18/03/2022 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 17 March, the Environment Ministers of the EU Member States endorsed the EU Council’s mandate to amend EU Regulation 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in order to tighten the concentration limits for these highly toxic chemical substances in waste (see EUROPE 12909/14). The changes made by the EU Council to the European Commission’s proposal mainly concern the limit values for dioxins and furans, which are present as impurities in some ashes. The EU Council set the limit value at 10 μg/kg for these POPs and postponed the date of application of the limit value for these substances in household ashes and soot to 1 January 2025, coinciding with the requirements for separate collection of household waste in the Waste Framework Directive. (AN)