2. Prevention and management of
household waste in Flanders
Lore Mariën
OVAM (Flemish Public Waste Agency)
27.04.2009

3. 3
Overview
A. Responsibility for waste management
B. Waste treatment in Flanders 1992-2007
C. Flemish waste management according to
the waste hierarchy
I. prevention and re-use
II. selective collection and recycling
III. residual waste treatment: incineration and
landfilling
D. Conclusions

4. 4
A. Responsibility for waste management
 Belgium= Federal state with 3 regions: 3 regional + 1 federal
authority
 Waste management = regional competence
 OVAM is the regional authority responsible for making policy
on waste in Flanders
 Municipalities are responsible for the execution of the collection
and treatment of household waste

5. 5
B. Waste treatment in Flanders 1995-2007
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
year
kgperinhabitant
landfilled MBT incinerated recycled

6. 6
C. Waste management according to the waste
hierarchy
I. Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives
Re-use shops
 100 shops
 7.19 kg/inhabitant collected in 2007
 furniture, EEE, toys, clothes, etc.
 susidies for re-use shops

7. 7
I. Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives
Home composting
 25% of the Flemish households (mainly in rural areas)
 5 compost masters per 10,000 inhabitants
 communication campaigns, training and household waste charging
are crucial
Neighbourhood composting in urban
areas

8. 8
I. Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives
 ‘Please no publicity’ stickers
 Communication campaigns on waste prevention
 Financial support for local authorities which launch waste
prevention initiatives
 Cooperation agreements containing prevention measures
between local authorities and the OVAM

9. 9
I. Prevention and re-use: Flemish initiatives
Promotion of ecodesign
 ecodesign awards for students and professionals
 ecolizer
Eco-efficiency scan
Green procurement: - office supplies
- cleaning products
- electric/electronical equipment
- varnish and lacks

10. 10
I. Prevention and re-use: future objectives
Increase sustainable production and consumption in
absolute and relative terms
more innovation
retail sector offers and sells more sustainable products by
2015
more sustainable products consumed by 2015
central role of the government in sustainable consumption
via green public procurement

11. 11
I. Prevention and re-use: future objectives
Far-reaching decoupling between economic growth
and waste production by 2010
i.e. stabilisation of waste generation compared to
2000 at 560 kg/inhabitant
 2% prevention (dry fraction) per year
 25% of households engage in high-quality home composting
 10 kg/inhabitant is collected for re-use
 increase in the number of companies participating in selective
collection

12. 12
II. Selective collection and recycling
Selective collection schemes to allow for separation
at the source
 a) kerbside collection
 b) municipal recycling yards
 c) collection via retailers
Polluter pays principle
 household waste charging based on volume or weight
 recycling fees
 extended producer responsibility
Differentiated tarification
 = mixed household waste is more expensive to discard than
selectively collected waste

13. 13
II. Selective collection and recycling
a) kerbside collection
Kerbside collection
 mixed waste (charged)
 plastic bottles, metal packaging and drinking cartons (€ 0.125 per
60 l bag)
 paper and cardboard (free)
 glass bottles (free)
 vegetable, fruit and garden waste (charged)
 bulky waste (free or charged)
Others
 bottle banks (free)
 textile containers (free)

14. 14
II. Selective collection and recycling: charges for
mixed waste collection
Bag (60 l): between € 0.75 and € 2.5
Container (120 l)
 taxation per volume: € 2.5 - € 3.76
 taxation per weight: € 0.15 - € 0.2/kg
 taxation per offer: € 0.25 - € 1
solutions for urban areas
 collective containers
 subterranean containers

15. 15
II. Selective collection and recycling: correlation
between price and amount of waste generated
116
107
102
93
82
101
76
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
€ 0 - 0,99 bag
€ 1 - 1,24 bag
€ 1,25 - 1,49 bag
€ 1,50 bag
> € 1,50 bag
volum
e chip
weight chip
kg/inhabitant

16. 16
II. Selective collection and recycling: illegal and
evasive behaviour
 5 to 10 % of the population is responsible for illegal behaviour
 75 % of the illegally disposed waste consists of waste without
municipal taxation => no link between ‘expensive’ waste bag or
container and illegal behaviour
 Municipalities need to punish illegal behaviour
 ‘Waste tourism’ can be avoided by
using the same tariffs in neighbouring
municipalities

17. 17
II. Selective collection and recycling
b) recycling yards
337 container parcs (308 municipalities) which collect
50% of the household waste
A wide range of waste streams are separately
collected in those parks: construction and demolition waste,
cooking oils, batteries and accumulators, polystyrene, WEEE, paper
and cardboard, PE foils, metals, textiles, fluorescent tubes, light bulbs,
wood, green waste, car tyres, bicycle tyres, asbestos, gypsum,
bitumen, hazardous waste and non-recyclable combustible wastes

18. 18
II. Selective collection and recycling
c) collection at retailers
WEEE
batteries and accumulators
ink-cartridges
pharmaceuticals
car tyres

19. 19
II. Selective collection and recycling
extended producer responsibility
Producers are financially responsible for the
collection and treatment of their products once they
have become waste (‘acceptance obligation’)
Printed paper, batteries and accumulators, waste
pharmaceuticals, end-of-life vehicles, waste tyres,
waste electrical and electronic appliances, lighting
equipment, waste industrial and cooking oils

20. 20
Composition of mixed waste bag
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
1995
2006
biowaste paper/carboard glass metals plastics textiles hazardous mixed fraction inert fraction others

21. 21
II. Selective collection and recycling
future objectives
Limit residual household waste to 150
kg/inhabitant/year
Each individual municipality has less than 180 kg
residual waste per year per inhabitant
BUT:
A correction factor may be applied in the case of big cities (flats,
tourism,…)
By 2010 75% of the household waste is collected
selectively for the purpose of re-use and recycling

22. 22
Example of waste collection in big cities
Antwerp: + 470.000 inhabitants
 lots of nationalities, lots of poverty:districts with 30% migration/year
 toerism, students
How to manage the waste stream?
Since 1998 selective collection of waste
 several systems and 9 container parks
Priority:push back illegal duming and street litter
refusing to collect waste that is offered in the
wrong bag
Results: 61,5% of the waste was recycled in 2007
(~72% in global for Flanders).

23. 23
Experiments with kerbside collection in Antwerp
1. containers/bags on the street
2. containers in special areas (closed for strangers)
3. subterranean containers

24. 24
1. Containers/bags on the street

25. 25
2. Containers in special areas

26. 26
Evaluation
Not aesthetic
takes a lot of free space
difficult to charge the right people (DIFTAR)

27. 27
3. Subterranean containers - BEFORE -

28. 28
3. Subterranean containers -PLACING-

29. 29
3. Subterranean containers -PLACING-

30. 30
3. Subterranean containers -AFTER-

31. 31
3. Subterranean containers -MIXED WASTE-

32. 32
3. -VEGETABLE, FRUIT, GARDEN WASTE

33. 33
3. Subterranean containers -PAPER-

34. 34
3. -PLASTIC BOTTLES, METAL PACKAGING,
DRINK CARTONS

35. 35
Acces by prepaid badge

36. 36
Example of glass container - free of charge-

37. 37
Example of glass container - free of charge-

38. 38
Emptying

39. 39
Emptying

40. 40
Emptying

41. 41
Emptying

42. 42
Emptying
Nog foto gaan nemen ??
19 maart 200719 maart 2007

43. 43
Evaluation
aesthetic
in the middel of a square: social control
place saving: the square can still maintain his
function
costsaving:
 placing of the container is expensive: 10.000 euro BUT
 very cheap in the use: in 1 move the truck can pick up the weight of
120 sacks of waste

44. 44
III. Residual waste treatment: incinerating
It is prohibited to incinerate:
 selectively collected wastes that can be recycled
 with the exception of some high calorific wastes for renewable energy purposes
 unsorted household waste
 unsorted industrial waste
Motivated derogation possible

45. 45
III. Residual waste treatment: landfilling
It is prohibited to landfill:
 unsorted household and industrial waste
 wastes that were selectively collected for the purpose of recovery
 combustible residues from the sorting of household waste or
comparable industrial waste
 waste pharmaceuticals
 Motivated derogation possible

46. 46
III. Residual waste treatment
steering of landfill and incineration costs
‘Smart’ taxes
 make landfilling more expensive than incineration
 make (co)incineration more expensive than recycling
 steer the market towards the treatment option with the lowest
environmental impact
Restrictive permitting policy for landfills increases
landfilling costs

47. 47
III. Residual waste treatment
examples of landfilling and incineration costs
Tariff Tax Total
Landfilling municipal
waste
60 75 135
Incineration of
municipal waste
70 - 130 7 77 - 137

48. 48
D. Conclusions for us
Maybe Flanders is now a ‘champion’ in selective
collection but we must stay alert!
Prevention of waste is the main challenge for the
coming years

49. 49
D. Conclusions for you
Lessons from the Flemish experience:
Work on all levels of the waste hierarchy
Source separation of crucial importance
 sensibilisation campaigns
 selective collection schemes
 polluter pays principle
Limit residual waste treatment capacity to the
minimum
Make landfilling expensive and ban it for as many
wastes as possible

50. 50
Thank you for your attention
More information about our household waste
management plan? See english brochure on our
website:
http://www.ovam.be/jahia/Jahia/cache/offonce/pid/176?
actionReq=actionPubDetail&fileItem=1591
Lore Mariën
OVAM
++32 15 284 504
lore.marien@ovam.be