The European Parliament is in the process of updating its waste shipping regulations (WSR) to replace outdated legislation brought into effect in 1993 and reflects the general feeling that Europe’s waste should be Europe’s responsibility.

The regulations will govern the shipment of waste in and out of the Eurozone and will attempt to clear up a number of grey areas.

Among the issues being considered are the status of animal by-products, the grounds on which objections to particular shipments can be made, and how best to monitor the transport of waste and increase transparency.

The regulations should also spell out in black and white whether ships and planes should be considered waste once they reach the end of their working lives, clearing up a long-running controversy.

However, the parliament’s environment committee failed to adopt rapporteur Johannes Blokland MEP’s draft recommendation in its entirety, which included some 51 amendments to the original document.

While many of Blokland’s amendments went through unscathed, others have been axed including plans to ban transboundary waste shipments for interim operations such as mixing.

The committee’s proposals will go before full parliament in the last week of October where the recommendations will be considered.

In the meantime Blokland plans to hold informal talks with both the European Commission and the council of ministers to discuss some of the more controversial measures recommended and to try to find areas of agreement before the vote.

By Sam Bond

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