Having consistently opposed the Landfill Waste Directive, the UK is now faced with having to implement it. Tina Garrity analyses the directive's requirements

On 26 April 1999, almost eight years after it was first proposed, the controversial landfill waste directive was finally adopted. Since it first appeared as a draft text in May 1991, the directive has undergone numerous amendments. Despite the fact that a final text has finally been agreed, it appears unlikely that many member states will be able to comply with its provisions in the timescales laid down. The directive still contains ambiguities and many in the waste industry fear that its requirements are impractical and will prove hugely expensive to implement. Having consistently opposed the directive, the UK is now faced with having to implement it. The DETR has announced a series of consultation papers, the first of which - on biodegradable municipal waste - was launched last October.

The terms of the directive: The origins of the directive can be traced back to a Council of Ministers resolution on waste policy of 7 May 1990, which invited the Commission to propose criteria and standards for the disposal of waste by landfill. The directive defines the term "landfill" as a waste disposal site for the deposit of waste onto or into land (ie underground), including internal waste disposal sites (ie landfill where a producer of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at the place of production) and permanent sites (ie more than one year) which are used for temporary storage of waste.

Member states may grant exemptions to small sites on islands or to sites in isolated settlements which take waste only from those areas. Three classes of landfill will be permitted: landfill for hazardous waste, landfill for non-hazardous waste and landfill for inert waste. The UK practice of co-disposing particular hazardous wastes with non-hazardous wastes will effectively have to end, says the DETR in its consultation paper.

Biodegradable and unacceptable waste
Article 5 of the directive requires member states to draw up national strategies to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill. The initial target set is a reduction within five years to 75 per cent of the total amount by weight of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995, or the latest year for which standardised Eurostat data is available. These strategies must set out the measures proposed to achieve this target, in particular recycling, composting, bio-gas production or material/energy recovery. Within eight years a reduction of 50 per cent must be achieved with a further reduction to 35 per cent within 15 years. The DETR in its consultation paper points out that the UK currently disposes over 85 per cent of its municipal waste in landfills and that it is going to have to both build up alternative methods to deal with the diverted waste and encourage incentives to minimise the amount of waste produced. In the meantime, the government intends to issue a statutory instrument to limit the use of landfill for biodegradable municipal waste. The CIEH has in the past expressed the concern that short-term pressures to meet the reduction targets could lead to an undesirable increase in incineration rather than in methods such as re-use and recycling.

Six types of waste are deemed unacceptable for landfilling:
a) liquid waste
b) waste which in the conditions of landfill is explosive, corrosive, oxidising, highly flammable or flammable
c) infectious hospital and other clinical wastes
d) used tyres (whole ones within two years, excluding tyres used as engineering material, and shredded ones within five years. Bicycle tyres and tyres with an outside diameter over 1,400mm are exempt)
e) any other waste not fulfilling the list of waste acceptance criteria laid down in annex II of the directive.
The dilution of waste mixtures solely to meet the waste acceptance criteria is also prohibited.

Acceptable waste
Under article 6 of the directive, only waste which has been treated may be landfilled. The exceptions are inert waste where such treatment is not technically feasible or other wastes where such treatment does not contribute to the objectives of the directive. Some hazardous waste may only be landfilled if it conforms to the annex II waste acceptance criteria. Non-hazardous waste landfills may be used for municipal wastes and for other non-hazardous waste meeting the annex II criteria.
Hazardous waste may be landfilled in non-hazardous sites but only if it is stable and non-reactive (ie solidified or vitrified) and its leaching behaviour is equivalent to the non -hazardous waste mentioned above. However, this waste must not be put into cells designed for biodegradable non-hazardous waste.

Permits
Under Articles 7,8 & 9 landfill operators are required to apply for permits from the competent national authority. Details of what information must be given on the application are laid down, including the proposed methods for pollution abatement and control and the proposed plan for closure and after care procedures. The competent authority must be satisfied that the management of the site will be in the hands of a technically competent person and that professional and technical development and training of landfill operators and staff will be provided. They must also be satisfied that measures are taken to prevent accidents and limit their consequences. More significantly, they must be satisfied that adequate financial or other provision is made by the applicant prior to commencement of operations, to ensure that their obligations under the directive (including the after care provisions) are discharged and that the closure procedures are followed. Article 10 requires them to ensure that all the costs involved in establishing and running the site and meeting the after care procedures for at least 30 years are covered by the price to be charged by the operator for the disposal of any type of waste. Once a permit is granted, the authority must inspect the site, before disposal operations begin, to check compliance. Details of what information must be stated on the permit are also laid down, eg the list of defined types and total quantity of waste authorised for deposit. Also laid down is a set of waste acceptance procedures to be followed by landfill operators.

Operational procedures
The directive lays down control and monitoring procedures to be observed during landfill operation in Article 12. These include notifying the competent authority of any significant adverse environmental effects revealed and then complying with the authority's instructions on corrective measures. Monitoring results must be notified to the authority whenever requested and at least once a year.

Closure and aftercare procedures
Closure must be done in accordance with the site permit (Article 13) and under the authorisation of the competent authority at the request of the operator, or by reasoned decision of the authority. Following closure, which must be approved by the authority following a site visit, the operator is obliged to undertake monitoring, maintenance and control for as long as the authority requires, taking into account the time during which the landfill could present hazards. The same rules on adverse environmental effects as outlined above apply to the post closure period. Where the authority considers a closed landfill may be hazardous, the operator must monitor and analyse landfill gas and leachate from the site and the groundwater regime near to the site. Precise rules for closure and aftercare are given in annex III of the directive.

Existing sites
Operators of existing landfills have one year after entry into force of the directive to present "conditioning" plans showing how they intend to comply with the directive. Where a competent authority decides not to grant a permit to continue operations, the member state must ensure the site is closed down as soon as possible. Where allowed to continue, operators will have eight years to implement their plans and comply with the directive.

Requirements for all classes of landfill
Annex 1 sets out the precise rules to be followed regarding location of sites, water control and leachate management, protection of soil and water, gas control, nuisances and hazards, stability and barriers. As regards the latter, free access to sites must be prevented, with gates locked outside operating hours. Measures must be taken to detect and discourage illegal dumping. As for nuisances and hazards, operators must minimise these where they arise through odour and dust emission, wind-blown materials, noise and traffic, birds, vermin and insects, aerosols and fires. Sites must be equipped so that dirt is not dispersed onto public roads and surrounding land. Any contaminated water and leachate must be collected and treated except where deemed unnecessary by the competent authority. Standards for the construction of sites and for the leachate collection and sealing systems are laid down. Landfill gas from biodegradable waste must be collected, treated and used in a safe and environmentally sound manner.

Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste. OJ L 182. 16.07.99. pp 1-19

Limiting landfill: a consultation paper on limiting landfill to meet the EC Landfill Directive's targets for the landfill of biodegradable municipal waste. DETR. October 1999. http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/wastestrategy/landfill/index.htm