Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which existing derogations in the EU Landfill Directive the UK applies.

The Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) was transposed into domestic legislation by the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002. The majority of the provisions came into force on 15 June 2002. The Landfill Directive is supplemented by Council Decision 2003/33/EC establishing criteria and procedures for the acceptance of waste at landfills pursuant to Article 16 and Annex II to the Landfill Directive. Between them they contain many derogations which can be applied. The information requested on the existing derogations in the Landfill Directive that the UK applies could only be provided at disproportionate cost. It is generally Government policy to take advantage of any derogations permitted by EU legislation which keep requirements to a minimum when transposing into UK legislation, as failure to do so would amount to gold plating.

An example is the derogation from the landfill diversion targets contained in Article 5 of the Landfill Directive. This relates to targets to progressively reduce the biodegradable municipal waste being sent for disposal in landfill. EU wide targets were established for 2006, 2009 and 2016 for reduction of biodegradable municipal waste. As the UK started from a point where over 80% of this waste was being landfilled in 1995, a four year derogation on these targets was available, which the UK applied. Another Landfill Directive derogation of current interest, and one which also applies in England and Wales, is the practice of relying on higher Landfill Directive waste acceptance criteria (the so-called 3xWAC derogation) to enable hazardous waste to continue to be landfilled.