Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives(Text with EEA relevance). The present directive was adopted on 19 November 2008.

Table of Contents

The Waste Framework Directive (WFD) is a European Union Directive concerned with “measures to protect the environment and human health by preventing or reducing the adverse impacts of the generation and management of waste and by reducing overall impacts of resource use and improving the efficiency of such use”. The first Waste Framework Directive dates back to 1975. It had previously been substantially amended in 1991 and 2006. The present directive was adopted on 19 November 2008.

One of the features of the WFD is the European Waste Hierarchy.

Key terms: End-of-waste criteria, High quality recycling, Separate collection, Technically, environmentally and economically practicable.

DIRECTIVE 2008/98/EC (known as the Waste Framework Directive or WFD)

Official Journal of the European Union

Article 3 Definitions

• 2. ‘hazardous waste’ means waste which displays one or more of the hazardous properties listed in Annex III;

• 2b. ‘municipal waste’ means:
  (a) mixed waste and separately collected waste from households, including paper and cardboard, glass, metals, plastics, bio-waste, wood, textiles, packaging, waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste batteries and accumulators, and bulky waste, including mattresses and furniture;
  (b) mixed waste and separately collected waste from other sources, where such waste is similar in nature and composition to waste from households;
  Municipal waste does not include waste from production, agriculture, forestry, fishing, septic tanks and sewage network and treatment, including sewage sludge, end-of-life vehicles or construction and demolition waste.

• 3. ‘waste oils’ means any mineral or synthetic lubrication or industrial oils which have become unfit for the use for which they were originally intended, such as used combustion engine oils and gearbox oils, lubricating oils, oils for turbines and hydraulic oils;
• 4. ‘bio-waste’ means biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, offices, restaurants, wholesale, canteens, caterers and retail premises and comparable waste from food processing plants;
• 14. ‘treatment’ means recovery or disposal operations, including preparation prior to recovery or disposal;
• 15. ‘recovery’ means any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy. Annex II sets out a non-exhaustive list of recovery operations;
• 17. ‘recycling’ means any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations;

• 17a. ‘backfilling’ means any recovery operation where suitable non-hazardous waste is used for purposes of reclamation in excavated areas or for engineering purposes in landscaping. Waste used for backfilling must substitute non-waste materials, be suitable for the aforementioned purposes, and be limited to the amount strictly necessary to achieve those purposes.

19. ‘disposal’ means any operation which is not recovery even where the operation has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or energy. Annex I sets out a non-exhaustive list of disposal operations;

Article 4 Waste hierarchy

1. The following waste hierarchy shall apply as a priority order in waste prevention and management legislation and policy:
   (a) prevention;
   (b) preparing for re-use;
   (c) recycling;
   (d) other recovery, e.g. energy recovery; and
   (e) disposal.

Article 9 Prevention of waste

1. Member States shall take measures to prevent waste generation. Those measures shall, at least:
   (g) reduce the generation of food waste in primary production, in processing and manufacturing, in retail and other distribution of food, in restaurants and food services as well as in households as a contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to reduce by 50 % the per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and to reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030;
   (h) encourage food donation and other redistribution for human consumption, prioritising human use over animal feed and the reprocessing into non-food products;
   (i) promote the reduction of the content of hazardous substances in materials and products, without prejudice to harmonised legal requirements concerning those materials and products laid down at Union level, and ensure that any supplier of an article as defined in point 33 of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 6 ) provides the information pursuant to Article 33(1) of that Regulation to the European Chemicals Agency as from 5 January 2021;
   (k) identify products that are the main sources of littering, notably in natural and marine environments, and take appropriate measures to prevent and reduce litter from such products; where Member States decide to implement this obligation through market restrictions, they shall ensure that such restrictions are proportionate and non-discriminatory;

Article 10 Recovery

2. Where necessary to comply with paragraph 1 and to facilitate or improve preparing for re-use, recycling and other recovery operations, waste shall be subject to separate collection and shall not be mixed with other waste or other materials with different properties.

Article 11 Preparing for re-use and recycling

• 1. Subject to Article 10(2) and (3), Member States shall set up separate collection at least for paper, metal, plastic and glass, and, by 1 January 2025, for textiles.
     Member States shall take measures to promote selective demolition in order to enable removal and safe handling of hazardous substances and facilitate re-use and high-quality recycling by selective removal of materials, and to ensure the establishment of sorting systems for construction and demolition waste at least for wood, mineral fractions (concrete, bricks, tiles and ceramics, stones), metal, glass, plastic and plaster.
• 2. … (c) by 2025, the preparing for re-use and the recycling of municipal waste shall be increased to a minimum of 55 % by weight;
     (d) by 2030, the preparing for re-use and the recycling of municipal waste shall be increased to a minimum of 60 % by weight;
     (e) by 2035, the preparing for re-use and the recycling of municipal waste shall be increased to a minimum of 65 % by weight.

Article 11a Rules on the calculation of the attainment of the targets

• 1. For the purpose of calculating whether the targets laid down in points (c), (d) and (e) of Article 11(2) and in Article 11(3) have been attained:
     (a) Member States shall calculate the weight of the municipal waste generated and prepared for re-use or recycled in a given calendar year;
     (b) the weight of the municipal waste prepared for re-use shall be calculated as the weight of products or components of products that have become municipal waste and have undergone all necessary checking, cleaning or repairing operations to enable re-use without further sorting or pre-processing;
     (c) the weight of the municipal waste recycled shall be calculated as the weight of waste which, having undergone all necessary checking, sorting and other preliminary operations to remove waste materials that are not targeted by the subsequent reprocessing and to ensure high-quality recycling, enters the recycling operation whereby waste materials are actually reprocessed into products, materials or substances.
     By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, the weight of municipal waste recycled may be measured at the output of any sorting operation provided that:
     (a) such output waste is subsequently recycled;
     (b) the weight of materials or substances that are removed by further operations preceding the recycling operation and are not subsequently recycled is not included in the weight of waste reported as recycled.
• 3. …technical specifications for the quality requirements of sorted waste, or average loss rates for sorted waste for various waste types and waste management practices respectively. Average loss rates shall only be used in cases where reliable data cannot be obtained otherwise and shall be calculated on the basis of the calculation rules established in the delegated act adopted pursuant to paragraph 10 of this Article.
• 4. For the purpose of calculating whether the targets laid down in points (c), (d) and (e) of Article 11(2) and in Article 11(3) have been attained, the amount of municipal biodegradable waste that enters aerobic or anaerobic treatment may be counted as recycled where that treatment generates compost, digestate, or other output with a similar quantity of recycled content in relation to input, which is to be used as a recycled product, material or substance. Where the output is used on land, Member States may count it as recycled only if this use results in benefits to agriculture or ecological improvement.
     As from 1 January 2027, Member States may count municipal bio-waste entering aerobic or anaerobic treatment as recycled only if, in accordance with Article 22, it has been separately collected or separated at source.
• 5. …However, end-of-waste materials to be used as fuels or other means to generate energy, or to be incinerated, backfilled or landfilled, shall not be counted towards the attainment of the recycling targets.
• 8. Waste exported from the Union for preparing for re-use or recycling shall count towards the attainment of the targets laid down in Article 11(2) and (3) of this Directive by the Member State in which it was collected only if the requirements of paragraph 3 of this Article are met and if, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006, the exporter can prove that the shipment of waste complies with the requirements of that Regulation and that the treatment of waste outside the Union took place in conditions that are broadly equivalent to the requirements of the relevant Union environmental law.

Article 14 Costs

• 1. In accordance with the polluter-pays principle, the costs of waste management, including for the necessary infrastructure and its operation, shall be borne by the original waste producer or by the current or previous waste holders.
• 2. Without prejudice to Articles 8 and 8a, Member States may decide that the costs of waste management are to be borne partly or wholly by the producer of the product from which the waste came and that the distributors of such product may share these costs.

Article 21 Waste oils

• 1. …(a) waste oils are collected separately, unless separate collection is not technically feasible taking into account good practices;
     (b) waste oils are treated, giving priority to regeneration or alternatively to other recycling operations delivering an equivalent or a better overall environmental outcome than regeneration, in accordance with Articles 4 and 13;
     (c) waste oils of different characteristics are not mixed and waste oils are not mixed with other kinds of waste or substances, if such mixing impedes their regeneration or another recycling operation delivering an equivalent or a better overall environmental outcome than regeneration.

Article 22 Bio-waste

• 1. Member States shall ensure that, by 31 December 2023 and subject to Article 10(2) and (3), bio-waste is either separated and recycled at source, or is collected separately and is not mixed with other types of waste.
     Member States may allow waste with similar biodegradability and compostability properties which complies with relevant European standards or any equivalent national standards for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation, to be collected together with bio-waste.

2. Member States shall take measures in accordance with Articles 4 and 13, to:
   (a) encourage the recycling, including composting and digestion, of bio-waste in a way that fulfils a high level of environment protection and results in output which meets relevant high-quality standards;
   (b) encourage home composting; and
   (c) promote the use of materials produced from bio-waste.

Article 23 Issue of permits

4. It shall be a condition of any permit covering incineration or co-incineration with energy recovery that the recovery of energy take place with a high level of energy efficiency.

…

ANNEX I DISPOSAL OPERATIONS

D 1 Deposit into or on to land (e.g. landfill, etc.)
D 2 Land treatment (e.g. biodegradation of liquid or sludgy discards in soils, etc.)
D 3 Deep injection (e.g. injection of pumpable discards into wells, salt domes or naturally occurring repositories, etc.)
D 4 Surface impoundment (e.g. placement of liquid or sludgy discards into pits, ponds or lagoons, etc.)
D 5 Specially engineered landfill (e.g. placement into lined discrete cells which are capped and isolated from one another and the environment, etc.)
D 6 Release into a water body except seas/oceans
D 7 Release to seas/oceans including sea-bed insertion
D 8 Biological treatment not specified elsewhere in this Annex which results in final compounds or mixtures which are discarded by means of any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 12
D 9 Physico-chemical treatment not specified elsewhere in this Annex which results in final compounds or mixtures which are discarded by means of any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 12 (e.g. evaporation, drying, calcination, etc.)
D 10 Incineration on land
D 11 Incineration at sea (*5)
D 12 Permanent storage (e.g. emplacement of containers in a mine, etc.)
D 13 Blending or mixing prior to submission to any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 12 ( *6 )
D 14 Repackaging prior to submission to any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 13
D 15 Storage pending any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 14 (excluding temporary storage, pending collection, on the site where the waste is produced) ( *7 )

ANNEX II RECOVERY OPERATIONS

R 1 Use principally as a fuel or other means to generate energy ( *8 )
R 2 Solvent reclamation/regeneration
R 3 Recycling/reclamation of organic substances which are not used as solvents (including composting and other biological transformation processes) ( *9 )
R 4 Recycling/reclamation of metals and metal compounds ( *10 )
R 5 Recycling/reclamation of other inorganic materials ( *11 )
R 6 Regeneration of acids or bases
R 7 Recovery of components used for pollution abatement
R 8 Recovery of components from catalysts
R 9 Oil re-refining or other reuses of oil
R 10 Land treatment resulting in benefit to agriculture or ecological improvement
R 11 Use of waste obtained from any of the operations numbered R 1 to R 10
R 12 Exchange of waste for submission to any of the operations numbered R 1 to R 11 ( *12 )
R 13 Storage of waste pending any of the operations numbered R 1 to R 12 (excluding temporary storage, pending collection, on the site where the waste is produced) ( *13 )

ANNEX III PROPERTIES OF WASTE WHICH RENDER IT HAZARDOUS

‘Explosive’, ‘Oxidising’, ‘Flammable’, ‘Irritant — skin irritation and eye damage’, ‘Specific Target Organ Toxicity (STOT)/Aspiration Toxicity’, ‘Acute Toxicity’, ‘Carcinogenic’, ‘Corrosive’, ‘Infectious’, ‘Mutagenic’,
‘Release of an acute toxic gas’, ‘Ecotoxic’, ‘Waste capable of exhibiting a hazardous property listed above not directly displayed by the original waste’.

ANNEX IVa EXAMPLES OF ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS AND OTHER MEASURES TO PROVIDE INCENTIVES FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE WASTE HIERARCHY REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 4(3) ( 16 )

1. Charges and restrictions for the landfilling and incineration of waste which incentivise waste prevention and recycling, while keeping landfilling the least preferred waste management option;

2. ‘Pay-as-you-throw’ schemes that charge waste producers on the basis of the actual amount of waste generated and provide incentives for separation at source of recyclable waste and for reduction of mixed waste;

3. Fiscal incentives for donation of products, in particular food;

4. Extended producer responsibility schemes for various types of waste and measures to increase their effectiveness, cost efficiency and governance;

5. Deposit-refund schemes ¹ and other measures to encourage efficient collection of used products and materials;

6. Sound planning of investments in waste management infrastructure, including through Union funds;

7. Sustainable public procurement to encourage better waste management and the use of recycled products and materials;

8. Phasing out of subsidies which are not consistent with the waste hierarchy;

9. Use of fiscal measures or other means to promote the uptake of products and materials that are prepared for re-use or recycled;

10. Support to research and innovation in advanced recycling technologies and remanufacturing;

11. Use of best available techniques for waste treatment;

12. Economic incentives for regional and local authorities, in particular to promote waste prevention and intensify separate collection schemes, while avoiding support to landfilling and incineration;

13. Public awareness campaigns, in particular on separate collection, waste prevention and litter reduction, and mainstreaming these issues in education and training;

14. Systems for coordination, including by digital means, between all competent public authorities involved in waste management;

15. Promoting continuous dialogue and cooperation between all stakeholders in waste management and encouraging voluntary agreements and company reporting on waste.