According the Article 4 EC (EU) COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 15 July 1975 on waste (75/442/EEC), Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is disposed of without endangering human health and without harming the environment, and in particular: - without risk to water, air, soil and plants and animals, without causing a nuisance through noise or odours, without adversely affecting the countryside or places of special interest.
The EC Directive from 26 April 1999 (CONCIL DIRECTIVE 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste) sets demanding targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal landfilled. These targets are:
• By 2006* to reduce biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 75% of that produced in 1995
• By 2009* to reduce biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 50% of that produced in 1995
• By 2016* to reduce biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 35% of that produced in 1995.
* 4 year derogation from the target years offered in the Directive to Member States who landfilled more than 80% of their municipal waste in 1995.
Starting in 1 June 2005 it will no longer be legal in Germany to dispose of untreated municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills. Before being disposed of in landfills, this waste must undergo mechanical / biological or thermal treatment. The Act governing the landfill disposal of municipal waste (AbfAblV) of 1 March 2001 for the first time defines limits for the landfill disposal of mechanically-biologically pre-treated waste.