Sustainable Waste Policy
Who we are
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
•
Alliance 90 / The Greens are the party of peace, social
fairness, protection of the environment and a
sustainable economic development.
•
We are a constituent part of the German Parliament for
25 years now. Election results up to 8,6 %.
•
From 1998 – 2005 Alliance 90 / the Greens were part of
the government and Jürgen Trittin was the fist “green”
Minister for environment.
•
green successes of time in government were: phasing
out of nuclear power, passing the Renewable Energy Act
and implementation of the emission trading.
Sustainable Waste Policy
Germany: 1980’s
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
•
The “waste problem” was a central point of green
environmental policy right from the beginning.
•
Problem of the early days were: a lot of waste but very
low standards for handling.
•
The situation that time:
– waste avoidance was a foreign word
– even hazardous Waste was filled in unsecured
hollows
– incineration was - when practiced at all - known as
an “dioxin slingshot”
Sustainable Waste Policy
Germany: 2008
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
• The commitment of the environmental groups of
the early days was successful:
– today waste avoidance has became a central
policy target,
– high readiness in the society for separating and
collecting of waste,
– high quotas on recycling,
– multi way packing is promoted,
– strong legal emission-limits for waste
incineration,
– no more untreated Waste in landfill sites since
June 2005
Sustainable Waste Policy
Lessons learned
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
•
waste avoidance and recycling quotas are not the solution,
they are just a part of it,
•
even recycling products become waste after use,
•
alternatives for waste incineration like the biological
stabilization have disadvantages (e.g. landfilling is still
necessary),
•
although many Members of the green party started their
“carrier” in action groups against incineration plants,
incineration with low emission level and energy recovery is
very well accepted today.
•
landfillig is not suitable for the future. To end depositing of
waste in landfill sites has to be a primary target!
Sustainable Waste Policy
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
Waste is a resource use if applicable to LA
source: IFEU Heidelberg
Sustainable Waste Policy
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
What does this mean for our future?
•
promotion of an integrated product design; the behavior of
a product as waste has to become part of the product
development
•
closing the loop for raw materials: recycling instead of
“downcycling”
•
avoidance of waste by implementation of a tax for primary
raw materials
•
further efficiency increase for waste incineration more
production of electricity and heat
•
Products have to become free of harmful substances
•
away from oil, use of renewable resources for production
(e.g. use of bioplastics)
Sustainable Waste Policy
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
Germany’s “concept 2020”: Zero waste
•
we are campaigning to end the disposal of waste from
human settlements on landfill sites by 2020 completely
•
That means waste has to be sorted fully automatically and
the valuable substances have to recovered.
•
Sorting residues that are left over should be used to
generate energy in waste incineration plants operated to
very high standards. ->this is the link to MVR-technology
Sustainable Waste Policy
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
Why do we support the technology at MVR?
a System like MVR
fits into Green
future concept to
reach the 2020
target:
– very low emissions,
– high efficiency in recovering of heat and electricity,
– use of different by-products by producing acid and
gypsum
– use of ashes e.g. in the building industry
– only 2% of the input is left over and has to be
deposited in the underground
source: MVR-Hamburg
Sustainable Waste Policy
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
In Summary
The sustainable handling of waste is a central
element for protection of environment and
climate. There is still a lot to do!
1. Closing the loop for raw materials and increased
rate of recycling
2. Ending of landfilling as soon as possible
3. We conclude that using the best available, proven
incineration technology is the only realistic option
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
Experiences
withWaste
high
or low tech
Sustainable
Policy
alternatives
Gasification and Pyrolysis
– process itself causes high loss of energy, ecologic questionable
and economic not profitable, examples:
– “Babcock- pyrolysis“ capacity only 26.000 t/a in the 80’s
– “Schwel-Brenn-Verfahren” pilot plant never worked regular
– “Thermoselect” end in 2004, loss of 400 Mill. €
– “PKA –process” since 2007 off duty
– “black pump” 2004 sold for one €uro, since 2007 using coal
– …
Mechanical Biological Treatments
– Technical problems, no market for combustibles, landfilling is still
necessary
• This technologies are not reliable!
Sustainable Waste Policy
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
Consequences of missing reliability
• definitely the worst case for the
environment!
– examples: Napoli, Italy and not working MBA
Technology
Sustainable Waste Policy
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
In Summary
The sustainable handling of waste is a central
element for protection of environment and
climate. There is still a lot to do!
1. Closing the loop for raw materials and increased
rate of recycling
2. Ending of landfilling as soon as possible
3. We conclude that using the best available, proven
incineration technology is the only realistic option
Dr. Michael Weltzin
Scientific Assistant
in the Parliamentary
Group
Thank you for your
attention