Post
How Neutral Being Neutral Really Is?
Switzerland will export their waste to our country. The Federal Council of Switzerland revised their law regarding their waste transfer, they changed their requirements for final waste disposal and their waste exports have been authorized to be dispatched to Romania and Bulgaria. I am aware that I repeated waste 3 times in one sentence, but it's what I'm currently served at breakfast, lunch and dinner so why not?
These changes will come into force starting with January 1, 2010. Globalization waste management requires clear definition of directives authorizing their waste imports or exports and the European Community Regulation on waste transfer is in effect from July 12, 2007. Switzerland is part of EFTA (the European Free Trade Area) but has opted out of the EEA (European Economic Area), which has the legal consequence that Switzerland has no legal obligation to transpose EU Directives. To that extent, it is not bound by the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.
However, the Swiss procedure on cross-border transfer of waste has been adapted to EU rules, and local authorities are to coordinate the licensing procedures directly with the authorities of the EU Member States. Provided that their removal is to be made according to the environment, the transfer of waste to Romania and Bulgaria is legally allowed.
The technical documentation regarding waste includes and explains the criteria for storage and guarantees that hazardous waste obtained after cleansing contaminated sites will not be stored without being treated. Amendments that set clear limits on the values and storage and quality improvement of the waste to be stored permanently were also approved. Therefore, only treated waste (what's left after recyclable materials or substances of risk are removed) can be stored.
Dear Switzerland,
In case you don't know, we have our own useless junk. Quite a lot of it. And we are barely dealing with what we have.
Now, we've heard about your plan to send part of yours here, too.
Unless you want us to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the only country literally built on waste, please think this over. Pretty please. Thank you.
Looking forward to hear wasteless news from you.
Yours sincerely,
The country that doesn't want to be your garbage can, Romania
Comments
This is a nice message to Swiss.. It is a new area of trade…
I think you will get just wastefull answer .. Sorry for being cruel..
Do you know what exactly type of waste can be imported?
Theoretically, no hazardous waste is allowed. Practically, local authorities will probably decide what goes through.
http://climatechange.thinkaboutit.eu/cms/index.php?S=0&C=edit&M=view_entry&weblog_id=1&entry_id=90
This is about Latvian law change
Rich rules the world ..
Unfortunately, I don’t think it is such a new area of trade.
I can’t say much about Romania, but seriously, anyone who comes up with the idea of sending waste from Switzerland to be processed in Bulgaria, has not read any Bulgarian newspaper the last three years… The summer 2008 Bulgaria even wanted to export waste to Romania, to get rid of the mountains of waste that they couldn’t get rid of.
@Aija I get ‘You are not authorized to access this page’ when I click on your link.
@Daniel I remember hearing some rumors about Bulgaria wanting to export waste here that summer, but I thought it’s a joke meant to take people’s mind away from other problems.
When any country makes so much waste that they can’t store for themselves, shouldn’t that raise some questions? And if they can store it, but prefer to conveniently deposit it away in a poorer country, that’s not sustainable at all. Transportation only = tonnes of extra co2 emissions.
Sorry!
Here it comes: http://climatechange.thinkaboutit.eu/think2/post/latvia_-_so_again
@Aija: You make a valid point in your article. Interests of the ruling government may come higher than interests of the country.
@Adela: Unfortunately I need to correct your last comment .. At least in Latvia (not so confident to judge world .. but assume..) it already have became like this.