Municipal solid waste management in EEA member countries- A review of achievements

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)

2. 32 country papers + available at: http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/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 European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)

4. 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 2012-2014 • 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)

5. The focus in the ex-post analysis • Historical performance • Based on a set of 9 indicators (2001-2010) • 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)

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 2001-2010 European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)

11. Bio-waste recycling rates 2001-2010 European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)

12. Yearly average percentage point increase in total recycling of MSW, 2001-2005 and 2006-2010 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 European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)

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

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 European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)

17. 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 2010. • 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

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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,

21. Thank you for your attention For more information please visit our website: http://scp.eionet.europa.eu/ European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP)