EU Commission urges ROMANIA to implement the Court’s judgement on its failure to close illegal landfills

The Commission urges Romania to close, seal and ecologically restore 48 illegal landfills and to comply with the judgement of the Court of Justice of the EU of 18 October 2018.

Under the Waste Framework Directive , Member States must recover and dispose of waste in a manner that does not endanger human health and the environment, prohibiting the abandonment, dumping or uncontrolled disposal of waste.

Romania was obliged to close and rehabilitate substandard landfills (municipal and industrial landfills) by 16 July 2009. Due to slow progress, the Commission referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU in February 2017. The judgement of the Court concerns 68 landfills, out of which only 20 have definitely been closed so far.

By January 2020, most of the necessary work for the closure, sealing and regeneration of the rest of the 48 landfills sites had not yet been planned, approved or initiated.

Therefore, the Commission is addressing a letter of formal notice following the Court’s judgement. Romania has four months to remedy the situation.

Vivian Loonela