Closed-Loop Waste Management Recovering Wastes – Conserving Resources IMPRINT
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Closed-loop waste management Recovering wastes – conserving resources IMPRINT Published by: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Public Relations Division · 11055 Berlin · Germany Email: [email protected] · Website: www.bmu.de/english Edited by: Ruth Friederich, Dr. Andreas Jaron, Jürgen Schulz (BMU) Design: design_idee, büro_für_gestaltung, Erfurt Printed by: Silber Druck oHG, Niestetal Photo credits: Title page: Jose Giribas (four bin waste separation system; from left to right: bin for paper, glass bin, bin for packaging waste and residual waste bin) p. 4: Laurence Chaperon p. 5: Manfred Ruckszio/Naturbildportal p. 7: Claudia Hechtenberg/Caro Fotoagentur p. 8: BMU/Christoph Edelhoff p. 15: Jochen Zick/Keystone p. 16: Therese Aufschlager/Caro Fotoagentur p. 18: vario images p. 21: BMU/Thomas Härtrich/Transit p. 24: artvertise fotodesign p. 26: Rupert Oberhaeuser/Caro Fotoagentur p. 27: Linus Morgen p. 29: Wolfgang Maria Weber/tv-yesterday p. 31: Rainer Weisflog p. 32: Franco Banfi/WaterFrame p. 35: Edsweb/fotolia.com p. 36: Thomas Ruffer/Caro Fotoagentur p. 38: Rainer Weisflog p. 40: W. H. Müller/Bildagentur Geduldig p. 43: ecopix Fotoagentur p. 45: Walter G. Allgoewer/JOKER Date: Juli 2011 Third Print: 3,000 copies 2 CONTENTS FOREWORD 4 FROM WASTE TO AN ECONOMIC FORCE 6 THE STATUTORY FRAMEWORK 7 GERMANY’S WASTE POLICY: SUCCESSES AND GOALS 11 SUBSTANCE MANAGEMENT FOR RESOURCE CONSERVATION 14 TASKS FALLING TO PRIVATE INDUSTRY 16 Voluntary commitment 17 Recovering used graphic papers 18 RETURN AND RECOVERY 20 Packaging 20 Waste glass 24 End-of-life vehicles 26 Batteries 27 Waste electrical and electronic equipment 28 HIGH STANDARDS IN WASTE DISPOSAL 30 Municipal waste 30 Waste management is climate protection 32 Biowaste 34 Sewage sludge 37 Waste oil 38 Waste wood 39 Persistent organic pollutants 40 Production waste 41 Landfilling of waste 42 Control is better 43 TRANSBOUNDARY SHIPMENTS OF WASTE 44 How much waste is imported and exported? 44 INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET 46 3 DEAR READERS, Modern, closed-loop waste management systems recover resources, mitigate climate change and maintain environmental quality – in short, they are beacons on the path towards a green economy. While in the past waste was simply dumped in landfills, today we have a very high-tech system of waste management operating within closed substance cycles, with specialised companies and excellently trained staff. Innovative processes and technologies allow us to fully and efficiently recycle our waste and return the resources it contains to the economy. It is currently estimated that German industry already substitutes around 13 percent of its primary resource requirement by using secondary resources. Consistent application of the polluter pays principle delivers the financing needed for closed substance cycles: extended producer responsibility, fees that recover system costs, and the high quality of recycled materials attracting good prices on the resource markets allow the necessary investment in and efficient operation of a mod- ern infrastructure. Our sustainable waste policy has driven the rapid evolution of disposal and environmental technology over the past 25 years. This technology is now a key sector of the German economy. Companies that produce and apply appropriate waste management technology are among the most successful internationally and are well prepared to take their place on the lead markets of the future. 4 That creates competitive advantages for the wider economy in other ways too. Energy and materials are becoming increasingly scarce worldwide, yet at the same time their consumption is rising and greenhouse gases are accelerating climate change. We therefore urgently need innovations and investments that promote the efficient use of resources and energy. The requirements are clear, but have to be transformed into demand on the markets. For this to be done, international standards must be raised and market conditions improved. The global markets need uniform and high environmental and social standards in order that a level playing field can emerge – this, too, is a particular goal of the German federal government. With our closed-loop waste management systems we have already largely succeeded in reconciling ecological and economic concerns in Germany. This reveals that a green economy is no utopia. Dr Norbert Röttgen Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety 5 FROM WASTE TO AN ECONOMIC FORCE Waste management has evolved substantially since the early 1970s: Before the Waste Management Act of 1972 came into effect, each village and town had its own tip (around 50,000 in the whole of Germany). In the 1980s and 1990s their number dropped to below 2,000, whilst at the same time strict regulations were introduced regarding their construction and operation. Today only 160 landfill sites in Germany handle municipal waste (Class II landfill sites). The number of incineration plants, municipal waste facilities and plants for industrial waste has, by contrast, increased significantly. In the mid-1980s the political credo of the waste hierarchy – “prevent – recover – dispose of” – gained acceptance. In addition to the existing recovery of metal, textiles and paper, other recoverable materials were to be recycled by means of separate collection, sorting and reuse. This rationale formed the basis for the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act which came into force in the mid-1990s. In the meantime, the waste industry in Germany employs more than 250,000 people – from engineers to refuse collectors to administrative staff. Various universities have Waste Management faculties, and there is a separate voca- tional qualification in waste management. The industry generates an annual turnover in excess of 50 billion euros. Today, much more than 60% of municipal and production waste is consigned to material recovery. In some fields, for example packaging, the propor- tion from which materials were recovered reached 74% in 2009; if energy recovery processes are included, the figure rises to around 95%. 89% of the construction and demolition waste arising in the building sector is now recovered. Figures for the total volumes of waste recovered make impres- sive reading: 30.6 million tonnes of municipal waste, 35.3 million tonnes of production and industrial waste, and 173 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste each year. More than three tonnes of waste is recovered for each resident in Germany, that’s roughly equivalent to the weight of three small cars. 6 Substance cycle and waste management technician in training These figures provide impressive proof that environmental protection has developed into a key economic factor, making a significant contribution to the German economy’s value added chain. THE STATUTORY FRAMEWORK Waste management law is based on European law, German Federal law, the regional laws of the Federal Länder and the statutes of the local authority waste management services. Environmental protection, and thus also substance-cycle and waste manage- ment, is one of the core concerns within the European Union (EU). Since 1974 the EU has adopted a number of Directives and Regulations and thus decisively shaped the Member States’ waste legislation in an attempt to harmonise requirements governing waste prevention, and environmentally sound waste recovery and disposal. The European Commission’s 2005 The- matic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste now forms the basis for the further development of this body of law. 7 Control room of a waste recovery facility The Waste Framework Directive is one of the pivotal European Directives. Comprehensively amended in 2008, the new Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) stipulates measures to maintain environmental quality and protect human health by preventing or reducing the harmful effects of the generation and management of wastes, reducing the overall impacts of resource use and making more efficient use of resources. 8 In addition, there are EU-wide provisions governing the classification and treatment of hazardous waste, the establishment and operation of land- fill sites and waste incineration plants, and the transboundary shipment of waste within and outside the EU. Finally, the EU has also adopted various Directives aimed at the prevention and recovery of specific types of product waste. For example, there are provisions governing packaging, batteries, end- of-life vehicles, and electrical and electronic appliances, as well as selected types of particularly problematic waste such as waste oil, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs). In Germany, waste legislation is governed by the Act for Promoting Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management and Ensuring Environmentally Compat- ible Waste Disposal, better known as the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act. The Act is being amended comprehensively in the course of transposition into German law of the new EU Waste Framework Directive and is being refined in order to improve environmental protection, climate change mitigation and resource conservation. The definitions of terms used in the Act are being harmonised with those of European waste law. As a result, there will for the first time be provisions governing the point at which a material is no longer considered waste but rather a resource. There will also be provisions governing the distinction between waste and by-product, and