The Director General of the Environmental Board, Rainer Vakra, says that the purpose of such a change is to avoid a situation where piles of waste remain floating on storage sites for longer than the Waste Act allows. The main goal is redirecting as many waste products into circulation again to avoid it being left rove about. With these changes put into action, hopefully, the waste forgotten in warehouses will be dealt with.
"The Environmental Board considers it important that entrepreneurs find out about the changes as early as possible. This helps to achieve a better result and allows directing the temporarily stored waste to the final treatment faster," said Rainer Vakra.
The Waste Act allows waste to be stored for up to three years before reuse and up to one year before disposal. So far, the Environmental Board has only charged an environmental fee for waste deposited in a landfill. It has only been possible to regulate the disposal of waste stored in a warehouse or elsewhere for longer than the deadline by issuing a prescription. This has not led to the desired result and has not solved the problem of piles of waste that have remained stagnant for too long.
According to Ahto Eesmäe, head of the Environment Agency's environmental fee department, the Environment Agency gives companies time to eliminate waste. "Companies can dispose of waste that has remained in the warehouse for too long until January 1, 2024. The Environmental Board will not apply the pollution fee to the waste left in the storage area if the waste stored for more than three years is either disposed of or reused during 2022 and 2023," explained Ahto Eesmäe.