General comments and the EU strategy

Waste management is a difficult issue, including many aspects. As far as the European Union is concerned, basic principles have been adopted with the aim of protecting the environment without distorting the European internal market.

The basic firm principles are:

• Prevention principle: waste production must be minimised and avoided where possible.
• Producer responsibility and polluter pays principle: those who produce the waste or contaminate the environment should pay the full costs for their actions.
• Precautionary principle: anticipation of potential problems.
• Proximity principle: waste should be disposed of as closely to where it was produced.

These principles were made more concrete in the 1996 Waste Management Strategy of the European Commission. All policies in this area are based on this strategy.

It states a preferred hierarchy of waste management operations:

• Prevention of waste
• Recycling and re-use
• Optimum final disposal and improved monitoring.

The strategy also proposes to:

• Reduce waste movements
• Develop management tools as reliable statistics on waste, waste management plans, regulatory and economic instruments, …

The European Commission has identified some specific waste streams to which it targets its policy: packaging, cars, batteries, electric and electronic waste and hazardous household waste (oils, coatings, …). Furniture is not a priority even if an eco-label for furniture is currently discussed. There are also some proposals for legislation regarding waste disposal operations such as landfill and incineration.