European Federation for Waste Management and Environmental Services

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European Federation for Waste Management and
Environmental Services Fédération Européenne des
Activités du Déchet et de lEnvironnement Europäis
che Föderation der Entsorgungswirtschaft
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REVISION OF THE WASTE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE Hubert
de CHEFDEBIEN Unico van KOOTEN FEAD TF on WFD

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Which extent of revision is needed ?

• FEAD supports the existing legislation on waste
• which has proven good environmental and health
  protection
• However, a few points require improvement
• FEAD agrees with most of the issues identified by
  DG Env
• Lack of precision/clarity in the WFD text
• No clear statement of what are the aims of the
  Directive, and how it should be applied
• Some definitions and other legal issues not
  working well
• Need of the WFD to do more in some areas

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How to make the revision ?

• FEAD agrees with most of the principles as given
  by DG Env
• Introduce the new approach life cycle
  thinking, focus on environmental impact
• Tackle real problems end of waste, recovery and
  disposal, recycling
• Modernise, simplify, clarify where useful
• Leave elements that work untouched
• Conclusion a moderate revision, retaining the
  framework approach

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Which Principles for environmentally sound waste
management ?

• The PURPOSE of a WASTE POLICY isto solve the
  problems caused by waste
• Must be clearly stated in the Waste Framework
  Directive
• Two environmental principles
• Nuisance control and
• Saving of resources
• Two possible methods
• prevention of waste production
• waste treatment or co-treatment

To be really decoupled
1st rank
Just tools
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Saving of Resources

• RECOVERY is
• a tool for achieving and evaluating Resource
  saving
• Essential to define clearly what it is, what it
  is not, what its aim is, when it is really done
  and how to quantify it when necessary
• RECOVERY does not
• address Nuisance control as such
• include the result of a general LCA conclusion

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Definition of Recovery

• DG ENV (workshop 11th March 2005) Recovery is
  or leads to substitution of natural resources in
  the economy
• FEAD proposes the following definition
• Recovery is a group of actions which results
  in the effective direct or indirect saving of
  natural resources including materials, organic
  and non organic matter and energy
• Why?

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Recovery Definition according to FEAD

• FEAD
• Recovery is not an operation but a group of
  actions
• Waste legislation should apply to the recovery
  chain as a whole
• Recovery requires a proven effective
  use (real and traceable environmental result)
• Saving is preferred to Substitution in order
  to avoid new court cases because of lack of
  clarity (what has been substituted?)
• Both direct and indirect saving must be taken
  into consideration

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Effective use

• Today the meaning of recovery is such that
  something which is recovered may be used or
  could as well be disposed of (paper or plastic
  bales to landfill)
• Something which is effectively used really
  contributes to resources savings
• Clear distinction is essential between Usable
  and Effectively used in order to avoid Sham
  recovery
• Confusion between Usable and Effectively used
  one source of the problems encountered with the
  notion of Recovery
• The definition proposed by DG ENV does not really
  tackle this problem
• FEAD Could DG ENV clarify which new elements in
  the WFD ensure adequate traceability to stop sham
  recovery?

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Recovery chain ? Treatment operations

• The credit of recovery not belong to a single
  actor
• The recovery chain includes the citizen who
  sorts his waste, waste collection, pre-treatment
  if any, treatment, post-treatment if any, and
  ends up with effective use in an industrial
  process or other, e.g. for compost)
• Every link of this chain an actor of recovery
• Recovery operations ? Disposal operations
• Inadequate distinction
• Treatment operations most often lead to
• Recover a part of the waste
• Dispose of the other part
• Deletion of Annex IIA AND IIB
• Medium term objective

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Material Recovery ? Energy Recovery

• 1. CRUDE OIL 777.000
• 2. NATURAL GAS 265.000
• 3. COAL 151.000
• LIGNITE
• URANIUM

• LCA (Life Cycle Analyses)
• Þ
• Material Recycling? Energy saving
• Energy Recovery
• ? Material saving

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End of Waste status

• Should not
• lead to a general declassification from the waste
  status now or in the future
• lead to less stringent environmental standards
• occur before waste is actually reincorporated
  into a regulated production cycle
• However, for a few specific waste streams, not
  requiring downstream production cycles such as
  compost,ceasing the waste status after
  standardisation could be considered.

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Other End of Waste related Problems

• Determining the end of waste requires to solve a
  number of issues
• The control of non waste when sent to developing
  countries
• The temptation for the waste holder to perform
  under lower environmental standards through
  bypassing waste regulations
• The temptation for Member States to decrease
  artificially their waste production by waste
  declassification
• The situation of non waste if a plant stops
  activities with non waste stock piles
• The situation where mixed waste streams can
  become a non waste

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Conditions for ceasing to be a Waste

• Any waste material allowed to become a non waste
• must be processed under conditions which fully
  ensure the current high standards of
  environmental and health protection being
  achieved under the waste legislation
• must comply with quality requirements set on a
  European level as well as users requirements.
  Potentially mixed wastes streams should be
  excluded except under certain circumstances
• must achieve an effective recovery, i.e.
  certainty that the substance has been used as
  foreseen (cf. Court judgments C-9-00
  C-114/01)This requires traceability

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Hazardous waste

• FEAD position
• maintain a dedicated Hazardous waste directive
• Haz. waste require specific strict rules
• All types of hazardous wastes treatment
  installations under the IPPC regime with a permit
  
• Separate or dedicated collection of hazardous
  wastes. In particular for
• small quantities of household hazardous wastes
• waste oils
• Provision to avoid declassification from
  hazardous to non hazardous

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In summary

• Recovery answers to the Resource saving
  principle this requires EFFECTIVE RECOVERY A
  proof of recovery is needed at the end of the
  waste management operations chain
• Recovery does not answer as such to the Nuisance
  reduction principle A high level of
  environmental and health protection must be
  achieved as well for Disposal and for Recovery in
  accordance with the installations permit
• End of waste must be limited to few waste streams
  and bound to EFFECTIVE USE which ensures
  traceability and resources saving

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Conclusion

• FEAD has a great deal of experience of
  difficulties caused by unclear waste-related
  definitions and their ensuing confused use at
  Member State level.
• We have every interest in ensuring that this WFD
  revision successfully adopts clear,
  environmentally sound definitions and we are open
  to discussing this further