Final Report Summary - HOLIWAST (Holistic assessment of waste management technologies)
To support dissemination of the HOLIWAST results as well as to encourage interest in the field of holistic analysis of available and emerging technologies for effective municipal waste treatment developed within the HOLIWAST project an international conference was planned.
The aims of the conference were to:
- stimulate the dissemination of HOLIWAST results;
- raise awareness of effective implementation of policy instruments for waste management;
- present multidisciplinary assessment of environmental, economic and social aspects of different waste management approaches being developed in the European Union (EU);
- promote decision support tool being developed in the HOLIWAST;
- stimulate the utilisation of knowledge in the national and local practice.
76 conference participants from 16 European countries represented different stakeholders involved in municipal waste management. Present were representatives of national, regional and local administrations, universities and research institutes, waste management companies and journalists.
This two-day conference contained three sessions, consisting 17 presentations, a panel discussion and poster session. The results of two-year cooperation of partners in the HOLIWAST project in 10 presentations were discussed and presented. An innovative decision-making tool for multidisciplinary (environmental, economic, social) assessment of different municipal waste management technologies, a common outcome of the HOLIWAST project was demonstrated. Conference participants got opportunities to try out the tool. The conference served as a platform for exchanging view and thoughts on waste management in the EU.
During the first session of the conference the following subjects were discussed:
- EU waste policy and supported research programmes;
- implementation of EU waste policy by local and regional authorities;
- experience of implementation of EU waste legislation in Poland;
- holistic assessment of waste management technologies.
The discussion in this session was focused on three main issues:
- reduction of CO2 from waste management: Achieving the landfill directive's target will result in a net reduction of about 250 kg CO2/tonne of waste. Further reduction to about 490 kg CO2/tonne could be achieved by implementation of advanced technologies. There is a need for assessment of waste treatment technologies with respect to emission of CO2 and research on 'zero CO2 emission'.
- transposition of EU legislation in Poland and difficulties in implementation of new waste regulation in practice: In existing regulation the role of local government in the management of municipal waste in commune is not clearly defined. It is expected that this situation will change when the new regulation being in preparatory process enter into force.
- performance of waste management system in different countries of EU: The overall picture of waste management showed that some local and regional authorities succeeded in achievements of high rates of recycling (paper, glass, packaging, organic and others). It is important to disseminate their experience to other countries.
The subjects that were discussed during the second session were the following:
- elaboration and implementation of the regional waste management plans in Latvia;
- target analysis of the waste management of the Moravian-Silesian region for self-government, its economical and social problems;
- current situation and future trend of solid waste management in Hungary;
- HOLIWAST case studies of waste management systems of: large city, medium size city and rural area (Turin, Katowice, Tollose);
- preliminary analysis of waste management systems - a simulation approach with AWAST;
- future approaches for MSW management in Europe;
- current and emerging waste treatment technologies for biowaste and residual waste;
- stakeholder-based impact assessment for the selected case studies.
The discussion in this session was focused on the following problems:
- The achievement of EU targets for reduction of amount of landfilled biodegradable waste: It seemed that new member states (Latvia, Hungary) established too ambitious targets. The existing waste management systems were still based on landfilling. The time schedule for achievement of these targets was tight. Participants were interested in the sanctions that would be imposed in practice on countries if they did not comply with the EU targets.
- Some detailed information related to HOLIWAST case studies, especially concerning efficiency of separate collection, recycling and costs.
During the third session of the conference the following subjects were discussed:
- application of policy instruments in waste management;
- assessment of environmental efficiency by applying Cost-benefits analysis (CBA) and modified Cost-effectiveness-analysis (mCEA) on the case studies;
- HOLIWAST decision support tool;
- information tool European waste sector assistant (EUWAS).
The discussion in this session was focused on the following main issues:
- applicability and transferability of instruments in various cultural, socio-economic contexts: There is no one-size fit-all panacea. However, one can learn from the experiences of others and see how different challenges have been overcome.
- factors hindering the development of source separation and recycling: The situation in Katowice was given as an example. The fact that the revenue of private waste companies is based on the amount of residual waste collected and that they are not allowed to charge separately collected waste make it difficult for the companies to strive for source separation. The situation gets worse when clean fractions of the recyclables separately collected are scavenged by informal sectors.
- importance of assumptions in calculations done for assessment of environmental efficiency by applying methods CBA and mCEA: Assumptions and their influence on the results of calculations depend on the considered system and methods used (CBA and mCEA). For example, for the CBA calculation the discount rate is very important. For mCEA calculations, the weighting is crucial. It is necessary to know the uncertainty of the input data and to make a sensitivity analysis of the evaluation results. The results verified by two different goal oriented evaluation methods are more relevant for decision making than those obtained by classical LCA methodology using a standard set of criteria.
During the conference, the participants visited the Barycz municipal waste treatment facilities including: the Barycz landfill, composting plant, sorting plant and plant for utilization of landfill gas, cover area of 36 ha. The Barycz landfill and other plants were operated by the waste management company MPO Krakow since 1974.
The participants visited also the Salt Mine Wieliczka, the oldest salt enterprise on Polish land dating back to the Middle Ages.
The aims of the conference were to:
- stimulate the dissemination of HOLIWAST results;
- raise awareness of effective implementation of policy instruments for waste management;
- present multidisciplinary assessment of environmental, economic and social aspects of different waste management approaches being developed in the European Union (EU);
- promote decision support tool being developed in the HOLIWAST;
- stimulate the utilisation of knowledge in the national and local practice.
76 conference participants from 16 European countries represented different stakeholders involved in municipal waste management. Present were representatives of national, regional and local administrations, universities and research institutes, waste management companies and journalists.
This two-day conference contained three sessions, consisting 17 presentations, a panel discussion and poster session. The results of two-year cooperation of partners in the HOLIWAST project in 10 presentations were discussed and presented. An innovative decision-making tool for multidisciplinary (environmental, economic, social) assessment of different municipal waste management technologies, a common outcome of the HOLIWAST project was demonstrated. Conference participants got opportunities to try out the tool. The conference served as a platform for exchanging view and thoughts on waste management in the EU.
During the first session of the conference the following subjects were discussed:
- EU waste policy and supported research programmes;
- implementation of EU waste policy by local and regional authorities;
- experience of implementation of EU waste legislation in Poland;
- holistic assessment of waste management technologies.
The discussion in this session was focused on three main issues:
- reduction of CO2 from waste management: Achieving the landfill directive's target will result in a net reduction of about 250 kg CO2/tonne of waste. Further reduction to about 490 kg CO2/tonne could be achieved by implementation of advanced technologies. There is a need for assessment of waste treatment technologies with respect to emission of CO2 and research on 'zero CO2 emission'.
- transposition of EU legislation in Poland and difficulties in implementation of new waste regulation in practice: In existing regulation the role of local government in the management of municipal waste in commune is not clearly defined. It is expected that this situation will change when the new regulation being in preparatory process enter into force.
- performance of waste management system in different countries of EU: The overall picture of waste management showed that some local and regional authorities succeeded in achievements of high rates of recycling (paper, glass, packaging, organic and others). It is important to disseminate their experience to other countries.
The subjects that were discussed during the second session were the following:
- elaboration and implementation of the regional waste management plans in Latvia;
- target analysis of the waste management of the Moravian-Silesian region for self-government, its economical and social problems;
- current situation and future trend of solid waste management in Hungary;
- HOLIWAST case studies of waste management systems of: large city, medium size city and rural area (Turin, Katowice, Tollose);
- preliminary analysis of waste management systems - a simulation approach with AWAST;
- future approaches for MSW management in Europe;
- current and emerging waste treatment technologies for biowaste and residual waste;
- stakeholder-based impact assessment for the selected case studies.
The discussion in this session was focused on the following problems:
- The achievement of EU targets for reduction of amount of landfilled biodegradable waste: It seemed that new member states (Latvia, Hungary) established too ambitious targets. The existing waste management systems were still based on landfilling. The time schedule for achievement of these targets was tight. Participants were interested in the sanctions that would be imposed in practice on countries if they did not comply with the EU targets.
- Some detailed information related to HOLIWAST case studies, especially concerning efficiency of separate collection, recycling and costs.
During the third session of the conference the following subjects were discussed:
- application of policy instruments in waste management;
- assessment of environmental efficiency by applying Cost-benefits analysis (CBA) and modified Cost-effectiveness-analysis (mCEA) on the case studies;
- HOLIWAST decision support tool;
- information tool European waste sector assistant (EUWAS).
The discussion in this session was focused on the following main issues:
- applicability and transferability of instruments in various cultural, socio-economic contexts: There is no one-size fit-all panacea. However, one can learn from the experiences of others and see how different challenges have been overcome.
- factors hindering the development of source separation and recycling: The situation in Katowice was given as an example. The fact that the revenue of private waste companies is based on the amount of residual waste collected and that they are not allowed to charge separately collected waste make it difficult for the companies to strive for source separation. The situation gets worse when clean fractions of the recyclables separately collected are scavenged by informal sectors.
- importance of assumptions in calculations done for assessment of environmental efficiency by applying methods CBA and mCEA: Assumptions and their influence on the results of calculations depend on the considered system and methods used (CBA and mCEA). For example, for the CBA calculation the discount rate is very important. For mCEA calculations, the weighting is crucial. It is necessary to know the uncertainty of the input data and to make a sensitivity analysis of the evaluation results. The results verified by two different goal oriented evaluation methods are more relevant for decision making than those obtained by classical LCA methodology using a standard set of criteria.
During the conference, the participants visited the Barycz municipal waste treatment facilities including: the Barycz landfill, composting plant, sorting plant and plant for utilization of landfill gas, cover area of 36 ha. The Barycz landfill and other plants were operated by the waste management company MPO Krakow since 1974.
The participants visited also the Salt Mine Wieliczka, the oldest salt enterprise on Polish land dating back to the Middle Ages.
