From waste minimization to resources use optimization: Definitions and legislative background Eva Pongrácz1∗, Paul S. Phillips2 and Riitta L. Keiski1 University of Oulu, Mass and Heat Transfer Process Laboratory FIN-90014 University of Oulu, POB 4300 2 University College Northampton, School of Environmental Science, Sustainable Wastes Management Team, Northampton, NN2 7AL, United Kingdom 1
Abstract When discussing waste and waste policy, every effort should be made to have a common understanding of terminology. The purpose of this paper is to define the most important concepts such as waste prevention, waste minimization, re-use, recycling and recovery. 1 Introduction To date, European action in the waste field has mainly taken the form of legislation. While these actions have prevented the situation from becoming even worse than it is today, waste generation is still too high and is rising annually. In order to improve the efficiency of waste management within the European Community, what is agreed is that common terminology and a definition of waste are needed. The definitions of waste related terminologies provided by the Waste Directive (91/156/EEC) are collected in Table 1. Table 1 Definitions provided by Council Directive (91/156/EEC) on Waste Waste shall mean any substance or object in the categories set out in Annex I which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard. Producer shall mean anyone whose activities produce waste ("original producer") and/or anyone who carries out pre-processing, mixing or other operations resulting in a change in the nature or composition of this waste. Holder shall mean the producer of the waste or the natural or legal person who is in possession of it. Management shall mean the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste, including the supervision of such operations and after-care of disposal sites. Disposal shall mean any of the operations provided for in Annex IIA. Recovery shall mean any of the operations provided for in Annex IIB. Collection shall mean the gathering, sorting and/or mixing of waste for the purpose of transport.
Additionally, in this paper, the definitions of waste minimization, waste prevention, re-use and recycling will be discussed. 1 Waste management hierarchy The waste management hierarchy is a widely accepted order of waste management options. The European Council in its Waste Directive of 1991 sets the hierarchy of waste management options as follows: 1. waste prevention 2. recovery 3. safe disposal However, for a long time, the waste management hierarchy was ordered as follows (e.g. Kirkpatrick 1992): ∗
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
waste minimisation re-use recycling incineration disposal.
Both of the hierarchies are correct, and all of these concepts are widely used. The relative order of new and old hierarchies are illustrated in Table 2. Table 2 Old and new waste management hierarchy New hierarchy
“Old” hierarchy
Waste prevention
Waste minimization Re-use
Recovery
Recycling Incineration
Safe disposal
Disposal
One of these hierarchies is using waste prevention as the most preferable option, and the other waste minimization. In the following, the distinction between waste prevention and waste minimization will be discussed. 2 Waste prevention vs. waste minimization At a workshop in Berlin organised by the OECD in 1996, a definition of waste minimization was worked out, according to which it encompasses these three elements in the following order or priority (Riemer & Kristoffersen 1999): 1. 2. 3.
preventing and/or reducing the generation of waste at source; improving the quality of the waste generated, such as reducing the hazard; re-use, recycling and recovery.
The OECD Definition of Waste Minimisation is: “Preventing and/or reducing the generation of waste at the source; improving the quality of waste generated, such as reducing the hazard, and encouraging re-use, recycling, and recovery.” This definition seems to indicate that prevention is included in waste minimization. By this definition, waste minimization measures overlap with the objectives of the waste management plans (Figure 1). According to terminological work undertaken at OECD, waste minimisation is a broader term than waste prevention as waste minimization includes recycling and (if considered appropriate) incineration with energy recovery. As discrete activities, recycling and incineration are distinct from waste prevention.
Waste Minimisation OECD Definition Border Line
Prevention Reduction at source
Berlin Meeting 1996
Re-use of products Quality Improvements Recycling
Energy Recovery Pre-treatment Preventive Measures
Waste Management Measures
Figure 1 Waste minimization vs. prevention defined by the OECD (Riemer & Kristoffersen 1999)
The consensus understanding of waste prevention achieved by OECD countries (OECD 1998) can be broken down into three types of actions (Vancini 2000): 1. Strict Avoidance 2. Reduction at Source 3. Product Re-use Waste minimization and waste prevention are compared in Table 3. We can see that the only difference is that waste minimization also includes recycling and recovery. Table 3 Waste minimization vs. waste prevention according to OECD Waste prevention
Waste minimization
Strict avoidance
Preventing and reducing of waste
Reduction at source
Improving the quality of the waste
Product re-use
Re-use Recycling and recovery
In contrast with the approach of OECD, the European Topic Centre of Waste at the European Environmental Agency equals waste minimization with waste prevention, however, according to their approach, it also includes internal recycling. Figure 2 illustrates waste minimisation agreed upon at the task meeting of ETC/W in Stuttgart, September in 1998.
Definition Cleaner Production/ Waste Minimisation
Waste Minimisation Prevention Reduction at Source
Disassembling of Complex Products and Re-Use of Components for the same Purpose
Re-Use of Products for same purpose On-Site Recycling Source-oriented Waste Quality Improvements
Re-Use of Products for other Purposes Off-Site Recycling Waste-oriented Waste Quality Improvements Pre- treatment Energy recovery
Preventive Measures
Waste Management Measures
Figure 2 Waste minimization vs. waste prevention – European Topic Centre approach (Riemer & Kristoffersen 1999)
The consensus certainly is that waste reduction includes strict avoidance, reduction at source and re-use. The first-ever OECD workshop devoted specifically to waste prevention was held in 1999; and a Reference Manual on strategic waste prevention was published which defines these concepts as follows (Vancini 2000): Strict avoidance Strict Avoidance involves the complete prevention of waste generation by virtual elimination of hazardous substances or by reducing material or energy intensity in production, consumption, and distribution. Reduction at source Reduction at source involves minimising use of toxic or harmful substances and/or minimising material or energy consumption. Product re-use Product re-use involves the multiple use of a product in its original form, for its original purpose or for an alternative, with or without reconditioning.
For a production engineer, four important strategies are necessary to remember that will contribute to waste minimization: 1. Avoid waste creation, Changing the production process, so that less production waste is created, by use of clean technologies, methods to improving selectivity, e.g. catalysis; upgrading by-products to marketable products.
2. Use less material to produce a product, Through dematerialization, miniaturization, light-weighting. 3. Create durable/re-usable/repairable products Using measures that postpone the product becoming waste. 4. Use less harmful substances So as to an expected hazardous waste flow is replaced with a less dangerous one. The debate on whether recycling, and what type of it, or rather under what circumstances would be considered a waste minimization measure, is still under debate. Distinguishing waste prevention and waste minimization nevertheless is necessary, as many would associate waste minimization with diversion from landfill. From this point of view, any action that diverts waste going to landfill does minimize waste. Recycling, along with incineration do reduce the amount of the same waste going for landfill. However, the danger is that, by this way, waste minimization becomes an end-of-pipe option, merely a mitigation of an undesired outcome. Waste prevention indicates that it is a preventive action, thus ideally starts at the design table. Products and processes shall be designed as such that they use fewer resources to deliver the desired end-product. 3 Re-use, recycling, recovery The concepts of re-use, recycling and recovery are also often confused. Recovery is the activity that can be considered as diverting waste from landfill. It is a broader expression than recycling, and is defined as a set of operations listed in Table 4. Table 4 Annex II of the Packaging Directive: Operations which may lead to recovery (European Council 1991). R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10
Solvent reclamation/regeneration. Recycling/reclamation of organic substances which are not used as solvents. Recycling/reclamation of metals and metal compounds. Recycling/reclamation of other inorganic materials. Regeneration of acids or bases. Recovery of components used for pollution abatement. Recovery of components from catalysts. Oil re-refining or other re-uses of oil. Use principally as a fuel or other means to generate energy. Spreading on land resulting in benefit to agriculture or ecological improvement, including composting and other biological transformation processes, except in the case of waste excluded under Article 2 (1) (b) (iii). R11 Use of wastes obtained from any of the operations numbered R1 - R10. R12 Exchange of wastes for submission to any of the operations numbered R1 - R11. R13 Storage of materials intended for submission to any operation in this Annex, excluding temporary storage, pending collection, on the site where it is produced.
Recycling is a type of recovery operation defined as (European Council 1994): “Recycling shall mean the reprocessing in a production process of the waste materials for the original purpose, or for other purposes, including organic recycling but excluding energy recovery.
3.1 Re-use Many consider re-use as the second preferred option after waste minimisation. Re-use for the same purpose is included in the waste minimisation options by EEA, but re-use for another purpose is listed as “waste management option” (see Figure 2). Re-use, is however not included in recovery options of Table 3, neither is defined as such in waste legislation, only relatied to packaging end end-of-life vehicles. Re-use is best defined by Lox (1994): “Re-use is use, for the second or more time, of a product for the same purpose, under the same form and with the same properties of the material as the first use, the material having constantly remained under the same form between several uses. The distinction between re-use and recycling is easy to make referring to its structure and state. If the waste object is going through re-processing during which process its structure or state is going to change, the process is recycling. If between several uses, the structure and state of the object remains the same, the process is re-use. Reconditioning may be necessary before re-use, e.g. washing bottles between uses, however this processing does not change the bottles’ structure. 3.2 The problem with recycling The hesitance regarding the inclusion of recycling in waste minimization is due to the fact that recycling is not always environmentally preferable. The concept of recycling to conserve resources is based on the assumption that recycling requires fewer raw materials and less energy, and generates fewer emissions into the environment, than manufacturing new material. However, recycling is not environmentally sound when additional transportation steps using non-renewable fossil fuels must be used to collect the material prior to recycling. For recycling to be environmentally beneficial, the effects of the collection, transportation and reprocessing operations must be less harmful than those resulting from the extraction and processing of the virgin raw material that the recycled product replaces. Recycling actually only occurs once the secondary material has been converted into a new product, or is utilised in another way. Thus, the availability of markets for the secondary materials generated is fundamental to the success of recycling. For recycling to be environmentally beneficial, resources use optimization guidelines have to be considered. 3.3 Resources use optimization Resources use optimization requires that all resources are to be used sparingly. Referring to recycling, if the recovery of material is achieved by overexploiting other resources, it is no longer environmentally preferred. Examples include transportation over great distances. Most of the operations listen in Table 3 seem to suppose that we are dealing with a thing that has had some useful life and turned into waste. These definitions do not appear to cover by-products, given that they have not had a previous use. Also the definitions of both re-use and recycling refer to things that have had a purpose and, for some reason, ceased to be used for that purpose. To avoid becoming waste, it is then either re-used or recycled. It could be suggested that the list of recovery operations also include by-product utilization. Upgrading by-products to marketable products, or utilizing by-products in circumstances when by-product use replaces the use of virgin raw material is contributing to resources use optimization and should be supported. However, presently the use of by-products classified as waste is hindered by European environmental legislation, the source of the problem is often the definition of waste. It is because a substance, when defined as waste, is often restricted in its transport, sale and re-use. Industry
has voiced serious concerns that definitions may become a barrier to efficient and sustainable European waste management. Defining a material as waste, or secondary raw material, bears many consequences on what is permissive or not, what administrative procedures apply to its transport, export or processing, and what costs will be incurred. (Pongrácz 2002.) 4 Re-defining the concepts of waste management According to the European Council’s Directive on Waste, waste is ‘any substance or object (in the categories set out in Annex I) which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard’. This framework Directive is very broad, and does include materials that were, for a long time, considered by some participants as not being wastes. The definition of waste as ‘a thing which its holder has discarded’ assumes that waste is already there and that the holder intends to dispose of it; as a consequence, something has to be done with it. Waste management thus appears to be simply a reaction to waste. However, it has been recognized that the most important tool for resource efficiency, as well as for sustainable waste management, is waste prevention. It would appear that the definition of waste and waste prevention as well as waste strategies shall be considered in concert. The definition of waste, waste prevention and recycling has recently been put up for discussion at the European level. On May 27th 2003, the European Commission adopted a Communication towards a thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste (COM(2003)301). The Communication follows the mandate given by the 6th Environmental Action Programme.
4.1 European Community communication towards a thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste The Communication towards a thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste is a first contribution to the development of a thematic strategy that will cover both waste prevention and recycling. It is the starting point of a consultation process which will continue until the Commission adopts proposals both for the overall framework of the thematic strategy and for the individual measures through which the strategy will be implemented. In relation to waste prevention, the objective of this Communication is to launch, for the first time, a consultation process leading to the development of a comprehensive strategy, including waste prevention targets and the instruments needed to achieve them. The communication invites a very broad discussion, including identifying potentials for waste prevention on options to promote recycling. The Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (TT) sees the clarification of the definition of waste the most crucial question. The Finnish Solid Waste Association calls for an integrated scientific approach to define both waste prevention and recycling targets. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Waste Management Council (YTV) also invites a clearer definition of what is understood under waste prevention, and distinguishes it clearly from recycling. TT is convinced that there is a need to clarify the philosophy of waste prevention. The Communication concentrates on end-of-life products, while waste prevention has to be considered at product and process design stage. When the waste has already been produced, waste prevention is paradoxical. As this paradox is brought about by the current definition of waste, it is highlighted that, to facilitate waste prevention, there is a need for re-defining waste. YTV also emphasizes the need for progress in education; waste prevention should be included in the curriculum of all educational levels. Universities have to answer this call by committing to research and education into waste prevention.
4.2 The RESOPT project The University of Oulu is ready for the challenge; environmental issues are one of the focus areas of the university. The use of clean technologies for waste prevention, separation processes to recover valuable compounds from waste and biomaterial, catalytic processes vital to resources use optimization are being studied. As well, Industrial Ecology, Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, waste minimization and resources use optimization, are researched in several laboratories and departments of the university. The RESOPT project is one of the examples of these research efforts. RESOPT has committed itself to address issues of waste minimization and resources use optimization, and seeks to: -
Join forces of research-, industrial-, administrative- and regulating bodies toward the goal of resources use optimization. Promote Best Practice in local industry by implementing waste minimization and clean technology. To this end: Promote integrated resources management through the utilization of secondary materials. Provide a co-ordinated approach to addressing the issue of finding a proper definition for waste. Provide and encourage communication between researchers and practitioners such that scientific advances can be more readily understood and adopted. Bring together the supply and utilization sides of secondary material use, to foster a greater understanding of the benefits of by-product synergies.
As a first milestone of RESOPT, this waste minimization and resource use optimization conference was organized by RESOPT to offer a forum for our research members and their industrial partners to present the outcome of their research works performed under these subject headings. Summary In summation, there are few instant solutions to reducing waste, but taking an expanded view of what constitutes waste, and examining actions as designers, producers or consumers, will help make the best use of available resources. Waste management should grow into integrated resources management, where a wide range of instruments supports an effective flow of materials within society. References European Council (1991) Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991 amending Directive 75/442/EEC on Waste Official Journal L 078, 26/03/1991 p.32-37. European Council (1994) Council Directive 94/62/EC of 15 December 1994 on Packaging and Packaging Waste. Document 394L0062. Official Journal L 365, 31/12/1994 p. 0010 – 0023. European Council (1997) Council Resolution (97/C76/01) of 24 February 1997 on a Community Strategy for Waste Management. Document 397Y0311(01). Official Journal C 076, 11/03/1997 p. 1–4. European Environmental Agency (1999) Making sustainability accountable: Eco-efficiency, resource productivity and innovation. Topic report No 11/1999. Kirkpatrick N (1992). Selecting a waste management option using a Life Cycle Analysis approach. In: Life Cycle Analysis, 4 November 1992. Paper 3, Pira International Surrey, UK. Lox F (prom.). (1994). Waste Management - Life Cycle Analysis of Packaging. Final Report. Study Realised by the Consortium Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Vlaamse Instelling voor
Technologisch Onderzoek, Belgian Packaging Institute, for the European Commission, DG XI/A/4. Pongrácz E (2002) Re-defining the Concepts of Waste and Waste Management: Evolving the Theory of Waste Management. Doctoral Dissertation. University of Oulu, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, Oulu, Finland. Available online at URL: http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9514268210/. Riemer J & Kristoffersen M (1999) Information on waste management practices. A proposed electronic framework. European Environmental Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark. Vancini F (2000) Strategic waste prevention, OECD reference manual. OECD ENV/EPOC/PPC(2000)5/FINAL Working party on Pollution Prevention and Control
Article reference: Pongrácz E, Phillips PS & Keiski RL (2004) From waste minimization to resources use optimization: Definitions and legislative background. In: Pongrácz E (ed.) Proceedings of the Waste Minimization and Resources Use Optimization Conference. June 10th 2004, University of Oulu, Finland. Oulu University Press: Oulu. p.11- 20.
