Environment and Disposal
Modified frameworks of the energy and disposal industry have a decisive impact on the availability of refuse for the energetic use as well as for recycling. Next to an unparalleled break within the disposal industry by the TASi-realisation in June 2005 and the shutting down of nearly all the waste disposal sites, new standards and stricter environmental regulations considerably influenced other sectors of sub-markets, as well. For example, the immission limit value for thermal waste treatment has been tightened due to the amendment of the 17th BImSchV in 2003 and the limit value for the usage of biosolids on agricultural land has been decreased heavily by the amendment of the biosolids regulation.
In the aspired cycle of material around production, utilisation and recycling of products, the recycling as a secondary raw material or substitute fuel (refuse derived fuel:RDF, solid refused fuel: SRF) particularly gains importance against the background of the ecological and more and more economical relevance. In the sector of energetic recycling an economic operation of sites can only be guaranteed by an integral consideration of fuel input and waste output streams within production sites and power plants. Although substitute fuels (RDF, SRF) are seen as an alternative to fossil power generation, the available quantity and quality have to be regarded much more critically as propagated after the TASi realisation in June 2005.
Focussing on recycling, several developments like the increasing competition of dual systems or the expansion of coal-fired power plants offer options within the marketing of recycling capacities.
Extremely diverse material and states of refuse demand well-adjusted disposal routes. Next to the thermal use, e.g. the utilisation of the fuel value within refuse, there is a multitude of recycling possibilities available like the recycling of synthetic material, the agricultural use of biosolids or the constructional utilisation of power plant by-products. Therefore, studies in the sector environment and disposal focus on materials and their utilisation methods and illustrate on the basis of the legal and technological framework the status quo as well as the developments in the sectors quantity, material flow, prices and project status, courses of action and services differentiated by country and government (see illustration 1). In addition, commissioned studies and exclusive projects have been performed on diverse topics e.g. the hazardous waste market in Germany, the Waste to Energy Market in Germany and Eastern Europe. These Projects were realised for energy suppliers, disposal companies, banks and investors amongst others.
