The Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC sets a target of 50 % of municipal waste to be recycled and prepared for reuse by 2020 in EU Member States, for at least four categories (i.e. paper, glass, metals, plastics) of waste. To this end, the EU budget strongly supported Members via Cohesion funds, Horizon 2020, LIFE, etc ( a total of EUR 4.9 billion was allocated by 17 EU Member States for the 2014-2020 period). EEA figure on the share of treatment methods of municipal wastes shows that very significant progress has been achieved over the 2004-2016 period .
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Benchmarking on the EU countries’ needs for investments in water infrastructure
The Drinking water Directive 98/83/EC (more) and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC (more) lay down basic services requirements to be meet by the water operators across the European Union. Both were adopted in the nineties and will have to be updated in order to adapt to recent scientific evidences and new managerial approach.
The issue is not only technical but also political and financial since these two directives entail huge needs for investment in infrastructure water. Despite all the money made available by the EU regional funds for the Member states that joined after 2000, access to finance is often put forward to explain the distance to compliance or to raise concern about the capacity to comply with future regulations on water supply and sanitation.
Continue reading “Benchmarking on the EU countries’ needs for investments in water infrastructure”Waste shipment in the context of circular economy
Once properly collected and sorted, many wastes have a positive value on the recycling market. Then, they can be traded, which may lead to shipments to other countries. In order to avoid losing control on what happens next with the waste (remember the many scandals in the 80s), these transfers are regulated by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (link). This convention entered in force in 1992 and applies the “Prior Informed Consent” procedure, according to which all the concerned countries (export, transfer, import) must give their authorization for any shipment to take place legally. The exporter has a duty to take back waste shipments that are found to be illegal or cannot be treated as intended (including the recovery or disposal of waste).
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Sustainable Synergies 