The Notions of Incineration Plant and Co-Incinerator of Waste

Abstract

The notions of an incineration plant and co-incinerator have been defined both in the European law and our domestic legislation. In the EU legislation, these notions are regulated by 2000/76/EC directive on the incineration of waste. The decisive factor for the EU legislation to regard an installation as an incinerator or co-incinerator is its purpose, not the material to be incinerated nor the quantity thereof.

In Poland the notion of the two plants is regulated by the Act on Waste. Although the regulations of the Polish law do not make a straightforward transposition of the EU directive, they lead to the same conclusion, i.e. the same criteria are used to regard an installation as an incinerator.

Such an approach derives from the fact that both EU and Polish regulations on waste aim, inter alia, to support waste recycling to the largest extent possible as well as their use as an energy source. An excessively narrow interpretation of the notion of a co-incineration plant would that purpose. An application of more rigorous rules concerning installations whose primary aim is to produce energy or material goods would discourage the entities in charge of such facilities from undertaking or continuing this kind of economic activity. Therefore, the notion of a co-incinerating plant has been formulated broadly enough both in EU legislation and the Polish law.