Waste management

The presidency briefed the Council on the state of play of the legislative proposal amending six directives addressing the management of different types of waste.

• proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 2008/98/EC on waste,
• 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste,
• 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste,
• 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles,
• 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators,
• 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment

This proposal was presented in July 2014 as part of the Circular Economy Package, seeking to improve waste management in the European Union, with a view to protecting the quality of the environment and ensuring prudent and rational use of natural resources.

Discussions on this proposal looked at, amongst others, the definitions, targets and calculation method, end of waste criteria, by-products, permitting requirements, electronic registry and reporting. Ministers also expressed serious concerns about the Commission's intention to withdraw this proposal and to replace it with a more ambitious one, as it was announced on 16 December 2014 during the presentation of the Commission work programme for 2015.

The importance of the current waste legislative proposal in relation to circular economy and its relevance for the positive impacts on economic growth and jobs creation has been underlined by a large majority of delegations in the course of the discussions so far.

Therefore, the Council expressed its willingness to continue working on the basis of the current proposal and asked the Commission to clarify its intentions on the next steps concerning the Circular Economy Package.

The Commission reassured the Council that work already done will be taken into account in its new and more ambitious proposal to promote a circular economy, which will be presented in 2015.