The treatment of hazardous waste, to debate

With an intense debate around two round tables on the framework directive on waste and the integrated environmental permits, the main finding in this second Forum was that the implementation of new environmental regulations will serve to stimulate the affected business sectors. This coincided Carmen channels, head of the Department of environmental protection Industrial of the Ministry of environment and Rural and marine, and Jorge Lamparero, Director-General for the climate change of the Generalitat Valenciana.

According to Pierre Delcroix, Director General of Ecocat, it is clear that there is a desire for simplification of legislation with the framework directive, but "simplify should not mean lower quality in the management of hazardous waste". In this sense, he added Delcroix, "Asegre considers of utmost importance that, in future, waste management policies respect the specificities of this type of hazardous waste". The lack of clarity in a directive that "speaks much of household waste in comparison with the dangerous", according to Delcroix, is the main criticism of the legislation by the sector that represents Asegre.

Here he met Ana Rodriguez, Deputy Director General of production and sustainable consumption of the Ministry of environment and Rural areas and Marino, for whom the legislative simplification should be accompanied by a policy to strengthen the prevention of waste and to promote reuse and recycling. "The business of the companies in the sector must not be based on the existence of a greater number of residues, but on the identification of the residues that are poorly managed," he added.

The debate encouraged the second of the round tables, on the "integrated environmental authorisation resolution experience". Those responsible for the environmental area of the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Castilla y León, Catalonia and Valencia addressed the responsibilities attributed to them by the Ministry of the environment with regard to the delay in the implementation of the directive. Carmen channels assumed the comments and pointed out that thanks to the effort "has been a reliable census, are mostly granted environmental permits integrated - close to an 87 percent--close to the required within".

At the close of this second Forum, Javier Cano, Vice President of Asegre, concluded with a request: "I hope not be reason for the differences between the central administration and the autonomous responsibility for possible sanctions, due to the delay in the implementation of the legislation"", rests exclusively with the companies."

Luis Palomino, Secretary General of Asegre, closed the Forum pointing out that since the Association it would work in the Organization of the third edition, where the Asegre entry into the European Federation of waste management (Fead) will undoubtedly have a special role.