Waste management in Denmark - Renè Møller Rosendal
Renè Møller Rosendal
RenoSam - Danish association of intermunicipal waste management companies; Denmark
Mr Rosendal is a speaker at the Waste Management Conference, 28/30 March 2012, http://www.eco.viaexpo.com
- What is the way of determining the garbage (municipality waste) fees and the way of payment.
In Denmark the municipality decides the price, but it should reflect the actual expences. Municipalities are not allowed to earn money, and the fee is typically paid/collected over the tax.
- How the landfills are managed in Denmark?
Landfills after 1992 are owned by the municipalities. We have some private landfills in Denmark but they are not allowed to receive waste from other than their own production waste.
- How to stimulate the recycling industry in the Region of South East Europe?
In order to stimulate the recycling Industry Denmark has liberalized the recyclable waste – before it was collected and treated by the municipalities.
- What is the actual percentage of collected waste packages from the collection systems in the municipalities?
Glass packaging
In 2009, 142,750 tons of glass packaging were used. This represents a fall in consumption of almost 1.5% in relation to 2008. Recycled glass packaging was 125,690 tons, corresponding to a recycling rate of 88 %. The remaining 12 percent mainly ended up as waste suitable for incineration.
In 2009, 91 million unbroken bottles were recycled, corresponding to 43,192 tons (Table 1). Of this, 9,496 tons was refilled in Denmark, while the rest was exported. The relatively high export share reflects the fact that the amount of imported bulk wine, which is typically bottled in recycled bottles at bottling plants in Denmark, is relatively small – and declining. The remainder of the collected glass packaging in 2009, i.e. 82.5 million tons, primarily consisted of broken glass for recycling. Of this quantity, 47.7 million tons was recycled in Denmark, and the rest was exported. Broken brewery glass is not included.
Metal packaging
The total potential for 2009 has been calculated at 33,931 tons. 26,202 tons of metal packaging was collected for recycling in 2009, which is 76.9 percent of the total potential. This is a decrease by comparison with 2008, when 28,119 tons was collected. The fall applies to the overall quantity of metal packaging collected, whereas the collection of aluminum packaging rose by almost 15%.Metal collected via our container stations represented 50 % of the overall collected quantity, while incineration iron represented 35 percent. The remainder was collected directly from the companies
Paper collection
Consumption of new paper fell sharply by 20%, to a total of 1,081,188 tons. Danish production of new paper amounted to 208,135 tons in 2009. 211,775 tons of recycled paper was used in paper production. The collection of waste paper for recycling amounted to 851,350 tons. In relation to consumption, 78.6% of the paper was recycled. Commercial and office use, together with private households, accounted for almost 75% in all of the collection quantity. Newspapers and magazines” and “Better qualities” accounted for 22 and 58 percent, respectively, of the total recycled paper consumption in Danish factories, corresponding to a total quantity of 170,000 tons.
Plastic packaging
Consumption of plastic packaging amounted to 165,449 tons in 2009. Plastic packaging collected for recycling amounted to 43,681 tons in 2009, corresponding to 26.4 percent of consumption. The majority (70 percent) of the consumption of plastic packaging is produced from polyethylene. This packaging also accounts for the greatest proportion of the collected plastic material. Collection from businesses accounts for a very high proportion of the collected quantity. Export of used plastic packaging amounted to 43,860 tons in 2009.
Wood packaging
It is difficult to form a clear picture of the total quantity of wood packaging waste, as only a limited amount goes through the traditional waste processing system. A large amount ends up in incinerators and wood burners. The consumption of wood packaging has been calculated at 36,116 tons in 2009. Approximately 55% of this quantity consists of wooden pallets (Table 5). In addition, there is a quantity of boxes, crates and wooden drums. The specification of the collected and recycled quantity is based on a calculation of the number of Euro pallets taken out of the recycling system for repair. After repair, these pallets are returned to the recycling system. In 2009, 2.5 million pallets were collected for repair, of which almost 25 percent were discarded. Depending on the pallet size, between two and four kilograms were replaced per Euro pallet. With this assumption, the recyclable quantity has been calculated at 31,087 tons. In relation to the total consumption of wood packaging, the recyclable quantity comprised 86.1 percent in 2009. This relatively high recycling rate was achieved only because the potential of wood packaging fell by more than half relative to 2008, while the quantity collected fell by just under 5,000 tons.
- Which organizations that collect the waste packages have highest performance rate
The main organizations are 3: http://dansk-retursystem.dk/; www.mariuspedersen.dk; http://www.danfiber.dk/1
- Is it necessary to raise the state fees for usage of natural resources in order to promote the recovery and recycling of waste?
No as in Denmark the percentage is very high but the state fee is also among the highest in Europe on Incineration and landfilling of waste.
- What is the progress of the construction waste recovery - give us an example for such processing facilities and can we produce building materials that could meet the quality standards?
In Denmark construction waste is used for a number of different purposes, but at the moment we have a ongoing discussion on criteria’s for recycling and contents on hazaedous contaminants.
- What are the successful ways for finance waste management?
In Denmark the successful way has been to have a public responsibility for many years. Industry as well as the citizens, pay a fee for the right to use the waste facilities.
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