Holistic waste management

When the BDE Bundesverband der Deutschen Entsorgungs-, Wasser- und Kreislaufwirtschaft e. V. (Federal Association of the German Waste Management, Water and Environmental Service Industries). whose member companies represent 75 percent of the turnover generated by the private sector, invites the public to a panel discussion at the European Union in Brussels, it carries weight.

All the more so when it comes to the question of whether an EU-wide landfill ban on untreated municipal waste is an urgently needed measure for climate and resource protection. The keynote speech was given by Dr. Bärbel Birnstengel of Prognos. She presented the results of a January 2022 study on the CO2 reduction potential of the European (EU+UK) waste management sector.

Under the more ambitious of the two projections, the current net CO2 emissions impact of 13 Mt CO2eq could result in a net CO2eq emissions avoidance of -283 Mt CO2eq. The climate-relevant savings potential would thus be almost 300 million t CO2eq if thermal recycling is seen as a "door opener for better, higher-quality and more environmentally friendly recycling" and landfills are subsequently closed. Reason enough to persuade the decision-makers in the Commission to act more quickly.

Ciobanu-Dordea, Director of Directorate B - Circular Economy in the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission since 1st of May 2022 stressed that there must be a majority in politics for these demands. He highlighted the EU's plans to landfill only ten percent of waste in Europe by 2035. He did not mention that the EU is already struggling to enforce the landfill directive.

What remains to be done?

From my point of view, it makes sense to name the link between landfilling and Greenhouse Gas wherever they are identifiable, but to be careful not to look for culprits. It is a matter of winning over the protagonists to overcome, step by step, this outdated way of dealing with waste and recyclable materials. Today I want to focus on how we name the problems. Prof. Themelis pointed me to the following study: Methane Generation and Capture of U.S. Landfills.

This study gives us a rough metric on the generation of methane from MSW landfills, which is on the average, 0.05 ton methane per ton of MSW landfilled annually.

The values are also consistent with the recent EPA draft Report on U.S. GHG emissions (US-GHG-Inventory-2023-Landfill emissions.pdf) and the statements of Prof. Gerhard Rettenberger and

"end the decades-old argument as to how much methane is generated in sanitary landfilling." (NJTh)

With this figure everyone can show in their country, or in their city how high the GHG emissions from their landfills are. If there is a gas collection, these numbers are simply subtracted.

You are welcome to place this as a personal comment to this blog.

Yours,
Werner Bauer
Member of Board of Directors of GWC