Waste management in Europe : main problems identified in EU petitions and best practices (updated version)

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the PETI Committee examines the application and proper transposition of European environmental law on waste by Member States, that is one of the recurrent topics addressed by the Committee on Petitions, which collects complaints from citizens in this matter and call for respect of the rule of law. Waste management concerns all activities and actions that are required to manage waste, from its generation to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation. This study is an updated version of the previous research from 2011. Based on the results from 2011, new petitions from 2013 to 2016 were analysed with the aim to update the main findings and recommendations on the crucial areas of complaints. The results of the recently carried out assessment show that most of the analysed petitions still relate to deficits in the waste management system, the operating of existing installations (mainly landfills) and the permitting procedure for new facilities. In addition, two petitions address the improper management of radioactive waste which constitutes a new area of complaint (EURATOM Treaty) compared to the analysis in 2011. For all the main areas covered, best practice examples and recommendations for better approaches in future were updated and reviewed.