As at September 2008

Waste management data 2006

Collection of graphs published

The latest data on waste management describes the situation in the waste management sector in 2006. The data comes from the Federal Statistical Office, the Federal Environment Agency and other sources. Some of this data has now been summarised in graph form in a brochure by the Federal Environment Ministry.

The graphs show that waste management in Germany has continued its positive development with regard to environmental protection - a trend reflected in practically all the figures. In economic terms too, there are encouraging findings behind these developments: investments, employment and turnover in the waste management sector still have potential for growth.

A particularly positive aspect is the role of waste management in resource conservation and climate protection: recycling and other recovery procedures have significantly increased the share of recoverables material in the materials cycle. For example, in 2006 around 60% of household waste was recycled - in 1990 it was just 13%. Recovery rates of other waste types have also increased considerably in recent years. It is equally evident that a modern waste management industry contributes substantially to climate protection by harnessing the energy in waste and avoiding climate gases from landfills.

Positive developments can even be seen in the field of waste prevention, which will become a key issue over the next few years due to the provisions of the amended Council Directive on Waste: there is a decline in both waste intensity - i.e. the volume of waste per inhabitant - and waste generation in relation to economic growth (decoupling).

Besides the global objectives of environmental policy with regard to resources and climate, the brochure also describes the original tasks of the waste industry with regard to the protection of human health through the prevention of infection, and the conservation of environmental media through air, water and soil protection: thus the number of landfills is steadily falling while recirculation of nutrients and soil improvers from biowastes is constantly increasing.

Nevertheless, too many valuable materials are still being lost because of inadequate waste management - waste electrical appliances, end-of-life vehicles, biowastes and plastics are just some examples of areas where further global action is needed. To a great extent rare metals, which are irreplaceable for modern technology, are lost after consumption. These strategic resources will shortly be the focus of the waste and resource management sector. In Germany too, which is considered a model in the field of waste management, there is still potential for considerable improvements in efficiency.

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