EU directives and regulations, and other legislation

The following EU directives and regulations provide the basis for European Waste Management. They are supplemented by the other legislation relating to specific organisational, product-specific, waste-specific and plant-specific measures discussed in the other chapters.

Directive 75/442/EEC on Waste; most recently amended by the Regulation (EC) No. 1882/2003; codified by Directive 2006/12/EC on Waste

The Directive is focused on uniform waste terminology, record-keeping and reporting obligations, the prioritisation of waste prevention, recovery and disposal, the self-sufficiency of disposal within the Community or individual Member States, and the creation of waste management plans.

Every plant or company that disposes of or recycles waste is subject to authorisation under this Directive.
 
Directive 91/689/EEC on Hazardous Waste, most recently amended by Directive 94/31/EC
Every type of waste (hazardous and non-hazardous) falls within the scope of Directive 75/442/EEC. Hazardous waste is subject to Directive 91/689/EEC, as well.

The Directive contains a prohibition against mixing and provisions on the identification and registration of hazardous waste.

According to this Directive, a list of hazardous waste types must be drawn up. Member States can also declare other types of waste as hazardous. In this case, the Commission must be notified.
 
Decision 2000/532/EC replacing Decision 94/3/EC establishing a list of wastes pursuant to Article 1 a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC and Council Decision 94/904/EC establishing a list of hazardous waste pursuant to Article 1(4) of Council Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, most recently amended by Decision 2001/573/EC amending the Decision 2000/532/EC establishing a list of wastes
This list includes the groups of waste enumerated in the Annex of the Directive on waste. The list is not closed, however. The use of the European List is especially necessary for the waste shipment process.
The use of national lists is generally compatible with objectives and principles of Community waste management law.
 
Directive 75/439/EEC on the disposal of waste oils, most recently amended by Directive 2000/76/EC on waste incineration
These directives apply to mineral oil, lubricants or industrial oils and regulate the collection and disposal of waste oils. Priority must be given to treatment of waste oil through processing such as refinement.
Moreover, the Directive contains prohibitions against introducing waste oils into bodies of water or depositing them and specifies the reporting obligations for collectors.
Waste oils containing PCB or PCT or hazardous and toxic products must be disposed of.
 
Directive 86/278/EEC on the protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in agriculture, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 807/2003

The Directive lays down limit values for concentrations of heavy metals in soils onto which sewage sludge will be applied and for sewage sludge intended for use in agriculture.
 
Directive 96/59/EC on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs)

The Directive imposes inventory and labelling obligations and prohibits filling transformers with PCB; moreover, it imposes the obligation to decontaminate transformers. It replaces Directive 76/403/EEC, which merely specified duties of care, in particular the duty of safe disposal, and proved to be insufficient.

This Directive is implemented by the Austrian “Ordinance on the ban of halogenated substances”, Federal Law Gazette No. 210/1993 (Halogen Ordinance) and “ Waste Management Act 2002” (WMA 2002), Federal Law Gazette I No.102.

Plan and principles for decontamination and/or disposal of PCB-containing devices pursuant to Art. 11 of Council Directive 96/59/EC on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and terphenyls .

By virtue of the Austrian “Ordinance on the prohibition of halogenated substances”, Federal Law Gazette No. 210/1993 (Halogen Ordinance) and the “ Waste Management Act 2002”(WMA 2002), Federal Law Gazette I No. 102/2002, the Austrian legal system has an inherent plan for the decontamination and disposal of PCB-containing devices. This plan will be presented in a systematic manner below.

• Since 24 March 1993, it has been prohibited to distribute any devices containing PCB.
• Since 24 March 1993, it has been prohibited:
• to manufacture, distribute or use PCBs or substances and preparations containing PCBs (§1 of the Halogen Ordinance),
• to manufacture or distribute finished products containing such substances, (§2 of the Halogen Ordinance),
• to use hydraulic installations containing hydraulic fluids with more than 30 ppm of PCB, (§3 of the Halogen Ordinance).

PCB-containing devices already in circulation as of 24 March 1993 (with the exception of hydraulic plants with more than 30 ppm of PCB in the hydraulic fluid, which have been completely banned since 1993) are subject to labelling obligations and reporting obligations to the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management as follows:

• Electrical equipment having a content of more than 1 litre of liquid or groups of electrical equipment that are spatially connected having a content of more than 2 litres of liquid and having an apparent PCB-concentration of more than 30 ppm were required to be labelled pursuant to §6.1 and §6.2 of the Halogen Ordinance and reported by 24 March 1994 to the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.
• Similarly, electrical equipment having a content of more than 1 litre of liquid, if PCB contamination is suspected, must be analysed when taken out of service, at the latest by 31 December 1996, and if a PCB content greater than 30 ppm PCB is found, it must be labelled and reported to the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management by no later than 31 December 1996.

At the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (formerly the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Youth, and Family), the current status of all the reported devices subject to this obligation has been on record since 31 December 1996.

Since 24 March 1993, there has been a phased plan pursuant to §8.1 through §8.4 of the Halogen Ordinance for a gradual ban on the use of all devices subject to labelling requirements:
 

• The use of equipment subject to labelling requirements – with the exception of transformers – having more than one litre of liquid, was permitted up to the time that the equipment was taken out of service, by 31 December 1996 at the latest.
• The use of transformers subject to labelling requirements and having a PCB concentration greater than 500 ppm was permitted until they were taken out of service, by 31 December 1999 at the latest.
• The use of PCB-contaminated transformers with a concentration of less than 500 ppm is permitted until they are taken out of service.
• Pursuant to §16.2 line 2 of the Waste Management Act 2002, PCB-containing waste must be handed over without delay to an authorised waste collector or processor.

The waste processor must not keep the waste for disposal in temporary storage for more than one year pursuant to §2.7 line 4 of the Waste Management Act 2002 (formerly §2.11 line 2 of the Waste Management Act).

According to the phased plan for taking such equipment out of service, this means that all PCBs and PCB-containing devices subject to the inventory obligations under Directive 96/59/EC on the Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Terphenyls must be decontaminated or disposed of.

The following principles must be observed when disposing of PCB:

PCB-containing electrical equipment involves two basic hazards:

1. The possibility of releasing the PCBs (and PCTs)
2. The danger of forming polychlordibenzo-p dioxin (PCDD) and polychlordibenzofuran dioxins (PCDF) through exposure to heat (especially at temperatures above 180 °C).

Because of these hazards, safe disposal of PCB-containing electrical equipment should be considered a primary objective and any recovery is allowed only if environmental contamination by PCBs or PCDD/PCDF can be safely ruled out. Accordingly, PCB-containing oils should preferably undergo thermal disposal. In this case, it is a minimum requirement that the incineration plant apply incineration gases at a temperature greater than 1200 °C for at least 2 seconds (cf. the recommendations of the Technical Working Group of the Basel Convention on the treatment/disposal of PCB-containing waste; Basel Convention Series/SBC No 94/005; Geneva, 1994).

The Waste Management Act 2002 (§16.2) thus contains the obligation that PCB-containing waste (if the total content exceeds 30 ppm) be disposed of thermally. Alternative procedures are permissible to the extent that they meet the same environmental protection specifications as incineration and correspond to state-of-the-art technologies.

Moreover, under the Waste Management Act 2002, the separating out of other substances for the purpose of re-use is not permissible. If the PCB-containing devices are components of other devices, they should be removed and collected separately, if this can be done at reasonable expense (§16.2 Waste Management Act 2002).

The required treatment of PCB-containing electrical equipment and other PCB-containing waste has been specified in §§25 ff, of the Waste Treatment Obligations Ordinance, Federal Law Gazette II No. 459/2004. According to this Ordinance, alternative methods are possible, especially for oils containing low levels of PCB: dehalogenation with liquid alkali metals (DEGUSSA process and comparable processes) and catalytic high-pressure hydration/dehalogenation (VEBA process and similar processes). In these cases, as well, it is necessary to ensure that the PCB is destroyed to an appropriate extent.

For solid electrical equipment (transformers, capacitors) possible disposal options are currently underground landfills or thermal treatment. Any pre-processing for such disposal (e.g., draining) must take the following factors into account:

• When PCB oils are drained from electrical equipment, it has to be ensured that PCBs are not released into the environment. In particular, any PCB oils that leak during such work must be collected in suitable oil- and solvent-resistant tanks. The draining of PCBs “on site” is prohibited unless this is necessary for technical reasons. Electrical equipment containing PCBs (capacitors and transformers) should be prepared for further treatment in suitable transfer stations as far as possible.
• With regard to the treatment at transfer stations, all the work is to be performed in a separate, isolated zone. Appropriate measures are to be taken to ensure that PCBs are not released to the environment via the exhaust air of the isolated zone (e.g. activated carbon filters or equivalent measures). The floor of the isolated zone must be equipped with an oil- and solvent-resistant metal tanks.
• The staff is to be protected against PCB contamination by appropriate protective clothing.
• Suitable measures are to be taken to ensure that PCBs are not carried out of the isolated zone (e.g. decontamination chamber).

If electrical equipment is to be processed for the recovery of metal, it has to be adequately decontaminated. As PCBs tend to form PCDDs/PCDFs even at relatively low temperatures, thorough decontamination is indispensable before recovery proper. It is not sufficient to simply rinse electrical equipment containing PCBs with solvents and subsequently treat them using a shredder, as experiences gained in the retro-filling of transformers show that significant amounts of oils containing PCBs are left in coils (transformer coils, transformer sheets, capacitor plates) and in insulating material, which may result in the formation of dioxins during shredding. Due to the considerably higher toxicity of dioxins, even minimal PCB residues give rise to the risk of environmental contamination. Before metal parts of electrical equipment containing PCBs may be recovered, it is therefore necessary to completely dismantle (uncoiling copper wires, removing transformer sheets, eliminating oil-soaked insulating paper, etc.) and decontaminate the metal parts. Like the pre-treatment before disposal, this work must be performed in a secure isolated area at a suitable plant. Due to the significantly more extensive manipulation, dismantling before recovery requires special precautionary measures, in particular with regard to the containment of PCBs (decontamination chamber, exhaust air treatment, etc.).

Material, such as paper and wooden cores, is to be submitted to thermal treatment or stored under-ground.
As part of the Basel Convention, two new directives were issued for environmentally sound management (with alternative treatment processes) of POPs or PCBs:

• General Technical Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management ofWaste Consisting of, Containing or Contaminated with Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) (SBC No. 2005/1)
• Technical Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management of Waste Consisting of, Containing or Contaminated with Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Polychlorinated Terphenyls (PCTs) or Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs) (SBC Nr 2005/2)

 
The Regulation No. 850/2004 on Persistent Organic Pollutants amending Directive 79/117/EEC should also be mentioned here.
 
Directive 91/692/EEC Standardizing and Rationalizing Reports on the Implementation of Certain Directives Relating to the Environment, most recently amended by Regulation (EC) No. 1882/2003
 
Directive 96/61/EC Concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, most recently amended by Regulation (EC) No. 1882/2003

The IPPC Directive (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) is applicable as a “framework directive” for certain treatment facilities. It contains the following essential components:

• Provision of an explicit and comprehensive basis for the integrated approach. The holistic assessment taking into account interactions, storage, and synergy effects is intended to assess the full range of air, water and soil pollution, and assess its environmental impact.
• Public participation in the accreditation procedure.
• Setting emission limit values based on the Best Available Techniques (BAT)/state-of-the art
• Period adjustments to the state of the art as a requirement for operators
• Exchange of information on the available technologies in line with the integrated approach.

Directive 96/82/EC on the Control of Major-Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances (Seveso II), most recently amended by Regulation (EC) No. 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and Council of 29 September 2003 adapting to Council Decision 1999/468/EC the provisions relating to committees which assist the Commission in the exercise of its implementing powers laid down in instruments subject to the procedure referred to in Articles 251 of the EC Treaty.

The “SEVESO-II Directive", which was issued subsequent to the first "SEVESO" Directive of 1982, aims at protecting serious accidents involving hazardous substances and controlling the consequences of such accidents involving humans and the environment, in order to ensure a high degree of protection throughout the whole Community.

The Directive is applicable to all plants in which hazardous substances are present in certain amounts or at which an accident might occur, provided that they contain the same or greater amounts as those specified in the Annex.

The Directive contains requirements especially related to security management systems, emergency plans, regional planning, duties to inform, provisions for inspection and public disclosure.
 
Directive 85/337/EEC on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Public and Private Projects on the Environment, most recently amended by Directive 2003/35/EC

The EIA Directive provides for an comprehensive, integrated assessment of the possible environmental impact of a project on people, flora, fauna, soil, water, air, the climate, and countryside, material goods and cultural heritage, as well as possible interactions among these areas, with broad public participation before a decision is made regarding the application for authorisation.

The scope of this Directive also includes large waste treatment facilities.
 
Directive 2000/53/EC on End-of-Life Vehicles most recently amended by Decision 2005/438/EC and 2005/673/EC
 
Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, most recently amended by Directive 2003/108/EC amending Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
 
Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, most recently amended by Decision 2005/618/EC, Decision 2005/717/EC and Decision 2005/747/EC
 
Directive 2000/76/EC on the Incineration of Waste
 
Directive 94/67/EC on the Incineration of Hazardous Waste, most recently amended by Regulation (EC) No. 1882/2003 adapting to Council Decision 1999/468/EC the provisions relating to committees which assist the Commission in the exercise of its implementing powers laid down in instruments subject to the procedure referred to in Articles 251 of the EC Treaty
 
Directive 1999/31/EC on the Landfill of Waste, most recently amended by Regulation (EC) No. 1882/2003 adapting to Council Decision 1999/468/EC the provisions relating to committees which assist the Commission in the exercise of its implementing powers laid down in instruments subject to the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the EC Treaty
 
Decision 2003/33/EC Establishing Criteria and Procedures for Acceptance of Waste at Landfill pursuant to Article 16 and Annex II of Directive 1999/31/EC
 
Directive 94/62/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 20 December 1994 on Packaging and Packaging Waste, most recently amended by Directive 2005/20/EC amending Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste and by the Decision 2004/12/EC
 
Regulation (EC) No. 259/93 on the Supervision and Control of Shipments of Waste within, into and out of the European Community, most recently amended by Regulation (EC) No. 2557/2001 amending Annex V of the Council Regulation (EEC) No. 259/93 on the Supervision and Control of Shipments of Waste within, into and out of the European Community
 
Directive 91/157/EEC on Batteries and Accumulators Containing Certain Dangerous Substances, most recently amended by Directive 98/101/EC adjusting the Directive 91/157/EEC on Batteries and Accumulators Containing Certain Dangerous Substances to the current state of the art
 
Commission Directive 93/86/EEC of 4 October 1993 Adapting Directive 91/157/EEC on Batteries and Accumulators Containing Certain Dangerous Substances to the current state of the art
 
Directive 78/176/EEC on Waste from the Titanium Dioxide Industry, most recently amended by Directive 91/692/EEC Standardising and Rationalising Reports on the Implementation of Certain Environmental Protection Directives

This Directive has no relevance to Austria, since Austria does not produce titanium dioxide.
 
Regulation (EC) No. 2150 on Waste Statistics, most recently amended by Regulation (EC) No. 783/2005 amending Annex II of the Regulation (EC) No. 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and Council on Waste Statistics

This Waste Statistics Regulation requires that statistics on waste accumulation and waste Recovery and disposal be compiled and reported.

The statistics must be compiled every second year. The first reference year is 2004.

The data may be collected through surveys, sources from the authorities or others, statistical estimates based on sampling or expert appraisers operating in the waste management sector, or by any combination thereof.

The data on waste accumulation should be compiled separately for the individual business sectors (based on their NACE code) and waste categories specified by the Regulation.

The data on waste recovery and disposal should be compiled by type of processing for each recovery and disposal plant that falls under the designated business sectors by NACE code and by the waste categories specified by the Regulation. This does not include intra-company recovery.
 
Decision No. 1600/2002/EC Laying Down the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme of the European Community

The Environment Action Programme defines the programme for Community actions over the next 10 years. The period of the Sixth EAP began on 22 July 2002.

The Sixth Environment Action Programme provides for developing “thematic strategies” in seven environmental sectors.

• Protection of the soil
• Protection and conservation of the seas
• Use of pesticides with sustainability in mind
• Air pollution (CAFE - Clean Air For Europe)
• Urban environment
• Waste prevention and recycling
• Sustainable use and management of resources

Directive 2006/21/EC on the Management of Waste from Extractive Industries
In the third reading, the European Parliament and European Council agreed on a Directive onthe Management of Waste from Extractive Industries. The Directive was adopted by the Council and published on 11 April 2006 in the Official Journal under number 2006/21/EC. The Directive aims at establishing minimum requirements for the management of waste from mineral-extracting industries. With this Directive, a special law was created for mining waste, so that this type of specific waste is no longer subject to the Waste Framework Directive.
In reliance upon the Landfill Ordinance, the Directive contains, in particular, provisions on the construction and operation of waste disposal facilities, including the procedures of accreditation and closure of such facilities, as well as provisions on waste management plans for waste disposal plants. Moreover, it contains provisions on the security of such facilities, on the financial security obligations, and on the compiling of an inventory in closed waste disposal facilities.

10.09.2007, Lebensministerium VI/3