The document, entitled ‘Study on the feasibility of the establishment of a Waste Implementation Agency', assesses the benefits and costs of establishing a dedicated body to tackle the issue.
We must look at all the options, including setting up an EU agency or body which could enable EU legislation to deliver the maximum benefits for citizens
Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for Environment
It was unveiled yesterday (February 1) alongside a second report showing that almost one fifth of waste shipments inspected as part of recent enforcement action by member states were illegal.
The two studies are part of a series of steps being taken by the Commission to ensure waste is managed in a way which protects both human health and the environment.
Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: “Compliance with EU legislation is essential if we are to achieve the overarching goal of EU waste legislation, which is to protect the health of European citizens and the environment.
“We must look at all the options, including setting up an EU agency or body which could enable EU legislation to deliver the maximum benefits for citizens, the environment and the EU economy.”
Agency
According to the feasibility study – which was prepared by environmental law consultancies Milieu Ltd, AmbienDura and FFact for the European Commission –
there are currently around 60 acts, including directives, to help ensure that waste across Europe does not harm human health and the environment.
However, the report claims that enforcement and implementation falls short in many parts of the community. For instance, in some countries, implementation of EU waste law is considered a low priority and there are different interpretations of EU waste requirements. Organisational problems and a lack of sufficient inspections have also caused problems, it added
This, it said, had lead to illegal waste dumping, illegal waste shipments and national producer responsibility schemes which work poorly. As a result, it pointed out that the waste sector, alongside nature protection, accounted for the largest share of environmental infringement cases brought before the European Court of Justice in recent years.
As a result, the report's authors assess different options to tackle the problem and conclude that: “Creating a new European structure, i.e. an EU Agency for waste implementation, provides the most cost-effective way forward for carrying out the recommendations concerning enforcement, training, guidance, support for the updating of EU waste legislation, as well as other key tasks.”
This echoes calls by European waste trade body FEAD for an EU-wide inspection body last year – something which has been championed by the former rapporteur for the revised Waste Framework Directive, Caroline Jackson (see letsrecycle.com story).
Specifically, the report recommends one body to carry out enforcement tasks such as review member states' enforcement systems and another specific European body, possibly hosted by the European Commission, for carrying out direct inspections and controls of facilities and sites in serious cases of non-compliance. It also suggests that the agency trains member state officials and uses its expertise to help update EU waste legislation.
The study estimates that altogether around 100 staff would be required and the total cost of carrying out these recommendations would be just over £14 million (€16m) per year with an additional £1.4 million (€1.6m) in start-up costs in the first two years.
However, it claims that there would be important economic benefits through reducing clean-up costs of illegal waste activities and sub-standard landfills and by providing a more level playing field for European companies with regards to enforcement and implementation.
The report added: “By supporting better and more uniform implementation and enforcement of EU waste legislation, the new agency and the related initiatives proposed would bring a higher level of protection of the environment and human health.”
An in-depth cost analysis will be carried out this year. Further steps may be proposed during 2011.
IMPEL
The second report, entitled: ‘Services to support the IMPEL network in connection with joint enforcement actions on waste shipment inspections and to coordinate such actions', was written by the EU's Expert Team to Support Waste Implementation (ESWI), involving German environmental consultancy BiPRO and the German federal environment agency, Umweltbundsamt.
The report outlines the interim findings of a project being carried out by IMPEL, the informal network of European regulators and members states concerned with environmental law, between October 2008 and March 2011.
Over 10,000 transport inspections and several hundred company inspections were carried out between September 2008 and May 2009. In total, 22 member states and several neighbouring countries participated in the joint enforcement actions. In around 19% of cases involving transport containing waste, inspectors found shipments to be illegal.
Most of the cases concerned illegal exports from the EU to countries in Africa and Asia in contravention of the export ban on hazardous waste or violation of information requirements for exports of “green”, non-hazardous waste.
The four most frequent categories of waste where violations occurred were, with roughly an equal share: paper and card; plastic; metal; and, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
IMPEL is continuing with joint inspections of waste shipments and aims to extend these to all member states. The Commission has also addressed the problem by proposing reinforced legislation.
The proposed revision of the WEEE Directive includes additional rules to avoid illegal shipments of electrical and electronic waste, especially when falsely declared as used products.
The Commission is also assessing the feasibility of strengthening inspection requirements under EU rules on waste shipment.
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