Europe's waste incineration capacities in a circular economy

Abstract

2A lack of proper treatment infrastructure and sufficient capacity for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment is a crucial barrier for the environmentally sound management of waste. However, overcapacities, especially for waste incineration, also have to be taken into account regarding their potential impacts on recycling markets and waste treatment prices. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of existing MSW incineration plants and their capacities within Europe. In combination with the analysis of imports and exports of MSW for incineration, it provides an indication of over-and undercapacities for incineration plants. Among other things, the resultsshow that in six of the 32 countries analysed in this study, capacities exceed more than 50% of the annual waste generation, while in two countries the total amount of waste generated annually is not enough to fill all the incineration plants.

Management of aluminium packaging waste in selected European countries

“…This leads to changed recycling rates both in the exporting country with a lower waste volume and in the importing country with a higher recycling rate (Eunomia, 2011). A report on waste capacities by Wilts and Gries (2015) assume that countries like the UK, Italy, Ireland, France and Finland export MSW to the extent of ‘up to 6% of their respective incineration capacities’, while other countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden) need to import waste ‘in order to keep their incineration capacities at sufficient utilization rates’. In Austria in 2015 99,000 t of MSW were imported and mechanical (pre)treated or combusted, while 78,000 t were exported (BlgNR.…”

Towards a territorial definition of a circular economy: exploring the role of territorial factors in closed-loop systems

“…However, circular solutions and technologies like refurbishment and remanufacturing often compete with traditional, often cheaper, alternatives (Korhonen, Honkasalo, and Seppälä 2018). Moreover, technologies may also create path dependences and lock-in in specific areas (Kalkuhl, Edenhofer, and Lessmann 2012;Wilts and von Gries 2015), including the bioeconomy (Marsden and Farioli 2015).…”

The circular economy of waste: recovery, incineration and urban reuse

“…From the early 2000s, incineration capacity has been growing across the globe, with 300 new incinerators worldwide and a 6% increase in the EU between 2007 and 2013. Today, northern and western EU countries incinerate 50-75% of all waste (Wilts and von Gries 2015).…”