TITLE:
Modelling Recycling Targets: Achieving a 50% Recycling Rate for Household Waste in Denmark
AUTHORS:
Amanda Louise Hill, Ole Leinikka Dall, Frits Møller Andersen
KEYWORDS:
Recycling Rate, Recycling Potential, Household Waste, Econometric Modeling, Waste Management
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.7,
May
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: Within
the European Union (EU) a paradigm shift is currently occurring in the waste
sector, where EU waste directives and national waste strategies are placing
emphasis on resource efficiency and recycling targets. The most recent Danish
resource strategy calculates a national recycling rate of 22% for household
waste, and sets an ambitious goal of a 50% recycling rate by 2020. This study
integrates the recycling target into the FRIDA model to project how much waste
and from which streams should be diverted from incineration to recycling in
order to achieve the target. Furthermore, it discusses how the existing
technological, organizational and legislative frameworks may affect recycling
activities. The results of the analysis show that with current best practice
recycling rates, the 50% recycling rate cannot be reached without recycling of
household biowaste. It also shows that all Danish municipalities will need to
make efforts to recover all recyclable fractions, and that the increased
recycling efforts of only selected municipalities will not be sufficient to
reach the target.