Sustainability

Scientific study on benefits of recycling
In order to achieve a breakthrough in thinking, a federation of waste and recycling associations and environmental organizations has ordered the Utrecht University to calculate the benefits of recycling expressed in energy saving and CO2 reduction. University Utrecht recently released its study 'Saving materials' completed, see summary.
On 8 September 2010, the first copy of this report ‘Saving materials’ was offered to Prof. Dr.. H.H.F. Wijffels in Press Center Nieuwspoort.
Based on this study The Netherlands had to:
• Focus more on prevention and recycling to achieve sustainable waste management.
• Choose an integrated approach to all waste streams to be used in a high-quality of recovered materials to achieve the great potential of energy saving and CO2 reduction.
• In this context to solve the problem of the excess of waste incinerators in particular the waste incinerators with relatively low energy efficiency.

Taking advantage of opportunities
This document produced by BRBS Recycling – entitled “Taking advantage of opportunities” – provides an overview of the most recent insights and studies on the processing of non-hazardous waste materials in the Netherlands.
Estimates are made of the CO2 reduction and energy savings which can be realised via recycling.
Domestic waste is also taken into account due to the direct relationship existing between the required waste incineration plant (WIP) capacity and the opportunities for recycling.
In the coming years, the total volume of waste will continue to increase. However, much will change in terms of waste processing.