Systems Analysis of Organic Waste Management in Denmark

Systems Analysis of Organic Waste Management in Denmark

1 Introduction

Due to political decisions, more actions are taken by society towards more sustainable waste management solutions. On the European level, directives on landfilling (1999/31/EU directive) and incineration (2000/76/EU directive) of waste are implemented. As some 15 % of the total municipal waste flow then has to be redirected from landfilling to other treatments, these institutional changes will most probably lead to major changes in Danish waste management.

Organic household waste is a resource that is not fully utilised in Denmark today through composting or anaerobic digestion. On a yearly basis about 1.7 million tons of household waste is collected. The organic part is about 700 000 tons. To get a better understanding of the consequences when increasing biological treatment of organic household waste the Danish EPA is conducting socio-economic survey of increased biological treatment of organic household waste. In order to do an socioeconomic survey, there is need to quantify flows of material, use of resources, energy, emissions to air, water and soil.

In this project use of resources, emissions to air, water and soil, use and generation of energy and environmental impacts are calculated and presented on a national level. The results from this study will bee used as environmental input data into a socio-economic survey.

To describe the system for handling and treatment of organic household waste a system analytical approach is used. The flow of organic household waste is one of many waste flows, for most parts organic waste is handled and treated together with other wastes. If the whole waste flow is studied, there is a risk that the impact from organic waste is clouded because other larger waste flows are treated at the same time and place. To avoid results, which can be allocated to handling of organic household waste, a simplified model is created to describe the organic waste flow. In order to calculate the flows, emissions and environmental impact from handling organic household waste a computer-based model ORWARE (ORganic WAste REsearch) will be used for the systems analysis.