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BIOWASTE – SOFIA 2013

Implementation of Organic Waste Management

in Southern and Eastern European Countries.

Statuts, challenges and solutions.

The development of biowaste management in Catalonia.

20 years of experience.

Sofia (Bulgaria), 17-19 April 2013

Francesc Giró

Waste Agency of Catalonia

The Waste Agency of Catalonia

• The Waste Agency of Catalonia (ARC) is a public company within

the Department of Planning and Sustainability of the Government

of Catalonia.

• Catalonia has many delegated environmental competences, like

waste planning, management, inspection, etc..

• The ARC is responsible for the waste generated in Catalonia and

for those who manage waste within Catalonia. It deals with waste

of the following types: industrial waste, municipal waste (MSW),

construction waste and debris, waste from agriculture and livestock,

sanitary waste and soil recovery.

• In some processes involving other member states of the EU,

Catalonia is a recognized competent authority:

– Cross-border waste shipment procedures

– Certification of Ecolabels for products or services

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- Surface: 32,000 km2

- Population: 7,500,000 inhab.

- Municipalities: 946

- Regions: 41 small regions

- GDP per inhab.:27,236 €

- Unemployment: 22,5%

General data on Catalonia

Catalonia

• 50 % of agricultural soils & grassland

in Spain has less than 1.7 % SOM

(equivalent to 1 % SOC).

• According to Communication Towards

a Thematic Strategy for Soil

Protection, there exists a real risk of

desertification for the 50 % of

agricultural soils & grassland in Spain.

• There is an urgent need for inputs of

organic matter into soils in order to

fight this problem. High quality

compost (or organic matter) applied to

soils could contribute to solve it.

Source: Study on organic matter and

heavy metals in agricultural soils

and grassland in Spain.

Source: INIA (MEC), MAPA, MIMAM

2004

General data on environmental

issues in Mediterranean Area

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• However, in Spain, most of organic wastes (from MSW) –and also MSW- are sent to landfill or incinerated.

• The Waste Framework Directive (2008) establishes that Member States should take measures to promote the separate collection and recicling of biowastes, ensuring a high level of environmental protection (article 22).

• The Spanish Law on waste (Law 22/2011) –transposing the Waste Framework Directive– establishes that:

– autonomous communities can include, in their own Waste Management Plans, measures to encourage the separate collection of biowaste (art.24)

– Before 2020, the amount of household and commercial waste for the preparation for reuse and recycling of paper, metals, glass, plastic, biowaste and other waste will be achieved, together, at least 50% in weight (art. 22)

– … but in our opinion this only can be possible if separate collection of biowaste is broadly implemented !!!

General data on environmental

issues in Catalonia & Spain

• In Catalonia, since 1993, the separate collection of biowaste is compulsory for municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants (Law on waste 6/93). This obligation was extended in 2008 to all catalan municipalities thorough a new Law on waste 9/2008.

• In year 2003, thorough the Law 16/2003 on financing treatment infrastructure of waste and waste management tax on waste landfilling, it was set a landfill tax of 10 € per tonne.

• Also in Catalonia, the Law 8/2008 (modified in 2011) on financing infrastructure and waste management taxes on the disposal of waste, sets a landfill tax of 12,4 € per tonne and an incineration tax of 5.6 € per tonne (both incremented with 10 € per tonne if a municipality has not implemented the separate collection of biowaste) with the aim of reducing the amount of waste lanfilled or incinerated, while provides with a tax refund for those municipalities with best quantitative & qualitative outcomes (especially for biowaste and paper-cardboard), redistributing about 30 million € per year).

General data on environmental

issues in Catalonia & Spain

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• 1st Stage (1991-2000)

– Creation of Environment Department (Catalan Government)

– Law 6/93 on waste

– PGRMC 1995-2000. 1st Programme for MSW Management

• 2nd Stage (2001-2006)

– PROGREMIC 2001-2006. 2nd Programme for MSW Management

– Law 15/2003, which modifies Law 6/93 on waste

– Law 16/2003 for financing of waste treatment infrastructure and of waste deposition tax (landfilling)

• 3rd Stage (2007-2012)

– Law 9/2008, which modifies Law 6/1993 on waste

– Law 8/2008, for financing of waste treatment infrastructure and of waste disposal tax on refuse of wastes (landfilling & incineration)

– PROGREMIC 2007-2012. 3rd Programme for MSW Management

– Regional Plan of infrastructure for municipal waste management

MANDATES + TARGETS +

ECONOMIC PRESSURE +

INFRAESTRUCTURES PLANNING

The legal framework

36 % FORM+FV

18 % Papel-Cartón

7 % Vidrio

12 % Envases Ligeros

27 % Otros

2. Separate Collection of: – Glass

– Paper-Cardboard

– Packaging (plastic, metals,...)

– Biowaste (Food+Yardwaste)

• Biological Treatment [BT] Composting [C] and/or Anaerobic Digestion [AD] for quality compost & biogas production

3. Collection of mixed MSW: – Mechanical-Biological Treatment [MBT]

• Production of biostabilised waste

• Stabilization prior to landfilling

• Bio-drying prior to incineration

1. Prevention

4. Recovery of rejection (RDF): – RDF for burning (Cement Companies)

– Biorefinery (Methanol and/or Ethanol Production)

Rejection (RDF)

MSW Composition. Current &

Future strategies

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Waste management treatment

fees in Catalonia

37,51 €/T

72,82 €/T

50,17 €/T 50,13 €/T

0,00 €/T

20,00 €/T

40,00 €/T

60,00 €/T

80,00 €/T

100,00 €/T

120,00 €/T

Landfill of mixedMSW

MBT Treatment ofmixed MSW

Incineration of mixedMSW

Biological Treatmentof Biowaste (C / AD)

€ /

T

Comparative Analysis of the Waste Management Treatment fees in Catalonia. Data from years 2011-2012

Number of

Plants 24 7 4 22

• Law 8/2008, for financing of waste treatment infrastructure

and of waste disposal tax on refuse of wastes (landfilled &

incineration)

– Tax 12,4 € / Tonne (landfilled)

– Tax 5,6 € / Tonne (incinerated)

– f Biowaste separate collection was not implemented in accordance a

implementation plan, the tax is increased in about 10 €/Tonne

– Guide for local authorities about Law 16/2003 on funding of the

waste treatment infrastructures and of the tax on landfilling (annually

reviewed), which includes the Tax refund criteria:

• Biowaste Treatment [34 €/T]

• Biowaste Collection [9 €/T] x f1 x f2

• Quality factor (f1)

• Population factor (f2)

y = -2,5x + 5,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

0% 15%

Quality

facto

r

% impurities

Quality factor

Singularity of Catalan

Environmental Taxation:

Economic Pressure + Incentives

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0,00%

5,00%

10,00%

15,00%

20,00%

25,00%

30,00%

35,00%

40,00%

45,00%

50,00%

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Biowaste quality control

Food

wastage

Vegetable

waste

Food waste

Food wastage Indicator

Year 2012

Samples n= 820

Food Wastage in biowaste: 11%

(about 40,000 T biowaste / year)

< 5 % impurities 17,6%

Between 5 - 10 % 36,7%

Between 10 - 15 % 22,1%

Between 20 - 25 % 11,7%

Between 15 - 20 % 6,0%

More than 25 % 6,0%

76%

Profile of impurities in the biowaste (in % on weight). 2012

Samples n=820

1. Some Large Producers

2. Most of Door to Door municipalities

3. Municipalities in rural areas

4. Municipalities with high awareness level

5. Municipalities using compostable bags (compulsory)

https://sdr.arc.cat/cform/ListCaracteritzacions.do

Outcomes. Evolution of Catalan

municipalities with biowaste

separate collection implemented

0 0 0 2 15 27 39 71

98 127 140

195

292

387

458

507

605

701 724 731

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Mun < 5000 inhab. Mun > 5000 inhab. Total Municipalities

Law on

waste

Landfill

Tax

Incineration

Tax

Law on waste

(come into force)

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Outcomes. Evolution of generation

& management of MSW 2001-2011 Evolució generació i gestió de RM (en 1000 tones)

0

500

1.000

1.500

2.000

2.500

3.000

3.500

4.000

4.500

5.000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

1000 t

Generació Recollida Selectiva Fracció RestaMSW Generation Separate Collection Mixed MSW

40.6 % Separate

Collection

21.1 % MBT

26.2 % Landfill

11.8 % Incineration

1.48 kg /inhab · day

4,066,000 tones of MSW (2011)

Evolution of separate collection

of Biowaste (tonnes/year) 1999-2011

55

%

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Influence of biowaste sep. collection

on overall separate collection

Glass, Paper, Packaging

and BIOWASTE

Glass, Paper, Packaging

separated colleted 20 %

35 %

Road Containers Door to Door

Separate Collection

70 %

Quantitative & Qualitative outcomes

of separate collection of Biowaste

76 585 10 29 700

213.500 6.431.334 275.152 592.395 7.512.381

23.208 353.119 2.887 30.798 410.011

298 150 29 142 150

5,23% 14,73% 5,64% 10,36% 13,80%

282 128 27 128 129

Numebrt of municipalities

Inhabitants

Tonnes "gross" biowaste / year

g "gross" biowaste / inhab and year

% Impurities (weighted average)

g "net" biowaste / inhab and year

Comparison diferent separate

collection systems of Biowaste

Door to

Door

Road

ContainerCommerce

Mixed

SystemsTOTAL

Door to Door Road Container Commerce Mixed Systems

282 g/inhab·day

5,2%

128 g/inhab·day

14,7%

27 g/inhab·day

128 g/inhab·day

10,3%

5,6 %

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How to manage Biowaste.

A question of scale?

• Home Composting / Community Composting

• Small, Low-tech, decentralized composting plants

• Centralized Composting Plants

Compost vs Biostabilised waste

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Compost vs Biostabilised waste

Collection Cost of Biowaste

70 – 150 € / T

Treatment Cost of Biowaste

30 – 90 € / T

100 – 240 € / T (Average 170 € / T)

1 inhab. generates ~0.2 T biowaste/year

Biowaste Management Cost ~30 € / inhab. year

Use od Economic Instruments ans Waste

Management Perfomances.

Final Report 10 April 2012 (DG ENV)

Next steps and challenges

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Conclusions (1/2)

• Separate collection of Biowaste is feasible even in

Mediterranean countries like Catalonia

• The adoption of specific legislation on biowaste separate

collection and Tax on landfilling and incineration has been

essential for developing Biowaste recycling

• The continuous evaluation of biowaste separate collection

performance (capture & quality) is an important tool to

improve the system

• Both the tax refund criteria and the treatment fees -linked

to quality of biowaste- have contributed to improve

biowaste quality

Conclusions (2/2)

• Taxes on landfill and incineration of waste allows to move

towards to the environmental costs internalisation, thus

rising the prices of those treatments with lower legal

priority

• If this internalisation is properly transferred, the behaviour

of taxpayers (citizens but also commerce/industry) will

move them towards more ecological waste management

• The success implementation of biowaste separate

collection and management in Catalonia will:

– Allow the fulfilment of the targets of some European Directives (Landfill &

Waste Directive, Climate Change)

– Avoid wasting resources with increasing economic value

– Help to generate jobs

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Many Thanks !

Waste Agency of Catalonia

C/ Dr. Roux, 80 ● 08017 Barcelona

Tel. +34 935 673 300 Fax. +34 935 673 300

fgiro@gencat.cat

http://www.arc.cat