WRITTEN QUESTION P-3407/01

by Kyösti Virrankoski (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 December 2001)

Subject: Scope of the Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/EC of 4 December 2000

In the Member States of the EU the use of waste oil for the production of heat energy is restricted, particularly as regards small heating units. At the time, the reason for this was that it was not possible to burn waste oil in small heating plants while complying with current

emissions standards. However, oil burners have now come on the market which are intended for the heating of small premises and which use waste oil as fuel. These have been shown after careful testing to keep well within the existing emissions standards and to burn waste oil much more cleanly than ordinary burners using light heating oil.

In the light of the above, will the Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/EC(1) adopted on 4 December 2000, which enters into force in 2005, apply to these high-technology oil burners with an output of 30-50 kW, which have been developed for the heating of small premises, which were planned from the outset with waste oil in mind, and which burn no more than 5 litres of waste oil per hour?

(1) OJ L 332, 28.12.2000, p. 91.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(28 January 2002)

The Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/ EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000, applies in the case of the waste oil where it is used as regular or additional fuel in burners. There is no capacity threshold below which the use of waste oil as fuel for heating in waste oil burners would be exempt from the scope of the directive. Therefore burners with a capacity of 30 to 50 kilowatt (kW) used for the generation of heat or energy and fired with waste oil as a regular or additional fuel fall within the scope of the directive and would be treated as co-incineration plants as defined in Article 3, paragraph.5, in the context of Directive 2000/76/EC.

According to Article 20, Directive 2000/76/EC shall apply in the case of new plants from 28 December 2002 and in the case of existing plants from 28 December 2005.