Biotechnology and Waste - Environmental Biotechnology: Theory and Application - page 176

Table8.1 Acomparisonofselectednationalwastemanagementarrangements,
recyclingratesandMSWbiowastecomponent

Country Landfill (%) Incineration (%) Recycled (%) Biowaste (%)

Austria 65 11 24 27

Belgium 43 54 3 47

Canada 67 4 29 34

Denmark 20 55 25 37

Finland 66 4 30 33

France 59 33 8 30

Germany 46 36 18 30

Netherlands 30 42 28 35

Japan 21 74 5 26

Norway 68 18 14 35

Sweden 34 47 19 38

Switzerland 11 47 42 30

UK 85 9 6 30

USA 61 15 24 32

Sources: IEABioenergy,EuropeanCommissionandrelevantEmbassies.

Although a number of changes in the whole perception of waste have led to
a variety of relatively new options receiving attention, generally throughout the
world, the vast majority of refuse is dealt with either by means of landfill or
incineration. Different countries and administrations have favoured one or the
other at various times and, as with all things to do with waste, local custom and
circumstance have played a major part in shaping the current status quo. While
it is beyond the scope of the present discussion to examine this in any depth,
Table 8.1 may help to provide some indication of the wider situation.
Although there has been considerable development in incineration technology
over the years and today's facilities, with their energy recovery, power generation
and district heating potential, are a far cry from the simple smoking stacks of old,
for biological origin waste, mass burn incinerators cannot be viewed as the ideal
solution. Hence, while the incineration versus landfill argument still rages, and
has been re-visited with renewed vigour once again in some circles in the light
of the implications of recent European developments, the fact remains that, at
least from the standpoint of biowaste, both are nothing more than disposal routes.
Significant amounts of wet organic material, which is itself largely composed of
water to begin with, may be an inconvenience to the incinerator operator; the
situation in landfill is worse.

Landfill
Left to its own devices, all discarded biological waste gradually undergoes a natu-
ral process of biodegradation, typically beginning with autolysis and culminating
in putrefaction. The speed at which this progresses is governed by a number of
factors such as the nature and freshness of the material, the temperature, mois-
ture, and so on. When this happens in the open air, or in the upper levels of the