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

overall costs of household waste management and minimise the cost burden for
single households.
The disposal of household waste is regulated through the Technical Instructions on
Waste from Human Settlements (the Technische Anleitung Siedlungsabfall, or TASi).
The TASi has been amended by the Ordinance on the Storage of Municipal Wastes
and on Biological Treatment Processes (Abfallablagerungsverordnung), which entered
into force in March 2001. According to the TASi, the disposal of untreated wastes in
landfills has been forbidden from 1 June 2005.
The reasons for the landfill ban of untreated household waste, and of other waste
flows with a specified organic carbon content in Germany are related to the following
facts:
795
� Tremendous environmental problems were caused by landfills in the 70s, 80s
and 90s, and a serious shortage of landfill capacity was emerging in regions
with high densities of population (“waste emergency” was a popular headline
in German newspapers);
� Germany is a country with a high population density in many regions. Serious
political discussions and ongoing debates about the problems of landfill arose
during the last three decades in many of these regions, e.g., the spectacular
case of “Messel fosse” (close to Darmstadt), which is a world famous place of
discovery for prehistoric fossils, was foreseen, until the early 90s, as a new
large-scale landfill. Due to tremendous civil engagement the authorities were
forced to give up the landfill plan and today the area is now preserved for the
scientific community;
� Considerable technical developments in the field of recycling, pre-treatment of
waste and waste incineration; and
� The large scale of greenhouse gas emissions from landfills led also to focus on
a landfill ban due to national greenhouse gas reduction plans.
Therefore the long-term issue was mitigated by introducing a landfill ban of untreated
waste, with the target for implementation set for 2005.
53.3 Key Organisations Involved in Implementation and
Management
The Federal German Ministry of Environment was responsible for the implementation
of the legislation in agreement with the German Länder. The German Länder are in
charge for the ongoing control of the implementation and management in practice in
compliance with the legislation.
53.4 Evaluation Studies Available
For general aspects see:
� Council of Environmental Advisors (Sachverständigen Rat für Umweltfragen,
SRU) Environmental Report („Umweltgutachten“) 2008, July 2008 (See:
http://www.umweltrat.de for further information).
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes