Government accused of moves to weaken new EU directive on landfill wastes

The Government has been accused of attempting to water down a new EU landfill directive. The stance, according to the environmental group VOICE, is in sharp contrast to a pre-election commitment to make waste prevention a national priority.

As environment ministers met at an EU Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg yesterday, the campaign co-ordinator for VOICE, Ms Ivo Pocock, said that Ireland was one of several EU states which, over recent months, had been pushing to weaken the legislation.

"The Government's efforts to weaken vital European legislation do not bode well for environmental protection during their term of office. The attempt blatantly contradicts Fianna Fail's environment manifesto," she claimed.

A central element envisaged by the European Commission was to limit the amount of biodegradable wastes in landfills. The original targets proposed were considerably reduced following opposition by a number of countries, including Ireland.

The revised proposals suggested that the total amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills be reduced to 75 per cent of 1995 levels by 2006, 50 per cent by 2009 and 35 per cent by 2016. The original targets were for 75 per cent of 1993 totals by 2002, 50 per cent by 2005 and 25 per cent by 2010.

"At a time of economic prosperity," Ms Pocock said, "it is unacceptable that the Minister is not supporting progressive proposals to prevent waste by composting biodegradable material."

Lack of action on waste-prevention was only serving to exacerbate difficulties created by the use of large dumps, she said. The Waste Management Act, 1996, provides the Minister with legislative tools to introduce mandatory re-use schemes and to ban certain wasteful materials.