Environmental risk of waste and its management - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 139

to agricultural land. Some wastes provide meso- and micronutrients satisfying special
plant needs (see also Volume 4 of the topic series) (Gruiz et al., 2010).
Alternative waste utilizing and treating concepts of high ecological and economic
efficiency require new thinking, innovative management tools, a more scientifically
based, and more flexible regulation than the current one. The burgeoning interest of
the enterprises flourishing on the waste business should also be changed by opening the
way to easy-to-use and competitive waste management alternatives instead of disposal.

2 EUROPEANWASTE LEGISLATION

Directive on Waste (2008) establishes a legal framework for the management and
treatment of waste within the community. It aims at protecting the environment and
human health through the prevention of the harmful effects of waste generation and
waste management.
In order to better protect the environment, the member states should take measures
to treat their waste in line with the waste treatment hierarchy including the following:

- Prevention;

- Preparing for reuse;

- Recycling;

- Other recovery, notably energy recovery;

- Disposal.

Member states can implement legislative measures with a view on reinforcing the
waste treatment hierarchy. However, they should ensure that waste management at
any level does not endanger human health and is not harmful to the environment.
Thematic Strategy (2005) on the prevention and recycling of waste was created
to set objectives and outline means by which the EU can move toward an improved
waste management system. Its main goals are simplifying and upgrading the EU waste
legislation.
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC, 2008) requires industrial and
agricultural activities with a high pollution potential to have a permit. This permit can
only be issued if certain environmental conditions are met, so that the companies them-
selves bear responsibility for preventing and reducing any pollution they may cause.
An industrial or agricultural installation must comply with certain basic obligations,
in particular, it must:

- use all appropriate pollution prevention measures, namely, the best available tech-

niques which produce the least waste, use less hazardous substances, enable the
substances generated to be recovered and recycled, etc.;

- use waste management measures and emission control;

- prevent all large-scale pollution;

- prevent, recycle, or dispose of waste in the least polluting way possible;

- use energy efficiently;

- ensure accident prevention and damage limitation;

- return sites to their original state when the activity is over.