Waste -to-Energy Resource Efficiency [609560]

Waste -to-Energy & Resource Efficiency
The waste hierarchy
Municipal waste treatment in 2010 in the EU 27
Why is landfill diversion so important?
Reducing waste disposal – the EU Landfill Directive
Cutting GHG emissions from municipal waste
Moving up the waste hierarchy
Municipal waste treatment in 2010 in the EU 27
Can’t everything be recycled?
Recycling metals from Waste -to-Energy bottom ash
Casting alloys from bottom ash
Sustainable waste management Waste -to-Energy & Energy Efficiency
Energy content of waste
The Waste -to-Energy Cycle
Waste -to-Energy in Daily Life
Examples: Paris , Amsterdam & Cologne
Some other examples of good practice
Sustainable Energy from Waste -to-Energy
Waste contributing to renewable energy Waste -to-Energy’s contribution to
Resource & Energy Efficiency
What is Waste -to-Energy?
Energising your waste
Local Energy from residual waste
EU Legislation paving the way
Policy Recommendations
Waste -to-Energy in Energy & Resource Efficiency
Waste -to-Energy: Cleanly & Safely Treating Remaining Waste
Waste -to-Energy is clean and safe
Inside a Waste -to-Energy Plant
Waste -to-Energy plant animation
Waste -to-Energy Reducing Emissions
Health Studies
Safe, clean and full of energy!
Waste -to-Energy in Europe in 2010
CEWEP – Who we are
Contact us Index

Waste -to-Energy
Energising your waste
Waste -to-Energy Plants (waste incineration with energy
recovery) thermally treat household and similar waste that
remains after waste prevention and recycling – generating
energy from it.
Electricity is fed into the grid and distributed to the
end-users,
Hot water can be sent to a nearby district heating (or
cooling) network to heat (or cool) homes, hospitals, offices
etc.
And the steam can be used by nearby industry in
production processes.
Spittelau Waste -to-Energy plant in Vienna, Austria This energy can be in the form of
steam, electricity or hot water :

Waste -to-Energy
providing local energy from our residual waste
Helping to reduce dependence on (expensive) fossil fuels imports
Saving millions of tonnes of CO2
Contributing to security of energy supply
Sustainable, local, low carbon, cost -effective and reliable energy
While helping to divert waste from landfills

Thanks to progressive EU legislation
Enormous strides have been made in Waste -to-Energy
Waste Framework Directive
 Incentives for Waste -to-Energy Plants to improve their energy efficiency
 Waste hierarchy
Waste Incineration Directive/Industrial Emissions Directive and
Best Available Techniques Reference Document
 Most stringent emission levels, strictly controlled
Landfill Directive
 Sets targets to divert waste from landfilling to more sustainable methods of waste management, i.e.
Recycling and Waste -to-Energy for remaining waste
Renewable Energy Directive
 Biodegradable waste is a renewable energy source
Energy Efficiency Directive/ Cogeneration Directive
 Promoting the use of district heating and cooling
Maximizing the energy use of residual municipal waste that is
currently not suitable for recycling

Policy recommendations
Existing EU waste legislation is fully implemented in order to divert
waste from landfills to Recycling and to Waste -to-Energy , treating
the remaining part not suitable for recycling by generating
precious energy from it

 More ambitious policy to divert waste from landfills would be
implemented, helping climate change mitigation Waste -to-Energy can help achieve
the EU’s aim of improving
Resource Efficiency if:
Waste -to-Energy contributes to
Energy Efficiency goals: Major opportunity to use even more energy from waste in the
form of heat, if linking of heat (or process steam) customers to
Waste -to-Energy Plants would be encouraged.

Therefore we need drivers for improving infrastructure for district
heating and cooling in addition to incentives to maximize
electricity production from waste (incl. grid access)

The role of Waste -to-Energy
in a Resource & Energy Efficient Europe

Waste
Management
System Waste -to-Energy Energy
Production
System Reuse
Recycling
Landfilling Prevention Reducing
consumption Recovering
Energy
Energy
Efficiency
Replacing Fossil Fuels
with Renewables Resource Efficiency Energy Efficiency

EU Waste Hierarchy
set out in the Waste Framework Directive
The 5 step waste hierarchy in the EU Waste
Framework Directive helps to achieve sustainable
waste management,
placing prevention at the top and disposal (such
as landfilling) as the least favoured option.

Municipal waste treatment in 2010
EU 27

Graph by CEWEP, Source: EUROSTAT 2010
Waste is a Resource.
However 38% of municipal waste
across the EU 27 is still landfilled
(some 93 million tonnes), although
landfill gases (methane) contribute
significantly to global warming.
38%
Landfilled 40%
Recycled +
Composted
22%
Incinerated

Why is landfill diversion important ?
In order to :
avoid the creation of methane – a potent greenhouse gas
(equal to 25 times CO2 in mass)
harness the energy content of residual waste
preserve natural resources
save space (Waste -to-Energy reduces the volume of waste by 90%)
protect soil and groundwater from contamination

This is why EU targets regarding phasing out landfilling biowaste
have been introduced

Reducing waste disposal:
The Landfill Directive
Closing landfills that do not conform with EU standards

Technical standards for the installation of new landfills

Reduction of landfilling biodegradable waste compared to amount of biodegradable
waste produced in 1995
–2006: reduction to 75%
–2009: reduction to 50%
–2016: reduction to 35%

Derogation: prolongation up to 4 years for Member States which in 1995 landfilled more
than 80% of municipal waste

Potential for cutting GHG emissions from
municipal waste that is still landfilled
Huge potential benefits for climate change mitigation if more ambitious waste
policies were implemented Source: EEA report “Waste opportunities” http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/waste -opportunities -84-past -and
48

44

62

78

 Turning the waste not suitable
for recycling into precious energy!
Moving up the waste hierarchy
Lessons to be learnt from the countries in the EU27
landfilling 1% of municipal waste or less:
They have all introduced landfill bans

Waste -to-Energy & Recycling are complementary to
divert waste from landfills Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium & Sweden

Recycling & Waste -to-Energy diverting waste from landfills

Can’t everything be recycled?
New recycled materials depend on the quality of the sorted waste:
Materials too dirty or too contaminated (e.g. vacuum -cleaning bags)
Mixed materials (too difficult/expensive to sort)
Materials degrade after repeated recycling
Demand necessary for recycled products

If high quality recycling is not possible,
the waste should be turned into energy,
rather than being landfilled.

Even countries with the highest recycling rates in Europe
(e.g. Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Sweden)
depend on Waste -to-Energy to treat remaining waste not suitable
for recycling.
It is worth noting that
residues from recycling
also often need thermal
treatment

Recycling valuable metals from
Waste -to-Energy bottom ash
Minerals can be used as secondary
aggregates, e.g. in road construction
or in building products.
Waste -to-Energy Plants contribute to achieving
a recycling society and to improving Europe’s
Resource Efficiency ,
by using unavoidable waste as a valuable
resource wherever possible. Ferrous and non -ferrous metals can be
extracted and recycled into new
products, e.g. aluminium castings for the
automotive industry.

Sustainable waste management
In order to achieve sustainable waste
management, waste should be
diverted from landfills ,
recycled as much as possible with the
remaining waste (i.e. waste not suitable for
recycling) used to generate energy .

Recycling and Waste -to-Energy are
complementary options to divert waste from
landfills, helping the EU to become a
Resource Efficient society.

Energy content of waste
Assuming that the calorific value of
municipal waste = 10 MJ/kg, brown
coal = 9 MJ/kg, hard coal = 30 MJ/kg,
oil = 42 MJ/kg 1 tonne
Municipal Waste 1 tonne
brown coal
0.330 tonnes
hard coal
250 litres
oil
= ca.
or
or

Year 2010

Other examples of good practice
Olching Waste -to-Energy plant in (Germany) supplies steam to the
Glockenbrot bakery, which has been awarded the PRO PLANET label for its
sustainable bread production.

Alkmaar Waste -to-Energy plant (Netherlands) delivering heat to the AZ
football club’s stadium, to buildings at the Boekelermeer business estate, and a
further heating and cooling distribution project in Alkmaar.

Twence Waste -to-Energy plant (Netherlands) supplies steam to AkzoNobel’s
salt production unit.

For further Good Practice examples:
http://www.cewep.eu/information/energyclimate/goodpractice/index.html

Sustainable Energy from Waste -to-Energy
Half of this energy is renewable
100 TWh 134 TWh 196 TWh
Enough to supply
70m inhabitants. Projection of Total Energy from WtE in TWh

Includes both
renewable and fossil
components.

1 TWh is equal to 1
billion kWh.

Waste as contributor to renewable
energy production
The Directive on Energy from Renewable Sources
recognizes the biodegradable fraction
of industrial and municipal waste as a
renewable energy source .
~ 50% of the energy produced by Waste -to-Energy Plants is Renewable

Waste -to-Energy is clean and safe
Waste -to-Energy Plants are equipped with
sophisticated filtering devices to deal with the pollutants that are in the waste and minimise emissions
into the atmosphere.

“Directive 2000/76/EC on the incineration of waste makes the incineration of waste one of the most
stringently regulated and controlled industrial activities.”

Answer given by Mr. Potočnik, Environment Commissioner, to a Parliamentary Question on
10th June 2010

Inside a Waste -to-Energy Plant

Waste -to-Energy Plant Animation
Animation kindly provided by
TIRU (France) www.tiru.fr

Health studies
The Scientific Advisory Council of the Federal Medical Association
(Germany) investigated potential health risks caused by emissions
of Waste -to-Energy Plants, concluding:
Source: German Medical Journal 90, edition 1 / 2, 11th of January 1993, p. 45 -53
since then Waste -to-Energy technology improved even more “The evaluation conducted shows that currently
operating Waste -to-Energy Plants, which conform to the
technical standards, cause very marginal health risks,
which can therefore be classified as negligible health risks
for the population living in the vicinity of Waste -to-Energy
Plants”

Lisbon University's Institute of Preventive
Medicine: waste incineration "does not
impact on dioxin blood levels of nearby
residents" of Waste -to-Energy plants
www.sciencedirect.com UK Committee of Carcinogenity:
“any potential risk of cancer due to residency
near to municipal solid waste incinerators was
exceedingly low, and probably not measurable
by the most modern epidemiological
techniques”
http://www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/Coc/munipwst.htm Health studies
For further Health Studies please visit
http://www.cewep.eu/information/healthandenvironm
ent/index.html A recent Spanish study concluded that the
Tarragona Waste -to-Energy plant
“does not produce additional health risks for the
population living nearby.”
It presents results from monitoring of the
Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) Waste -to-Energy
plant regarding PCDD/Fs levels in soil,
vegetation, and air samples collected in the
period 2009 –2010. The concentrations of
PCDD/Fs in the surroundings of the Tarragona
plant were monitored over the last 15 years.
http:// wmr.sagepub.com/content/30/9/908.full.pdf+html

Modern Waste -to-Energy Plants
safe, clean and full of energy!
KARA Roskilde,
Denmark A2A Brescia, Italy
Spittelau Vienna,
Austria
Garstad, Sweden Issy-les-Moulineaux
Paris, France
Meath, Ireland Isle of Man, UK

Waste -to-Energy Plants (in 2010)
CEWEP Members : 62 Mio. tonnes (85%); 372 plants
Capacity Europe: 73 Mio. tonnes; 452 plants

 Waste -to-Energy Plants operating in Europe
(not including hazardous waste incineration plants)
 Waste thermally treated in Waste -to-Energy plants
in million tonnes Waste -to-Energy in Europe
in 2010
Finland
3 0.3
Sweden
32 5.1 Norway
17 1.2
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania Denmark
29 3.5
United Kingdom
24 4.2 Ireland
Netherlands
11 6.5 Belgium
16 3.0 Germany
72 20.0 Poland*
1 0.04
France
129 13.7 Luxembourg*
1 0.1 Czech Republic
3 0.5 Slovakia*
2 0.2 Austria
13 2.1 Switzerland
30 3.7 Hungary
1 0.4
Slovenia*
1 0.01 Romania
Bulgaria
Greece Spain**
11 2.0 Portugal
3 1.1 Italy
53 5.7 Data supplied by CEWEP members
unless specified otherwise
* From Eurostat
** Includes plant in Andorra

For more information on Waste to Energy:

CEWEP
Confederation of European Waste -to-Energy Plants
Boulevard Clovis 12A,
B-1000 Brussels

Tel. +32 2 770 63 11
Fax +32 2 770 68 14

info@cewep.eu
www.cewep.eu