All undertakings come into contact with waste, whether as waste producers, holders, or handlers.
Liability of producer
Producers are obligated to gather the waste produced by their products and handle it in accordance with the requirements. The liability of producer is implemented in the collection and further handling of the waste produced by products of concern, such as electrical and electronic equipment and their components, power-driven vehicles and their components, tyres, batteries and accumulators, and agricultural plastic. In general, the user must have the opportunity to give away the waste free of charge.
The producers of the products of concern are obligated to register themselves in the register of products of concern and submit data about the waste produced by their products.
Handling waste
Waste holders are obligated to handle the waste in their possession in accordance with the requirements or to hand them over to a person with the respective right for waste handling.
Undertakings engaged in handling waste must have a waste handler's registration certificate, environmental protection permit or an integrated permit.
A holder of a waste permit, a waste handler registration certificate or an integrated environmental permit is required to submit an annual report on waste by 31 January of the next calendar year. The reports on waste can be submitted via the KOTKAS information system.
An applicant for a waste permit for the operation of a landfill or a waste disposal site, or for a waste permit or registration for the deposit of waste, shall have a guarantee or financial security of a credit or financial institution or insurance undertaking located in the European Economic Area, which must be valid for the entire period of operation, closure and aftercare of the landfill to ensure that the operator is able to perform its duties.
Estonia does not have a single price list for waste transport. The prices are set through tenders for organised waste transport and vary between municipalities. There are also price variances between waste treatment plants, depending on municipalities or waste handlers authorised to manage the respective waste treatment plant.
Recovery of waste
The handling of waste is guided by the principle of minimising the environmental impact of waste handling. If it is not possible to avoid the production of waste, it should be recovered if possible. The methods for recovering waste include preparation for recovery (improvement, cleaning, etc.), recycling as material, and other type of recovery, such as energy production and backfilling. Taking the waste to a landfill is a last resort solution.
Depending on the type of waste and activity, waste recovery operations are subject to applying for an environmental permit for the recovery of waste, an integrated permit or registration as a waste handler with the Environmental Board.
More information can be found on the website of the Environmental Board.
The stipulations on the organisation of waste management, requirements for preventing waste generation and the health and environmental hazards arising from waste, including measures for improving the efficiency of the use of natural resources and reducing the adverse impacts of such use, and liability (incl. terms of punishment) for violation of the established requirements are laid down in the Waste Act.
Related articles
- Waste handler’s registration certificate
- Environmental protection permits
- Separate collection of waste