Landfill a Last Ditch under Proposed Amendment to Waste Act
The government has approved the Environment Ministry-drafted amendment to the Waste Act, providing improved ways for keeping waste from being generated in the first place.
The draft legislation approved to be sent to parliament on July 7 will extend the requirements of the new EU waste directive to Estonia. “Maximum consideration must start to be paid to lifecycle assessment in waste treatment - that is, the principle of making the impact of waste processing minimal for the environment," said Peeter Eek, director of the Ministry of the Environment's waste department.
The amendment shifts the primary focus on to preventing and reducing waste generation, followed by preparations for reuse, recycling and other recovery (such as transformation of waste to energy by incineration and use of waste as backfill) - with disposal in landfills as a last resort.
The amendment also introduces new terms, such as waste cessation, meaning that certain types of waste can be reclassified as products, facilitating recycling.
The draft legislation sets forth a 50 percent recycling target for paper, glass, metals and plastics, and a recovery target of 70 percent for construction waste, which Eek described as an attainable challenge.
Kristopher Rikken