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Waste - 24.11.2005

Conference on the landfill directive (30.11, Bruxelles)

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is organising a conference on the landfill directive on 30 November 2005, in Brussels. At this occasion, the CoR will be presenting its report on the directive at local and regional level, to which the Council of European Regions and Municipalities (CEMR) has contributed.

The main speakers will include:

European Commissioner for the environment, Stavros Dimas;
Director general of the DG environment of the European Commission, Catherine Day;
First vice-president of the CoR, Sir Albert Bore,
Former rapporteur of the European Parliament on the Landfill directive, Caroline Jackson;
CoR rapporteur on the implementation of the Landfill directive at regional and local level, Wim van Gelder.

In the morning session, the delegates will discuss the issue of landfill as an integral part of EU waste policy. Wim van Gelder will be presenting the landfill report of the Cor. In the afternoon session, an exchange of best practices on the implementation of the directive at local level will take place, followed by a general discussion.

Practical information

Starting of the conference: 9.30

Closure of the conference: 17.00

Venue: Conference Centre Borschette, Room 0A, Rue Frassart 36

For more information on the conference, contact Chantal Fontaine at CoR, phone at +32 (0)2 282 21 43

The outlook report on the implementation of the landfill directive

The EU Commission asked the CoR for an outlook report on the implementation of its 1999 landfill directive at local and regional level. The report was compiled based mainly on the findings of a survey among various local and regional associations including CEMR.

According to Wim van Gelder, the most pregnant problem lies with companies exporting their refuse products to countries which charge less for its disposal. This causes Member States who have heavily invested on modern, environment-friendly waste disposal operations to lose from countries which still rely on old, cheaper to run landfill sites.

The rapporteur also notes that the directive has not been implemented in the same way throughout Europe due to different geographical and demographic situations as well as different national timetables in the EU member states.

Finally, he underlines that many local and regional authorities welcomed the positive impact of the directive on the environment, but, at the same time, he emphasizes that regional and local governments require appropriate financial and human resources to upgrade their waste disposal operations.

Wim Van Gelder presented his report at the CoR plenary session on 17 November 2005

The full outlook report on the implementation of the landfill directive at local and regional level

The 1999 Landfill directive

CEMR's activities in the field of the environment