Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the implementation of Community waste legislation Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils and Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge for the period (1995 - 1997)
Date: 2000-01-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, national implementing measure, report, waste disposal, waste management

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 10.01.2000
COM(1999) 752 final

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT

ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY WASTE LEGISLATION
Directive 75/442/EEC on waste,
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste,
Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils and
Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge

FOR THE PERIOD 1995 - 1997

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT

ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY WASTE LEGISLATION
Directive 75/442/EEC on waste,
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste,
Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils and
Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge

FOR THE PERIOD 1995 - 1997

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….4

DIRECTIVE 75/442/EEC on waste........................................................................ 8

I.

II.

Introduction

Report based on the answers to the questionnaire

Annex

DIRECTIVE 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste ....................................................... 32

I.

II.

Introduction

Report based on the answers to the questionnaire

DIRECTIVE 75/439/EEC on waste oils ................................................................. 44

I.

II.

Introduction

Report based on the answers to the questionnaire

Annex

DIRECTIVE 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge .......................................................... 65

I.

II.

Introduction

Report based on the answers to the questionnaire

Annex

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………..86

3

INTRODUCTION

This report intends to inform the other Community Institutions, Member States and the
interested public of the implementation of waste legislation for the period 1995 to 1997,
especially the implementation of
- Directive 75/442/EEC1on waste
- Directive 91/689/EEC2 on hazardous waste (replaced Directive 78/319/EEC)
- Directive 75/439/EEC3 on the disposal of waste oils
- Directive 86/278/EEC4 on the protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil,
when sewage sludge is used in agriculture.
It presents the first report according to Article 5 of Directive 91/692/EEC5 standardising and
rationalising reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment
for the period 1995 to 1997. The Commission has already published a report on the
implementation of Directives 75/439/EEC, 75/442/EEC, 78/319/EEC and 86/278/EEC for the
period 1990 to 19946.

Under Directive 91/692/EEC Member States are required to submit reports, drawn up on the
basis of questionnaires. Questionnaires relating to Directives 75/439/EEC on used oils,
75/442/EEC on waste and 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge were adopted by Commission
Decision 94/741/EC7 of 24 October 1994. Though Member States were legally not obliged to
send their reports on the implementation of Directive 91/689/EEC, since the corresponding
questionnaire was adopted with delay8, they were nevertheless invited to do so in order to
ensure continuity the previous report.

Directive 91/692/EEC requires the Commission to publish a consolidated report. The aim of
this Community report is to enable Member States and the Commission to assess the progress
made in implementing the waste management Directives throughout the Community and, at
the same time, provide the general public with information on the state of the environment.
Reports from Member States are the main source of information. The success of this report
depends therefor largely on the quality and punctuality of the national information.

Member States had to submit their reports by 30 September 1998. The Austrian, Finish and
Danish reports arrived in October 1998. Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom only sent
their reports after, sometimes
considerable, delay.

Greece, Italy, and Spain did not send any of the requested reports. Portugal has not sent the
report on waste, hazardous waste and waste oils and the Netherlands have not sent the report
on sewage sludge (status May 1999). For these cases the Commission started procedures
under Article 226 EC Treaty.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

OJ L 194, 25.07.1975, p. 47 as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC (OJ L 78, 18.03.1991, p. 32)
OJ L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 20
OJ L 194, 25.07.1975, p. 31 as amended by Directive 87/101/EEC (OJ L 42, 22.12.1986, p. 43)
OJ L 181, 04.07.1986, p. 6
OJ L 377, 23.12.1991, p. 48
COM (97) 23 final of 27 February 1997
OJ L 296, 17.11.1994, p. 42
OJ L 256, 19.09.1997, p. 13

4

Table 1 provides an overview on the national contributions to this report. Table 2 presents the
correspondence between the NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) levels and
the national administrative units, which are quoted in the following tables.

Co-operation with the European Topic Centre on Waste (ETC/W)

This is the first time for the waste sector that the report has been worked out in co-operation
with the ETC/W which focused mainly on the presentation of the waste data provided in the
questionnaires.

The ETC/W was set up in June 1997 by the European Environment Agency to act as a centre
of expertise for use by the Agency in support of its mission and, specifically, to undertake part
of the Agency’s Multi-Annual Work Programme. The ETC/W had already experience and a
close co-operation with all Member States of the Agency. This co-operation was being
established and developed through EIONET,
the establishment, development and co-
ordination of a network for collecting, processing and analysis of environmental data
(European Environmental Information and Observation Network), and in particular the
National Reference Centres for Waste.

The follow up of the co-operation with the ETC/W aims at establishing databases which
future reporting. The co-operation between the European Environment Agency and the
Commission in reporting matters has now been formalised by virtue of Article 2 of
Regulation (EEC) No. 1210/909.

9

OJ L 120, 11.5.1990, p. 1 as amended by Regulation No. 933/1999 (OJ L 117, 05.05.1999, p. 1.)
5

Austria

Belgium Denmark

Finland

France

Germany Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxem-
bourg

Nether-
lands

Portu-
gal

Spain

Sweden

United
Kingdom

Directive
75/442 on
waste

Directive
91/689 on
hazardo
us waste

Directive
86/278 on
sewage
sludge

Directive
75/439 on
waste
oils

received

received

received
Wallonia
Flanders

received
Wallonia
Flanders

8 Länder
excl.
Vienna

received
Wallonia
Flanders

received

received
Wallonia
Flanders

Received

Received

received

Received

Received

Received

received

received

received

Received

Received

received

Some
figures
given in
75/442

Received

Received
no tables

received

received

some
figures
given in
75/442

Received

Received

received

Received

Received

Received

Received

received

received

Received

Received

received

Received

received

Received

received

received

received

Table 1: Overview of data received from the Member States (status May 1999)

Data not received

6

NUTS 1

NUTS 2

NUTS 3

NUTS 4

NUTS 5

3 Provinces

11 Arrondissements

-

1

-

16 Regierungsbezirke

Groups of development regions

4 Development regions

de

comunidades

7 Comunidades

autonomas

+Ceuta y Mellila

-

1 Regional Authority

8 Counties/County

34 DEDs/Wards

1 Amter

38 Kreise

13 Nomoi

17
1

22
4

Provincias (4)
+Ceuta Mellila

Départements
+DOM

Regions

20 Provincie

1

12 COROP regio's

43

15

445

-

-

-

Communes

Kommuner

Gemeinden

51 Eparchies

150 Demoi/Koinotites

Comarras (41)

Municipios

Communes

50
2

96
4

boroughs

103

1 Cantons

40

35

-

-

-

30 Concelhos
minicipion

Comuni

12 Communes

Gemeenten

Gemeinden

305 Freguesias

Régions
+DOM

8
1

1

11 Regioni

1

4 Provincies

Gruppen von Bundesländern

3 Bundesländer

9 Gruppen von Politischen

Continente
+Regioes autonomas

1
2

Cimissaoes de
coordenacao regional
+Regioes autonomas

Bezirken

5

Grupos de Concelhos

2

Régions

Länder

Agrupacion
autonomas

Z.E.A.T
+DOM

-

Gruppi di regioni

Landsdelen

BE

DK

DE

GR

ES

FR

IE

IT

LU

NL

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

Manner-Suomi/Ahvenanmaa

2 Suuralueet

6 Maakunnat

19 Seutukunnat

88 Kunnat

Standard regions

11 Groups of counties

35 Counties/Local

authority regions

1 Riksområden

8 Län

24

-

65 Districts

Kommuner

485 Wards/Communities/

11095

Localities

EUR 15

77

206

1031

1074

98433

Table 2: Correspondence between the NUTS levels and the national administrative units.

The national totals of one level take the superior levels belonging to this level into consideration (e.g. Belgium: 10 provincies and 1 unit, Brussels which belongs also to Nuts 1.

7

589

276

16176

5921

8077

36664

3445

8100

118

672

2351

4208

455

286

DIRECTIVE 75/442/EEC ON WASTE, AS AMENDED BY DIRECTIVE
91/156/EEC

I.

INTRODUCTION

Directive 75/442/EEC10 constitutes the legal framework for Community policy on waste
management. After entering into force in 1977 it was amended by Directive
91/156/EEC11 in order to incorporate the guidelines set out in the Community Strategy
for Waste Management in 1989. The review of the Strategy of 30 July 199612 confirmed
the main elements and adapted it to the requirements for the next five years.

The main provisions of Directive 75/442/EEC as amended are in particular:

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

definition of waste, further developed by the European Waste Catalogue (EWC)
established by Commission Decision 94/3/EC13, and other waste management
terminology (Article 1)

the hierarchy of waste management principles: waste prevention, recovery, safe
disposal (Article 3 and 4)

the principle of proximity and self-sufficiency applying to waste for final disposal
and the establishment of an integrated network of disposal installations (Article 5)

the obligation on the part of Member States to establish waste management plans,
which are essential to the realisation of this policy (Article 7)

permission for establishments and undertakings carrying out disposal and recovery
operations (Article 9 and 10)

the polluter-pays-principle (Article 15)

reporting requirements (Article 16)

The following consolidated report is based on the questionnaire adopted by Commission
Decision 94/741/EC14 of 24 October 1994. According to Directive 91/692/EEC15
Member States were obliged to submit their reports on the period 1995 to 1997 by 30
September 1998. Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain did not send their reports, thus the
consolidated report only refers to eleven Member States. As regards Belgium, there is
no federal waste law implementing this Directive. Each of the three regions (Walloon,
Flemish, Brussels)
implement European waste legislation independently. Only the
Flemish and Walloon regions sent their reports.

10

11

12

13

14

15

OJ L 194, 25.07.1975, p. 47
OJ L 78, 18.03.1991, p. 32
COM(96) 399 final, 30.07.1996
OJ L 5, 07.01.1994, p. 15
OJ L 296, 17.11.1994, p. 42
OJ L 377, 23.12.1991, p. 48

8

In addition to the first part of the questionnaire (INCORPORATION INTO NATIONAL
LAW) the implementation of the definition of waste and the European Waste Catalogue
has been evaluated for all 15 Member States.

II.

REPORT BASED ON THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE
(COMISSION DECISION 94/741/EC)

INCORPORATION INTO NATIONAL LAW

1. National Law

The eleven Member States, which submitted their reports (two regions of Belgium,
the Netherlands, Austria,
Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Luxembourg,
Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom), confirmed that they have provided the
Commission with details of the current laws and regulations in force to incorporate the
Directive 75/442/EEC on waste as amended into national law.

Definition of “waste” and the European Waste Catalogue (Article 1(a))

in the
Under Directive 75/442/EEC “waste” shall mean any substance or object
categories set out in Annex I which the holder discards or intends or is required to
discard (Article 1(a), first subparagraph). The Commission, pursuant to Article 1(a),
the so-called European Waste
second subparagraph, adopted Decision 94/3/EC,
Catalogue (EWC).

For a long time now, the lack of convergence of national definitions and the lack of
compliance with European Community law has arguably been one of the biggest and
most essential problems in the area of waste management. The Commission has
identified divergences in Member States’ notions of waste and the establishment of
different waste lists as important obstacle in the implementation of European legislation.
These obstacles impinge on the double objective that the Community definition on waste
serves, namely environmental protection and functioning of the internal market.

Since 1996 most Member States have decided to transpose the Community definition of
“waste”, however divergences still exist. These divergences are of different nature and
range from very specific details with no major impact
in practical terms to great
deviations from Community law.

In the opinion of the Commission, three elements have to be transposed into national
legislation in order to comply with the Community waste definition, namely the
definition of “waste”, Annex I to Council Directive 75/442/EEC, and the EWC.

the Commission notes that only five Member States (Denmark,16
On that basis,
Finland,17 Italy,18 Spain19 and Sweden20) have transposed correctly all the relevant
elements of the waste definition.

16

17

Statutory Order from the Ministry of the Environment No. 299 of 30 April 1997 on Waste.
Waste Act 1072/1993. Waste Decree 1390/1993. Ministry of the Environment Decision 867/1996
on the list of most common wastes and of hazardous wastes.

9

In Belgium the Flemish21 and the Walloon22 regions have correctly transposed the three
elements of the definition, however Brussels legislation23 has failed to introduce the
EWC.

Austria has not correctly transposed the Community waste definition. Waste in Austrian
legislation is understood to be "[_] movable goods which the owner or holder intends to
discard or has discarded or where the qualification and treatment as waste are necessary
in view of the public interest. Exceptions from this definition comprise new goods, which
are still in use and goods, which are used or recycled at the site of their generation.
Specific exemptions are formulated for agriculture waste. Furthermore, a good, qualified
as a waste and submitted to a recovery process (old good) shall be considered waste as
long as it, or the substances recovered from it, have been submitted to an authorised
utilisation or recovery procedure". In addition waste oils do not fall under the definition
of waste24.

France has neither completely transposed the Community waste definition and the
relevant Annex I on categories of waste nor introduced the EWC. In French legislation,
waste is understood to be “[…] any residue of a production, transformation or utilisation
process, any substance, material, product or more generally any movable good which is
abandoned or which its holder intends to abandon”.25 It is at least doubtful, whether
“abandon” is equivalent to “discard”; furthermore the Directive’s requirement that a
material which a holder is obliged to discard constitutes waste, lacks in this definition.

The Netherlands have failed to transpose the definition of waste, which is defined in
Dutch legislation as “all substances, preparations or other products which the holder
discards, intends to discard or is required to discard in view of its disposal or recovery”.26
Annex I on categories of waste and the EWC have not been transposed into Dutch
legislation either.

Germany has transposed the annex on categories of waste and the EWC. However,
diverging from the Community definition, German legislation defines waste as “[…] all
movable property that falls within one of the groups listed in Annex I and which the
owner discards, wishes to discard or must discard. ‘Waste for recovery’ is waste that is
recovered; waste that is not recovered is ‘waste for disposal’.27

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

Legislative Decree No.22, on the implementation of Directive 91/156/CEE on Waste, 91/689/CEE
on Hazardous Waste and 94/62/CE on Packaging and Packaging Waste, of 5 February 1997.
Law 10/1998 on Waste, of April 21.
Environment Code (SFS 1998:808) of June 11, 1998 (to enter into force on 1 January 1999).
Ordinance (SFS 1998:902) of 26 June 1998.
Decree of 20 April 1994, amending Decree of 2 July 1981 concerning waste management. Order of
the Flemish Government establishing the Flemish regulation on the prevention and management of
waste (VLAREA) of 17 December 1997.
Decree on Waste, of 27 June 1996. Order of the Walloon Government establishing a Waste
Catalogue, of 10 July 1997.
Ordinance on Prevention and Management of Waste, of Mars 7, 1991.
Article 2.1, Waste Management Law of 6 June 1990
Article 1.2, Law No. 75-633 on the elimination of waste and the recuperation of materials, of 15
July 1975 (as amended).
Article 1.1, Environmental Management Act (1993).
Article 3.1, Waste Avoidance, Recycling and Disposal Act of 27 September 1994.

10

Greece has introduced Annex I on categories of waste and the EWC, but failed to
transpose the waste definition as such, only defining ‘solid waste’ and doing so by
reference to the hazardous waste definition.28

Irish legislation has transposed literally the Community definition of waste. However, it
has included an additional element foreign to the EC definition, i.e. a iuris tantum
presumption that anything that is discarded as being waste shall be presumed to be
waste.29

Luxembourg defines waste as “any substance or object which belongs to the categories
of Annex 1 of this law and, in general, any movable good which is abandoned or which
its holder has decided to abandon or which he is required to discard. Those products and
substances destined to be valorised are considered to be waste in the meaning of the
present law until they, as well as the first secondary goods or the energy that results from
the valorisation operation, are reintroduced into the economic circuit”. 30 The EWC has
not been transposed, but Annex I on categories of waste forms part of Luxembourg's
legislation.

Portugal has taken into its legislation the definition of waste and the EWC, but has failed
to transpose Annex I on categories of waste.31

The United Kingdom has transposed the definition of waste and Annex I on categories
of waste, but has not as yet adopted the EWC.32

2. Competent Authorities – Article 6

According to Article 6, Member States have to establish or designate the respective
authorities responsible for the implementation of the Directive.

Table 1 provides an overview of the different structures of the national waste
administrations. The number of authorities in the waste sector and their competencies
differs widely throughout the European Union.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIRECTIVE

1. Waste Management Plans – Article 7

According to Article 7 (1) the competent authorities shall draw up waste management
plans which shall, in particular, relate to the type, quantity and origin of waste to be
recovered and disposed of, general requirements, any special arrangements for
particular wastes and suitable disposal sites or installations. Article 6 of Directive

28

29

30

31

32

Decision 69728/824 on Measures and Conditions for the Management of Solid Waste of 17 May
1996.
Article 4.1.a, Waste Management Act, 1996.
Article 3.a, Law on the Prevention and Management of Waste, of 17 June 1994.
Decree-Law 239/97 of September 9, 1997. Regulation No. 818/97 of 5 September 1997.
The Waste Management Licensing Regulations, 1994 (1994 No. 1056). The Waste and
Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, of 26 November 1997. Statutory Instruments of
Northern Ireland, 1997 No. 2778 (N.I.19). Gibraltar’s Public Health Waste Regulations 1995.

11

91/689/EEC on hazardous waste and Article 14 of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and
packaging waste require also waste management plans for those wastes. Waste
management plans are a key element in the Community’s approach to waste.

Table 2 gives an overview of the existing waste management plans. The submitted plans
vary widely in their structure, content and degree of detail. One reason is that these plans
are worked out on different national, regional and local levels, another reason that
Member States have different levels of experience in waste management planning.

The quality of national waste management plans in the European Union is still
unsatisfactory. On the basis of the plans notified to the Commission, a number of
infringement procedures have been opened against Member States for non-compliance
with the various provisions concerning waste management plans. Greece and
Luxembourg have not yet notified a waste management plan at all. For the other Member
States, except Austria, the waste management plans notified to the Commission do not
cover all
types of waste or the whole territory of the Member State concerned.
Discussions with Member States revealed an interest in having a European guideline for
planning of waste management. The European Topic Centre on Waste is preparing a
guideline for waste management plans which will be a useful tool in order to improve
and adjust the level of waste management planning for actual and future Member States.

Collaboration between Member States as referred to in Article 7(2) has taken place
between Finland, Norway and Sweden concerning final disposal of municipal waste and
between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland concerning the incineration of
clinical waste in the UK.

2. Details on Waste Prevention and Waste Recovery – Article 3

According to Article 3 (1) of the Directive and the Community Waste Management
Strategy Member States have to take measures to encourage waste prevention (reduction
of waste generation and its harmfulness) and waste recovery (with the preference re-use,
recycling and energy recovery).

In Belgium, the Flemish region launched three programs to promote waste prevention.
The first program is to stimulate projects that aim to identify environmental problems per
industrial sector and to produce guidelines. The second program stimulates projects to
demonstrate feasibility of preventive measures in at least two companies in the same
sector. The third program stimulates waste stream inventories and development of waste
prevention measures and plans. The Walloon region referred to the waste management
plan “wallon des déchets, Horizon 2010”.

France referred to the legal implementation but did not provide details on the practical
application.

Denmark also confirmed that Article 3 has been implemented through the general
legislation on the protection of the environment and referred in addition to national plans
on clean technologies and the reuse of waste.

Germany enumerated the legal texts dealing with prevention and recycling. Thus the
basic obligation to minimise and recover waste is proven during the permission
procedure according to § 5(1) of the Federal Immission Controle Act. As regards

12

information local authorities have to inform on products which minimise waste
generation and the use of recycled materials, establishments have to nominate a “waste
consultant” and specialised establishments may inspect operators in the field of waste
management.

In Ireland the waste management plans (under Article 7) must include objectives to
prevent or minimise the production or harmful nature of waste and specify measures to
be undertaken with a view to securing those objectives (Section 22 of the Waste
Management Act, 1996). In addition, a person carrying out an agricultural, commercial
or industrial activity, including the manufacture of any product, shall have due regard to
the need to prevent or minimise the production of waste including the design of the
product (Section 28 of the Waste Management Act, 1996). The Minister may specify
prevention and minimisation measures.

Luxembourg has implemented the measures via Article 6 of the Law on the Prevention
and Management of Waste of 17 June 1994. The Ministry of Environment has
undertaken the following concrete initiatives:
- pilot project on the separate collection of bio waste
- promotion of individual composting
- separate collection and information campaigns for hazardous household waste
- a taxation concept for household waste (for 15% of the population and with a success of
50% waste reduction)
- classified establishments have to make a plan on waste prevention and waste

management.

The Netherlands did not reply to this question.

Austria notified that details on measures to encourage waste prevention and waste
recovery had already been submitted.

Finland referred to the legal implementation, without giving further practical details.

Sweden only referred to the legislation, which had been notified, without giving further
details.

The United Kingdom confirmed the implementation without giving new explanations.
In the previous report it has been stated that the United Kingdom had transposed the
requirement except where Northern Ireland is concerned.
(cid:1)

The Flemish region of Belgium and Luxembourg started specific programs or
actions to support prevention and recovery. Germany and Ireland explained how
the objectives are implemented in the waste management procedures (permission
procedures and waste management plans), whereas the other Member States only
confirmed that the requirements have been transposed into national law. It is doubtful
whether and how much waste has been prevented; there is even no formula to
calculate the success and to make it comparable.

3. Self-sufficiency in waste disposal – Article 5

Pursuant to Article 5 (1) Member States have to take measures to establish an integrated
and adequate network of disposal installations in order to enable the Community and the

13

Member States to become self-sufficient in waste disposal. According to Article 4(3a) i)
of Regulation (EEC) No. 259/93 Member States may ban the shipment of waste for
disposal.

As regards Belgium, the Flemish region did not notify any such measures. Co-operation
with other Member States takes place on a case by case basis, but not in a structured
manner. The Walloon region has started co-operation with neighbouring regions during
the preparation of the waste management plan Horizon 2010. In Belgium both regions
exported 4% of the hazardous waste, out of which 96.3% waste for recycling, 3.4% for
incineration with energy recovery and 0.3% for incineration (see figure 2). As regards the
disposal of hazardous waste Belgium achieved a degree of self-sufficiency of 99.97%.

Denmark referred to the previous report, where it had stated that there are sufficient
disposal capacities and that, in particular through the adoption of management plans and
co-operation agreements between waste management companies, the optimum use of
their capacities and an environmentally sound disposal was envisaged.

Germany has taken the following measures: waste management plans which cover the
whole territory, co-ordination between the Länder, co-operation between the waste
management operators of different Länder and the Länder themselves. Co-operation with
other Member States has been taken place between the Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
in the framework of the MARPOL Convention and between Niedersachsen, Bremen and
Dutch Provinces. As regards the degree of self-sufficiency Germany exported in 1995
around 0.3% (1.1 million tonnes) of waste for recovery (85%) and disposal (15%); in
1996 Germany exported around 1.22 million tonnes, 90.8% thereof for recovery. This
information was not presented in the tables (see tables 3.1 and 3.2).

According to previous report, France wanted especially to organise the transport of
waste. For this report it indicated measures for hospital and healthcare waste without
explaining the changes for the principle of self-sufficiency. In total France stated that it
achieved a degree of self-sufficiency of 99.95%, but referred only to hazardous waste
(2000 tonnes out of 4 million tonnes of hazardous waste were exported for disposal).
This data was not presented in the table for hazardous waste (see table 3.1).

In Ireland the measures to establish an integrated and adequate network of disposal
installations have to be part of the local and state waste management plans. Having
regard to the principle of producer responsibility, the management of industrial wastes is
a matter in the first
instance for industry itself. The Minister of Environment may
promote or support (financial assistance inclusive) the establishment of desirable waste
management facilities. Between 1994 and 1999 under the EU financed Operational
Programme for Environmental Services grant assistance of some 15.4 million
has been
allocated in respect of the provision of waste recovery and hazardous waste management
facilities.

€

Hazardous waste requiring high temperature incineration may be exported from Ireland
to the UK (in the context of the 1996 UK Management Plan for the Export and Import of
waste). Due to table 3.2 and figure 2, 23% of the hazardous waste was exported thereof
47% for recycling, 36% for incineration, 11% for landfilling and 6% for other treatment.
As regards the disposal of hazardous waste Ireland achieved a degree of self-sufficiency
of only 67% (~ 54600 tonnes).

14

Luxembourg listed the available disposal installations inside the country. It exported
around 70% of hazardous waste (~ 99000 tonnes) thereof 53% for recycling and 47% for
disposal. Due to a re-mediation project, the quantity of exported hazardous waste in 1996
and 1995 doubled and tripled respectively as the contaminated soil was sent for
incineration to the Netherlands. As regards the disposal of hazardous waste Luxembourg
achieved a degree of self-sufficiency of only 1% (476 tonnes).

The Netherlands has included this network in the waste management plans.

the

regularly
Austria investigates
(e.g. Bundesabfallwirtschaftsplan 1998). It reached a degree of self-sufficiency of more
than 99% due to the total waste generation of 46,485,000 tonnes per year. There were no
details on the destination of the 1,278 tonnes per year being exported.

existing and necessary disposal

capacities

Finland laid down the principle of proximity and self-sufficiency in the Waste Act. They
have been further specified in the National Waste Plan, which was adopted by the
Council of State in June 1998. All exports of waste for final disposal are prohibited,
except to other EC or EFTA countries. Finland confirmed that it is almost self-sufficient
with regard to the disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste with the exception of
cases where treatment facilities for specific wastes were not available, co-operation with
the neighbours (Sweden, Norway, Estonia) and for testing new disposal methods or other
experimental purposes. About 3,000 to 10,000 tonnes of hazardous waste have been
imported annually mainly for high-temperature incineration.

Sweden has not taken measures in order to establish an integrated and adequate network
of disposal installation. However, Sweden has no collaboration and in general terms
100% self-sufficiency as regards waste disposal.
In 1996 the waste export was
24 500 tonnes and the import 115,000 tonnes.

In the United Kingdom Article 5 (1) was transposed by the national waste strategy for
England and Wales (Making Waste Work) and the relevant planning guidance in
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which was adopted in 1995 and will be
reviewed before the end of 1999. In addition, in the UK Waste Management Plan for
Exports and Imports of Waste exports of waste for disposal have been prohibited since
1 June 1997. Imports of waste are also prohibited with the exception of waste from the
Republic of Ireland and from Portugal for high temperature incineration. Before the
prohibition of the export of waste (1995 to 1997) the United Kingdom had reached a rate
of self-sufficiency of 98.2 to 98.5%.
(cid:1)

Most Member States reported that they achieved a degree of self-sufficiency for the
disposal of waste/hazardous waste of around 99%. Only Ireland and Luxembourg
exported 33% and 99% of the hazardous waste for disposal.

4. Details on waste generation and treatment - Article 7 (1)

In the questionnaire Member States were asked to provide data on the generation and
management of domestic waste, hazardous waste, and other wastes.

15

As regards the comparability of the figures given by the Member States, the following
problems have been identified:

• the figures on incineration as disposal operation and incineration with energy recovery
are not completely comparable as Member States use different criteria to distinguish
between these operations;

• as regards table 3.1 on domestic waste, some Member States provided figures on
municipal waste which may include, in addition to domestic waste, commercial,
industrial and institutional waste of a similar nature;

• Ireland provided different figures for hazardous waste in the questionnaires of

Directive 75/442/EEC and 91/689/EEC;

• in some cases the sum of all indicated waste operations was bigger than the amount of
collected waste; the reasons may be that either the figures are not correct or that the
waste is e.g. stored temporarily before being recovered or disposed of.

As regards domestic/municipal waste (see table 3.1, figure 1 and 4), data from the
OECD environment compendium 1997 were added for Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain
in order to provide a more complete picture throughout European Union. The quantity of
domestic waste, which was generated per person per year, differs between 200 and
500 kg. This large scale is probably due to the fact that some Member States provided
data for domestic waste as requested and others for municipal waste, which may include
similar commercial, industrial and institutional waste.

The percentages of waste recycling differ widely from 0 to 44%. Only three Member
States achieved a recycling rate of around 40% whereas three Member States did not
recycle at all, which led to a mean recycling rate of 15%. Incineration, regardless of
whether with or without energy recovery, became an important part of domestic waste
management in eight Member States (15 to 56% and 19% in average). However, the
most common handling is still disposal on landfills (average = 60%).

For hazardous waste (see table 3.2, figure 2 and 4) the missing figures for Greece, Italy,
Portugal and Spain could not be added from other sources. For Ireland the more detailed
data in the report on Directive 91/689/EEC was chosen for presentation. It achieved the
highest recycling rate of 50%. Three other Member States achieved around 30%, the
other less than 20%. Denmark did even not recycle at all. Contrary to the data on
domestic waste, the mean rate of landfilling is lower (35%) but therefore another 35% in
average was reported as “other treatment” and “not specified”. Belgium, Ireland and
Luxembourg exported 4, 23 and 70% of the total hazardous waste.

“Other wastes” constitute the biggest part of the generated waste (see table 3.3, figure 3
and 4). It is not possible to provide a clear picture on “other wastes” and their handling
throughout the European Union as Member States included different fractions or even
did not provide any figures. The reason is probably either that Member States did not
know how to reply since there is no specification in the questionnaire or that Member
States did not have data in this field. Finland included industrial waste, waste from
energy and water supply, construction and demolition waste, mining waste and
agricultural waste which led to 12.9 tonnes of “other wastes” generated per person per
year. Ireland, in comparison, generated only 1.4 tonnes per person per year.

16

(cid:1)

The success of waste recycling differs widely between Member States. There are still
Member States which do not separately collect domestic waste in order to promote
recycling but simply dispose of the waste. Some Member States have a high rate of
incineration; but even with energy recovery (for which different criteria are used at
national level) incineration is only the second best option as regards recovery.
Current legislation and planned initiatives on European level such as on waste oils,
batteries, packaging, end-of-life vehicles, electrical and electronic waste, sewage
sludge and composting focus especially on separate collection at source and high
recycling rates.

5. General rules to provide exemptions from the permit requirement – Article 11

Pursuant to Article 11 Member States may exempt establishments and undertakings
carrying out their own waste disposal at the place of production or recovery operations
from the permit requirement (Article 9 and 10).

The Flemish region of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands
Austria, Finland and Sweden did not exempt establishments and undertakings from any
permit requirement.

The Walloon region of Belgium has implemented the possibility of exemption into its
law but it has not yet entered into force.

Ireland has adopted general rules to provide exemptions from the permit requirement in
Article 4 and the Second Schedule of the Waste Management (Permit) regulations of
1998.

Luxembourg transposed it through Article 11 of the waste legislation of 17 June 1994.

The United Kingdom has adopted general rules for granting exemptions for the permit
requirements.
(cid:1)

Some Member States implemented the possibility for the exemption from the permit
requirement. However, no reason or advantages for
the
competent authorities were presented either no experience with the application.

the establishment or

6. Keeping records – Article 14 and Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC

Pursuant to Article 14 establishments and undertakings carrying out recovery and
disposal operations have to keep records on waste and waste management. Producers
might be included in the provisions. They have to make this information available at the
request of the competent authorities.

In addition, Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC requests that producers of hazardous
waste have to keep records. Further, establishments and undertakings which transport
hazardous waste have to keep records. On request they have to make this information
available to the competent authorities.

As regards Belgium, the Flemish region requires records to be kept on the basis of
Article 5.2.1.2§4 of Decree Vlarem II. Article 5.2.1.2§6 of this Decree requires that the

17

operator should be able to report the total production of waste within a short time to the
competent authority. Establishments in category 1 of Decree Vlarem I are required to
designate a responsible environmental co-ordinator, amongst others, for record keeping.
Establishments that are required to produce an annual environmental report are required
to include the data from the waste registration into the waste part of this report.
Article 4.1.4.2 of Decree Valero II requires the operator to store the data for at least
5 years and keep them accessible to the competent authorities. From this answer it is not
clear whether the records contain only the quantities of waste or also the nature, origin,
destination etc. as required.

As regards Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC, Article 23§1 of the Flemish waste
management Decree requires registration and identification of hazardous wastes. Article
5.2.1.2of Vlarem requires that operators of waste treatment installations keep a register
for incoming and treated wastes. This article also specifies the data that is required for
the different wastes. Article 17 of the waste management Decree requires producers of
industrial wastes to keep a register of the generated wastes. This Article also includes a
yearly report for which a standard form is used as required in the Ministerial Decree on
reporting of wastes from 19 November 1990. The requirement for the producer of
hazardous waste is only implemented for industrial waste. There is no requirement
concerning the transport of hazardous waste.

As regards Article 14, the Walloon region only requests to keep records for specific
waste fractions such as hazardous waste, animal waste, healthcare waste and sewage
sludge. As regards Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC all producers or establishments
collecting, treating, recovering and disposing hazardous waste have to keep records. The
form of the records is established by “Walloon Office on Waste” and the details on the
content of the records are set up by Article 60. There is no requirement
for
establishments transporting hazardous waste to keep records.

In Denmark the provisions of Article 14 are implemented through §§ 15 to 19 of the
Statutory Order from the Ministry of the Environment No. 299 of 30 April 1997 on
waste. Thus establishments listed in its Annex 7 have to establish a register on the main
waste and waste management information (covering the type of waste, fraction, origin,
quantity and materials which have been recycled, energy-recovered or disposed of). In
addition, establishments treating hazardous waste have to register the code number of the
EWC. These details have to be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA).

As regards Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC producers of hazardous waste have to
report to the Council of the municipality on the type, amount, packaging, composition
and characteristics of waste (§ 50 of Statutory Order
from the Ministry of the
Environment No. 299 of 30 April 1997 on waste). In addition, establishments collecting
and transporting hazardous waste at professional level have to keep records on the
amount and type of hazardous waste and its producer and place of delivery. These
records have to be kept for five years. Establishments which treat hazardous waste have
to notify themselves and the information on the waste (inclusive information on recycling
and disposal) to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In Germany establishments carrying out recovery or disposal operations have to keep
records on the details listed in Article 14 (TA-Abfall/TA-Siedlungsabfall). In addition,
the waste legislation requires producers (operator of an installation), establishments

18

which carry out recovery and disposal operations and those collecting and transporting
waste to implement “proving procedures” (Nachweisverfahren). This procedure is
obligatory for hazardous waste and contains two parts: a pre-control, which focuses on
the permissibility of the planned action and a post-control, which checks the action as it
is carried out. Producers who generate more than 2000kg hazardous waste or 2000 tonnes
waste per year (per fraction) have to draw up a balance sheet of the kind of waste,
quantity and the waste management. Thus Germany introduced a system for keeping
records, which is not in line with Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC.

recovery and disposal
In France, establishments and undertakings carrying out
operations as well as producers of waste have to keep records. This requirement covers
only establishments handling hazardous waste (such as asbestos,
lead, chlorinated
solvents, used oils and waste resulting from the petroleum industry). The requirement of
keeping records does not seem to apply to establishments carrying out recovery or
disposal operations for non-hazardous waste and to those transporting hazardous waste.

In Ireland the Environmental Protection Agency requires licensed waste activities to
comply with Guidance Notes on record keeping incorporating standardised formats. But
Ireland referred to Waste Management regulations of 1998, which were established after
the period in question. As regards Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC, Ireland
confirmed the implementation without giving further details. This information does not
allow evaluating the implementation.

In Luxembourg the Community provision has been transposed by Article 14 of the
waste legislation of 17 June 1994. The establishments, which have to keep records and
which may be exempted are listed in Article 10 and 11 of that
law. As regards
Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC, the obligation for establishments carrying out
collection, transport, recovery and disposal operations for waste and hazardous waste to
keep records is laid down in the Law on the Prevention and Management of waste. The
same was established for producers of hazardous waste by Article 4,1 of the Regulation
on Hazardous Waste of 11 December 1996. Currently a standard form has not been
issued.

In the Netherlands requirements for record-keeping are included in Article 8.14 of the
Environmental Management Act. According to Article 8.13 of this Act producers can be
required to keep records as one of the requirements in their environmental permit. As
regards Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC,
the Netherlands confirmed the
implementation of this requirement. According to the Environmental Management Act
establishments are required to notify handing over of hazardous waste and to register
receipt of hazardous waste. The use of a tracing form is required during transport. There
is no information whether producers of hazardous waste are required to keep records.

The Austrian waste decree requires establishments, undertakings and producers to keep
records on the nature, quantity, origin, and destination of waste. These records have to be
kept for seven years. In addition, a “system of accompanying documents” is required for
hazardous waste.

In Finland business operators which are obliged to obtain a waste permit for their
operations, are recommended to supply the supervising authorities with annual
regards Article 4(2) of
summaries of waste
Directive 91/689/EEC, holders of waste permits, producers of hazardous waste

in standard form. As

records

19

(households excluded) as well as commercial transporters of hazardous waste shall keep
records of the quantity, type, quality and origin of all wastes including the collection,
storage, transport, recovery, disposal, delivery place and date (Waste Act, Section 51,
paragraph 3). Waste permit holders shall supply annual summaries of waste records on
standard forms to the supervising authorities. When delivering hazardous waste for
recovery or disposal an identification form containing detailed information on the waste
shall be drawn up and retained for three years.

Sweden referred to the Swedish environmental code and the Swedish Ordinance on
Hazardous Waste, which contains the requirement of keeping records. It is not possible
to evaluate the implementation on this basis.

The United Kingdom referred to the details given for the previous report. Thus the
United Kingdom obliges establishments and companies engaged in waste recovery and
disposal to keep a record. The producer of waste must, on transfer of waste, complete and
keep a transfer document specifying the type and the quantity of waste. They must also
keep a copy with a more detailed description of the nature and origin of the waste. This
information must be made available at the request of the competent authorities. As
regards Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC, all establishments transporting hazardous
waste have to have accompanying documents. The producers of hazardous waste must
keep a record of all accompanying documents issued at the time of transfer of waste.
(cid:1)

It is difficult to evaluate the efficiency of the requirement to keep records as Member
States implemented the provisions quite differently. However, Belgium, Germany,
France and the Netherlands did not implement the aspects of the provisions correctly.
Ireland and Sweden gave so little information that it was not possible to evaluate it.

20

Annex I

21

N
(1)

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Number
authorities
institutions (2)

of
or

N0=1
N2=9+9
N4=100

N1=2
N2=5
N4=308

N0 = 1
N3 = 15
N5 = 276

N1=1
N3=13
N5=452

N0=1
N2=26
N3=99

Waste management
plans

Permits for disposal
operations
(Article 9)
Permits
for
recovery operations
(Article 10)
of
Registrations
from
exemptions
requirements
of
Article 9 and 10
(Article 11)
Registration
establishments
collecting
and
transporting waste
(Article 12)
Comments

of

N0

N0
N2
N4
N0
N2
N4

N1

N1
N2
N4
N1
N2
N4
N1

N0
N5

N3

N3
N5

N3

N0
N1
N2
N1
N2

N1
N2

N1
N3

N3
N5

N3
N5

N3

N2

N1

N5

N3

N2

N3

(3)

-

(4)

N0=1
N1=16
N2=29
N3=449
N1
N2

N2
N3

N2
N3

N2
N3

N2 = 1
N4 = 34

N2
N4

N2
N4

N2
N4

N2
N4

Not
applicable

Directive 75/442/EEC on waste

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

UK

N1=1
N2=4
N3=21
N5=289
N1
N5

N2
N3

N2
N3

N1=2
N3=239

N1
N3

N1

N1

N1

N3

N1

Luxem-
bourg

N0=1

Nether-
lands

N0=1
N2=12
N4= ±600

N0

N0

N0

N0

N0

N0
N2
N4
N0
N2
N4
N0
N2
N4
N0
N2

N0
N2
N4

Table 1: Number and competence of national authorities in each of the NUTS levels designated pursuant to Article 6 (Questionnaire, Question I, 2)

Data not received

Notes:
1) N is a type of authority and a shortening for NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (Eurostat).
2) Number of authorities is given in short for example by: N2=5 is equal to 5 authorities/institutions of type NUTS 2.
3) Data only from the Flemish region
4)

The information from France is adjusted to the Official NUTS, level/nomenclature.

22

Waste Management Plans

Plans notified

Domestic
waste (yes/no)

Categories of waste covered
Others
(specify)

Hazardous
waste
(yes/no)

Directive 75/442/EEC on waste

Comments

Country

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

1 national plan 1998-2001

Plan wallon des déchets-Horizon 2010 -
Wallon Government
Plan de prévention et de gestion des déchets
1998-2002, Brussels Government
Sectorial plans from OVAM 1997-2001,
Flanders Government

yes

yes

yes

yes

national

1
1 plan on cleaner technologies
local plans not notified

plan

1993-1997

yes

yes

yes

yes

Yes

Yes

All non-hazardous waste

packaging waste, batteries, PCB, and 26
categories of other waste.
waste from water streams, inert waste, non
hazardous industrial waste
All waste, construction waste, green waste

Infringement due to the packaging chapter

All waste for example industrial waste,
packaging waste etc.

Infringement due to the packaging chapter
A new national plan is being elaborated

national

1
14 regional plans

plan

1998-2005

Yes

Yes

Municipal, industrial, construction, mining
and agricultural waste,
sewage sludge,
contaminated soil.

Some regional plans for hazardous waste
Some departmental plans
for municipal
waste

Yes

yes

Some waste streams missing is some plans

Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
plans and the packaging chapter
Case to be closed

the incompleteness of

Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
plans,
the plans and the
packaging chapter
New plans are being elaborated

the incompleteness of

Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
plans,
the plans and the
packaging chapter
New plans are being elaborated

the incompleteness of

Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
the plans and the
plans,
chapter
packaging
A national plan is being elaborated on the basis of
regional plans.

Some regional plans

Yes

yes

Construction waste, scrap from cars and
electronics, ship waste, hospital waste, road
cleaning waste and sludge
Waste for recovery are not included in some
plans.

Greece

No plans notified to the Commission

Table 2: Overview of waste management plans in Member States (Questionnaire, Question II, 1c) continues over next page

Did not send the report

23

Ireland

Some

local

plans

notified Yes

(for

some

yes

Not all waste types are included in the plans

plans)

yes

Yes

Not all waste types are included in the plans

Italy

Some regional plans

Luxembourg

No plan notified to the Commission

Netherlands
National ten year programme

Portugal

1 national plan for non hazardous waste
1995-2005
1 national plan for hazardous waste 1997-
2007
Regional plans
1 national plan

yes

yes

All waste for example industrial waste

Infringement due to the packaging chapter

Not all waste types are included in the plan

Spain

Some regional plans

Not all waste types are included in the plans

Sweden

United Kingdom

Some local

Some local and regional plans

yes

yes

yes

All waste

yes

Table 2: Overview of waste management plans in Member States (Questionnaire, Question II, 1c)

Did not send the report

24

the incompleteness of

Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
plans,
the plans and the
packaging chapter
On the basis of a national and some regional strategies,
regional plans for non hazardous waste and 1 national
plan for hazardous waste are being elaborated
Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
plans,
the plans and the
packaging chapter
Infringement due to a total lack of plan
1 national plan is being elaborated

the incompleteness of

Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
the plans and the
plans,
chapter
packaging

the incompleteness of

Sectorial plans are being elaborated

Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
the plans and the
plans,
chapter
packaging

the incompleteness of

1 national plan for municipal as well as sectorial plans
are being elaborated
Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
plans and the packaging chapter
1 national plan and the missing local plans are being
elaborated
Infringement due to the coverage of the territory by the
plans,
the plans and the
packaging chapter
On the basis a new strategy, plans are being elaborated
for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Regarding plans for waste management sites see the
detailed list in the answer from U.K.

the incompleteness of

Domestic
waste

Total
(ton/year)
Recycled

Incinerated
with energy
recovery
Incinerated

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxem-
bourg

Nether-
lands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

UK

2.775.000

4.632.562

2.767.000

980.000

26.000.000

39.068.000

3.197.000

1.503.171

25.400.000

207.534

7.945.000

3.480.000

14.296.000

1.263.000

1.828.359

777.000

169.669

1.500.000

11.562.000

226. 000

117.732

14.952

3.520.000

431.000

1.088.541

1.545.000

32.013

2.500.000

115.559

3.220.000

8.992.000

1.000

1.400.000

625.000

3.200.00
0
500.000

1.300.00
0

26.500.000

1.868.000

1.217.000

0

234.795

8.000.000

(2)

(2)

(2)

-

-

(2)

-

1.099.000

Directive 75/442/EEC on waste

Other

Year

Landfill

1.261.000

1.480.867

428.000

560.229

12.200.000

17.904.000

2.970.000

1.383.439

24.000.000

77.023

1.205.000

3.060.000

11.901.000

0

0

16.000

218.089

1.800.000

-

420.000

1.770.000

1.200.00
0
200.000

22.080.000

236.000

Comments

Sum is not
correct

Flanders
data from
1997
(1)

1996

1997

1997

1992

1995

1995

1997

1997

1994

1994

1994/95

95/96

(6)

Sum is not
correct

(3)

(3+)
(4)

(3)
(5)

(3)
(5)

Table 3.1: Data on domestic waste (Questionnaire, Question II, 4)

Data not received from questionnaire but from source mentioned in note (3).

n.a.: no answer

Includes both waste incinerated and waste incinerated with energy recovery

Note:
1) Data only from Flemish and Walloon region (Brussels not included)
2)
3) Data from OECD Environmental Compendium 1997; 3+) and a letter to the EEA of 16/09/98 from Instituto dos Residuos, Portugal and a letter to the ETC/W of 07/10/98
4) This data corresponds to a mean between municipal and domestic wastes
5) This data is for municipal waste
6) Data is estimated to be 40% of total municipal waste amount

25

Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, Domestic waste

120

100

6

80

43

32

5

%

60

40

15

23

20

43

39

1

15

56

28

22

57

3

17

2

46

23

30

0

7

47

31

10

6

93

92

94

6

38

41

15

12

12

37

56

41

44

83

88

7

8

6

7

16

4

0

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland(¤)

France
Germany(*)

Greece

Ireland

Italy(¤¤¤)

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Portugal(¤¤)

Spain(¤¤)

Sweden

Sumbigger than total

Not specified

Other treatment

Landfill

Incinerated

Incinerated with energy
recovery

3
0

62

12

7

15

83

5

7

U.K.

E.U.average

Recycled

(¤) DatafromFinland is calculated. (¤¤) Solid municipal wastedata. (¤¤¤) Domestic/municipal waste
(*) incinerationincludes, for Germany, incinerationwithenergy recovery

Figure 1: Percentages of treatment and disposal types for domestic waste (Source: Table 3.1)

26

Directive 75/442/EEC on waste

Luxem-
bourg

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

UK

142.039

1.271.000

500.000

2.370.000

42.412

254.200

n.a.

305.040

n.a.

476

n.a.

52.679

46.472

1997

-

254.200

444.850

1997
sum not
correct

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

179.000

165.000

861.000

582.000

estimated

1995/96
Sum not
correct

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Hazardous
waste

Total
(tonnes/year)
Recycled (1)

energy

Incinerated
with
recovery(1)
Incinerated(1)

Landfill(1)

760.000

2.034.801

269.000

572.000

5.900.000

9.170.000

250.000

359.740

-

53.000

1.900.000

1.207.000

105.000

5.481

95.000

102.000

700.000

967.000

0

0

140.194

-

28.000

200.000

(3)

786.624

86.000

275.000

3.000.000

2.697.000

Other(1)

405.000

562.824

88.000

114.000

100.000

1.818.000

Recycled (2)

energy

Incinerated
with
recovery(2)
Incinerated(2)

Landfill(2)

Other(2)

Year
Comments

73.416

2.610

231

0

0

1997
(4)(5)
Sum not
correct for
Flanders

1996

1997

(5)

1996
sum not
correct

229.317

114.918

27.084

27.598

7.990

24.051

18.880

5.867

2.929

1996
(5)

Table 3.2: Data on hazardous waste (Questionnaire, Question II, 4).

Data not received

n.a.: no answer

Note:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Within the Member State
Outside the Member State
Includes both waste incinerated and waste incinerated with energy recovery
Data only from Flemish and Walloon region (Brussels not included)
Data from answers to questionnaire of Council Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste.

27

Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, Hazardous waste

0

53

100

80

60

%

40

14

33

20

0

4

5

28

39

7
0

18

2

51

3

12

32

27

20

29

11

13

20

48

5

18

9

33

32

35

0

23

3

12

12

50

1

35

20

24

20

70

0
0
0
0
0

30

1

15

19

35

7

5

19

25

25

36

7

8

100

Austria

1)

Denmark

Belgium

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

2)

Ireland

Italy

Luxembourg

3)

Netherlands

(*) EU average excl. Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden
1) Fromthe exported fraction: recycled 96,3%, incinerated with energy rec 3,4%, incinerated 0,3%
2) Fromthe exported fraction: recycled 47%, incinerated 36%, landfilled 11%, other 6%
3) Fromthe exported fraction: recycled 53%, landfilled 47%.

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

U.K.

(*)E.U.average

Exported

Not specified

Other treatment

Landfill

Incinerated

Incinerated with
energy recovery

Recycled

Figure 2: Percentages of treatment and disposal types for hazardous waste (Source: Table 3.2)

28

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxem-
bourg

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

UK

Directive 75/442/EEC on waste

Other
waste

Total
(tonnes/year)
Recycled

energy

Incinerated
with
recovery
Incinerated

Landfill

Other

Year

42.950.000

42.253.088

9.876.000

65.787.000

n.a.

30.380.000
(2)
1.940.000

27.214.880

7.010.000

25.079.000

15.000

135.860

867.000

3.877.000

n.a.

0

2.124.726

-

902.000

135.000

10.630.000
(1)

5.193.100

2.010.000

8.872.000

7.383.327

95.000

6.197.000

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

Comments

(2)

1996

1997

(3)

4.888.226

2.520.000

44.740.000

835.674

35.915

0

0

0

35.650.000

2.925.000

-

3.600.976

2.520.000

4.600.000

415.661

1995

0

1997

1.560.000

1997

sum not
correct

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

221.915.000

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

1994/95

Table 3.3:

Data on other waste (Questionnaire, Question II, 4)
Most Member States did not specify which fractions they included in "other waste"
(Sludge, industrial waste, waste from energy and water supply, mining waste, agricultural waste, construction waste).

Data not received

n.a.: no answer

Note:
1)
2)
3)

Includes both waste on landfill and other waste
Inclusive 17,8 Mio. tonnes recycled excavated soil
Inclusive mining and agricultural wastes

29

D ire ctiv e 75/442 /E E C o n w aste, O th er w as te typ e s

1
1

20
0

9

25

5

17

12
5

71

70

64

32

9

13
1
6

38

3

10
7

80

1 0 0

9

7 4

1 7

8

9

1 7
2
4

6 0

10 0

A bove total

N ot s pecified

O ther treatm ent

Landfill

Inc inerated

Inc inerated w ith
energy rec overy

R ecycled

120

100

80

%

60

40

20

0
Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

U.K.

(*)E.U.average

(*) E U average excl. F ranc e, G erm any, G reec e,

Italy, P ortugal, S pain, S w eden and U K .

Figure 3: Percentages of treatment and disposal types for other waste (Source: Table 3.3)

30

D irectiv e 75/442/EE C o n w aste - W aste p ro d u ctio n p er p erso n

D om estic waste

H azardous w aste

O ther w aste types

4 ,1

3 ,8

2 ,9

5,4

A verage (**)

U .K .

S w eden

S pain

P ortugal

0,0 6

0,0 3

0,0 6

0 ,4

0 ,5

0 ,4

0,4

0 ,4

N etherlands

Luxem bourg

Italy

Ireland

0,5

0 ,5

0 ,4

0 ,4

G reece

0 ,3

G erm any

F rance

F inland

0 ,2

D enm ark

B elgium (*)

0 ,5

0 ,4

0,1 1

0 ,5

0 ,5

0 ,09

0 ,08

0 ,1 0

0,0 5

0 ,0 8

0 ,1 0

0,0 5

0 ,2 0

1 ,4

1 ,9

A ustria

0 ,4

0,0

1,0

2,0

1 2,9

4 ,6

5 ,2

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

8,0

9,0

10,0

(*) P opulation of B elgium include Flanders and W allonia but not B russels
(**) A verage for other waste excl. F rance, G reece, Italy, P ortugal, S pain, G erm any and S w eden

T on/person/year

Figure 4: Waste production per person per year for all types of waste (Source: Tables 3)

31

DIRECTIVE 91/689/EEC ON HAZARDOUS WASTE

I.

INTRODUCTION

In addition to Directive 75/442/EEC33, which constitutes the legal framework for all
wastes, Directive 91/689/EEC34
and monitoring
instruments for hazardous waste. Directive 91/689/EEC replaced Directive 78/319/EEC
on toxic and hazardous waste.

stricter management

contains

The main provisions of Directive 91/689/EEC to ensure environmentally sound
management of hazardous waste are:

-

-

-

-

-

definition of hazardous waste (Article 1), further developed by the list of hazardous
waste established by Council Decision 94/904/EC35

the prohibition to mix hazardous waste with other hazardous or non-hazardous waste
(Article 2)

specific permit requirements for establishments and undertakings dealing with
hazardous waste (Article 3)

periodic inspections and requirement to keep records for the producer of hazardous
waste (Article 4)

appropriate packaging and labelling of hazardous waste during collection, transport
and temporary storage (Article 5)

- waste management plans for hazardous waste (Article 6)

Domestic hazardous waste is excluded from the provisions of this Directive.

The following report is based on a questionnaire adopted by Commission Decision
97/622/EC36 of 27 May 1997. The Commission asked the Member States to provide
information on the implementation of Directive 91/689/EEC in order to continue the
previous report for the period 1990 to 199437.

Although there was no legal obligation to report for the period 1995 to 1997, nine
Member States (Denmark, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria,
Finland and Sweden) have submitted their national reports. As regards Belgium, there
is no federal waste law implementing this Directive. Each of the three regions (Walloon,
Flemish, Brussels)
implement European waste legislation independently. Only the
Flemish and Walloon region sent their reports. Some data and information on hazardous
waste could be extracted for Germany and the United Kingdom from the questionnaires
of Directive 75/442/EEC.

33

34

35

36

37

See report on Directive 75/442/EEC on waste
OJ L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 20
OJ L 356, 31.12.1994, p. 14
OJ L 256, 19.09.1997, p. 13
COM (97) 23 final of 27 February 1997

32

In addition to the first part of the questionnaire (INCORPORATION INTO NATIONAL
LAW) this report contains an evaluation of the implementation of the definition of
hazardous waste and the hazardous waste list for all 15 Member States.

II.

REPORT BASED ON THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE
(COMISSION DECISION 97/622/EC)

INCORPORATION INTO NATIONAL LAW

(Question 1 and 2)

The nine reporting Member States confirmed that they have provided the Commission
with details of
incorporate
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste and Council Decision 94/904/EC establishing
a list of hazardous waste into national legislation. Only the Walloon region noted that it
has not yet submitted the legislation implementing the list of hazardous waste.

and regulations

current

force

laws

the

to

in

Definition of “hazardous waste” and the Hazardous Waste List

Article 1(4) of Council Directive 91/689/EEC defines hazardous waste by referring of
reference to the List of Hazardous Waste adopted by Council Decision 94/904. Hence,
the Commission considers that the transposition of the Hazardous Waste List is essential
in the implementation by Member States of the hazardous waste definition. It is also
considered necessary to have transposed Annexes I, II and III to Council Directive
91/689.

Eventually, there are two further aspects to be taken into account when assessing the
compliance of national legislation with the Community definition of hazardous waste.
First, the fact that Member States have taken more stringent measures, i.e. they have
included wastes, which have the properties of Annex III and are therefore considered by
them to be hazardous. The possibility of introducing new entries to the hazardous waste
list is foreseen in Article 1(4), second subparagraph of the Directive, provided they are
notified to the Commission, and is in line with Article 176 EC Treaty. The second aspect
concerns the fact that hazardous household waste is excluded from the application of the
provisions of the Directive. This does not mean, however, that household waste might
not be hazardous.

The Commission has concluded that only four Member States, namely Finland,38
Greece,39 Luxembourg40 and Spain,41 have transposed correctly all
the relevant
elements of the hazardous waste definition.

38

39

40

Waste Act 1072/1993. Waste Decree 1390/1993. Ministry of the Environment Decision 867/1996
on the list of most common wastes and of hazardous wastes.
Decision 19396/1546 on Measures and Conditions for the Management of Hazardous Waste, of 18
July 1997.
Law on the Prevention and Management of Waste, of 17 June 1994. Regulation on Hazardous
Waste, of 11 December 1996.

33

Austria has transposed neither the relevant annexes on hazardous waste nor the
Hazardous Waste List. Austrian legislation provides that “dangerous substances are
wastes, the treatment of which requires specific prudence and particular measures in view
of the public interest, and the normal
treatment of which requires supplementary
measures or greater prudence than those required for the treatment of domestic waste”.42

The Netherlands has failed to transpose all the elements of the hazardous waste
definition.43

In Belgium the Walloon44 and the Brussels45 regions have correctly transposed all the
relevant elements of the hazardous waste definition. However, the Flemish region46 has
not transposed Annexes I and II to Council Directive 91/689.

Denmark,47 Portugal48 and Sweden49 have failed to transpose Annexes I and II to the
Directive, whilst providing for the other relevant elements noted above in line with EC
Law.

France50 and Germany51 have only transposed the Hazardous Waste List as such, but
not the definition as contained in Article 1(4) first subparagraph of the Directive nor
Annexes I – III. No new entries to the Hazardous Waste List have been added in the
national legislation of these two countries. It is also important to note that French
legislation departs from Community terminology (“hazardous wastes”) by referring to
“special industrial waste”, whereas German legislation refers to “wastes for special
supervision”.

Ireland has transposed into its national legislation all the relevant elements of the
hazardous waste definition but has failed to introduce the Hazardous Waste List.52

Italian legislation presents a divergence in the transposition of the hazardous waste
definition, as it excludes from it household waste53 as mentioned, however, domestic
waste may be hazardous.

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

Law 10/1998 on Waste, of 21 April, Royal Decree 952/1997 modifying Regulation on the
implementation of Law 20/1986 of 14 May on Toxic and Hazardous Waste (adopted by Royal
Decree 833/1988, of July 20).
Article 2.5, Waste Management Law of 6 June 1990.
Decree on the classification of hazardous waste and waste oils, of 8 December 1997.
Decree on Waste, of 27 June 1996. Order of the Walloon Government establishing a Waste
Catalogue, of 10 July 1997.
Ordinance on Prevention and Management of Waste, of 7 Mars 1991.Order establishing a list of
hazardous waste, of 9 May 1996.
Decree of 20 April 1994, amending Decree of 2 July 1981 concerning waste management. Order of
the Flemish Government establishing the Flemish regulation on the prevention and management of
waste (VLAREA) of 17 December 1997.
Statutory Order from the Ministry of the Environment No. 299 of 30 April 1997 on Waste.
Decree-Law 239/97 of 9 September 1997. Regulation No. 818/97 of 5 September 1997.
Ordinance on Hazardous Waste (SFS 1996:971) of 26 September 1996.
Law No. 75-633 on the elimination of waste and the recuperation of materials, of 15 July 1975 (as
amended by Law No.92-646, of July 13, 1992). Decree No. 97-517 on the classification of
hazardous waste, of 15 May 1997.
Waste Avoidance, Recycling and Disposal Act, of 27 September 1994. Ordinance on the
determination of waste for special supervision, 10 September 1996.
Waste Management Act, 1996.

34

The United Kingdom’s legislation complies only partially with the definition of
hazardous waste. The legislation of England, Scotland and Wales54 as well as the
legislation of Northern Ireland55 failed to transpose Annexes I and II to the Directive.
Furthermore, both legal instruments use incorrect terminology by referring to ‘special
waste’ instead of to “hazardous waste” as in Community legislation. In addition UK
legislation excludes household waste from the definition of hazardous waste which is not
in line with EC law.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIRECTIVE

1. National consideration of “hazardous waste” – Article 1(4)

According to Article 1(4) second indent hazardous waste means in addition to the
hazardous waste list any other waste considered by a Member State to display any of the
properties listed in Annex III such as flammable, corrosive, oxidising, harmful etc. These
cases shall be notified to the Commission.

The Flemish region of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria,
Finland, Sweden and Germany notified some more wastes as hazardous waste.

The Walloon region of Belgium, Ireland, France as well as Greece, Italy, Spain,
Portugal and the United Kingdom did not identify other wastes as hazardous waste.
(cid:1)

These notifications are being reviewed by the Commission, assisted in this task by
the Committee established by Article 18 of Directive 75/442 EEC with a view to
adaptation of the European list of hazardous waste. Until the begin of 1999 the
Commission received 471 notifications from Member States. The first adaptation of
Decision 91/904/EC, subsequent to the review of 282 of these notifications,
is
planned for 1999.

2. Hazardous waste generated in households – Article 1(5)

According to Article 1 (5) hazardous waste generated in households is exempted from the
provisions of this Directive. Unfortunately the questionnaire asks whether the Member
State distinguishes domestic hazardous waste from non-domestic hazardous waste. The
aim of this question is unclear and so are the answers with “yes” or “no”.

As regards Belgium the Flemish region included such measures in the Flemish Decree
on hazardous household waste. Article 1§1 gives a detailed definition of hazardous
wastes from households.

53

54

55

Legislative Decree No.22, on the implementation of Directive 91/156/CEE on Waste, 91/689/CEE
on Hazardous Waste and 94/62/CE on Packaging and Packaging Waste, of 5 February 1997,
amended by Legislative Decree of 8 November 1997, No. 389.
Statutory Instrument the Special Waste Regulations 1996, as amended by the Statutory Instrument
1996 No. 2019 The Special Waste (Amended) Regulations 1996
Draft Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland, 1998.

35

The Walloon region of Belgium, Denmark and France answered with “no” without
giving further explanations.

Ireland has not yet separate collections for hazardous household waste. “Bring” facilities
provide for the acceptance of certain wastes.

In Luxembourg hazardous wastes generated in households are listed in Chapter 20
(Municipal waste and similar commercial, industrial and institutional wastes including
separately collected fractions; see also hazardous waste list) of annex IV of the
Regulation on Hazardous Waste of 11 December 1996.

The Austrian waste management law defines hazardous waste generated by households
as “Problemstoff” (problematic substance). Local authorities have to collect these wastes
separately at least twice a year.

In Finland municipalities shall organise the recovery and disposal of hazardous waste
from household (Waste Act, Section 13). Households are exempted from keeping records
on hazardous waste. The provisions of packaging and labelling in addition to specific
identification forms only apply after having delivered the hazardous waste to
municipalities.

In Sweden each municipality has the power to decide that hazardous waste from
households shall be collected separately from other household waste. Such separately
collected fractions are hazardous waste.

In The Netherlands a logo for 'Small Chemical Waste' (SCW) is used to distinguish
hazardous waste generated by households from other household waste. The SCW Decree
requires producers and importers of products that become hazardous waste when
discarded to put this logo on their product.

Italy and the United Kingdom excluded household waste from the definition of
hazardous waste. This is not in line with EC law.
(cid:1)

Five Member States (Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Sweden)
and the Flemish region of Belgium indicated that they have established separate
collection for hazardous household waste. Due to the imprecise question there is no
information from Denmark, France and the Walloon region of Belgium. Ireland has
not yet
introduced separate collection. Italy and the United Kingdom exclude
household waste from the definition of hazardous waste.

3. Records and identification of the discharge of hazardous waste – Article 2(1)

According to Article 2 (1) on every site where discharge of hazardous waste takes place
waste has to be recorded and identified.

As regards Belgium in the Walloon region, the information regarding the discharge of
hazardous waste has to be added on the transport form. The operator of the landfill has to
file the copies of the transport forms and has to add all related details. In the Flemish
region Article 5.2.1.2 of Vlarem II requires operators of installations for the treatment of
waste to register the intake and treatment of wastes. Article 5.2.4.1.1§2 of this Decree

36

indicates that waste can only be accepted in a landfill when origin, characteristics,
content and leaching behaviour are known.

In Denmark establishments treating hazardous waste have to keep records on the type of
waste (no. of waste catalogue). It seems that there is no specific requirement for the sites
where discharge of hazardous waste takes place.

In France the permission for the operation of a landfill includes the obligation to keep a
register on waste acceptance and waste refusal.

Ireland confirmed the implementation of Article 2 (1) by section 41 (2) (ix) of the Waste
Management Act, 1996.

In Luxembourg Article 2 (1) was implemented by Article 3 of the Regulation on
Hazardous Waste of 11 December 1996; no further details.

In the Netherlands a requirement to identify, weigh and register all hazardous waste in
landfills is laid down in the permits of landfills.

Austria has provided details of the record requirements for collection and treatment of
all wastes and the continued collection of accompanying documents for hazardous waste.

In Finland the landfill operator has to record the precise location in the landfill, where
hazardous waste is disposed of (Council of State Decision on landfills (861/1997),
Section 7, subparagraph 6).

In Sweden the records and identification of discharged hazardous waste is part of the
procedure of issuing permits for the landfilling activity.

In the United Kingdom apart from the accompanying documents that all establishments
disposing of (and transporting) hazardous waste must have, the installations involved in
this type of operation must keep a record of the site of each deposit of waste (Information
from the report on the implementation of Directive 75/442/EEC).
(cid:1)

It seems that Austria and Denmark merged this requirement with the general
in Article 14 of Directive 75/442/EEC for establishment and
requirement
undertakings carrying out recovery and disposal operations.

4. Mixing of hazardous waste – Article 2(2) –(4)

According to Article 2(2) to (4) establishment and undertaking which dispose of, recover,
collect or transport hazardous waste shall not mix different hazardous waste and
hazardous waste with non hazardous waste. Exemptions may only be permitted where the
conditions laid down in Article 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC are complied with and in
particular for the purpose of improving safety during disposal or recovery. Already
mixed waste has to be separated where technically and economically feasible and
necessary for safety reasons (human health and environment).

As regards Belgium the Walloon region transposed the wording of these Articles. The
Flemish region transposed this requirement in Article 23§3-5 of the waste management
specific measures are required according to
Decree (20 April 1994). Further

37

Articles 5.2.1.7§2, 5.2.2.5.2§1-3 and 5.2.2.6.5§1-3 of Vlarem defining the operational
conditions for waste treatment installations.

Denmark did not explain the implemented provisions but referred to a letter of 18/7/96
in which Denmark confirmed that
this Article has been transposed by § 53 of
bekendtgørelse no 581 af 24 June 1996.

In France the disposal of specific industrial wastes (listed in the decree of 15 May 1997)
together with other waste categories is prohibited. Specific industrial wastes and
hazardous wastes are not accepted on a landfill for municipal waste. In addition industrial
waste cannot be burned in an incineration plant for municipal waste. In the case of
incineration of municipal waste together with specific industrial waste the stricter
requirements are relevant.

Ireland confirmed the implementation of Article 2 (2) to (4) through the Waste
Management Regulation (Article 37 (Licensing) 1997, Article 22 (Hazardous Waste)
1998, Article 8 (Movement of Hazardous Waste) 1998 and Article 18 (1) (Permit) 1998)
without giving details.

Luxembourg generally prohibited the mixing of waste by Article 7 paragraph 4 of the
law on the Prevention and Management of law. More specifically Article 2 (2), (3) and
(4) were implemented by Articles 3,2 , 3,3 and 3,4 of 3 of the Regulation on Hazardous
Waste of 11 December 1996. The mixing of hazardous waste for safety reasons requires
a permit of the Ministry of the environment.

Austria prohibits the mixing of hazardous waste with other wastes, substances or waste
oils in three cases: when necessary waste inquiry or treatment is hindered, when limit
values for waste or installations are only met by this mixing or when the waste is treated
in contradiction to § 1 (3). However the common treatment of different wastes in one
installation is permitted, when it is permitted for each waste. In addition the common
collection of different wastes or wastes which have different concentration of hazardous
substances is permitted, when there are no chemical reactions and when the common
recycling or treatment is permitted.

In Finland the mixing of hazardous wastes with one another or with other wastes or
substances is only allowed, when it is necessary for waste recovery or disposal and when
it does not cause safety problems. Blending or mixing prior to submission to any
disposal operation (D1 to D 12) is considered a disposal operation. Thus the Finnish
prohibition of mixing is not as strict as in Directive 91/689/EEC which allows the mixing
only for safety reasons. The requirement of separating already mixed waste is in line with
Community legislation.

In Sweden the requirements of Article 2 (2) to (4) are included in the Swedish Ordinance
on Hazardous Waste (SFS 1996:971).

In the Netherlands these requirements are included in Article 2, second, third and forth
indent of the Decree on separation and keeping separate hazardous waste (Official
Journal 1998, 72) sent to the Commission by letter of 15 September 1998.
(cid:1)

Due to the explanations given, the general prohibition of mixing hazardous waste
(Article 2 (2) to (4)) is implemented in a less strict manner in France and Austria as
they prohibit the mixing only in specific cases, as well as in Finland which allows the

38

mixing when it is necessary for recovery and disposal and does not cause safety
problems.

5. General national rules replacing permit requirements for recovery operations –

Article 3(2)

According to Article 3(2) establishment and undertaking, which recover hazardous waste
may be exempted from the permit requirement when the Member State adopts certain
specific rules and when the protection of human health and the environment is ensured.
These establishments and undertakings have to be registered with the competent
authorities.

None of the Member States replying to the questionnaires established general rules to
enable exemptions of
for establishments, which recover
requirement
hazardous waste.

the permit

6. Inspections of the producers of hazardous waste – Article 4(1)

According to Article 4 (1) periodic inspections are required in addition to establishment
and undertaking for the producer of hazardous waste.

As regards Belgium, in the Walloon region the producers of hazardous waste are
inspected in the context of a general control on the implementation of environmental
legislation for classified establishments. These controls are usually carried out at least
once a year. In the Flemish region these inspections are carried out by the Administration
for Environment, Nature, Land and Water management (AMINAL). The frequency of
inspection depends on the priority of the dossier.

In Denmark the inspection of producers of hazardous waste is part of the general
municipal inspection.

France confirmed that every delivery of hazardous waste to a disposal installation is
controlled, that special installations are inspected at least once a year and that for waste
generation and waste disposal declarations are required once to three times a year.

In Ireland the frequency of
inspections is determined by individual competent
authorities having regard to the nature of the facilities and the wastes concerned (Section
15 (1) (b) of the Waste Management Act 1996).

In Austria a producer of waste who generates hazardous waste (at least once a year) has
to be registered. Any management of hazardous waste is registered in a federal register.
The data is regularly monitored. Inspections are to be done in view of the occasion
(inconsistent records, per branches).

In Luxembourg officials of the police, the customs authorities and the environmental
administration monitor infringements of the general waste legislation as well as the
legislation on hazardous waste. The controls are carried out regularly but not
in a
determinate frequency.

39

The Netherlands confirmed the implementation of this requirement. The frequency
depends on the potential risk of the outlets, which is then the basis for the inspection
plans of the provinces.

In Finland the regional environment centres and the local environmental authorities shall
supervise compliance with provisions and regulations. Detailed provisions on inspections
and performing inspections are laid down in Section 54 of Waste Act, Section 23 of
Waste Decree. The frequency of inspections is on a case by case basis decided by the
supervisory authority in accordance with the need for inspections.

In Sweden authorities responsible for inspections shall carry out plans for inspections on
a yearly basis. These authorities shall also keep records of the activities that require
inspections and shall regularly evaluate the results of the inspections.
(cid:1)

From the answers given it can be concluded that the national administrations do not
inspect all generators of hazardous waste. Thus they focus on the most important
cases.

7. Records on Waste – Article 4(2)

According to Article 4(2) producers have in addition to establishment and undertaking to
keep records on the details of hazardous waste (Article 14 of Directive 75/442/EEC). In
addition establishments and undertakings which transport hazardous waste have to keep
records. On request they have to make this information available to the competent
authorities.

The answers were included in the report on Directive 75/442/EEC on waste as the
answers were overlapping (see page 17).

8. Measures to ensure proper packaging and labelling of hazardous waste

– Article 5

According to Article 5 (1) hazardous waste has to be properly packaged and labelled in
transport and temporary storage in accordance with the
the course of collection,
international and Community standards in force.

As regards Belgium, in the Walloon region establishments, which carry out transport,
collection, treatment, recovery and disposal operations on hazardous waste need an
authorisation, which includes requirements on packaging and labelling. The Flemish
region laid down these requirements in Article 23§2 of the waste management Decree,
which requires that waste is packed and/or stored properly in accordance with
international and European provisions during collection, transport and temporary storage.
The Decree of 1 February 1995 on recognition of collectors and registration of
transporters includes the requirements for collectors and transporters of hazardous waste.

Denmark confirmed the implementation and referred to a letter of 18/7/96 in which
Denmark confirmed that Article 5 (1) has been transposed by § 54 of bekendtgørelse no
581 af 24 June 1996.

40

France only describes the provisions for packaging, labelling and transport of hospital
and infectious healthcare waste.

Ireland confirmed the implementation without giving further details or explanations.

In Luxembourg these provisions were implemented by Article 5 of the Regulation on
Hazardous Waste of 11 December 1996.

In Austria,
“Gefahrgutbeförderungsgesetz”.

proper

the

packaging

and

labelling

is

laid

down

in

the

In Finland hazardous waste shall be collected, packaged and labelled in such a way that
appropriate waste management can be organised and that harm to health and the
environment is avoided. The name of the waste and the waste holder must be marked on
hazardous waste packaging together with any information and warnings necessary for
safety and appropriate waste management organisation. These provisions have been
further specified in the Council of State Decision. The provisions and regulations
concerning the transportation of dangerous substances apply to hazardous wastes, which
are being transported.

In Sweden packaging and labelling should be carried out in accordance with the rules on
Transport of Dangerous Goods.

In the Netherlands provisions for the transport of dangerous preparations ,including
hazardous wastes, are included in the Act on transport of dangerous preparations. These
rules are set internationally (e.g. ADNR). The storage of hazardous waste requires a
permit which includes safety rules (prevention of fires and explosions on the basis of
guidelines of the Committee for Prevention of Accidents (guidelines CPR 15-1 and
15-2). It also contains requirements for the protection of soil and groundwater.
(cid:1)

As regards the proper packaging and labelling of hazardous waste, France confirmed
the implementation only for hospital and infectious healthcare waste.

9. Waste management plans and waste statistics – Article 6

According to Article 6 the competent authorities shall draw up, either separately or
together with the general waste management plan, plans for the management of
hazardous waste. A “Comparative Study on Plans for the Management of Hazardous
Waste” (Final Report of July 1997) was worked out and distributed to the Member States
as requested in Article 6 (2).

The data and information on waste management plans on hazardous waste are included
in the report on Directive 75/442/EEC.

10. Temporary derogation from this Directive – Article 7

According to Article 7, in cases of emergency or grave danger, Member States shall take
all necessary steps including temporary derogation from this Directive to ensure that
hazardous waste is dealt with so that it will constitute a threat to the population or the
environment. The Commission has to be informed thereof.

41

None of the reporting Member States applied Article 7.

11. In addition to the questionnaire – Article 8 (3)

Article 8(3) requires Member States to send the Commission information for every
establishment or undertaking which carries out disposal and/or recovery of hazardous
waste principally on behalf of third parties and which is likely to form part of the
integrated network referred to in Article 5 of Directive 75/442/EEC. This information
should consist of name and address, method used to treat the waste and types and
quantities of waste which can be treated and is to be provided on a yearly basis in a
format laid down in Decision 96/302/EC56. The Commission shall make this information
available on request to the competent authorities in the Member States.

Up to May 1999 the Commission had received information from all Member States
except Italy. Only Germany has provided a first update of the information. The other
Member States only provided information once.

Not all Member States sent in the complete information or in the right format. The
information from Greece only consisted of the name and address of the installations. The
information from Germany contained all the required data. However the information as
regards the waste that can be treated is given in the form of the LAGA-codes and not
according to the European Waste Catalogue. As regards the United Kingdom the
information is complete except for the types of wastes treated in the installations in
England. In the French contribution the information on treated waste types is also
missing. In the Irish and Portuguese information the waste types are not mentioned
systematically. As regards Portugal also the information on the treatment method is
the
lacking for some installations. All the other Member States have provided all
information in the required format.

The Commission is considering making the information on the treatment facilities
accessible in the form of a database. A possibility would be to provide the information to
the European Environment Agency to allow them to include this into their data system or
into that of the European Topic Centre on Waste.

56

OJ No L 116, 11.5.1996, p. 26.

42

DIRECTIVE 75/439/EEC ON WASTE OILS, AS AMENDED BY DIRECTIVE
87/101/EEC

I.

INTRODUCTION

Directive 75/439/EEC57 as amended provides measures to ensure that waste oils are
collected and disposed of without causing any avoidable damage to man and to the
environment.

The main provisions of Directive 75/439/EEC as amended are:

– definition of “waste oil” and waste oil management terminology58 such as disposal
(any treatment/handling), processing (regeneration and combustion), regeneration
(refining into base oils), combustion (use as fuel) and collection (Article 1)

– general objective of the waste oils management is to avoid any damage to man or the

environment (Article 2)

– hierarchy of waste oils management: priority is given to the processing of waste oils
by regeneration; otherwise waste oils have to be burned under environmentally
acceptable conditions; safe destruction and controlled storage or tipping when both
other options are not feasible (Article 3)

– prohibition of: discharge of waste oils into waters, discharge harmful to the soil and

uncontrolled discharge, processing exceeding existing emission levels (Article 4)

– public information and promotional campaigns to ensure appropriate storage and
collection as far as possible; undertakings may carry out collection and/or disposal;
Member States may decide to allocate the waste oils to any of the types of processing
(Article 5)

– permit

requirement

for undertakings, provisions for processing, provisions for
combustion (emission values for plants with a thermal input of 3 MW and more,
adequate control for plants with less thermal input) (Articles 6,7,8)

– specific requirements with regard to PCB/PCT (Article 10)

– requirement to keep records, convey of information to competent authorities, periodic
technical development and adaptation of permits

inspections, examination of
(Articles 11, 12, 13)

The following consolidated report is based on the questionnaire adopted by Commission
Decision 94/741/EC59 of 24 October 1994. According to Directive 91/692/EEC60
Member States were obliged to submit
their reports on the period 1995 to 1997
by 30 September 1998. Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain did not send their reports, thus
the consolidated report only refers to eleven Member States.

57

58

59

60

OJ L 194, 25.07.1975, p. 31 as amended by Directive 87/101/EEC (OJ L 42, 22.12.1986, p. 43)
The terminology of the Directive on waste oils differ from the terminology of Directive 75/442/EEC
OJ L 296, 17.11.1994, p. 42
OJ L 377, 23.12.1991, p. 48

43

The national contributions are in some points compared with the information given by
the study on Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration61, which gives an overview on the
waste oil management in the fifteen Member States.

II.

REPORT BASED ON THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE
(COMISSION DECISION 94/741/EC)

INCORPORATION INTO NATIONAL LAW

1. National law

The eleven Member States, which submitted their reports (two regions of Belgium,
the Netherlands, Austria,
Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Luxembourg,
Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom) confirmed that they have provided the
Commission with details of the current laws and regulations in force to incorporate the
Directive 75/439/EEC on the disposal of waste oils as amended into national law.

2. Provisions regarding the regeneration of waste oil – Article 7

According to Article 7 Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that
the operation of
the regeneration plant does not cause avoidable damage to the
environment (Article 7 (a)). In addition Member States ensure that base oils derived from
regeneration do not constitute a hazardous waste and do not contain PCB/PCT in
concentration beyond the limits of 50 part per million (ppm) (Article 7 (b)).

As regards Belgium, the Walloon region did not take measures according to Article 7. It
indicated that waste oils were only partly regenerated in the Walloon region and mainly
in the Flemish region, which is contradictory to the data in table 1 as there is no
regeneration in the Walloon region and 0.2% in the Flemish region. In the Flemish region
such provisions are included in subdevisions 5.2.2.8 and 5.2.3.5 of the Decree Vlarem II.

Denmark confirmed that the necessary measures were taken. However, Denmark does
not regenerate waste oils.

In Germany measures to ensure environmentally sound operation of regeneration are
laid down in the waste management law and the Federal Immission Control Act. The
requirement of Article 7 (b) has been implemented by the Waste Oil Ordinance of 1987.

France did not take measures according to Article 7, but indicated that Article 2 of the
Decree of 21 November 1979 gives priority to regeneration.

In Ireland the regeneration of waste oils does not take place.

In Luxembourg the provisions of Article 7 are laid down in the Grand-Ducal Regulation
of 30 November 1989 relating to waste oils. Waste oil regeneration installations are also
subject to the provisions of the law of 17 June 1994 concerning the prevention and
management of waste under which operating permits are required. Specific operating

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Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration, Coopers & Lybrand, the Hague, 29 January 1997

44

conditions are laid down in these permits (see previous report). However Luxembourg
has no installation which regenerates waste oils where these provisions could be applied.

The Netherlands communicated that no waste oil is regenerated.

Austria did not implement such provision as regeneration is not carried out due to small
quantities.

Finland and Sweden confirmed the implementation of measures pursuant to Article 7
without giving further details. However, they do not regenerate or just regenerate a tiny
fraction of waste oil.

The United Kingdom referred to the previous report where Part I and II of the
Environmental Protection Act (EPA 1990) and 1991 Regulations on Environmental
protection (Procedures and substances) SI No. 472 amended by the 1994 Regulations on
permits for waste management (Regulation 14) were mentioned.
(cid:1)

Thus the Flemish region, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden
and the United Kingdom confirmed the implementation of Article 7 without giving
any further details on the kind and quality of the measures whereas the Walloon
the
region, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Austria did not implement
provision. France did not take such measures although it regenerates waste oils.

3. More stringent national measures – Article 16

According to Article 16 Member States may take more stringent measures than provided
by the Directive for the purpose of environmental protection.

As regards Belgium, the Walloon region announced that more stringent measures were
taken with regard to Article 4 (prohibitions). These measures are more detailed and
precise as far as the management of the used oils is concerned. The Flemish region
indicated that these measures are included in Article 5.2.2.8.3 and 5.2.3.5.2 of the Decree
Vlarem II.

Denmark indicated the adoption of more stringent measures without giving further
details.

In Germany more stringent measures for the purpose of environment has been taken
especially through the Ordinance on waste incineration plants (17th BimschV).

France has not taken more stringent measures.

In Ireland more stringent measures than those notified to the Commission have not been
considered necessary.

In Luxembourg the law of 17 June 1994 on the prevention and management of waste
gives priority to the regeneration of materials in general and, by deduction of waste oils.
The use of waste as a source of energy is conceivable only for the waste which is not
suitable for reuse other than heating. The measures have been communicated to the
Commission (previous report).

45

The Netherlands stated that some requirements as regards the content of halogenated
hydrocarbons and PCBs are included in the definition of used oil. Also some
requirements are included as regards the content of halogenated hydrocarbons and PCBs
for use as a fuel or for preparation of fuels. These requirements apply to all fuels.

Austria indicated that more stringent measures have been taken and that
corresponding legal texts were submitted to the Commission.

the

Finland and Sweden confirmed the implementation of more stringent measures without
giving further details.

As the United Kingdom reported already for the previous report it has not felt the need
to take more stringent measures.
(cid:1)

With the exception of France, Ireland and the United Kingdom all reporting
Member States indicated that they have taken more stringent measures than provided
by the Directive for the purpose of environmental protection. These measures differ
between stricter priority for regeneration (Luxembourg), stricter emission limit values
(Germany), stricter values for the PCB content (the Netherlands); in the other cases,
the measures were not specified.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIRECTIVE

1. Waste oils management - Article 2 and 3

According to Article 2 Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that
waste oils are managed without causing any avoidable damage to man and the
environment. According to Article 3 first priority shall be given to regeneration, second
priority to combustion and last priority to safe destruction (treatment) and disposal. (As
regards constraints see question 2)

Figure 1 provides an overview on the waste oil management in 1994/1995, which was
worked out for the fifteen Member States in the study Economics of Waste Oils
Regeneration62 (further called “the study”) by Coopers & Lybrand. This figure contains
the mean rates of waste oil generated (48%) and waste oil collected (74.6%) as well as
the percentage share of regeneration (36%) and combustion (64%). As regards waste oil
management the Commission considers route D (re-refining) as “regeneration” whereas
routes A (untreated oil for energetic use), B (energetic use after limited treatment) and C
(re-processing into fuel oil) are considered as “combustion”.

As regards the comparability of the figures given by the Member States for this report the
following commitments were made.

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Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration, Coopers & Lybrand, the Hague, 29 January 1997

46

• The figures were often given without indicating the units or in different units such as

tonnes and cubic meters; for the conversion the density of 0.9 ton/m3 was used

• The figures for waste oil generated differed widely between 33 and 66% of the oil
launched on the market. As this value is only an estimate but very basic for the
evaluation, the waste oil generated was calculated to be 50% of the oil launched on the
market for all Member States in order to get comparable data for this report.

Table 1 contains the figures provided for waste oil management. The share of waste oil
management calculated on the bases of the approach that 50% of the oil marketed is
generated as waste oil is presented in figure 2. This kind of presentation was chosen in
order to show that still a huge amount of waste oil is not collected separately and thus not
managed appropriately. Figures for the year 1994/1995 for Greece, Italy, Portugal and
Spain were added from the study in order to be able to present an average of waste oil
management in 1997 for the fifteen Member States.

Figure 3 provides an overview on the quantity of the oil marketed, waste oil collected
and waste oil treated (regenerated, burned and tipped) in 1997 per 1000 inhabitants.
Around 50% of the oil marketed are expected to be generated as waste oil.

The two regions of Belgium did not submit figures on the oil launched on the market.
The figures provided by the Flemish region indicate a collection rate of about 100%
whereas the Walloon region achieved a collection rate of about 50%. The waste oil
collected is burned (route B). The extremely high quantity of waste oil in Belgium is due
to the data provided by the Flemish region, which defines waste oil broader
(e.g. inclusive sludge, oil filters, cleaning and packaging material soaked with oil or
grease etc.) than the other countries. In addition the figures presented are based on the
annual report of all economic operators inclusive waste treatment plants, therefor it is
likely that several charges have been reported more than once.

In Denmark the collection rate decreased from around 100% in 1995 to 84% in 1997 (on
the bases that 50% of the oil on the market is generated as waste oil). All waste oil was
burned. Due to the information given in the study, 50% was reprocessed (route C) and
25% each went into route A and B.

Germany collected between 83 and 90% of waste oils (on the bases that 50% of the oil
on the market is generated as waste oil and not 66% as indicated). Around 51% of the
waste oil generated were regenerated (slightly decreasing tendency since 1994) 32%
combusted.

The collection rate in France increased from 51 and 55% (on the bases that 50% of the
oil on the market is generated as waste oil and not 42% as indicated). The percentage of
regeneration decreased constantly from 26 to about 18% and thus the combustion
increased from 29 to 38%. The previous report has already stated that the regeneration
rate was decreasing between 1990 and 1994.

Ireland collected between 36 and 39% of waste oils (on the bases that 50% of the oil on
the market is generated as waste oil and not 33% as indicated) which was all burned.

Luxembourg did not provide data on the quantity of the oil launched on the market.
Therefor the waste oil generated was just estimated to be the same as the quantity
collected (thus collection rate of 100%). Luxembourg stated that all waste oils were

47

exported for regeneration. This would be a considerable increase as the previous report
stated that 50% were regenerated. There is a contradiction according to the study which
concluded that the waste oils were burned by route A and B in 1994/1995.

The collection rate of the Netherlands increased from 35% in 1995 to 52% in 1997 (on
the bases that 50% of the oil on the market is generated as waste oil and not between 37
and 45% as indicated). 100% of the collected oils were burned.

Austria only estimated figures on the oils placed on the market and the waste oils
generated. The collection rate decreased from 92% in 1995 to 78% in 1997. 100% of the
oils collected are burned.

In 1997 Finland collected 97% of the waste oil generated, only 4% were regenerated,
68% burned and 25% temporary stored.

The figures provided by Sweden are rough estimates. Thus the collection rate is
estimated to be 100% (if the waste oil generation rate is considered to be 50%). The
waste oil collected is burned (89% in route B, 11% in route A).

The figures provided by the United Kingdom are estimates, according to which the
collection rate would range between 94 and 97% of the waste oil generated (on the basis
that 50% of the oil on the market is generated as waste oil and not 55% as indicated). 7%
were regenerated and 89% burned. The difference between the waste oil regenerated and
collected is supposed to be landfilled.

As regards the Member States, which have not submitted a report, the study63 provided
the following information for the year 1994/1995.

In Greece only 8% of the waste oil arising was legally collected separately and then
regenerated. The residue of 92% of the waste oil was collected illegally and sold
untreated as fuel.

Spain had a collection rate of 44%; 14% were regenerated and 26% burned (25% route B
and 43% route A).

Italy achieved in 1994 a collection rate of 58%; 48% were regenerated and 10% burned.

Portugal had a collection rate of 25%, thereof 100% were burned (route A)
(cid:1)

In order to be comparable with figure 1, figure 2 has to be adapted (factor 50/48 for
the collection rate and factor 100/71 for regeneration and combustion). Thus the
percentage of separate collection had slightly decreased from 74.6to 74% (71% x
50/48)
from 1994/1995 to 1997. Thereof 24% (17% x 100/71) were regenerated in
1997 contrary to 36% in 1994/1995 whereas the percentage of combustion increased
accordingly from 64% to 75% (53% x 100/71).

If one assumes that the waste oil management in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain has
not considerably improved from 1994 to 1997, then waste oil management throughout
the European Union has even worsened between 1994/1995 and 1997.

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48

2. Constraints regarding the regeneration and combustion of waste oils – Article 3

According to Article 3 (1) and (2) Member States shall give the first priority to the
regeneration of waste oils and second priority to the combustion of waste oils under
environmentally acceptable conditions where technical, economic and organisational
constraints so allow. Where the constraints do not allow regeneration or combustion,
Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the safe destruction or
controlled storage of waste oils (Article 3 (3)).

the Walloon region indicated that

technical, economic and
As regards Belgium,
organisational constraints, without specifying these constraints, have limited the
regeneration but not the combustion of waste oils and that measures according to Article
3(3) have been taken. The Flemish region did not have any constraints with regard to
regeneration and combustion.

In Denmark there is so far no technical or economical basis for the regeneration of waste
oils; only a study project has started. Waste oils are, following refinement, burnt for
district heating. Subsidy is given to private collectors of waste oils in the form of
compensation for energy and CO2 charges when they deliver waste oils to central
heating installations.

By setting the economic and organisational framework Germany ensured that industry
achieved the technical conditions for the regeneration of waste oils. Constraints were not
mentioned.

France indicated that there are no basic constraints but that it focuses for the following
reasons on the combustion of waste oils with energy recovery in cement kilns. There is
only one installation for the regeneration of waste oils in France. Furthermore, the
producers of base oil did not wish to develop regeneration techniques. There is an
economic aspect in favour of combustion as there is currently an overproduction of base
oils and the first results of an life cycle analysis showed that combustion of waste oils
might be the best solution for the protection of the environment.

In Ireland there were no technical, economic or organisational constraints, which
prevented it from giving priority to regeneration and combustion. It is not clear for which
reason Ireland does not promote regeneration.

At present there are no constraints any more in Luxembourg as regards the regeneration
and combustion of waste oils. Luxembourg has neither
regeneration plants not
combustion plants. The collectors of waste oils have contracts with regeneration plants
abroad. The only criterion permitting combustion is that the quality of the used oils and
the techniques do not allow regeneration.

The Netherlands indicated that the policy of the government in the beginning of the
1980's aimed at the regeneration of waste oil into basic oil in a Central Regeneration Unit
(CRU). This failed due to economical reasons. In 1986 this was changed and with the
producers of lubricant oil it was tried to set up a CRU to produce fuels on the basis of
waste oil (in particular marine diesel oil). A company was licensed to do so, but this
company does not yet make use of this licence. The reason is that collectors of oil are not
willing to send the oil to this facility but use other outlets abroad. Currently the
installation uses a centrifusion technique to produce a fuel or a blend-product for
production of fuel.

49

Incineration of non-treated waste oil hardly occurs. Waste oil also occurs in wiping
cloths, bilge water, oil filters and oil separators etc. These wastes are managed as
hazardous waste and not as waste oil and are mainly disposed of in incinerators.

Austria has argued that the amounts of waste oils are too small for making regeneration
economically feasible.

In Finland there are no technical, economic and organisational constraints which prevent
from giving first priority to regeneration and second priority to combustion.

Sweden indicated the following constraints due to the regeneration of waste: marketing
problems as regenerated oils have to be labelled unless the base oil is hydrogenated, the
need for big quantities in order to get returns on expensive investments and waste from
the sulphuric acid process (?) has caused serious problems at a previous plant.

In the United Kingdom limited regeneration of waste oil takes place. It requires high
levels of investment. The main competition comes from firms, which recover energy
from waste oils. In addition the competition between oil companies has also affected the
viability of regeneration. There are no constraints mentioned for combustion. Safe
destruction, storage or tipping of waste oils requires waste management licences (Waste
Management Licensing Regulation 1994). Licence holders are required to manage waste
oils in a way which does not pose a threat to the environment and human health
(Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34).
(cid:1)

The main constraints on national level concerning the regeneration seem to be
economic aspects such as that a minimum quantity of collected waste oil is needed
for an economically profitable regeneration (due to the study64 60 000 to 80 000
tonnes per year are needed) and that
there is a fierce competition between
regeneration and combustion and no stimulating instruments. There are even grounds
for the assumption that some Member States do not want to focus on regeneration.
Thus France expressed that in its point of view combustion is the environmentally
better solution.

(cid:1)

In addition the study65 identified that the main constraints on European level are that
there is no absolute priority for regeneration, no consistency in policy and no co-
operation between Member States and that
there is a general over-capacity of
lubricants and poor competitiveness for regeneration.

3. Public information and promotional campaigns – Article 5

According to Article 5(1) Member States shall carry out public information and
promotional campaigns to ensure that waste oils are stored appropriately and collected
as far as possible.

64

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Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration, Coopers & Lybrand, the Hague, 29 January 1997
Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration, Coopers & Lybrand, the Hague, 29 January 1997

50

As regards Belgium,
the Walloon region did not carry out specific information
campaigns for waste oils but more general campaigns. These campaigns aimed at
informing on household waste management and protection of the environment and were
implemented by various actions during “green weeks”. The Flemish region did not carry
out any public information campaigns.

Denmark, Ireland and Sweden did not carry out public information campaigns.

In Germany information and the raise of public awareness is the task of the Länder and
local authorities. They are obliged to advice the producer of waste oil on the appropriate
waste management and facilities. Press releases, contributions in broadcasting and
television, publications and expositions were carried out. Trader are obliged to inform the
end-user on the appropriate waste oil management and are obliged to take back, which
ensured continuing and comprehensive waste oil collection.

In France ADEME, the agency for energy and environment carries out permanent
actions in order to inform waste oil collectors and professionals in the car sector. The
end-users are informed on the collection points for waste oils via a “green telephone
number”.

the
In Luxembourg various operations have been set
Superdreckskäscht campaign initiated by the Ministry of the Environment: publicity
spots and campaigns on the radio, in newspapers and the cinema along with participation
in trade fairs. The campaign for citizens is called “Superdreckskäscht fir Biirger” and for
the commercial sector “Superdreckskäscht fir Betriiber”. The quantities of waste oils
collected through those two actions increased between 1995 and 1997 not considerably
as the actions started already in 1994.

in motion as part of

The Netherlands mentioned an information campaign including several media on small
chemical waste of which waste oil form a part. Also a brochure on how to handle waste
oils was produced.

Austria carried out public information through communications, speeches, press releases
and information sheets.

Some examples of the Finnish public information campaigns which were carried out by
the Ekokem Oy Ab (national hazardous waste treatment facility):
- together with collectors of used lubrication oils Ekokem has organised campaigns for

municipalities to promote the collecting of lubricating oils,

- in 1995 Ekokem organised together with the collectors a campaign about oil separating

wells and their wastes,

- numerous articles in professional papers were published on sorting oils,
- Ekokems leaflets were distributed by local and regional authorities,
- Ekokem organises training occasions in which the employees of companies,

municipalities etc. can participate.

The success of these activities is mainly that small businesses establishments have come
into the sphere of systematic collection.

In the United Kingdom the Oil Care Campaign which started in 1995 is part of an
initiative to reduce oil pollution. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the problems
of oil pollution and how it can be prevented through careful handling and storage and
through increased recovery and recycling. The campaign promotes the following: the Oil

51

Bank Helpline assists the public to find the nearest oil recycling bank, The Emergency
Hotline for reporting pollution incidents, the Oil Care Code a simple guide for domestic
and commercial users to prevent oil pollution. The Helpline is advertised through
leaflets, in car maintenance manuals and on the majority of cans of oil. The production of
a variety of materials is planned for 1999.
(cid:1)

Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden did not at all comply with this provision.

4. Details on undertakings collecting waste oils

In question 4 Member States were asked to submit details on undertakings collecting
waste oils. The structure of waste oil management as regards the level and number of
competent authorities as well as the number of undertakings differ widely between
Member States. With the exception of Denmark all reporting Member States have
established permitting systems.

5. Allocation of waste oils to any of the types of processing – Article 5(3)

According to Article 5 (3) Member States may decide to allocate the waste oils to any of
the types of processing (regeneration and combustion).

The Walloon and Flemish region of Belgium, Denmark, Germany,
Ireland,
Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom did not allocate waste oils to
any type of processing.

France allocated waste oils to controlled regeneration or combustion installations.

The Netherlands indicated that 5 companies have a permit for centrifusion of waste oil,
given by the provinces. These permits include requirements for the protection of health
and the environment and are controlled by the provincial authorities. These installations
may also receive other wastes than waste oils.

In addition to the Finnish Council of State Decision 101/1997, which states the hierarchy
of regeneration, energy recovery and safe disposal for waste oils (national hazardous
waste treatment facility, the Ekokem Oy Ab recommends that waste oils should be
allocated into a) black engine oils, b) lubricatind oils like hydraulik oils and gear oils,
which do not contain PCBs, c) lubricating oils containing water, d) vegetable oils and e)
other oils wastes e.g. PCB containing oils, fuel wastes and bilge oils. For waste oils
listed in a) to d) first priority is given to regeneration and second to energy recovery.
Waste oils listed in e) should be disposed of safely. In practice, business establishments
send once a year annual summaries of bookkeeping to the supervising authority the
obligation to do so is normally based in the permits. Inspections of the waste oil
management facilities are planned at least once every three years.
(cid:1)

Due to the national contribution only Finland has applied Article 5(3).

6. Details on undertakings which handle (in the questionnaire: “dispose of”) waste

oils

According to Article 6 undertakings which handle (regenerate, burn, dispose of) waste
oils must obtain a permit. In question 6 Member States were asked to submit details on
undertakings which handle waste oils only and those which handle waste oils and other

52

wastes. As for the undertakings collecting waste oils,
the structure of waste oil
management as regards the level and number of competent authorities as well as the
number of undertakings differ widely between Member States.
(cid:1)

Ireland and the Netherlands did not give permits according to Article 6 as they do
not consider processed waste oil as “waste”. This is not in line with EU legislation
and there is no explanation why at least the undertaking processing waste oil shall not
get a permit. This might be due to a misunderstanding that “disposal” in the context
of waste oil does not mean incineration without energy recovery or landfilling.

7. Limit values set for combustion – Article 8

According to Article 8 (1) Member States shall ensure that the emission values for
combustion plants with a thermal input of more than 3 MW (Annex) are being observed.
Member States may at any time set more stringent limit values or set limit values for
other substances and parameters.

Table 2 provides an overview on the emission limit values set on European and national
level for combustion plants with a thermal input of more than 3 MW. The Directive
provides two options for certain substances and Member States have to lay down which
of these options apply in their countries.

Ireland and the Netherlands did not implement the limit values, which is due to their
consideration that processed waste oil used as a fuel is not a “waste” any more, which is
not in line with the Directive.

The limit values provided by France are in line with the Directive.

Sweden did not answer the question.

Austria, Denmark, Finland and Germany implemented stricter limit values. Austria
determined limit values for additional substances.

The limit values for sulphur dioxide and dust, which had to be set by Member States,
vary between 50 and 1700 mg/Nm3 for sulphur dioxide and between 10 and 100 mg/Nm3
for dust.

Only Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom set also or the
same emission limit values for combustion plants with a thermal input of less than
3 MW.

The number and level of authorities supervising the combustion of waste oils differ
between Member States.
(cid:1)

Ireland and the Netherlands in any case and maybe France and Sweden do not
comply with the provisions concerning emission limit values for the combustion of
waste oil.

8. Quantity limits for keeping records on waste oils – Article 11

According to Article 11 each Member State has to specify the quantity of waste oils
(which must be below 500 litres per year) which oblige any establishment (producing,

53

collecting and/or disposing of waste oil) to keep records. These records have to be
conveyed on request to the competent authorities.

Denmark and France did not specify a minimum quantity. This may either mean that
there is no obligation of keeping records or that the obligation is independent from any
quantity of waste oil.

In the Walloon region of Belgium, Austria, Finland and the United Kingdom all
establishments handling with waste oil (minimum quantity = 0) have to keep records.

Luxembourg answered that a minimum quantity is set
legislation, without further specifying this.

in the hazardous waste

The Flemish region of Belgium and Ireland set a minimum quantity of 500 litres,
Germany of 100 litres of waste oil.

The Netherlands indicated that they do no require the producers of waste oils to keep a
in line with this Directive nor with Article 4(2) of
register. This is neither
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste.

9. and 10. Indemnities for undertakings which collect and dispose of waste oils –

Article 14

According to Article 14 as a reciprocal concession for the obligation imposed on them by
Member States, indemnities may be granted to collection and/or disposal undertakings
for the service rendered.

No indemnities were granted in the Walloon and Flemish region of Belgium, Denmark,
Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In order to cover the costs of collection, a tax has been created in France. This fiscal tool
concerning waste oils has been integrated in a more horizontal fiscal instrument on
polluting activities.

The Netherlands indicated that a monthly maximum fee is set on the basis of costs en
revenues after treatment. Collectors are not allowed to charge producers a higher fee than
this maximum fee. The real fee is between 0.04 – 0.07
per litre covering collection and
treatment. Separation of the fees for collection and treatment is not possible since the
collectors also perform the treatment.

€

In Finland indemnities are granted for collection and disposal operations. The average
€
amount of indemnities, which were paid to Ekokem Oy Ab are about 1.7 to 2.54 Mio
per year (~ 2.04 Mio
and importers are obliged to pay a charge of ~ 0.04
and greases.

in 1997). Pursuant to Waste Oil Charge Act 894/1986 producers
per kilogram for lubricating oils

€

€

54

Annex II

55

5 109 000 t of lubricating oils
consumed per year in the EU

Thereof 48% were generated as
waste oils (2 448 000 t)

Thereof 24.4% are partly burned
illegally or dumped in the
environment

Thereof the mean collection rate was
about 74.6% (1 827 000 t) = 36% of
marketed oil

Thereof 36% regeneration
route D

Thereof 64% combustion
route C, B, A

Re-refining into lubricating oil (base
oil) => route D through distillation
process in combination with chemical
process to remove contaminants

Thereof 1% was reprocessed
into fuel oil => route c clean
oil for energetic use through
chemical
and
distillation
process

Thereof 32% received
limited treatment =>
route B separation of
sediment
and
water
used as heavy oil
for
cement
stone
kilns,
industry, power plants,
marine engines

Thereof 31% receives
no treatment => route
oil
untreated
A
for
oil
separated
energetic
in
use
cement kilns, and other
industry

Figure 1: Overview of the waste oil management in the 15 Member States in 1994/1995

(Source: Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration, Coopers & Lybrand, the Hague, 29 January 1997)

56

Austria

1995

1996

1997

86.000 (*)

86.000 (*)

86.000 (*)

1995

n.a

Belgium

1996

n.a

1997

n.a

Directive 75/439 on waste oils

Denmark

Finland

1995

1996

1997

1995

1996

1997

79.200 (3)

79.000 (3)

86.400 (3)

103.000

92.000

97.000

45.000 (*)

45.000 (*)

45.000 (*)

n.a.

n.a.

229.975

-

-

-

55.000-60.000

55.000-60.000

50.000

oil

Waste oil
(tonnes/year)
Year
Total
marketed/sold
where available
Total waste oils
generated,
of
which:
Quantity collected

Quantity
regenerated

Quantity
combusted

Quantity
(including
permanent
storage)
Comment

39.500

38.000

33.700

186.480

173.140

202.457

41.120

37.676

36.337

-

-

-

500

500

500

0

0

0

41.800 (1)

38.500 (1)

37.400 (1)

185.980 (4)

172.640 (4)

201.957 (4)

31.995 (6)

29.525 (6)

29.327 (6)

tipped

-

-

-

(*)
estimated

n.a

(2)

n.a

(2)

n.a

(2)

0

0

0

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

47.000

2.000

33.000

12.000 (5)

Table 1: Data on waste oil (Questionnaire, Question II, 1c), continues over next page

Notes:
1) Difference in time between collection and combustion.
2) Data include Wallonia and Flanders but not Brussels.
3) Oil incl. water
4) Approximately 40-60% of the quantity is combusted in Wallonia but generated outside Wallonia.
5) Temporary storage
6) Estimated calculation as pure oil

57

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxembourg

1995

1996

1997

1995

1996

1997

1994/95

1995

1996

1997

1994/95

1995

1996

1997

858.290

860.090

874.629

1.170.500

1.128.500

1.168.000

120.000

40.500

42.120

42.300

625.000

386.000

368.200

373.000

770.200

735.500

760.300

60.000

13.230

14.040

14.130

208.000

2.248

2.709

3.477

Directive 75/439 on waste oils

223.450

236.700

242.000

518.000

510.000

485.000

110.729

104.917

80.813

334.000

323.000

298.000

124.196

140.040

168.571

184.000

187.000

187.000

(1)

(1)

(1)

5.000

5.000

0

0

7.200

7.920

8.280

180.000

2.248

2.709

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

150.000

2.028

2.449

6.120

6.570

7.200

30.000

216

260

(2)

(3)

(3)

(3)

0

(2)

3,75

(4)

0

(4)

3.477

3.477

0

0

(4)

oil

Waste oil
(tonnes/year)
Year
Total
marketed/sold
where available
Total waste oils
generated,
of
which:
Quantity collected

Quantity
regenerated
Quantity
combusted
Quantity
(including
permanent
storage)
Comment

tipped

Table 1: Data on waste oil (Questionnaire, Question II, 1c), continues over next page

Data not received from questionnaire but from source mentioned in note (2).

n.a.: no answer

Notes:
1) Waste oil will only be stored in very small amounts.
2) Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration, Coopers & Lybrand, the Hague, 29 January 1997.
3) For the conversion from m3 to tonne, oil density of 0.9 ton/m3 was used.
4) Luxembourg exported all waste oils for regeneration

58

Directive 75/439 on waste oils

oil

Waste oil
(tonnes/year)
Year
Total
marketed/sold
where available
Total waste oils
generated,
of
which:
Quantity collected

Quantity
regenerated
Quantity
combusted
Quantity
(including
permanent
storage)
Comment

tipped

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

1995

1996

1997

1994/95

1994/95

1995

1996

1997

1995

1996

1997

210.000

228.000

187.000

89.000

500.000

144.000

144.000

144.000

895.000

864.329

872.378

85.000

37.000

-

85.000

52.000

-

85.000

49.000

-

45.000

13.000

0

37.000

52.000

49.000

13.000

-

-

-

0

(5)

250.000

110.000

35.000

65.000

0

(5)

n.a.

72.000
(4)
n.a.

58.500
(4) (6)

n.a.

n.a.

72.000
(4)
n.a.

58.500
(4) (6)

n.a.

n.a.

72.000
(4)
n.a.

58.500
(4) (6)

n.a.

492.250

422.000

32.000

390.000
(1)

70.250

471.550

422.000

32.000

390.000
(1)

49.550

476.637

422.000

32.000

390.000
(1)

54.637

(2) (3)

(2) (3)

(2) (3)

(4)

(4)

(4)

Table 1: Data on waste oil (Questionnaire, Question II, 1c)

Data not received from questionnaire but from source mentioned in note (5).

n.a.: no answer

Notes:
1) Combusted after treatment.
2) The figures must be handled with care, the waste oil can have oil content of 2 to 98%
3) Conversion from m3 to tonne, oil density of 0.9 ton/m3 was used
4) Waste quantities are estimated
5) Economics of Waste Oils Regeneration, Coopers & Lybrand, the Hague, 29 January 1997.
6) Quantity of pre-treated oil (wastes and sediments are removed)

59

Directive 75/439/EEC - Treatment of waste oil - 1997

0%
0%

3%

Not collected
separately

12%
0%

22%

32%

3%

0%

25%

100%

80%

60%

45%

0%

40%

78%

88%

84%

68%

37%

17%

32%

51%

20%

0%

42%

48%

61%

56%

71%

92%

14%

100%

100%

89%

48%

39%

52%

29%

30%

14%

0%

0%

4%

8%

0%

7%

18%

88%)

78%)
Austria(cr=
Belgium(*)(cr=

Denmark(cr=

83%)

84%)
97%)
55%)
Finland(cr=
France(cr=

Germany(cr=

Greece(°)(cr=

8%)

39%)
58%)
Ireland(cr=
Italy(°)(cr=
Luxembourg(*)(cr=

100%)

52%)

29%)

Netherlands(cr=

Portugal(°)(cr=

Spain(°)(cr=

71%)

44%)

100%)
97%)
U.K.(cr=
Sweden(cr=

Average(cr=

cr - collection rate
(*) No dat a f or t otal oil market ed.
(°) Dat a f or Greece, It aly, Port ugal and Spain is from 1994/95.

Figure 2 - Percentages of waste oil management on the basis that 50% of the oil marketed is generated as waste oil (Source: Table 1)

60

29%

2%

53%

17%

Quantity
tipped/Total
generated

Quantity
combusted/Tota
l generated

Quantity
regenerated/Tot
al generated

Directive 75/439/EEC - waste oil per 1000 inhabitants - 1997

Total oil marketed/ sold w here available (w aste oil generated ~ 50% of oil marketed)
Quantity collected
Quantity regenerated

Quantity combusted
Quantity tipped

b
a
h
n
i
0
0
0
1
/
r
a
e
y
/
n
o
t

25

20

15

10

5

0

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece(°)

Ireland

(°) Data for Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain is from 1994/95

Italy(°)

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Portugal(°)

Spain(°)

Sweden

U.K.

Figure 3 - Quantities of oil marketed and different treatments in tonne per year, per 1000 inhabitants (Source: Table 1)

61

Limit
values
(mg/Nm3)

Directive
75/439/EEC
> 3 MW

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France Germany

Ireland

Luxem-
bourg

Nether-
lands

Sweden United Kingdom

Directive 75/439 on waste oils

(2)

(5)

>3MW

< 3MW

option 1

Option 2

>3MW

< 3MW

>3MW

< 3MW

0,5
1

}5

100
5

0,5
1

}1,5

5
100
5
(4)
(4)

0,1
-

}5

30 (3)

200-350
30

4
65
30
0,1

0,1
-
-
-
-
-
30 (3)
-
-
30

4
65
30
-

0,5
1

}1,5

5
100 (HCl
5 (HF)
300 (1)
100 (1)

-
-
-
-

}10

100
5
300
200

>3MW and
<3MW
0,1
0,1

}1,5

1
100
5
900
50

-
-
-
-

> 5 MW

0,2
1

}5

100(HCl)
5(HF)
1700
100

-
-
-
-

0,5
1
}5

100
5
-
-

-
-
-
-

- Cd
- Ni
- Cr
- Cu
- V
- Pb
- Cl
- F
- SO2
-
total
Pb+Zn+Cr
CO
organic C
2,3,7,8-
TCDD

Dust,

>3MW and
<3MW
0,05
0,5
0,5
0,5
0,5
0,5
60(HCl)
4(HF)
50
10

-
-
-
-

-
-
-
-

0,5
1

1,5

5
100
5

-
-
-
-

n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.

-
-
-
-

0,5
1

1,5

5
100
5

100

-
-
-
-

-
-
-
-

5 (8)

Table 2: Limit Values set for the substances listed in the Annex of the Directive (Questionnaire, Question II, 7a)
The Directive gives two options : option 1: Cr, Cu and V = 1.5 mg/Nm3 and Pb = 5 mg/Nm3 or option 2: Cr, Cu, V and Pb = 5 mg/Nm3

Data not received from Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain

n.a.: no answer

Notes:

1) Only applies to Flanders
2) No national limits have been established.
3) When mixed combustion is effectuated the limit value is 20 mg/Nm3.
4) Currently no limit values on European level. Member States were required to set limit values.
5) Processed waste oil is not considered to be “waste” (lower emission limit values apply).
6) Does not apply to burners < 0,4MW that burn waste oil generated on site.

62

DIRECTIVE 86/278/EEC ON SEWAGE SLUDGE

I.

INTRODUCTION

Directive 86/278/EEC66 on the protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil,
when sewage sludge is used in agriculture regulates sewage sludge use in such a way as to
prevent harmful effects on soil, vegetation, animals and man. It is also aims at encouraging a
sound reuse of sludge in agriculture.

In particular, the main provisions of Directive 86/278/EEC are:

– definitions of ‘sludge’ (sewage sludge, septic tank sludge and other sludges), ‘treatment’
(biological, chemical or heat treatment, long-term storage or any other appropriate process
so as significantly to reduce its fermentability and the health hazards resulting from its use)
and ‘use’ (spreading of sludge on the soil or any other application of sludge on and in the
soil) (Article 2);

– values for concentrations of heavy metals in soil and sludge and maximum annual

quantities of heavy metals that can be introduced into the soil (Article 4);

– heavy metal concentrations in soils may not be exceeded (Article 5);

– sludge has to be treated (Article 6);

– sludge may not be applied to certain cultures and after a certain period has elapsed

(Article 7);

– the use of sludge has to take into account crop needs (Article 8);

– methods for the sampling and analysis of soil and sludge (Article 9);

– the obligation for Member States to keep up-to-date records on sludge production,

quantities used in agriculture, location of parcels and other information (Article 10);

– reporting requirements (Article 17).

Article 17 of the Directive stipulates that Member States have to draw up every four years,
and for the first time five years after the notification of the Directive, a consolidated report on
the use of sludge in agriculture.

The Directive having been notified on 17 June 1986, Member States had to draw up their first
report, covering the years 1987-1990, by 17 June 1991. Six Member States, namely Belgium,
Denmark, Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, submitted their reports in
1991/92. The Commission did not consider it worthwhile publishing such an incomplete and
highly disparate information with no uniform format.

A second report pursuant to Article 17 of the Directive 86/278/EEC, covering the years 1991-
1994, should have been submitted by 17 June 1995. Five Member States, namely Belgium,

66

OJ L 181, 4.7.86, p. 6.

63

Spain, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom, submitted reports. The Commission
published a consolidated report67 on 27 February 1997.

Article 5 of Council Directive 91/692/EEC68 standardising and rationalising reports on the
implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment has modified Article 17 of
Directive 86/278/EEC. Member States are now asked to draw up a report every three years,
and the first report shall cover the period 1995-1997. Commission Decision 94/741/EC of
24 October 1994, pursuant to Article 6 of Directive 91/692/EEC, has established the format of
a questionnaire to be followed by Member States when reporting to the Commission. The
same format is followed in this consolidated report.

Belgium (Flemish and Walloon Regions), Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Ireland,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom have sent in their reports. This
consolidated report
is based on those contributions. Despite many reminders by the
Commission services, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain did not send their reports
(status May 1999). Austria has sent the reports for the nine Länder. The Commission has
invited the Austrian authorities to merge these regional reports into a national one. This
national report is not yet available (status October 1999).

II.

REPORT BASED ON THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE
(COMISSION DECISION 94/741/EC)

INCORPORATION INTO NATIONAL LAW

1. National Law

The previous consolidated report, relative to the period 1991-1994, mentioned some cases of
incomplete or not correct transposition of the Directive by some Member States. In light of
the information received up to the end of 1998, all those cases have been addressed to the
satisfaction of the Commission.

In particular, the Wallonia Region (Belgium) has adopted an Arrêté on 12 January 1995
which regulates the use of sewage sludge and septic tank sludge according to the provisions of
the Directive. Following observations from the Commission, France has adopted the Décret
n° 97-1133 of 8 December 1997 and the Arrêté of 8 January 1998 which complete the
transposition of the Directive to the satisfaction of the Commission. Ireland has notified on
12 June 1998 the adoption of Statutory Instrument No. 148 of 1998, Waste Management (Use
of Sewage Sludge in Agriculture) Regulations, which slightly modifies and repeals Statutory
Instrument No. 183 of 1991, European Communities (Use of Sewage Sludge in Agriculture)
Regulations. Portugal has transmitted the two decrees (Portaria) No. 176/96 and 177/96 of
3 October 1996 implementing the Decreto-Lei No. 446/91 of 22 November 1991 which
complete the transposition of the Directive in Portuguese law.

As regards the three new Member States that were not part of the Community before 1994,
Austria has a federal structure and sludge management is competence of the different Länder.
The Commission has been notified of the implementing measures of six out of nine Länder
(Burgenland, Kärnten, Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich, Steiermark and Vorarlberg). Finland

67

68

COM (97) 23 final.
OJ L 377, 31.12.91, p.48.

64

has notified Council of State Decision No. 282 of 14 April 1994 on the use of sewage sludge
in agriculture. Sweden has transposed the Directive through the Order containing regulations
on protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in
agriculture SNFS 1994:2 of 30 May 1994. The assessment of the compliance with the
Directive for these Member States has not yet been completed.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIRECTIVE

1. Specific conditions when sludge from septic tanks and other similar installations is

used – Article 3 (2)

According to Article 3 (2) residual sludge from septic tanks and other similar installations
may be used in agriculture subject to any conditions that the Member States concerned may
deem necessary for the protection of human health and the environment.

In Belgium the Wallonia Region requires that the use in agriculture of septic tank sludge
matches crop needs. There is a limit of 400 kg of nitrogen per hectare per year and a specific
provision according to which only one third of the total available surface of a given farmer
can be treated with septic tank sludge. No more than 20 000 litres of septic sludge can be
spread per hectare per year.

The Flemish Region and Denmark have not given any information on this point.

In Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden and in the United Kingdom septic tank sludge
is subject to the same provisions as sewage sludge.

In Germany septic tank sludge has to be delivered to a waste water treatment plant for further
processing and cannot be used as such in agriculture.

In France septic tank sludge has to be worked into the soil immediately after being spread on
land.

In Ireland septic tank sludge may be used on grassland provided that the grassland is not
grazed in the following six months.

2. Concentration limit values for heavy metals in soil, sludge and maximum annual

loads – Article 5

Member States shall prohibit the use of sludge where the concentration of heavy metals in the
soil exceeds the limit values in Annex I A (Article 5(1)). In addition Member States have to lay
down maximum quantities of sludge and limit values for heavy metals in the sludge in
accordance with Annex I B (Article 5(2a)). They have also to ensure observance of the limit
values given in Annex I C for the quantities of metals introduced into the soil per unit of area
and unit of time (Article 5(2b)).

Tables 1 to 3 as well as figure 1 and 2 present the concentration limit values set by Member
States in accordance with Annexes I A, I B and I C of the Directive.

65

In the Flemish Region the concentration limits for mercury and zinc in soils on which sludge
can be applied are not in compliance with Annex I A of the Directive.

In Sweden the maximum annual load is calculated over a seven-year period.

As regards Annex 1B and the maximum quantities of sludge (dry matter) applicable to
soil – Article 5 (2a)

In Belgium the Wallonia Region determines the maximum quantities according to a formula
which weighs the actual heavy metal concentration in sludge against the permissible values.
On a three year period the maximum allowable quantity is 6 tonnes per hectare on grassland
and 12 tonnes per hectare on arable land. In the Flemish Region application of sewage sludge
is limited to 4 tonnes every two years for arable land and 2 tonnes every two years for grazing
land.

In Denmark 10 tonnes of sludge may be applied per hectare per year.

In Germany up to 5 tonnes per hectare in a three-year period may be used.

In Ireland 2 tonnes per hectare per year may be applied to agricultural land.

In Luxembourg 3 tonnes per hectare per year may be used in agriculture.

In Portugal 6 tonnes per hectare per year is in principle the maximum allowed quantity of
sludge that may be used in agriculture although lower heavy metal permit to increase this
amount.

Finland, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom have opted for Article 5 (2) b, i.e. for
fixing maximum annual load on a ten year average (seven years in Sweden).

Less stringent limit values for concentrations of heavy metals permitted on land for
growing crops intended exclusively for animal consumption – Annex I A, footnote 1

Less stringent values are not permitted in Belgium, in Denmark, in Finland, in France, in
Germany, in Ireland, in Luxembourg and in Sweden.

In Portugal the limits for soils with a pH higher then 7 in which commercial crops are grown
for animal consumption are those provided for in Table 1 of this report.

The United Kingdom reports 10 sites where the normal limits for all metals may be exceeded
in accordance with Annex I A, footnote 1. It is generally land adjoining waste water treatment
plants which was once used as a sewage farm. The total surface area of this sites (estimated)
is 2 516 hectares.

Less stringent limit values for concentrations of heavy metals permitted in soils with a
pH higher than 7 – Annex I A, footnote 2

Less stringent values are not permitted in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland,
Luxembourg and Sweden.

66

No information on this point in the report from Finland.

In Portugal the limits for soils with a pH higher then 7 in which commercial crops are grown
for animal consumption are those provided for in Table 1 of this report.

Less stringent limit values for the annual quantities of heavy metals introduced into the
soils intended for fodder crops – Annex I C, footnote 1

Less stringent values are not permitted in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden.

The United Kingdom reports 10 sites where the normal limits for all metals may be exceeded
in accordance with Annex I C, footnote 1. It is generally land adjoining waste water treatment
plants which was once used as a sewage farm. The total surface area of this sites (estimated)
is 2 516 hectares.

3. Description of the technologies employed for treating sludge – Article 6

According to Article 6 (without prejudice to Article 7) sludge shall be treated before being
used in agriculture. Member States may nevertheless authorise, under conditions to be laid
down by them, the use of untreated sludge if it is injected or worked into the soil.

In the Wallonia Region of Belgium sludge is digested, aerobically stabilised, mechanically
dried, thermally dried or conditioned with lime or polyelectrolites. No information on this
point from the Flemish Region.

In Denmark sludge is digested in a heat digestion chamber or in a bioreactor, stabilised by
aeration, composted (in controlled conditions for two weeks at a temperature of 55°C)
conditioned with lime or pasteurised at a temperature of 70°C for one hour.

In Finland sludge undergoes anaerobic digestion,
conditioning, or it is composted.

is stabilised by aeration or

lime

In France sludge is subject to prolonged aeration, aerobic or anaerobic stabilisation, lime
conditioning, composting, or thermal drying.

In Germany different
technologies are applied such as anaerobic digestion, aerobic
stabilisation, lime conditioning etc. Normally a combination of these techniques is used for
sludge treatment.

In Ireland sludge is either dewatered on filter tables and stored for 6 months, or undergoes
anaerobic digestion.

In Luxembourg sludge is digested and then conditioned with lime or iron salts. For
dewatering mechanical devices are used. Polyelectrolites are added to sludge which is not
conditioned with lime in order to facilitate dewatering.

In Portugal
the technologies employed are drying beds (drainage on sand beds and
evaporation of humidity), thickening, mechanical dehydration (band filters, filter presses,
vacuum filters or centrifugal machines) and various stabilisation processes.

67

In Sweden the following techniques are used: thickening (gravity thickening, flotation),
stabilisation (anaerobic, aerobic, lime), conditioning, dewatering (centrifuge, filter belt press,
air drying), thermal drying and composting.

In the United Kingdom the technologies employed are mesophilic and thermophilic
anaerobic digestion, composting, lime stabilisation, liquid storage, dewatering and storage,
thermal drying.

As regards the frequency of analysis – Annex II A, paragraph 1:

According to Article 6 b sewage sludge producers shall regularly provide users with all the
information referred to in Annex II A (sludge analysis).

In the Wallonia Region of Belgium the frequency of analysis is linked to the size of the
treatment plant, i.e. one analysis per year for a plant treating less than 5 000 population
equivalent (pe), up to one analysis per month for plants larger than 100 000 pe. No
information on this point from the Flemish Region.

In Denmark, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom the same requirements as in the
Directive apply.

In Finland the frequency of analysis is linked to the size of the treatment plant, i.e. one
analysis per year for a plant treating less than 200 population equivalent (pe), up to one
analysis per month for plants larger than 100 000 pe. These frequencies can be relaxed when
the quality of the incoming water does not change in time.

In France the frequency of analysis goes from twice a year for small plants to once a week
for the biggest plants.

In Germany the same frequency of the Directive applies although in single cases the
frequency can be up to six times a year.

In Luxembourg the frequency goes from once a year for small plants (less than 5 000 pe) up
to six times a year for the biggest plants (more than 50 000 pe).

In Sweden the frequency depends on the size of the waste water treatment plant going from
once a year for plants treating 200 to 2 000 pe up to once a month for plants treating more
than 20 000 pe.

As regards specific conditions for authorising injection or working into the soil of
untreated sludge – Article 6 (a)

In the Wallonia Region of Belgium untreated sludge has to be directly incorporated into the
soil after spreading. Treated sludge must be incorporated within 24 hours. No information on
this point from the Flemish Region.

No specific rules in Denmark, in Ireland, in the United Kingdom,

In Finland, Germany and in Luxembourg it is forbidden to spread untreated sludge on land.

68

In France only septic tank sludge and sludge coming from small waste water plants (less than
200 pe) can be spread on land untreated.

In Portugal a specific joint authorisation from the Agriculture and Environment Ministries is
required for injection or working into the soil of raw sludge.

In Sweden untreated sludge can be used as long as it is worked into the soil within a
maximum of 24 hours after being spread and its use does not cause a nuisance to local
residents.

4. Periods of prohibition of spreading before grazing or harvesting – Article 7

According to Article 7 Member States shall prohibit the use of sludge on:- grassland or
forage crops at least three weeks (but depending on circumstances) before grazing and/or
harvesting,- on soil in which fruit and vegetable crops are growing (except fruit trees) and -
on grounds where fruits or vegetable grow in direct contact with the soil (and which are eaten
raw) ten months preceding the harvest.

In the Wallonia Region of Belgium six weeks have to elapse before allowing grazing on
grassland or on animal food crops. It is forbidden to spread sludge in forests and in nature
protection areas. No information on this point from the Flemish Region.

In Denmark it is forbidden to use sludge on grassland for one year before it is grazed, and on
forage crops before harvest.

In Finland five years have to elapse before potatoes, root crops and vegetables can be grown
on sludge-treated land. Sludge may be used only on soil on which grain, sugar beet, oil-
bearing crops or crops not used for human or animal consumption are cultivated.

In France the delay is six weeks – reduced to three for hygienised sludge.

In Germany sludge cannot be used on grassland. It has to be carefully ploughed in before
sowing forage crops, green maize and silage maize.

In Ireland, in Portugal and in the United Kingdom the same minimal provisions of the
Directive, i.e. three weeks before grazing or harvesting, apply.

In Luxembourg the delay is one month.

In Sweden the length of the period is 10 months.

5. Limit values or other measures for soils with a pH below 6 – Article 8

According to Article 8 Member States shall take into account the increased mobility and
availability to the crop of heavy metals and shall, if necessary, reduce the limit values in
accordance with Annex I A, where sludge is used on soils of which the pH is below 6.

In the Wallonia Region of Belgium it is prohibited to spread sludge on soils with a pH below
6. No information on this point from the Flemish Region.

No specific rules in Denmark, in Ireland and in Sweden.

69

In Finland sludge may be used on soils with a pH value above 5.8 or 5.5 in case of use of
lime-stabilised sludge.

In France there is a reduced annual load for cadmium (15 g/ha/y), chromium (1 200 g/ha/y),
copper (1 200 g/ha/y), mercury (12 g/ha/y), lead (900 g/ha/y) and zinc (3 000 g/ha/y) on soils
with a pH between 5 and 6.

In Germany there are reduced concentration limits for cadmium (1 mg/kg dm) and zinc
(150 mg/kg dm) for soils with a pH between 5 and 6. Sludge cannot be spread on soils with a
pH below 5.

In Luxembourg if the pH of the soil is below 6 the pH of sludge must be consistently above
7. In general sludge conditioned with lime is used in these cases (pH higher than 12).

In Portugal reduced limits are authorised when the pH is below 5.5 (see Table 1 in this
report).

In the United Kingdom reduced concentration limits for copper, nickel and zinc are adopted
in order to take account of the increased mobility of these heavy metals when the pH
decreases.

6. Soil analyses for other parameters than pH and heavy metals – Annex II B,

paragraph 1

According to Article 9 soil on which sludge is used shall be analysed as outlined in
Annex II B. Member States must first ensure that the heavy metal content of the soil does not
exceed the limit value. Therefore they have to decide what analyses to carry out, on the
frequency of analyses and on the parameters (pH and heavy metals are obligatory).

In the Wallonia Region of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg,
Sweden and the United Kingdom only pH and heavy metals have to be analysed.

In the Flemish Region soil is additionally analysed for dry matter, organic matter, nitrogen,
phosphate, EOX and mineral oil. The competent authority may decide on further analyses
relating to monocyclical aromatic hydrocarbons, polycyclical aromatic hydrocarbons and
other organic substances.

In Germany phosphate, potassium and magnesium have to be analysed as well.

In Portugal nitrogen and phosphorous have to be analysed as well.

As regards the minimum frequency of soil analysis – Annex II B, paragraph 2

Every ten years in the Wallonia Region of Belgium, in Ireland, in France and in Germany,
every twenty years in the United Kingdom, when ten tonnes of dry matter are spread per
hectare in the Flemish Region.

No information on this point from Denmark and Portugal.

70

There is no specific minimum frequency in Finland – soils have to be analysed if there is
reason to believe that limit values have been exceeded.

In Luxembourg soils have to be analysed prior to any sludge spreading operation.

In Sweden, due to the fact that very few soils have concentrations at or close to the lower
limits, soil analyses are carried out only if it is probable that the concentration of one or more
heavy metals in the soil in question exceeds the limit values.

7. Quantities of sludge produced, sludge used in agriculture and average concentration

of heavy metals in sludge – Article 10

Article 10 of the Directive requires that Member States keep up-to-date records which
register, among other information, the quantities of sludge produced and the quantities
supplied for use in agriculture as well as the concentrations of heavy metals and nutrients.

Tables 4 and 5 and figure 3 present the data received by the Commission.

8. Exemptions granted to small sewage treatment plants – Article 11

According to Article 11 Member States may exempt sludge from sewage treatment plants with
a treatment capacity corresponding to 5 000 person equivalents, which are designed
primarily for the treatment of domestic waste water from Articles 6 (b), 10 (1) b, c, d and (2).

No exemptions in the Wallonia Region of Belgium, Denmark, France, Sweden and the
United Kingdom.

This point is not mentioned in the report of the Flemish Region and of Portugal.

In Finland exemptions are made for waste water treatment plants with less than 5 000 pe.
Some 450 plants are concerned by this measure.

In Germany exemptions are made for waste water treatment plants with less than 1 000 pe.

In Ireland there is a general exemption for plants below 5 000 pe.

71

Annex III

72

86/278/EEC
6<pH<7
1 – 3
-
50 – 140
1 – 1.5
30 – 75
50 – 300
150 – 300

86/278/EEC
6<pH<7
1 – 3
-
50 – 140
1 - 1.5
30 – 75
50 – 300
150 – 300

Cadmium (Cd)
Chromium (Cr)
Copper (Cu)
Mercury (Hg)
Nickel (Ni)
Lead (Pb)
Zinc (Zn)

Cadmium (Cd)
Chromium (Cr)
Copper (Cu)
Mercury (Hg)
Nickel (Ni)
Lead (Pb)
Zinc (Zn)

Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge

A

B
Flanders Wallonia

1.2
78
109
5.3
55
120
330
As 27

2
100
50
1
50
100
200

D

1.5
100
60
1
50
100
200

DK

0.5
30
40
0.5
15
40
100

E

F

2
150
100
1
50
100
300

FIN

EL

I

0.5
200
100
0.2
60
60
150

IRL

L

NL

1
-
50
1
30
50
150

1 - 3
100 - 200
50 - 140
1 - 1.5
30 - 75
50 - 300
150 - 300

PH<5.5
1
50
50
1
30
50
150

P
5.5<pH<7
3
200
100
1.5
75
300
300

pH>7
4
300
200
2
110
450
450

S

0.4
60
40
0.3
30
40
100 - 150

5<pH<5.5 5.5<pH<6

6

UK

3
-
80
1
50
300
200

3
-
100
1
60
300
250

≤

≤

pH
3
-
135
1
75
300
300

7

pH>7
3
-
200
1
110
300
450

Table 1: Concentration limit values for heavy metals in soil (mg/kg dry matter)

Data not received

73

Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge

86/278/EEC
Annex 1 B
20 – 40
-
1000 – 1750
16 – 25
300 – 400
750 – 1200
2500 – 4000

86/278/EEC
Annex 1 B
20 – 40
-
1000 – 1750
16 – 25
300 – 400
750 – 1200
2500 – 4000

Cd
Cr
Cu
Hg
Ni
Pb
Zn

Cd
Cr
Cu
Hg
Ni
Pb
Zn

A

B

Flanders
6
250
750*
5
100*
300
2 500*
As 150

EL

I

Wallonia
10
500
600
10
100
500
2 000

IRL

20
-
1 000
16
300
750
2 500

D

10
900
800
8
200
900
2 500

DK

0.4
100
1 000
0.8
30
120
4 000

L

NL

20 – 40
1 000 – 1 750
1 000 – 1 750
16 – 25
300 – 400
750 – 1 200
2 500 – 4 000

E

P

20
1 000
1 000
16
300
750
2 500

F

20
1 000
1 000
10
200
800
3 000

S

2
100
600
2.5
50
100
800

FIN

3
300
600
2
100
150
1500

UK

-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Table 2: Concentration limits for heavy metals in sludge (mg/kg dry matter)

Data not received

74

Cd

Cr

Cu

g
k
/
g
m

40

30

20

10

0

86/278

A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

Figure 1 - Concentration limit
values for heavy metals in sludge.
(Source: Table 2)

2000

1500

g
k
/
g
m

1000

500

0

86/278

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

g
k
/
g
m

86/278

400

300

200

100

g
k
/
g
m

0

86/278

g
k
/

g
m

1800

1500

1200

900

600

300

0

86/278

A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

Pb

Hg

g
k
/

g
m

25

20

15

10

5

0

86/278

A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

Ni

Zn

g
k
/
g
m

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

86/278

A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

75

Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge

86/278/EEC
Annex 1 C
150
-
12000
100
3000
15000
30000

86/278/EEC
Annex 1 C
150
-
12000
100
3000
15000
30000

Cd
Cr
Cu
Hg
Ni
Pb
Zn

Cd
Cr
Cu
Hg
Ni
Pb
Zn

A

B

Flanders
12
500
750
10
100
600
1800
As 300

Wallonia
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

EL

I

IRL

-
-
-
-
-
-
-

D

-
-
-
-
-
-
-

L

120
4 500
5 250
75
1 200
3 600
12 000

DK

E

-
-
-
-
-
-
-

NL

P

150
450
1 200
100
3 000
1 500
30 000

F

30
1 500
1 500
15
300
1 500
4 500

S

1.75
100
600
2.5
50
100
800

FIN

1.5
300
600
1
100
100
1500

UK

150
-
7 500
100
3 000
15 000
15 000

Table 3: Maximum annual average load of heavy metals to agricultural land (g/ha/y)

Data not received

76

Cd

Cr

Cu

r
y
/

a
h

/

g
k

0,15

0,12

0,09

0,06

0,03

0,00

r
y
/

a
h

/

g
k

5,0

4,0

3,0

2,0

1,0

0,0

86/278 A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

86/278 A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

r
y
/

a
h

/

g
k

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

86/278 A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

Pb

Hg

Figure 2 – Maximum annual average
load (Source: Table 3)

r
y
/
a
h
/
g
k

r
y
/
a
h
/
g
k

15

12

9

6

3

0

r
y
/
a
h
/
g
k

0,10

0,08

0,06

0,04

0,02

0,00

86/278 A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

86/278 A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

Ni

Zn

3,0

2,5

2,0

1,5

1,0

0,5

0,0

r
y
/
a
h
/
g
k

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

86/278 A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

86/278 A B DK

FIN F D EL

IRL I L NL P E S UK

77

Member State

Sludge produced

Sludge used in agriculture

Surface covered

1995

1996

1997

1995

%

1996

%

1997

%

1995

1996

1997

Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge

Austria
Wallonia Region
Flemish Region
Germany

14 311
73 325
2 248 647

15 200
65 230
2 215 820

-
69 850
2 227 609

Denmark

166 584

161 717

151 159

10 687
9 750
940 932

109 369

12 230
17 860
920 721

104 095

80%
27%
42%

64%

-
23 363
909 547

94 250

33%
41%

62%

-
1 625
-

-
2 680
--

-
3 900
-

28 261 ha/
3 years

27 393 ha/
3 years

23 743 ha/
3 years

75%
13%
42%

67%

66%

33%

750 000

141 000

-

130 000

820 000

136 000

494 000

47 000

-

49 000

38%

544 000

53 000

66%

39%

-

-

-

-

145 855
(estimate)

230 000
(estimate)

230 000
(estimate)

38 290

-

245 172
(estimate
for 1998)
230 000
(estimate)

-

-

-

-

44 000

30%

67 800

29%

90 000
(estimate)

39%

4 174

11%

-

30%

74 000
(estimate for
1998)
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

16 000
ha/ year
(0.6% of total
cultivated
area)
-

21 000
ha/year
(0.8% of total
cultivated
area)
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

A
B

D

DK

E

EL

F

FIN

I

IRL

L

NL

P

S

Spain

Greece

France

Finland

Italy

Ireland

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Portugal

Sweden

UK

United Kingdom

1 120 000
(estimate)

1 120 000

1 195 000
(estimate)

548 061

49%

570 798

51%

645 798
(estimate)

54%

Table 4: Total sludge production and quantities used in agriculture (t dry matter)

Data not received

78

Directive 86/278/EEC - Sludge used in agriculture

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

a
i
r
t
s
u
A

m
u
i
g
l
e
B

k
r
a
m
n
e
D

d
n
a
l
n
i
F

)
¤
(
e
c
n
a
r
F

y
n
a
m
r
e
G

e
c
e
e
r
G

)
*
(
d
n
a
l
e
r
I

y
l
a
t
I

g
r
u
o
b
m
e
x
u
L

s
d
n
a
l
r
e
h
t
e
N

)
§
(
l
a
g
u
t
r
o
P

n
i
a
p
S

n
e
d
e
w
S

.
K
.
U

(¤) Average data from 1996 and 1997. (*) Value from 1997. (§) Average data from 1995 and 1998.

Figure 3 - Percentage of sludge used in agriculture per total sludge produced in wastewater plants. (Source: Table 4)

79

86/278/EEC

Flanders Wallonia

1995

1996

1997

1995

A

B

D

E

F

1995

1996

1997

1995

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

EL

I

20 – 40

-

1000 – 1750

16 – 25

300 – 400

750 – 1200

2500 – 4000

86/278/EEC

20 – 40

-

1000 – 1750

16 – 25

300 – 400

750 – 1200

2500 – 4000

Cd

Cr

Cu

Hg

Ni

Pb

Zn

N

P

Cd

Cr

Cu

Hg

Ni

Pb

Zn

N

P

1.5

52

277

1.3

24

73

863

1.5

52

273

1.2

23

67

831

1.4

46

274

1

23

63

809

1.5

34

298

1.4

25.7

72

878

DK

1996

1.45

40.3

303.5

1.35

24.35

57.37

775.5

1997

1.31

24.8

250.3

1.11

18.4

50.4

678

34 290

35 460

34 833

40 500

43 700

43 775

21 140

21 930

20 750

31 000

31 600

30 230

Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge

FIN

1996

0.7

91

291

1.4

48

43

636

1997

1.04

84

290

1.3

34

39

606

2.9

58.8

309

3

31.9

106.7

754.2

1.3

82

283

1.6

41

47

575

40 000

28 000

31 600

32 000

45 000

20 000

26 000

28 000

estimate

5.3

80

334

2.7

39

133

921

40 000

45 000

estimate

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

IRL

1997

2.8

165

641

0.6

54

150

562

27 558

10 386

L

NL

P

S

UK

1995

1996

1997

1995

1996

1997

1995

1996

1997

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3.8

51

206

1.9

24

128

1628

30 300

45 700*

*P2O5

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

n. a.

1.6

37.7

517

1.8

19.6

52.4

638

1.4

39

526

1.9

19

44

603

36 000

30 600

36 000

29 800

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3.77

162

555

2.59

60

222

764

3.3

157

568

2.4

57

221

792

46 176

43 395

26 244

22 394

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Table 5: Average heavy metal concentrations in sludge (mg/kg dry matter)

Data not received

80

Cd

Cr

Cu

g
k
/
g
m

20

15

10

5

0

g
k
/
g
m

1000

800

600

400

200

0

g
k
/
g
m

1000

800

600

400

200

0

1997

DKlimit
average
DK

1997
FINlimit
average
FIN

1997

Flimit
average

F

Dlimit
average

D

1997
1997
IRLlimit
IRLaverage

Llimit
average

L

1997

Slimit
average

S

1996
1996
UKlimit
UKaverage

1997

DKlimit
average
DK

1997
FINlimit
average
FIN

1997

Flimit
average

F

Dlimit
average

D

1997
1997
IRLlimit
IRLaverage

Llimit
average

L

1997

Slimit
average

1996
1996
UKlimit
UKaverage

S

1997
1997
FINlimit
limit
DK
average
average
DK
FIN

1997
Flimit
average

F

1997
1997
Dlimit
IRLlimit
average
average
IRL

D

1997
Llimit
average

L

limit

1996
1996
Slimit
UK
UKaverage
average

S

Figure 4 - Average heavy metal
concentration in sludge. (Source:
Table 5)

Hg

Ni

g
k
/
g
m

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

g
k
/
g
m

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

1997

DKlimit
average
DK

1997
FINlimit
average
FIN

1997

Flimit
average

F

Dlimit
average

D

1997

IRLlimit
average
IRL

1997

1996

1997

Llimit
average

L

Slimit
average

S

1996
UKlimit
UKaverage

1997

1997

DKlimit
average
DK

FINlimit
average
FIN

1997

1997

Flimit
average

F

Dlimit
average

D

IRLlimit
average
IRL

1997

1996

1997

limit
L
average

L

Slimit
average

S

1996
UKlimit
UKaverage

Pb

Zn

g
k
/
g
m

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

g
k
/
g
m

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

1997

DKlimit
average
DK

FINlimit
1997
average
FIN

1997

1997

Flimit
average

F

Dlimit
average

D

IRLlimit
average
IRL

1997

1997

Llimit
average

L

1996

Slimit
average

S

1996
UKlimit
UKaverage

1997

DKlimit
average
DK

1997

FINlimit
average
FIN

1997

1997

Flimit
average

F

Dlimit
average

D

IRLlimit
average
IRL

1997

1996

1997

Llimit
average

L

Slimit
average

S

1996
UKlimit
UKaverage

81

CONCLUSION

The aim of this report is to provide the Council, the European Parliament, the Member States
and the interested public with information on the progress made in implementing Directives
75/442/EEC, 91/689/EEC, 75/439/EEC and 86/278/EEC.

These four Directives for which reports have been worked out in the framework of Directive
91/692/EEC on reporting are quite different
in their content and structure. Directives
75/442/EEC and 91/689/EEC constitute general and basic provisions for all wastes and
hazardous wastes whereas Directives 75/439/EEC and 86/278/EEC contain requirements for
specific waste streams – waste oil and sewage sludge – which differ due to the different types
and problems of waste.

Whereas the answers to the questionnaires were evaluated and summarised Directive by
Directive the conclusion tries to provide a consolidated horizontal view on the Directives and
their implementation.

Waste definition

Definitions and especially the definition of “waste”, “hazardous waste” and the waste
management terminology such as “recycling, recovery and disposal” constitute the basis for
the European waste management policy and the functioning of the internal market in this
field.

As regards the definition of “waste” and the European Waste Catalogue (EWC), only five
Member States (Denmark, Spain, Italy, Finland and Sweden) have transposed it correctly into
national law. Four Member States (Greece, Spain, Luxembourg and Finland) have correctly
implemented the definition of hazardous waste and the hazardous waste list. Thus only Spain
and Finland took correctly over the European waste definitions.

According to Article 1(4) second indent Member States can notify any other waste they
consider displaying “hazardous” properties listed in Annex III. Until the beginning of 1999
the Commission received 471 notifications. It is planned to adapt the hazardous waste list in
this regard and to merge it for practical reasons with the EWC. According to Article 1(5)
hazardous waste from households is exempted from the provisions of Directive 91/689/EEC.
Italy and the United Kingdom even excluded household waste from the definition of
hazardous waste, which is not in line with EC law.

Waste oil is classified as hazardous waste (in chapter 12 and 13 of the hazardous waste list).
The waste terminology in Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils (such as disposal, processing,
regeneration and combustion) differs from the framework Directives and the Waste
Management Strategy. Thus “disposal of waste oil” means any treatment (processing,
destruction, storage and tipping) whereas “disposal of waste” means operations listed in
Annex II A such as incineration without energy recovery or landfilling. This difference should
be adjusted as it seems to have caused confusion at least in question 6 where details on
undertakings which “dispose of waste oils” were requested. In addition, Ireland and the
Netherlands consider processed waste oils not as “waste” but as a fuel and thus do not apply
the Directive as regards emission limit values.

82

Directive 86/278/EEC defines the “use” of sewage sludge as “the spreading of sludge on the
soil or any other application of sludge on and in the soil”. This definition, combined with the
provisions in Directive 86/278/EEC, implies that the use of sewage sludge in agriculture has
to be regarded as a recovery operation as defined in Annex II B of Directive 75/442/EEC
(R10: Land treatment resulting in benefit to agriculture).

Hierarchy of principles

The hierarchy of principles – waste prevention, recycling, energy recovery and safe disposal -
is laid down in Article 3 and 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC and was confirmed in the Community
Strategy for Waste Management 1996. Article 3 of Directive 75/439/EEC contains the
hierarchy of – regeneration, combustion and safe destruction/tipping – for waste oils.

As regards the application of Directive 75/442/EEC on waste question 2 and 4 asked for the
measures to encourage prevention and recovery and the details on waste generation and
treatment. It is doubtful whether and how much waste has been prevented between 1995 and
1997; there is even no formula to calculate the success and to make it comparable. Only the
Flemish region of Belgium and Luxembourg started specific programs or actions to support
these objectives. Germany and Ireland explained how the objectives are implemented in the
waste management procedures, whereas the other Member States only confirmed that the
requirements have been transposed into national law.

The success of waste recycling differs widely between Member States. The mean recycling
rate for domestic waste for the fifteen Member States is 15% (in Member States it varies
between 0 and 44%). The mean recycling rate for hazardous waste (from eleven Member
States) is about 19% and on “other waste” 60%. This last has to be considered carefully since
the data was only provided by eight Member States which did not report on the same waste
fractions.

As there are no precise criteria on European level to distinguish between incineration with and
without energy recovery, both operation have to be considered together. As regards household
waste Denmark and Luxembourg incinerated 56%, whereas the mean rate of incineration is
about 19%. Incineration is even with energy recovery only the second best option as regards
recovery. Current and future initiatives on European level will have to focus on separate
collection at source and high recycling rates.

Landfilling is still the most common way for handling household waste (average = 62%). It
seems to be less important for hazardous waste (35%) and “other waste” (17%). The rate of
self-sufficiency for the disposal of waste lies in most Member States by more than 99%
whereas Ireland and Luxembourg exported 36% and 99% of the hazardous waste for disposal.

As regards the appropriate management of waste oil, the success of separate collection is an
important factor. The higher the collection rate the smaller the quantity of waste oil which is
just dumped in landfills or even poured on the soil or down the drain which causes high risks
for human health and the environment. The average collection rate (based on the assessment
that half of the oil marketed is generated as waste oil) is about 71%, which means that 29% is
not handled appropriately.

The hierarchy of principles for waste oils management – regeneration, combustion and safe
destruction/tipping is still not implemented. Among the reporting eleven Member States only

83

Germany, France and Luxembourg confirmed that a considerable part of the collected waste
oil is regenerated (~ 60%, 50 to 30%, 100%). However the percentage of regeneration is
decreasing in Germany, very much decreasing in France and as regards Luxembourg the ideal
of 100% was not checked and might be due to different interpretation of “regeneration”.

The previous report already concluded, that the Directive on waste oils had only been partly
implemented and that Member States had refrained from giving effective priority to
regeneration over burning of waste oils. For the period 1995 to 1997 even a decrease has to be
reported especially with view to the priority of regeneration.

The main constraints seem to be economic aspects such as that a minimum quantity of
collected waste oil is needed for an economically profitable regeneration and that there are no
stimulating instruments in order to support regeneration against the fierce competition of
waste oil combustion. But Member States give also the impression that they do not wish to
focus on regeneration. Thus France has expressed that in its point of view combustion is the
most environmentally sound solution.

As regards sewage sludge, its use on agricultural soils as fertiliser is held as the best
environmental option provided that it does not pose any threat to the environment as well as
to animal and human health. Directive 86/278/EEC seeks to regulate the spreading on land of
sewage sludge on agricultural soils in such a way as to prevent environmental drawbacks.
Indeed, there are no reported cases of human, animal or crop contamination due to the use of
sludge on agricultural soils following the provisions of the Directive. Although risk zero does
not exist in human activities, it appears that the provisions of the Directive have been quite
effective in preventing the spreading of pollution because of the use of sludge.

Other sludge management options exist, although none is without drawbacks. Sludge can be
landfilled – indeed, in many Member States that is the main disposal route. However, the
organic matter in the sludge, in an environment such as that of a landfill where there is a lack
of oxygen, decomposes. This decomposition produces landfill gases such as methane and
carbon dioxide, both of which are greenhouse gases. Not to mention the foul odours and the
highly contaminated leachate that is produced and that can contaminate ground water. Sludge
can be incinerated. Apart from the costs which are high and bound to increase even more
because of the adoption of more sophisticated flue gas cleaning processes, the incineration
poses the problems of the handling of residues, the production of carbon dioxide and the utter
destruction of the organic matter and nutrients of the sludge.

The waste hierarchy seeks to put waste avoidance and reuse at the front of the waste
management options. In the case of waste water treatment it is not possible at present to have
an effective cleaning process without the production of sludge. The second best option is
therefore reuse. The use on agricultural soils is the natural outlet for sewage sludge because
of the closing of the nutrient cycles. In many Member States, though, there is an ever
increasing suspicion for the use of wastes on agricultural soils in general and sludge in
particular. In the case of sludge this suspicion is not based on scientific evidence but it is fed
by the rather large number of food scares occurred in the past years in the agro-food sector.
Despite the fact that these food scares had nothing to do with the use of sludge on agricultural
soils, the association human faecal matter-food crops is perceived as potentially dangerous
and people react accordingly.

The figures provided by those Member States which have sent the report to the Commission
show that only four Member States reuse more than 50% of the sludge produced in

84

agriculture. Five reuse between 30 and 50% and one as little as 11%. It is not realistic to
types of sludge cannot be
expect a recycling rate of 100% because the safety of all
guaranteed. It needs to be documented whether the quantities of sludge beneficially reused
could be increased. Especially in the Southern regions of Europe where the soil has a great
need of organic matter in order to combat erosion and desertification, reuse of sludge is an
option that should be carefully evaluated.

Waste management planning

According to Article 7 (1) of Directive 75/442/EEC and Article 6 of Directive 91/689/EEC
(as well as Article 14 of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste) the
contain the type,
competent authorities shall draw up waste management plans which shall
quantity and origin of waste to be recovered and disposed of as well as general requirements,
any special arrangements for particular wastes and suitable disposal sites or installations.
Waste oils and sewage sludge should of course be part of these plans.

Waste management plans are a key element in the Community’s waste management strategy.
The implementation and application of these plans is however still dissatisfactory. Greece and
Luxembourg have not yet notified a waste management plan. All other Member States, except
Austria, notified waste management plans to the Commission which do not cover all types of
waste or the whole of the territory of the Member States. A number of infringement
procedures have been opened against Member States for non-compliance with the various
provisions. A guideline addressed to the competent authorities is now planned in order to
improve the quality of waste management planning.

Waste statistics

Reliable waste statistics allow on the one hand the formulation of realistic objectives for
waste management planning and on the other hand the assessment of the current situation
which is the aim of this report.

In order to enable the comparability and the evaluation of the data, it has to be ensured that
Member States use a common approach on the definition of waste, the waste lists, and the
waste management terminology, which is not yet the case. In this regard the following
problems had been identified:

• The terms domestic waste (waste from households) and municipal waste (collected by
municipalities) are often used as a synonym. However, municipal waste may include, in
addition to domestic waste, similar commercial, industrial and institutional waste.

• The data on incineration as disposal operation and on incineration with energy recovery
have to be considered together since precise criteria to distinguish both operations have not
yet been set on European level.

• Member States use different approaches to assess the quantity of waste oil generated

(between 33% and 66% of the marketed oil).

Obviously most Member States have not yet established complete databases on waste
generation and waste management. Information is especially lacking on “other waste”, which
constitute all wastes which are not domestic or hazardous wastes.

85

In January 1999 the Commission has submitted a Proposal for a Regulation on waste
management statistics to the Council and the European Parliament (COM (1999) 31 final).
This Regulation aims at establishing a Community framework for statistics, with common
definitions and classifications. This Regulation, when implemented, should contribute to
improving the availability and comparability of waste statistics. However,
it should be
mentioned that full implementation of the Regulation would require 3 years after its adoption.

Records

The requirement of keeping records on waste and the waste management constitute the basis
for the waste statistics.

Article 14 of Directive 75/442/EEC requires that establishments and undertakings carrying
out recovery and disposal operations have to keep records on the waste and the waste
management. In addition, Article 4(2) of Directive 91/689/EEC requests producers of
hazardous waste and establishments transporting hazardous waste to keep records. Further
the Directive requires in Article 2(1) specific records on the disposal (landfilling) of
hazardous waste.

Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands did not implement all the aspects of the
provisions correctly. Ireland and Sweden gave so little information that it was not possible to
evaluate. As regards the records concerning the disposal of hazardous waste it seems that
Austria and Denmark merged it with the general requirement in Article 14 of the Framework
Directive.

Article 11 of Directive 75/439/EEC specifies for waste oils that Member States can set a
minimum quantity (not above 500 litres), above which establishments producing, collecting
and/or handling waste oils are obliged to keep records. The limits were set from 0 to
500 litres. The Netherlands does not require records from producer of waste oils. It is not
clear, whether Denmark and France, which did not set limits, require records from 0 litres
onwards or not at all.

Article 10 of Directive 86/278/EEC requests up-to-date records on the generation and use of
sewage sludge as well as the characteristics of the sludge, the recipients and the place of use.
The Commission notes that some Member States do not report the data requested for sludge
production as well as quantities used in agriculture and others give only estimates.

The four Directives require that these records have to be made available on the request of the
competent authorities. The disadvantage of this provision is that
the records are not
automatically available for the competent authorities. Once they are needed for statistics or
similar tasks, it takes a long time to collect the data. Some Member States such as the Flemish
region of Belgium, Denmark and Finland require that annual reports have to be submitted to
the competent authorities. These reports could then provide the basis for waste statistics.

Control of waste management

First of all Member States have to establish or designate competent authorities to be
responsible for the implementation of the control of waste management. Table 1 of the Annex
to Directive 75/442/EEC provides a general overview on the competencies of the national
authorities. Tables 2, 3.1, 3.2 and 4.2 of the Annex to Directive 75/439/EEC provide details

86

on the responsibilities in the sector of waste oil. The competencies differ largely between
Member States which is due to the general differences in the administrative structure. Thus
the use of this information is limited unless more details such as addresses, covered area etc.
are provided in order to promote transparency and to facilitate the collection of waste
information.

The Directives on waste contain various instruments in order to control appropriate waste
management such as permits and periodic inspections.

Permits

According to Article 9, 10 and 12 of Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, establishments and
undertakings carrying out recovery or disposal operations must obtain a permit from the
competent authorities. Establishments collecting and transporting waste have to be registered
with the competent authorities. Article 11 provides the conditions for exemptions of the
permit requirement which are tightened by Article 3 of Directive 91/689/EEC for hazardous
waste. None of the reporting Member States established general rules in order to enable
exemptions from the permit requirement as regards hazardous waste. Some Member States
transposed the possibility for the exemption of the framework Directive but none of them
provided experience of application.

Article 6 of Directive 75/439/EEC requires that undertakings which dispose of waste oils
(thus process, destroy, store or tip) must obtain a permit. All reporting Member States with
the exception of Denmark established also a permitting system for undertakings collecting
waste oils.

Directive 86/278/EEC provides general rules for the use of sewage sludge; there is no permit
requirement.

Inspections

Appropriate periodic inspections are generally required in Article 13 of Directive 75/442/EEC
for all establishments handling waste (inclusive collection, transport, recovery and disposal).
Article 4(1) of Directive 91/689/EEC widens the inspections on producers of hazardous
waste.

Article 13 of Directive 75/439/EEC only requires inspections for undertakings which dispose
of waste oils (thus process, destroy, store or tip). Therefor the general provisions of the
Framework Directives apply in addition for undertakings collecting and transporting waste oil
as well as for producer of waste oil.

Only the inspections of producers of hazardous waste were part of the questionnaire. The
national administrations do not have the capacities to inspect all producers of hazardous
waste. Thus they focus on the most important cases.

Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge does not require periodic inspections.

87

Measures to ensure safe recovery and disposal

According to Article 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC on waste Member States have to take the
necessary measures to ensure that waste is recovered and disposed of without endangering
human health and without using processes or methods which could harm the environment.

Safe waste management is also the objective of Article 2(2) to (4), which prohibits the mixing
of hazardous waste and Article 5(1) of Directive 91/689/EEC, which requires proper
packaging and labelling of hazardous waste. Most reporting Member States transposed these
provisions at least in the legal texts with the exception of France, Austria and Finland, which
softened the prohibition of
the mixing of hazardous waste. France has in addition
implemented the proper packaging and labelling only for hospital and infectious healthcare
waste.

Article 7 and 8 of Directive 75/439/EEC specifies the general provision of the framework
Directive for waste oil. Thus Member States have to take the necessary measures to ensure
that the operation of regeneration of waste oils does not cause avoidable damage to the
environment. The Walloon region of Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and Austria have not
transposed the provision since they do not regenerate waste oil. France has not even
implemented the provision although it regenerates waste oil.

According to Article 8 Member States have to ensure that the emission values for combustion
plants with a thermal input of more than 3 MW are being observed. Ireland and the
Netherlands did not apply the emission limit values as they consider that processed waste oils
are not “waste” any more. For France and Sweden it is doubtful, whether they comply with
the Directive. Four Member States (Austria, Denmark, Finland and Germany) implemented
even stricter emission limit values. Austria added limit values for other parameters. It is
planned that in future the emission limit values are part of the Directive on the incineration of
waste.

Limit values represent the most important part of the Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage
sludge. Thus concentration limit values for heavy metals in soil, in sludge are regulated in
addition to the annual average load of heavy metals to agricultural land.

Member States have made large use of the possibility granted to them by Article 12 of the
Directive which states that “where conditions so demand, Member States may take more
stringent measures than those provided for in this Directive”. Member States have very often
adopted stricter limits for the concentration values for heavy metals in sludge than those
provided for in Annex I B of the Directive. There is a large variation among the limits and a
difference of a factor 100 is not uncommon. This despite the fact that the actual average
concentrations for heavy metals are roughly the same across the Community. It is legitimate
the question of what are the scientific bases for such a wide range of values.

It appears from the figures in Table 5 that sludge quality has – on average – greatly improved
from the situation of a few years ago. At the same time, the ranges of concentrations provided
for in Annex I B of the Directive do not reflect the actual low level of contamination of the
sludge (at least of the sludge reused in agriculture). This raises the issue of how to prevent the
reuse in agriculture of sludge of very poor quality. Indeed, actions undertaken in Member
States demonstrate that it is possible to prevent sludge contamination at source, thereby
avoiding the spreading of heavy metals into the environment.

88

The Directive does not provide for concentration limits for organic compounds. Some
Member States have notified the Commission of a certain number of compounds for which
threshold limits have been set69. However, the Commission notes that different kinds of
compounds have been regulated, raising once more the question of the bases of such an
approach.

This variety of regulations, although compatible with the Directive and the Treaty,
is
sometimes regarded as hindering the efforts made by the national authorities for ensuring that
the general public does not lose its confidence in sludge reuse in agriculture.

Infringement procedures

The Commission started procedures under Article 226 EC Treaty for those Member States
which have not fulfilled their obligation to report on the implementation of waste legislation.

The following tables contain the pending infringement procedures according to the
implementation of Directives 75/442/EEC, 91/689/EEC and 75/439/EEC. At present there is
no pending infringement procedure as regards the implementation of Directive 86/278/EEC
on sewage sludge.

69

For example, total halogenated compounds (AOX) as well as dioxins and furanes (PCCD/F) are regulated
in Austria and in Germany; PCBs are regulated in Germany, France and Sweden; PAHs in Denmark,
France and Sweden, etc.

89

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxem-
bourg

Nether-
lands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

UK

Court
FN

Court

RO

FN

FN

FN

FN

RO

FN

RO

RO

RO

RO

RO

FN

RO

Court

FN

FN

FN

FN

FN

75/442/EEC

Bad application:
various provisions
of the Directive

Bad application:
waste management
plans
Failure to submit
reports
91/689/EEC

Non-conformity
Bad application:
Article 8(3)
Bad application:
waste management
plans
75/439/EEC

Non-conformity

Failure to submit
reports
86/278/EEC
Failure to submit
reports

FN

FN

Court

RO

FN

FN

Court

RO

Judgement
(1)

FN

Court

FN

Court

Court
RO
FN

RO

FN

RO

RO

FN

FN

FN

RO
Court

Court

FN

FN

FN

Table: Infringement procedures – status October 1999

FN = Letter of Formal Notice, RO = Reasoned Opinion, Court = Seizure of/Proceedings before the Court of Justice

(1) Judgement of the court on 9/9/99 in case C-102/97, Commission versus Germany

90

Prospect

The progress made in implementing Directives 75/442/EEC, 91/689/EEC and
75/439/EEC is not yet satisfactory. The number of infringement procedures reflects well
the current stage of play. As regards the Directives on waste and hazardous waste there is
still a lot of work to be done on harmonising definitions and lists and establishing reliable
waste databases in order to ensure effective waste management planning due to the
hierarchy of principles.

As regards Directive 75/439/EEC, Member States are not likely to be more active in
promoting the regeneration of waste oils in future. The recent events in Belgium
concerning contamination by dioxin of the animal feed chain, resulting in widespread
food from animal origin, highlights the importance of correct
contamination of
enforcement of the waste legislation, in particular the Directive 75/439/EEC on the
disposal of waste oils. New approaches and instruments are needed on European level in
order to improve separate collection and appropriate waste oil management respecting
the priorities as well as measures to avoid danger for human health and the environment.

The Commission notes that there are no major problems in the formal transposition of the
Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge into national law. The Directive has been quite
successful in preventing crop contamination by pathogens because of the use of sludge
on agricultural soils. However, few Member States have a reuse rate above 50% despite
the fact that the quality of sludge in terms of heavy metals and nutrients would allow a
larger exploitation of its positive effects.

It should not be forgotten that, according to information submitted to the Commission70,
an increase of about 40% of sludge production is foreseen by the year 2005. It is
expected that the agricultural outlet will be put under stress by this increase in quantities.
It is crucial that the reuse of sludge on agricultural soils is not unnecessarily hampered.
At the same time, it is even more crucial that the legislative frame put in place at
Community level for sludge management is effective in protecting the environment, and
in particular the soil, from long term pollution.

Under this respect and in order to ensure consumers’ confidence in the reuse of sludge on
agricultural soils, the Commission plans to undertake a comprehensive review of the
provisions contained in the Directive. These provisions will be assessed in the light of the
scientific research carried out since the adoption of the Directive. This review will aim at
ensuring a high level of environmental protection. The general public will be reassured
about the fact that sludge reuse on agricultural soils – if carried out according to the rules
of best practice and following the provisions of the Directive – does not present
unacceptable risks for human health and the environment. Furthermore, the Commission
will examine the need for clear and transparent criteria for analytical controls carried out
on sludge used in agriculture, in order to avoid that contaminants are spread into the
environment or recycled on crops for human consumption. The definition of sewage
sludge will also be looked upon so that a coherent interpretation is adopted throughout all
sectors of legislation.

70

See the report on the Implementation of Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning
urban waste water treatment, as amended by Commission Directive 98/15/EC of 27 February 1998,
COM (98) 775 final of 15.01.99.

91

Future reports and questionnaires

the questionnaires and thus the report on the implementation of waste
At present
legislation is a mixture between the legal transposition and the practical implementation
of Community legislation. However, this approach should be reconsidered. Indeed, it
does not seem to be opportune to establish reports on the application of Community
informs on the legal
waste legislation every three years, which, to a large extent,
transposition of Community waste directives into national
the legal
conformity of the national
law should be checked once after having transposed
Community law or again after the amendment of the national law; in contrast, the reports
should much more focus on the experience made by the application in practice. For this
reason the questionnaires of Commission Decision 94/741/EC of 24 October 1994 and
97/622/EC of 27 May 1997 might have to be adapted. In addition, Annex VI of Directive
91/692/EEC should be adapted in order to comply with current and partly amended
Community waste legislation.

law. Further,

The reports on the implementation of Community law present an important tool for the
Commission’s task to act as the guardian of the EC Treaty. However, it has to be noticed
that the reports are mainly based on contributions from Member States themselves. This
obviously limits the possibility to identify omissions of applications or weaknesses and
lacunes of existing Community waste legislation.

92