The Landfill Directive
(1999/31/EC) was adopted by the European Union
in 1999.
Its primary aims are:
to
reduce landfill gas in order to reduce
global warming - this will be done by reducing
the amount of biodegradable waste going to
landfill;
to
encourage the prevention, recycling and
recovery of waste in the first instance;
to
reduce the amount of hazardous waste
going to landfill;
to
monitor landfill sites to prevent harm
to health or the environment.
Landfill sites must be classified as hazardous,
non-hazardous or inert. Sites existing at the
time the Directive came in had to submit a
conditioning plan by July 2002 outlining the
future of the site.
The first phase arrived
in July 2002. A major change was the elimination
of specific hazardous material to landfill
including liquid, explosive, flammable, oxidising
and corrosive waste. In July 2003 a ban on
the lanfill of whole tyres came into effect.
Over the next few years various restrictions
will come into force, some of which are listed
below:
July 2004 co-disposal
of wastes ends: hazardous sites may no longer
accept non-hazardous/inert hazardous waste
must be pre-treated
July 2006 ban on shredded
tyres
July 2009 deadline
for existing landfills to comply with the Directive
The Directive will
mean a dramatic reduction in the number of
hazardous landfill sites as co-disposal comes
to an end in 2004.
