WRITTEN QUESTION E-2363/99

by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(13 December 1999)

Subject: Processing of lead batteries

Is the Commission aware of the article headed Giftige afdankertjes (toxic cast-offs) (in Milieudefensie, September 1999) which refers to 40 0000 t of used lead batteries being exported from the Netherlands to Belgium and France (83 % to Belgium, 16 % to France)?

In Spring this year the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Planning and the Environment granted a licence for exporting 2 500 t of lead batteries to the FMM recycling plant in Brussels. According to Le Soir Illustré, FMM is a major polluter of the Brussels local authority of Anderlecht. A soil sample taken at the entrance to the plant was found to contain 20 % lead. J.-M. Veszely, writing in Le Soir Illustré says: The filters are not replaced promptly. The water purification system does not work properly and does not have sufficient capacity. The settling tank is permanently clogged. Once it has been denatured the sulphur acid goes straight into the drains. In other words, there is no recycling.

Chapter B, Article 6(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 259/93(1) on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community says: The [recovery] centre must have adequate technical capacity for the recovery of the waste in question under conditions presenting no danger to human health or to the environment.

Does the Commission agree that this centre does not have the technical capacity to satisfy the provisions of the regulation?

What action is the Commission planning to take to stop or to prevent these practices?

(1) OJ L 30, 6.2.1993, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(17 January 2000)

The provision of the shipment regulation, Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the Community quoted by the Honourable Member, namely Article 6, paragraph 5, 4th indent, reflects the general principle of environmentally sound recovery of wastes as laid down in Article 4 of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste(1). This Article obliges Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health and without using processes or methods which could harm the environment. For the purposes of implementing this Article, the Directive provides that any establishment or undertaking which carries out recovery operations must obtain a permit. Pursuant to Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991, on hazardous wastes(2), the permit requirement may also be replaced by a mere registration, provided that certain conditions are met. One of the conditions is that types and quantities of waste and methods of recovery are such that the conditions laid down in Article 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC are met. In addition, a Member State which wants to make use of this possibility to replace the permit requirement by a mere registration, is obliged to notify this to the Commission. The Commission has not received any notification from Belgium to this effect.

On the factual side, the Commission has no knowledge of the conditions under which lead accumulators are recovered in the recycling plant mentioned by the Honourable Member. It will request the Belgian authorities for information, following which it will determine whether further action on its part is necessary.

(1) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.

(2) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991.