STATISTICAL COMMISSION and EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE COMMISSION OF THE COMMUNITIES CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS EUROSTAT Joint ECE/Eurostat Work Session on Methodological Issues of Environment Statistics (Wiesbaden, Germany, 14-17 September 1998) WORKING PAPER No. 20 Paper submitted by the Federal Statistical Office 1 WASTE STATISTICS IN GERMANY 1 Prepared by P. Roemer.
page 2 1. Legal foundations The principle of legalisation is of fundamental importance for the activities of official statistics in Germany. It means that a legal foundation is required for each federal statistics. That may be not only laws and ordinances of Germany but also regulations of the European Union. Within the system of official statistics in Germany the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) and the Statistical Offices of the Länder (Statistische Landesämter) have different functions. The Federal Statistical Office -an independent central federal authority - prepares the federal statistics methodologically and technically, provides for the uniform and timely execution of the survey and processing of the Länder, compiles the results in the required material and regional breakdown for the Federation and publishes selected results for general purposes. The Statistical Offices of the Länder from an organisational point of view are independent authorities of the individual 16 Federal Länder (NUTS 1 level). These offices carry out surveys according to the uniform statistical concept. The main tasks of the regional offices are - collecting data and checking for plausibility, - compilation of statistical data at a regional level for their Land. These general rules for conducting statistical surveys are also valid for waste statistics. Waste statistics in Germany are part of a more general system of environment statistics. In Germany an act on environment statistics was passed in 1974 and modified several times since then. According to this act all the respondents questioned are, in principal, subject to the obligation to provide information. So the response ratio to surveys in general is almost 100%. Waste statistics in Germany do not make use of samples, but aim at getting complete information from all units fulfilling certain statistical criteria. In Germany especially the 16 Länder ask for detailed regional data on waste arising, collection and disposal for regional waste management planning. 2. Former surveys of waste statistics till 1993 Surveys of waste statistics on the basis of the act on environment statistics of 1974 were conducted for the years 1975, 1977. 1980, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1990 and 1993. Essentially these waste statistics consisted of two sections, e.g. the - survey of waste removal in production industries and in hospitals and - survey of public waste removal. The objective of the survey of waste removal in production industries 2 and in hospitals was the - coverage of kind, quantity and removal of the waste and residuals produced and the - coverage of kind and equipment of internal installations for the pre-treatment, incineration and dumping of waste. Respondents to the survey were the local units of production industries with 20 employees and over as well as hospitals. Thus in the last survey for the reporting year 1993 approximately 80 000 statistical units were obliged to fill out extensive questionnaires. 2 Including the sectors Mining and Quarrying, Energy and Water Supply, Construction.
page 3 Statistical information on installations entrusted with the disposal of waste operated on a commercial basis by enterprises outside the production industries were available for - kind and equipment of these installations, - waste treated, stored and deposited by kinds of waste and types of treatment/disposal (including information on the quantities of pre-sorted waste at the installation plant). The objective of the survey of public waste removal was the coverage of - collection and transport of waste by public corporations or by third parties (private enterprises) entrusted by these corporations with the said services, - kind and equipment of public installations for the treatment and disposal of waste as well as of the waste delivered to these installations by kinds of waste and types of installation. The main contents of the survey on collection and transport of waste was on - collection and transport of domestic waste, household-type industrial waste and bulky waste, - separate collection of recoverable waste (e.g. paper, glass, metals, plastics, compostable waste) and waste containing harmful substances from private households by kind of waste (batteries, refrigerators and freezers, specific chemical wastes such as solvents and painting colours). The survey on the treatment and disposal of waste referred to types of installations such as dumping, incineration, chemical treatment of waste, composting, shredding and other types of treatment. It included information on the quantities of pre-sorted waste at the installation plant. The recovery of waste except composting and shredding of waste was not included in the survey. This exclusion is mainly due to the fact that according to the waste management act 1986 the recovery of residues in general was not regarded as a recovery of waste but as a recovery of secondary raw materials. The classification of waste used in waste statistics is given by the LAGA-Catalogue, a classification developed by the waste management authorities of the Federal State and the Länder. This classification is mainly material oriented and comprises approximately 500 positions. By the end of the year 1998 this LAGA-Catalogue is also the basis for the supervision of waste handling 3. In particular wastes requiring special supervision are defined by special positions of the LAGA-Catalogue. On the basis of waste statistics it was possible to develop a waste balance on the arising and disposal of waste by type of waste and NACE-classification of the waste producer and the disposal facility (See extract of the waste balance for the years 1993 and 1990 in the annexes). 3. New surveys of waste statistics from 1996 onwards In the past the missing flexibility of the legal foundation for adapting waste statistics to modern waste management policy was strongly criticised, e.g. : - Waste policy requires more up-to-date-information than three-annual data, - existing shortcomings of information on the recovery of waste, - incomplete data on the collection of recoverable waste from private households and others, in particular since the introduction of private collection schemes for packaging ( DSD and other systems), - no complete data available on the generation and disposal of waste which need special supervision (a slightly broader definition than hazardous waste ) and on the import/export of transboundary wastes, - intensive and costly surveys at industries on the generation of waste. 3 From 1999 onwards the EWC forms the basis for the supervision of waste handling (see chapter 4).
page 4 Industries complained about the large burden for filling out statistical questionnaires. On the other hand by politics it was argued that information on non-hazardous waste is sufficient from the disposal and recovery side. Since the beginning of the 80 ies attempts were made to restructure waste statistics. In 1994 a revised act on environment statistics was passed by the German parliament. Beside other sectors (air, water, economic data on the environment) this new act reformulated the system of waste statistics completely. The new waste statistics was mainly oriented towards the primary aims of the new Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act. This act was adopted 6 October 1994, but got into force 6 October 1996. This implied several methodological difficulties for the new waste statistics starting for the year 1996. The Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act states the following principles, e.g.: - New term Waste : Extension of the term waste considering everything which arises in production, manufacture or processing, the generation of which was not the original intention of the process. The former secondary raw materials were now classified as waste for recovery. Thus the term waste fully implemented the scope of the EC Waste Directive. - Hierarchy of avoidance, recovery and disposal. Primarily waste avoidance, secondarily waste recycling (material recycling or recovery as energy), waste not recycled to be disposed of permanently. -private and public disposal: from the mere provision of public service to the polluter-pays-principle. - Polluter pays principle : Whoever produces, markets and consumes goods is responsible for the avoidance, recycling, reuse and environmentally-sound disposal of the waste which thereby arises. One example for this principle is the packaging directive, which makes the producers and distributors of products responsible for the collection, recycling and disposal of packaging waste. As a consequence of this principle the DSD and other privately financed collection and recovery schemes arose in Germany. In the past the public sector was responsible for these tasks and had to finance them. New surveys of waste statistics started in 1997 and referred to the reporting year 1996. Most surveys will be conducted annually or bi-annually. The most important surveys are Annual surveys on the 1. recovery and disposal of waste at waste management facilities - of industries and other sectors outside the disposal sector,
- of the disposal sector 4. 2. recovery, reuse and disposal of specific wastes in Mining and Quarrying, 3. collection and sorting of packaging waste (separately for packaging from private households and transportation packaging ), 4. arising, recovery and disposal of wastes requiring special supervision, 5. transports of transboundary wastes. The major breakdown of requested data in these surveys refers to - kind of waste according to the LAGA-Catalogue or the packaging directive, - regional origin of waste (inside Germany, from EU, outside EU), WORKING PAPER No.20 page 5 The surveys at waste management facilities comprises the complete recovery, treatment and disposal of waste (inside industry, related branches and specialised sectors) and provides data also on the installation of facilities (e.g. protection towards groundwater) and on energy recovery (use of methane gases and heat from incineration). Compared with the old statistical system the survey was extended to the recovery sector. Nevertheless in practice there arise problems ín identifying recycling processes outside the hazardous waste sector 5. Information from authorities and branch associations are to be used for filling the information gap. The former survey of waste removal in production and in hospitals was simplified in such a way that only industrial units with own treatment, recovery and disposal facility are addressed by the survey. Thus in the new survey the number of respondents could be reduced to 5000 units. For these units data were requested on waste input into treatment and recycling processes (mainly according to D- and R- procedures of the EU Waste Directive) into incineration, dumping, waste output from treatment and wastes given away. As a consequence of the reduction of the scope of respondents it will not be possible any more to provide complete information on the arising of non-hazardous wastes, but only on the recovery and disposal of nonhazardous wastes. The surveys in the sector mining and quarrying are important, as - large quantities of inert mining wastes are dumped outside the mining sector 6, - large quantities of non-mining wastes 7 are used for the recultivation of old mining and quarrying sites. Quarrying sites are not to be considered as landfill sites 8 and thus the refilling of these sites with inert mining and non-mining wastes under certain premises is no disposal activity but a recovery activity imposed by mining prescriptions for sake of recultivation and security. Similar arguments are valid for refilling of old mining sites. Waste statistics on the arising, recovery and disposal of wastes requiring special supervision and on the transports of transboundary wastes are based on consignment notes and make use of information available at waste management authorities. Approximately 100 000 producers of hazardous wastes and 5000 units 4 37. 5 6 7 8 This broad definition approximately corresponds to the sectors of NACE 90 plus certain parts of NACE For hazardous waste the consignment note system provides information. more than 40 mill tons in Germany per year, especially from extraction of hardcoal and salts. several mill tons of construction wastes and other mineral wastes. according to a judgement of the highest German administrative court in 1994
page 6 recycling or disposing hazardous waste are included in the system of consignment notes. These units in waste statistics are to be classified to NACE-categories in co-ordination with economic statistics. For the year 1996 there arise practical problems as the Closed Substance Cycle Act got into force in October 1996. For the definition of the term Waste till September 1996 the old term waste, excluding recycling waste, and from October 1996 onwards the new term waste, including recovery waste, was to be applied. So data for hazardous wastes from consignment notes will be complete from 1997, but are incomplete for the first reporting year 1996. The provision of data on transboundary transports of waste is necessary because of the EU- Directive on transboundary transports of Waste and of the Basle-Convention. The Federal Environment Agency is the responsible German authority for reporting to the Basle Convention. So this agency gets statistical data from the regional authorities in Germany which are also used for federal waste statistics. For completing data on transboundary transports of waste 9 statistical data of foreign trade statistics for materials of the Green and Amber List of OECD are used. Bi-annual surveys on the recovery of 6. construction waste at specific treatment and recovery facilities, 7. used oils at secondary refineries, 8. used papers at paper mills, 9. glass wastes at the glass industry, 10. plastic wastes in chemical industries and other branches. These surveys contain detailed breakdowns on the waste input into the recovery process (kind of waste, origin of waste). Waste and demolition waste is the largest waste category in Germany (approximately 130 million tons in 1993). Therefore the recovery of these wastes is one of the major recycling tasks in Germany. In several Länder (e.g. Hessen) there is a prohibition of landfilling untreated and unsorted construction waste in order to conserve valuable capacities of landfilling for other waste. The recovery of used oils at secondary refineries is according to German and EU -Legislation to be preferred to incineration in waste treatment installations or cement kilns 10. Surveys on the recovery of used papers, glass and plastics are conducted in order to show these important waste streams and to have supplementary data on the recovery of packaging waste. Not included in waste statistics is the recovery of metal scraps and waste. There is an intensive discussion in Germany under which conditions metal scraps with positive market value are waste or raw materials. So including recovery of metals in waste statistics would probably provide incomplete data. On the other hand detailed regular yearly and even monthly information on 9 10 Transports of wastes of the Green List within the EU, which are designed to be recovered, are not subject to control to EU Directive. Data on the incineration in cement kilns and incinerators are available from the survey at waste treatment installations.
page 7 wholesale and reuse of metal scrap in metal industry is available from specific statistics for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. 11. Municipal waste, 12. industrial waste, other waste. Four-annual surveys on the collection of waste These surveys contain information on types of waste, collection scheme (public sector, outside public sector), regional origin (Länder) and on remainder of waste. The survey for municipal waste refers to household waste, waste similar to household waste, bulky waste, street cleaning and market wastes and to compostable vegetable waste. Especially the Länder are interested in the results of this survey. As four-annual surveys are not sufficient for their specific political purposes, several Länder conduct their own annual surveys on municipal waste. These surveys are outside the official waste statistic system. They are not harmonised between the Länder and so the results are not compatible throughout Germany. The survey for industrial waste comprises the collection and the transport of several waste categories (40 categories) excluding double counting 11. This survey refers to specialised units for the collection and transport of wastes. Not included are units of production industry, construction sector or retail sale which may transport their own wastes to the disposal installation. 4. Results of surveys For the survey of 1996 there are already several results available on a federal level. Nevertheless it is premature to give a general overview on the waste situation in Germany. Results refer mainly to recycling of waste. Results on waste recovery and disposal at waste management installations and on the arising and disposal of hazardous waste are expected by the end of 1998. This is mainly due to the fact that in a lot of different fields new statistical units were to be identified, experience in conducting these surveys was to be collected and problems of waste definition arose due to the introduction of the new Closed Substance Cycle Act. In principal on the basis of waste statistics it will be possible to conduct statistical analyses in the following way: Annual waste balance on - arising, recovery, disposal and transboundary transports of wastes requiring special supervision, - - recovery, disposal and transboundary transports of other waste (municipal waste, industrial waste, other waste), Annual detailed documentation of - collection, recovery and disposal of packaging waste 11 Data only for the first transport from the producer of waste, excluding wholesale of waste taken over from the first collector.
page 8 (packaging paper, glass, plastics, metals), Bi-annual documentation of - recovery of other waste (construction waste, used oils, non packaging fractions of paper, glass, plastics) -collection of municipal, industrial and other waste. Four-annual documentation of 5. Arising questions for German waste statistics in future For the next time experience has to be gathered to adapt and to improve the present statistical system. Slight modifications in the breakdown of data requested might prove useful. Nevertheless there is no need for a profound change of the new system. Because of new regulations on the basis of the Closed Substance Cycle Act for used cars, batteries and modifications of the packaging directive minor change and extensions in waste statistics may prove necessary. A large modification of waste statistics will come for the reporting year 1999. In 1999 the European Waste Catalogue will be introduced officially in German waste management policy. This also includes the management of hazardous waste. All institutions which handle waste (industries, authorities) have to become familiar with the EWC and to apply this catalogue. In order to facilitate a comparison of waste data before 1999 with data from 1999 onwards there exists a provisional conversion catalogue developed by a regional waste management authority (Nordrhein-Westfalen). Waste statistics has to make use of the EWC in its surveys as well. The conversion catalogue (see example in the annexes) will be a valuable help to facilitate a comparison of statistical data 1998/1999. Other modifications of German waste statistics may come necessary due to a new EU-Regulation on Waste Management Statistics. At the present stage of discussion on the draft regulation it would be premature to discuss necessary adaptations of the German legal basis for waste.
page 9 Annexes * 1. LAGA-Catalogue (extract) 2. Waste Balance for 1993 and 1990 3. Conversion list from LAGA to EWC (extract) 4. Abstract of paper Waste statistics in Germany * Will be distributed at the meeting.