European Parliament releases waste-to-energy study

On 25 September 2017, the European Parliament Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) panel published a study entitled “Towards a circular economy-Waste management in the EU” to examines the role of waste management in the context of a circular economy transition and current state of policy development.

The report provides an overview of the state-of-play of incineration and other waste management options for different wastes in the EU. Five categories of waste-to-energy processes were analysed including: cement and lime kilns, combustion plants, waste incineration plants, anaerobic digestion plants.

The report says that Collecting high quality waste streams for re-use, remanufacturing and recycling requires citizen engagement and integrated infrastructure development from the municipal to the EU level. Ultimately, both waste prevention as well as a widespread growth in circular economy activities will require a coherent and holistic approach that takes recovery options into account at every stage of the product life cycle.

The report features case studies in Denmark, Italy an  Slovenia. The report can be downloaded on this link.