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Municipal solid waste management in Germany

A new era has dawned in municipal solid waste management

The landfilling of untreated biodegradable matter and of municipal solid waste containing organics ceased on 1 June 2005 in Germany. This occurred on schedule throughout the country - as required by the Technical Instructions on Waste from Human Settlements (Technische Anleitung Siedlungsabfall, TASi) and the Waste Storage Ordinance (Abfallablagerungsverordnung, AbfAblV). At the same time, some 200 landfills which failed to comply with the new standards were closed, marking the end of centuries of waste management by 'burying and forgetting'. Those days generated countless landfills and other contaminated sites which future generations will have to clean up at great effort and expense. The recent paradigm shift in municipal solid waste management is on a par with the introduction of catalytic converters for cars or the rules for waste incineration plants established by the 17th Federal Immission Control Ordinance (BImSchV) in the early 1990s.