Since untreated municipal waste is no longer landfilled, emissions of gases harmful to the climate from waste management have been reduced by a total of approx. 56 million tonnes:
The former burden from waste management amounted to about 38 million tonnes CO2 equivalents in 1990, whereas in 2006 the figure had dropped to minus 18 million tonnes.
This corresponds to the annual CO2 emissions of 7.7 million passenger vehicles, almost 20 percent of all vehicles registered in Germany.
These are the results of the study "Klimaschutzpotenziale der Abfallwirtschaft (Climate Protection Potential of Waste Management)", which was jointly commissioned and presented in Berlin by the Federation of the German Waste, Water and Raw Materials Management Industry (BDE), the German Environment Agency and the Federal Environment Ministry. The study takes stock of waste management achievements since 1990 and points to further reduction opportunities in Germany and the EU 27 up to 2020.