Legal background for waste management within EU        

Due to this legal framework, there have been visible efforts in waste prevention and management in the EU in recent years, reflected by a reduced growth in waste generation related to the growth of income and production as well as a drop in landfilling from 60 % to 41 % with alternative ways of treatment, having become more important. Available information however shows, that enforcement and implementation of the legal requirements is not easy and that in part considerable challenges remain.

The new Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC), which MS shall transpose into national legislation until 12 December 2010, will repeal Directive 2006/12/EC and incorporate and repeal Directive 91/689/EEC and Directive 75/439/EEC.

The new Framework Directive requires more stringent waste reduction and waste prevention efforts. Member States must ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health and the environment and that the waste amount disposed of is reduced to a minimum by kind of measures and effective tools to minimise waste generation. Further principles of the revised Directive are re-use, recycling and recovery, which shall be promoted and adopted whenever suitable in order to safe resources and to reduce the amount of waste. By 12 December 2010 MS shall adapt national regulations, laws as well as administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2008/98/EC into national legislation.

Amongst other issues, the new WFD provides a further clarification and differentiation of the waste hierarchy, modifies definitions as regards e.g. the end-of-waste status, by-products and classification of treatment operations, changes requirements for the preparation of waste management plans and includes the provision for the MS to develop waste prevention programmes not later than 2013 (for more details see legislation).

Proper implementation and enforcement of set legal requirements is one of the highest priorities of the European waste management policy, but correct understanding and interpretation of new legislation often shows not to be easy. The European Commission shall draw up a report on the implementation of the new WFD by December 2014.

And develop a system for information sharing on best practice regarding waste prevention and elaborate guidelines for MS in this field of waste management and preventions.

Thus the Commission Services (DG Environment) based on the positive experiences from corresponding projects performed over last three years, initiated a project aiming at information exchange and discussion of the new Waste Framework Directive by means of a series of workshops in order to collect examples of good practice and to discuss solutions for improved waste management.

Activities in this field have already been started with a first series of events in 2009, focusing on the new requirements for waste management planning and on waste prevention programmes (see Events 2009).

The workshops aim at supporting the MS with the implementation of Directive 2008/98/ by providing knowledge on key implementation issues and by giving the possibility for clarification, guidance and information exchange. The awareness raising events will be realised throughout 2010 in 15 MS.

The workshops are intended to discuss the current state of infrastructure and programmes in the waste sector, the planning and needs and the status of enforcement with the key authorities at national, regional and local level and other stakeholders involved in the waste management sector. In addition, the workshops are intended to compile best practice, exchange experiences and to identify possibilities for improvement.

BiPRO is in charge for organising, realising and post-processing the events. Within the contract BiPRO will carry out administrative and organisational tasks (setting of schedules, invitations, enrolment procedure etc.) as well as preparing thematic contributions to the events. The events will be organised in close cooperation with the national authorities within each country and with the European Commission (DG Environment).

Events with a focus on Waste Management Planning and Waste Prevention Programmes already have been realised in 2009. (See “Events 2009”)..