EU waste management law

KEY POINTS

Directive 2008/98/EC

• The directive establishes a waste hierarchy:
  • prevention;
  • preparing for reuse;
  • recycling;
  • other recovery (e.g. energy recovery); and
  • disposal.
• It confirms the ‘polluter-pays principle’ whereby the original waste producer must pay for the costs of waste management.
• It introduces the concept of ‘extended producer responsibility’.
• It makes a distinction between waste and by-products¹.
• Waste management must be carried out without any risk to water, air, soil, plants or animals, without causing a nuisance through noise or smells, or harming the countryside or places of special interest.
• Producers or holders of waste must treat it themselves or have it handled by an officially recognised operator. Both require a permit and are inspected periodically.
• Competent national authorities must establish waste-management plans and waste-prevention programmes.
• Special conditions apply to hazardous waste, waste oils and bio-waste.
• It introduces recycling and recovery targets to be achieved by 2020 for household waste (50%) and construction and demolition waste (70%).
• The legislation does not cover certain types of waste such as radioactive elements, decommissioned explosives, faecal matter, waste waters and animal carcasses.

Amending Directive (EU) 2018/851

• As part of a package of measures on the circular economy, Directive (EU) 2018/851 amends Directive 2008/98/EC.
• It sets minimum operating requirements for extended producer-responsibility schemes². These can also include organisational responsibility and a responsibility to contribute to waste prevention and to the reusability and recyclability of products.
• It strengthens rules on waste prevention. On waste generation, EU Member States must take measures to:
  • support sustainable production and consumption models;
  • encourage the design, manufacturing and use of products that are resource efficient, durable, reparable, reusable and capable of being upgraded;
  • target products containing critical raw materials to prevent those materials becoming waste;
  • encourage the availability of spare parts, instruction manuals, technical information, or other means enabling the repair and re-use of products without compromising their quality and safety;
  • reduce food-waste generation as a contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to reduce by 50% the per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and to reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030;
  • promote the reduction of the content of hazardous substances in materials and products;
  • stop the generation of marine litter.
• It also sets new municipal-waste-recycling targets: by 2025, at least 55% of municipal waste by weight will have to be recycled. This target will rise to 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035.
• Member States must:
  • establish, by 1 January 2025, separate collection of textiles and hazardous waste generated by households;
  • ensure that, by 31 December 2023, bio-waste is collected separately or recycled at source (for example, by composting).
• The directive also highlights examples of incentives to apply the waste hierarchy, such as landfill and incineration charges and pay-as-you-throw schemes.