91997E3269

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3269/97 by María Estevan Bolea (PPE) to the Commission (20 October 1997)

Subject: Used tyres

Article 5(2)(d) of the proposal for a Council Directive on the landfill of waste (COM(97) 0105) stipulates that whole used tyres may not be accepted in a landfill with effect from two years from the date of entry into force of the Directive and shredded used tyres may not be accepted with effect from five years from that date ((OJ C 156, 24.5.1997, p. 10. )).

Can the Commission say what measures and procedures it has laid down to ensure compliance with the requirements of the above proposal for a Directive?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (2 December 1997)

A priority waste stream working group on used tyres, which was set up by the Commission in 1991, proposed a ban on landfilling of tyres in its final conclusions of September 1993. As mentioned by the Honourable Member, this has been taken into account in the new proposal on landfill of waste in order to prevent landfilled tyres from making the sites unstable and to reduce the risk of fire. Furthermore, the ban on landfilling of whole tyres and shredded tyres aims to encourage the recovery of tyres and thus to save resources.

When the time for implementation of the landfill directive expires Member States will communicate to the Commission their national implementing measures, which the Commission will examine in the usual way.