EU set to overhaul hazardous waste rules

EU rules governing the handling of hazardous waste may be significantly revised under plans being hatched by the European Commission’s environment directorate. Officials have launched a consultation process which could lead to legislative proposals being tabled under a forthcoming thematic strategy on waste prevention and recycling. The strategy is due before the summer break.

The EU’s hazardous waste handling regime was created by a directive adopted in 1991. It sets out tight controls on the collection, transport and treatment of hazardous wastes, all additional to more general rules contained in a 1975 framework directive on waste.

But the Commission says advances in waste legislation since the early 1990s have rendered the hazwaste rules outmoded. “It can be argued that some provisions…have become obsolete…or difficult to justify from an environmental point of view,” its new consultation document says. Moreover, “…some provisions…[have] led to diverging interpretations by the member states. This can impede their proper implementation”.

The consultation’s first question is whether the hazardous waste directive should be merged with the older framework law. The answer is likely to be easy: Commission officials say member states are already strongly in favour, and early industry opinion also supports the move. Many of the outdated hazwaste provisions are common to the framework directive, which is also being overhauled through the thematic strategy.

A trickier issue will be the rules for mixing of different hazardous waste streams. The existing law bans this, unless authorities decide that the mixing enhances the “safety” of the treatment process. But the Commission says this concept of safety has no place in waste law and no clear connection to environmental impact.

Instead it suggests the law might be changed to allow hazardous waste mixing, except where this would worsen the environmental impact. Guidelines to help decide when mixing should not be allowed could be drawn up as a “bref” under EU integrated pollution control regulations (ED 11/01/05), or as a separate initiative.

Similarly, a requirement to separate out mixed hazardous wastes “where technically and economically feasible” may be dropped, since it is “practically inapplicable”. In other changes the Commission proposes to strip out many waste recording and reporting obligations since they are “burdensome and not proportionate to environmental benefit”.

Lastly, a requirement in the directive for the Commission to propose specific rules for domestic waste might also be erased. The Commission has yet to respond to the requirement but says recent laws on vehicle, electronics and battery waste might render such rules superfluous.

Republished with permission of Environment Daily www.environmentdaily.com