Open call on new Commission to prioritise revision of EU Extractive Waste Directive

As the EU plans to open new mines to meet the 10% mining benchmark under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, NGOs have highlighted the need to ensure our environmental standards are aligned with best practice.

In a letter to the EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience, and a Competitive Circular Economy, they say that the 2006 Extractive Waste Directive is below global best practice, with a significant risk of fragmentation in the implementation of the directive, a failure to mandate best available techniques (such as safer filtered tailings), and insufficient protection of the environment and local communities.

The groups urge the European Commission to update the Extractive Waste Directive by turning the directive into a new European Extractive Waste Regulation, mandating the best available techniques, including the safest tailings storage and monitoring techniques, and aligning the revised law as much as possible to the ‘Safety First Guidelines’.

To find out more, download the letter.