EU efforts to decrease the generation of hazardous waste have been ineffective. A review released by the European Court of Auditors (CoA) in January reveals that hazardous waste arisings continued to grow since 2004, despite EU policy intended to influence the design of products and to shift the cost of waste management to producers.
The CoA reviewed publicly available information for the years 2004 to 2022 seeking to identify key challenges to dealing with hazardous waste in the EU. The analysis is intended to inform debates on updates of relevant legislation such as the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) and the EU Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law.
In examining waste generation, the report's authors found that even though EU legislation had sought to give priority to waste avoidance, previous analysis had already concluded that "prevention of hazardous waste appears to have lower priority than management aspects". Going forward, eco-design was identified as an area where progress could be made in reducing hazardous waste arisings. The CoA noted that work was underway to amend the Eco-design Directive and highlighted the product passports that are under consideration as one means of empowering consumers to select products containing fewer substances of concern....
