Hrvatski
According to the study of the German Ministry of Environment Protection, the potential to decrease GHG emissions from waste management is significant. Avoiding landfilling of biodegradable waste as well as further development of recycling are considered as proper steps towards an integrated management and climate change mitigation.
For the development of an integrated waste management system the following recommendations – some of the country-specific and some more general – can be made.
Recommendations:
- In countries in which the majority of MSW is still landfilled, action plans for the progressive reduction of landfilling should be introduced and systematically implemented. In industrialized countries anaerobic MBT and MBS can be used as bridging technologies;
in developing countries and emerging economies, simple MBT with due regard to good composting practice is appropriate. A market for the RDF fraction produced must exist or be created (in compliance with emission standards). - The superordinate goal of closed-cycle materials management is comprehensive high-value material recycling. The source-segregated collection is recommended because, provided that The Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Waste Management the population is well-educated on the issue, it can ensure high-quality standards.
Alternatively, sophisticated sorting facilities are a possibility, but they cannot be readily established in all countries and they need a market for secondary products to justify the cost and labor involved. - Systematically implemented political and legal conditions are essential for the development of action plans. The formulation of policy objectives for the waste management sector is recommended for the USA and India, and in Egypt, a waste management law should be enacted. Of special importance for the EU28 is a full implementation of the Landfill Directive: despite existing derogations, eight EU countries are having difficulty complying with the landfill reduction targets. The recycling targets and rules on comprehensive source-segregated collection for the Waste Framework Directive proposed on 2 July 2014 by the EU Commission of the time are an important step in the right direction; they should not be withdrawn as planned by the current Commission.
- Information about waste streams and waste characteristics is indispensable for proper steering of waste streams and for planning. For the USA it is therefore recommended that, instead of using the top-down approach, actual waste streams are evaluated. This requires
compulsory reporting of the waste delivered to composting, sorting, and recycling facilities. In addition, MSW should be weighed separately from other waste. The waste composition should be analyzed, at least on a sample basis. The recommendations also apply to OECD countries in which they are not (yet) being implemented.
