Description
Landfills are disposal facilities for depositing waste above ground (surface landfills) or below ground (underground landfills). Landfills also include on-site waste disposal facilities for the deposit of waste, in which a waste producer carries out waste disposal at the place of generation.
The construction and operation of landfills, as well as significant changes to such a facility or its operation, require planning approval by the competent authority. In the plan approval procedure, an environmental impact assessment must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act and the public must be involved.
Competent authorities:
- Inert waste (rubble) landfills: district administrative authorities
- other landfills: governments
Prerequisites
For the construction and operation of a landfill, the promoter of the project shall submit a written application to the competent authority, which shall contain at least:
- the name and residence or registered office of the project sponsor, the operator and the designer,
- the indication whether a plan approval or a plan authorization or whether an authorization of early start is requested,
- location and designation of the landfill,
- justification of the necessity of the measure,
- Capacity of the landfill,
- List of wastes with indication of waste codes and waste designations according to the Annex to the List of Wastes Ordinance and a description according to type and nature,
- Information on the planning designations of the site, site conditions, hydrology, hydrogeology, geological conditions, engineering-geological and geotechnical conditions,
- Measures of the construction and deposition phase, including the planned pollution prevention and control measures, as well as the control and monitoring measures,
- measures of the decommissioning and aftercare phase,
- information on the security deposit,
- in the case of the use of landfill substitute construction materials, a list of the wastes to be used with details of the waste codes and waste designations in accordance with the Annex to the List of Wastes Ordinance, including details of the total quantity and properties to be used, as well as a description of the areas of use and justification of the necessity of the use.
Procedure
First, the project sponsor contacts the competent authority and informs it of the essential content of the project. The type and scope of the planning documents to be submitted, including any expert opinions that may need to be obtained, are clarified. On this basis, the project sponsor prepares the plan and submits it to the competent authority, thus initiating the actual approval procedure. The documents are checked for completeness and, if necessary, additional documents are requested.
If the application is complete, it is made available for inspection for one month after being announced in accordance with local practice. Up to two weeks after the display, anyone can raise objections to the plan in writing. If this is the case, a meeting is held to discuss the objections. The siting municipality and the specialist authorities concerned are always involved.
Taking into account everything that has been submitted in the course of the procedure, the final decision is the zoning decision.
This decision includes all other necessary approvals under public law and comprehensively defines all relationships under public law between the project sponsor and the parties affected by the plan.
Special notes
In some cases regulated by law, especially in the case of a significant change to a landfill or its operation, a planning approval procedure without (general) public participation and without an environmental impact assessment can be carried out instead of a planning approval procedure. However, this can only be considered if the project cannot have any significant adverse effects on humans, animals and plants, soil, water, air, climate, landscape, cultural and other material assets.
If you select a location under "Localization" the contact details of the responsible authority and, if applicable, locally valid information will be displayed.