ESTONIAN ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW 2009

9.9. Waste disposal
9.9.1. Waste disposal volumes
The main method for disposal of waste in 2003–2007
was deposition of waste in landfills and this will continue
to be the predominant method in future as well – as long
as oil shale continues to be mined and used for energy
and shale oil production. Waste related to oil shale mining
and energy sector accounted for 95% of all landfilled
waste in the years under observation.
Whereas the quantities of waste disposed of in 2003–
2007 stayed more or less on the same level, the amount
of waste compared to all waste generated has decreased
with each year – from 69% in 2003 to 58% in 2007 (figure
9.13). Thus the general objective in the national waste
plan (2002) regarding reduction of quantities of waste
deposited in the environment has been fulfilled.
Besides landfilling waste, one of the most important of
the other disposal methods in 2003–2007 was physicalchemical
processing. This is in essence preliminary
processing in the course of which waste is made suitable
for the purpose of further disposal. This method is used
on bilge water in ports and other oil-containing waste,
laboratory chemicals, septic tank sediments, whey and
other liquid waste, potentially containing hazardous
materials.
Incineration of waste without the energy recovery
has decreased (from 2,500 tonnes in 2004 to 21 tonnes
in 2007).
The amount of landfill-bound waste generated in
the oil shale industry depends on the energy and shale
oil production output and technologies used, but the
introduction of other kinds of waste into the environment
can be reduced by intensive separate collection of waste
by category, sorting and increasing the effectiveness of
re-use and recovery of sorted types of waste. Considering
the composition of mixed waste and experiences of
other countries, it is possible to reduce the releasing of
waste into the environment by 50% E .
A key possibility for reducing quantities of mixed
waste to the landfill is so-called mechanical-biological
treatment. This method of handling waste allows a large
part of energy-value mixed waste to be separated; it can
be incinerated in cement kilns. As such, mechanicalbiological
treatment of waste can be seen as one part
of the process of waste recovery, which can be used to
reduce the volume of mixed waste left over in post-sorting
by 50–60%. Mass incineration of waste will likely be
implemented as a second alternative for handling mixed
waste in the Tallinn area in 2011–2012.
To reduce the amounts and hazardousness of waste
released into the environment, a number of restrictions
on landfills have been established by the Waste Act.
For example, from 1 January 2003, only treated waste
may be deposited in landfills. It is prohibited to landfill
liquid waste, waste with certain hazardous properties,
and undefined substances. Effective 16 July 2003, it is
prohibited to landfill unshredded tyres and from 16 July
2006, deposition even of shredded tyres is prohibited.
From 16 July 2009, it is no longer allowed to deposit
waste in landfills that do not conform to the requirements.
From 2010, the municipal waste deposited in
landfills may not include more than 45% biodegradable
waste by weight.
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E
Deposition and handling of municipal waste is described in detail in the subsection “Hazardous waste generation and handling”.