WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1885/97 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. Waste management
Date: 1997-06-02
Institutions: AMADEO, European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, European Environment Agency, Eurostat, data collection, environmental policy, information, statistics, waste management

C 21/110

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

22. 1. 98

(98/C 21/219)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1885/97

by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission

(2 June 1997)

Subject: Waste management

With  reference  to  the  Commission(cid:146)s  (cid:145)Communication  on  the  review  of  the  Community  Strategy  for  Waste
Management(cid:146) and the (cid:145)draft Council Resolution on waste policy(cid:146) (COM(96) 0399 final), will the Commission
promote studies and research, with a specific role for the EEA (European Environment Agency), to explain the
crucial  aspects  of  the  problem  and  highlight  particular  situations  while  waiting  for  the  complex  system  for
providing statistics at European level to begin producing reliable data?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(25 June 1997)

In the communication from the Commission on the review of the Community strategy for waste management (1)
the importance of the availability of reliable and comparable data on waste generation and waste management
was  outlined.  The  Commission  expressed  the  need  to  examine  the  appropriate  instruments  to  improve  data
collection because the current situation regarding waste statistics is not satisfactory. These activities have to be
undertaken in close co-operation with Eurostat, the European environmental agency and Member States.

In reply to the question of the Honourable Member three important initiatives to improve the situation regarding
waste statistics should be mentioned:

› 

› 

› 

in October 1996 the Commission started a study that aims to collect data on waste generation and waste
management in the Member States and develop a methodology for the gathering and use of these data. The
final report of this study is expected in October 1997;

the Commission is preparing a Council regulation on waste management statistics. This will establish the
legal basis for a system of Community waste statistics that will provide harmonised data on waste generation
and waste management. The results of the study mentioned above will be used to define the degree of detail
for requirements regarding methodology and the need for guidance documents;

the Agency is preparing the establishment of a European topic centre on waste. The decision to establish this
topic centre was taken in December 1996. In March 1997 a specification describing the tasks of the centre
was  sent  to  the  nominated  candidates.  The  European  topic  centre  will  be  designated  by  the  Agency’s
management  board  in  June  1997.  The  European  topic  centre  will  play  an  important  role  in  providing
information  for  the  preparation  of  waste  management  policy,  on  the  basis  of  the  statistics  provided  by
Eurostat such as detailed surveys for specific sectors, trend analysis etc. The results of the above mentioned
study will give valuable input in the starting period of the centre.

With these provisions it should be possible to improve considerably the situation regarding waste statistics and
information on waste during the years to come.

(1)  COM(96) 399 final.

(98/C 21/220)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1886/97

by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission

(2 June 1997)

Subject: Monitoring CO2  emissions

In  the  (cid:145)Proposal  for  a  Council  Decision  amending  Decision  93/389/EEC  for  a  monitoring  mechanism  of
Community CO2  and other greenhouse gas emissions(cid:146) (COM(96) 0369 final › 96/0192 SYN) (1),

various references are made to the ozone precursors which are harmful to health.