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Status Report on the Waste Sector’s Contribution to Climate Protection and Possible Potentials

Following the entry into force of the Waste Management and Product Recycling Act in 1996, the practice of depositing untreated organic waste as landfill was gradually abandoned in the period up to June 2005. Thanks to a marked increase in separate collection and processing, and also to waste avoidance and more efficient waste treatment and disposal methods, it has been possible to replace fossil fuels and raw materials. These improvements are entered as credits in the climate balance, where they lead to significant reductions in climate-relevant emissions and savings in fossil fuels.

Between 1990 and 2003, total emissions of greenhouse gases in Germany were reduced by 18 % (to 1,017.5 million t CO2 equivalent). In the National Inventory Report (NIR), some 20 million t CO2 equivalent are attributed to the waste sector as a result of the landfill ban alone. Thus the waste industry has achieved the contribution it was expected to make to the reduction target of the National Climate Protection Programme 2000. A further saving of 8.4 million t CO2 equivalent by 2012 is forecast as a result of the closing down of landfill sites. For the period from 1990 to 2012 this results in a reduction of 28.4 million t CO2 equivalent, which under the Federal Government’s decision of 13 July 2005 (BMU 2005a) is attributed to the landfill disposal path in the National Climate Protection Programme.