14 February 2007

Environment

Landfill of Waste

Ciarán Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that on 1 November 2006 this Deputy asked him if Ireland had applied prior to 13 August 2004 for an extension to the deadlines in the provisions of Article 5.2 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC pursuant to Article 17(4) of 2002/96/EC (details supplied); and if he will provide a copy of the application and a copy of the notice from the Commission informing the other Member States of this decision.

Ciarán Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if Ireland had applied prior to 13 August 2004 (details supplied) for an extension on the deadlines in the provisions of Article 5.2 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste pursuant to Article 17(4) of 2002/96/EC; and if he will provide a copy of the application and a copy of the notice from the Commission informing the other Member States of this decision.

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Roche):
Article 5.2 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC provided that the quantity of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill must be reduced to -
· 75% of biodegradable waste arisings by 16 July 2006,
· 50% of biodegradable waste arisings by 16 July 2009, and
· 35% of biodegradable waste arisings by 16 July 2016.

The above Directive on the landfill of waste also provided that member states who landfilled more than 80% of their collected municipal waste in the baseline year of 1995 may postpone these targets by a period not exceeding four years. Member states intending to make use of this provision were required to inform the Commission in advance of their decision; Directive 1999/31/EC did not provide a specific deadline for such notifications.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 5.2 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC, Ireland informed the Commission on 22 December 2005 of its decision to extend the targets for 2006 and 2009 by four years to 2010 and 2013 respectively. Ireland is strongly committed to achieving the targets at the earliest possible date and the priority now is to achieve the necessary biodegradable municipal waste diversion from landfill in advance of the revised target dates. Ireland will review the position in relation to the available four-year derogation from 2016 to 2020 and will come to an informed decision on the prospects for achievement of the third phase diversion targets as soon as practicable.

A copy of the notification sent to the Commission is being sent to the Deputy. A copy of the Commission's notification of Ireland's position to other Member States was not forwarded to my Department.

The Questions appear to imply that the deadlines in the provisions of Article 5.2 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste are pursuant to Article 17(4) of Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and that the date of 13 August 2004 (which, is the deadline for the transposition of the WEEE Directive) is relevant for this purpose. Neither implication is the case.