COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The early warning report for Hungary Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of EU waste legislation, including the early warning report for Member States at risk of missing the 2020 preparation for re-use/recycling target on municipal waste
Date: 2018-09-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, Hungary, application of EU law, circular economy, environmental law, environmental protection, pollution control, prevention of pollution, waste, waste management

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 24.9.2018 SWD(2018) 419 final  […] COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The early warning report for Hungary Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of EU waste legislation, including the early warning report for Member States at risk of missing the 2020 preparation for re-use/recycling target on municipal waste {COM(2018) 656 final} - {SWD(2018) 413 final} - {SWD(2018) 414 final} - {SWD(2018) 415 final} - {SWD(2018) 416 final} - {SWD(2018) 417 final} - {SWD(2018) 418 final} - {SWD(2018) 420 final} - {SWD(2018) 421 final} - {SWD(2018) 422 final} - {SWD(2018) 423 final} - {SWD(2018) 424 final} - {SWD(2018) 425 final} - {SWD(2018) 426 final}  
 
 
1.  Introduction 

This early warning report is part of the Commission's overall implementation report and aims 
to assist Member States at risk of failing to meet the 2020 target of 50 % preparation for re-
use/recycling of municipal waste set out in Article 11(2)(a) of Directive 2008/98/EC. It builds 
on  previous  support  provided  by  the  Commission  to  help Member  States  comply1  with  EU 
law in the area of municipal waste management. This resulted in country-specific roadmaps2 
being drawn up for the relevant Member States.  

The  assessment  underpinning  the  early  warning  report  is  based  on  a  collaborative  and 
transparent process involving the Member States concerned and an in-depth analysis of their 
most  recent  policy  developments.  This  also  involved  extensive  consultation  with  the 
authorities in charge of waste management.  

The possible actions identified during this process are based on the existing best practices and 
aim  to  help  Member  States  in  meeting  the  2020  municipal  waste  preparation  for  re-
use/recycling target; they therefore focus on policy measures that can be taken forward in the 
short  term.  These  actions  should  be  seen  as  complementary  to  those  recommended  in  the 
roadmaps that were drawn up as part of the preceding compliance promotion activities and to 
the recommendations made in the Environmental Implementation Review3. 

2.  Key findings 

In  2016,  Hungary’s  municipal  waste  recycling  rate  (including  composting)  reported  to 
Eurostat was 35 %, while the landfilling rate was 51 %. Based on an analysis of existing and 
firmly  planned  policies  in  the  area  of  waste  management,  Hungary  is  considered  at  risk  of 
missing the 2020 target of 50 % preparation for re-use/recycling of municipal waste. 

The  assessment4  that  underpins  the  early  warning  report  concludes  that  despite  the  recent 
major reform of the waste management system in Hungary, the results of this shift in policy 
are  not  yet  visible.  The  slow  progress  is  due  to  a  lack  of  incentives  for  households  to 
participate in  separate  collection, and  insufficient  economic  instruments  to  drive  significant 
improvements in the sector. 

The  table  below  lists  possible  actions  to  support  Hungary’s  efforts  to  improve  its  waste 
management. 

1 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/support_implementation.htm 
2 Roadmap for Hungary: 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/pdf/facsheets%20and%20roadmaps/Roadmap_Hungary.
pdf 
3 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/country-reports/index2_en.htm 
4 Eunomia Research & Consulting et al. (2018) ‘Study to identify Member States at risk of non-compliance with 
the 2020 target of the Waste Framework Directive and to follow-up phase 1 and 2 of the compliance 
promotion exercise. The early warning report: Hungary.’ 

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OVERVIEW OF POSSIBLE ACTIONS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE 

Separate collection  

Since  it  is  not  yet  known  how  well  the  newly  established  municipal  waste  management 
system  is  performing,  the  longer-term  action  will  depend  on  the  results  of  the  reform. 
However, in the short term, the following actions could help improve performance: 

1)  Amendment to the minimum standards in the national waste management service plan 
to  stipulate  that  a  mandatory  door-to-door  separate  collection  of  paper  is  required; 
service  operators  to  provide  this  service  to  every  street-level  property  in  urban  and 
suburban areas on at least a fortnightly basis. 

2)  Furthermore,  should  the  national  performance  data  indicate  a  lower  municipal  waste 
recycling  rate  than  expected,  introduction  of  the  following  additional  changes  to  the 
minimum standards: 

a.  a  reduction  in  the  available  volume  for  residual  waste  collected  from 

households; and 

b.  a reduction in the frequency of residual waste collections from households. 

Communication and awareness-raising 

3)  To maximise the effectiveness of the available budget for communication: 

a.  Focus  of  the  spending  on  the  areas  that  already  perform  reasonably  well,  with 

the aim of encouraging them to do better; and therefore 

b.  Linking  investment  to  the  various  changes  in  recycling  services  occurring  in 
different areas, focusing on those with good logistics where collection services 
have recently improved. 

4)  Consideration  to  be  given  to  making  additional  funding  available  for  communication 
activities, should there be a need to provide support at both local and national levels. 

Longer-term priority actions 

Economic incentives/waste charges 

5)  Consideration of reforming the service fee so that it serves as a better incentive for 

recycling. This could be done by introducing an additional performance tier above the 
current ‘minimum standard’ in the service fee. Under this scheme, those that achieve 
the higher standard would receive a higher ‘correction fee’ than those that reach the 
current minimum standard — which is set too low to encourage a substantial 
improvement in performance. 

Technical support to municipalities 

6)  Further development of the evidence base for waste management optimisation in 

Hungary by Nemzeti Hulladékgazdálkodási Koordináló és Vagyonkezelő Zártkörűen 
(NHKV). This could be done by collecting from and sharing with municipalities and 
service operators information on best practice in terms of cost-effective system 
performance. 

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7)  Use of the performance data to ensure that the variation in waste management systems 
across Hungary is kept to reasonable levels, with no more than five or six service 
solutions operating across the whole country. 

8)  Development  of  a  system  at  national  level  that  provides  technical  support  for 

municipalities, specifically in the following areas: 

a.  choosing collection services;  
b.  service procurement; 
c.  service management; 
d.  communication campaigns; 
coupled with active sharing of good ideas and practices that can improve efficiency 
in terms of cost reduction and improvement in performance. 

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