EU reaches deal to stop sending waste to countries that can't process it
(VOVWORLD) - European Union lawmakers and member states have reached a deal to revise the bloc’s waste shipment regulation and end exports of certain types of waste to third countries unable to process it properly, the EU Parliament said on Friday.
“Exports of certain non-hazardous wastes and mixtures of non-hazardous wastes will be allowed only to those non-OECD countries that consent and fulfil the criteria to treat such waste in an environmentally sound manner”, the Parliament said. It added that compliance with international workers’ rights would also be taken into account.
In previous years, around half of the EU’s waste exports went to non-OECD countries with weaker waste management rules than in the EU - effectively shipping EU pollution abroad.