Prevention and management of household waste in Flanders
Helen Versluys, PhD
OVAM (Flemish Public Waste Agency)
21.02.2009
21.02.2009Helen Versluys3
Overview
Responsibility for household waste management
Household waste treatment in Flanders 1992-2007
Flemish household waste management according to the waste hierarchy
prevention and re-useselective collection and recycling residual waste treatment: incineration and landfilling
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Responsibility for household waste management
Flanders: one of the three Belgian regions Waste management = regional competence OVAM is the regional authority responsible for making policy
on waste in Flanders Municipalities are responsible for the collection and treatment
of household waste
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Household waste treatment in Flanders 1995-2007
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
year
kg p
er i
nh
abit
ant
landfilled MBT incinerated recycled
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Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives
Re-use centres and shops 99 shops and 33 centres 7.19 kg/inhabitant collected in 2007 almost half of the collected goods are resold furniture, EEE, toys, clothes, etc. susidies for re-use centres and shops
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Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives (continued)
Home composting 25% of the Flemish households (mainly in rural areas) 5 compost masters per 10,000 inhabitants communication campaigns, training and household waste charging
are crucial
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Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives (continued)
‘Please no publicity’ stickers Communication campaigns on waste prevention Financial support for local authorities which launch waste
prevention initiatives (e.g. re-usable diapers, drinking fountains, lunch boxes)
Cooperation agreements containing prevention measures between local authorities and the OVAM
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Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives (continued)
Promotion of ecodesign ecodesign awards for students and professionals ecolizer
Eco-efficiency scan
Green procurement (office supplies and cleaning products)
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Prevention and re-use: future objectives
Increase sustainable production and consumption in absolute and relative terms more innovation retail sector offers and sells more sustainable products by
2015 more sustainable products consumed by 2015 central role of the government in sustainable consumption
via green public procurement
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Prevention and re-use: future objectives (continued)
Far-reaching decoupling between economic growth and household waste production by 2010
i.e. stabilisation of household waste generation compared to 2000 at 560 kg/inhabitant (150 kg/inhabitant residual waste) 2% prevention (dry fraction) per year 10 kg/inhabitant is collected for re-use and 5 kg/inhabitant is
effectively re-used stabilisation of the number of households and increase in the
number of companies participating in selective collection
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Selective collection and recycling
Selective collection schemes to allow for separation at the source kerbside collection municipal recycling yards collection via retailers
Polluter pays principle household waste charging based on volume or weight recycling fees extended producer responsibility
Differentiated tarification = mixed household waste is more expensive to discard than
selectively collected waste
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Selective collection and recycling: kerbside collection
Kerbside collection mixed waste (charged) plastic bottles, metal packaging and drinking cartons (€ 0.125 per
60 l bag) paper and cardboard (free) glass bottles (free) vegetable, fruit and garden waste (charged) bulky waste (free or charged)
Others bottle banks (free) textile containers (free)
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Selective collection and recycling: charges for mixed household waste collection
Bag (60 l): between € 0 and € 2.5
Container (120 l) taxation per volume: € 2.5 - € 3.76 taxation per weight: € 0.15 - € 0.2/kg taxation per offer: € 0.25 - € 1
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Selective collection and recycling: correlation between price and amount of waste generated
116107
102 9382
101
76
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
€ 0 - 0,99 bag
€ 1 - 1,24 bag
€ 1,25 - 1,49 bag
€ 1,50 bag
> € 1,50 bag
volume chip
weight chip
kg/inhabitant
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Selective collection and recycling: illegal and evasive behaviour
5 to 10 % of the population is responsible for illegal behaviour (dumping, burning waste at home, producing street litter, pollution of selectively offered waste, discarding waste in other municipalities or at the work place, etc.)
75 % of the illegally disposed waste consists of waste without municipal taxation => no link between ‘expensive’ waste bag or container and illegal behaviour
Municipalities need to punish illegal behaviour ‘Waste tourism’ can be avoided by using the same tariffs in
neighbouring municipalities
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Selective collection and recycling: recycling yards
337 recycling yards that collect 50% of the household waste
A wide range of waste streams are separately collected in those yards: construction and demolition waste, cooking oils, batteries and accumulators, polystyrene, WEEE, paper and cardboard, PE foils, metals, fluorescent tubes, light bulbs, wood, green waste, car tyres, bicycle tyres, asbestos, gypsum, bitumen, hazardous waste and non-recyclable combustible wastes
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Selective collection and recycling: collection at retailers
WEEE batteries and accumulators pharmaceuticals car tyres
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Selective collection and recycling: extended producer responsibility
Producers are financially responsible for the collection and treatment of their products once they have become waste
Printed paper, batteries and accumulators, waste pharmaceuticals, end-of-life vehicles, waste tyres, waste electrical and electronic appliances, lighting equipment, waste industrial and cooking oils
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Composition of mixed waste bag
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
1995
2006
biowaste paper/carboard glass metals plastics textiles hazardous mixed fraction inert fraction others
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Selective collection and recycling: future objectives
Limit residual household waste to 150 kg/inhabitant/year for the whole of Flanders
Each individual municipality has less than 180 kg residual waste per year per inhabitant
By 2010 75% of the household waste is collected selectively for the purpose of re-use and recycling
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Residual waste treatment: landfill ban
It is prohibited to landfill:
unsorted household (and industrial) waste wastes that were selectively collected for the purpose of recovery combustible residues from the sorting of household waste (or
comparable industrial waste) waste pharmaceuticals
Motivated derogation possible
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Residual waste treatment: incineration ban
It is prohibited to incinerate:
selectively collected wastes that can be recycled with the exception of some high calorific wastes for renewable energy purposes
unsorted household waste (unsorted industrial waste)
Motivated derogation possible
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Residual waste treatment: steering of landfill and incineration costs
‘Smart’ taxes
make landfilling more expensive than incineration make (co)incineration more expensive than recycling steer the market towards the treatment option with the lowest
environmental impact
Restrictive permitting policy for landfills increases landfilling costs
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Residual waste treatment: examples of landfilling and incineration costs
Tariff Tax Total
Landfilling municipalwaste
60 75 135
Incineration ofmunicipal waste
70 - 130 7 77 - 137
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Conclusions
Flanders ‘champion’ with regard to selective collection
Prevention of waste is the main challenge for the coming years
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Conclusions (continued)
Lessons from the Flemish experience: Work on all levels of the waste hierarchy Source separation of crucial importance
communication campaigns selective collection schemes polluter pays principle
Limit residual waste treatment capacity to the minimum
Make landfilling expensive and ban it for as many wastes as possible
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Thank you for your attention
Helen Versluys
OVAM
++32 15 284 237
www.ovam.be