STATUS AND TRENDS OF RESIDUAL WASTE TREATMENT IN GERMANY

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1 STATUS AND TRENDS OF RESIDUAL WASTE TREATMENT IN GERMANY Susanne Hempen Federal Ministry of Environment, Robert-Schumann Platz 3, D Bonn, Germany 1. ABSTRACT Germany introduced a landfill ban for untreated biologically degradable organic waste that entered into force on 1 st June The article describes the motives that go back to the early 90s and the legal development of the landfill ban. The difficulties and success transforming the waste management from a disposal dominated infrastructure towards a system contributing to climate protection are demonstrated. 2. OVERVIEW ON THE MANAGEMENT OF RESIDUAL WASTE IN GERMANY The late 1980s were characterised by economic growth and an increase of waste at the same time. Landfilling was the dominant waste treatment method. Apart from a pressuring space problem, it also became evident that the standard practice of dumping untreated waste in inadequately lined landfills led to soil, surface and groundwater contamination and to emissions of climate-changing landfill gas. The quantitative problem of waste volume was accompanied by a qualitative problem, the harmful substances within the waste. In the 70s there were approximately landfill sites in Germany. Many of them became contaminated sites and still require aftercare. Yet, there was little public acceptance for establishing new waste management facilities, be it incineration plants, compost plants or even landfills. This was prompted by fears of waste treatment facilities, most of all incinerators, putting out harmful air pollutants (primarily dioxins, heavy metals and particulates) that were liable to cause health and environmental problems. 2.1 Waste Management Act A first attempt to solve these problems was made by the adoption of the first Waste Management Act (Abfallgesetz) from 1986 which set a legal framework for the treatment of waste. The waste hierarchy: waste avoidance before waste recovery before waste disposal was established. Only waste not suitable for recovery due to technical, environmental or economic reasons- should be disposed off. In addition, the foundation for take back obligations and the principle of producer responsibility were set. On the basis of the Waste Management Act several ordinances aiming at the total reduction of waste volume and the reduction of harmful substances were established e.g. the Waste Oil Ordinance, Solvent Ordinance and the Packaging Ordinance. The Waste Management Act also laid down the option to set technical standards for the treatment of waste. Although the act could not set up legally binding standards in form of ordinances, requirements could be established via Technical Instructions which acted as guidelines. Despite the attempts to reduce the volume of waste going to landfill and the progress in land filling techniques, there was a recognition growing that the disposal of waste with organic and soluble substances does not support environmentally safe landfilling also over the long term. In 1990, the German Advisory Council on the Environment recommended 1990 in a special report on waste management that residual waste is only to be landfilled after conversion to a mineral like or ore-like form, thus requiring thermal treatment.

2 2.2 Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements Against this background, the standards for waste treatment and disposal were redefined in the early 1990s. In 1991, the Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements (Technische Anordnung Siedlungsabfall, TASI) were approved and entered into force on 1 June The objectives of the Technical Instructions were: To recover as much unavoidable waste as possible To reduce the content of harmful substances in waste as far as possible To ensure an environmentally compatible treatment and landfill of waste for disposal It was envisaged to minimise waste going to landfill via an integrated waste management concept thereby combining recovery measurements and the reduction of harmful substances. The separate collection of certain waste streams, in particular biowaste, is seen as a prerequisite for effective material recycling and was established as a general guideline for waste management. The Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements lay down requirements on the location, design and operation of landfills and on the composition of waste to be accepted for landfilling. In order to meet the landfill classification criteria, waste with biologically degradable constituents has to be made inert and stabilised by treatment prior to landfill. Limits are laid down for residual quantities of organic material (measured as ignition losses and total organic content, TOC) and eluates (mostly heavy metals). The stringent requirements were unattainable for the mechanical-biological treatment facilities at the time. To enable the waste infrastructure to adapt, a transition period of twelve years was granted. The competent authorities could permit exceptions allowing landfilling of untreated waste for a maximum of twelve years. From the beginning, the Technical Instruction on Waste from Human Settlements was controversially discussed. The high costs implementing the requirements, in particular establishing expensive incineration plants, and the question of the permissibility of mechanical-biological treatment prompted many authorities to query the requirements or even seek means of bypassing them. Section 2.4 of the Technical Instruction on Waste from Human Settlements allowed exemptions regarding the landfill of the remains from mechanical biological waste treatment and proved to be open to abuse. An additional problem was that only the authorities but not the landfill operators or waste producers were obliged to pursue the standards. 2.3 Further regulations The development towards incineration of waste required emission standards. In 1990 the Seventeenth Federal Pollution Control Act (17. Bundes-Immissionsschutz-Verordnung) came into force regulating incinerators for waste and similar combustible material. Emission limits were set among others for dioxins, furans (0,1ng TEQ/m 3 ) and heavy metals. As a consequence, incinerators had to install complex filters to recover harmful substances. Existing incinerators had to be upgraded or taken out of use within a six year transitional period. New incinerators had to operate within the limits from the outset. The incineration of residual waste guarantees that organic substances are reliably destroyed and that harmful substances are made inert or are extracted by flue gas scrubbers. As by-products, metals are separated for recycling and the slag can be reused after reprocessing. The energy output can be recovered as heat and electric power. The flue gas ashes are to be disposed of under ground e.g. in salt mines in order to exclude them from the biosphere.

3 In 1996 the Waste Management Act was amended now called the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act (Kreislaufwirtschafts- und Abfallgesetz). Among other things the term waste for recovery, originating in EU law, was introduced. In addition, the concept of dual waste management was brought in, making not only municipalities responsible for their waste but also the private sector. The new law made commercial operators accountable for their waste suitable for recovery. Public authorities remain responsible for domestic waste and for commercial waste that is not recoverable. 2.4 Inconsistent Implementation of the Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements The extension clause offering the option of landfilling un-pretreated waste was differently implemented within the Federal States and led to an inconsistent implementation of the Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements. In consequence, some municipalities invested in modern state-to-the art incinerators whereas others still filled up their disposal sites. In addition, the distinction between waste for recovery (the responsibility of the producer) and waste for disposal (responsibility of municipalities) as laid out in the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act was sometimes difficult to put into practice. Some commercial operators tried to exploit this difficulty by declaring waste for disposal as waste for recovery, thus evading the fees for obligatory municipal disposal. This false declaration also led to sham recovery and was used to circumvent the regulations of the Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements. After superficial sorting solely to justify declarations as waste for recovery commercial waste often ended up in landfills belonging to municipalities that had not yet complied with the Technical Instructions. Consequently, waste was withheld from the very municipalities that had invested more in their waste management infrastructure and charged higher fees as a result. This development jeopardized the environmental goals of the Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements and the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act. It became a matter of urgency to put a halt to those developments. 2.5 Waste Storage Ordinance The Ordinance on Environmentally Compatible Storage of Waste from Human Settlements (Abfallablagerungsverordnung) entered into force in March 2001 and enacted necessary modifications to the Technical Instruction: The Waste Storage Ordinance is binding for all parties involved. A direct legal obligation is placed on the waste owner and landfill operator whereas before the requirements were addressed to the competent bodies only. The Ordinance does not grant any exemptions permitting untreated waste to be landfilled after 1 June Biologically degradable waste must be treated before landfilling from 1 June The Ordinance put state-of-the art mechanical biological treatment facilities with thermal treatment on an equal footing with incineration plants. The objectives of the Ordinance on Environmentally Compatible Storage of Waste from Human Settlements were backed up by two other regulations the Thirtieth Federal Immission Control Ordinance (30. Bundes-Immissionsschutz-Verordnung) and the amended Seventeenth Federal Immission Control Ordinance (17. Bundes-Immissionsschutz-Verordnung). As the Waste Storage Ordinance also permitted mechanical-biological treatment, emissions standards for mechanicalbiological treatment plants corresponding with the requirements set for incinerators, are laid

4 down in the Thirtieth Federal Immission Control Ordinance. Mechanical biological treatment facilities are to be in housed and have to meet emission standards that require regenerative thermal oxidation technology (RTO). Exiting plants are to be refitted or taken out of service by 1st. March The amended Seventeenth Federal Immission Control Ordinance introduced the same limits for key pollutants such as heavy metals and dioxins for waste co-incineration as apply for waste incinerators. The alignment of standards was essential in order to ensure a high quality of recovery and avoid eco-dumping through mechanical biological treatment of waste. 3. BAN ON LANDFILLING OF UN-PRE-TREATED WASTE Since 1 st of June 2005 untreated biologically degradable waste is no longer allowed to be stored in landfills. The critical question was and to a certain extend still is, whether the existing treatment capacity is sufficient to deal with the amount of residual waste. The major uncertainty remains the actual amount of commercial waste similar to household waste. There is little data available since for this waste stream the producer is responsible to either recover the waste or hand it to the municipalities as waste for disposal. Different sources evaluate the potential volume of commercial waste between 2-7 million tons per year. Contrary to this, data on household waste for disposal including bulky waste and commercial waste for disposal are sufficient. Table1. Waste Volume and treatment capacity in 2005 in million tons Waste for disposal Million tons Municipal waste and bulky waste for disposal Commercial waste for disposal Subtotal Sorting residues, contraries/compost plants 0.44 Sorting residues, contraries/sorting plants 1.29 Solid recovered fuels from MBT 2.39 Subtotal 4.13 Total amount of waste for disposal 24.5 Source: 3. Fortschreibungsbericht der LAGA, November 2004 At present there are 58 mechanical-biological treatment plants and 67 waste incinerators with a total treatment capacity of million tons waste available. Table 2. Treatment capacity in 2005 Treatment capacity Million tons Incineration plants Mechanical biological treatment plants 6.22 Total treatment capacity Source: 3. Fortschreibungsbericht der LAGA, November Please note that the data on commercial waste are estimations

5 A comparison of the treatment capacities and the amount of waste for disposal illustrates a capacity shortfall of at least 2 million tons. The actual amount of commercial waste for disposal is still an unknown number. Further treatment capacities are planned. In the near future additional 1.56 million tons of waste will be covered by incineration and tons by mechanical biological treatment. Regarding co-incineration, there are currently licensed capacities for a total of 1.5 million tons of waste, of which tons are certified for sorted and processed waste. Further capacities for co-incineration are also envisaged. In the meantime options to over bridge the gap are: Intensify recycling activities Intensify separate biowaste collection and treatment Intensify the use of solid recovered fuels Waste export (without circumvention of German standards) Temporary storage of waste EU and German legislation allow the temporary storage of waste in landfills of up to one year in the case of waste for disposal and up to three years in the case of waste for recovery. Temporary storage in a landfill requires a separate licence by way of a planning application subject to public scrutiny. The authorities set a date the stored waste has to be disposed off by the operator. To ensure compliance, the authorities will require that the operator deposit a security bond covering all costs of reclaiming, treating and storing the waste. Ultimately, then, the cost of temporary storage would exceed the costs treating the waste in compliance with the Waste Storage Ordinance. According to information of the Federal States there are currently 12 temporary storages with a total capacity of tons either in planning or already licensed. Overall, it is estimated that the shortcomings of treatment capacity are of a temporary nature and will be overcome within the next two years. 4. CONTRIBUTION OF THE WASTE SECTOR TO CLIMATE PROTECTION German waste management has transformed significantly since the early 90s. Although the total amount of household waste has remained constant over the years, the ratio of waste for disposal and waste for recycling has changed. Table 3: Development of household waste in Germany in million tons * Year Waste quantity (million tons) Waste for recycling (million tons) * For this table commercial waste similar to household waste is not included Source: Statisches Bundesamt

6 Whereas in 1990, just below 5 million tonnes out of 38.8 million tons household waste were separately collected and recycled this quadrupled in 2001 to more than 20 million tons. The recycling rate increased from 12 % in 1990 to more than 46 % in 2001 and until today continues at this level 2. Including material and recovery of household and bulky waste an overall recovery rate of 53 % was achieved in The amount of un-pre-treated waste from households going directly to landfill decreased from million tons in 1990 to 8.36 million tons in 2001 and should end completely in In consequence, the numbers of landfill sites decreased over the years. Whereas in 1990 there were over 8000 sites in use the number of currently operating landfill sites is below 300. Table 4: Development of landfill sites in Germany Year Number of landfill sites (estimate) Source:Bundesumweltministerium The rise in recycling and the increase of waste treatment before being landfilled resulted in a significant reduction of climate relevant gases. In total, the equivalent of 46 million tons CO 2 were saved between 1990 and 2005 by the waste treatment sector. Of particular importance is the reduction of methane emissions through decreasing the amount of un-pre-treated waste and finally banning the disposal of organic biodegradable waste on landfill sites. This measure has contributed 86 % to the total savings. Table 5: Reduction of methane emission (in CO 2 equivalents) Year Million tons (1990=100) (100) (99) (88) (73) (59) (46) (33) 2012 (estimate) 2 (7) Source: Bundesumweltministerium 2 Figures include the deduction of sorting and treatment residues.

7 The reduction of 46 million tons CO 2 emissions equals 20 % of the agreed total reduction targets to be achieved in 2005 within the frame of the Kyoto protocol. It is estimated that by 2020 a further 9 million ton CO 2 equivalents can be saved by considering the following measures: Increase material recycling of paper, glass, plastic and metal Increase of co-incineration and thermal recovery of waste Increase of co-generation of heat and power in incineration plants Increase separate biowaste collection and recovery A recent study shows that if the EU-15 would introduce a similar ban of landfilling un-pre-treated waste, potentially 134 million tons CO 2 equivalents could be avoided between 2000 and This is equivalent to 11 % of the post Kyoto maximum target of a 30 % emission reduction in Already the consequent implementation of the EU Landfill Directive (reduction of biodegradable waste by 65 % in 2016) could reduce the emissions by 74 million tons CO 2 equivalents. This illustrates the potential waste management has to contribute to climate protection. LIST OF REFERENCES Dr. Claus-Gerhard Bergs, Dr. Claus-Andre Radde (2005). Der Werdegang von TA Siedlungsabfall und Abfallablagerungsverordnung ein kritischer Rückblick, Müll und Abfall, vol.5, p Günter Dehoust, Kirsten Wiegmann, Uwe Fritsche, Hartmut Stahl, Wolfgang Jenseit, Anke Herold, Martin cames, Peter Gebhardt, Öko-Institut e.v. (2005). Statusbericht zum Beitrag der Abfallwirtschaft zum Klimaschutz und mögliche Potentiale, Ufoplan, FKZ , Umweltbundesamt. Jürgen Giegrich, Regine Vogt, IFEU-Institut Heidelberg (2005), Beitrag der Abfallwirtschaft zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung in Deutschland Teilbericht Siedlungsabfälle, Ufoplan, Projekt FKZ , Umweltbundesamt. Ländergemeinschaft Abfall; Bericht der Ländergemeinschaft Abfall (LAGA). Umsetzung der Abfallablagerungsverordnung - Dritter Fortschreibungsbericht der LAGA, November Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen: Sondergutachten Abfallwirtschaft, Bundestags-Drucksache 11/8493.