Focussing waste policy on improving the way we use resources; Mandatory national waste prevention programmes, which take account of the variety of national, regional and local conditions, to be finalised three years after the entry into force of the directive; Improving the recycling market by setting environmental standards that specify under which conditions certain recycled wastes are no longer considered waste; Simplifying waste legislation by clarifying definitions, streamlining provisions and integrating the directives on hazardous waste (91/689/EEC) and on waste oils (75/439/EEC), the latter with a focus on collection rather th ...[+++]an on regeneration that is no longer justified from an environmental point of view.

This will be done by clarifying definitions, streamlining provisions and merging into the text of the Waste Framework Directive the Directive on hazardous waste in full and the Directive on waste oils in part.

In addition to the above mentioned activities, training and awareness-raising schemes have been organised, notably in the form of a helpdesk (via telephone, e-mail or post) to clarify questions from various sectors of society (industry, students, private individuals) on the widest variety of issues relating to waste, including the waste oils stream; participation in the many activities organised in Portugal on waste (training courses, seminars, conferences and other events); participation, in response to requests from the widest variety of media, to raise awareness of waste issues and, in particular, of waste oils, amongst the general ...[+++]public.

Consequently, in view of the proliferation of certain indications and of their economic significance objective criteria for their uses should be established in order to introduce clarity into the olive oil market.

Other less significant sources are waste incineration, sewage sludge application to land, combustion of waste oils, as well as PCB reservoirs, such as marine and river sediments and harbour sludges.

It is clear that Parliament’s position is not yet in tune with the Commission’s, and I hope that at least some fundamental amendments in the Peres report will be approved to clarify the important function of the producer organisations as a useful presence on the market, to value interprofessionalism, to protect the consumer from any abuses by preventing the blending of olive oil with other vegetable oils, to establish the place of production of the olives as the place of origin, and lastly something which particularly concerns the sou ...[+++]th of Italy and the Puglia region: to add some cultivars to the genetic mark, preventing them from being regarded as defects of organoleptic characteristics whereas instead they are expressions of techniques and special characters that can be found in the production specifications of protected denomination of origin olive oils