Landfill of waste: minimum standards

The committee adopted 23 amendments (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21, 11, 12, 23, 13, 24, 14, 15, 25, 26 and 27). The common position represented a complete redraft of the proposal which the Commission had modified following the first reading in Parliament. However, a number of Parliament's amendments were taken on board (though with a different wording, particularly as regards the ending of co-disposal (the mixing together of toxic and non-toxic waste at a landfill site). The rapporteur vigorously opposed one new element in the common position to the effect that restrictive provisions of the directive would not apply to rural areas with a population density of fewer than 35 inhabitants per square kilometre. Mr Bowe persuaded the committee (amendment 4) to delete the offending passage. However, the committee agreed with the Council that small islands served by a single landfill site or mountainous settlements to which access was difficult would be exempt from those provisions. Amendment 7 said that only waste not containing the toxic substances listed in Annex II (4,2) could be accepted for joint disposal (co-disposal). Amendment 8 gave Member States five years after implementation of the directive in which to phase out joint disposal. After that it would be banned. According to amendment 5, within two years of the entry into force of the directive, the Commission must establish sampling and analytical methods for liquid waste. According to amendment 10, waste not accepted at a landfill site must be returned to the producer unless another adequate means of disposal complying with all the relevant requirements can be found. According to amendment 11, landfill sites must comply with the directive within five years of its entry into force (instead of the 10 years proposed by the Council). Amendment 21 provides that for at least 30 years after the closure of a landfill site - or for as long as is needed if the landfill poses an active risk to the environment - the site operator shall be responsible for monitoring and analysing landfill gas and leachate from the site and the groundwater regime in its vicinity. Amendment 23 required Member States to "take the steps required to reduce the volumes of waste dumped and improve sites by means of heat treatment of stored waste". Amendment 26 added the following passage: "The landfill shall be equipped so that dirt originating from the site is not dispersed onto public roads and the surrounding land". Finally, amendment 27 provided that "the system of control and access to each facility should contain a programme of measures to detect and discourage illegal dumping". �