Administrative and economic tools for promoting biodegradable waste diversion from landfill
During the last decade the waste management landscape in European Union (EU) Member States (MS) is being reconstructed to a lesser or greater extent, due to the pressures exercised by the EU policy and legislation. This 'reconstruction†is quite radical in MS that did not already have in place complex material and resource recovery systems by the mid 1990s. The European Landfill Directive (LD -1999/31/EC) is placed among the most influential documents, as it sets increasingly demanding diversion targets for the biodegradable fraction (BMW) of municipal solid wastes (MSW) and requires from MS to adopt policies together with administrative and economic tools for the diversion of the biodegradable fraction of municipal waste.
Further Author:
K. Heilakis - Harokopio University, Department of Home Economics and Ecology, GR
MS like Greece and Cyprus that were heavily relying on landfilling, for more than 80% of their MSW, did not share the same starting point with states that have made significant steps towards diversion systems; therefore they had the option to postpone each of the LD diversion targets by a maximum of 4 years. Using this allowance, Greece and Cyprus should meet the respective diversion targets by 2010, 2013 and 2020. Moreover, the Waste Framework Directive (WFD - 2008/98/EC) sets requirements for the promotion of source separation and recycling for biowaste, the 'most difficult†fraction of the biodegradable municipal waste (BMW), although these requirements are not defined in quantitative terms. In 2010 Greece was short of reaching its 1,1 million tn BMW diversion target by about 15%; since then a very modest progress has been made in infrastructure development, with new facilities still being at various stages of planning and/or tendering procedures. It is unlikely that any substantial increase in BMW treatment capacity will be available by the year 2013, when the next diversion target, a foreseen 1,9 million tn, should be achieved, risking a considerable increase of the deviation from the diversion target. Cyprus also did not meet the 2010 diversion target. In order to reverse the existing situation and comply with the LD and the WFD, the entire waste management sector in Greece and Cyprus should be subjected to radical and rigorous changes. Purcell and Magette (2011) indicated that targeted intervention strategies designed for specific geographical areas should lead to improved diversion rates of BMW from landfill. In the present study the accumulated experiences of different biowaste diversion efforts worldwide are analyzed with ultimate goal to assist decision-makers in Greece and Cyprus to successfully implement the LD and WFD through the adoption of the appropriate administrative and economic tools. Results would also be useful for a number of other MS that still need to make progress towards achieving BMW diversion targets. The research involved: a thorough literature review of the implemented biowaste diversion practices worldwide, with emphasis upon EU MS, and 65 interviews with stakeholders (central and local government waste management officers, academics, policy makers, consultants and NGO’s) in Greece and Cyprus, using structured questionnaires. The analysis of the collected data delineates the stakeholder’s
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