Indicator Fact Sheet Signals 2001 Chapter Waste

Transcription

1 Indicator Fact Sheet Signals Chapter Waste Sewage sludge a future waste problem? (W5.) Sludge from waste water treatment, 28 and expectations for 0 and 5 5,0 5,0 Kg per capita,0 2 5,0 5,0 Austria Netherlands United Kingdom Spain Portugal Belgium (W5.) Sludge from waste water treatment 2 to 8 and forecast for 0 and 5. Member States sorted by the level of generation in 5. Sources Report from the Commission Implementation of Council Directive /2/EEC of 2 May concerning urban waste water treatment, as amended by Commission Directive 8/5/EC of 2 February 8. 5 January. Information from ETC/W survey May 0

2 (W5.2) Treatment of sewage sludge, selected EEA member countries, 8 5,0 5,0 Kg per capita,0 2 5,0 5,0 Portugal Austria Netherlands United Kingdom Spain Belgium landfilling recycling incineration UHDWPHQWRIVHZDJHVOXGJHVHOHFWHG(($PHPEHUFRXQWULHV 6RXUFH(&VXUYH\0D\DQGLQIRUPDWLRQIURPreport from Member States to the Commission concerning sewage sludge treatment, November 8, following directive 86/28/EEC on sewage sludge (W5.) Contamination of sewage sludge, selected EEA member countries 5 to Mercury Mg per kg Phosfor 2,5 2,0,5,0 0,5 UK 5 6 2

3 Cadmium Mg per kg phosfor,0 2,5 2,0,5,0 0,5 UK 5 6 Lead Mg per kg phosfor 00 0 UK 5 6 NOTE VERTICAL AXIS TITLES milligrams per kg dry matter Note Average content reported by member countries. Commission in Council Directive 86/28/EEC of 2 June 86 on use of sludge in agriculture maximum content Cadmium 20 mg/kg and Mercury 6mg/kg dry matter. 6RXUFHreport from Member States to the Commission concerning sewage sludge treatment, November 8, following directive 86/28/EEC on sewage sludge and ETCW survey May 0. K The increase in the total generation of sewadge sludge is the side effect of an environmentally positive development in treating waste water. Despite the expected increase in recycling, the total amount of sludge for disposal is expected to increase. Results and assessment Relevance of the indicator for describing developments in the environment Sludge can be a valuable fertiliser for agriculture. It is a good source of phosphorus and its nitrogen content can also be valuable, especially for crops with a long growing season (ISWA 8). The organic content of the sludge can help improve the soil structure. In general, sludge stimulates beneficial biological activity in the soil (DEPA, ). The percentage of nutrients in sludge will

4 increase with more effective cleaning of waste water. Phosphorus being a limited resource makes recycling of sludge for agricultural purposes an appealing solution for sustainable management of sludge. However, sludge is also contaminated with heavy metals, bacteria and viruses and a number of organic substances, and both EU and national regulations set limits for contaminant concentrations in order to protect the soil and humans from pollution. ing of sludge has hitherto been an inexpensive means of disposal, but both national restrictions and the proposed Directive will make landfilling more expensive. Several countries have introduced general restrictions on the landfilling of organic waste. reduces the sludge to ash, which can then be landfilled. In most cases supplementary fuel is needed in order to burn the sludge and there is usually no net gain of energy (Johnke, 8). Policy relevance and policy references Many new treatment plants are due for completion by 5 and the amount of sewage sludge is expected to increase by % as a result of more stringent demands for water treatment in the Council Directive concerning urban waste water treatment (//EEC). However the European Commission is considering more rigid limit values for heavy metals and possibly limit values for some organic compounds, and this will limit the potential for recycling. This could be through an amendment to Directive 86/28/EEC on sewage sludge. Several Member countries have already established more stringent limit values for heavy metals and some have also introduced limit values for a number of organic pollutants. The economic consequences of a restricted agricultural application of sewage sludge are considerable. Depending on the alternative chosen, the cost may rise from 5 EURO per tonne for agricultural use to 00 EURO for incineration in some countries (ISWA, 8). One German source even indicates prices up to 600 EURO per tonne for thermal treatment (Johnke, 8). Thus, phasing out the use of the problematic compounds may be an economically sound solution. Assessment The total amount of sludge produced in the 5 EU Member States is predicted to increase from 6.6 million tonnes of dry matter in 2 to least. million tonnes in 5. Differences in generation of sludge per capita between Member countries are due to different degrees of waste water cleaning. The difference between the highest and the lowest is 0 kg per capita. Assuming that the content of dry matter is approximately the same in all Member countries, there is a need for further waste water treatment in some countries. Even if this is done, this will not raise the EU average to that of the most active countries within the next five years. This means that there will still be a need for further investment in the waste water treatment and the problems of proper treatment of sewage sludge will still be increasing after 5. The Commission expects the proportion of sludge used for agriculture and soil conditioning to have increased by % by 5, to 5 % of the total produced. The proportion incinerated is predicted to increase to % of the total produced and the amount sent to landfill to decease by % from 2 to 5.

5 Due to more stringent demands for water treatment in the Council Directive concerning urban waste water treatment (//EEC), many new treatment plants are due for completion by 5 and the amount of sewage sludge is expected to increase by %. For some countries, the quantity will increase by nearly 00 %. The expected increase is itself a challenge for waste management and the choices of treatment and disposal methods will have large economic and environmental implications. is expected to fall by 2 % while incineration will increase by about 00 %. reduces the sludge to ash that requires less landfill capacity. However, an increase in recycling of 5 % will secure that the overall recycling percentage for sludge will increase to more than %. Recycling of sewage sludge mainly means spreading on soil as fertiliser for agriculture or forestry. Growing attention to producing clean and noncontaminated food for human consumption will probably raise debate on this treatment of sludge. On the one hand recycling programmes are encouraged by public opinion; on the other hand the demand for clean and healthy food is growing. The results of surveys in Member countries on contamination of sewage sludge show a development in the right direction less use of heavy metals lead to less contaminated sludge and thereby to more recycling. However, the increased use of sewage sludge as fertiliser needs to be balanced so that the contamination of agricultural land will neither affect the quality of food nor lead to damage of the environment. A recent positive sign is the fall in the content of heavy metals combined with a higher content of nitrogen and phosphorus due to more efficient waste water cleaning, which has been observed in,, and. 5

6 Data Destination of sludge from treatment plants and forecasts of the destination (in thousands of tonnes of dry matter per year) Disposal B DK D GR E F IRL L NL A P FIN S UK Source Report from the Commission Implementation of Council Directive /2/EEC of 2 May concerning urban waste water treatment, as amended by Commission Directive 8/5/EC of 2 February 8. 5 January. And for Statistics Na 22 SM

7 Meta data. Data sources Report on Implementation of Council Directive /2/EEC of 2 May concerning urban waste water treatment, as amended by Commission Directive 8/5/EC of 2 February 8, 5 January. Reported data from some Member States to the Commission, according to Directive 86/28/EEC on sewage sludge and ETC/W survey May 0 see Draft technical report to European Environmental Agency Review of specific waste streams. October Description of data Waste (sludge) quantities monitored at waste water treatment plants and reported by Member countries to the Commission.. Geographical coverage (W5.) EU5, except Italy, which has not yet provided any data on the destination of sludge. Including data from Italy will add approximately one million tonnes to the total amount of sludge in 2. (W5.) Covers,,,,,,,, and UK.. Temporal coverage (W5.and 5.2) 25, (W5.). 5. Methodology and frequency of data collection Regular reporting for the Commission. 6. Methodology of data manipulation Data is taken directly from the reports under. Quality information. Strengths and weaknesses Official sources in Member countries. 8. Reliability, accuracy, robustness, uncertainty Data for this indicator refer to Member countries official reports for the Commission according to the Directive on Urban waste water treatment (Directive /2/EEC) and the Directive on Sewage Sludge (Directive 86/28/EEC). Although the figures for the starting year (2) are inconsistent for some of the Member countries and data for Italy is missing, the trend for the overall development is regarded to have a high validity.. Further work required a better geographical coverage in data is needed especially for the content of sewage sludge. Information on the variance as well as maximum and minimum values of national monitoring is also needed.