During a meeting of the IMPEL Landfill project earlier this year in Riga, Latvia, environmental inspectors of 10 EU member countries discussed the implementation of the guidance book and checklists focusing on the problem of pre-treatment of municipal waste before landfilling.
The Malagrotta judgement
According to Article 6 of the Council Directive 1999/31/EC, only waste that has been subject to treatment is landfilled. The Malagrotta judgement (European Court of Justice of 15 October 2014 in case C-323/13) confirmed the Landfill Directive’s principles:
- All waste capable of undergoing treatment is treated;
- Most appropriate pre-treatment option is applied;
- Pre-treatment includes an adequate selection of the different waste streams;
- Pre-treatment includes the stabilisation of the organic fraction.
The practical implementation of these principles imposes various challenges for the inspectors.
Testing of project deliverables
During the meeting, Mr Romano Ruggeri, the project manager, presented the preliminary results of the analysis of the “Survey to assess the implementation by EU Member States of provisions of Article 2 of Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste (treatment of waste before landfilling)”. The participants were then invited to discuss and work on the following deliverables:
- Checklist on landfill inspection to assess pre-treatment of mixed municipal waste;
- Checklist on landfill inspection to assess pre-treatment of industrial waste;
- First analysis of procedure/BAT/criteria to assess the need of pre-treatment of different waste streams, collecting pieces of information from the existing guidelines.
The programme also included a visit to a non-hazardous landfill, during which the team simulated an inspection, using the check lists previously prepared for this purpose.
The meeting was attended by environmental experts from Latvia, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The IMPEL Landfill project
The project started in 2011 and throughout the years 2011 – 2016 different participants of the EU Member States have been working on a program aiming at improving and developing inspections skills according to the Landfill Directive. The outcome was a guidance book for landfill inspections, a check list and a gap analysis of the implementation of the Landfill Directive in the Member States.
For 2017 the general goals of the Landfill project are:
- Promote the use of the checklist and guidance book at the joint inspection;
- Identify good inspection practices;
- Identify good practices of pre-treatment of waste before landfilling;
- Facilitate cooperation between IMPEL Member Countries;
- Provide feedback to policy makers.
Further information
- Landfill project webpage
- Tool “Guidance book for landfill inspections”
- Project abstract in: English, Spanish