Waste shipments
Illegal waste shipments the target of new EU rules
The European Parliament today confirmed a legislative agreement revising EU rules on waste shipments. The Greens welcomed the vote on the legislation, which is being shepherded through parliament by Green MEP Bart Staes, parliament's rapporteur/draftsman. The new rules will strengthen controls on waste shipments. After the vote, Bart Staes said:
"The need to tighten up EU rules on waste shipments has been underlined by the persistently high number of illegal waste shipments to third countries and scandals on the dumping of hazardous waste in developing countries. The goal should be to prevent illegal waste shipments and the damage to human health and the environment that they cause. These new rules are an important step forward towards this goal, with provisions to ensure effective compliance with the EU hazardous waste export bans.
"EU member states have been dragging their feet on implementing EU rules on waste shipments, with 25% of waste shipments contravening these rules on average. The new law will ensure that member states are obliged to make comprehensive and meaningful inspection plans to check waste shipments, with a minimum number of physical checks in line with the risk of illegal shipments. These inspection plans will also be accessible to the public, as MEPs insisted. Enforcement will be stepped up, with more powers for authorities involved in inspections to check shipments. Cooperation between member states will be significantly strengthened.
"These rules not only tackle the potentially devastating consequences of illegal waste shipments on public health and the environment, they are also in the best interest of legal waste operators. At a time of rising production costs, waste should be considered as a valuable resource and recycling should be prioritised in an effort to promote a more sustainable European economy.
"Ambitious EU waste policies focusing on waste reduction, recycling and re-use in Europe could create hundreds of thousands of jobs in Europe by 2030. In order to achieve this, EU member states need to look at this issue on a European scale, work together by exchanging information and avoid port hopping."
