Greece decided yesterday to deal with dangerous industrial waste by encouraging private investment for the creation of waste-processing plants and transferring the responsibility of waste management to the companies producing it.
The rather hurried joint ministerial decision, announced yesterday by Environment Minister Giorgos Souflias, comes just after Greece’s second indictment by the European Commission for the lack of integrated dangerous waste management in Western Attica. The problem may be quite old but its dimensions are now limited as the country is deindustrialized.
Nevertheless, this second national plan for waste management in a decade does not provide for long-stored quantities of toxic waste, which is particularly grave in industrial areas such as Inofyta, northwest of Athens. The plan just postpones the management of this waste for the future. Its amount, as declared by industries, reaches 660,000 tons, but is estimated to be far higher.
Yesterday’s decision completes the adoption of the EU directive, and determines a specific plan for dangerous waste management. Its main difference from previous laws is that companies will now be liable for the responsibility and costs of waste management, from processing to disposal in special storage locations.
This national planning estimates dangerous waste produced in Greece every year at 330,000 tons, according to the quantities industries declare to the ministry. This figure consists of 140,820 tons of oil and fuel waste, 44,500 tons from thermal processing (mainly from the iron and steel industry), 37,800 tons of batteries and 25,000 tons of chemical industry waste. Nearly half of the waste is produced in Attica (48.5 percent).
Industries will now have to submit an annual report of their output and the management of dangerous waste quantities, while by October they will have to submit management plans and the study of environmental restrictions, according to which they have received an operating license. They must also apply processing and utilization techniques on their waste, either on their own or in association with similar companies.
Cooperation is also suggested for the creation of disposal areas, which industries themselves must do.
The plan also forces companies to undertake the cost of pollution control of their installations and expands the collection and transport networks of dangerous waste.
(Kathimerini, 01/03/2007)