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BUWAL - Bundesamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft
Address: Leitung Abtl. Abfall Papiermühlestr. 172
City: 3003 Bern
Country: Switzerland
AIMS AND PRIORITIES - Principles: 2000 issue
- Leading concept:
The "precautionary principle" dictates that waste management should burden the environment as little as possible and should certainly not cause any actual damage to it. Measures are therefore necessary in the following areas:
1. waste avoidance by long-lasting goods and low-waste packagings,
2. pollutant reduction in manufacturing, and in the goods themselves,
3. waste minimization through improved recycling,
4. environmentally compatible treatment of residual waste within
Switzerland.
Waste management should be based on efficient, cost-effective and socially acceptable procedures. It contributes towards sustainable development by closing the gaps in the material flow cycle.
The basic principle of Swiss waste management is to recycle waste whenever this has less environmental impact than its disposal combined with the production of new goods. Also, the costs of recycling should be in reasonable proportion to the ecological benefit.
The guidelines also require that waste treatment should produce either recyclable materials or materials that may be finally disposed. The term "final disposal of waste" is used to designate landfilled waste that has a tolerable impact on the environment and does not require treatment of the leachate or gases emitted.
As a federal agency, BUWAL's Waste Management Division has specialised knowledge in the field of waste management, and prepares ordinances and laws in this area. By providing guidelines and recommendations, it assists the cantons and industry in implementing waste management measures.
To achieve optimum results, the Division works hand in hand with the various actors involved among the authorities, economic sector, research and international organisations.
- A challenging task:
Direct landfilling of combustible and municipal waste results in the emission of landfill gas for decades, and of polluted leachate for centuries. This is why disposal of combustible wastes has been banned as of 1.1.2000. The implementation of the ban on disposal is hindered by the present low prices of landfilling and by the increase in waste production which is stretching the capacities of the municipal waste incinerators to their limits.
The financing of waste disposal still does not entirely follow the polluter-pays principle. Moreover, the financing of the operation and renewal of the existing infrastructures is not assured everywhere in the longer term.
The communes continue to finance part of the very successful separate collection of paper, glass and other recyclable materials through taxes, which distorts the market.
The provisions of the Ordinance on Movements of Special Wastes do not agree with the newest revisions of with the Basel Convention, and also deviate formally from those of the EU and OECD.
The Technical Ordinance on Waste no longer agrees in all its particulars with the current state of the art or the revised LPE.
Some loop-holes still remain in the implementation of the Ordinance on the return, the taking back and the disposal of electrical and electronic appliances (ORDEA).
Environmental quality standards are lacking for construction materials. This can create problems for the recycling of construction waste.
An increasing number of citizens consider the littering of streets and public places a problem.
- Aims:
The high level of separate collection and recycling reached in Switzerland must be maintained.
As of 1.1.2000, non-recyclable waste such as municipal waste or combustible construc- tion waste should incinerated, if there is sufficient capacity available.
In future, municipal waste disposal should be financed according to the polluter-pays principle. In particular, separate collection and recycling (of waste glass, paper, etc.) should be financed by well-adapted measures agreeing with the polluter-pays principle.
The technical regulations and those on the movement of waste should be kept on a par with the state of the art, and should accord with the EU requirements as far as possible.
Switzerland should continue to pursue a progressive and cost-conscious policy of waste management.
In view of the renewed clear increase in waste production registered in the last few years, it is necessary to evaluate and put into practice strategies that would allow the uncoupling of economic growth, consumption and waste production. So as to reduce the amounts of waste which must be incinerated and landfilled, the existing recycling schemes must be maintained.
Where it is both environmentally sound and economically sustainable, other wastes and waste fractions should be diverted towards recycling.
The experience and know-how that now exists in Switzerland should increasingly be put to use towards helping developing and emerging economies implement environmentally sustainable waste management strategies.
- Strategies:
In collaboration with the cantons and plant operators, the Division records the quantities of waste arising and monitors the available incineration capacity. Using this data, BUWAL coordinates the optimal use of the existing plants, so as to minimise the waste that will have to be landfilled due to insufficient incineration capacity. Simultaneously, BUWAL coordinates the planning and construction of the necessary installations.
In collaboration with representatives of the cantons, waste management associations and consumers, the Division prepares guidelines and recommendations concerning the levying of fees. BUWAL will prepare the corresponding recommendations and reference data necessary for the meaningful comparison of costs between different waste management associations and facilities.
The Division will adapt the regulations to technical advances and bring them into line with international agreements.
- Activities:
Provision of the personnel and financial resources necessary to carry out the enforcement duties. Information and training of personnel to enable them to fulfil their tasks as efficiently as possible.
The intercantonal coordination of planning of waste treatment facilities will be pursued, with the short-term objective of diverting as large a fraction of combustible waste as possible to the municipal waste incinerators, and in the long term of adapting the available capacities to the requirements.
In close collaboration with the cantons, the bases for decision will be modernised by updating and improving the statistical data.
Preparation of guidelines for the financing of waste disposal facilities based on the polluter-pays principle.
Completion of the revision of the Ordinance on Beverage Containers (VGV), with the aim of guaranteeing the financing of waste glass disposal and replacing the ban on PVC with a deposit system.
Introduction of prepaid disposal fees to ensure that the recycling of separately collected waste paper may be financed.
Total revision of the Ordinance on Movements of Special Wastes (OMSW) to bring it into line with the requirements of the Basel Convention, and to satisfy the central requirements of the EU concerning waste export.
Preparation of an amendment to the Technical Ordinance on Waste (TOW), to bring it into line with the state of the art (e.g. vitrified slag, dumping of excavated material from large construction sites).
Comprehensive amendment of the Ordinance on Movements of Special Wastes (OMSW) to bring this into line with the requirements of the Basel Convention, and to satisfy the central requirements of the EU concerning waste export.
Accompany and support the development of treatment processes for residual inorganic materials, and reinforce solutions promoting self-sufficiency.
Issue of guidelines on the incineration of special waste in municipal waste incinerators.
Monitoring and supporting new processes for waste treatment and recycling.
Preparation of environmental quality standards for new and recycled construction mate- rials.
Development, in collaboration with other partners, of strategies against littering.
GUIDELINES OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN SWITZERLAND
So far, Swiss waste management has been based on the “Guidelines of Waste Management in Switzerland”, prepared in 1986. Originally, this was a consensus document based on political, natural scientific, technical and economic principles and objectives, which had been agreed by industry, the environmental organisations and the authorities.
- Political principles and objectives:
1. Waste management is organised according to the objectives of the
laws on the protection of man and the environment
2. Taken together, all disposal systems must be environmentally
compatible
3. Switzerland endeavours to ensure disposal within the country
4. Management and disposal of municipal waste should be “tailored” by
the cantons and communes to suit regional circumstances
5. The need for, and assignment of, capacity for permanent waste
disposal must be included in spatial planning policy
6. Public authorities play a subsidiary role in waste management
- Natural scientific and technical principles:
1. Disposal systems should produce only two types of material from
waste: namely recyclable materials and materials for permanent
disposal
2. The waste treatment processes must be designed, (a) so that
substances hazardous to the environment arise in as concentrated a
form as possible, and (b) so that environment compatible substances
occur in as uncontaminated a form as possible, i.e. in the form of
substances akin to the earth’s crust or the soil
3. Organic materials should not be deposited in a permanent waste
disposal facility
4. Permanent disposal must be in single-component waste facilities
- Economic principles and objectives:
1. Fundamentally, the public authorities should not subsidise private
disposal systems or those managed by themselves
2. The charges for waste treatment up to the point of permanent disposal
must be set in relation to the costs and risks
3. Waste disposal charges within a particular waste category must be
proportional to the volume of waste
4. As a rule, waste disposal charges should be levied at the point at which
a material flow first appears
5. Waste must be passed on for material recycling if by so doing the total
environmental impact is less than that of disposal and corresponding
new production. In addition, recycling must be economic from the
standpoint of long-term business management.
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