Brussels, 28/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Luxemburg on 27 June, EU environment ministers debated the thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste, presented on 22 December 2005, and backed the proposed approach to make the EU a recycling society, avoiding as far as possible the production of waste and using waste as a resource, stressed Josef Pröll, Austrian minister and out-going Chairman of the Council.
The conclusions adopted by the Council emphasise the key importance of the waste hierarchy (prevention, re-use, recycling, other recovery operation such as operations with energy recovery, and disposal as the last resort) as a general rule of waste management. The Council, however, had nothing to say on the Commission proposal to re-classify municipal waste incinerators (currently considered as waste disposal installations) as waste recovery installations - a project firmly opposed by Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, and environmental NGOs BEE and Friends of the Earth.
The Council welcomed life-cycle thinking as a useful concept to evaluate the environmental and human health impacts of waste and the use of natural resources, and stressed that this concept could be used to minimise these impacts and to deviate from the waste hierarchy. It called on the Commission to provide general guidance on life-cycle thinking in the context of waste policy. The Council underlined the principle of producer responsibility, the separation of waste at source and recycling objectives. It also backed composting of bio-degradable materials and the creation of waste prevention indicators, welcomed the review announced in the framework directive on waste and called for an impact assessment of the legislative proposals on waste management to be made by the Commission.
During the debate, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Luxemburg, Denmark and Lithuania expressed their concerns over the illegal transfer of municipal waste from neighbouring countries with a view to disposal or incineration, and their will to oppose such practices. Although opposition to this is permitted under Community law, these countries provided a statement for inclusion in the minutes of the meeting. Spain, Germany, Portugal and Austria wanted a European directive on the selective collection of bio-degradable waste to be drawn up. The Commission is currently working on this issue to decide if it would be appropriate to legislate.