On 28 October 2021, the European Commission made a proposal to amend annexes IV and V of Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), with the aim of addressing the negative consequences of the presence of certain POPs in waste and in material that could be recovered from it, and ensuring that such waste is managed and recycled in an environmentally sound manner.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemicals that adversely affect human health and the environment around the world. This group of priority pollutants consists of pesticides (such as DDT), industrial chemicals (such as polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs) and unintentional by-products of industrial processes (such as dioxins and furans). Because they can be transported by wind and water, most POPs generated in one country can and do affect people and the environment far from where they are used and released. They persist for long periods of time in the environment and can accumulate and pass from one species to the next through the food chain.

The revision is to introduce limit values for new substances agreed under the Stockholm Convention and the POPs Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Transboundary Air Pollution, as well as to adapt some existing values to scientific and technical progress. Therefore, the proposal introduces stringent limits for three substances and groups of substances in waste:

• pentachlorophenol, its salts and esters, found in treated wood and textiles;
• dicofol, which is a pesticide previously used in agriculture;
• perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds, found in waterproof textiles and fire-fighting foams.

The proposal also tightens the maximum limits in waste for five substances and substance groups that have already been included in the POPs Regulation.

This legislative initiative responds to the priorities announced in the new Circular Economy Action Plan and to the Green Deal ambition of eliminating POP emissions into the atmosphere, water and soil through waste management.

Annex IV sets out lower concentration limits for certain POP substances and groups of substances in waste. These limits determine the treatment operations of the contaminated waste, notably whether it can be recycled or should be destroyed or irreversibly transformed. Annex V lists waste disposal and recovery operations, which ensure that the POP content is destroyed or irreversibly transformed. It also determines maximum POP concentration limits for contaminated waste, below which EU Member States may exceptionally allow the treatment of this waste, according to Article 7(4)(b).

Further reading:

• Hazardous waste - updated concentration limits for chemical pollutants
• European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council on persistent organic pollutants, COM(2021) 656
• EP Legislative observatory, Procedure file on Persistent organic pollutants, 2021/0340(COD)
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on persistent organic pollutants(consolidated text)
• European Commission, Study to support the assessment of impacts associated with the review of limit values in waste for POPs listed in Annexes IV and V of Regulation (EU) 2019/1021: Final Report for DG Environment, April 2021
• European Commission, Update of concentration limit values of persistent organic pollutants in waste: Inception Impact Assessment, 29 May 2020
• European Commission, A new Circular Economy Action Plan: For a cleaner and more competitive Europe, COM(2020) 98