From plastic to electronic scrap, waste is on the rise all across Europe. In the EU, the average person produces 511kg of waste each year and only 38% of waste is recycled.
Much of the waste we produce is treated by waste management facilities that apply biological, mechanical and chemical processes. Such treatments aim to reduce the amount and hazardous nature of the waste.
However, most waste treatment installations also emit carbon dioxide, ammonia and particulate matter into the air, as well as heavy metals and organic chemicals that contaminate water and soil.
The EU BREF on waste treatment (WT BREF) sets binding minimum performance standards for these installations, aiming to prevent / minimise the negative impact that waste treatment operations can have on the environment. It was published in 2006 (under the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive of 1996, which was repealed and replaced by the Industrial Emissions Directive in 2014), and revised in 2013-2017.
The updated BAT conclusions were published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) in 2018.
The publication of the BAT conclusions in the OJEU sets a four-year deadline for installations across the EU to comply with the updated requirements. However, if the BAT conclusions are published before an installation’s permit is issued, the installation must comply with the requirements immediately.
The updated BREF is available here.
Implementation
The NGOs operating at national level are advised to closely follow the permitting process.
The EEB prepared a briefing to assist them in this mission, including blind spots and suggested recommendations.
The review in a nutshell
The overall outcome of the review is considered positive. Two notable improvements include:
- Air pollution: Diffuse emissions of dust and heavy metals must now be effectively captured and treated in metal waste shredders. Additionally, new measures to prevent deflagrations have been introduced.
- Water pollution: Requirements for indirect discharges to urban wastewater treatment plants have been reinforced, particularly concerning toxic heavy metals and other persistent pollutants.
However, the level of ambition has been compromised in certain areas, such as:
- Biological treatment processes: Requirements related to odour and ammonia emissions, particularly in the treatment of manure, have been significantly weakened.
- Mechanical biological treatment: The emission levels set for air pollutants do not reflect Best Available Techniques (BAT) performance.
- Hazardous waste management: Provisions on input controls remain too vague to effectively prevent dilution or rerouting to substandard treatment options.
More information in this EEB briefing.
Contacts
Aliki Kriekouki, Senior Policy Officer for Industrial Production: aliki.kriekouki@eeb.org
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Documents archive from the review process
1. Kick-off Meeting (KoM) of the technical working group (November 2013):
- The KoM report, incl. decisions taken on the scope of the review and the key environmental issues to focus on, is available here.
- The KoM background paper, summarising the stakeholders’ positions on key issues is available here.
2. First draft of the BREF (D1) (February 2017)
- The D1 of the BREF is available here.
- The EEB comments on the D1 are available here.
3. Final Meeting (FM) of the technical working group (March 2017)
- The background paper of the FM, summarising the stakeholders’ positions on key issues is available here.
- The Commission’s assessment on dissenting views following the FM is available here.
5. The meeting of the IED Forum
- The opinion of the Forum is available here.