Commercial and Industrial Waste and Selected Wasteflows

4. Proposals for initiatives, goals and results.

4.1 Seven areas for efforts
4.1.1 Efforts in sectors with hazardous and environmentally contaminants
4.1.2 National requirements for managing environmental contaminants
4.1.3 Better application of taxes and charges on waste
4.1.4 More active utilisation of Part 5 approval, green accounting, and quality management
4.1.5 Better opportunities to sell waste - establishment of a waste exchange
4.1.6 Provision for support for the development of recovery technologies
4.1.7 Increased recycling of waste suitable for incineration
4.2 Expected results from special initiatives

The positive results in reducing landfilling and increasing recycling have, in particular, occurred in waste fractions which are large in terms of volume and weight, but environmentally are relatively uncomplicated to manage. These results are particularly due to recycling building and construction waste and residues from coal-fired power stations.

Increasing amounts
However, there are problems in fulfilling the goal of stabilising the amount of waste at ten million tonnes. Amongst other things, it can be seen that the amount of commercial and industrial waste and the amount of residues from waste incineration plants is increasing.

Overall goal
The overall goal of commercial and industrial waste strategy is therefore both to ensure the least possible generation of waste and a better quality of waste treatment. Waste which cannot be avoided must be recycled or disposed of in such a manner that the dispersion of environmental contaminants is minimised, and the resources in waste are exploited to the full.

The use of slag should be more free.
With respect to residues from waste incineration plants, for example, this means that in the long term slags must be made recoverable. At the same time, this means that non-renewable resources which are today landfilled, must be separated and recycled to a greater extent.

The quality of waste
In order to minimise the environmental burden from waste, it is vital that waste is of such a quality that it is suitable for recycling or can be disposed of in such a way that it harms the environment as little as possible. Therefore, it is important to be able to identify hazardous waste, and have knowledge of the content of environmental contaminants in waste generally.

Efforts at source
Efforts at source are therefore important, but the effects will only be visible in the long term. Efforts at source can, for example, comprise introduction of clean technology, including separation and substitution of environmental contaminants with less harmful substances. In this connection, refer to the Environmental Protection Agency Position Papers on ‘Chemicals - Status and Perspectives’ and ‘Intensified Product-oriented Environmental Action’.

The implications of products
For a long period, waste will be affected by products where there have been no efforts at source, and even where clean technology has been developed, or substitution possibilities exist. It will take a long time before these are introduced at all phases. In addition, the life time of products is also decisive as it determines when they will be found in the waste flow. Moreover, it must be faced that there are products which comprise environmental contaminants, essential to giving the product the correct properties. There are also extensive imports of products which do not comply with the environmental requirements which are, or will be, placed on goods produced in Denmark. These products will all affect the waste flow in the future. It is therefore necessary to examine more closely how waste treatment can be optimised, so that the environmental quality of residues which are produced by incineration plants can be improved.

Efforts at many places
Something must be done and in many places. Efforts must be made in the production phase, for example, with the introduction of clean technology and substitution with less harmful substances. Efforts must also be made in the collection and disposal phases, and possibilities for marketing recyclable waste must be improved.

More focus on small waste fractions
There must be focus on sectors which produce many small waste fractions which can be environmentally difficult to manage. Profitable, sustainable recycling can, in certain situations, be brought about, if waste from these sectors is sorted at source and collected separately within the individual sector.

Initiatives must be established so that the most environmentally harmful waste fractions can be collected and treated separately from other waste. This will lead to environmental contaminants becoming concentrated in separate fractions, at the same time as improving the environmental quality of the remaining residues, as well as possibilities for their use.

Quality requirements for treatment methods
In future, there must be quality requirements for the methods used to treat complex and contaminating waste. Raw materials, including environmental contaminants must be taken out of the waste flow and recovered.

Close interplay between parties
Effective efforts require close interplay between the various parties. These are primarily the producer, the waste-treatment companies for industrial and commercial waste, public authorities, trade, and citizens.

Moreover, efforts require that municipality collection and assignment schemes are supported by national regulations, cross-border cooperation, or cooperation within larger regions, waste companies, sectors, or other larger units. Waste fractions such as impregnated wood, batteries, scrap, or waste from the graphic sector to name a few.

Inclusion of international agreements and EU regulation
At the same time, account must be taken of the fact that more and more conditions concerning waste are regulated, or influenced, by international agreements and rules, particularly EU regulation. EU regulations primarily affect requirements for planning, classification, and registration of waste. In contrast, at the moment, there are only a few types of waste for which there are binding EU requirements for separation and treatment. Packaging waste is one of the few waste types for which EU regulation exists, but others can be expected in the near future, e.g. cars, electrical and electronic products.

Preventive efforts through requirements for the composition of products and the use of materials, surface coatings, components, function units, and environmental contaminants depend strongly on international cooperation. This includes international standards (ISO, CEN) which can influence possibilities for recycling and technological improvements.

These efforts are reinforced by the fact that a large proportion of the products which become waste in Denmark are produced abroad. Product standardisation often sets very detailed requirements for the properties, quality, etc. of materials. This determines, to a great extent, what tomorrow’s waste will look like. Therefore, it is crucial that standardisation work includes procedures to assess the implications of standards for waste treatment and recycling. Standards can, for example, fix the choice of materials and in certain circumstances they can also prevent the use of recycled materials. A number of standards for plastic products, for example, decree the use of virgin raw materials.

4.1 Seven areas for efforts

Special initiatives
The following provides suggestions for seven areas for efforts where initiatives should be established which can meet the four central challenges for commercial and industrial waste.

The areas for efforts are directed towards different parts of the waste process; from generation to collection, treatment and disposal. Some of the areas for efforts are more general, and others aim at more specific sectors or waste fractions.

These suggestions are now to be discussed with interested parties before they are adopted.

The areas for efforts focus on:

	Sectors with hazardous and environmental contaminating waste
	National requirements for the management of environmental contaminating waste
	Better application of taxes on waste
	More active utilisation of Part 5 (of the Environmental Protection Act) - approval, green accounting, and quality control
	Better opportunities to market waste - establishment of a waste exchange
	Provision of support for the development of recovery technologies
	Increased recycling of waste suitable for incineration

4.1.1 Efforts in sectors with hazardous and environmentally contaminating waste

There should be greater and more targeted efforts in sectors where there are special problems with hazardous waste and special problems with environmentally contaminating waste. There are many technological possibilities which are currently not fully exploited.

Until today, the dominant treatment for hazardous waste has been incineration or special landfilling; treatment that, for example, Kommunekemi A/S has carried out. In recent years, other waste-treatment enterprises have developed alternative methods of treatment for individual waste fractions. However, not many alternative treatment methods have been developed where it is possible to recover or recycle hazardous waste, for example.

For some sectors and waste fractions, however, special efforts have been made to develop clean technologies, possible methods for recycling, etc. Not everywhere in the sector have efforts had an effect. Therefore, special efforts must be established to achieve full acquaintance with the knowledge and results which have arisen. At first, this applies within the galvano sector, the graphic sector, and the oil sector. Furthermore, there is the foundry sector where there are opportunities for special efforts to minimise waste.

Galvano waste - clean technology is not fully utilised
The galvano sector (electro plating and hot dip galvanising) produces significant amounts of hazardous waste. With support from the Council for Recycling and Clean Technology, a number of clean technologies have been developed within the galvano sector.

However, the technologies have not spread throughout the whole sector. This means that the opportunities to minimise the amount of waste and ensure more recycling are not fully exploited (see the fact sheet on the galvano sector).

It has been estimated that for hot dip galvanising, for example, significant savings can be achieved in the consumption of zinc and hydrochloric acid (10-15 per cent). At the same time, the amount of waste acid can be reduced by 50 per cent if the technology which has been developed is fully utilised within the sector.

For electro-plating treatment, it is estimated that by implementing known clean technologies throughout the sector a reduction of about 50 per cent in the consumption of organic solvents could be achieved, and a corresponding reduction in the amount of metal sludge generated.

Central recovery plants
The sector is working on establishing a central plant to recover process baths which, it seems, will be a reality within five years.

Therefore, implementation should be carried out of known clean technologies within the sector so that the known potential for the reduction of hazardous waste of approximately 5,000 tonnes per year is achieved before the year 2005.

Furthermore, it should be ensured that the final process waste does not contain substances which prevent subsequent recycling. This can be achieved through environmental management and approvals under Part 5 (of the Environmental Protection Act), for example.

Processing scheme for the graphic sector
The graphic sector, just as the galvano sector, produces significant amounts of hazardous waste. The graphic sector comprises enterprises which rang in size from small family printers to large industrial printers with many employees. There are about 3,000 such enterprises in Denmark and the majority of these are small with between one and nine employees.

With support from the Council for Recycling and Clean Technology, clean technologies have been developed for use in the sector, and there is currently a project which includes charting the amount of waste and the types of waste, as well as establishing nationwide sector-based collection schemes so that it will be profitable to recycle waste. It is expected that the project will be completed at the end of 1997.

Based on the results of the project, a processing scheme can be established for waste from the graphic sector. At the same time, it should be ensured that the final process waste does not contain substances which could prevent subsequent recycling. This could be achieved through environmental management, for example, or approvals under Part 5 (the Environmental Protection Act). The objective is to increase waste recycling.

Re-refine waste oil
At almost 40,000 tonnes per year, waste oil comprises one of the largest waste fractions. In Denmark, waste oil is disposed of exclusively through incineration (at district heating plants, Kommunekemi A/S and Ålborg Portland), but it can also be recycled to produce new lubricating oil.

Based on resource considerations, by using waste oil in district heating production, a non-renewable mineral fuel resource is saved. However, Danish energy planning is endeavouring in the long term to replace waste oil with natural gas and bio-gas. Therefore, use of waste oil in district heating plants is expected to fall in coming years.

Recycling of waste oil to manufacture lubricating oil is practised in other countries, including Germany and France. It is estimated that, based on the current amount of 30,000 tonnes of waste oil collected in Denmark, 25,000 tonnes can be used in re-refining. This could form the basis for the production of about 15,000 - 18,000 tonnes of new lubricating oil, which corresponds to some 20 per cent of Danish consumption.

With this background, assessment should be carried out of the extent to which it may be environmentally and economically beneficial to re-refine waste oil instead of incinerating it.

Foundry waste - reduction of production waste
Today, about 100,000 tonnes of foundry waste are produced in Denmark per year, of which the majority (70,000 tonnes waste sand) is landfilled. Foundry waste contains varying amounts of heavy metals as well as organic compounds. With support from the Council for Recycling Clean Technology methods have been developed which allow for most of the sand to be recycled without environmental problems.

It is expected that the amount of production waste from the foundry sector can be reduced by approximately 20,000 tonnes, corresponding to 20 per cent. This will be achieved with the aid of environmental management and approvals under Part 5 (the Environmental Protection Act).

It should be ensured that waste sand from foundries is separated and treated so that organic compounds are reduced to the level of clean earth - or alternatively that the sand is recycled without environmental problems.

Building and construction waste
Efforts to date within the building and construction sector have been especially directed towards recycling larger, homogenous waste fractions. At the same time, work has been done to develop a design process - environmentally correct design - where environmental considerations are included on equal terms with other important parameters in the design phase, such as form and function.

Environmentally correct design
Environmentally correct design widely spans environmental problems within the building and construction sector. From the point of view of waste, the use of environmentally correct design could contribute to minimising waste, partly by minimising the generation of waste in the construction phase, and partly by minimising the amount of waste in the longer term by promoting the use of materials which can be recycled and materials with a long lifetime, for example. Furthermore, environmentally correct design can help to promote the exclusion of materials which give problems in the disposal phase.

Environmentally correct design should be used throughout the building and construction sector so that there is more focus on the minimisation of waste in future building and construction work.

Selective demolition of environmentally harmful fractions
Where previously concentration has been placed on separation and the recycling of large waste fractions from the building and construction sector, focus should now be directed towards the more complex building materials and building waste which contain, for example, environmental contaminants. These include cables, PVC, and flashing lead. These fractions are today primarily disposed of by incineration or landfilling.

A statutory order can be prepared on separating and processing special fractions from the building and construction industry which contain environmental contaminants. These materials are separated through selective demolition.

With this initiative it is estimated that by the year 2010 the following amounts of heavy metals will be separated which today are incinerated or landfilled.

Lead 540 tonnes (320 tonnes from PVC)
Cadmium 20 tonnes (15 tonnes from PVC)
Copper 1,000-3,000 tonnes (130 tonnes from pressure impregnated wood)
Chromium 250 tonnes (130 tonnes from pressure impregnated wood)
Mercury > 100 kg
Nickel 100 tonnes

In this way, the content of heavy metals in residues will also be reduced. Also landfilling of this waste is prevented.

Guidelines on hazardous waste
In June 1996, new regulations on hazardous waste were introduced. The regulations are based on the EU directive on Hazardous Waste, including the list of hazardous waste. The regulations mean that now more criteria have been established on what in fact is hazardous waste.

In addition to the criteria for hazardous waste, reporting requirements for hazardous waste via ISAG have been extended. This means that in future the Environmental Protection Agency will receive more detailed information on the hazardous waste fractions which are treated in Denmark.

Therefore, there is a need for guidance in the use of the new regulations on hazardous waste.

Guidelines must be prepared on the use of the regulations for hazardous waste.

Furthermore, proposals for extending the criteria for hazardous waste must be worked out.

These initiatives will help producers and municipalities in their assessment of what hazardous waste is, and thereby ensure more environmentally correct management of hazardous waste.

4.1.2 National requirements for management of environmentally harmful waste

In future, there should be national requirements for how, and perhaps where, environmentally harmful waste fractions should be treated.

Alternative forms of treatment
Today, a number of environmentally harmful waste fractions are disposed of via traditional incineration plants or landfilling.

Many of the environmental contaminants are transferred to residues after incineration which contributes to limiting the possibilities for using such residues. A consequence of landfilling environmentally harmful waste is that a number of raw material resources are not exploited.

Therefore, special efforts should be established for these waste fractions. These efforts should reduce the amounts of unexploited resources which are currently landfilled, and reduce the amount of residues. Efforts should also contribute to improving the quality of residues which, all other things being equal, will continue to come from waste incineration plants. Thus, in time, residues will be used more freely than they can be today.

This can be done by:

- establishing efforts to reduce the amount of slags and increase the recovery of flu-gas waste from waste incineration plants.

- more separation at source and special collection schemes for environmentally harmful fractions.

- developing alternative forms of treatment for environmentally harmful waste so that it becomes possible to fully exploit the resources in the waste. This applies to energy and raw material resources, for example.

- preparing guidelines for which types of waste are suitable for different disposal methods - recycling, incineration, or landfilling.

The principle of future waste management should be that the most environmentally contaminating waste fractions are treated away from traditional incineration plants and landfills. In this way, residues from waste incineration plants can be improved and the landfilling of resources reduced.

Residues from waste incineration
Efforts for residues from waste incineration plants should be established for both slags and flue-gas cleaning products.

Today, 420,000 tonnes of slags are produced, which corresponds to about 20-30 per cent of the total waste incinerated. Slags are used today primarily in road construction and other building and construction. Current problems with recycling slags are primarily connected with their content of environmental contaminants.

Slags can be improved if less environmentally contaminating waste is imported to incineration plants. Please refer to the section below.

Although the composition of waste is improved, there remains good reason to look more closely at the incineration process within the plant. If this can be improved, the amount of slag will be reduced.

Slags
An assessment should be conducted of the environmental benefits of reducing the ignition loss from slags upon waste incineration.

Flue-gas waste
Approximately 60,000 tonnes of flue-gas cleaning waste is produced each year by waste incineration plants. Today, they are landfilled or exported to Norway or Germany.

It should be clarified as to whether it is technically and economically possible to order recovery of flue-gas waste from incineration, rather than landfilling. If this is so, solutions which can ensure recovery must be promoted.

As long as there is no forthcoming clarification on recovery solutions, minimum requirements must set for stabilisation before landfilling can be accepted at nationwide landfills for special waste. If necessary, landfills of unstable flue-gas waste at conventional landfills should be banned until binding requirements for the disposal of residues have been adopted.

Special collection schemes
As mentioned above, there are currently a number of waste fractions which, if they are kept outside the general waste treatment, can contribute to improving residues and increasing their application possibilities.

These include eight electronic products, fragmented waste, impregnated wood, PVC, and special fractions of construction and demolition waste. There is good reason for establishing special collection schemes for these fractions.

Waste from electrical and electronic products
Each year about 120,000 tonnes of electrical and electronic products are discarded. Today, these are disposed of by landfilling or incineration. These products contain environmental contaminants such as copper, mercury, cadmium and lead, as well as PCB and halogenated organic compounds.

A statutory order is being prepared on the collection and processing electrical and electronic products.

The statutory order will result in approximately 60 per cent of products being separated. The efforts will result in the following heavy metals being processed by the year 2010, which today are landfilled or end in residues from incineration.

Lead 500-800 tonnes
Cadmium 45 tonnes (from nickel-cadmium batteries)
Copper 1,600-2,800 tonnes
Mercury 100 kg

Scrap iron and metal scrap - fragmentation waste
Today, almost 82,000 tonnes of scrap waste are produced, of which 80,000 tonnes is landfilled, and the remaining 2,000 tonnes are incinerated. Scrap waste is characterised by a high content of heavy metals, oil and PCB, as well as plastic, rubber and other materials. Large parts of the waste (fragmentation waste) are inflammable, but not suitable for incineration. This is partly because they cause problems in the furnace, and partly because heavy metals give rise to problems in slags.

The planned statutory orders on the treatment of cars and electrical and electronic products will reduce the amounts of scrap waste and the heavy metals it contains.

The need for separation of other contaminating fractions from scrap before shredding should be assessed. One measure could be issuing a statutory order on the treatment of special products, as well as the introduction of environmental management.

These measures will mean that the following heavy metals are separated:

Lead 1,000 tonnes
Copper 1,500 tonnes (alone from fragmentation waste)
Mercury 100 tonnes
Nickel 100 tonnes (50 tonnes from steel processing)

Impregnated wood
Impregnated wood is primarily disposed of today via incineration in waste incineration plants. It should be expected that the amount of impregnated wood waste will increase in the coming years. By the year 2010, it is expected that there will be approximately 100,000 tonnes of impregnated wood waste. This will contribute 45 tonnes arsenic, 158 tonnes copper, 158 chromium, and almost 2 tonnes tin to the waste flow and will burden residues correspondingly.

A statutory order could be prepared for the special collection of impregnated wood. Assuming that in the year 2010 there will be 80 per cent separation of impregnated wood waste, these initiatives will mean that the following are separated:

Arsenic 36 tonnes
Chromium 127 tonnes
Copper 127 tonnes

In this respect, possibilities can be investigated for imposing taxes on impregnated wood containing environmental contaminants (chromium and copper). The tax could help to finance the collection of waste wood, for example.

Separate collection of PVC
PVC plastic is widely used in many different products. PVC waste is found in pure fractions, but it is also often mixed with other materials. These mixed fractions are normally disposed of via waste incineration plants and it is this method of disposal which makes PVC a problem in the disposal phase. The problem is that the production of hydrochloric acid leads to large amounts of flue-gas cleaning product, and that the stabilisers in PVC contain lead and cadmium, which are transferred to slags.

It is estimated that separate collection of PVC will lead to a reduction of approximately 6,000 tonnes in the amount taken to incineration from commercial and industrial waste and bulky waste. As 6,000 tonnes of PVC corresponds to about 10,000 tonnes of flue-gas cleaning product, the initiative will reduce the amount of the current production of flue-gas cleaning products which originate from HCl removal by about 60 per cent. Compared with the total amount of acidic flue-gas cleaning products, this represents a reduction of 15 per cent.

This should be considered in relation to the expectation that waste containing PVC will increase dramatically in the future. This means larger amounts of flue-gas cleaning products, if current treatment is maintained.

A statutory order for the separate collection of PVC could be prepared.

Resources of both energy and raw materials in the 6,000 tonnes of waste which are incinerated today in conventional incineration plants could be better utilised using, for example, gasification methods or chemical oxidation.

It is estimated that with 80 per cent separation, by the year 2010 it will be possible to recover:

Lead 320 tonnes
Cadmium 16 tonnes

Alternative treatment methods
Today, there are examples of alternative treatment techniques where, for certain contaminating waste fractions, it is possible to better exploit the resources in waste than through current incineration or landfilling. This applies to methods where waste is exposed to gasification in pyrolytic incinerators, for example. The advantage of these methods is that the energy content of the waste can be fully exploited and at the same time heavy metals can be recovered from the flue-gas cleaning product. The types of gasification plant known today could be directly connected to an individual enterprise, or used as general waste treatment plants.

These treatment methods are not widespread in Denmark, however, and therefore are not part of general, municipality assignment schemes.

Resources can be better utilised from a number of waste fractions which today are assigned to incineration, for example in gasification plants. This applies to waste fractions such as impregnated wood, cables, fragmentation waste, PVC, and electrical and electronic products. These fractions all contain environmental contaminants, they are found in relatively large quantities and/or they result in problematic residues.

Therefore, there should be special efforts to promote the development of alternative treatment techniques, and therefore negotiations between interested parties should be set up to discuss the possibilities and limitations for establishing pyrolytic incinerators or similar forms of treatment for environmental contaminants.

The discussions should include considerations of:

- the number and types of disposal plants necessary to achieve nationwide coverage,

- logistic matters to secure the amounts of waste which are to be treated and consideration of the transportation of waste,

- economic aspects with regard to waste disposal.

For special waste fractions, the establishment of cooperation within sectors, regions, waste-disposal companies, or other larger units, if necessary cross-border cooperation, or national measures will contribute to enhancing the possibilities for optimal management.

Guidelines for disposal
Guidelines should be prepared on which types of waste are suitable for different methods of disposal - recycling, incineration, or landfilling.

New guidelines on methods of disposal will ensure that municipalities and enterprises are better able to secure the most environmentally advantageous final treatment, including possible recovery of non-renewable resources. Overall guidelines for assessing different forms of recycling and evaluating suitability for recycling of specific types of waste would ensure greater consistency in the area. The possibility to establish a positive list of legal types of recycling should be considered.

The guidelines could serve as a background for an authorisation or certification scheme which may be established for waste treatment companies (see section 4.1.4 on approvals under Part 5).

4.1.3 Better application of taxes on waste

Taxes on hazardous waste
Taxes on waste can be used even more actively to limit the amount of waste, including hazardous waste. Government taxes on landfilling and incineration of waste have proved to be an important economic incentive for minimising waste, utilising clean technology, and recycling waste.

Taxes based on weight
Taxes on waste are calculated based on the weight of the waste which is landfilled or incinerated. It is therefore not possible to differentiate taxes according to, for example, whether there are specific recycling possibilities for the waste, or whether the waste contains environmental contaminants.

Plants which destroy hazardous waste are not taxed, however.

Assessment of taxes on waste
The Environmental Protection Agency has launched an assessment of taxes and their suitability as an economic instrument.

The assessment, which will be completed in 1997, will clarify, for example, the extent to which taxes on waste influence enterprises’ waste generation. Based on the assessment, the Environmental Protection Agency will evaluate the need for possible measures to supplement or reinforce economic instruments.

Compensation schemes
In connection with the amendment of the Taxes on Waste Act in December 1996, it was decided to establish a committee which in 1997 was to assess the special compensation scheme for recycling enterprises. The committee aims to clarify whether the compensation scheme offers recycling enterprises the necessary incentive to ensure the greatest possible reuse of waste received.

Hazardous waste
An assessment will be conducted on the possibilities for promoting recycling of hazardous waste by repealing the exemption for hazardous waste. Based on experience from taxes on waste, it is expected that enterprises can reduce their generation of certain types of hazardous waste or increase recycling if incineration or landfilling the waste is covered by the taxes.

4.1.4 More active utilisation of approvals under Part 5, and green accounting

Conditions for approvals under Part 5
In future, waste should be perceived as an emission similar to, for example, waste water. This means that greater demands should be placed on enterprises’ waste when approvals under Part 5 are issued, just as information on the environmental impact of waste should be central to green accounting and environmental management.

Today, waste generation does not comprise a significant element in setting conditions for approvals under Part 5. In future conditions, waste should be included as an emission equal to emissions into the atmosphere and water, and noise emissions. This implies that, in future, there should be greater focus on the responsibilities of the waste producer. In this way, it can be ensured that the amount of waste is as small as possible and its quality allows for recycling.

In this connection, the results of enterprises’ environmental and quality management and use of green accounting are important tools in setting conditions. This applies both to individual enterprises and the authorities responsible for approval.

Environmental and quality management
When environmental and quality management are introduced to an enterprise, the costs of inappropriate waste generation, waste disposal, and use of raw materials will be made apparent. This applies, for example, in connection with the disposal of reject production and raw material wastage. Measures in these areas are often primarily based on changes in behaviour, and only to a limited extent based on new investment. Focus on these areas can therefore significantly contribute to the introduction of environmental and quality management on a positive financial basis.

Green accounting offers an overview
Green accounting should offer a considerably better overview of the waste generated, but in its current form it does not offer the possibility to gather knowledge of the amount of waste, nor its composition, including the content of environmental contaminants. Such information should be included in the further development of green accounting.

Greater concentration on the waste area in connection with environmental management and quality control and in the development of green accounting will ensure less waste and more recycling, as well as better management of xenophobic substances.

The same applies to better utilisation of the opportunities of Part 5 of the Environmental Protection Act. Experience from individual enterprises using quality control, and the results of their green accounts must be used in setting conditions of waste generation in Part 5 approvals.

Formulating conditions
Conditions could, for example, place requirements on the amounts of waste per unit produced using best available technology. There could also be requirements for maximum stockpiles, or specific qualitative or quantitative goals for defined time periods, for example, to reduce contaminating waste, hazardous waste, etc..

Thus, there is specific assessment as to whether the production technologies applied ensure the least possible generation of waste, the best possible substitution of environmental contaminants, as well as waste separation which provides optimal opportunity for recycling. Formulation of conditions should be such that they do not work against the development of new waste-treatment methods.

Greater demands for waste separation and minimisation require close coordination with municipality regulation and should therefore be included in discussions with the National Association of Municipalities in Denmark, the Association of County Councils in Denmark, and waste-disposal companies. These discussions will include the most appropriate allocation of legislative and inspection tasks.

Injunctions for enterprises which do not require approval
During inspection of enterprises which do not require approval, the inspecting authority should issue an injunction under the Environmental Protection Act, Part 5, § 42, if significant pollution is discovered in waste generation. In this way, environmentally responsible waste generation is ensured.

In connection with inspection at enterprises which do not require approval, municipalities should put special priority on waste generation.

Guidelines
Therefore, more detailed instructions on waste minimisation, recycling and reduction of environmental contaminants should be included, for example in the Environmental Protection Agency guidelines on approval of listed enterprises. Such instructions can be used by counties and municipalities in fixing conditions and injunctions for their approvals.

Authorisation or certification schemes for treatment of waste flows
With a view to promoting appropriate waste treatment, improving the quality of waste treatment generally, and at the same time ensuring optimal recovery of resources in waste, authorisation and certification schemes can be established.

These schemes could be established so that they are connected to more closely defined treatment of special waste fractions.

4.1.5 Better opportunities to sell waste - establishment of a waste exchange

Networking
Better opportunities to sell waste should be created.

One basis for increasing recycling is that there is some form of networking between waste generators and recycling enterprises to ensure that waste is in fact available when it is to be used in further production. A waste exchange or cross-cooperation between municipalities, sectors and recycling enterprises could solve this problem.

According to the Confederation of Danish Industries, one of the obstacles to selling many waste products is that potential receivers are uncertain of the quality of the waste. One requirement for more effective utilisation of production waste and residues is that materials are available in a reasonably homogenous and well-defined form. An important part of the work will therefore be to establish quality standards for waste products and to encourage enterprises to integrate waste generation in environmental and quality management systems.

Local waste exchange in Vejle
As outlets of the Green Network, local exchanges have been established in Herning and Vejle. It is important to use experience from these to assess whether there is a basis for establishing a nationwide waste exchange. In contrast to regional waste exchanges, it can be expected that a nationwide waste exchange, because of its wider geographical coverage, would have better opportunities to create contracts between generators of waste and enterprises which can use waste instead of virgin raw materials.

On the other hand, a nationwide waste exchanges will not have the advantage of a regional exchange in that the generator and receiver of the waste know each other’s production and needs. It is therefore important to retain, in some form or other, the advantages of a regional exchange when establishing a nationwide exchange.

A nationwide waste exchange will require the establishment of a database which interested enterprises can use to make contact with each other. The Environmental Protection Agency can help to establish the framework of the waste exchange, but contact between the producer and the receiver will depend on the enterprises themselves.

The Environmental Protection Agency, in association with the Confederation of Danish Industries and Vejle County Council, is considering whether to establish a working group in 1998 which will assess the results of experience from waste exchanges to date, both in Denmark and abroad, as well as assess how a nationwide waste exchange can be established in Denmark.

4.1.6 Enhancing the development of recovery technologies

Adapt products to waste treatment
One of the great challenges for the future is to better adapt products and waste systems to each other in order to close the resource cycle as far as possible.

In order to reduce problems which arise due to products’ complexity, demands should be made on the construction of products and their content of environmental contaminants so that they do not present problems as waste. Possibilities for recycling are an important element in this connection.

For composite products, the challenge is partly to reduce the number of different material components, and partly to ensure that these components can be disassembled with a view to further treatment. In several places throughout the world, tools for ‘Design for Disassembly’ are being developed. Possibilities for introducing such methods in Danish industry should be investigated. A dialogue on these issues could take place in the product area panels which will be established in connection with ‘Intensified Product-oriented Environmental Action’.

Moreover, there will be a need to develop technologies which can disassemble, separate, and treat products which are already being used or can be found in the waste flow today.

This requires the establishment of a close, far-reaching dialogue between product developers and the waste-treatment sector.

Therefore, support should be provided for the development of recovery technologies so that the development of methods for production and waste treatment can be enhanced such that the largest possible proportion of rejected products can be recycled.

4.1.7 Increased recycling of waste suitable for incineration

Investigations should be carried out into how more waste can be recycled in future which today is transported to incineration plants.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the amount of waste suitable for incineration transported to incineration plants. With the introduction of the ban on landfilling waste suitable for incineration, it can be expected that the pressure on incineration plants will further increase for a period.

With the adoption of the agreement of the National Association Of Local Authorities in Denmark, which included the agreement on the ban on landfilling waste suitable for incineration, it was presupposed that approximately 440,000 tonnes of waste would be transferred from incineration to recycling. The EPA assesses that this goal is far from being achieved.

Increased efforts for recyclable fractions in waste for incineration will contribute to reducing the pressure on incineration plants. If organic fractions from domestic waste are ignored, the EPA assesses that it is primarily waste from commerce and industry where the goal of transferring incineration waste to recycling has not been achieved. It has been observed that only 38 per cent of waste from industry, trade and offices is recycled, which does not correspond to the objectives in the Government Action Plan for Waste and Recycling 1993-97. With the Agreement on Transport Packaging and the new Statutory Order on Waste, efforts have now been established for paper, cardboard and plastic.

Independent of the results of the initiatives which have already been started in connection with the Agreement on Transport Packaging and the Statutory Order on Waste, there should be actions for more waste fractions suitable for incineration.

For example, there should be a survey to determine sectors which produce large amounts of waste suitable for incineration which could be material recycled with advantage, as well as surveys of the obstacles facing enterprises which transfer waste to recycling.

4.2 Results expected from the special initiatives

The objective of the Government’s Action Plan for Waste and Recycling 1993-97 was to stabilise the amount of waste by the year 2000 at 10 million tonnes. Commercial and industrial waste and residues from waste incineration plants, amongst others, have proved to be increasing.

It is intended to reverse this development with the initiatives proposed in this strategy.

Less waste - more recycling
Enhanced use of waste taxes, Part 5 approvals, green accounting, and environmental management, as well as the development of clean technologies, will be the areas for efforts which can contribute to reducing the amount of waste and increasing recycling. The size of the reduction in the amount of waste, as well as how much recycling can be increased through the proposed initiatives cannot be put into precise figures at the moment.

However, the special initiatives which have been proposed will, as a minimum, mean the following reductions in amounts of waste by the year 2010:

40,000 tonnes discarded electrical and electronic products
5,000 tonnes hazardous waste from the galvano sector
10,000 tonnes acidic flue-gas cleaning product from PVC incineration
80,000 tonnes impregnated wood
80,000 tonnes scrap waste (fragmentation waste)

Increased recycling
In addition, new recovery technologies and enhanced resale opportunities, for example through the establishment of exchanges, will increase the recycling of waste generally.

Environmental contaminants
At the same time as commercial and industrial waste is increasing, the amount of environmental contaminants in waste is also increasing. In particular, residues from waste incineration plants, which contain environmental contaminants such as heavy metals are becoming a worse problem.

It is therefore proposed to separate the most environmentally harmful waste flows so that they are not treated together with large waste flows. In this way, the content of heavy metals in residues will be reduced.

Large reductions
As mentioned in Chapter 4.1, large reductions can be achieved through the establishment of selective demolition of buildings, collection and processing of electrical and electronic products, separate collection and treatment of impregnated wood, separation of PVC, environmental management in the scrap sector, and collection of nickel-cadmium batteries.

Combined with the development of clean technologies and substitution of environmental contaminants, the environmental burden from these waste fractions and from residues can be reduced by between 60 and 90 per cent by the year 2010. This spread is due to some heavy metals being easier to remove that others. For example, cadmium is far easier to isolate as it almost exclusively comes from batteries, whereas there are many more sources of, eg. copper (see Tables 8 and 9).

Table 8 Results of special initiatives for environmental contaminants which are landfilled.

Lead and copper
There are many sources of lead and copper in waste flows. However, it can be seen that the amount of copper is dramatically reduced. This is primarily due to efforts for electronic products, building waste (selective demolition), and environmental management at metal-processing enterprises, as well as efforts for scrap.

The import of lead into waste flows is primarily reduced through initiatives for PVC, electronic products, and lead batteries.

Cadmium
Almost all cadmium originates from rechargeable batteries. The objective of green taxes and charges and the associated reimbursement schemes is that at least 75 per cent of cadmium from this source will be removed from waste. PVC was previously stabilised using cadmium, which is why efforts for PVC will also mean a reduction in cadmium.

Without these efforts, there will be a dramatic increase in cadmium in residues.

Chromium and arsenic
The content of chromium and arsenic will also increase significantly. This is primarily due to contributions from increasing amounts of impregnated wood which will be introduced into waste in future.

Table 9 Results of special initiatives for environmental contaminants in residues from incineration plants.

Nickel
In addition to initiatives which have already been taken to reduce the use of nickel and products containing nickel (limitations of use following the Statutory Order on Nickel), in future there will also be a reduction of nickel in waste because, for example, tyres are now reprocessed.

Environmental management within iron and metal processing enterprises, as well as the scrap sector, will also be vital in reducing nickel in waste which today is landfilled.

Mercury
The consumption of mercury is falling as a result of regulation of its use. However, there are still products in use which contain mercury.

Separation of old electrical and electronic products and measuring and monitoring equipment, as well as batteries, will reduce mercury in waste in coming years. Statutory Orders on selective demolition and electronic products are initiatives which will have a large impact on the separation of products containing mercury.

On-going revision of initiatives
In accordance with the ideas behind the ‘environmental space’, in time there will be a need to revise the initiatives in this strategy and assess what further initiatives for environmental contaminants in waste flows are required, with a view to reducing consumption of resources, the amounts of waste, and the environmental burden this causes.

The extended total balance concept
Overall, the EPA assesses that the initiatives which are presented here for debate will not lead to extra financial cost for municipalities or counties in the form of increased administrative expenditure or increased expenditure on inspection.

National guidelines or certification schemes for waste-treatment companies, which this Position Paper proposes, will lead to a relaxation of the inspection obligations of municipalities.