Linköping Studies in Science and Technology Dissertation No. 1799 LANDFILL MINING Institutional challenges for the implementation of resource extraction from waste deposits Nils Johansson Environmental Technology and Management Department of Management and Engineering Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden Linköping, 2016 © Nils Johansson, 2016 Landfill mining: Institutional challenges for the implementation of resource extraction from waste deposits Linköping Studies in Science and Technology Dissertations, No. 1799 ISSN: 0345-7524 ISBN: 978-91-7685-657-4 Printed in Sweden by LiU–Tryck, Linköping 2016 Distributed by: Linköping University Department of Management and Engineering SE–581 81 Linköping, Sweden Phone: +46 13 281 000 ABSTRACT Landfill mining is a term to describe the emerging field of exploring and extracting disposed material. The recovery of deposited resources may increase the flows of secondary resources and thereby replace a significant share of the primary production. The extraction of deposited materials may also be integrated with remediation and after care measures, to handle the many problematic landfills. Such unconventional recycling practices are, however, currently limited. The research in the field has mainly focused on technical evaluations of sorting efficiency, economic feasibility, and resource and environmental potential. Other issues of concern to institutions, markets, policy and conflict of interest have received considerably less attention. This thesis consists of five scientific articles that have been synthesized. The overall aim of the thesis is to examine the institutional conditions for the implementation and emergence of landfill mining. This is addressed by three research questions. The first question concerns how policies come into play in a landfill mining operation and its consequences for the implementation and emergence of landfill mining. The second question is devoted to understanding these policies and why they look the way they do. Based on how policy influences landfill mining operators and how these policies can be understood, the third question seeks to formulate some overall institutional challenges for the emergence of landfill mining, and how the authorities' capacity to address the institutional challenges may increase. The result shows that current policy makes it difficult for landfill mining operators to find a market outlet for the exhumed material, which means that landfill mining may result in a waste disposal problem. Regulations also restrict accessibility to the material in landfills. Therefore, it has generally been municipal landfill owners that perform landfill mining operations, which directs learning processes towards solving landfill problems rather than resource recovery. Landfill mining is not, however, necessarily to be perceived as a recycling activity. It could also be understood as a remediation or mining activity. This would result in more favorable institutional conditions for landfill mining in terms of better access to the market and the material in the landfill. The regulatory framework surrounding landfills is based on a perception of landfills as a source of pollution, a problem that should be avoided, capped and closed. Extracting resources from landfills, challenges this perception and therefore results in a mismatch with the regulatory framework. On the other hand, the material in mines is typically regarded in the formal institutions as a positive occurrence. Mining activities are regarded as the backbone of the Swedish economy and therefore receive various forms of political support. This favorable regulatory framework is not available for secondary resource production. Based on the identified institutional conditions, institutional challenges are identified. The core of these challenges is a conflict between the policy goal of increased recycling and a non-toxic environment. Secondary resources are typically punished through strict requirements for marketability, while primary resources are supported through subsidies such as tax exemptions. The authorities lack capacity to manage the emergence of unconventional and complex activities such as landfill mining. The institutional arrangements that are responsible for landfills primarily perceive them as pollution, while the institutions responsible for resources, on the other hand, assume them to be found in the bedrock. The major contribution of the thesis is to go beyond the potential-oriented studies of landfill mining to instead focus on how institutions relate to landfill mining. In order to move towards a resource transition with dominant use of secondary resources a new institutional order is proposed. Keywords: Landfill mining, recycling, mineral policy, institutions, transitions, mining. SAMMANFATTNING Deponiåtervinning: Institutionella utmaningar för resursutvinning från soptippar Konsekvenserna av att bryta mineraler från underjorden blir allt allvarligare i takt med att allt otillgängligare gruvor måste brytas. Återvinning kan delvis erbjuda ett alternativ, men avfallsströmmarna är alltför begränsade för att täcka den ökade efterfrågan på resurser. För att öka återvinningsflödet behöver nya typer av återvinningsbara förråd exploateras. Avfallsupplag innehåller många gånger jämförliga mängder mineraler som de som finns i användning. Ett sätt att öka återvinningen skulle således kunna vara att återvinna deponerade sopor, vilket brukar gå under benämningen deponiåtervinning. Därigenom öppnas även möjligheter att hantera de många dysfunktionella soptipparna. Den här avhandlingen behandlar hur myndigheter, institutioner och lagar relaterar till deponiåtervinning utifrån tre olika forskningsfrågor. Den första frågan syftar till att kartlägga de lagar och regler som påverkar aktörer som försöker återvinna deponerat material. Detta regelverk gör det svårt för aktörer både att finna avsättning för det uppgrävda materialet och att få tillgång till det i deponierna. Den andra forskningsfrågan syftar till att undersöka varför regelverket ser ut som det gör. Deponier ses allmänt som ett problem, en föroreningskälla, som ska kapslas in och stängas. Operationer som siktar mot det motsatta; att frigöra avfallet från soptippar möter därför regulativa hinder. Samtidigt finns det andra mineralförråd, traditionella gruvor i berggrunden, som framställs som en möjlighet, en resurskälla som ska utvinnas. Regelverket runt detta mineralförråd uppmuntrar till utvinning genom skattelättnader och direkta stöd vilka inte är tillgängliga för återvinning. Utifrån dessa iakttagelser kan några övergripande institutionella utmaningar formuleras i enlighet med den tredje forskningsfrågan. Det finns en konflikt mellan miljömålen om ökad återvinning och giftfri miljö, eftersom avfall i regel inte är lika rent som jungfruliga resurser. De institutionella villkoren för återvinning och gruvbrytning av mineraler är obalanserade, då produktionen av sekundära resurser från avfall bestraffas medan primära resurser från berggrunden stöds. Detta beror delvis på att sekundära och primära resurser hanteras under olika institutionella regelverk. Idag har sekundära resurser blivit en miljöfråga, och ligger under Miljödepartementet och Naturvårdsverket, medan primära resurser har blivit en näringslivsfråga och ligger under Näringsdepartementet och SGU. I denna avhandling siktar jag mot att gå bortom potentialstudier av sekundära resurser och istället påvisa hur institutioner och intressekonflikter påverkar utvinningen av dessa resurser från deponier. För att nå en resursomställning mot en dominerande användning av sekundära resurser föreslås ett nytt förhållningssätt till dessa alternativa gruvor och en ny institutionell ordning där sekundära, snarare än primära, resurser sätts i främsta rummet. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the result of care from many people. The person with greatest influence on my work has been my main supervisor, Joakim Krook. He never hesitated to provide me with longer comments than the original text. My reaction was usually to get grumpy and disregard the comments, but once I had given them some thought I found the suggestions sharp and spot-on. Thanks, Joakim, not only for tutoring me through my PhD period, but also for your friendship and for always being there. My co-supervisor, Mats Eklund, seldom provided me with readymade solutions. Instead, he encouraged me to think through the various choices to decide my own way forward. Thanks, Mats, for supporting me to become a reflective and independent researcher. Björn Wallsten, thank you for taking me to several interesting PhD courses that fundamentally affected my research. Your integrity has inspired me as well as your belief in the value of our research. Above all, during this period you became my friend. Per Frändegård, my roommate. On numerous occasions I pulled you into discussions about my research problems and disagreements with our supervisors, and you always managed to help me out. Thanks for your contagious calmness. You are the one of us who is most often referenced and nominated for awards, etc. I hope you can find your way back. Call me for lunch! Jonathan Metzger, I still don’t understand how you came up with great theoretical approaches based on some crumbs of empiricism. Thank you for the positive attitude and for helping me to understand my work from an interesting theoretical perspective. Martin Hultman, thanks for being an awesome organizer and motivator with an exceptional feeling for research as well as public