Waste sites

Project description and aims

In view of problematic waste streams worldwide, notably of electronic waste, end-of-life vehicles and their components from Europe to Africa, experts agreed on the necessity to target more effectively the sources of illegal waste streams and the “upstream” facilities where such waste is collected, stored and/or treated prior to export.

Under Article 34(1) of Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, establishments or undertakings which carry out waste treatment operations, establishments or undertakings which collect or transport waste on a professional basis, brokers and dealers, and establishments or undertakings which produce hazardous waste shall be subject to appropriate periodic inspections by the competent authorities.

The “Waste Sites” project, which ran between 2011 and 2014, aimed at a better understanding of those waste streams and facilities upstream, at an exchange of information and best practices, and at the development of guidance documents on site identification, inspection and follow-up.

In a first stage, the project team collected information from questionnaires sent to IMPEL member countries and from the analysis of existing guidance documents. An expert workshop served as a forum of discussion between experts from environmental authorities, customs, police, industry and research institutions and produced input for the envisaged guidance tools. These documents – a “handbook” and a “field guide” – are were tested in trial inspections in the member countries. The results of these tests rouds fed into the finalisation of the Waste Sites manual during the second phase of the project.