Streamlining of Environmental Indicators Agenda item 5 Proposals for Streamlining of Municipal Waste Indicators (Cluster 23) Jürgen Gonser ARGUS, Berlin Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

Structure Overview on European waste indicators Overview on municipal waste indicators Indicators on municipal waste generated Comparison Proposals for streamlining Indicators on municipal treatment Conclusions for streamlining Results Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

Overview of European Waste Indicators Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

Indicators on Municipal Waste (MW) Municipal waste (MW) indicators have been the most frequently used / most important waste indicators. Reasons: Important waste stream in terms of quantity and quality Data availability / quality better than for other waste streams Result: MW indicators are used as proxies for overall waste generation and treatment due to the lack of a better indicator Main advantages: good quality and long time series Main shortcomings: Reflects only a share of the generated waste total Comparability across countries is limited Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

Overview on MW Indicators Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

Data source / data collection Until reference year 2003: Municipal waste indicators were based on data collected via the OECD/Eurostat questionnaire on the state of the environment (Joint Questionnaire, JQ) Since reference year 2004: Eurostat collects data on municipal waste annually through a small dedicated questionnaire The Eurostat questionnaire follows the concept and definitions of the JQ in order to maintain and continue the time series Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW generation: Data collection Data collected on waste generation: Municipal waste generated (1000 tonnes) Coverage of municipal waste collection systems (% of population) Amounts of municipal waste generated should include the municipal waste collected plus an estimate of the waste generated by the population not covered by a collection system. Data on the coverage of the MW collection system builds the basis of this estimate. Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW generation: Comparison of indicators Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW generation: Streamlining potential SDI tsdpc 210 / SI tsien 120 are completely identical no potential for streamlining Streamlining Potential between CSI 016 and SDI tsdpc 210 / SI tsien 120 : Uniform naming (although difference is small) Harmonisation of metainformation on methodology and data quality Timing of assessments in order to have the latest and most complete data available Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW generation: Proposals for streamlining Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW treatment: Data collection Data on the amounts of waste treated are collected by the following treatment categories: MW landfilled MW incinerated, of which with energy recovery without energy recovery MW recycled MW composted Data colletion on recycling and composting was discontinued in 2004 and re-introduced in 2007. Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW treatment: Comparison of indicators Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW treatment: Potential for streamlining SDI tsdpc 240 and SI tsien 130 use the same base data and are identical with regard to methodology Streamlining potential exists with regard to: Naming: no reason for different indicator names Update / harmonisation of metadata: Information on the treatment categories recycling and composting should be included Integration of all treatment categories in: Dedicated indicator tables Database (accomplished since 18.02.2011) Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

MW treatment: Proposals for streamlining Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011

Results Streamlining would make visible that there are only two indicators on municipal waste that are used in different indicator initiatives: Indicator “Municipal waste generation” SDI tsdpc 210, SI tsien 120, CSI 016 Indicator “Municipal waste treatment” SDI tsdpc 240, SI tsien 130 The proposal would provide more clarity to the users about the identity of the indicators Number of indicators published would remain the same Workshop “Streamlining of Environmental Indicators”, 22nd/23rd February 2011