Sustainability, Climate Protection, Ecological Fingerprint
Sustainability, Climate Protection & Ecological Fingerprint (& Toxicology)
German Green Party Statement on Waste Disposal to King County Council Member Kathy Lambert, Washington State, May 25th 2007:
"Disposing of waste in landfills is not a solution. It is the most unsustainable way of waste treatment..."
Excerpt:
This 2020 target is not an utopian goal, it is a realistic objective:
- Waste can already be sorted fully automatically and the valuable substances can almost completely be recovered.
- Sorting residues that are left over can be used to generate energy in waste incineration plants operated by very high standards. The different by-products of waste incineration can also be reused (for example the waste incineration facility in Hamburg at Rugenberger Damm).
For us it is not comprehensible, that waste disposal in landfill
sites should bring a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by low costs.
It is the opposite of the wide accepted knowledge in Europe and Germany,
that recovery and treatment are essential elements of a sustainable
waste and environmental policy.
Read statement here: “Waste Disposal Position of Alliance90-The Greens”
The German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature
Conservation and Nuclear Safety:
How waste treatment relates to emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and
why Germany enacted a law that banns untreated waste in landfills.
Read the Entire Statement here: “Letter Dr. C Bergs BMU on GHGs.”
Environmental Study: “Waste Sector’s Contribution to Climate
Protection"
The findings of this study show clearly that the municipal waste sector
makes a significant contribution to achieving the climate protection
objectives in Germany. Especially through the ban on landfill of
untreated waste and the resulting reduction in methane emissions, the
waste sector accounts for a large share – 20 % – of the reductions
achieved to date.
Read the Entire Paper here: “Environmental Study - Waste Sectors
Contribution to Climate Protection.”
Article by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment,
Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety on Dioxin:
Waste Incineration – A Potential Danger: Bidding Farewell to Dioxin
Sprouting
In the eighties of the previous century, waste incineration plants
(WIPs) came to be the symbol of environmental contamination: citizens
were beginning to put up a fight against the throw-away society and
'dioxin spouting' on the outskirts of cities. That protest was a
success. Today, more than half of all household waste (65%) is recycled
as bio-waste, waste paper, waste glass, or packaging waste. Since June
1, 2005, untreated waste is no longer land filled. Because of stringent
regulations (cf. the chapters at the end of this paper), waste
incineration plants are no longer significant in terms of emissions of
dioxins, dust, and heavy metals. And this still applies even though
waste incineration capacity has almost doubled since 1985.
Read the Entire
Paper here: “BMU - Dioxin and WTE.”
Sigmar Gabriel, the German Minister of the Environment, outlines
national innovations and approaches to waste management:
Tackling the waste: “Our waste policy is based on three pillars:
Avoidance, Recovery and Disposal.”
Read the Entire Statement here: “Siegmar Gabriel - Tackling the waste -
English version.
Land filling, Waste-to-Energy/Energy-from-Waste (WTE/EFW) and
Mechanical Biological Treatment – Each using State of the Art/Best
Available Technology/Practices – A Detailed Comparison Study:
Of special interest:
Slide 28 – Ecological Fingerprint &
Slide 38 – Greenhouse Effect
View the Complete BASF study here:
“Eco - efficiency analysis - BASF.”