Dutch Waste Management Association Annual Report 2011 · Atsma’s white paper on waste: good...

waste forumvolume 16 • may 2012

Towards 83% recycling

Dutch Waste Management

Association

Annual Report 2011

Scarcity of raw materials now evident

Waste sector flourishes as energy industryGreater awareness of safety

2

Rene Leegte @reneleegte VVD spokesperson on environment and energy

Sustainable procurement; from yesterday no more checklists and no prescribed quality labels. Saves 500m per year admin costs

18 February 2011

Marieke van der Werf @mariekecda MP for CDA, spokesperson on energy, sustainability and culture

Opened national compost day in Zoetermeer. Waste is raw material, so free compost in this growing weather!

26 March 2011

Marieke van der Werf @mariekecda MP for CDA, spokesperson on energy, sustainability and culture

Working visit to Brussels to talk about Resource Efficiency. Waste, raw materials and upcycling: fantastic stuff!

18 April 2011

Freek van Eijk @fcaavaneijk Director Strategy & Public Affairs Utilities, Waste Management, Sustainability GDF-SUEZ, SUEZ

Environnement, SITA

Idea #grondstoffenrotonde[raw materials roundabout] #Stientje van Veldhoven #D66 deserves an #ELI [Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation] top sectors approach

17 May 2011

Joke van der Ham @JokevanderHam Information manager NL Milieu & Leefom- geving, manages the waste library

Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environ-ment is a big supporter of separating VGF waste. Says Hester Klein Lankhorst in June issue of Afvalforum.

24 June 2011

Judith Merkies @JudithMerkies Member of European Parliament, #PvdA

European raw materials policy: make industry use fewer raw materials each year and recycle #PvdA-EP

30 June 2011

Rijksoverheid.nl @Rijksoverheid Government of the Netherlands

Atsma wants 83% recycling in 2015: only half of household waste is re... #rijksoverheidnl

25 August 2011

Waste Matters @EUwastematters Dutch Waste Management Association

Director DWMA: ‘Waste sector an integral part of the Dutch economy.’ www.wastemat-ters.eu

6 July 2011

NVRD @NVRD Association for Refuse and Cleansing Management

Atsma’s white paper on waste: good ambitions but lack of concrete measures

30 August 2011

Joop Atsma @atsmajoop State Secretary for Infrastructure and the Environment

Cycling in recycling... Just cycled 75 km in new cycling outfit made from plastic waste. #hergebruik [recycling/reuse] key objective of #afvalagenda#sita [waste agenda SITA]

10 September 2011

Janez Potocnik @JanezPotocnik EU European Commissioner for the Environment

Commission will publish its roadmap for a resource efficient Europe today

20 September 2011

Ger Pannekoek @pannekoek Project Officer at the Netherlands Water Partnership

Phosphate Value Chain Agreement. Unique knowledge, expertise, Netherlands strength lies at the interface between water, agricul-ture, energy, waste, etc.

4 October 2011

A WASTE YEAR IN TWEETS

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Deal study

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2 wasteforum may 2012 • edition annual report 2011

About this publicationSpecial issue Annual Report 2011

afvalforum / wasteforumMay 2012Volume 16, issue 2published four times a year

afvalforum publishes news, facts, opin-ions and reviews of developments in the world of waste. It covers both the policy and practice of waste management. afval-forum is published by the Dutch Waste Management Association.

The Dutch Waste Management Association represents the interests of Dutch waste companies in the whole waste manage-ment chain, including sewer maintenance, from collection, recycling and reuse to the final processing of waste. The Dutch Waste Management Association supports its members in the transition to a single European market for waste and lobbies hard for environmentally sound and cost-effective waste disposal and processing.

Members of the Association, politicians, policymakers and government officers receive afvalforum free.

editorDutch Waste Management Association’s-HertogenboschDaniëlle van Vleuten

subeditingAddo van der Eijk, Usquert

editorial addressThe editor of afvalforum is interested in receiving news about waste matters. Please send your press releases and ideas for articles to: afvalforum editorial officeP.O. Box 2184, 5202 CD ’[email protected]

english textsDerek Middleton, Zevenaar

design Ontwerpburo Suggestie & illusie, Utrecht

photographyNorbert Bosman (except pages 22–23)Page 8: Chris Hoefsmit

printing S&B Druk, Oss

subscription price: €35 per year (4 issues)For more information please call the Dutch Waste Management Association at +31 (0)73 6279444.

No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher. ISSN 1386-4378

advertising in afvalforumafvalforum is distributed to national and international policymakers, politicians, directors, managers, engineers, techni-cians and other experts in the waste sector (controlled circulation). For more information please contact Recent BV, telephone +31 (0)20 3308998.

In this special issue of afvalforum we review the past year and look forward to the future. Last year the realisation that raw materials are finite and scarce became apparent. Perhaps not everyone has woken up to this problem, but the members of the Dutch Waste Management Association are aware of the need to take appropriate measures now. Over the next few decades rising consumption and greater demand for raw materials from the growing global population will lead to increasing pressure on supplies, depletion of natural resources and higher raw materials prices. This will make the recovery of raw materials increasingly important and economically more attractive. We must ensure that raw materials remain in the recycling loop, an objective the Dutch waste sector has been working towards for many years.

Waste is a source of raw materials and energy. Our sector is an industry like any other, a fact underlined by the processing of foreign waste, which has been on the increase since last year. Perhaps not everyone sees it this way, but it should be borne in mind that this is simply a case of transporting raw materials and fuels, in the same way that huge quantities of coal and oil are imported to the Netherlands. Moreover, our international cooperation is contributing to a cleaner environment around the globe. The high quality treatment of substances that would otherwise have been landfilled gives a boost to the international recycling society.

The policies proposed by the state secretary for the environment, Joop Atsma, in his white paper ‘More Value from Waste’ will help to further strengthen the recycling society. We wholeheartedly support his ambitions. The entire sector and the government must work together to turn these ambitions into concrete action and results. Much of this will have to come from raising the percentage of separately collected household waste, especially vegetable, garden and fruit waste (VGF), paper and board, plastics and bulky household waste. More vigorous efforts in pursuit of this policy can deliver considerable benefits. We take our responsibility for the future and trust that other industries and all government authorities do so as well. Just before completing this Annual Report Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government collapsed. We trust that the new government – which will hopefully be formed soon – will continue the policy set in motion by Joop Atsma.

Sustainable raw materials management – ‘resource efficiency’ in international parlance – is a fundamental pillar of our existence. But we are doing much more than that, as you can read in this Annual Report. An important activity is improving safety within the sector. Last year we again took a major step forward, in cooperation with many parties: employers, employees and industry associations. By strengthening the safety culture, and with the Health and Safety Catalogue approved by the Labour Inspectorate, we hope to take safety in our sector to the next level. A healthy and safe working environment is an indispensable element of sustainability – and that applies to sustainable raw materials management too.

Pieter HofstraChair of the Dutch Waste Management Association

www.wastematters.eu

Sustainable raw materials management is the guiding principle

Content4 Raw materials scarcity creates opportunities for the waste sector

8 Recycling target: from 80 per cent now to 83 per cent in 2015

12 Health and Safety Catalogue describes safety risks and measures

16 Waste statistics

18 Sector finds solutions to falling waste volumes

22 Illustrated highlights

24 A futuristic, but realistic view of the future

28 Waste sector takes energy performance to the next level

More: news 11, 15, 21 Association profile 30

Raw materials scarcity in the spotlightIn 2011, politicians and business leaders throughout the world

realised beyond doubt that raw materials are finite resources.

Recycling has been around for years, mainly for environmental

reasons, but the scarcity of raw materials has now made it an

economic necessity. Governments and companies are giving

increasing priority to making more efficient use of resources.

Waste companies have a key role to play.

RAW MATERIALS SCARCITY CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE WASTE SECTOR

MICHAËL VAN HULST (SHANKS NEDERLAND):

‘Numerous new business models

are emerging.’

Separately collected plastic is processed into granules for use as a raw material in the manufacture of new plastic products


»

BY PIETER VAN DEN BRAND

In its Policy Document on Raw Materials published last summer, the Dutch Government put the pressing problem of raw materials scarcity firmly on the table for the first time. Waste is explicitly seen as a raw material. By 2050 the global population will have risen to about 9 billion people. Meeting the rising demand for raw materials will require greater emphasis on raw materials efficiency. The large-scale recovery of raw materials from waste will ensure that valuable materials remain available for our economies.

In his white paper on waste presented in August last year, the state secretary for the environment, Joop Atsma, announced not only that he wants to raise the recycling rate from 80 per cent now to 83 per cent in 2015, but also that he aims to promote the Netherlands as a ‘raw materials roundabout’. At the beginning of October he again referred to this in his Sustainability Agenda. With its convenient location, major ports, logistical connections to Germany and beyond, and a professional recycling industry, the Netherlands is an ideal centre for processing waste into new raw materials.

Atsma appears to have taken note of the proposals by Stientje van Veldhoven MP (D66), who coined the term ‘raw materi-als roundabout’. ‘My idea has been well received and acted on. The white paper on waste sets out clear ambitions on recy-cling waste. The trouble is, it does not go far enough. For one thing, Atsma wants to raise the recycling percentage, but does not qualify this by saying that the recycled materials must be of the highest possible quality.’ Moreover, argues Van Veldhoven, the use of recycled raw materials must be made more attractive, for one thing by setting a minimum requirement for the use of secondary raw materials in civil engi-neering works, such as the construction of roads and viaducts. ‘The raw materials roundabout is not one big roundabout, but several different roundabouts for closed-loop recycling of materials such as glass, paper and, more recently, phosphate. It would be a good thing to close more of these material cycles. The current policy is not ambitious enough; it should also aim to close the life cycles of other materials like textiles and electronic wastes.’

UPCYCLINGA growing number of waste streams are becoming available for far-reaching forms of upcycling, says Michaël van Hulst, direc-tor of Shanks Netherlands. ‘We are able to make increasingly higher quality prod-ucts from waste streams. The aim should be to recycle or reuse the materials in every waste stream.’ Van Hulst commends the political ambitions emanating from The Hague. ‘I applaud all initiatives that favour recycling, even if the waste sector has for years been working to put con-cepts like the raw materials roundabout into practice. I see this development more as a vote of support for the continual attention we are giving to recycling waste. The raw materials scarcity now makes recycling an absolute must.’

State Secretary Atsma has confidence in the market and corporate business models. That is where the challenge for the sector lies, believes Van Hulst. ‘Waste companies have a big part to play through collaboration with producers. Together we can investigate new ways of returning discarded products to the original production process to begin a new life cycle again.’ Van Hulst is convinced that the shortage of natural raw materials opens up huge opportunities for the sector as a service provider and supplier of raw materials. ‘Our task is no longer to enable customers to get rid of their waste as cheaply as possible, but to help them to recover their raw materials. An example of this in action is the plate glass manufacturer that wants to lease its products instead of selling them. We can help them set up the logistical process required to recover the plate glass when it is no longer in use. Numerous new business models are becoming available for this purpose.’

RAW MATERIALS SCARCITY CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE WASTE SECTOR

JANUARY 2011

q Since 1 January 2011 all the members of the Bioconversion Section of the DWMA have been certified for compost.

q On 26 January the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, presented the flagship initiative on resource efficiency. The European Union wants to make more efficient use of resources, such as water, fuels and minerals.

q An evaluation of the Thematic Strategy for the Prevention and Recycling of Waste was published by the European Commission in January. The evaluation reveals that the recycling percentage in Europe is improving and the amount of waste going to landfill is declining, but also that Europe still has a long way to go.

q A British delegation visited the Netherlands to learn about the Dutch waste market. Dutch waste companies see opportunities on the British waste market.

FEBRUARY 2011

q On 10 February the Sustainable Landfill Foundation, the DWMA and other companies presented a declaration of intent to the twelve provincial environment portfolio holders and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. In the declaration the landfill operators emphasise the importance of sustainable landfill management.

q On 11 February the DWMA visited its UK counterpart in London, the Environmental Services Association (ESA), for discussions on cooperation within the framework of national and European developments.

q At the beginning of February the DWMA Board adopted a strategy document setting out the Association’s vision on the current waste market. An information meeting with the members on the strategic choices was held later in the year.

q The European Commission published its new raw materials strategy in which the waste sector is specifically given a role in securing supplies of raw materials.

STIENTJE VAN VELDHOVEN (D66):

‘It would be a good thing to close more

material cycles.’

5wasteforum may 2012 • edition annual report 2011

SPEEDD66 politician Van Veldhoven sees an important role for the waste sector. ‘They must move from waste processing towards raw materials production. The speed at which this transformation will occur depends to a large extent on the degree to which innovative companies can make raw materials roundabouts profitable. The potential is certainly there. If they can be successful at selling raw materials, a market will be created in which they will have a pivotal role.’ However, much needs to be done before the raw materials scarcity becomes widely accepted, thinks Wim van Lieshout, director of HVC Groep. ‘It has not yet gained suffi-cient recognition in society, in the way that awareness of climate change, for example, has filtered down to the local level. Climate accords have been signed by all the Dutch provincial and municipal councils, but I have not heard of any raw materials plans, although this problem will have more serious implications in the long term.’ Van Lieshout thinks Atsma’s 83 per cent recy-cling target is not ambitious enough. ‘As far as I am concerned, it should be even higher. Separating waste is only worth-while if it leads to product and materials recycling.’ The HVC director endorses the need to think much more in terms of value chains if more intensive use is to be made

of residual waste streams. ‘Producers have already travelled a long way down this road. Take Philips, for example, which will now be selling light rather than lamps, and Desso, which leases its carpets and then collects them after use for recycling. These companies are elaborating the concept of producer responsibility in their own way and setting an example to others.’ Government must not fail to keep pace. Pilot studies are being held in the munici-palities of Sliedrecht and Noordoostpolder on separating dry waste streams from residual waste for collection in the waste paper containers. This includes items like detergent and shampoo bottles, aluminium foil and old pans. The initial results are encouraging, according to Van Lieshout. New waste collection concepts are also being trialled in Apeldoorn, Pijnacker and other municipalities.

RESOURCE EFFICIENCYEurope is not standing still, either. Following the publication in 2009 of the Raw Materials Initiative, an initial strategy for maintaining access to sufficient raw materials for industry, EU commissioner Janez Potocnik published his Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe in September 2011. His message is making the minimum use of (primary) raw materials with the lowest possible environmental impact.

Potocnik points out the part to be played by waste: ‘Waste will become a new resource providing huge opportunities. There is great potential for efficiently recovering many secondary materials.’ In his vision, by 2020 waste will be managed as a resource and be classified as a raw material. The Resource Efficiency Roadmap rapporteur in the European Parliament, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, wants to make rapid progress. The MEP for the Dutch D66 party says there is a need for a Schengen agree-ment for waste so that it can move freely across national borders, partly because Northern European waste companies have the capacity to recycle much of the waste produced in Southern and Eastern Europe. To reduce the costs of recycled raw materials and make them more competi-

CLOSING THE PHOSPHATE CYCLEPhosphate is distributed unequally across the globe. Whereas the Netherlands has a structural phosphate surplus, the world as a whole is heading towards a phosphate crisis as global stocks are shrinking fast. The limited stocks of phosphate mean that it should be reused. The Netherlands wants to be the first country in the world to close the phosphate cycle. This is the aim of the Phosphate Value Chain Agreement, signed in October 2011 by companies, government authorities, research institutes and NGOs. The waste sector is also involved. Among the twenty participants are several waste companies, such as HVC, NV Slibverwerking Noord-Brabant, Van Gansewinkel, VEWIN & Reststoffenunie and Twence Aval en Energie BV. With this agreement the Netherlands aims to kill two birds with one stone: not only will the environment benefit from a reduced phosphate load, but industry can exploit the major opportunities to recover the excess phosphate, reuse it and export it to regions of the world facing a phosphate shortage. With its phosphate streams from VGF waste, the food industry, manure and water treatment, the Netherlands is sitting on a gold mine. Closing the phosphate cycle depends crucially on cooperation between industry, research institutes and government.

The waste sector has considerable experience with sustainable and efficient use of raw materials

WIM VAN LIESHOUT (HVC GROEP):

‘As far as I am concerned, the target should be

even higher.’


tive than primary materials, the EU should introduce financial incentives to use recy-cled materials. The problem, agrees Peter Kurth, is that the earnings model does not add up – at least not yet. ‘Recovering raw materials is more expensive than making primary materials, which is why still just one per cent of scare raw materials are recycled. Only paper and metals can pay for themselves, as well as some types of plastic, like films. The balance will tip the other way for more waste streams sooner than we think.’ Kurth is president of the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD). In his own country, Germany, he is director of the BDE (Bundesverbands der Deutschen Entsorgungs-, Wasser- und Rohstoffwirtschaft). ‘Deutschland wird Rohstoffland’ (Germany will become a raw materials country) is prominently dis-played on the association’s website. Kurth therefore endorses Potocnik’s ambitions. ‘If industries want to maintain access to sufficient quantities of high quality raw materials, they will have to make clever use of them and recover materials from the products they make. China has control over the scarce raw materials needed for many products, including mobile phones and cars. In recent years the prices of these metals have risen by 42 per cent. The natural stocks of copper ore will be exhausted within thirty years. The new generation of solar panels contain silicon, the price of which is rising at an alarming rate. What could be more logical than recovering this raw material from obsolete panels?’

For the waste sector, this development implies a wholly new way of working. Kurth: ‘The emphasis in our industry will increasingly shift towards high-quality recycling and energy recovery.’ According to the FEAD president, the stumbling block is the situation in most EU coun-tries, particularly in the Southern and Eastern European countries, where most waste is still landfilled. These countries are investing very little in separation and reprocessing plants, even though the European Commission has made billions of euros available through its structural and cohesion funds for environmental investments. ‘The majority of that money remains unused. And when investments are made using these funds, they take too little account of the waste hierarchy. Much still remains to be done to prevent valuable raw materials ending up in landfills. The

resource efficiency agenda must be given a prominent place in the policies of all EU member states.’

END-OF-WASTE STATUSIt is essential that recycled materials are given end-of-waste status, believes Kurth. Last year the Commission and the European Parliament made changes to the end-of-waste criteria in the Waste Framework Directive (WFD). The end-of-waste status was introduced to clarify when something is still a waste material or – after treatment – has become a raw material. In 2011 the criteria for scrap iron and steel and scrap aluminium were pub-lished, the criteria for copper, paper and glass are currently in an advanced stage of preparation, and several other waste streams are under discussion, including compost, waste-derived fuels and plastic. ‘There is still much confusion and uncer-tainty about these. I understand that it is much easier to establish criteria for paper than for other waste streams, but speed is of the essence,’ says Kurth, who expects that carefully and precisely defined, har-monised European end-of-waste criteria will lead to an increase in the marketabil-ity and use of secondary materials from waste. ‘Raw material status will stimulate high-quality recycling.’

End-of-waste status is consistent with the principle of creating more raw materials,’ says HVC director Van Lieshout. According to Van Veldhoven, this status is crucial to gearing up more raw materials rounda-bouts: ‘The strict rules on what we do with waste were created for a reason, but times and technologies change. The fact that wastes can now be effectively transformed into raw materials makes it logical to declare these waste materials ‘clean’ again, label them as raw materials and use them as such.’

MARCH 2011

q At the beginning of March the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) held the first workshop on the preparation of end-of-waste criteria for compost in Seville.

q On 3 March, CEWEP held a workshop in Vienna on the European Emissions Trading Scheme and the Energy Tax Directive, which was attended by representatives of the DWMA.

q The National Compost Day on 26 March was a great success. Many locations were much busier than in previous years. Marieke van der Werf, MP for the Christian Democrats (CDA), officially opened the event in Zoetermeer.

q The Dutch Senate approved amendments to the Competitive Trading Act which set out rules of conduct for market activities by government authorities. The DWMA believes the level playing field should be the guiding principle.

q At the end of March the Association’s strategy was discussed with the members during a meeting in Amersfort.

q Tauw presented the results of a study into the leaching risks of incinerator bottom ash carried out for the DWMA Waste to Energy Section. The study shows that the actual leaching risks are considerably lower than predicted by earlier laboratory tests.

q The DWMA discussed the results of the study on the future of the landfill sector with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. The DWMA agreed with the contents of the report.

q At the end of March, Hester Klein Lankhorst, the new head of the Waste and Product Chains department at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, introduced herself to the DWMA and the waste sector during visits to two companies.

q On 30 March the DWMA Bioconversion Section held an afternoon theme session at De Meerlanden on the developments surrounding the processing of vegetable, garden and fruit (VGF) waste.

APRIL 2011

q At the beginning of April the DWMA Bioconversion Section held fruitful discussions with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment on cooperation on biowaste policy. The ministry stated its willingness to contribute to improving the separation of VGF waste.

PETER KURTH (FEAD):

‘Raw material status will stimulate high-quality

recycling.’


BY HAN VAN DE WIEL

Waste comes in many different forms. Some waste streams have consider-able monetary value; others cost more to process than the products are worth. Some are burnt in waste-to-energy plants and produce energy, while yet others are recycled into raw materials. All these collection and sorting decisions are in part determined by the waste legislation, which regulates how waste is managed. The regulation of waste streams in the Netherlands ensures that most waste is separated at source and as much as pos-sible is recycled or reused, and is also one of the reasons why the Netherlands has a high-performance, innovative waste sector. ‘Just look at the situation in some Eastern European countries,’ says Freek van Eijk, strategy and public affairs director at SITA. ‘That is what happens when there is no regulation of waste streams.’

RECYCLING GOAL At the end of August 2011 the state sec-retary for the environment, Joop Atsma, presented his white paper on waste. The most ambitious objective in the white paper is raising the recycling rate from 80 per cent now to 83 per cent in 2015. The waste sector applauds the ambition, but empha-sises that achieving this higher recycling target will be no easy task. ‘The direction Atsma is taking is good,’ says Van Eijk. ‘It fits in perfectly with our strategy for a cir-cular economy, but realising his ambitions will require tough negotiations with the local authorities and other stakeholders on the collection of household waste.’ Meeting the new target implies a considerable increase in the separate collection of waste streams like paper and vegetable, garden and fruit waste (VGF), as well as more separation and sorting of bulky house-hold waste. At the moment many large municipalities can point to the problems in major urban areas to justify rates of sepa-rate waste collection below the national average. Van Eijk: ‘Much better results can be achieved in the big cities. Policy auton-omy and a certain degree of local flexibility are all well and good, but local authorities should be judged by their results. If they are not, Atsma can forget about his targets for VGF and other wastes.’

Erik de Baedts, director of the Association for Refuse and Cleansing Management (NVRD), understands the rationale behind

RECYCLING TARGET: FROM 80 PER CENT NOW TO 83 PER CENT IN 2015

Meeting Atsma’s recycling goal

Last summer State Secretary Atsma announced in his white paper

on waste that the Government was raising its recycling goal by

three percentage points. This presents a considerable challenge,

particularly for the recycling of household waste. The question

is how to realise this worthy ambition. By abolishing the waste

disposal charges for landfill, the Government has taken a step

backwards.

State Secretary Atsma sets his sights on more recycling: from 80 per cent now to 83 per cent in 2015


APRIL 2011

q On 4 April the DWMA organised a working visit by Stientje van Veldhoven MP to the Van Gansewinkel Groep waste sorting and recy-cling facility in Vlaardingen.

q On 8 April the end-of-waste criteria for scrap iron and steel and scrap aluminium were published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The legislation came into force six months later.

q In a response to the Ministry of Infra-structure and the Environment, the DWMA argued that political pressure to reduce ad-ministrative costs had resulted in a consider-able simplification of the rules for waste col-lectors, traders, transporters and brokers (VIHB-regeling), which now leave too much leeway for free riders.

q CE Delft began a life-cycle assessment study of plastic packaging waste for the DWMA.

q Launch of the ‘Waste gives energy’ slo-gan and logo, brochure and website. This campaign by the DWMA Waste to Energy Section demonstrates that waste incinera-tion with energy recovery is an essential part of the waste management infrastructure.

q The DWMA Bioconversion Section took part in the newly created Green Gas Knowl-edge Platform, established to meet the re-newable energy target for 2020. It was agreed that over the next five years the industry as a whole will develop projects to help remove the obstacles to the use of green gas.

q State Secretary Weekers presented his Fiscal Agenda containing the proposal to abolish the waste disposal charges. The DWMA argued vigorously to set the low rate tariff at 0% and maintain the standard tariff.

MAY 2011

q On 10 May the European Commission invited the member states to comment on the JRC working document on end-of-waste criteria for copper scrap, paper and glass.

q On 11 May the DWMA published its An-nual Review 2010.

q On 18 May the DWMA organised a work-ing visit by Judith Merkies MEP to Afvalzorg in Assendelft.

q The JRC organised a sampling study into the quality and levels of contamination in compost as part of the process of adopting end-of-waste criteria for compost. About 200 European facilities took part in the study, including members of the DWMA.

the 83 per cent target and believes it is ‘good from the perspective of raw materi-als scarcity, but it is not clear how the recy-cling percentage should be achieved. For some waste streams, this recycling per-centage implies a significant step change in performance. The recycling percentage for household waste has been raised from 50 to 65, which cannot be met simply by doing more of the same; it will require a substantial package of new measures.’ To work out the details of such a package Atsma has established a working group, chaired by De Baerdts, which will present its advice in spring 2012.

UNCLEARLiberal Party (VVD) MP René Leegte needs few words to state his opinion on the waste policy. ‘In a word: unclear. Atsma’s policy goal is a recycling percentage, whereas it should be about scarcity and environ-mental impact.’ Raw materials are finite resources, says Leegte, and some are already scarce. He mentions rare earth elements as an example. ‘I want to see a waste policy that prioritises materials that are crucial to our economy. This is not addressed in the white paper. If you

say that rare earth elements are scarce, you should develop a policy for recovering them from mobile phones, solar panels, TV screens and hybrid cars.’ Leegte thinks that Atsma should also identify waste streams for priority treatment from an environmental perspective. ‘Instead, he lumps them all together. The white paper focuses on paper and board because these are high-volume streams. While there is no scarcity of paper and board, they do pose an environmental problem. A general recycling percentage is much too sterile.’ Leegte argues that waste policy should seek to manage waste streams much more in accordance with the relevant objectives.

WASTE DISPOSAL CHARGESWhat runs counter to the recycling ambi-tion, in the eyes of the waste sector, is the abolition of the waste disposal charges for landfill at the beginning of this year. The decision to end this steering instrument, made by Atsma’s colleague Weekers, caused considerable conster-nation in the waste management com-munity, which criticised the Government for basing its decision on purely financial grounds. Pressure from the Dutch Waste Management Association and others led to the introduction of a transitional arrange-ment to prevent wastes that cannot be recycled or incinerated from being subject to unwarranted levies. Leegte understands the consternation caused by the aboli-tion of the waste disposal charges. ‘But it was included in the coalition agreement. You have to accept it as the new reality and move on, which is more challenging than just complaining about its abolition.’ »

ERIK DE BAEDTS (NVRD):

‘It is not clear how the recycling percentage should be achieved.’

BEST VGF PRACTICESThe amount of vegetable, garden and fruit (VGF) waste collected from households has gradually declined in recent years, partly because a growing number of local authorities have scaled down their waste separation ambitions. If Atsma wants to turn this negative trend around, the big cities will also have to make an effort to collect more VGF waste. The Bioconversion Section of the Dutch Waste Management Association is compiling a review of municipal best practices that deliver demonstrably better results and from which other local authorities can learn.

FREEK VAN EIJK (SITA):

‘The direction Atsma is taking

is good.’


Freek van Eijk and Erik de Baedts have more to say on the matter, calling it an ‘inadvisable measure’. Van Eijk: ‘It was the most effective instrument we ever had for regulating waste streams, but it has been sacrificed to satisfy the dogma of a simpler tax regime.’ The abolition of the waste disposal charges amounts to ‘tampering with the bottom rung of the waste hierar-chy,’ says De Baedts. The waste sector is concerned that without the charge more waste will go to landfill, especially wastes

that contains asbestos, roofing waste and shredder waste, which are difficult to keep track of and control because fraud is almost impossible to detect. It is a cause of concern to De Baedts that the House of Representatives does not recognise the link between the waste disposal charges and the intended environmental objectives. ‘The finance ministry in particular has largely ignored the environmental effects. If this becomes the trend, we have to ques-tion the future of environmental policy.’

RENÉ LEEGTE (VVD):

‘A general recycling percentage is much

too sterile.’

RATCHETING UP SEPARATE COLLECTIONVarious pilot projects are currently underway on improving waste collection from households. A particularly intriguing project is on ‘reverse collection’, which focuses on collecting recyclable materials rather than collecting residual waste. At the moment it is easier for households to dispose of their residual waste than their waste paper and plastic. Reverse collection turns this situation around: valuable waste streams are collected from households, whereas people have to take their residual waste to containers in the neighbourhood. The system has already proved its value in several municipalities. Another progressive innovation is Afval Loont (Waste Pays), a pilot project in the municipality of Pijacker-Nootdorp. Residents receive payment from the local authority for sorted waste paper and cardboard, plastic packaging, textiles and small electrical appliances if they take them to special collection points. The pilot project started in September 2011 and has led to a considerable increase in waste separation and returns of about 75 euros per participating household. Other local authorities have expressed interest in the scheme.

Atsma’s recycling target implies a considerable increase in the separate collection of household waste

Diana den Held @strateeg works for Prof. Michael Braungart (implementation Cradle to Cradle® principles) among others

Important moment today: Atsma puts last signature on Phosphate Value Chain Agree-ment :) -

4 October 2011

StientjevanVeldhoven @SvVeldhoven MP for D66. Spokesperson on sustainability

@atsmajoop great! A great example of something the Netherlands is good at! #afvalisgrondstof [waste is raw material]

5 October 2011


En route to the Waste Conference in Den Bosch. With positive news: 48% recycling plastic packaging, well above target!

5 October 2011

Sebas van Wijk @Sebas_van_Wijk marketing man at Dusseldorp Groep

The annual waste conference is on the pro-gramme for today. Always an interesting day with the sector #afval [waste]

5 October 2011


Environnement, SITA

Dutch Waste Conference 2011 #trendsetting presentations #design4recycling #CocaCola vision #Philips example #Circular Economy

5 October 2011

Bas Eickhout @BasEickhout member of European Parliament GroenLinksAfternoon meeting on raw materials

today. Future sustainability agenda must be broader than just climate and energy.19 November 2011



MAY 2011

q The DWMA sent a letter to Joop Atsma, state secretary for the environment, contain-ing proposals for the white paper on waste due to be sent to the House of Representa-tives in the summer.

q The DWMA’s Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday 25 May at ATM in Moerdijk, followed by a mini symposium on safety culture in the sector.

q On 30 May the DWMA Recycling and Col-lection Section held a successful brain-storming session on raw materials.

q Launch of the Strengthening the Safety Culture project to improve the culture of safe working within the sector. Twenty-four companies took part in the first round, start-ing with a baseline assessment of the safety climate. The outcome of this assessment provided the input to a subsequent round of workshops.

q The texts on the old health and safety project website were restructured and en-tered into the new site: www.arbocatalo-gus-afvalbranche.nl. The site was designed in the house style of the Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector Foundation (in the process of being established).

q New member RetourMatras joined the DWMA.

JUNE 2011

q The DWMA and four other industry asso-ciations sent a joint letter to state secretar-ies Weekers and Atsma asking for the stand-ard waste disposal charge to be maintained and the low rate tariff to be set at zero.

q The Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector Foundation (StAA) was es-tablished. Its remit is to manage the Health and Safety Catalogue and stimulate its use throughout the sector.

q Together with the Aluminium Centrum, TU Delft and Tauw, the DWMA carried out a study on optimising the recovery of alumini-um from bottom ash. The trial by Sita ReEn-ergy in Roosendaal indicated that most alu-minium does not oxidise, but remains behind as metallic aluminium in the bottom ash.

q The DWMA submitted questions to the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environ-ment about the excavation and relandfilling of waste from old landfills. The DWMA as-serted that environmental regulations had been sidestepped during the redevelopment of the former Kempenbaan landfill in Tilburg.


My motion on a pilot for waste free govern-ment was adopted! Time to get cracking on a serious raw materials roundabout! #mooi #innovatie #urbanmining

29 November 2011

Rob Mathlener @RobMathlener sustainable raw materials expert PwC Sustainability

Companies fear #grondstofschaarste[raw materials scar-city], #geopolitieke[geopolitical] dimension considered most important by FTSE500 Companies Survey #PwC www.pwc.com/resourcescarcity

9 December 2011

Wim de Jong @WimdeJong2 consultant at Twence

Almost in The Hague for the Dutch Waste Management Association AGM, fol-lowed by exchange of ideas with Joop Atsma

12 December 2011


R1 status drives up energy efficiency of waste-to-energy plants. www.wastematters.eu

13 December 2011

NEW LIFE FOR BOTTOM ASH

The waste sector and the government are working to raise the quality of bottom ash from waste-to-energy (WtE) plants. That is the aim of the Green Deal signed by State Secretary Atsma and Pieter Hofstra, chair of the Dutch Waste Management Association, on 7 March 2012. Once the quality of the bottom ash has been improved it will eventually be possible to declassify it as an ‘ICM building material’ (a building material that may only be used if isola-tion, control and monitoring measures are taken). The ICM label brings with it a whole list of conditions for use. The parties to the Green Deal have agreed that in five years at least half the bottom ash produced will be used as a clean building material. Achieving this will require a considerable improvement in the quality of the ash.

Numerous initiatives have been started to obtain cleaner bottom ash. For example, last year HVC carried out a successful test with Boskalis Dolman on a technique for washing the ash in which the heavy metals adhere to an additive, making them easy to remove. Following this test, a larger installation was built which will have to prove its effectiveness over the next two years. Other techniques being investigated are dry slag removal, in which after incineration the bottom ash is not transported in water, enhanced ageing – a treatment with CO2 developed by Tauw and used on a full scale by Twence in Hengelo – and Inashco’s Advanced Dry Recovery (ADR) dry separation technology, which is already operational at Heroes in Sluiskil. The ADR reactor is also able to extract the fine fractions. A number of these technologies require an additional treatment to bring the ash up to the desired quality. Afval Energiebedrijf Amsterdam (AEB), TU Delft and Inashco recently launched a cooperative venture to further optimise the bottom ash recycling process. They believe the key to this process is a combination of a wet cleaning technique, developed by AEB, and Inashco’s dry separation technique. This combination opens the door to new applications, such as the use of clean fractions as a substitute for sand and gravel.

In fact, the actual leaching behaviour of bottom ash turns out to be less pronounced than expected, as revealed in a study by engineering consultancy Tauw. Heavy metals and other substances remain largely fixed in the bottom ash and do not leach out. Tauw and TU Delft have also investigated the recovery of aluminium from bottom ash for the Dutch Waste Management Association and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. For the purposes of the trial, additional aluminium was added to the waste and after incineration almost exactly the same amount of metallic aluminium was recovered. The aluminium did not burn, but remained in metallic form in the bottom ash. The Green Deal also states that the WtE plants will recover a higher percentage of ferrous metals from bottom ash over the next few years.

news


BY MARIEKE VOS

On average there are two fatal accidents each year in the waste sector. The industry feels that is two too many and for many years improving health and safety has been high on its agenda. A milestone in this endeavour is the completion of the Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector, on which the Dutch Waste Management Association has worked for years with employers, employees and industry associ-ations. ‘Compiling the Catalogue in cooper-ation with all those involved has proved to be a very efficient approach,’ says Etienne Haneveld, who was involved in the develop-ment of the Catalogue as manager of the FNV Abvakabo labour union. He commends the spirit of cooperation: ‘It has not been possible to agree a single collective labour agreement with all the social partners in the sector, but they did succeed in drawing up a single health and safety catalogue.’

The Catalogue describes the various risks and associated safety measures in depth. For example, it contains details on what waste companies should prescribe in wintry conditions, such as wearing appro-priate seasonal clothing and providing hot drinks. To prevent falls, collisions and impact, companies must install the right type of lighting and ensure steps on lorries are at the right height so that operators can get into and out of cabins safely. The measures to protect against noise include wearing hearing protection when emptying bottle banks.

PRACTICAL DOCUMENTThe Health and Safety Catalogue is a digital document. A good choice, says Hélène Plaggenborg, project manager for the waste sector at Inspectorate SZW, formerly the Labour Inspectorate. ‘The waste sector is practically minded, so large

Safety firstThe waste sector is making strenuous efforts to improve working

conditions. The Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector,

now largely approved, contains crystal clear descriptions of the

safety risks and appropriate measures to be taken. The task now

is to make using the Catalogue second nature within the sector.

Safe working depends on an open safety culture.

HEALTH AND SAFETY CATALOGUE DESCRIBES SAFETY RISKS AND MEASURES

The yellow line shows where the driver should open the doors to prevent any danger of being tipped into the bunker.

ETIENNE HANEVELD (ABVAKABO):

‘You have to get it into the heads of the

employees.’


JUNE 2011

q Based on advice from trade and industry, State Secretary Atsma decided on a more pragmatic sustainable procurement policy. He considered that the procurement criteria were too rigid, which would tend to frustrate rather than encourage creativity and innovation.

q The whole waste sector, including the DWMA and the TLN (the Dutch Association for Transport and Logistics), and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment sent a letter to the European Commission asking for more consistent and uniform requirements for the registration of waste companies.

q At the end of June the DWMA and the Association of Dutch Greenwaste Composting Plants (BVOR) drew up new criteria for Keurcompost, the Dutch quality label for compost. The criteria provide a better guarantee of the quality of the compost.

q The DWMA Sewer Maintenance and Street Cleaning Section worked on a vision document on sewer maintenance entitled ‘Towards 2020’, in which the sector provides a solution to the upcoming government cutbacks: delivering higher quality services at lower cost.

q The DWMA set up the LAVS Working Group, which will keep track of developments relating to the national asbestos monitoring system (LAVS).

q At the end of June the DWMA submitted representations on the revision of the Waste (Landfill Sites and Prohibitions) Decree.

q At the end of June the European Com-mission published its R1 guidance document on the interpretation of the energy efficiency formula for waste-to-energy plants.

JULY 2011

q At the beginning of July the DWMA visited its German counterpart (BDE) in Berlin for discussions on cooperation within the framework of national and European developments. The delegation also visited the Dutch embassy.

q The DWMA Waste to Energy Section published materials safety data sheets (MSDSs) on the residual materials arising in waste-to-energy plants, sludge incinerators and biomass power plants.

q Omrin joined the DWMA for all its activities.

volumes of paperwork are not welcome. The online catalogue is easy to use and the search function quickly calls up the required information.’ The Inspectorate SZW has reviewed all the sections of the Catalogue and the majority have already been approved. The review consisted of two parts. First, the Inspectorate looked at the process of compiling the Catalogue, for example whether employers and employees agreed on the measures described. The second part was a substan-tive review of the contents. Plaggenborg: ‘The Catalogue provides detailed guidance, compiled by the sector itself, on how to comply with the legislation. For example, where the law states that certain machines must be fitted with “appropriate guards” to ensure their safe operation, the employ-ers and employees have set out in the Catalogue what type of protective devices should be fitted. If these meet statutory and regulatory requirements, we approved them.’ This means that the Inspectorate itself no longer has to provide detailed guidance on complying with the law. ‘We enforce the Working Conditions Act and refer to the Health and Safety Catalogue for detailed guidance on specific meas-ures,’ explains Plaggenborg. Companies that have adopted the measures described in the Catalogue are then subject to a less intensive inspection regime. ‘We are already finding that when dealing with companies that work with the Catalogue our inspectors discuss matters on a more detailed level and address more specific issues. For example, when visiting a company that processes demolition waste they do not first have to explain that an overpressure cabin is better protection against dust than wearing a dust mask.’

AMBITIOUS‘We took an ambitious approach, because our sector is forward-looking and wants to take the initiative. We are a high perform-

ance industry and so our Health and Safety Catalogue has to be comprehensive,’ says Ger de Jong, director of De Meerlanden and chair of the Stichting Arbocatalogus Afvalbranche (StAA, the Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector Foundation). ‘The StAA maintains the Catalogue and will make sure the sector uses it.’

Various activities are planned to promote the Catalogue. These will involve managers as well as employees, says De Jong, who leads by example. ‘Twice a year I go on a sort of road show through De Meerlanden, in which I meet all our four hundred employees. I have explained to them how the Catalogue works and asked them to look up the risks and measures relating specifically to their jobs. If they need any-thing, they can take it up with their supervi-sor.’ All involved emphasise that the Health and Safety Catalogue is a living document. Haneveld: ‘We aim to minimise risks. If new methods or techniques become avail-able to reduce risks further, we will include them in the Catalogue.’ Like De Jong, he emphasises that it is now time to make sure the Catalogue is put into practice. ‘Safe working is about knowledge, skills and attitude. You have to get it into the heads of the employees,’ says Haneveld.

SAFETY CULTURE Making safety second nature is the goal of the ‘Strengthening the Safety Culture’ project, which began in 2011. Twenty-four companies took part in the first phase. In the summer a baseline assessment was made at these companies, which revealed where they stood regarding safety culture. Workshops were then held and improve-ment plans drawn up. These plans contain various activities, such as the inclusion of safety in existing training courses and the use of communication tools like newslet-ters and posters to bring safety issues to

GER DE JONG (DE MEERLANDEN):

‘We will make sure that the sector uses the Health and Safety

Catalogue.’

HÉLÈNE PLAGGENBORG

(INSPECTORATE SZW):

‘The Catalogue provides detailed guidance,

compiled by the sector itself, on how to comply with the

legislation.’

»


the attention of employees. Communication proved to be a key theme in all the improve-ment plans. Pieter Ruigewaard, project manager for Strengthening the Safety Culture: ‘In a robust safety culture employ-ees warn each other about their behaviour and working practices. This means that an employee will also feel comfortable about alerting a manager to the fact that he is not wearing a safety helmet when he should. Safety therefore depends on an open culture, which is why considerable effort was made during the activities to teach par-ticipants the communication skills needed to get their message across clearly and in a

friendly manner. The project also included the development of a digital system for companies to exchange materials, such as posters and presentations.

In spring 2012 a second assessment will be made of the participating companies to reveal the progress they have made. The results of this benchmark study will be presented during a conference to be held on 23 May. The conference will also be the launch pad for a second group of compa-nies to start the project under the coordi-nation of the StAA. Safety is a question of continual attention and vigilance.

At the entrance it is clearly stated which safety equipment must be worn when entering the site.

INNOVATIONS IN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY: CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENTImproving safety places demands on the creativity and ingenuity of companies. Standard measures do not provide an answer to safety problems associated with specific tasks, so companies have to look for innovative solutions. A striking example is the ultra-safe scaffolding developed by Twence. The scaffolding previously used for the maintenance and cleaning of the incinerator furnace could not support much weight. The new structure is firmly attached to the furnace wall using special ‘pin and saddle’ fastenings, making it much more stable and therefore safer. For this innovation Twence received a commendation from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work at its Good Practice Awards held in Budapest in April 2011. AEB (Afval Energie Bedrijf) has also designed an innovative scaffolding structure for maintenance work on the large claw grabbers in the bunker. Whereas previously a ladder was used, AEB now deploys its own unique triangular rolling scaffold, which fits exactly between the partitions.

At Zavin, until recently employees had to work in the furnaces without fall guards, breaking up slag by hand where the primary furnace feeds into the secondary furnace. It proved impossible to attach fittings to the heat-resistant brickwork to secure a fall guard. A solution was found by drilling a hole through the furnace wall. A hook is inserted through the hole from outside the furnace to which workers inside the furnace can attach a safety harness.

At Dusseldorp some employees suffered from back complaints caused by pushing and pulling low waste containers. A remedy was found by developing a handle about thirty centimetres long with which employees can push and pull the containers while maintaining the correct posture. The handle is light, strong and easy to transfer from one container to another.

PIETER RUIGEWAARD (PROJECT MANAGER):

‘Safety depends on an open culture.’


15

JULY 2011

q In mid July the Labour Inspectorate approved the majority of the Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector.

q During a meeting with the DWMA, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment promised to provide further information in the Second National Waste Management Plan on the steering effect of the stockpiling of combustible waste, with reference to the periods for storage outside landfills, as stipulated in the EU Landfill Directive.

q The new sustainable energy incentive scheme (SDE+) was opened on 1 July. The composters submitted applications in large numbers. All the applications will be accepted. Heat from waste is a new category in the SDE+ 2012. However, it remains to be seen whether the WtE plants will receive subsidies.

AUGUST 2011

q The baseline assessments of the 24 DWMA members taking part in the ‘Strengthening the Safety Culture’ project were presented.

q In August the DWMA organised working visits for Marieke van der Werf MP (Christian Democrats CDA) and René Leegte MP (Liberals VVD) to Afval Energie Bedrijf (AEB) in Amsterdam and Smink in Amersfoort.

q The state secretary for the environment, Joop Atsma, presented his white paper on waste on 25 August. The DWMA applauds the increase in the recycling percentage to 83 per cent in 2015, but points to the lack of details on how to achieve this. The DWMA is less positive about the lack of decisiveness on packaging waste.

q Remex Nederland joins the DWMA.

SEPTEMBER 2011

q At the beginning of September the DWMA visited its Belgian counterpart (FEBEM) in Ghent for discussions on cooperation within the framework of national and European developments.

q The European Commission commissioned feasibility studies into setting end-of-waste criteria for aggregates and waste derived fuels (RDF/SRF). The results will be published in 2012. The study of aggregates includes WtE bottom ash.

news

Since 2007 numerous Dutch waste treatment installations have had to comply with the provisions of the EU IPPC Directive (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control). This direc-tive has now been consolidated in the recast Industrial Emissions Directive (IED). The IED states that these installations must use the ‘best available techniques’ described in the BAT Reference Documents (BREFs), which are hundreds of pages long. Two important BREFs for the waste sector, on waste treatment and waste incineration, are being revised. The revision of the BREF Waste Treatment will start in the second half of 2012; the revision of the BREF Waste Incineration is planned for 2013. The revised BREF Waste Treatment will contain a new section on biological treatment, which will include best available techniques for anaerobic digestion and composting. The Dutch Waste Management Association will review the revision in its capacity as a member of the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD). Over the past year information was submitted for the chapter on physical-chemical treatment and a proposal was made on how the chapter on biological treatment should be structured. In response to questions by FEAD, the European Commission has provided more detailed information on which activities for recovering non-hazardous wastes will fall within the scope of the BREF Waste Treatment.

Last year the Sewer Maintenance and Street Cleaning Section of the Dutch Waste Management Association prepared a vision document entitled ‘Towards 2020’. The vision was drawn up to provide an effective response to the planned budget cuts by municipal councils, provincial councils and water boards. It is expected that in 2020 urban water management budgets will 10 per cent lower. This cutback in expenditure was agreed in the National Administrative Agreement on Water, which was signed by central government, the provinces, municipalities, water boards and water supply companies in May 2011. The agreement states that despite these cutbacks the quality of the services provided must be maintained. The vision document states that customers using the services of a member of the Association can reduce costs without making concessions on quality, environmental protection or safety. Not only are the quality standards maintained by the members already high, backed by compliance with strict certification requirements, but employee training will be improved further during the coming period. Municipal authorities will be able to making savings by outsourcing some of their tasks. The Association’s members are not only able to integrate operational activities – inspection and cleaning – but also to advise on policy matters.

SEWER SECTOR PAVES THE WAY TOWARDS 2020

REVISION OF BREFS


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Less waste, more importsIn recent years the Netherlands has brought the growth in the

volume of waste to a halt. However, this considerable environmental

feat has left the waste companies with lower volumes than

anticipated. To make up the shortfall, waste-to-energy plants

are now importing increasing amounts of foreign residual waste.

Landfill operators look to sustainable landfilling as a solution.

SECTOR FINDS SOLUTIONS TO FALLING WASTE VOLUMES

The overcapacity at Dutch WtE plants presents an opportunity to process foreign residual waste in an environmentally friendly way in highly efficient waste-to-energy plants


SEPTEMBER 2011

q The FEAD Annual Conference was held on 29 and 30 September in Helsinki, Finland. The DWMA is a FEAD member and was represented at the conference.

q The Knowledge Platform for Sustainable Resource Management was established at TU Delft as a forum for researchers and to bring scientists into contact with industry. The DWMA welcomes the initiative.

q The Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector Foundation introduced itself to the Labour Inspectorate. Agreements were made on coordinating activities.

q The abolition of the waste disposal charges is included in the 2012 Tax Plan. This is earlier than the abolition per 2013 previously announced in the Fiscal Agenda.

OCTOBER 2011

q The Waste Conference, organised by the DWMA, the Association for Refuse and Cleansing Management (NVRD) and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, was held on 5 October in Brabanthallen, ’s Hertogenbosch. The theme of the conference was ‘Raw materials: abundant opportunities for the waste sector’.

q On 4 October the DWMA and several of its members were present at the Innovatie-estafette, a biennial innovation fair organised by De Club van Maarssen. The sector presented numerous innovations.

q At the presentation of their Sustainability Agenda, State Secretary Atsma and Minister Verhagen signed 59 Green Deals, several of which are with companies and organisations in the waste sector.

q On 21 October, at the invitation of the DWMA, Labour Party (PvdA) members Diederik Samsom MP and Judith Merkies MEP, and Flip de Groot, leader of the Democrats 66 group in Noord-Holland Provincial Council, held a working visit to Greenmills in the port of Amsterdam.

q On 24 October the JRC held a second workshop on end-of-waste criteria for compost in Seville, where the initial results of the European sampling study were presented.

q On 31 October the DWMA organised a working visit by Richard de Mos MP (Freedom Party PVV) to Shanks in Wateringen and Van Gansewinkel Groep in Rozenburg.

BY HARRY PERRÉE

The waste sector is undergoing a transition to a market in which there is less residual waste and as much waste as possible is reused or upgraded to high-quality recy-cled materials. Completion of this transi-tion holds the promise of a world in which there is no waste, only raw materials and fuels. The lack of growth and even slight decline in the volume of waste arisings is felt by the whole sector. Waste sorters, recycling companies, landfills and waste-to-energy (WtE) plants are receiving sub-stantially less waste than they anticipated. Besides successful waste policies, Bert Krom, director of Afvalzorg, attributes this decline to the recession. ‘In an economic downturn, less waste is produced.’

The WtE plants, in particular, are handi-capped by overcapacity. Jan Rooijakkers, director of Twence, has this to say: ‘Investment in incineration capacity has been a little too enthusiastic. A number of new furnaces were not needed, but this has been known for some time.’ However, the sector is not entirely to blame for the over-capacity, he argues. ‘The government did not want any risk at all of surplus waste flows going to landfill,’ which he consid-ers ill-advised. ‘These capital-intensive facilities should be fully utilised. It is not such a bad thing to temporarily store combustible residual waste for treatment later, and occasionally send some to land-fill or for processing abroad.’ According to Rooijakkers, the decline in waste volumes is partly due to the changes in government policy. The government has been suc-cessful in steering more household waste towards separation and recycling. ‘Until the previous National Waste Management Plan (NWMP) the preferred treatment for household residual waste was incineration in a WtE plant with energy recovery. Now greater priority is given to recycling.’

WASTE IMPORTSAbout ten per cent of the 7.5 million tonne incineration capacity of the twelve Dutch WtE plants is overcapacity. To fill this gap, the incinerators have been looking for other promising sources of waste. Last year several WtE plants, including Twence, incinerated previously landfilled waste. Rooijakkers: ‘In our case we have extracted quite a lot of waste from landfills. Some of this waste has already been processed and some has been stockpiled. Excavating

and sorting waste from landfills costs money, but until recently the standard waste disposal charges paid for landfilling this waste were refunded to the incinera-tor.’ However, since the abolition of the waste disposal charges at the beginning of this year, excavating landfills is no longer financially attractive, says Rooijakkers.

The overcapacity at Dutch WtE plants presents an opportunity to process foreign residual waste in an environmentally friendly way with highly efficient energy recovery. For some years several Dutch WtE plants have been importing combus-tible residual waste from neighbouring countries. Rooijakkers: ‘Since the opening of our third incineration line in 2008 Twence has been importing waste from Germany, but now Germany has its own overcapacity problem. The WtE plants are increasingly turning to the UK, which still cannot comply with the European direc-tives and has now introduced a landfill tax. This situation will last for about five years.’ Combustible residual waste is also begin-ning to be imported from other countries, such as Italy. Rooijakkers thinks this is a good solution to the problem of overcapac-ity, at least in the short term. By incinerat-ing foreign residual waste, the Netherlands is helping other countries to move up the waste hierarchy more quickly. They may even be able to bypass the incineration stage altogether and focus on recycling and reuse. To those who criticise imports as ‘carting waste across the continent’, Rooijakkers has this to say: ‘You don’t talk of “carting” tomatoes or mineral water from the south of France, or waste paper to China. It is legitimate transport. Studies show that it is better to transport waste over long distances for efficient treatment than processing it locally but much less efficiently.’ He is supported in this view by the state secretary for the environment, Joop Atsma. As his spokesperson emailed,

JOOP ATSMA (MIN. I&E):

‘Importing waste is a win-win situation.’

»


‘Importing waste is a win-win situation: the overcapacity at Dutch incinerators is uti-lised, energy is recovered from the waste here and it is not landfilled in its country of origin, where it could cause undesirable environmental impacts.’

SUSTAINABLE LANDFILL MANAGEMENTLandfill operators are also looking for innovative solutions. ‘It is clear that land-fills are in principle loss-making opera-tions,’ says Bert Krom of Afvalzorg. ‘Over the last twenty years the amount of waste going to landfill has fallen from 13 million to 1.7 million tonnes per year and tariffs have been halved. There is less waste, which means that landfill operators are all chasing the same waste.’ Landfill sites are only still open because the landfill opera-tors’ other activities, such as collection, separation and recycling, are profitable. This is confirmed in a report on the future of the landfill sector in which the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment paints a sombre picture of the prospects for landfill operators. Operators wanting to close their sites must have sufficient financial reserves for capping and after-care, otherwise the provincial authorities will not give their consent. ‘The companies are therefore more or less trapped in the sector,’ say the researchers. To turn the tide, they could consolidate their landfill capacity in a single utility company, or

agree a minimum price, but current legislation prevents this.

One way of cutting costs is to save money on capping and perpetual aftercare. This is possible with sustainable landfilling, an innovative approach being developed by the landfill sector with the support of the state secretary for environment and the provincial authorities. At the end of 2012 this is expected to be formalised in a government Green Deal on sustainable landfill. The method holds the prospect of major environmental benefits, emphasises Bert Krom, who is chair of the Sustainable Landfill Foundation. ‘It is much better to

control the environmental risks now rather than having to monitor them in perpetu-ity.’ Krom thinks perpetual aftercare is an absurdity. Next year the sector will start pilot projects on two to four landfills for about ten years. These should demonstrate that by stimulating biological decomposi-tion processes it is possible to make land-fills sustainable enough to make capping unnecessary, or even undesirable. The secret is to speed up the decomposition of contaminants through intensive irrigation and aeration. Krom: ‘Our slogan is “clean up, not wrap up”.’

Melanie Schulz van Haegen, minister of the Ministry infrastructure and the envi-ronment (Min. I&E), sees potential in the innovation. In January the House of Representatives approved the decision to amend the Crisis and Recovery Act Implementation Decree to allow the final capping obligation to be postponed for several landfills. This will save 80 million euros, which can then be used for sustain-able landfill management. After all, argues Schulz, it would be a great shame to apply a permanent landfill cap now if in all prob-ability a better method will become avail-able in ten years time.

TEMPORARY STORAGE OF COMBUSTIBLE RESIDUAL WASTEWhich non-recyclable combustible residual waste may waste-to-energy plants stockpile, and how much and for how long? The representations submitted during the consultation on the Second National Waste Management Plan (NWMP2) indicate a real concern about the permission to stockpile waste. The responses point to a lack of clear rules regarding the amounts of waste which may be stockpiled and for how long. Consultations have been held on this between the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and the waste sector, and an agreement has now been reached on amendments to the NWMP2. In line with European legislation it has been agreed that WtE plants may stockpile waste for incineration for a period not exceeding three years.

JAN ROOIJAKKERS (TWENCE):

‘Studies show that transporting waste to

more efficient treatment facilities is good for the environment.’

Sustainable landfill can cut the costs of capping and perpetual aftercare

BERT KROM (AFVALZORG):

‘Our slogan is clean up,

not wrap up.’


NOVEMBER 2011

q On 8 November the DWMA held a theme day on fire-proof materials in waste-to-energy plants at AVR/VGG in Duiven. The meeting was well attended.

q On 9 November the DWMA Bioconversion Section held an afternoon theme session for its members at Omrin in Oudehaske.

q The information meeting on the Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector held on 24 November in Nieuwegein was well attended. A morning meeting was jointly organised with the Labour Inspectorate for intermediary organisations, including the DWMA and the Health and Safety Catalogue for the Waste Sector Foundation. The importance of a robust culture of safe working was underlined by both the Labour Inspectorate and the waste companies.

q The DWMA took part in an environment ministry working group to work up concrete measures and actions to achieve the 83% recycling target.

q The DWMA promoted participation in the European Week for Waste Reduction, a European project supported by the European Commission to raise awareness about waste prevention strategies. During the week no less than 7,035 projects took place across Europe.

q Pressure from the DWMA and others led to the introduction of a transitional arrangement for the abolition of the waste disposal charges to prevent wastes that cannot be recycled or incinerated from being subject to unwarranted levies.

q The DWMA presented the annual statistics on residual materials from the incineration of wastes, biomass and sewage treatment sludge on www.bodemas.nl.

q DWMA chair Pieter Hofstra, representing the waste sector, was appointed to the Executive Board of VNO-NCW, the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers.

q The House of Representatives approved the abolition of the waste disposal charges and introduction of a transitional arrangement to prevent charges being levied on waste for recycling or incineration.

q The report ‘Waste Processing in the Netherlands’ was published. It shows that in 2010 less waste was landfilled, more waste was incinerated, and less vegetable, garden and fruit (VGF) waste was composted or treated by anaerobic digestion.

news

LCA STUDY: RECYCLING BEST OPTION FOR PLASTIC

In 2011 the Dutch Waste Management Association commissioned a life cycle assess-ment (LCA) to clarify the uncertainties sur-rounding the environmental impacts and benefits of different processing options for plastic packaging waste. The Association financed study, which was carried out inde-pendently by CE Delft. The research was supervised by a steering committee composed of members with a broad range of back-grounds. The LCA calculated and compared the environmental impacts of various processing routes. The study revealed that both source separation (by the consumer) and post-sep-aration (by the waste processor), as well as a deposit system for PET bottles, are better for the environment than incineration in a waste-to-energy plant. The more plastic packaging waste we recycle in the Netherlands, the better it is for the environment.

In 2011 the Dutch Waste Management Association reviewed various drafts of the amended Waste (Landfill Sites and Prohibitions) Decree and submitted representations. One of the proposed revisions adds fourteen wastes to the landfill ban. This was made necessary by the abolition of the waste disposal charges at the beginning of this year, which removed the regulatory effect of the standard tariff. The Association has reservations about the inclusion of some of the wastes on the list, such as asbestos cement. A new element in the draft is the restriction on central government involvement in the granting of discretionary landfill permits by the provincial authorities. In the current arrangement central government has to approve all discretionary permits individually. The Association argues for a nationwide regime to prevent inconsistencies arising between permissions granted by different provin-cial authorities.

The new criteria for certified compost were published last summer. The new evaluation criteria, for which the Dutch Waste Management Association and the Association of Dutch Greenwaste Composting Plants (BVOR) are the system owners, state in clearer and more precise terms the standards to be met by certified compost (Keurcompost). The Keurcompost label guarantees users that the compost is of optimal quality. The demand for Keurcompost increased last year, partly because arable farmers with a food safety

certificate may only use Keurcompost. A further ten composting locations were certified in 2011, which led to an increase in supply.

RESERVATIONS ABOUT NEW LANDFILL BAN

MORE AND BETTER CERTIFIED COMPOST


At the invitation of the Dutch Waste Management Association, Dutch Labour Party members Judith Merkies of the European Parliament and Diederik Samsom of the Dutch House of Representatives, and Flip de Groot, leader of the Democrats D66 Group in Noord-Holland Provincial Council, visited the port of Amsterdam on 21 October 2011.

Marieke van der Werf, MP for the Christian Democrats, opened the National Compost Day in Zoetermeer on 26 March 2011 and handed out bags of compost produced by Delta Milieu.

‘If we turn the Netherlands into a materials roundabout for Europe we will be taking action to combat raw materials scarcity, protect the environment, boost the economy and reduce social and economic inequality’, said Stientje van Veldhoven, Dutch MP for the Democrats D66 party, during a working visit to the Van Gansewinkel Group waste sorting and recycling plant in Vlaardingen on Monday 4 April 2011.

Interview with scientists Gerrit Brem of the University of Twente and Bendiks Jan Boersma of TU Delft for the March 2012 issue of afvalforum. They responded to the proposition: ‘Importing and processing combustible waste is a normal industrial activity’. (photo: Simone Gerard)

Illustrated highlights

22 wasteforum may 2012 • edition annual report 2011The theme of the National Waste Conference held on 5 October 2011 was raw materials. (these photos: Robert Goddyn Photo)

During a visit by MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy to Indaver-Relight in Doel on 11 July 2011 the lighting industry and the Dutch Waste Management Association expressed their desire for more investment in recovering rare earth elements, for example from energy-saving light bulbs and fluorescent tubes.

Central government and the waste sector will work together on improving the quality of bottom ash from waste-to-energy plants. Joop Atsma, state secretary for the environment, and Pieter Hofstra, chair of the Dutch Waste Management Association, signed a Green Deal on 7 March 2012.

State secretary Atsma (Infrastructure and the Environment) presented his white paper on waste at Sims Recycling Solution on 25 August 2011.

The sixth National Compost Day on 24 March 2012 was again a big success. Sjoera Dikkers (Labour Party) opened the event in Duiven.

Illustrated highlights


The year 2020: Greener, more sustainable and smaller-scaleThe year is 2020. ‘Waste’ is an obsolete concept; the dictionary

gives the synonym ‘raw material’. The waste sector, now known

as the raw materials sector, is prospering as never before and

technology is booming. Utopian? Four experts think not.

A FUTURISTIC, BUT REALISTIC VIEW OF THE FUTURE

Four experts give their futuristic, but nevertheless realistic visions of the waste industry in 2020


q The first JRC workshop on setting end-of-waste criteria for plastics took place at the end of November in Seville.

DECEMBER 2011

q Following approval by the House of Representatives, the Senate also approved the abolition of the waste disposal charges.

q Research by Agency NL showed that all the Dutch waste-to-energy plants deserve R1 status under EU policy.

q State Secretary Atsma visited the DWMA’s Annual General Meeting on 12 December.

q An independent LCA study carried out for the DWMA revealed that recycling plastic packaging from households is better for the environment than incineration in a waste-to-energy plant.

q The DWMA submitted its views on the draft Waste (Landfill Sites and Prohibitions) Decree.

q Joop Atsma, state secretary for the environment, said that he intends to sign a Green Deal with the provincial councils, landfill operators and the DWMA on carrying out sustainable landfill pilot projects. He also announced that he wants to review the financial situation in the landfill sector again in 2016.

JANUARY 2012

q From 1 January 2012 waste can be landfilled without waste disposal charges. The DWMA welcomes the abolition of the low rate tariff, but regrets the scrapping of the standard tariff. The standard tariff had a steering effect on the processing of waste streams.

q The European Parliament adopted the revised Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. The directive gives consumers the opportunity to return their smaller old appliances to shops and simplifies administrative procedures for companies.

q At the beginning of the year three new members joined the DWMA: Reststoffenunie, RMD (Roba Metals Delfzijl) and Riool.nl. ARN joined a month later.

q The DWMA submitted additional information to the JRC for the preparation of end-of-waste criteria for compost. The JRC hopes to be able to give interested parties further information on the next steps in May.

BY ADDO VAN DER EIJK

‘We face a tremendous challenge,’ says Diederik Gijsbers, member of the board of the Van Gansewinkel Groep. ‘In 2020 there will no longer be a waste market, but a resources or materials market in which what we now call waste is a raw material or energy carrier.’ The transition from waste to raw material demands a turnaround in thinking, both in the waste sector and in industry, say Gijsbers. ‘In future, industries will have to turn increasingly to us to obtain the raw materials they need. Traditional sources will become increasingly scarce. On the other hand, waste companies will have to learn how to produce and supply raw materials.’ Gijsbers expects that by 2020 the raw materials roundabout will be a fact. The metaphor appeals to him. ‘In eight years time, wastes – or rather, raw materials – will enter the roundabout in large quantities and after processing take the right exit to the customer. Long before the raw materi-als enter the roundabout, manufacturers will have thought about their future through the principle of design for recycling. This is crucial for closed loop recycling.’ Looking forward to 2020, Gijsbers sees an innova-tive sector, with new, dedicated recovery systems, a healthy sorting industry and old landfill sites turned into modern raw mate-rials mines. By then, he believes, the waste sector will operate much more internation-ally. He expects more recycling and less incineration. ‘Traditional processing routes will be drastically reduced in 2020.’

BIOBASED ECONOMYIn 2020 the Netherlands will rely less on oil and more on green resources. ‘We are in a transition to a biobased economy,’ says Roel Bol, director of the Biobased Economy programme at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (Min.

EA&I). Bol sees green initiatives sprout-ing up all over the country. ‘The business community is investing considerable sums in the biobased economy. The European Commission is also expressing interest and sees opportunities.’ Why? ‘There are several different reasons: climate and environmental objectives, reduced depend-ence on oil, and achieving the target of 14 per cent renewable energy in 2020.’ The waste sector, too, is moving with the green transition, observes Bol. Compost is already made from biomass, as is sustain-able energy. He believes organic waste and residual streams can deliver many more products as well, such as valuable chemi-cals, proteins and bioplastics. ‘The chal-lenge is to make full use of biomass, and preferably many different uses. Then, for example, we will first extract the proteins, then the acids and sugars, and finally what remains will be used to produce compost or sustainable energy.’ Making optimal use of organic waste streams, declares Bol, requires a sophisticated waste management system. He invites the waste sector to jump onto the bio-bandwagon. ‘The transition is picking up speed; the demand for biomass is rising rapidly. Waste companies must not wait for customers to knock on the door, but take the initiative themselves.’ A biobased economy stands or falls on coordi-nation and cooperation between suppliers, processors, biorefineries and users. ‘All sorts of new collaborative arrangements and partnerships are springing up, and it goes without saying that waste companies should be involved in setting up new value chains,’ says Bol. Looking forward to 2020, he sees biodegradable building materials, bioplastics and announcements like ‘This product or company was made possible by a Green Deal’ (Green Deals are agreements between the government and private parties to facilitate sustainable projects). ‘We are currently working on several Green Deals

DIEDERIK GIJSBERS (VAN GANSEWINKEL GROEP):

‘In 2020 there will no longer be a waste

market.’

WIM DE RIDDER (UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE):

‘In 2020 waste will be a high-tech product.’

»


to facilitate a more rapid transition to smart waste management.’

PLANTBOTTLE A concrete example of a bioproduct that may well be a best seller in 2020 is the PlantBottle, developed by Coca-Cola. ‘This PET bottle is made partly from plant-based materials rather than oil,’ explains Robert Seegers, public affairs director at Coca-Cola Enterprises. The PlantBottle was launched two years ago by Coca-Cola and consists of 22.5 per cent biomass-based plastic and 25 per cent recycled plastics. ‘This means that just over half consists of regular plastic made from petroleum,’ says Seegers. He believes the packaging industry is undergoing a silent revolution. ‘Many companies are serious and ambi-tious about making their packaging more sustainable, and that is absolutely neces-sary. Packaging makes up almost half the total carbon footprint of the supply chain – a sizable proportion. By 2020 we want to have reduced the carbon footprint of a

bottle by a third.’ Coca-Cola is pursuing the 3R strategy: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. ‘We are making the bottle lighter and are working according to ecodesign principles to make it 100 per cent recyclable. For example, we use monomaterials. In the future we may be able to add markers so that the plastics can be identified during sorting.’ At the moment the plant-based part of the PlantBottle is made using sug-arcane grown especially for the purpose. In future Coca-Cola wants to use plant waste streams such as tree bark and orange peel. ‘From an industry that cleans up other peo-ple’s rubbish, the waste sector is becom-ing a supplier of desperately needed raw materials,’ says Seegers. Manufacturers and waste companies need each other to close materials cycles, he says. ‘We have only just found a way to gear up the recycling and reuse of plastic packaging. Separate collection is a big success.’ He is positive about the prospects for 2020. ‘We are going to achieve much more than we now think possible. It used to cost money to dispose of waste; in future it will generate money. This turnaround is the key driver for new developments.’

SMART TECHNOLOGIES Finally, we put the question of what the future holds to trendwatcher and futurolo-gist Wim de Ridder, professor of futures studies at the University of Twente. He predicts a world of smart technologies, full of creativity and intellectual ingenuity. ‘This technological trend can be seen in various fields, including the world of waste. In 2020 waste will no longer be waste, but a

ROBERT SEEGERS (COCA-COLA ENTERPRISES):

‘We are going to achieve much more than we now think possible.’

high-tech product. In the future, waste will be pulverised and separated using mem-branes and nanotechnologies.’ According to De Ridder, technological developments are always accompanied by a trend from large-scale to small-scale operations and products, such as the transformation from room-sized computers to the tablet computers of today. ‘The more developed a technology, the less important the scale of operation becomes. Small-scale waste processing will really take off, just like decentralised energy generation.’ De Ridder suggests that the waste sector would do well to keep up with new techno-logical developments. ‘Waste companies must invest more in advanced, high-quality technologies and work with research insti-tutes. If they do not, they run the risk of missing the boat. It would not be the first time in history that major players failed to make the change to small-scale opera-tions. The manufacturers of big computers are just one example: they saw no future in the personal computer. Does anyone still know who they are?’

Janez Potocnik @JanezPotocnik EU European Commissioner for the Environment

Let’s not waste waste! The EU moves closer to a cleaner and more resource-efficient economy.

19 January 2012

Judith Merkies @JudithMerkies Member of European Parliament #PvdA

Good example of European win-win co-operation: German household waste also welcome in Netherlands.

21 January 2012


ROEL BOL (MIN. EA&I):

‘We are in a transition to a biobased economy.’

EL&I Nieuws @eleninieuws News from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture

and Innovation

[Minister] Verhagen: New Green Deals benefit economy and nature

13 December 2011

Attero @AtteroInfo

Sustainability thinking and doing: Attero signs #greendeal #veen-

vervanging [peat replacement] with minis-ter Verhagen and state secretary Atsma

19 December 2011

Gerben Jan Gerbrandy @Gerbrandy Member of European Parliament (D66)

Better waste policy would save EU €72 bn each year. Study by Eur Commission. Shows economic potential #resourceefficiency

13 January 2012


Questions in HoR about waste incineration in Netherlands. 200,000 tonnes waste from Italy. Energy from waste incineration good for households and saves CO2

17 January 2012


‘Atsma’s recycling ambitions fit in perfectly with our vision and strategy for the circular economy, but tough negotiations with local authorities and other stakeholders will be required if we are to meet the targets for household waste – certainly for the major streams like paper and VGF waste.’

FREEK VAN EIJK (SITA NEDERLAND)

‘Anaerobic digestion of VGF waste produces energy and good quality compost. The sector is going to increase the amount of anaerobic digestion and get the maximum value out of VGF waste. Biogas from VGF waste can be used to produce electricity, heat and transport fuel. The gas is also fed into the mains gas network.’

WILLEM GEERLING (ATTERO)

‘I am convinced that in 2020 we will have a resources and materials market in which waste is a raw material or energy carrier.’

DIEDERIK GIJSBERS (VAN GANSEWINKEL GROEP)*

Together with manufacturers we will find new ways of giving spent products a new life cycle.’

MICHAËL VAN HULST (SHANKS NEDERLAND)

‘Sector-wide agreements on safety are consistent with the high quality and performance standards throughout the waste industry. We will ensure not only that the sector uses the Health and Safety Catalogue, but also that safe working practices become second nature at all levels in companies.’

GER DE JONG (DE MEERLANDEN)

’It is much better to control the environmental risks now rather than having to monitor them in perpetuity. This can be achieved through sustainable landfill management, for which we will sign a Green Deal with state secretary Atsma at the end of this year.’

BERT KROM (AFVALZORG HOLDING)

‘Society has not yet fully woken up to the risks associated with raw materials scarcity. Neither do I hear anything about this from the municipal and provincial councils, even though in the long term this problem will have more serious implications than climate change.’

WIM VAN LIESHOUT (HVC GROEP)

‘We are pleased that the low rate waste disposal charge has finally been scrapped. We expect that enforcing the landfill ban and minimum standards will compensate for the loss of the regulatory effects of the high rate charge. The responsibility for this lies with all the parties in the waste management chain.’

PETER LOUWMAN (INDAVER/DELTA MILIEU)

‘Importing combustible residual waste to modern waste-to-energy plants is a good thing. The waste does not have to be landfilled in its country of origin, underutilisation of Dutch WtE plants is avoided and we also produce sustainable energy from the waste.’

JAN ROOIJAKKERS (TWENCE AFVAL EN ENERGIE)

‘With many years of expertise in sewer cleansing and inspection activities we have a wealth of information and knowledge. Local authorities can benefit from this.’

LEO VAN DER VALK (VANDERVALK+DEGROOT)

‘The Dutch waste industry can vouch for its innovative capacity, which means that a growing number of waste streams are being turned into raw materials for use in the industrial sector.’

RENS ZWANENBURG (INTERCHEM BV)

Comments from the DWMA board JANUARY 2012

q On 20 January the DWMA held an information meeting on sustainable landfill management. The aim was to provide landfill operators with information about joining the Sustainable Landfill Foundation with a view to carry out pilot projects on sustainable landfill.

FEBRUARY 2012

q A group of industry organisations including the DWMA launched a new ‘digital protocol’ for digital manifests for waste transports and digital communication between discarders, collectors and processors. The standard is free for use and ensures that the various systems used in the market can communicate with each other.

q Rapporteur Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (D66) published a report containing the European Parliament’s ideas on the Resource Efficiency Roadmap.

q The DWMA Platform KAM (Platform for quality, health and safety, and environment) was reconstituted as the Occupational Health, Welfare and Safety Committee.

q On 20 February, at the invitation of the DWMA, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy MEP and Stientje van Veldhoven MP visited the first Dutch sorting plant for plastic packaging waste, operated by SITA in Rotterdam.

q On 21 February the Dutch Nutrients Platform agreed a collective standpoint on European developments.

MARCH 2012

q On 6 March the DWMA and State Secretary Atsma signed a Green Deal on upgrading bottom ash. The Dutch waste-to-energy plants have improved the quality of their bottom ash to such a degree that it can be used as foundation material in road construction without the need for additional containment measures.

q As in previous years, the National Compost Day on 24 March was a popular event. Sjoera Dikkers MP (PvdA) opened the event at AVR in Duiven.

* Due to the departure of Diederik Gijsbers from Van Gansewinkel Groep in mid April 2012, he is

no longer a board member of the Dutch Waste Management Association.


BY RENÉ DIDDE

Many people automatically equate sustain-able energy with wind turbines and solar panels, but the twelve Dutch waste-to-energy (WtE) plants account for a consid-erable proportion – thirteen per cent – of

WASTE SECTOR TAKES ENERGY PERFORMANCE TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Rewarded with R1 status

ALBRECHT BRESTERS (HVC GROEP):

‘There are huge gains to be made from the

use of heat from waste in the

Netherlands.’

all sustainable energy production in the Netherlands. Together the WtE plants avoid more than 1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. In recent years the production of sustainable energy has risen rapidly, due in part to the construction of new WtE facilities equipped with the latest technology as well as improvements to the energy efficiency of existing plants, for example by fitting more energy-efficient flue gas treatment systems.

R1 STATUS The twelve WtE plants are now so energy efficient that they were recently officially classified as ‘energy recovery facilities’. This higher position in the waste hierarchy has been obtained under the EU Waste Framework Directive, which awards R1 status to WtE plants with a high energy recovery efficiency. ‘R1 status makes it easier to import combustible residual

waste from other EU countries, such as the UK, Germany and, more recently, Italy,’ says Albrecht Bresters, board member of HVC Groep in Alkmaar. By incinerating foreign combustible residual waste in the Netherlands with highly efficient energy recovery they are helping to meet the European target of 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020. The Dutch target is 14 per cent in 2020. Moreover, these waste imports are a welcome boost in a time of economic crisis and overcapacity. Nevertheless, Bresters realises that waste imports are a temporary solution, and only attractive as long as other member states have not yet established a high-quality waste management structure.

The waste sector has emerged as a major supplier of sustainable energy.

Waste-to-energy plants and composters are getting better at recovering

useful energy from waste. The high performance of all the Dutch WtE

plants recently earned them the coveted R1 status. The task now is to find

customers for the residual heat.

ELLA STENGLER (CEWEP):

‘The R1 status for the twelve WtE plants

is an excellent achievement.’

The heating tank keeps the reactor at the right temperature


GREEN GAS ON THE RISEStichting Groen Gas Nederland (the Green

Gas Netherlands Foundation), a partner platform of gas and energy companies, developers, provincial

councils, grid operators and LTO Nederland (Dutch Organisation for Agriculture and Horticulture), was established in 2011 to promote the joint production

and use of green gas. The Bioconversion Section of the Dutch Waste Management Association, which

represents waste companies that produce biogas, also participates in the Foundation. ‘We have identified forty

problem areas which we are attempting to resolve through intensive collaboration,’ says Erik van Engelen, director of Groen

Gas Nederland. ‘These include obtaining the necessary permits, financial difficulties, technical issues like upgrading biogas to natural gas quality, and also things like

helping eight farmers with a large anaerobic digestion plant to develop a good business plan,’ he explains.Negotiating with the network companies is crucial. ‘The grid

operators, quite rightly, uphold strict feed-in standards, but this sometimes leads to high project costs for a negligible risk of reduced quality. We are looking for an appropriate way to resolve this problem too.’ Van Engelen says the many new anaerobic digesters installed

by waste companies, including Attero’s, are very welcome. ‘The significant amounts of biogas of consistent quality they supply will make an important contribution to raising the

amount of green gas used in the Netherlands in 2012 by more than ten million cubic metres.

In Brussels, Ella Stengler, director of the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP), confirms that the process-ing of foreign waste in the Netherlands will be a temporary phenomenon. ‘The EU requires each member state to process its own household residual waste in an appro-priate manner. We are therefore in a tran-sitional phase until all the member states have established their own high-quality waste processing infrastructure.’

HEAT FROM WASTEStengler thinks the collective R1 status for the twelve WtE plants is ‘an excellent achievement’, but emphasises the oppor-tunities still to be exploited by making use of the residual heat. If, besides generating electricity, a WtE plant can also recover and make use of the heat in the form of steam, the current average energy efficiency of 35 per cent can be raised to more than 65 per cent. As a shining example of this, Stengler points to the Scandinavian countries: ‘These countries realised that waste is a valuable fuel more than ten years ago. Besides gener-ating electricity, almost all their WtE plants deliver heat to district heating schemes.’

There are huge gains to be made from the use of heat from waste in the Netherlands, declares Bresters of HVC, but initia-tives run up against all sorts of practical hurdles. For example, constructing a heat or steam mains is an enormous investment and partners are needed who can match demand with supply, which means that the whole process can drag on for a long time. Despite this, much progress has been made in recent years. Bresters mentions a few examples: ‘Twence recently started supply-ing heat to salt producer Akzo Nobel, Omrin to Frisia Zout, Attero to animal feed pro-ducer Noblesse and E.On to several neigh-bouring industries.’ And that is not all. AVR will be connected to the Rotterdam district heating mains, while AEB supplies heat to a growing number of homes in Amsterdam. Bresters is working on heat supply projects in Alkmaar and Dordrecht. ‘At the moment we are looking into possibilities to deliver steam to chemical concern Dupont and are working on a network to supply heat from waste and sludge incineration to existing rented housing. It is easier to deliver heat to rented housing schemes because there is often just a single owner, the housing cor-poration, and they often have central boiler. Combined with insulation of the existing housing stock, this makes a considerable contribution to energy saving.’

VGF TO BIOGASTake up of anaerobic digestion of vegetable, garden and fruit waste (VGF) with energy recovery is rising rapidly. In summer 2010 the composting companies in the Dutch Waste Management Association signed a Sustainability Declaration in which they committed themselves to treat at least 1 million tonnes of VGF waste by anaerobic digestion in 2015. The sector is well on the way towards meeting that goal. Various composters, including VAR, Attero, Twence, HVC and De Meerlanden, are adding anaero-bic digestion facilities to their conventional composting halls and tunnels. Other initia-tives are in the pipeline. ‘Through the anaer-obic digestion of VGF waste we exploit the energy content of this waste without com-promising the quality of the compost,’ says Willem Geerling, human resources direc-tor at Attero. He points to the more robust technologies and the subsidies available for biogas under the government’s sustainable energy incentive scheme (SDE) as drivers behind these developments. Another factor, he says, is that many composting halls are nearing or have passed the end of their depreciation period. ‘We have learned from past mistakes when digesters proved to be sensitive to changes in the composition of the VGF waste,’ says Geerling. ‘The mixing systems in current digesters have been improved and they are no longer overfed.’

The VGF biogas produced can be used for many applications, such as electricity gen-eration in combined heat and power units. Waste companies are participating in the

WILLEM GEERLING (ATTERO):

‘Through the anaerobic digestion of VGF waste

we can exploit the energy content VGF waste

without compromising the quality of the

compost.’

ERIK VAN ENGELEN (GROEN GAS NEDERLAND):

‘The new anaerobic digesters deliver

significant amounts of biogas of consistent

quality.’

development of ‘green gas hubs’ at various locations, where several producers, including farmers with manure digestion plants, deliver their biogas to a biogas collection facility for upgrading and feeding into the natural gas mains network. Another promising application, given the continuing rise in the price of petrol and diesel, is using green gas as a transport fuel. Geerling: ‘The number of green gas filling stations in the Netherlands is increasing.’

This trend also supports the further green-ing of lease car fleets. ‘Every time a contract expires, we increase the number of cars that run on green gas. At the moment seven of our 120 vehicles run on green gas and the number will rise to 90 over the next few years,’ says Geerling. Other waste companies are also switching to green gas. For example, De Meerlanden’s household waste collection vehicles – which also collect VGF waste – bear the message ‘This vehicle runs on your VGF waste’. There is no better form of promotion than this.


Association profile

Board of the Dutch Waste Management Association• Mr P.H. (Pieter) Hofstra, chair• Mr W.L. (Willem) Geerling (Attero), vice-chair• Mr P. (Peter) Louwman (Delta Milieu), treasurer• Mr F.W. (Frans) Beckers (Van Gansewinkel Groep)• Mr F.C.A.A. (Freek) van Eijk (SITA)• Mr M.P.A. (Michaël) van Hulst (Shanks Nederland)• Mr G.J. (Ger) de Jong (De Meerlanden)• Mr A.H. (Bert) Krom (Afvalzorg Holding) • Mr W.C.H. (Wim) van Lieshout (HVC Groep)• Mr J.T.P.M. (Jan) Rooijakkers (Twence Afval en Energie)• Mr L.C.T. (Leo) van der Valk RA (Van der Valk + De Groot)• Mr L. (Rens) Zwanenburg (InterChem BV)• Mr D. (Dick) Hoogendoorn (director DWMA), secretary

Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, CEWEP

Jan Manders (EFWC), vice-chairExpert End of Waste for Plastics: Dick Spanjaard (Attero)• Residues Working group:

Wil Sierhuis (HVC)• LCA and Energy Committee:

Jan Manders (EFWC)

European Compost Network, ECN

John van Haeff (Attero), board member • Working Group 1 European Policy:

Unico van Kooten (DWMA)• Working Group 1 Quality Assurance and

Standardisation: Adrie Veeken (Attero)

European Federation of Waste Manage- ment and Environmental Services, FEAD

• Committee 1 Legal and Market Issues: Ton Goverde (Van Gansewinkel Groep)

• Subcommittee Shipments: Jan Goedhart (Van Gansewinkel Groep)

• Committee 2 Material Recovery: Jan Thewissen (Shanks) Experts on End of Waste: Jan Thewissen (Shanks), scrap metals and copper; Martin van Tuyl (SITA), paper; Pieter Bartels (Van Gansewinkel Groep), glass

• Subcommittee Organic Recovery: John van Haeff (Attero)

• Subcommittee REACH: Wobbe van der Meulen (SITA)

• Committee 3 Energy Recovery: Dick Spanjaard (Attero), chair Additional Expert NL: Ton Goverde (Van Gansewinkel Groep)

• Committee 4 Landfill: Heijo Scharff (Afvalzorg Holding), vice-chair

• Committee 5 Hazardous Waste: Jan Goedhart (Van Gansewinkel Groep)

• Task Force BREFs: Ton Goverde (Van Gansewinkel Groep)

• Task Force Health & Safety: Stefan de Jong (SITA), chair

• Task Force Climate Change: Michael Sanders (Attero)

Representatives in international organisations

Data at April 2012

Following the departure of Mr D.T.G. (Diederik) Gijsbers from Van Gansewinkel Groep in mid April 2012, the Dutch Waste Management Association announces his retirement from the board.

Annual General Meeting

Communication Committeechair: Riny Kok (Attero) secretary: Daniëlle van Vleuten

Health and Safety Committeechair: Douwe de Boer (Attero)secretary: Jeanne Kok

Legislation Committeechair: vacaturesecretary: Evert-Jan Verbunt

Dredged Material Platformchair: Albrecht Bresters (HVC Groep)secretary: Jeanne Kok

Bioconversion Sectionchair: Ger de Jong (De Meerlanden)secretary: Ellen Verhoef

Recycling and Collection Sectionchair: Marc van Buijtene (Shanks Group) secretary: Ellen Verhoef

Hazardous and Oil-Contai-ning Wastes Departmentchair: Jan Goedhart (Van Gansewinkel Groep)secretaris: Han van Rijssen

Landfill Sectionchair: Bert Krom (Afvalzorg Holding)secretary: Jeanne Kok

Environment Committeechair: Jan Thewissen (Shanks Nederland)secretary: Han van Rijssen

LCA Committeechair: Robert Jan Saft (Attero)secretary: Liane Schoonus

Policy and Strategy Committeechair: Freek van Eijk (SITA)secretary: Evert-Jan Verbunt

Waste to Energy Sectionchair: Jan Rooijakkers (Twence Afval en Energie)secretary: Evert-Jan Verbunt

Sewer Maintenance and Street Cleaning Sectionchair: Leo van der Valk (vandervalk + degroot)secretary: Han van Rijssen

Board


• Afvalbeheer Noord-Groningen• N.V. Afvalverbranding Zuid-Nederland

(AZN)• Afvalverwerking Stainkoeln B.V.• N.V. Afvalzorg Holding• Van den Akker Cleaning & Inspection

Services B.V.• AKZO Nobel Base Chemicals B.V.• ARN B.V.• Attero• Avri• Bredox B.V.• DELTA Milieu B.V.• A. van Dorrestein B.V.• Dusseldorp Groep B.V.• Ecomineraal• E.ON Energy from Waste Delfzijl b.v. • Feniks Recycling• Van Gansewinkel Groep• Gemeente Amsterdam Afval Energie

Bedrijf• GMB Holding B.V.• GP Groot B.V.• Heros Sluiskil B.V.• Hoogheemraadschap Hollands

Noorderkwartier• HVC Groep• Inter-Che-M B.V.• Jansen Rioolreiniging• Koeweit Oliehandel B.V.• De Meerlanden Holding N.V.• Omrin• M.J. Oomen Leidingtechniek B.V.• Remat Chemie B.V.• Remex Nederland B.V.• Remondis Argentia B.V.• Reststoffenunie Waterleidingbedrijven B.V.• Retoumatras B.V.• Riool.nl• RMD Delfzijl• Shanks Nederland B.V.• SITA Nederland Holding• NV Slibverwerking Noord-Brabant• Sortiva BV • Stadsgewest ’s-Hertogenbosch• Teeuwissen Rioolreiniging B.V.• Twence Afval en Energie B.V.• Van der Valk + de Groot B.V.• Veluwse Afval Recycling (VAR) B.V.• Wolfswinkel Reiniging• Wubben Handelsmaatschappij B.V.• ZAVIN C.V.

Members


Unilever announces disappointing figures due to high raw materials prices. Wake up call for more urgency #resourceefficiency?

2 February 2012


Visited Noblesse in Wijster with provincial portfolio holder Klip. ‘Newcomer’ recovers raw materials from poultry sector ‘waste’. #duurzaam [sustainable]

16 February 2012


Clear blue sky today for working visit to #Sita where plastic heroes again become #grondstoffen [raw materials]! With @Gerbrandy and Unico van Kooten #toekomst [future]

20 February 2012


‘Agenda for new growth: Raw materials as motor of the economy’ read my press release: #ResourceEfficiency

23 February 2012


Environnement, SITA

Green Deal on improving #bodemas [bottom ash] quality signed by state secretary #Atsma and Pieter #Hofstra (Dutch Waste Management Association)

7 March 2012

Richard de Mos @RicharddeMos MP for PVV, Councillor The Hague

State Secretary Atsma embraces my idea for higher fines for dumping waste

7 March 2012


MEP Gerbrandy and Dutch MP Van Veldhoven present measures to combat raw materials scarcity and save resources. www.wastematters.eu

9 March 2012

The Dutch Waste Management Association represents the interests of Dutch waste companies at both the national and inter-national level. Our members are active throughout the whole waste chain and are responsible for waste collection, recycling, processing, sorting, anaerobic digestion and composting, incineration and landfill. Some companies are active in sewer maintenance. The Dutch Waste Management Association works for a healthy and balanced business climate in the Netherlands and Europe and promotes efficient, practicable and sustainable waste management. The Dutch Waste

Dutch Waste Management Association: representing the interests of the whole waste chain

Management Association represents its members in negotiations with government and other organisations. The Association represents about two-thirds of the Dutch waste market. Our head office is in ’s-Her-togenbosch, the Netherlands, and we have a European office in Brussels.

More information about the Association and its members and about developments over the last year is available on our website: www.dwma.eu. The section secre-taries (see organisation chart) can provide more information on specific topics.



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