London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

Appendix A: Waste policy and legislation
European Policy
In 1987 the Single European Act amended the Treaty of Rome (the legislation that established
the European Commission (EC)) to include a strategic environmental protection aim. Article
130R of the Act set out the basic principles of EU environmental policy, as follows:
• Preventative action is preferred to remedial measures;
• Environmental damage should be reflected at source;
• The polluter should pay for the costs of any measures to protect the environment
(polluter pays principle);
• Environmental policies should form a component of the other policies.
The European Commission’s 1989 Waste Management Strategy built on these overarching
environmental principles and formed the basis of the European Union’s waste management
policy.
Waste hierarchy
The cornerstone of European waste policy is the ‘waste hierarchy’, which supports the
objectives of environmental protection and sustainability. The hierarchy identifies that the
most effective environmental solution is to reduce the generation of waste (i.e. reduction).
Where further reduction is not practicable, products can sometimes be used again (re-use).
Failing that, value should be recovered from the waste through recycling, composting or energy
recovery. Only if none of the above offers an appropriate solution should waste disposal be
considered as an option.
Proximity Principle
The proximity principle requires that waste should generally be managed as near as possible to
its place of production, mainly because transporting waste has a significant environmental
impact. The proximity principle places a responsibility on the producers of waste to be
responsible for the waste produced. This is because waste should as far as possible be dealt
with ‘on the doorstep’ as opposed to exporting the problem somewhere else.
Self-sufficiency
The principle of self-sufficiency requires that most waste should be treated or disposed of
within the area in which it is produced. Each region, or sub-regions in some cases, should
provide for facilities with sufficient capacity to manage the anticipated quantity of waste
needing to be dealt with within that area for at least 10 years.
Subsequent strategies have reaffirmed and built upon these principles which are being
established though legislation.
Sixth Environmental Action Programme
The EC has recently launched ‘The Sixth Environment Action Programme (EAP)’ which forms
the environmental element of the EU’s Sustainable Development Strategy. It identifies four
environmental areas to be tackled, one of which is entitled ‘Natural Resources and Waste’. This
places emphasis on the need for a series of cross-cutting inter-related measures to reduce the
environmental impact of resource use. One component of the 6 th EAP is to develop seven
‘Thematic Studies’ for environmental issues that require a more holistic approach, one of which
will be specifically on the prevention and recycling of waste.
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