On the requirement for an appropriate natural geological barrierin Italian legislation on landfills  

The petitioner complains about the practice of some regions, in particular Lazio and Molise, which have apparently authorised landfills without any appropriate environmental impact assessment and on sites without any sand and gravel. Accordingly, he maintains that quarry lakes have been created there, even if they are no longer visible, and inert and municipal waste, sludge and asbestos are floating there, in proximity to groundwater and to protected areas. Last, but not least, the petitioner condemns the amendment currently being considered by the Italian Parliament as part of the process to transpose Directive (EU) 2018/850 on the circular economy (see Info 2) and the sectoral legislation implementing Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste (see Info 3), with a view to introducing the principle of equivalence between natural and artificial geological barriers. This would cause irreparable damage to EU legislation, which is actually mandatory in making provision for an artificial barrier only in order to complete the natural barrier..