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On the ball
02-JUN-2006

Germany excels on the recycling league table

Germany leads in the drive to become ‘a recycling society’ by using a blend of technologies, policies and public support. Moreover, it aims to make sustainable resource management and efficiency essential parts of its economy by 2020.

Germany is a leading nation in the drive to become ‘a recycling society’. Its current recycling rate for residual wastes is about 60% and for industrial waste 40%. The recycling rate is the greatest for C&D waste, at nearly 90%. By 2020 Germany wants to have completely phased out landfilling of municipal wastes and to achieve a sustainable waste management system. This requires considerable effort, research and development. Strategies for achieving this objective include:

• waste prevention – increasing the productivity of raw materials and avoiding emissions
• material recycling – reducing the input of raw material and primary energy
• energy recovery of wastes – for production of electricity and heat, reducing the input of primary energy carriers
• early treatment of waste – reducing emissions of greenhouse gases such as methane.

‘Recycling has become ‘the norm’ – a daily or weekly routine’

WASTE GENERATION IN GERMANY

The development of waste generation in Germany over recent years is shown in Figure 1. C&D wastes (223 million tonnes per year) play the key role in waste generation. The trend in C&D waste generation runs parallel to economic trends in the building sector. Recycling in this sector in Germany operates almost at maximum with very high levels of recovery.

In 2003, Germany produced 366 million tonnes of waste. This figure can be broken down into more than 60% construction and demolition (C&D) wastes, approximately 14% residual waste (the waste that remains after extraction of biowaste and recyclables) and 13% industrial waste. The potential for material and energy recovery in these waste streams is good, as seen in the Germany’s recycling rates. 

In the same year, about 50 million tonnes (approx. 14%) of the volume of waste were municipal wastes and nearly 90% of this was household wastes. This means that nearly 44 million tonnes of household wastes was generated each year, equivalent to 532 kg per inhabitant. Recycling of household wastes has been increasing during recent years to about 61%.

THE RECYCLING POTENTIAL

The cost of waste management generally increases with the development and implementation of new technologies and strategies. These costs are often directly or indirectly passed on to the general public. In Germany, there is a growing widespread support for people to separate and recycle waste to save money. Therefore, recycling has become ‘the norm’ – a daily or weekly routine. As waste recovery, treatment and disposal become more expensive due to high disposal costs, fair policies must be maintained for passing on these costs to the public. This can secure an efficient waste management system and encourage support for separate collection.

German technology – the state of the art After 1 June 2005, approximately 200 municipal solid waste landfills and an equal number of industrial waste landfills were closed. Germany must now find alternative solutions for its waste. In 2003, 61 waste incineration plants combusted 14 million tonnes of waste and in 2004 a dozen more plants were in the planning stage. The number of working waste incineration plants are expected to climb up to 67 in 2006 and to 81 in 2007. Furthermore, there are about 31 hazardous incinerations plants with a total capacity of 1 million tonnes per year. This year, about 66 mechanical–biological treatment (MBT) plants with a total capacity of approximately 7.1 million tonnes per year are being constructed. Figure A shows the development of the main waste technologies between 1996 and 2003. The waste treated via incineration has been doubling during the last 10 years and the amount of waste treated in biological waste treatment plants tripled between 1996 and 2003. Waste-to-energy Due to the restrictions in landfilling, waste incineration and co-incineration of refuse-derived fuels (RDF) will play an increasing role in waste management. The two main methods of waste pre-treatment are: thermal treatment in waste incineration plants MBT and production of RDF. Thermal treatment of untreated municipal waste is a vital part of the German waste management system. All incinerators in Germany recover energy (therefore they are waste-to-energy or WTE plants) and meet all legal requirements of the Waste Incineration Plant Ordinance. Recently built or modernized WTE plants stabilize their costs at around €120 per tonne. MBT plays an important role in waste treatment due to the low public acceptance of incineration, which still prevails in Germany. The RDF separated from municipal waste can be used in several industrial combustion processes such as cement kilns or power plants. WTE plants generate approximately 0.5% of the total electricity in Germany. The co-combustion of RDF is an economically attractive option for plant operators, but to widen its use, a standard of technical criteria for RDF needs to be established. Mechanical–biological treatment The capacity of MBT plants in Germany amounts to about 5–6 million tonnes per year. Once the plants currently under construction are completed by the end of this year, MBT capacity will increase to about 7.1 million tonnes per year. MBT is, unlike thermal treatment, not a way of ultimate disposal, but a means of separating waste into different streams. It offers a way of sorting waste to prepare for recycling or disposal. MBT requires the integration of other disposal facilities. Biological treatment In 2002, approximately 3.4 million tonnes of biological waste from households and about 4 million tonnes of (public) park waste were collected across Germany. 90% of this biowaste was treated in composting plants, and only 10% in fermentation plants. According to these statistics, biowastes are treated in about 1500 composting and digestion plants. This number also includes several agricultural digestion plants and special composting plants dealing with manure, slurry, biomass and sewage sludge. The treatment of biowaste in special digestion plants is an advantageous and effective way of producing renewable energy and reducing greenhouse emissions caused by organic waste.

Table 1 shows the recycling rates of the different waste fractions.

Politicians have been supporting recycling by encouraging the separate collection of waste and splitting material flows. Analysis of material flows is potentially a very valuable tool for policymakers and industry. By undertaking a material-flow analysis, we can show how to close loops in the material flow: wastes become secondary raw materials and are introduced into the material cycle. This basic idea is accepted in government as well as in economics, and should form a core part of future waste policymaking. However, flow analysis remains a complex issue and so far it has proved difficult to incorporate outcomes into new waste laws. As a result, legislation on material flows in Germany has yet to be developed.

TABLE 1. Recycling rates in Germany, 2003 (thousand tonnes)
	Amount (thousand tonnes)	Disposal				Recycling
		Total disposal	Landfilling	WTE	Treatment	Total recycling	WTE	Material recycling	Total recycling rate (%)
Residual waste	49,622	20,769	9530	11,127	111	28,854	178	28,676	58%
Waste from mining	46,689	47,689	48,689	–	–	–	–	–	–
Commercial and industrial waste	46,712	26,919	20,757	2549	3613	19,793	4625	15,167	42%
C&D waste	223,359	30,763	26,878	497	3385	192,626	142	192,484	86%
Total	366,412	125,140	103,855	14,173	7112	241,272	4945	236,327	66%

IMPROVING RECYCLABILITY

Recyclability refers to primary waste prevention. A product’s recyclability is controlled primarily during its design.

Recyclability is enhanced when few composite materials are used. Joints and fastenings should be made so that they can be taken apart easily and non-destructively after the end of their useful life. A prerequisite for recycling is the easy identification of materials to enhance their sorting and recovery. Complex products should be designed in a modular fashion, making the recycling, service and maintenance of products easier and cheaper.

The recyclability of a product is controlled primarily during its design

National and international recycling regulations (such as on WEEE, automobiles, batteries, C&D waste and packaging) enhance the recyclability of relevant products. Here, automatic and semi-automatic disassembly solutions have been developed by industry to fulfil the regulatory recycling quotas with the minimum costs. Furthermore, implementing the concept of producer responsibility helps industry to design better recyclable products.

German initiatives to improve recyclability are beyond the scope of this article; however, it is timely to note that Germany’s WEEE legislation took effect in March this year. Within this sector, mobile phones represent a type of product where recyclability can be enhanced through improved design – for instance, by designing for disassembly or using raw materials that have a ready market. Currently Germany achieves a 65% recycling rate for mobile phones. A nationwide mobile phone recycling initiatives was launched in February this year by the NABU nature conservation association and Vodafone; NABU will receive a donation of €5 from its partner, Vodafone, for every handset that is returned.

FUTURE TRENDS IN GERMANY

From an engineering point of view, waste is clearly unsustainable. However, we are unlikely to find an easy answer to what ‘sustainability’ means for the waste industry. Waste management can play an important role here. High prices for waste treatment and ‘green’ incentives can influence industry and the ordinary household to take a more sustainable approach.

Germany is on the way to having a circular economy. Not only does this involve waste treatment, recycling and disposal; it also involves aspects such as transformation of industrial organization and allocation, urban infrastructure, environmental protection, technological paradigms and social welfare distribution. These transformations are based on system-wide innovations for the whole economy, making system innovation the first step when developing a circular economy. In addition, the government must play a key role in mobilizing society as a whole to establish a new culture of circular economy.

Establishing a new economic development pattern means either upgrading or replacing the existing production pattern. The new circular economy model can obtain the benefits of environmental protection without compromising rapid economic growth, but one must realize that some policies may increase the prices of certain inputs, especially for primary resources, and may reduce the economic growth rate measured by gross domestic product (GDP).

1 June 2005 was a milestone of waste management in Germany – when the landfilling of untreated waste was prohibited – but it is only part of the journey. We have to develop the ideas of responsible resource management and resource efficiency and extend them beyond the field of waste management. Our objective is to integrate the closed substance-cycle economy into sustainable, resource-saving substance-flow management.

We have to develop responsible resource management and efficiency

Germany has to significantly increase the resource efficiency of its goods production – for ecological reasons, but also to remain competitive in a globalized economy. The goal of doubling efficiency by 2020 is a challenge for product design and waste management alike.

Germany has reduced the production of harmful emissions by about 33 million tonnes of CO² equivalents since the implementation of the Waste Storage Ordinance in 2001. This field still has a huge potential for climate protection in Europe.

CONCLUSION

Recycling is a matter of separating different material streams from residual waste. The collection strategy impacts on the quality of secondary materials, the economics and associated environmental burdens. Primary material and primary energy resources can be replaced by secondary materials and secondary fuel only if the product (and fuel) quality is maintained.

Waste management costs have a significant influence on the amount of recycled material. The higher the waste management costs the greater the material recycling. While this is reflected in the German situation, there is an obvious limitation to this trend: as soon as the cost of virgin materials drops below a certain point, recycling is no longer the preferred option.

Bernd Bilitewski and Christina Dornack are from the Institute for Waste Management and Contaminated Site Treatment, Technical University of Dresden, Germany.
e-mail: christina.dornack@mailbox.tu-dresden.de

German citizens are highly aware of the benefits of recycling. The country aims to achieve sustainable waste management by 2020. PHOTO: INTECUS GMBH	Increasing resource efficiency will be good not only for the environment but also for the economy

 

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