European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP) 1 Municipal solid waste management in EEA member countries- A review of achievements Christian Fischer Chief Consultant ENPI-East workshop 4th November 2013

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP) country papers available at: ions/managing-municipal-solid- waste

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)3 Contents Background for the review The focus of the review The most important results Distance to target of 50 % recycling by 2020 GHG emission benefits of better MSW management Lessons learnt

Background for the review June 2011 EU Commissioner addressed the EEA: –Need better knowledge on the implementation of environment policies - waste January 2012 – agreement between EEA and the EU Commission’s DG Environment for –An ex-post analysis of MSW in each EEA country –Develop a European reference model on MSW European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)4

The focus in the ex-post analysis Historical performance –Based on a set of 9 indicators ( ) Uncertainties that might explain differences Country specific initiatives taken to improve MSW management Assess the future possible trends Achieving future EU targets on MSW by 2020 –Diversion of biodegradable MSW away from landfills –50 % recycling target for household waste/MSW by 2020 European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP) 5

6 Use of MSW data in the ex-post review The term 'municipal' is used in different ways in the different countries reflecting different waste management practices –Absolute amounts are seldom comparable –Percentages can better be compared –Trends can normally be compared Percentage indicators are mainly used

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)7 Development of municipal waste management in 32 European countries EU-27 Croatia Iceland Norway Switzerland Turkey

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)8 Are we moving up the waste hierarchy? Number of countries at different levels of the municipal waste management hierarchy

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)9 Municipal waste landfilling rates

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)10 Material recycling rates

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)11 Bio-waste recycling rates

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)12 Yearly average percentage point increase in total recycling of MSW, and

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)13 Regional variations in municipal waste recycling rates

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)14 Distance to the EU target of 50 % recycling target for MSW by 2020

GHG emissions from municipal waste management in the EU, Switzerland and Norway

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)16 Conclusions on what have we used the reported MSW data for Monitoring the development Documenting achieved targets Identifying front runners and the policy tools applied by these countries Showing that countries with a low starting level of MSW management can in fact achieve good progress within a few years Distance to new targets

Lessons learnt Clear indications of a shift away from landfilling towards preferred waste management approaches. –Nevertheless, the majority of countries still landfilled more than half of their municipal waste in Substantial increases in the proportion of municipal waste recycled. –Primarily due to trends in recycling of materials –Bio waste recycling performing less well Substantial variation between different regions within the countries –Regional & local policies have a significant influence on MSW recycling rates

Lessons learnt Majority of countries are making good progress on diverting Biological MSW from landfill Majority of countries will need to make an extraordinary effort in order to achieve the target of 50 % recycling by 2020 EU legislation of the last two decades has certainly provided the driving force for better waste management

Lessons learnt: MSW management and selected policy instruments We have looked for 8 pre-defined policy instruments –Two or more national waste management plans –Only regional waste management plans –Landfill tax increased more than 50 % from 2001 to 2010 –Incineration tax –Landfill ban on organic waste or non-pretreated MSW –Mandatory separate collection in addition to packaging waste, e.g. paper –Mandatory separate collection of organic MSW fractions –Economic incentives for households for recycling of MSW

Lessons learnt: Relation between selected instruments and recycling rates Countries using many of the instruments –have a higher MSW recycling rate than countries using only very few or no instruments 16 countries with highest MSW recycling rates: –12 have used between 4-7 of the selected instruments, 10 countries with lowest MSW recycling rates: –have all only used between 0-2 of the selected instruments.

ETC/SCP’s assistance to the EEA on the ENPI-SEIS project Based on data experiences in ETC/SCP’s work with the EEA countries and West Balkan countries: –Provide expert input in discussing/analysing the development, use and reporting of waste- related data, –Assess available waste data (particularly municipal solid waste) for the development of regional environmental indicators,

European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)22 Thank you for your attention For more information please visit our website: