Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.3.1
Waste Policy and Waste Valorisation
The first significant waste policies in the EU were introduced in the early 1970s.
These were aimed at developing a uniform definition of 'waste' on the basis of a
range of policies and laws aimed at regulating production, handling, storage and
movement, as well as treatment and disposal of waste. Their objective was to
reduce the negative effects of waste generation on human health and the environ-
ment [13]. Essentially, the definition of waste is 'substances or objects that the
holder discards or intends or is required to discard'. Differentiating waste from
by-products and residues, as well as waste from substances that have been fully
recovered, are constant issues that need to be resolved if valorisation routes addi-
tional to current first-generation practices (composting, animal feed and anaero-
bic digestion) are to be developed. The hierarchy for waste management places
priority on preventing waste arising in the first instance, consistent with the phi-
losophy of green chemistry (the best way to deal with waste is to avoid its forma-
tion in the first place), and relegates disposal or landfilling to the worst waste
management option [14]. Among the intermediate waste management options,
re-use and recycling (e.g. to make chemicals) is preferred to energy recovery; this
seems sensible given the greater resource consumption and pollution associated
with the production of chemicals, although the value of energy continues to grow.
Significantly, a new policy approach to waste management that takes account of
the whole life-cycle of products was introduced in 2008, along with an emphasis
on managing waste to preserve natural resources and strengthen the economic
value of waste [13].
EU Member States are required to draw up waste prevention programmes that
help to break the link between economic growth and waste generation, an impor-
tant development on the road to zero waste. The EU guidelines identify two main
approaches to food waste prevention:
1. behavioural change; and
2. sectoral-based approaches aimed at companies, households, institutions, etc.
There is a significant directive to shift biodegradable municipal waste away from
landfill by imposing stringent reduction targets on EU Member States (65% by
weight by 2016 against 1995 levels, with intermediate reduction targets). Food
waste is considered as biodegradable waste for the purpose of the Directive.
Another factor driving the diversion of biodegradable food waste from landfill
towards other waste management options is the widely recognised importance of
reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere.
Where international transportation is contemplated for the treatment of waste,
including transportation to other EU Member States, trans-frontier shipment of
waste rules will also need to be considered further to the Basel Convention [15].
Shipments of waste for disposal are generally prohibited, but the rules applica-
ble to shipments of waste for recovery depend on the classification of the waste
