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The paper starts by reviewing the increasing production of waste and the growing importance of its thermal treatment, which aims at volume reduction of the waste, at the destruction, capture, and concentration of hazardous substances, and at the recovery of energy (WtE).

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The European directive 2000/53/EC implies a "reuse and recovery" rate for end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) of 95% to be reached by the year 2015. One of the options to increase the actual average European "reuse and recovery" rate of approximately 78% (EU 15, 2008) is incineration of automotive shredder residue (ASR) with energy-recovery. The mass balance and the congener fingerprints for PCDD/Fs, dioxin-like PCBs, PCBs and PAHs in a real scale fluidized bed combustor (FBC) incinerating 25% ASR with 25% refuse derived fuel (RDF) and 50% waste water treatment sludge (WWT sludge) were investigated. The PCDD/F, dioxin-like PCB, PCB and PAH concentrations in this input waste mix were more than hundred times higher than in the usual waste feed of the incinerator (30% RFD and 70% WWT sludge). In the outputs of the FBC, however, the concentrations of these POP groups were comparable or only slightly higher than in the outputs generated during the incineration of the usual waste feed. The considered POPs in the waste were destroyed efficiently and the formation of new POPs during cooling of the flue gas appeared to a large extent independent of the POP concentrations in the incinerated waste.

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