Role of waste management with regard to climate protection: a case study

Abstract

According to the Kyoto Protocol and the burden-sharing agreement of the European Union, Austria is required to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the years 2008 to 2012 in order to achieve an average reduction of 13%, based on the level of emissions for the year 1990. The present contribution gives an overview of the history of GHG emission regulation in Austria and identifies the progress made towards the realization of the national climate strategy to attain the GHG emission targets. The contribution uses Austria as an example of the way in which proper waste management can help to reduce GHG emissions. The GHG inventories show that everything must be done to minimize the carbon input due to waste deposition at landfill sites. The incineration of waste is particularly helpful in reducing GHG emissions. The waste-to-energy by incineration plants and recovery of energy yield an ecologically proper treatment of waste using state-of-the-art techniques of a very high standard. The potential for GHG reduction of conventional waste treatment technologies has been estimated by the authors. A growing number of waste incinerators and intensified co-incineration of waste in Austrian industry will both help to reduce national GHG emissions substantially. By increasing the number and capacity of plants for thermal treatment of waste the contribution of proper waste management to the national target for reduction of GHG emissions will be in the range of 8 to 14%. The GHG inventories also indicate that a potential CO2 reduction of about 500 000 t year(-1) is achievable by co-incineration of waste in Austrian industry.

Energy from waste in Europe: An analysis and comparison of the EU 27

“…Based on the energy statistics from Eurostat (Eurostat, 2010a;b;c;d;e;f;g;2011) the development of the primary energy provision from waste in the time period from the year 1990 to the year 2008 was analysed for the EU 27 countries (2008 being the last year for which respective statistical energy supply data are currently available). Due to major changes in the regulatory framework of the waste sector during that period it can be presumed that this period shows a significant development for the recovery of energy from waste.…”

“…This article focuses on the different waste management situations of the various EU member countries (EU 27) by analysing the importance of waste-generated energy based on the energy statistics of Eurostat (2010a;b;c;d;e;f;g;. A comparison of the EU 27 countries regarding their development of waste-generated energy from the year 1990 to the year 2008 is given.…”

Municipal Waste Management

“…LFG that contains greenhouse gases (GHG), including carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), CH 4 , nitrous oxide (N 2 O), perflourocarbons, sulphurhexaflouride (SF 6 ), and hydrofluorocarbon, contributes negatively to global warming [5]. Emissions from landfills including leachate and landfill gas (LFG) require appropriate treatment technologies to curb environmental contaminations.…”

“…MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT emission [7]. On the other hand, a developed country such as Austria has managed to reduce the total GHG emission to 23 Â 10 6 t by 2005 with the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures [5]. Developing countries produced more than 4.57 Â10 6 t of CO 2 Equivalent [where Equivalent (Eq) refers to all GHG including CH 4 , perfluorocarbons, nitrous oxides, etc.]…”

Feasibility analysis of municipal solid waste mass burning in the Region of East Macedonia – Thrace in Greece

“…Waste-to-energy (WTE) is an established option for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment, motivated by both the necessity to minimise the environmental stresses of landfilling and the aim to increase the share of renewable energy (Gohlke, 2009;Hackl and Mauschitz, 2008). European Directive 2008/98/EC classifies WTE within the 'recovery' category of the conceptual hierarchy of the waste management options, only if the R1 criterion for energy efficiency is fulfilled.…”