WRITTEN QUESTION E-0239/97 by Gianni Tamino (V) and Carlo Ripa di Meana (V) to the Commission (7 February 1997)

Subject: Waste-dump at the former Alumix plant at Portovesme (Sardinia, Italy)

In an industrial zone at Portovesme aluminium, zinc and lead are processed and a coal-fired power station produces electricity. For decades it has been polluting the air, water and soil and has been classified by the Italian authorities as an industrial area of high environmental risk. One of the plants producing aluminium, the former Alumix, has been privatized and sold to the company Alcoa Italia (US-owned). For fifteen years Alumix deposited hundreds of cubic metres of dangerous waste (coaldust, sand-blasting dust, dust produced by coke used in the metallurgical industry and anode furnaces, dust produced by 'rodding', cast-iron scrap, dust from the smoke blasting plant, furnace slag and asbestos-covered firebricks from electrolytic cells, etc.) on an unauthorized and unsealed dump consisting of a large hole in the centre of the courtyard inside the factory area.

At the beginning of the 1990s the Region of Sardinia made this dump legal, but established that the area needed 'improvement'.

Alcoa Italia had a number of tests carried out by a specialized American firm to establish the contents of the dump and then demanded that the area in question should be excluded from the contract of sale. The dump is now completely enclosed in another property and it is not clear who is responsible for its supervision.

Does the Commission consider that this dump can be deemed to comply with Community environmental standards, in particular the directives on waste (75/442/EEC ((OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39. )) and 78/319/EEC ((OJ L 84, 31.3.1978, p. 43. )) and subsequent amendments?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (11 April 1997)

Under Article 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC on waste ((OJ L 78, 26. 3.1991. )) Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is disposed of without endangering human health and without harming the environment, and in particular without risk to water, air, soil and plants and animals, without causing a nuisance through noise or odours and without adversely affecting the countryside or places of special interest. Member States shall also take the necessary measures to prohibit the abandonment, dumping or uncontrolled disposal of waste.

In addition, under Article 2 (2) of Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste ((OJ L 377, 31.12.1991. )) Member States shall take the necessary measures to require that establishments and undertakings which dispose of, recover, collect or transport hazardous waste do not mix different categories of hazardous waste or mix hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste.

Article 9 of Directive 75/442/EEC and Article 3 of Directive 91/689/EEC list provisions requiring establishments or undertakings to obtain a permit from the authorities.

The information provided by the Honourable Members leaves the impression that there is no permit for the dump, which is now enclosed in another property. Furthermore, it seems unclear whether the improvements for the area required by the region of Sardinia have been performed since 1990.

The unauthorised discharge of waste appears to have been in contradiction with the requirements of Directive 75/442/EEC since 1977, when the Directive entered into force. The Commission is of the opinion that it is up to the Italian authorities to assess under Italian legal rules, if and what measures have to be taken to remedy a possible discharge of waste which was not in compliance with Community legal rules.

On the basis of the information provided concerning the dump at the former Alumix plant at Portovesme further documentation is needed to ascertain whether the dump now complies with the relevant provisions of Directives 75/442/EEC and 91/689/EEC. The Commission will contact the Italian authorities to that effect.