Waste-to-Energy in Eastern and South Eastern Europe

Abstract

Waste-to-Energy (WtE) incineration is a crucial part of modern waste management, providing safe waste disposal together with electricity and heat production. Future projections show that especially new European Union (EU) member states, who are trying to catch up with the economic growth, can expect further growth in waste amounts in the coming decades. At the same time, these countries are mostly landfilling their wastes, contributing to the worst environmental impacts and greenhouse gas emissions, while the EU is encouraging safe waste disposal and the diverting of waste from landfills. Many are therefore already struggling to live up to the rising environmental standards either because they are bound to the EU legislation or because of the increased environmental awareness of the citizens and of international standards in general. The capacities for Waste-to-Energy (WtE) treatment seem to be already saturated in some of the old member states. This has had a profound effect on the WtE market, which was continuously growing since 1995 but now seems to be losing its expansion pace. All eyes have therefore turned to countries with undercapacities in waste incineration, such as Great Britain, Italy and Spain on one hand, and Eastern and South Eastern European countries [some of them being EU member states already, some not (yet)] on the other. But the path to a second large expansion still has to face some challenges. One of them is overcoming the Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) effect—a few countries of the former Eastern bloc will need some time to forget the bad memories of past environmental abuse due to the harsh industrialization. They will also need to inform themselves better of new innovative technologies. Many of them also suffer from limited financial means, less stable economies and lack the basic data to establish future plans in the field of waste. Nonetheless, the future role of WtE in Europe, may it be in the East or West, is certain. WtE completes a fully matured waste management system, enabling the waste producer to choose the best possible treatment option. With WtE, waste becomes an important source of renewable energy, mitigating the climate change effects and saving earth’s valuable resources and raw materials. The second WtE expansion will therefore be a part of the new era with resource independent and climate neutral societies, leaving the fossil-based economy in the past.