|
Waste Statistics 2000 2. Waste generation and treatment2.1 Waste generation 2000 and developments 1999 – 2000Waste generation in 2000 and developments in waste arisings from 1999 to 2000 are presented in Table 1. It is seen from the table that total waste generation, after a stabilisation in 1998 and 1999, increased to 13,031,000 million tonnes in year 2000. This corresponds to an increase of 7 per cent from the 1999 waste generation. However, it is too early to determine whether the increase reflects a trend of increasing waste arisings in future. Such interpretations should await the 2001 waste statistics. Table 1. Waste arisings in households in 2000 amounted to 3,084,000 tonnes, corresponding to an increase of 3 per cent from 1999. The total increase, however, covers considerable variations between the different types of waste from households. Domestic waste amounts remain almost unchanged from the previous year; there has been a slight increase of 11,000 tonnes. As Table 1 shows, amounts of domestic waste in the period 1994 – 2000 have been relatively stable, showing only small variations over the years1. Amounts of bulky waste and garden waste also increased in 2000, with 9 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. The group "other" decreased slightly. However, this group only constitutes a small part of waste from households and therefore has no significant impact on total amounts. The generation of waste in the service sector2 in 2000 amounted to 1,119,000 tonnes, which is as much as 17 per cent more than in 1999 – in actual figures an increase of 164,000 tonnes. The increase is distributed on all fractions, but it should be noted that amounts of the mixed fractions "various combustible" and "various non-combustible" increased by 11 per cent and 13 per cent respectively, amounts of food waste/other organic waste increased by 19 per cent, whereas amounts of health-care risk waste increased by 28 per cent. Amounts of separated paper and cardboard collected for recycling increased by around 3 per cent. Amounts of waste from industry3 also increased. From this source, the increase amounts to 295,000 tonnes from 2,653,000 tonnes in 1999 to 2,948,000 tonnes in 2000, corresponding to 11 per cent. The increase is found in the separated fractions of paper and cardboard, food waste/other organic waste, ferrous metals for recycling and various non-combustible that increased by 53 per cent, 25 per cent, 21 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. By contrast, the fractions various combustible, hazardous waste and beet soil have shown a decrease of 14 per cent, 13 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. The generation of waste in the building and construction sector also was larger in 2000 compared to 1999 – construction and demolition waste amounts reached 3,223,000 tonnes, which corresponds to 255,000 tonnes or 9 per cent more than in 1999. Sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants amounted to around 1,476,0004 tonnes in 2000, stated in wet weight. This is 97,000 tonnes more than in 1999, corresponding to an increase of 7 per cent. Waste generation at coal-fired power plants decreased by 9 per cent corresponding to a decrease from 1,299,000 tonnes in 1999 to 1,176,000 tonnes in 2000. This is due to the fact that energy generation was lower in 2000 than in 1999. It is remarkable that for the first time in the period 1994- 2000 Denmark had net imports of power in year 2000. Another significant reason for the decrease in residues from coal-fired power plants is that energy to a still larger extent is generated from other fuels than coal and coke5. 2.2 Treatment of waste in 2000In the following, developments in treatment of total waste arisings are presented. Furthermore, treatment is related to targets for treatment in the Danish Government’s Waste Management Plan 1998 – 2004, Waste 21. Table 2 shows that 8,461,000 tonnes corresponding to 65 per cent of total waste arisings were recycled in 2000. In actual figures this is an increase of 646,000 tonnes or an increase of 1 percentage point compared to 1999. Table 2. Waste led to incineration in 2000 amounted to 3,064,000 tonnes. This is actually an increase in amounts of 135,000 tonnes, but the rate of total waste amounts remains unchanged at 24 per cent. Waste led to landfill in 2000 amounted to 1,489,000 tonnes, which is a minor increase of 17,000 tonnes from 1999. The rate of waste landfilled amounts to 11 per cent of total arisings. As the table shows, the relative distribution in recent years among treatment options has varied only little. Variations are often explained by developments in amounts of the different fractions. For example, variations in amounts of residues from coal-fired power plants and construction and demolition waste have large implications on the total rate of recycling, as these two waste types generally have a rate of recycling of 90 per cent or more. According to Waste 21, short-term targets for stabilisation of waste generation are supplemented by a number of qualitative elements such as better exploitation of resources in waste, quality in treatment of waste and mitigation of problems caused by environmental contaminants in waste. Overall, targets for sectors and fractions mean that the rate of recycling will increase, that more waste is incinerated, and that the need for landfilling will decrease. Overall targets in Waste 21 for waste management in year 2004 are 64 per cent recycling, 24 per cent incineration and a maximum of 12 per cent landfilling. As Figure 1 shows, overall targets for waste treatment were already complied with in 1999. In 2000 a further diversion among treatment options has taken place, so that actually the rate of waste for recycling is higher than the target for year 2004. Correspondingly, the target for waste for landfilling has been met with a good margin. Figure 1 This is believed to be attributable to the ban on landfilling of waste suitable for incineration that came into effect on 1 January 1997. But other factors play a role. First of all, amounts of residues from coal-fired power plants have decreased significantly, and they are furthermore recycled to a larger extent than in previous years when they were mainly landfilled. Another significant factor is sludge. Sludge in long-term storage has been included in recycling and amounted to 510,000 tonnes in 2000. The correctness of including long-term storage in recycling may be questioned as there is no guarantee that sludge is actually recycled as intended. Furthermore, sludge consists of 99 per cent of water and therefore has a disproportionate impact. 2.3 Treatment of waste, WITHOUT residues and construction and demolition wasteAmounts of residues from coal-fired power plants not only depend on energy consumption in Denmark, but also on exports of power to Sweden and Norway. In addition, due to Energy 21 a still larger diversion is taking place from the use of coal and coke as a fuel to the use of natural gas and renewable energy. Since 1996, when Denmark exported particularly much power to Sweden and Norway, amounts of residues have decreased steadily – actually there has been a decrease of 1,156,000 tonnes, corresponding almost to a 50 per cent reduction. Naturally, this has an impact on developments of total waste amounts, but as residues have a very high rate of recycling, it also has an impact on compliance with overall treatment targets. A similar picture is seen for construction and demolition waste. As discussed in section 6.2, the rate of recycling of construction and demolition waste typically reaches around 90 per cent. Therefore, it is interesting to look at the distribution of waste on the different treatment options if residues and construction and demolition waste are kept apart from statistics. Figure 2 shows the distribution on the different treatment options when residues from coal-fired power plants are kept apart from statistics. Figure 2 When residues are kept apart it is seen that 61 per cent of the remaining waste was recycled in 2000, which is an increase of 757,000 tonnes from 1999. The rate of remaining waste incinerated in 2000 is 26 per cent, which is slightly less than in 1999. The rate of waste for landfilling is 13 per cent, which is identical to 1999. In absolute figures this means in 2000 that apart from residues 11,855,000 tonnes of waste were generated. Of this, 7,285,000 tonnes were recycled, whereas 3,064,000 tonnes were incinerated and 1,489,000 tonnes led to landfill. 17,000 tonnes – similar to 1999 – were subjected to special treatment. Total waste amounts without waste from coal-fired power plants increased by 33 per cent from 1994 to 2000. In Figure 3 also waste from the building and construction sector has been kept apart from statistics. This causes a decrease in the rate of remaining waste for recycling, whereas the rates for incineration and landfilling increase. Residues from coal-fired power plants and construction and demolition waste are recycled to a very large extent: in 2000, 100 per cent and 90 per cent respectively, cf. Chapter 6. It is seen that these two fractions play a very significant role in the compliance with overall waste treatment targets in Waste 21. Figure 3 2.4 Treatment by sources and waste typesFigure 4 shows total waste generation in 2000 distributed on sources and treatment options. Figure 5 shows waste generation distributed on waste types and treatment options. Tables with detailed figures are given in Annex 1. Figure 4 shows that especially waste from the building and construction sector, coal-fired power plants and wastewater treatment plants reach a very high rate of recycling. Waste 21 targets for recycling have been met for waste from these three sectors. The rate of recycling of waste from industry is also relatively high: 64 per cent, and the target of a 65 per cent recycling rate has almost been met. The high rate of recycling, however, is especially attributable to recycling of ferrous metals. Still too much waste from this sector is led to landfill - 21 per cent against the target of only 15 per cent, and there is a challenge ahead to divert larger amounts of the other fractions from landfilling to incineration or recycling. The rate of recycling of waste from the service sector is not sufficient compared to the target in Waste 21. In 2000, 40 per cent of waste was recycled compared to the target of 50 per cent. However, there was an increase in the rate of recycling of 3 percentage points from 1999. The target of 45 per cent incineration has been complied with, but also in this sector too much waste is led to landfill; 14 per cent compared to the target of 5 per cent. The challenge here is to divert more waste from landfilling to recycling. Figure 4 Treatment of the waste type domestic waste does not comply with the targets in Waste 21, cf. Figure 5. Only 14 per cent of this waste was recycled in 2000. Actually, this is a decrease from 1998 and 1999 when the rate of recycling amounted to 17 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. The target is to reach a rate of recycling of 30 per cent in 2004, whereas the targets for incineration and landfilling are 70 per cent and 0 per cent respectively. The rate of domestic waste incinerated in 2000 reached 81 per cent, whereas 5 per cent was led to landfill6. Figure 5 2.5 Developments in waste generation 1994 - 2000Total waste generation in Denmark in the period 1994 – 2000 distributed on commercial sources is shown in Table 3. As the table shows, the 2000 amounts of waste were the largest in the period 1994 – 2000. Until 2000, waste amounts peaked in 1996. The large amounts in 1996 were primarily due to particularly high amounts of residues from coal-fired power plants in 1996 – which again was due to large exports of power to Sweden and Norway. There was an increase of 16 per cent in amounts of waste from 1994 to 1996, after which amounts decreased up to 1999: by approximately 5 per cent. Table 3 If the entire period from 1994 to 2000 is considered, waste amounts have increased by 17 per cent. Of this, 7 percentage points are explained by developments from 1999 to 2000 alone. The increase in the first half of the 1990s may be due partly to the fact that coverage of the ISAG system has increased and partly to real increases in waste amounts.
|