school energy&environment

European Directive 2008/98/EC

The Directive states how waste must be treated in the Community. The primary aim of the directive is to protect the environment and human health, through the prevention of the negative and dangerous effects deriving from the production and management of waste. According to the directive, a greater protection of the environment requires the realization of a series of measures that are applicable according to an order of priorities: 1) prevention of waste; 2) preparation for waste re-utilization, 3) recycling; 4) another type of recovery (for example of energy), 5) disposal. This means that first of all we need to think of preventing waste, avoiding producing waste; and if this is not possible measures must be taken to reutilize it, after which it must be recycled, and so on…
All the Member States of the European Community can apply further legislative measures in order to strengthen this hierarchy, but what is important is that human health must always be guaranteed, and that the environment must be respected. Whoever produces or possesses waste products must take care of treating the same or must hand it over to someone else who is appointed to do so. In particular stocking and treatment of dangerous waste products must follow an even more severe code for their disposal than domestic waste, to avoid any risks for humans or for the environment. Furthermore, since the production of waste tends to increase in Europe, the regulations carry an invitation to strengthen all measures in the field of prevention and reduction of the correlated impacts and to encourage the recovery of waste.