Final treatment of residual household waste and industrial waste simular to houshold waste

The Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM) presents an analysis of market practices related to the final treatment of residual household waste and industrial waste similar to household waste in Flanders and neighbouring regions, namely:
  • Brussels Capital Region (BHG);
  • Wallonia;
  • The Netherlands;
  • Nord Pas-de-Calais (NPDC);
  • Nordrhein Westfalen (NRW).
For each region, a separate report has been elaborated in the period November 2006 - June 2007, based on literature and Internet research as well as on interviews with the main stakeholders, e.g., the competent authorities and the trade organisations in both the private and the public waste treatment sector.

This report encompasses a selection of the most important data and key conclusions of the regional reports, on the one hand, and a set of comparisons between the regions, on the other, as well as some overall conclusions.
Firstly, we make an analysis of the boundary conditions in the various regions in order to determine if a level playing field exists. Those conditions are:
  • ­ Landfill bans;
  • ­ Subsidies;
  • ­ Landfill levies;
  • ­ Implementation of European directives;
  • ­ Regulations on import and export.
All regions do apply landfill bans but those differ a lot with respect to timing, scope and enforcement. NRW has the most stringent landfill ban which is also being applied very strictly, whereas NPDC has a less strict application of its landfill ban, e.g., there is a wider scope for granting deviations from the ban. They have implemented the three relevant European directives that deal with operating conditions for waste facilities but some regions have a stricter implementation, e.g., the Flemish obligation for continuous dioxin monitoring. Finally, with respect to import and export regulations, there are also great differences between the very liberal approach of NRW and the Netherlands that open frontiers for practically all waste treatment except landfill, whereas other regions, such as Flanders, only accept import and export of R1 waste.

With respect to the waste collection, there are regions where intermunicipal partnerships themselves organise the collection, e.g., the Flemish and Walloon regions, or regions where the collection structure depends on the local political situation, as is the case in NRW, NPDC, and the Netherlands. There are substantial differences with respect to the production of municipal and non-hazardous industrial non-separated waste ranging from less than 300 kg/inhabitant in Flanders to over 600 kg/inhabitant in NRW.

The incineration capacity per inhabitant is also quite different per region ranging from 200 kg/inhabitant in Flanders to over 500 kg/inhabitant in BHG. However, due to its lower waste production per inhabitant, the Flemish region has sufficient incineration capacity for all municipal waste, whereas other regions with a higher incineration density have not, due to a higher waste output and lower recycling ratio.

MBT seems to have found its place in NRW but has proved less successful in all other regions, mainly due to difficulties to market the RDF and compost fraction.

A quantitative forecasting of waste treatment capacities versus waste production indicates that, for the whole region under study, a capacity shortage of circa 1.8 tons will exist beyond 2012, although NRW is likely to achieve the "break-even" point by 2012, and the Netherlands will have reduced its shortage by 2/3 by that time.

In recent years, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of waste companies have taken place in all countries and venture capitalists have entered the market. The most relevant operations for the Flemish region are the sale of Indaver to the Dutch Delta Milieu and the acquisition of Van Gansewinkel by a consortium of two private equity firms that had previously acquired AVR. More M&As are expected, but this will depend also on what is happening on the utilities market in general; in particular, the consolidation will depend on whether large utilities will stick to their original core business energy or not.

Despite some local examples of take-over of public companies by private firms, there is certainly no evidence of an overall trend towards the privatisation of public waste functions on a large scale.