At the FEAD workshop on the implementation of the Landfill Directive in Tallinn, Estonia, FEAD in collaboration with EWMA convened participants from 13 European countries. Speakers included the EWMA (Estonian Ministry of Environment), the European Commission and industry representatives.

Views of the European Commission

Jose-Jorge Diaz Del Castillo, DG Environment, in charge of the Landfill Directive, reported that waste related issues generated the highest number of infringement procedures and was therefore high on the Commission’s agenda. Particular attention is currently being drawn to the implementation status of the 10 year old Landfill Directive. Although the implementation of the Landfill Directive was due by July 2001, there are several pending cases of Member States not having implemented properly the Directive into national law.

An important milestone of the implementation of the Directive is taking effect this year. Indeed, all landfills not complying with the Directive will have to be closed down by 16 July 2009. A letter will leave the Commission’s services in July requesting Member States to draw up an inventory of their landfill sites.

The implementation of the Waste Acceptance Criteria Decision, which provides the criteria and procedure for the acceptance of waste at landfills, is also under evaluation by the Commission. Jose-Jorge Diaz Del Castillo informed the participants that a study was launched to assess the current status of implementation of this Decision. The Commission is also exploring ways to improve the Directive on certain aspects (geological barriers, landfill gas collection, monolithic waste and aftercare) at the level of the European Technical Adaptation Committee.

The Commission also commented on the need to comply with the waste hierarchy and therefore to overall discourage disposal. According to Article 10 of the Directive, the costs of landfilling should reflect “as far as possible the cost of the financial security [...] and the estimated costs of the closure and after-care of the site”. In several Member States, landfill costs are however considerably low which is in contradiction with the waste hierarchy.

Views of the industry

Several aspects of the legislation were covered by presentations of the industry: challenges of implementation in Romania, landfill diversion from a Swedish perspective, as well as insights into landfill gas extraction, bioreactor landfills, waste acceptance criteria, pre-treatment of hazardous waste by solidification, bottom ash and fly ash disposal.

On behalf of FEAD, Heijo Scharff welcomed the Commission’s initiative to explore the possibility of improving the implementation of the legislation but considered it difficult to assess its effectiveness before all Member States have yet fully implemented it. It was nevertheless acknowledged that some areas of improvement can be identified. An increased landfill gas recovery and the use of bioreactor technology can result in a significant reduction of landfill greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, after-care is an issue of concern for both operators and regulators. Dedicated guidance
on after-care would be welcomed by stakeholders.

Case study: Estonia

Peeter Eek, representing the Estonian Ministry of Environment, provided an overview on the current situation of landfilling in Estonia. In the 1990s, there were around 350 landfills which were all municipal. The Landfill Directive was transposed into Estonian law in 2001. It led to the closing down of numerous landfill sites at a cost of around € 32 Millions until 2007. In 2009, there shall be only 5 municipal landfills left. One of the key challenges for Estonia in terms of waste management is the disposal of ashes from the oil shale industry. The Ministry also explained that the implementation of the Waste Acceptance Criteria Decision and the after-care of landfill sites were the main fields where progress still needs to be made.

A list of the presentation papers can be downloaded under fead.be.

Quelle: FEAD

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