Prevention and management of household waste in Flanders Helen Versluys, PhD OVAM (Flemish Public Waste Agency)

Helen Versluys 3 Overview  Responsibility for household waste management  Household waste treatment in Flanders  Flemish household waste management according to the waste hierarchy  prevention and re-use  selective collection and recycling  residual waste treatment: incineration and landfilling

Helen Versluys 4 Responsibility for household waste management  Flanders: one of the three Belgian regions  Waste management = regional competence  OVAM is the regional authority responsible for making policy on waste in Flanders  Municipalities are responsible for the collection and treatment of household waste

Helen Versluys 5 Household waste treatment in Flanders

Helen Versluys 6 Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives  Re-use centres and shops  99 shops and 33 centres  7.19 kg/inhabitant collected in 2007  almost half of the collected goods are resold  furniture, EEE, toys, clothes, etc.  susidies for re-use centres and shops

Helen Versluys 7 Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives (continued)  Home composting  25% of the Flemish households (mainly in rural areas)  5 compost masters per 10,000 inhabitants  communication campaigns, training and household waste charging are crucial

Helen Versluys 8 Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives (continued)  ‘Please no publicity’ stickers  Communication campaigns on waste prevention  Financial support for local authorities which launch waste prevention initiatives (e.g. re-usable diapers, drinking fountains, lunch boxes)  Cooperation agreements containing prevention measures between local authorities and the OVAM

Helen Versluys 9 Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives (continued)  Promotion of ecodesign  ecodesign awards for students and professionals  ecolizer  Eco-efficiency scan  Green procurement (office supplies and cleaning products)

Helen Versluys 10 Prevention and re-use: future objectives  Increase sustainable production and consumption in absolute and relative terms  more innovation  retail sector offers and sells more sustainable products by 2015  more sustainable products consumed by 2015  central role of the government in sustainable consumption via green public procurement

Helen Versluys 11 Prevention and re-use: future objectives (continued)  Far-reaching decoupling between economic growth and household waste production by 2010  i.e. stabilisation of household waste generation compared to 2000 at 560 kg/inhabitant (150 kg/inhabitant residual waste)  2% prevention (dry fraction) per year  10 kg/inhabitant is collected for re-use and 5 kg/inhabitant is effectively re-used  stabilisation of the number of households and increase in the number of companies participating in selective collection

Helen Versluys 12 Selective collection and recycling  Selective collection schemes to allow for separation at the source  kerbside collection  municipal recycling yards  collection via retailers  Polluter pays principle  household waste charging based on volume or weight  recycling fees  extended producer responsibility  Differentiated tarification  = mixed household waste is more expensive to discard than selectively collected waste

Helen Versluys 13 Selective collection and recycling: kerbside collection  Kerbside collection  mixed waste (charged)  plastic bottles, metal packaging and drinking cartons (€ per 60 l bag)  paper and cardboard (free)  glass bottles (free)  vegetable, fruit and garden waste (charged)  bulky waste (free or charged)  Others  bottle banks (free)  textile containers (free)

Helen Versluys 14 Selective collection and recycling: charges for mixed household waste collection  Bag (60 l): between € 0 and € 2.5  Container (120 l)  taxation per volume: € € 3.76  taxation per weight: € € 0.2/kg  taxation per offer: € € 1

Helen Versluys 15 Selective collection and recycling: correlation between price and amount of waste generated

Helen Versluys 16 Selective collection and recycling: illegal and evasive behaviour  5 to 10 % of the population is responsible for illegal behaviour (dumping, burning waste at home, producing street litter, pollution of selectively offered waste, discarding waste in other municipalities or at the work place, etc.)  75 % of the illegally disposed waste consists of waste without municipal taxation => no link between ‘expensive’ waste bag or container and illegal behaviour  Municipalities need to punish illegal behaviour  ‘Waste tourism’ can be avoided by using the same tariffs in neighbouring municipalities

Helen Versluys 17 Selective collection and recycling: recycling yards  337 recycling yards that collect 50% of the household waste  A wide range of waste streams are separately collected in those yards: construction and demolition waste, cooking oils, batteries and accumulators, polystyrene, WEEE, paper and cardboard, PE foils, metals, fluorescent tubes, light bulbs, wood, green waste, car tyres, bicycle tyres, asbestos, gypsum, bitumen, hazardous waste and non-recyclable combustible wastes

Helen Versluys 18 Selective collection and recycling: collection at retailers  WEEE  batteries and accumulators  pharmaceuticals  car tyres

Helen Versluys 19 Selective collection and recycling: extended producer responsibility  Producers are financially responsible for the collection and treatment of their products once they have become waste  Printed paper, batteries and accumulators, waste pharmaceuticals, end-of-life vehicles, waste tyres, waste electrical and electronic appliances, lighting equipment, waste industrial and cooking oils

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Helen Versluys 21 Selective collection and recycling: future objectives  Limit residual household waste to 150 kg/inhabitant/year for the whole of Flanders  Each individual municipality has less than 180 kg residual waste per year per inhabitant  By % of the household waste is collected selectively for the purpose of re-use and recycling

Helen Versluys 22 Residual waste treatment: landfill ban  It is prohibited to landfill:  unsorted household (and industrial) waste  wastes that were selectively collected for the purpose of recovery  combustible residues from the sorting of household waste (or comparable industrial waste)  waste pharmaceuticals  Motivated derogation possible

Helen Versluys 23 Residual waste treatment: incineration ban  It is prohibited to incinerate:  selectively collected wastes that can be recycled  with the exception of some high calorific wastes for renewable energy purposes  unsorted household waste  (unsorted industrial waste)  Motivated derogation possible

Helen Versluys 24 Residual waste treatment: steering of landfill and incineration costs  ‘Smart’ taxes  make landfilling more expensive than incineration  make (co)incineration more expensive than recycling  steer the market towards the treatment option with the lowest environmental impact  Restrictive permitting policy for landfills increases landfilling costs

Helen Versluys 25 Residual waste treatment: examples of landfilling and incineration costs

Helen Versluys 26 Conclusions  Flanders ‘champion’ with regard to selective collection  Prevention of waste is the main challenge for the coming years

Helen Versluys 27 Conclusions (continued) Lessons from the Flemish experience:  Work on all levels of the waste hierarchy  Source separation of crucial importance  communication campaigns  selective collection schemes  polluter pays principle  Limit residual waste treatment capacity to the minimum  Make landfilling expensive and ban it for as many wastes as possible

Helen Versluys 28 Thank you for your attention Helen Versluys OVAM