Waste incineration a climate policy dead-end From a throwaway to a circular economy Idea: Consumer societies produce a virtually infinite stream of waste: packaging, dispos- able products, industrial waste, food scraps, obsolete electronics and much more. Misguided waste disposal policies contribute significantly to the green- house effect – a fact that is frequently overlooked. Biomass waste and residual waste are incinerated in waste-to-energy plants and cement factories as a climate policy solution. The energy generated from the incineration of biomass waste is declared to be “clean”, carbon-neutral bioenergy. Incineration is also intended to reduce the quantity of methane – a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than CO2 – that would otherwise be emitted from landfill sites. This approach is far from being a climate-friendly, safe and resource- efficient solution, however. CO2
Waste incineration. In this input sheet, waste incineration units are defined. In case of a useable heat output from these units, the heat is used for district heating systems. The electricity and heat production of waste incineration units is assumed constant throughout the year. Figure 15 Screenshot of the “Waste incineration” in Supply interface • Waste input: Total yearly input of waste to the incinerator in energy. • Electric efficiency: Yearly average electric efficiency of the waste incinerator. Can be left at zero or empty if no electric output. • Thermal efficiency: Yearly average district heating production efficiency of the waste incinerator. Can be left at zero or empty if there is no thermal energy output to district heating systems. • Costs: Here the total investment costs, technical lifetime (from the time of installation) and fixed opera- tion and maintenance costs are inserted for the waste incineration plants. Check methodologies for this input in D3.1, Section 4.2.
Waste incineration a climate policy dead-end From a throwaway to a circular economy Idea: Consumer societies produce a virtually infinite stream of waste: packaging, dispos- able products, industrial waste, food scraps, obsolete electronics and much more. Misguided waste disposal policies contribute significantly to the green- house effect – a fact that is frequently overlooked. Biomass waste and residual waste are incinerated in waste-to-energy plants and cement factories as a climate policy solution. The energy generated from the incineration of biomass waste is declared to be “clean”, carbon-neutral bioenergy. Incineration is also intended to reduce the quantity of methane – a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than CO2 – that would otherwise be emitted from landfill sites. This approach is far from being a climate-friendly, safe and resource- efficient solution, however. CO2 Climate effects: Urgent action is needed to phase out the climate-damaging landfill dis- posal of waste that is still practiced in many parts of the world. However, trying to solve the prob- lem by incinerating waste is the wrong way forward. The alleged positive climate effect of waste incinera- tion or co-incineration is insignificant: biomass waste is not a carbon-neutral fuel, as energy from biomass gen- erally produces additional greenhouse gases. The co- incineration of waste in cement plants produces both direct and indirect emissions, as materials and products that were burnt have to be replaced by new ones. ecological impact: In addition to green- house gases, the incineration of waste gen- erates other harmful emissions, especially in the case of industrial waste and halogenated plastics. Such emissions include persistent organic pollutants that have been banned internationally. Incineration also results in the loss of valuable raw materials that cannot be recovered from the remaining ash or slag. The disposal and incineration of recyclable materials and waste therefore drives the continuous, worldwide extraction of new raw materials and resources. Europe, for example, already imports four times the volume of raw materials that it exports, leaving a lot to be desired in terms of international resource justice. social impact: Incineration of waste gener- ates large quantities of acidic gases and other noxious byproducts that have to be rendered harmless at great expense. This is only done in a few countries, however. The incidence of cancer, skin and respiratory diseases is thus inc...
Waste incineration. The controversial criteria defining when municipal waste incineration can be considered as recovery has also been adopted. Incineration of municipal solid waste should be categorised as recovery, provided it meets certain energy efficiency standards (energy efficiency formula in annex II to the directive). According to the Commission, this will have the effect that only the most energy-efficient existing municipal solid waste incinerators will be classified as recovery installations. On the one hand, we understand and welcome the fact that municipal solid waste incinerators have to be energy efficient. On the other hand, we stress the utmost importance of complying with the recycling targets, so that recycling remains the preferable option before incineration. And we strongly urge that the possibility to revise the efficiency criteria after 6 years, which is stated in the Directive, should not lead to a leveling down of the criteria. About definitions Finally, the new Directive contains a number of new definitions, including end-of- waste and by-products. These definitions refer to a number of conditions to be met in order to classify a substance respectively as non-waste or as a by-product. However, the Directive postpones the adoption of concrete implementation measures of these conditions to the so-called “comitology” procedure, which means that the designated experts of each Member State and, as a last resort, the Commission, will decide upon these measures. After the formal approval of this agreement by the Council and after its publication in the Official Journal, Member States will have 2 years to transpose the Directive into their legislation. It is obvious that the new EU waste legislation will have significant consequences for all waste management actors, at national, regional or local level, in the public and private sector, for citizens and NGO’s. Also, it is clear that the new Directive gives an important role to the European Commission for the assessment and the exchange of information and experiences on the implementation of new or future waste management rules. In this respect, we will continue to provide the European Commission with updated information based on the experiences of the local and regional waste actors in the field.
