Don’t legalise eco-dumping, say NGOs

Waste traffic for incineration unacceptable

26.03.2006 |Sascha Gabizon

(24 March 2006) - A coalition of national and EU environmental groups are asking environment ministries to reject a change of the classification of household incinerators from disposal to recovery and help to stop waste traffic to incineration in new EU member States. In a briefing sent last week the problem was highlighted to official national experts, who meet next week (29th March) in Brussels to prepare the Environment Council decision on a Commission proposal later this year.

Leif Miller, Executive Director, German Society for Nature Conservation (NABU) emphasised: “We would like to see the German Environment Ministries recognise the importance of applying the proximity and self sufficiency principles to waste going for incineration. It is unacceptable that other countries should have to deal with German waste and the associated impacts of its transport and treatment”.

The Commission has proposed a change in classification of household (municipal solid) waste incinerators from disposal to recovery operations in a new article 5/annex II to the existing waste framework directive. This would facilitate the future exports of waste for incineration due to the fact that authorities would then not be able to use the straightforward proximity and self sufficiency principle to reject waste exports for recovery operations. The costs of incineration are cheaper in countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland encouraging exporting the environmental impacts associated with incineration (so called 'eco-dumping').

“We are calling on other environment ministries to support the Czech Republic and Slovakian ministries in their rejection of the Commission’s proposal. The illegal imports we have seen so far of 15-20 000 tonnes are just the tip of a massive waste traffic export iceberg that is already being foreseen for incinerators in Czech Republic and could well go the same way in Poland. Despite regulation on incinerator emissions this is an unacceptable environmental burden and a dangerous pressure to divert funds from investment in recycling and prevention campaigns towards incineration infrastructure”, said Miroslav Suta, Society For Sustainable Living, Czech Republic.

The classification of incineration as recovery using energy efficiency only also disregards greater material and energy savings to be gained by alternatives such as recycling and so disregards the Commissions own resource savings approach to waste. Article 5 of the proposed amendment to the framework directive should be changed to a full multi-criteria approach and the energy formula in annex II deleted.

To avoid 'legal' eco-dumping by waste exports to incineration the NGOs also calls on Europe's environment ministry’s to emphasise strong EU drivers such as targets and dedicated measures for waste prevention and for recycling, a broadening of the principle of self sufficiency under the waste framework directive (to cover operations such as incineration). A precautionary approach should be taken to free movement for incineration and recovery operations – taking up the caution reflected in the revised waste shipment regulation.

For further information, please contact:

Andrzej Gu_a – Institute of Environmental Economics, Poland, tel: +48 12 631 90 83 -
andgula@ceti.com.pl

Barbora Cernusakova - Friends of the Earth Slovakia, tel: +421- 2 - 5244 2104
cernusakova@changenet.sk

Maria Elander - German Society for Nature Conservation (NABU), tel: +49 30/284 984-40 - Maria.Elander@NABU.de

Miroslav _uta – Society For Sustainable Living Czech Republic, tel: + 420 608 775 754 - miroslav.suta@centrum.cz

Melissa Shinn - European Environmental Bureau, tel : +32 494 41 83 76 –
melissa.shinn@eeb.org

See http://www.eeb.org/activities/waste/Index.htm for briefing sent