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Waste Statistics Regulation
The EU Regulation on Waste Statistics, which was adopted in November 2002, requires Member States to provide the Commission with information on the generation, recovery and disposal of waste. The Regulation aims to build up detailed European information on waste management and to help monitor the implementation and assess the implications of European waste policy.
The Regulation sets out requirements for Member States to report on the amount of waste generated by a number of sectors, including household waste, agriculture, manufacturing industry, construction and services industries. Member States are also required to collect information on recovery and disposal operations for certain waste categories, e.g. chemical waste, used oils, healthcare waste, household waste.
The UK is required to submit data for 2004 to Eurostat during 2006 and after that to provide information every second year, i.e. 2006, 2008, etc. The Commission is required to submit a report to the European Parliament in December 2007 and every three years thereafter.
The Regulation contains a clear definition of recycling, which is consistent with that contained in Article 3 of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC):
'recycling` shall mean the reprocessing in a production process of the waste materials for the original purpose or for other purposes including organic recycling but excluding energy recovery;
Waste management data in the UK
Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government published a waste data strategy for waste streams across the UK in April 2006. The three-year Data Strategy aims to develop a system which will provide reliable and accurate data on all waste streams which can be used to provide a robust evidence base for waste management policy at national and local levels. Detailed information on household and municipal waste management is currently available through Defra’s WasteDataFlow system.
A central element of the strategy involves improved management of data by the Environment Agency. The Strategy also proposes the
- Data on waste arisings and management should be collected from waste management companies on a quarterly basis;
- Data on waste management infrastructure should be collected annually;
- Routine regulatory returns from all waste management facilities should replace the current system of surveys as the principle source of data;
- Detailed information on waste type, facility type, and location should be collected;
The information will be collected through a central ‘Hub’ which will provide information to Government, the regulators, industry, public authorities and others to inform their waste management plans.
August 2006
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