfill to residential areas, by emphasising the surface sealing of the sites, by prohibiting the spreading of dirt from sites onto public roads and the surrounding land and finally by requiring fencing and control of access to the sites for security reasons in order to avoid illegal dumping. 7. Stricter provisions for existing landfills. A conditioning plan is to be presented within 3 years after the entry into force of the proposal and implemented five years after this date. 8. Remote areas: small islands with only one landfill and isolated settlements with difficult access may be exempted from some provisions of the directive. �

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1997)0105
• Debate in Council: 2017
• Debate in Council: 2033
• Debate in Council: 2062
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0026/1998
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0080/1998
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1998)0189
• Council position published: 06919/3/1998
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0028/1999
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0082/1999
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1999)0116
• : Directive 1999/31
• : OJ L 182 16.07.1999, p. 0001

History

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