Biodegradable Waste
The main environmental threat from biowaste is the
production of methane in landfills, which accounted for some 3%
of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-15 in 1995. The Landfill
Directive 1999/31/EC obliges Member States to reduce the amount
of biodegradable waste that they landfill to 35% of 1995 levels
by 2016, which will significantly reduce the problem. The Commission's
priority is to ensure that Member States comply with this legal
requirement fully and on time.
The Member States have a number of choices that they can take in
terms of alternative treatment for this biodegradable waste, taking
into account local conditions such as climatic conditions to the
composition of the collected biowaste. These choices must be taken
in a transparent manner - this is why the Commission proposed in
the draft Waste Framework Directive to require Member States to
include these choices in their national waste management plans.
This proposal also requires Member States to assess to what extent
their choice of options for the management of biowaste contributes
to the environmental objectives defined in the Directive. To support
the Member States in this future legal obligation, the Commission
will provide criteria, in the form of a guidance document, to help
with identifying the environmentally best option for the management
of biowaste in the various countries and regions.
One potential option is composting. Actions that need to be taken
at the EU level to promote composting include the definition of
quality standards for compost so that markets for compost can develop.
The Commission will start working on the standards in 2007, so that
they are available when the revised Waste Framework Directive enters
into force following adoption by the Council and the European Parliament.
This will play an important role in helping the Member States to
overcome one of the biggest obstacles to composting policies, the
lack of user confidence and market acceptance.
It is also necessary to develop high environmental standards that
can apply to facilities in which biological treatment takes place.
This will be achieved through the upcoming review of the Directive
on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (96/61/EC) under
which national authorities issue permits for major industrial and
agricultural installations based on the concept of Best Available
Techniques (BAT).
Lastly, the upcoming Thematic Strategy on Soil will address the
wider subject of carbon depletion in soil and how to avoid and remedy
it. This will take into account the potential of using compost as
a means to increase the carbon content of soil.
It will take the Member States some time to implement environmentally
sound management of biowaste and the Commission will revisit the
issue in the review of the Thematic
Strategy on waste prevention and recycling in 2010. This review
will assess the progress of the Member States and the need for additional
measures, including additional legislative measures on top of the
legislative measures already proposed in the Strategy package. |
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