97.5 175
652.5 715
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Landfills
Czech Republic Poland
Incinerators
Therefore, unless other regulations are in place, the market mechanisms will direct waste to landfills instead of other waste treatment options such as recycling, composting and incin-eration with energy recovery, thereby acting in direct opposition to the official community strategy. The causes of current differences in treatment prices have to be counteracted either by regulatory measures, or by using economic instruments such as disposal charges.
Landfill capacity is another concern highlighted by EEA.47For countries where data on both capacity and total amount landfilled is available, it is possible to calculate the remain-ing capacity in years, based on the present rate of disposal. Within the EU there is a very high degree of variation in available capacity. While some countries have sufficient capacity for 10 years, others only have capacity for a shorter period.
Within the CEECs, data available for calculating such projections was limited and in most cases unavailable. Only data for calculating municipal landfill capacity existed, and then only for a few countries: Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania. Based on current annual munic-ipal waste generation, the Czech Republic has a landfill capacity for about 50 years and Slovakia for about 100 years. This is due to the fact that during the 1990s new safe landfills were built to solve a critical situation in waste management. In the Czech Republic several thousand old dumps were closed in 1996 and replaced by about 400 new landfills.
According to the data, the positive trend of a decrease in total waste generation from 1995 to 1999 has increased the lifetime of existing landfills. Substantial investment in the 1990s by the private and public sector into secured landfills should be used in an optimal way. In the future more detailed information databases on landfills must be established as a part of the pre-accession efforts. This would ensure better projections of landfilling in the context of growing incineration and recycling.
Another problem associated with landfilling is the production of methane, a major green-house gas. Methane from landfills was estimated to account for 28 percent of the total methane emissions in the EU in 1995 (EEA, 1999). Methane emission problems can be solved by avoiding the landfilling of biodegradable organic matter or by collecting and utilising gas at the landfill. The Directive on the landfilling of Waste requires gas collection from all new landfills receiving biodegradable waste and sets goals for the reduction of municipal organ-ic waste going to landfills.
It should be noted that no hazardous waste landfill was reported in Bulgaria and Latvia, while Estonia, Hungary and Latvia have only one such landfill. Since some hazardous waste cannot be incinerated (including solid waste from hazardous waste incineration), these facts indicate an underdeveloped infrastructure for hazardous waste disposal.
Within the CEECs very little data is available on policies preventing landfilling of biodegradable waste or on methane gas collection and utilisation. In Estonia one large land-fill is equipped with a gas collection system. A regulation to reduce landland-fill methane will soon be adopted in Estonia within the Draft Regulation of Ministry of Environment (which establishes procedures and requirements for management, use and the closing down of landfills).48In the Czech Republic several large landfills were equipped with methane col-lection equipment. The newly prepared Czech database of landfills should contain informa-tion on landfill gas.
Considering all problems associated with landfilling, as well as the time needed for find-ing suitable locations, obtainfind-ing public acceptance (EIA) and constructfind-ing the landfills, a timely decision on the eventual construction of new controlled landfills and enhanced devel-opment of alternative techniques must be made.
7.2 INCINERATION
Although data on the total quantity of incinerated waste in the EU is not available, the OECD indicates a minimum total annual incineration of municipal solid waste of about 26 million tonnes. Incineration has many positive aspects such as reducing the quantity of waste to be landfilled and the remaining slag becoming more stable than untreated waste. Thus it is far easier than landfilling or recycling. Energy is also utilised in many incinerator plants, and the focus on energy recovery has been increasing.49
There were 533 incineration plants for municipal non-hazardous waste reported in oper-ation in the EU member countries. There were also an additional 239 incineroper-ation plants for hazardous waste reported in operation. Many incinerators generate heat or power, or both (co-generation). Optimal efficiency is achieved through combined systems where heat is
used in district heating systems. Among the CEECs, the number of reported incinerators in operation for the treatment of municipal waste is very low indeed, while the number for the treatment of hazardous waste varies considerably among the individual CEECs.
By 1999, within the CEECs, there were only seven municipal incinerators (capacity exceeding three tonnes per hour) reported in operation in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, and three smaller ones in Poland. There are 97 incinerators reported for hazardous waste, 22 of them having a capacity of over 10 tonnes per day. Due to the lack of detailed data, there is minimal evidence of energy utilisation at these incineration plants, except in Romania where two of the three hazardous waste incinerators in operation utilise energy recovery. It should be stressed that Latvia and Slovenia have no facility for the final disposal of hazardous waste.
Waste incineration is covered by Council Directive 89/369/EEC on the Prevention of Air Pollution from New Municipal Waste Incineration Plants, Council Directive 89/429/EEC on the Reduction of Air Pollution from Existing Municipal Waste Incineration Plants and Council Directive 94/67/EEC on the Incineration of Hazardous Waste. In addition, Commission Decision 97/283/EC on Harmonized Measurement Methods to Determine the Mass Concentration of Dioxins and Furans in Atmospheric Emissions in Accordance with Article 7(2) of Directive 94/67/EC on the Incineration of Hazardous Waste was adopted to supple-ment Council Directive 94/67/EC.
Recently, Directive 2000/76/EC on the Incineration of Waste was introduced. This new directive will repeal and replace Council Directives 89/369/EEC, 89/429/EEC and 94/67/EC as of December 28, 2005. In addition, Article 8(1) and the Annex to Directive 75/439/EEC on the Disposal of Waste Oils will be repealed and replaced by the same date. In the case of larger waste incineration plants, Council Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) will also apply.
The EU approach is based on the application of emission limit values together with addi-tional technical requirements and requirements related to emissions monitoring. Naaddi-tional legislation should distinguish between municipal waste incineration plants and hazardous waste incineration plants. The requirements related to hazardous waste incineration plants are more stringent than those related to municipal waste incineration plants — though a sub-stantial change to the EU legislation was made by the adoption of the new Directive on Incineration of Waste that imposes the same requirements on any waste incineration plant.
In addition, provisions for the co-incineration of waste in cement kilns, large combustion plants or other industrial plants are included in the new directive. Directive 2000/76/EC is applicable to new plants as of December 28, 2002 and to existing plants (permit before December 28, 2002) as of December 28, 2005.
Certain waste incineration plants are subject to integrated pollution prevention and con-trol, according to Council Directive 96/61/EC on IPPC (municipal waste incineration plants with nominal capacity exceeding three tonnes per hour and hazardous waste incineration plants with nominal capacity of more than 10 tonnes per day). In general, the emission limit values laid down in Directive 2000/76/EC are more stringent than those laid down in the existing CEECs’ legislation, e.g. existing Czech legislation (Decree No. 117/1997, Coll.).
Existing national legislation must therefore provide for the monitoring of emissions, the specification of operating conditions (especially temperature of incineration, residence time, treatment of waste gases, delivery of waste) and other technical requirements (auxiliary burners). Requirements of the EU legislation are more detailed and usually more stringent than those provided for by the existing legislation.
However, there are many problems associated with incineration such as the release of air pollutants and the generation of secondary waste streams (slag and fly ash). Emissions from incinerators have been reduced considerably since 1990 due to the closing of many small installations and the introduction of new cleaning systems. The total amount of incinerator slag produced from plants is estimated to be between 6 million and 9 million tonnes per year in the EU countries. A number of countries use the slag for road construction, embankments, noise barriers, and for concrete production.50
Based on the scarce information collected by national correspondents, the following conclusions on incineration could be drawn:
• Waste incineration plants may increase pollution levels in their vicinity significantly, which is especially important in the cases of dioxins and furans.
• A small fraction of the existing waste incineration plants seems to be in full compliance with the EU requirements, namely with Directives 94/67/EC and 2000/76/EC.
• In the case of municipal waste incineration plants, substantial investment is expected in the coming years; existing industrial incinerators have to be reconstructed or upgraded to meet the more stringent requirements.
• In the case of hazardous waste incineration plants, some are expected to close their operation soon; according to one expert opinion, for example, 50 percent of hazardous waste incineration plants are expected to be closed down before the accession date in the Czech Republic.
• Co-incineration of considerable amounts of tyres, waste oils, plastics and solvents is car-ried out in cement and lime plants, ironworks, etc.
The implementation of Council Directive 96/61/EC on IPPC could generate problems as compliance with emission limit values laid down by Directive 2000/76/EC should be regard-ed as a necessary but insufficient pre-requisite for compliance with the requirements of Directive 96/61/EC, providing for the use of best available techniques. Implementation by IPPC competent authorities must take into account actions necessary for achieving ambient air quality standards in zones and agglomerations, according to Directive 96/62/EC.
7.3 WASTE INCINERATION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
The Czech Republic reported 75 incinerators out of the total 107 operating in CEECs. This is why waste incineration in the Czech Republic will be discussed in greater detail. In 1999, 79 waste incineration plants were listed in the national register of air emission sources data-base (REZZO). Of this total, 63 plants were actually operating in October 2000.
Three plants for the incineration of municipal waste are under construction (SKO Praha, Malesice — 310,000 tonnes per year, SAKO Brno — 210,000 tonnes per year, SKO, Liberec
— 96,000 tonnes per year). Major hazardous waste incineration plants are operated by large industrial plants (Kaucuk, Kralupy — 10,500 tonnes per year, Aliachem, Semtin — 14,000 tonnes per year, BC MCHZ, Ostrava — 10,000 tonnes per year, Spolek, Usti n.L. — 5,000 tonnes per year and Ekochem, Vyskov — 2,500 tonnes per year). The remaining plants are mostly hospital waste incinerators.
As for the technical requirements, the 75 permitted installations that were assessed showed the following results:
• All existing plants are able to maintain the required temperature of incineration (850 or 1100 C).
• Four plants are not able to achieve the required residence time.
• Thirty-six plants are able to block delivery of waste automatically before achieving the required temperature.
• Eleven plants are able to block delivery of waste automatically in emergency cases.
• All plants are equipped with auxiliary burners but four of them do not have any auto-matic control system attached.
• All existing plants are equipped to monitor carbon monoxide and oxygen.
• Only nine plants are equipped with automatic monitors for other parameters (usually sul-phur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride).
The total amount of waste incinerated in the Czech Republic increased from 577,000 tonnes (one percent of the total waste generated) in 1998 to 828,000 tonnes (three percent of total waste generated) in 1999. The total amount of combustible waste generated in the Czech Republic was 11 million tonnes in 1998 and 9.6 million tonnes in 1999.
Cement plants are the major players in co-incineration. The amounts of co-incinerated commodities in 1999 was as follows:
• Tyres: 16,000 tonnes per year (Mokra, Cement Plant, Cizkovice Cement Plant)
• Waste oils: 12,000 tonnes per year
• Solvents: 4,000 tonnes per year
• Tars: 18,000 tonnes per year
• Plastics: 100,000 tonnes per year
Another 8,000 tonnes of waste oil was incinerated in ironworks in 1999.
Today several waste incineration plants operating in the Czech Republic seem to be in full compliance with the requirements of the EC legislation.51Significant reduction of emissions from waste incineration plants can be expected due to the implementation of emission limit values and other requirements provided for in EC directives. It must be taken into account that waste incineration plants may have a significant influence on local pollution levels.
7.4 SEPARATED COLLECTION AND RECYCLING
Paper and glass waste recycling has increased among the EU member states, although this has only been a partial success since the total amount of waste paper and glass waste (container glass) generation has also increased in the same period. In the EU and Norway, the recycling of paper and cardboard increased from 36 percent in 1985 to 49 percent in 1996. The total amount of generated waste paper and cardboard consumption in the EU has also risen from approximately 41 million tonnes in 1983 to 64 million tonnes in 1996 (3.5 per-cent per annum, EEA, 1999).
TABLE 13