EEB demands stricter EU waste recovery definition

Archiv – According to the Brussels-based European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the EU must develop clearer criteria on when waste-to-energy incineration and co-incineration is waste recovery and when it constitutes a waste disposal operation. The EEB says current EU waste laws are unclear and make eco-dumping an acceptable practice. According to the Brussels-based European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the EU must develop clearer criteria on when waste-to-energy incineration and co-incineration is waste recovery and when it constitutes a waste disposal operation. The EEB says current EU waste laws are unclear and make eco-dumping an acceptable practice.
The green organisation proposes nine conditions that have to be met before incineration can be classed as recovery. Applying all of them would probably mean most waste incineration being classed as disposal – the lowest and least desirable level of the EU’s waste management hierarchy. This would put a political obstacle in the way of waste incineration, would prevent EU states using the technology to meet recovery targets under several waste directives, and would also render more difficult intra-EU trade in waste for incineration.
According to the EEB, incineration of any waste with a calorific value of less than 11.5 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg) should never be classed as recovery and should always be seen as disposal. Waste streams suitable recycling should not be allowed to be burned for energy recovery, it insists.