The Landfill Directive Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste

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The Landfill DirectiveCouncil Directive
1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• http//ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/landfill_ind
  ex.htm

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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What is the Issue ?
2 t/cap CO2 3.5 t/cap waste 0.5 t/cap agr waste
Threats to ecosystem services
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The Vision integrating Resources, Products and
Waste Policies
Thematic Strategy on Sustainable Use
of Resources
EU 6th ENV Action Programme
Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling
of waste
Integrated Product Policy / Sustainable
Production Consumption
Similar policies Circular Economy, 3Rs, SMM
(OECD)
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Objective Decoupling
Economic activity (GDP)
Resource use (kg, km2, kW)
Environmental impact (indicators)
2005
2030
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European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption
Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption
Waste Treatment Operations

• INCINERATION
• (2000/76/EC)
• Covers MW and HW
• Covers incineration and co-incineration
• Permitting
• Emission limit values (air, water)
• Management of residues
• Recovery of energy

• LANDFILL
• (1999/31/EC)
• Permitting system
• Control procedures
• Technical requirements
• Reduction of landfill of biodegradable waste
• Collection of methane and energy recovery
• Internalisation of costs
• Interdiction of co-disposal

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Objectives

• To prevent or reduce as far as possible negative
  effects from the landfilling of waste on
• the environment
• the global environment
• human health

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Key elements of the Directive
• 3 classes of landfill (No co-disposal !)
• landfills for hazardous waste
• landfills for non-hazardous waste
• landfills for inert waste
• Obligation to treat waste before landfilling

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Key elements (continued)
• Permit, control and monitoring requirements
• - content of authorisation request
• - conditions for authorisation
• - financial security
• - monitoring of water and gas emissions
  (operation phase/after-care phase)

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Key elements (continued)
• Ban of certain wastes
• 2003 whole tyres, 2006 shredded tyres
• liquid waste
• explosive, corrosive, oxidising, flammable waste
• infectious hospital and veterinary waste
• waste not meeting acceptance criteria

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Key elements (continued)
• Reduction targets for the landfilling of
  biodegradable waste (based on data for 1995)
• 75 by 2006
• 50 by 2009
• 35 by 2016
• The 2016 target already reached by AT, BE, DK,
  DE, NL and SE.
• The 2009 target reached by FR, IT and FI are
  close to it.
• The 2006 target has not been reached by ES, PT,
  IE. UK second worst after Greece.

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation Art.
5 Strategy on biodegradable waste

• Figure 3. Biodegradable municipal waste distance
  to target, 2002
• (Excluding Luxembourg and the Belgium regions
  Wallonia and Brussels)

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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation Art.
5 Strategy on biodegradable waste

• Figure 2a. Tonnes of biodegradable municipal
  waste Landfilled, 2001-2003

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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation Art.
5 Strategy on biodegradable waste
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Technical Annexes

Annex I General requirements (location,
protection of soil/water) Annex II Waste
acceptance criteria for landfills (general
principles, preliminary criteria) Annex III
Control and monitoring (water, leachate, gas)
Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption
Waste acceptance procedure, Art. 11

• The principles are set out in Art 11. Detailed
  rules about standardisation of control, sampling
  and analysis methods are set out in a separate
  Council Decision.
• There is little transparency about how waste
  acceptance criteria are applied in different MS.
• There is no knowledge about how criteria are
  applied in the new Member States.

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Decision on waste acceptance
• criteria and procedures (2003/33/EC)
• Objective landfill only waste that is compatible
  with the protection afforded by each landfill
  class.
• Acceptance procedure what information to
  collect, when to test.
• Acceptance criteria limit values and/or lists of
  waste acceptable at a specific landfill class.
• List of test and sampling methods to be used
  (developed by CEN).

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Waste acceptance criteria (continued)
• Procedure
• Basic characterisation (including sampling)
• Compliance testing
• On-site verification
• Criteria for three landfill classes, including
  underground storage.
• Higher limit values may be authorised for some
  parameters under certain conditions (case by case
  decision, no additional risk)

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• Existing landfills

• Main Problems
• Landfills for non-hazardous waste and inert
• waste do often not comply.
• No comprehensive data from Member States.
• Too many unauthorized landfills (horizontal
• cases against some Member States.)

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of
waste
European CommissionUnit ENV G4, Sustainable
Production and Consumption

• FACTS AND FIGURES ON LANDFILLS
• Total municipal waste going to landfills (EU-25
  average) 49
• (in some countries 90).
• Although waste generation is growing in parallel
  with GDP, in EU-25 by 19 between 1995 and 2003,
  waste landfilled goes slightly down.
• Number of existing landfills in EU-15
• hazardous waste 504 (141 comply)
• non-hazardous waste 6286 (1267 comply)
• inert waste 3416 (925 comply)
• (No figures from UK, Denmark. Czech. Rep. on
  compliance). Full compliance to be achieved until
  16 July 2009.
• Trend since implementation number of permitted
  landfills declines/ - quantity of wastes,
  including biodegradable declines/ - landfills
  improve technically

Helmut Maurer, 7 December 2006
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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation
Existing landfills

• Figure 4a. Landfills for hazardous waste total
  and complying with the directive

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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation
Existing landfills

• Landfills for non-hazardous waste total and
  complying with the directive

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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation
Enforcement

• Infringement proceedings Art. 226 EC
• Letter of formal notice
• Reasoned opinion
• Infringement proceedings Art. 228 EC
• Lump sum or penalty depend on
• Seriousness of infringement (factor x)
• Duration (factor x)
• Deterrent effect (factor x)
• daily penalties of 140.000 or a lump sum of
  20.Mio are not uncommon

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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation
Questions in infringement procedures COM/France
C-423/05

• Interpretation of Art. 14 Dir. 1999/31/EC
• Art. 8 Directive on waste 2006/12/EC
• Art. 4 Directive on waste 2006/12/EC
• Art. 9 Directive on waste 2006/12/EC

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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation
Questions in infringement proceduresC- 494/01
Ireland

• Failure to comply with Art. 4,5,6,8,9,10,12,13,14
  Directive 2006/12/EC on waste
• Failure to comply with Art. 10 EC by
  unsatisfactorily responding to a request for
  information

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Implementation of EU Landfill Legislation
Questions in infringement proceduresreferences
to some relevant case law.

• IE C-494/01persistent failure to transpose
• UK C-62/03 on failure to transpose WFD
• IT C-270/03 and subsequent Art 228 letter for
  wrongly exempting waste collectors. C-135/05 of
  26 April 2007
• IT preliminary ruling Niselli C-456/02 on waste
  definition
• 4 Art. 228 cases C-383/02, C-516/03,C-375/02,C-44
  7/03 mostly on breach of Art. 4 and 8 WFD

• EL C-387/97 Kouroupitos landfill (leading case)
  228 procedure
• C-112/06 on the same substance
• C-502/03 for gt 1000 illegal sites
• ES C-157/04 La Gomera
• C-446/01
• FR C-172/04 C-423/05 of 29 March 2007 for
  unauthorized landfills
• DE C-6/03 relevant for interpreting of Art. 5 LD

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Landfill Awareness Raising events 2007Conclusions

• Insufficient implementation of Directive and
  Decision
• Polluter pays principle not observed
• No pre-treatment
• Predominance of landfilling
• High numbers of uncontrolled dumps
• Low coverage through collection systems
• No separation at source
• Low administrative capacity
• Too little investment
• Profound lack of public awareness