EN    EN EN 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 20.11.2009 
SEC(2009) 1586 final 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
accompanying the 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSI ON TO THE CO UNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CO MMUNITY WASTE LEGISLATION  
Directive 2006/12/EC on waste, 
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste,  
Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils,  
Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge,  
Directive 94/62/EC on packagi ng and packaging waste,  
Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste and 
Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electr ical and electronic equipment 
FOR THE PERIOD 2004-2006 
 
{COM(2009)633 final}
EN 2   EN COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
accompanying the 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSI ON TO THE CO UNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CO MMUNITY WASTE LEGISLATION  
Directive 2006/12/EC on waste, 
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste,  
Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils,  
Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge,  
Directive 94/62/EC on packagi ng and packaging waste,  
Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste and 
Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electr ical and electronic equipment 
FOR THE PERIOD 2004-2006 
 
{COM(2009)633 final} 
DETAILS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DIFFERENT DIRECTIVES 
The report is based on the re plies of Member States to implementation questionnaires1. The 
details and analysis of the replies are cont ained in the reports prepared by Ecologic and 
published at: http://ec.eu ropa.eu/environment/was te/reporting/index.htm. 
1. W ASTE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE2 
Directive 75/442/EEC has been codified as  Directive 2006/12/EC, recently revised as 
2008/98/EC3 which has to be transposed by the Member States into their national legislation 
by 12 December 2010. This report covers the implementation of Directive 2006/12/EC.  
The Waste Framework Directive (WFD) is one of the cornerst one pieces of the Community 
legislation on waste. It lays down the basic definitions, princi ples and rules related to the 
management of waste, such as the definition of  waste, the polluter pays principle, the waste 
hierarchy, the prohibition to dump  waste illegally or an obliga tion to manage waste without 
endangering the environment and human hea lth. The WFD introduce mechanisms aiming to 
ensure proper waste management such as pe rmit systems for waste management, registration 
of certain waste operations, obl igation for Member States to elaborate waste management 
plans (WMP). 
All Member States to date have drawn up one  or more waste management plans, and all 
indicated the existence of a chapter dedicated to packaging and packaging waste as required 
by the WFD and the Packaging Directive. These plans vary widely as  to their content, 
structure, degree of detail, and administrative  level, depending on the experience of Member 
States in waste management planning. There are countries featuring one national waste 
management plan only, countri es with both national and regional/local waste management 
                                                 
1 See: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/reporting/index.htm . 
2 Directive 2006/12/EC on waste, OJ L 114, 27.4.2006, p. 9–21. 
3 OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3–30. 
EN 3   EN plans and countries having only regional waste management plan s. This divers ity makes the 
evaluation and comparison of the plans difficult: while the plans contain all elements required 
by the legislation, it is not evident whether the pl anning reflects the actu al needs of a country 
or a region in terms of waste management infrastructure. The revised WFD will provide clearer requirements for the plans, but furt her guidance is needed to make this policy 
implementation instrument more effective. 
A limited number of Member States collaborat ed with other countries in drawing up their 
WMP, mostly where such cooperation was just ified by geographical proximity. According to 
the WFD, Member States may take measures n ecessary to prevent movements of waste which 
do not comply with their waste management plan s, and fourteen Member States informed the 
Commission of taking such measures. 
All but three of the responding Member States informed the Commission of having taken 
measures implementing the waste hierarchy, one  of the key principles of the Community 
waste legislation. However, the lack of reporting  of the three Member States in question does 
not imply that no measures addressing the waste hierarchy have been taken; they were not 
communicated within this report.  It remains unclear from the responses received whether the 
measures taken by other countries have been effective. 
The WFD requires Member States to set up a network of disposal facilities, and most 
respondents reported that they en sured the existence of such a network, sometimes established 
in cooperation with the neighbouring regions or countries to optimise its functioning. 
However, several (especially new) Member States are still in the process of establishing their networks and closing landfills not co mplying with the Landfill Directive. 
Many Member States reported high le vels of self-sufficiency in waste disposal reaching levels 
of 90-100%, with rapid progress in EU-10. Not all Member States have sufficient capacity to 
deal with their own waste
4 and therefore export it, in line with the WFD, to countries having 
appropriate waste treatment tec hnologies. The routine export of  waste streams for disposal 
was limited to specific waste streams for which there was no specialised infrastructure in 
place, in particular hazardous wastes such as PCBs, waste incineration residues, polluted 
soils. Shipments of hazardous wastes al most doubled between 2001 and 2005 reaching the 
total of 5.6 million tonnes for EU-25 in 2005, with the share shipped from out of the EU-10 
being only a marginal 3%. The biggest waste exporters included the Netherlands, Belgium, 
Italy, France and Ireland5.  
Some Member States (especially EU-10) report ed a strikingly high percentage of landfilling, 
especially for domestic and similar wastes, whic h means that steps taken to comply with the 
waste hierarchy were insufficient. While the 2006 WFD did not make the adherence to the 
waste hierarchy obligatory, the revised WFD sets a clear 5-step waste hierarchy coupled with 
recycling targets for municipal and constructio n and demolition waste. Thus, in the short to 
medium run, the Member States featuring an exceedingly high level of waste disposal in landfills will have to find ways to improve thei r recycling rate, especial ly for domestic waste. 
In the older Member States, a balance between  recycling and incineration was noted, with a 
residual fraction of waste going to  final disposal in landfills. 
                                                
 
4 Commission Report on the implementation of the Waste Shipment Regulation, COM(2009) 282 final, 
p. 6. 
5 Ibidem. 
EN 4   EN 
 
Figure 1. Treatment of waste, 2006 (in percen t of total waste trea ted) Source: Energy, 
transport and environment i ndicators 2008 edition, p. 1476. 
Finland, Sweden, Slovenia, Portugal, Austria, and Belgium are the biggest users of energy 
recovered from waste. Denmark and the Netherla nds reported a considerable percentage of 
waste incineration without energy recovery whil e the remaining Member States report a small 
share of waste incineration without energy recovery (below 10%). 
Even though this reporting period covers years 2004 to 2006, some data available for Bulgaria 
and Romania which joined the EU  in 2007 are also presented here  for reference.  Landfilling is 
still the predominant mode of waste disposal in most EU Member St ates, especially EU-12. 
Cyprus, Poland and Bulgaria report landfill rates of over 90%, but many others report landfill 
rates over 50%. Member States reporting la ndfilling below 10% include the Flemish Region 
of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. 
                                                 
6 See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/port al/product_details/publication?p_product_code=KS-
DK-08-001.  
EN 5   EN Only a minority of Member States has opted  for exemptions from the waste management 
permits and adopted rules for such exemptions. 
Most Member States reported that all establ ishments disposing or recovering waste had 
record-keeping obligations, with some countri es limiting the record-keeping obligation to 
producers of certain wastes. Furt her contacts with the Member States are needed to confirm 
whether this provision was prope rly implemented in practice. 
2. H AZARDOUS WASTE DIRECTIVE7 
Hazardous waste poses greater risk to the en vironment and human health than non-hazardous 
waste and thus requires a stricter control regi me. Such a regime is laid down in Directive 
91/689/EEC. The Directive provides additiona l record keeping, m onitoring and control 
obligations for hazardous waste from the waste producer to the final di sposal or recovery, 
introduces rules for the mixing of  different categories of hazar dous wastes with each other or 
with non-hazardous wastes, introduc es permitting requirements for installations dealing with 
hazardous wastes. The properties which render wa ste hazardous laid down in the Directive 
91/689/EEC and are further specified by the De cision 2000/532/EC on the List of Waste. 
All Member States confirmed having informed  the Commission about measures transposing 
the Directive into their nationa l legislation. Most Member States refrained from adding other 
wastes than those listed in the legislation to the list of hazardous waste, possibly because each 
such addition would mean adding a new code to the List of Waste and amending the List in a 
long procedure. Most likely, the code for "was tes not otherwise specified" was used instead. 
Overall, there seems to be a need for more  waste codes (especially for WEEE, batteries, 
ELV8). Possible changes to the system ar e under discussion with Member States. 
Hazardous waste generated by households (e.g. batt eries, some toxic chemicals, medicines, 
etc.) is exempted from the prov isions of the Directive since in  practice it is impossible to 
control the management of this waste stream down to each household. Not all Member States 
distinguish hazardous and non-hazardous domestic wa ste in their legislation and instead cover 
all wastes under the stricter hazardous waste re gime. Most Member States encourage separate 
collection of hazardous waste from the rest of household waste and organise awareness 
raising campaigns to educate their citizens.  Ten Member States make municipalities 
responsible for separate collec tion and management of domestic hazardous waste. Under the 
revised WFD, the rules concerning hazardous wa ste produced by households become clearer: 
mixed waste produced by households is exempted from the provisions related to the control of 
hazardous waste, including traceability, the ba n on the mixing of hazardous waste, labelling 
and record keeping requirements. Where haza rdous waste fractions of household waste are 
collected separately, labelling and record keep ing provisions do not apply until the waste is 
accepted for collection, disposal or recovery  by a licensed establishment or undertaking. 
All Member States confirmed having establishe d systems to record hazardous waste streams 
and identify each site on which it is dispos ed, but only a few described how the record 
keeping is monitored. Many responses do not  focus on the tipping as pect only but on the 
reporting requirements in general. A prohibition to  mix different hazardous wastes, as well as 
to mix hazardous and non-hazardous waste, wa s implemented by all Member States but only 
                                                 
7 Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, OJ L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 20-27. 
8 See Oekopol study, p. III-44, at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/w aste/pdf/low_review_oekopol.pdf .  
EN 6   EN eight reported detailed mixing criteria. The re ports are imprecise as regards the exemptions 
from the mixing ban. 
All undertakings which recover hazardous waste need to have a permit, unless exempted 
under specific national rules and registered. Th e possibility of exemptions was taken up only 
exceptionally and these cases were notified to the Commission in line with the Directive. 
Producers and establishments carrying out dis posal and recovery operations of hazardous 
waste shall be subject to peri odic inspections. All Member St ates have laid down national 
rules in this respect, but in most cases inspect ions are carried out on a case-by-case basis or on 
the basis of complaints, without a general mi nimum frequency established by law (only eight 
Member States require a certa in inspection frequency) which can raise doubts whether the 
controls comply with the Directive's requirement  of "appropriate period ic inspections". Such 
practice is also not in line with th e non-binding recommendations of IMPEL9. The obligation 
to keep registers and records for producers and transporters of hazardous waste was fulfilled 
by all Member States, with some lack of clar ity as to whether the record keeping actually 
refers to producers in the case of some res ponses. All but one Member State confirmed having 
set rules for proper packaging an d labelling of hazardous waste in  the course of its collection, 
transport and temporary storage. 
3. W ASTE OILS DIRECTIVE10 
Waste oils are classified as hazardous waste since they display some hazardous properties. 
Such oils can heavily contaminate the envi ronment when not properly managed. The Waste 
Oils Directive creates a harmonised system for the collection, storage, recovery and disposal 
of waste oils, such as lubri cant oils for vehicles, turbines , gearboxes and e ngines, hydraulic 
oils, etc. The Directive also aims to protect the environment against the harmful effects of 
illegal dumping and treatment of waste oils. 
All Member States have transpos ed the Directive into their national legislation. In all but five 
Member States measure were laid down to ensu re that the regeneration of waste oils does not 
constitute a threat for the environment and hum an health and that th e resulting regenerated 
oils do not constitute toxic and dangerous waste and do not contain PCBs/PCTs. 
All but nine Member States adopted stricter me asures than those prescribed in the Directive 
on limit values for toxic substances in waste oi l used as fuel or combustion requirements. 
Only eight Member States reported high (over 70%) waste oil regenerati on rates meaning that 
the majority of Member States did not fully ad here to the waste oils treatment hierarchy set 
out in the Directive which gives priority to  their regeneration, followed by combustion and 
safe destruction (including controlled storag e or tipping). In seven Member States the 
regeneration rate ranges from 0 to 30% of wa ste oils collected. Ther e is also a group of 
countries heavily relying on combustion of this  waste stream. The Czech Republic reports a 
tipping rate of nearly 40% while  the rest of the Member Stat es remains below 10%. In those 
Member States where no regeneration or comb ustion was possible, meas ures needed to be 
                                                 
9 IMPEL guidance and recommendations on the mini mum criteria for environmental inspections (see: 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/impel/impel_guidance_doc.htm ).  
10 Directive 75/439/EEC on the disposal of waste oils, OJ L 194 , 25.07.1975, p. 23-25. 
EN 7   EN taken to protect the environment, consisting  mainly of additional requirements for safe 
disposal or storage of waste oils.  
The Commission has launched infringement ca ses against Member States violating the 
hierarchy set out in the Directive, with the ru ling of the Court against Germany. Other cases 
have been deferred when the proposal for the new WFD removed an absolute priority for 
regeneration. After the adoption of the WFD, these infringement procedures have been 
withdrawn. The implementation pr actice illustrated in Figure 2 below reflects the economic 
constraints related to waste oils regenerati on which, coupled with the lack of clear 
environmental gains from the regeneration compar ed to combustion, have lead to the revision 
of this provision in the WFD. 
0%20%40%60%80%100%
Austria
Belgium Brussels
Belgium Flemish
Belgium Wallonian Region
BulgariaCyprus
Czech Republic
DenmarkEstoniaFinland
FranceGermany
GreeceHung ary
IrelandItalyLatvia
Lithuan ia
Luxembourg
Malta
NetherlandsPoland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
SloveniaSpainSweden
United Kingdom
Quantity regenerated Quantity combusted Quantity tipped (including permanent storage)
Figure 2. Treatment of waste oils in 2005. Source:  Report on the Implementation of Directive 
75/439/EEC on Waste Oils, Ecologic, May 2009, p. 38. 
Methods for proper management of waste oils were publically disseminated in twenty 
Member States, either by public authorities or by waste producers. Nineteen Member States reported having in place permitting procedures that guarantee environmental and health protection, some coupled with control and monitoring systems. 
4. S
EWAGE SLUDGE DIRECTIVE11 
The Sewage Sludge Directive seeks to encourage a safe use of sewage sludge in agriculture 
and to regulate its use in such a way as to pr event harmful effects on soil, vegetation, animals 
and humans. To this end, it pr ohibits the use of untreated sl udge on agricultural land unless it 
is injected or incorporated into the soil. To provide protection against potential health risks 
                                                 
11 Directive 86/278/EEC on the protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil, when sewage 
sludge is used in agriculture, OJ L 181, 4.7.1986, p. 6–12. 
EN 8   EN from residual pathogens, the Directive restricts th e application of sludge to soil in which fruit 
and vegetable crops are growing or grown or to animal forage . The Directive also requires 
that sludge should be used in such a way that ac count is taken of the nutrient requirements of 
plants and that the quality of the soil and of the surface and groundwater is not impaired. It 
specifies rules for the sampling and analysis of  sludges and soils, sets  out record keeping 
requirements and limit values for concentrations of heavy metals in sewage sludge and soil. 
All Member States repo rted having adopted m easures transposing the Directive into their 
national legislation, and most of them adopted stricter requirements for the use of sewage 
sludge in agriculture than thos e prescribed in the European legislation. All but two Member 
States adopted measures en suring that sewage sludge is not used on soils where 
concentrations of one or more heavy meta ls exceed the prescribed limit values. 
Residual sludges from septic tanks and sludges other than those from sewage plants treating 
domestic or urban waste waters may also be used in agriculture unde r nationally regulated 
conditions. Most Member States opted for equa l requirements for all sludges or banned the 
use of sludge from septic tanks. 
The limit values for heavy metals in soil on which sludge can be applied, in the sludge to be 
applied, and thresholds for heavy metals which can be introduced into the soil vary 
significantly between Member States. All these limit values are set on the basis of the minimum conditions specified in the Directive but some Member  States adopted much more 
stringent values than others. The differences ar e surprisingly large given that they occur in 
similar geographical areas (e.g. be tween the Baltic States or betw een the Nordic countries). A 
majority of Member States preferred to la y down maximum quantities of sludge which may 
be applied to soil per year instead of setting li mit values for metals introduced into the soil. 
All Member States described the methods for sludge  treatment before it is used in agriculture. 
Only a few decided to allow the use of untreated  sludge if it is injected or worked into the 
soil. Most countries introduced bans or restri ctions on the application of sludge on grassland 
or forage crops before grazing or harvesting. Th e conditions of these restrictions vary, as do 
the methods for sampling and analysis of sludge  and soil and the frequency of the analyses. 
5. P
ACKAGING AND PACKAGING WASTE DIRECTIVE12 
The Packaging Directive aims to harmonise nati onal measures in order to prevent or reduce 
the impact of packaging and packaging waste on the environment and to ensure the functioning of the Internal Ma rket. It contains provisions on the prevention of packaging 
waste, on the re-use of packaging and on the recovery and recycling of packaging waste. 
All Member States have transposed the Direct ive into their national legislation and notified 
the Commission thereof. 
The total amount of packaging waste in the EU  increased during the period covered by this 
report, but a part of this increase was due to the accession of the new Member States. The 
share of packaging made of glass, paper a nd board, metals and wood decreased, while the 
share of plastics slightly increased. 
                                                
 
12 Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10–23. 
EN 9   EN One of the major provisions of the Packaging Directive includes the recycling and recovery 
targets for packaging waste. All Member Stat es have published information about these 
targets, ranging from the publication of a lega l act transposing the Directive to elaborate 
information campaigns. Many Member States made use of economic instruments and producer responsibility schemes in order to attain the targ ets of the Directive. Such 
instruments included, for instance, taxes levied  on packaging, charges for final disposal of 
packaging or for membership in a collecti on/recovery scheme, fi nancial sanctions to 
economic operators involved in packaging manage ment if re-use and recovery targets are not 
met, deposit/return schemes for packaging, and obligations for economic operators to bear collection and recovery costs. 
Steady progress towards meeting the targets ha s been maintained, with a good overall result
13. 
The rates of packaging waste recovery and recy cling remained relatively stable between 2004 
and 2006, with a slight overall decrease, but it should be recalled that a big enlargement took 
place during the reporting period expanding the EU  from 15 to 25 Member States in 2004 by 
countries with largely underdeveloped waste co llection and recycling systems. On average, 
overall recovery and incineratio n at waste incinerati on plants decreased from 66% in 2004 to 
60% in 2006, while the average recycling rate  decreased from 54% in 2004 to 49% in 2006, 
including a drop in glass recycling from 58% to  53%, a decrease in the recycling of paper and 
board from 76% to 70%, metals from 57% to  56%, and an increase in plastics and wood 
recycling (from 25% to 26% and from 25% to 31% respectively). 
The Packaging Directive requires Member States to adopt measures to prevent the formation 
of packaging waste, and most Member States re ported having laid down such provisions. The 
measures employed included the use of preven tion plans and guidance (required by legislation 
or drawn up by waste prevention organisati ons or businesses), voluntary or formal 
commitments of the industry, information and awareness-raising campaigns, taxation 
measures, encouraging the use of reusable pack aging or deposit systems, and the use of eco-
labels. 
Twenty three countries reported introducing pro ducer responsibility systems where producers 
must take back packaging waste, organise their own take back systems or participate in return 
systems for the return, collecti on, re-use, recovery or recycli ng of packaging waste. Twenty 
Member States reported measures to encourage the re-use of packaging. These are based on 
taxation promoting reusable p ackaging, deposits, obligation to  use reusable packaging, 
exempting reusable packaging from other oblig ations, promotion of re-use in the waste 
management plans, and information and awar eness raising campaigns. The most commonly 
targeted packaging types include d carrier bags and beverage packaging. Also, all Member 
States reported measures to create systems for th e return, collection, re-u se and/or recovery of 
packaging waste, mostly based on producer responsibility but also  including collective 
systems to which all economic operators coul d subscribe. Sixteen Member States took 
measures to encourage the use of recyclates  for the manufacturing of packaging and other 
products, including public procur ement programmes, promotion of the use of recycled 
materials within waste management plans, re search projects, information and awareness-
raising activities (e.g. exhibi tions, "recycling weeks" and online catalogues of recycled 
products), and tax incentives. 
                                                 
13 More details about the progress achieved by the Me mber States can be found in the Commission's Flash 
Report published at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/reporting/index.htm , on the Packaging 
website at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/packaging/data.htm , and on the Eurostat website at: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/ portal/waste/data/wastestreams/packaging .  
EN 10   EN Only packaging that complies with the essentia l requirements laid down in the Directive can 
be placed on the Community market. Member States implemented these provisions by 
adopting national standards or following the European standards, but generally limited 
information was provided as regards the practi cal enforcement of this requirement. At the 
same time, initial conclusions from an ongoing Commission study on th e implementation and 
enforcement of the essential requirements suggest  that stakeholders call for more systematic 
implementation and enforcement of the essent ial requirements across the Member States. 
6. L ANDFILL DIRECTIVE14 
The Landfill Directive is intended to prevent or  reduce the adverse effects of waste landfilling 
on the environment, in particular on surface wate r, groundwater, soil, air and human health by 
introducing stringent technical requirements for waste and landfills. It defines the different 
categories of waste (municipal waste, hazardous  waste, non-hazardous waste and inert waste) 
and applies to all landfills, defined as waste disp osal sites for the deposit of waste onto or into 
land. The Directive introduces criteria for th e acceptance of waste in landfills, requires 
permits for operating landfill sites, and el aborates opening and closure conditions. 
According to the Landfill Directive, waste can only be accepted in landfills if it meets the 
acceptance criteria specified in the Directive a nd elaborated in the Wa ste Acceptance Criteria 
Decision 2003/33/EC15. Twenty one respondents have defi ned waste acceptance criteria and 
procedures, or use those defined in the Commun ity legislation. Twenty three Member States 
have set up detailed monitoring regimes fo r leachates, surface waters, gas emissions and 
atmospheric pressure. Twenty three respond ents confirmed having included in their 
legislation the obligation to in clude all the costs of  landfill constructio n, operation, closure 
and after-care in the price to be charged by the operator for accepting waste in the site. 
Thirteen Member States reported that they re quire a financial guarantee from the operator or 
provide assistance to landfill operators in order to guarantee their financial stability. 
All Member States except Cypr us confirmed having established detailed rules for the closure 
of landfills, including after-closure monitori ng requirements and technical specifications. 
Cyprus is still developing such rules. Twenty  two Member States reported having adopted 
measures related to the opening of landfills such as planning procedures, environmental impact assessments, prohibitions to open land fills in certain areas, inclusion in waste 
management plans. The Netherlands and Luxem bourg indicated that no new landfills were 
planned in the near future. 
Landfill gas, primarily methane, is a powerful greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than 
carbon dioxide and a major contributor to climate change. Its emissions account for over 2% of the EU greenhouse gas emissions. It is pr oduced from biodegradable municipal waste 
including garden, kitchen and food waste decomposing in landf ills. Hence, the capture and 
management of landfill gas as well as diversion of biodegradable waste from landfills are one of the key requirements of the Landfill Directive. Regrettably, the information provided by most Member States as regards landfill gas management was mostly describing the legal provisions in place, not the actual practice. Fo ur Member States reported not to produce 
                                                
 
14 Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste, OJ L 182, 16.7.1999, p. 1–19. 
15 Council Decision of 19 December 2002 establishing  criteria and procedures for the acceptance of waste 
at landfills pursuant to Article 16 of and Annex II to Directive 1999/31/EC (2003/33/EC), OJ L 11, 
16.1.2003, p. 27–49. 
EN 11   EN energy from the landfill gas, the others do it  but only where this activity is economically 
feasible. Otherwise, the gas is flared. It is not clear whether all gas is captured and 
appropriately treated and further investigation into the effectiveness of its capture would be 
needed. 
The Landfill Directive sets  out biodegradable waste diversion targets for 200616, 200917 and 
201618 in order to mitigate the negative environm ental impacts related to methane emissions. 
All but five Member States have developed a nd reported national strategies for the diversion 
of biodegradable waste going to landfill and notified them to the Commission. Limited 
information was provided as to the experiences with the implem entation of these strategies. 
Six Member States provided incomplete data  on the generation of biodegradable waste in 
1995 and sixteen did not report full data sets on the reduction of this  waste stream going to 
landfills between 2004 and 2006. As a result, from a very fragmentary picture complemented 
by the Commission's own data including twelve Member States for which data can be 
compared, one can conclude that in 2006 nine countries19 met their diversion targets for 
biodegradable municipal waste (out of these tw elve, eight countries have already met their 
2009 target and seven the 2016 target). 
Only five Member States (Austria, the Flemis h region of Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland 
and Italy) reported that all their landfills co mplied with the Directive. Some of this 
information, however, contradicts th e findings of the Commission study20 which indicated the 
existence of 1,763 illegal landfills in Italy and over 9 in Ireland in 2005. A large number of non-compliant landfills for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste were reported by twelve 
other Member States
21. The reported figures concern only engineered landfills not complying 
with the Landfill Directive - frequent citizen co mplaints suggest that beside these a high 
number of uncontrolled dumpsites presumably exists. 
These data suggest that a vast majority of Memb er States will not meet the deadline of 16 July 
2009 by which all Member States that have not been granted derogations must ensure that 
sub-standard landfills that existed before the introduction of the Landfill Directive now 
comply with its requirements, even though Memb er States have had eight years from the 
transposition date (16 July 2001)  to ensure compliance with th ese requirements or close non-
compliant landfills. In July 2009 the Commission ha s written to all Memb er States to remind 
them of their obligation and gather data on compliance. 
Bulgaria, Poland and Romania have been give n extended deadlines w ith annually decreasing 
targets  for the amount of waste dispos ed of in some non-compliant sites. The deadlines are: 
                                                 
16 By 17 July 2006, reduction of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills to 75% of the total 
amount (by weight) of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995. 
17 By 17 July 2009, reduction of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills to 50% of the total 
amount (by weight) of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995. 
18 By 17 July 2016, reduction of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills to 35% of the total 
amount (by weight) of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995. 
19 Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and 
Sweden. 
20 Report on the Implementation of the Landfill Direc tive in the 15 Member States of the EU, Golder 
Associates 2005, http://ec.europa.eu/environm ent/waste/pdf/r eport_a2.pdf .  
21 2008 estimates for the EU-12 indicate the following  numbers of non-compliant landfills: Romania: 181, 
Poland: 317, Latvia: 150, Hungary: 71, Malta: 0, Lithuania: 383, Slovakia: 52, Czech Republic: 28, 
Estonia: 12, Cyprus: 115, Slovenia:61, Bulgaria: 252. 
EN 12   EN Bulgaria (for 14 landfill sites) 31  December 2014; Poland (f or 305 landfill sites)  31 December 
2011; Romania (for 101 landfill sites) 16 July 2017. 
In addition to the national reporting for the reference time period, a recent Commission study 
on the implementation of the Landfill Directive22 identified a number of persisting serious 
problems related to the implementation of this legislation, in particul ar in the EU-10 but a 
similar situation can be observed in Bulgaria an d Romania (not yet members of the EU in this 
reporting period) or some EU-15 Member St ates landfilling over 50% of their waste23. The 
situation concerning waste mana gement within these countries has certain common features. 
In all EU-10 countries, environmental concerns  (especially waste management) still constitute 
a relatively low priority which results in a lack  of administrative capacity devoted to these 
issues. High share of landfilling in waste ma nagement (80-90% and beyond) and a lack of 
attention to the waste hierarchy can be obs erved. Actions to reduce the amount of waste 
landfilled are taken slowly by investing in separate collection systems and treatment facilities. Landfilling in many cases is still by far the ch eapest and easiest way to manage waste. 
Consequently, landfill fees are not covering th e costs for operating, maintaining and closing 
of a modern landfill. 
Landfill capacity aspects (limitations in landfill use, saving of scarce landscape resources) do 
not seem to be acknowledged as important limiting f actor in the majority of the EU-10 so far. 
On the other hand, there is ofte n a strong public scepticism and opposition to the installation 
of thermal waste treatment installations. Mixe d municipal solid waste (MSW) with a high 
content of biodegradable and com bustible fractions is landfilled in most cases. The fraction of 
biodegradable waste in landf illed mixed MSW is ranging between 30-50% and may reach 
75%. Strategies for the reducti on of organic waste going to landfills, implementation of 
systems for source separation, and constructio n of facilities for composting or energy 
recovery from combustibles have only started. 
Typically, a huge number of small and tech nically poorly equipped landfills (municipal 
dumps) were in use in the EU-10 prior to ac cession. The process of closing down landfills has 
started during the last years and some countries have made remarkable progress with that, but 
it is still questionable whether the deadline for 20 09 for closing the old landfills will be met. 
7. W
ASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (WEEE)  DIRECTIVE24 
The WEEE Directive aims to improve the ma nagement of waste electrical and electronic 
equipment. To this end, the Directive encour ages the prevention of WEEE, and in addition, 
the reuse, recycling and other form s of recovery of such wastes so  as to reduce its disposal. It 
also seeks to improve the environmental perfo rmance of all operators involved in the life 
cycle of electrical and electronic equipment, e.g. producers, distributor s and consumers and in 
particular those operators direc tly involved in the treatment of waste electrical and electronic 
equipment. The legislation introduces requiremen ts for a creation of co llection schemes where 
consumers can return their used e-waste free of  charge in order to increase the recycling 
and/or reuse of such products, sets collection and recovery ta rgets for WEEE and relies on the 
principle of producer responsibility. 
                                                 
22 Final Report from the Organisation of awareness raising events concerning the implementation of 
Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste, BiPRO, 30 May 2007. 
23 Landfilling remains a pr edominant option in Finland, Sweden , United Kingdom, Spain, and Greece. 
24 Directive 2002/96/EC on waste el ectrical and electronic equipment, OJ L 37, 13.2.2003, p. 24. 
EN 13   EN All reporting Member States have transpos ed the WEEE Directiv e into their national 
legislation. However, the Commi ssion had to open twenty cases against Member States based 
on incorrect transposition, w ith fifteen of those cases still open as of July 2009. 
Even though the majority of the Member States  reported adopting measures to encourage the 
design and production of EEE which would facilitate its  dismantling, reuse and recovery, the 
reported measures were mostly limited to copying  the provisions of the Directive into national 
legislation or declarations of  intent, without clear enforcem ent mechanisms. Some Member 
States pointed out that the Eco-Design Directive25 would be more suitable to encourage eco-
design than the WEEE Directive. In most cas es, no reasons were gi ven as to why such 
measures have not been adopted, and very limited experience with eco-design policies was 
reported. 
All Member States reported that systems for th e return of WEEE free of  charge were set up, 
but not all provided their description. The syst ems differ between the Member States. In 
almost all countries collectiv e systems for the management of household appliances were 
implemented, but not all Member States compel  producers / distributors to take back old 
appliances from households when a new product is  supplied to customers.  Instead, some rely 
on municipal collection schemes and make individual take-back voluntary. While the 
Directive provides that Member States may depa rt from one-to-one take  back, Member States 
making use of that provision should inform th e Commission but have not done so via this 
report in three cases. Indivi dual take back solutions are very common for non-household 
WEEE. National replies do not demonstrate wh ether the collection sy stems work well in 
practice. The most common problems reported ar e related to charging distance sellers for 
WEEE collection, establishing responsibility fo r historical waste, missing WEEE, and some 
interpretation or implementation issues. 
Member States have set up systems for the trea tment of WEEE, or have adapted their existing 
systems. However, few countri es have reported to have gone beyond the basic treatment 
requirements described in Annex II to the Directive. Additional requirements tend to focus on 
treating specific types of equi pment (e.g. appliances containing ozone depleting substances). 
No specific requirements or control mechanisms were reported for the exports of WEEE to be 
counted for the fulfilment of the targets or for the sites for the storage and treatment of this 
equipment going beyond the main requirements of the Directive. 
All respondents confirmed havi ng adopted measures to ensu re the environmentally sound 
reuse, recovery and recycling of WEEE, but none went beyond the targets specified in the 
Directive. 
Compliance with the reuse, recy cling and recovery targets is  usually ensured by imposing 
reporting requirements or recording mechanisms . No sanctions for not meeting the targets 
were reported. Overall, the answers provided were not sufficient to properly analyse the 
effectiveness of the measures taken to pr omote WEEE recovery. Several Member States 
reported that the rates of WEEE collection a nd recovery increased as a result of the 
implementation of the Directive. The Commissi on does not yet posses th e necessary data to 
confirm this tendency26. 
                                                 
25 Directive 2005/32/EC establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-
using products. 
26 The first national reports on the amounts of WEEE collected and treated cover 2006 as the latest year, 
and were sent to the Commission in mid-2008. 
EN 14   EN The legally binding obliga tion to meet the 2006 collection, recycling and recovery targets 
applied to EU-15. Thirteen Member States re ported collection, recyclin g and recovery data, 
eight met the collection target of 4 kg per capi ta, five reported meeting all the 10 applicable 
recycling targets and four  reported to have met all the 9 a pplicable recovery targets. Many 
Member States reported to have met some, but not  all the targets. In some cases, the lack of 
reporting and/or meeting the targets was linked to late transposition. With transposition now 
in place, a much more complete reporting result is expected for the next  two reporting periods 
covering years 2007 and 2008. 
A large proportion of Member States encourag e the development of new recovery, recycling 
and treatment techniques by prescribing the use of best available techniques when permitting installations or implementi ng national R&D programmes. 
According to the Directive, by 13 August 2005 Memb er States were required to ensure that 
producers provide at least for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and 
environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from private househol ds deposited at collection 
facilities. Unfortunately, little information was given regarding the practical enforcement of this provision, with most respondents merely repo rting inclusion of this requirement in their 
national legislation. As regards the fees fo r the collection and tr eatment of WEEE from 
private households, some Member States show thes e costs to buyers at th e time of purchase of 
new products. Most Member States  do not have any special arrangements for distance sellers, 
but some oblige them to comply with the requ irements of the market on which they place 
their products. Many respondents signalled that enforcement of the le gislation upon distance 
sellers posed implementation problems. 
All Member States took action to ensure that the users of EEE receive the necessary 
information on how to handle the resulting wa ste. Two main approaches were observed: 
information campaigns targeted at the large pu blic, and information pr ovided directly to the 
buyers during purchase of the equipment. Some Member States combine these two 
approaches. All Member States except Cyprus reported that they requi red their producers to 
provide reuse and treatment information to reuse, treatment and recycling facilities within one year from the placement of equipment on the market, typically via manuals or electronic 
means of communication. No specific problems with  the provision of information to treatment 
facilities were reported. 
Acronyms: 
EEE Electrical and el ectronic equipment 
EFTA European Free Trade Association ELV End-of-life vehicles EU European Union EU-10 10 new Member States that  joined the Community in 2004 
EU-12 12 new Member States that joined the Community in 2004 and 2007 
EU-15 15 Member States which were member s of the EU before the 2004 enlargement 
EU-25 25 Member States which were members of  the EU during the re porting period 2004 - 
2006 
IMPEL European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental 
Law 
EN 15   EN MSW Municipal Solid Waste 
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development PCB Polychlorinated biphenyls PCT Polychlorinated terphenyls R&D Research & Development RoHS Restrictions on the use of hazardous substa nces in electrical a nd electronic equipment 
WEEE Waste electrical and electronic equipment 
WFD Waste Framework Directive WMP Waste Management Plan WSR Waste Shipment Regulation