International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

53.0 Landfill Ban (German Case Study)
53.1 Outline of Policy
Waste Waste Disposal Disposal Ordinance
794
29/09/09
Ordinance 998
The policy “landfill ban” means the restriction of the disposal of untreated municipal
waste, and other waste streams with certain carbon content, in landfills. In the
following chapters the policy on the German landfill ban will be described.
The Waste Disposal Ordinance (AbfAblV) is intended to avoid climate-damaging
emissions and landfill leachate containing hazardous substances, in order to mitigate
the environmental impact associated with municipal waste. In order to achieve this
objective it specifies, amongst other things, which thermally or mechanically
biologically treated wastes may be deposited in landfill; this is known as the input
criteria. According to the Waste Disposal Ordinance the disposal of untreated waste in
municipal landfill had to cease by 31.05.2005 (Article 6, Section 2, No. 1 Waste
Disposal Ordinance).
53.2 Where Has the Policy Been Applied and Why?
The policy has been applied in Germany since 1 June 2005.
Until 1 June 2005, a significant amount of household waste in Germany was still
disposed in landfills. This was a consequence of the fact that the disposal of waste in
landfills is far cheaper than the cost of recovering materials, or of energy generation
from waste through incineration or co-incineration.
As the ban entered into force, and as a result of the falling amount of residual waste,
municipalities in many German regions which were owners of the landfills tried to
reduce the problems of overcapacity by lowering the prices for disposal before June
2005, thus trying to stimulate disposal to landfill, and generate additional revenue in
the period before the ban was implemented.
In some German regions, municipal waste incinerators had been the main fate of
household waste for many years. The treatment of household waste in modern
municipal waste incinerators (with acceptable technologies according to the legal
obligations) is much more expensive than the simple disposal in landfills. Therefore
many cities and counties have developed and realized regional waste management
concepts (includes measures to encourage waste prevention, waste separation and
recycling, and pay by use schemes incorporating incentives to reduce the total
amount of waste, as well as the proportion of unrecycled material 999) to reduce the
998 Ordinance on Environmentally Compatible Storage of Waste from Human Settlements
(Abfallablagerungsverordnung - AbfAblV) of 20.2.2001, Federal Law Gazette pg. 305.
999 For more details see Annex 9.0.