Contaminated Properties and Waste

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The multi-pronged plan will encourage a collaborative national effort to dispose of France’s “consume and discard” model.

By Paul A. Davies

The French Prime Minister recently unveiled the country’s circular economy roadmap. The 50-item scheme, announced on 23 April 2018, is the result of consultation with stakeholders (November 2017 —January 2018) and a two-stage online public participation involving the solicitation of comments and then the submission of draft roadmap (November 2017—February 2018).

The roadmap

Some measures are new and some derive from Law n°2015-992 of 17 August 2015 on energy transition, which was the catalyst for the nation’s circular economy scheme in a variety of respects. By 2019, the roadmap will be followed by a bill and regulatory measures transposing the EU’s Circular Economy Package objectives, which will lead to the amendment of the following directives:

  • Waste
  • Packaging waste
  • Landfill
  • Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE)
  • End-of-life vehicles
  • Waste batteries
  • Accumulators

The government’s plan to tackle internal and imported plastic waste is the latest phase in China’s clean energy commitment.

By Paul A. Davies and R. Andrew Westgate

Although China’s ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions and air pollution have received global attention and coverage, the country’s significant steps to reduce solid waste pollution have been subject to less scrutiny. Plastics, which are both manufactured and imported into China for recycling in vast quantities, are a case point. The National Development and Reform Commissions (NDRC), China’s key economic planning body, has frequently affirmed its commitment to reducing plastic waste pollution. To further this objective, the NDRC is expected to revise a 2008 order, which banned the production and sale of plastic bags less than 0.025 millimetres thick. The order also made it compulsory for retailers to charge customers for plastic bags.

Spain takes a further step towards sustainable development with consultation on draft Circular Economy Strategy.

By Rosa Espín and Leticia Sitges

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment has launched a public consultation on a draft Circular Economy Strategy, which will involve the business sector, not-for-profit entities, and citizenship in the drafting process. The public consultation was open for comments until 12 March 2018.

One of the main problems of the linear traditional economy is the large production of waste that is not recycled nor valorized. According to the latest Eurostat data, Spain produced 111 million tons of waste in 2014, out of which only 24.32% was recycled (which is several points below the EU average of 36%). The draft Circular Economy Strategy aims to address this through the implementation of the so-called “circular economy,” in which the value of products, materials, and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible and waste generation is minimized. Achieving sustainable development is a key point of this strategy, in line with the objectives set out by the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 adopted by the United Nations.

China implements ban on imported waste, stimulating plastic waste-exporting nations to develop alternative manufacturing, consumer products, and recycling strategies.

By Paul Davies, Bridget Reineking, and Andrew Westgate

Following China’s notification to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2017, the country is now phasing in a ban on certain types of waste imports. The new Chinese regulation banning the import of 24 types of waste, including plastics and unsorted paper, came into force on 1 January 2018 and will address major environmental and health issues in China.

The ambitious proposal aims to ensure all plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2030.

By Paul Davies, Michael Green and Betta Righini

Background

Amid increasing scrutiny of plastic waste, the European Commission (the Commission) has released a for plastics in a circular economy (the Strategy). The Strategy builds upon the European Union’s (the EU’s) prior measures to reduce plastic waste, such as the Plastic Bags Directive, which has significantly reduced plastic bag use throughout several Member States. However, in order to support the Commission’s “vision for Europe’s new plastics economy,” the Strategy sets a number of more far-reaching and ambitious goals.

Long-awaited 25-year environment plan aims to “restore” nature and eliminate plastic waste.

By Paul Davies and Michael Green

The UK government has announced its long-awaited 25-year environment plan (the ‘Plan’).

Having originally said it would publish the Plan by the end of 2016, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) subsequently delayed the release, raising concerns that the Plan might not come to fruition until after Brexit. In 2017, Defra requested input from the Natural Capital Committee (NCC), which was duly published in September of last year. The NCC suggested a number of ambitious goals that should be included in the Plan, such as the remediation of all historical land contamination and that air quality throughout the UK should meet international health-based standards.

By Michael Green and Paul Davies

Following decision C(2017)7124 of the European Commission (EC), the EC has launched its Work Programme for 2018 (WP 2018). WP 2018 outlines plans for achieving the EC’s primary policy objectives during the next 12 months — with particular attention to environmental issues.

WP 2018 outlines four “Focus Areas” (FAs) that envisage major work across programme boundaries. The EC has allocated a significant budget in order to facilitate such work at a “sufficient scale, depth and breadth”. Two of the four FAs, which specifically relate to environmental considerations, are described below.

By Paul Davies, Joern Kassow and Alexander Wilhelm

In early July 2017, operators of German nuclear power plants initiated the next step in the process of decommissioning by transferring €24 billion to the new state-owned fund for nuclear power plant waste disposal.

The German state established the Fund for the Financing of the Nuclear Waste Disposal (Fonds zur Finanzierung der kerntechnischen Entsorgung) to transfer the nuclear waste management liabilities from the plant operators to the state. In return for their release from these liabilities, the operators agreed in a public law contract to make a significant cash payment to the fund. The total payment includes a base amount already set aside for this purpose by the operators in their accruals, plus a risk premium aimed at covering the risk of cost increases for the disposal in the future. The operators now benefit from long-term legal certainty, taking into account that the amount paid to the fund was based on the best cost estimates currently available and that the German federal legislators (Bundestag and Bundesrat) have not yet decided on a location for the final repository for nuclear waste.

By Paul Davies, Elisabetta Righini and Rosa Espin

Shiny transparent capsule filled with colorful spheresOn 28 April 2017, the European Commission (the EC) published a “roadmap” on the strategic approach to pharmaceuticals in the environment, particularly in the aquatic environment.

Concurrently, the EC launched a 12-week open public consultation to address the environmental pollution caused by human and veterinarian pharmaceutical substances.

Under the title “Strategic approach to pharmaceuticals in the environment”, the EC aims to implement Article 8c of Directive 2008/105/EC, as amended by Directive 2013/39/EU, according to which the strategic approach shall include proposals to improve the procedure for placing medicinal products on the market more effectively to reduce the environmental impacts of medicines. In addition, by September 2017, the EC shall propose measures at the EU and/or Member State level recommending the reduction of discharges, emissions, and losses of such substances into the aquatic environment.

This initiative aims to:

  • Identify remaining knowledge gaps and uncertainties, and present possible solutions for filling them
  • Explore how to address the challenge of protecting the environment (and human health via the environment), while safeguarding access to effective and appropriate pharmaceutical treatments for human patients and animals, considering inter alia opportunities for innovation

By Paul Davies and Andrew Westgate

As a world leader in the manufacturing of electronic devices, China is beginning to reform its rules and regulations to ensure that the resulting framework is able to keep pace with the rapid developments now taking place in this sector both in China and globally. Two recent developments in this regard are discussed below.

Battery Waste. In December of 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) issued the “Battery Waste Pollution Prevention Technology Policy.”[1] The policy, which applies to all kinds of battery waste, does not impose specific requirements, but instead defines key policy priorities for regulators to develop standards for battery waste. Priorities reflected in the policy include the following: