14 minute read
V. Donchenko, B. Boravskiy. Relevant
from HERALD - MARCH 2020
by HERALD
Advertisement
Vladislav Donchenko, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Economics, Professor, chief research officer St. Petersburg research Center of environmental safety of RAS
Boris Boravskiy, expert of the Federation Council Committee on agricultural and food policy and environmental management
The current global market for recyclables from production and consumption wastes is estimated at $320–400 billion. More than 20% of this volume is foreign trade turnover (export-import flows).
Within the structure of the world market of recyclables (foreign trade turnover) the leading position is held by the traditional secondary raw material: ferrous and non-ferrous metals, waste paper, plastics, broken glass, scrap and other waste glass, and also the fastestgrowing segment of secondary raw materials from waste electronic and electrical equipment (e-waste or electronic waste to the international nomenclature), which is currently recognized as the most problematic segment-consumer waste.
A distinctive feature of the current formation stage of the recycled materials world market is the requirement for its mandatory certification as a product. The buyer of this product can be guided by various preferences when making their choice. If recyclables produced from production and consumption waste are more expensive than those produced from natural resources, then preferences may have the goal of obtaining environmental competitive advantages. These advantages in a circular economy lead to additional costs today and benefits tomorrow. Moreover, the benefits can be in the form of additional advertising of target products (goods, works and services), which is expressed in increasing production volumes, creating additional jobs, and a positive response from regulatory authorities and the population.
Special attention should be paid to the rapidly expanding segment of the world market of recyclables from electronic waste According to the UN University's Global e-waste monitoring data, in 2016, 44.7 million tons of e-waste were generated in the world (+3.4% compared to 2015), of which less than 20% were recycled into secondary raw materials. It is predicted that by 2021, the volume of ewaste formation is expected to grow to at least 52 million tons. Factors contributing to the growth of e-waste formation are population growth, as well as a decrease in the" life "of it equipment, which, according to the UN, has recently decreased from six years to two (even less in the case of mobile phones-"before the new model is released").
The largest volume of e-waste is generated by the Asian region (41% in 2016), followed by Europe (28%), North and South America (25%). The highest collection rate is observed in Europe (40%), operating under the Directive no.2012/19/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU "on waste of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)". The directive defines the standards for processing and recovery of EEE per capita. The industry's revenues are at the level of 1.3 billion euros.
In America and Asia, the level of EEE collection does not exceed 15-17%. 38% of the market falls under small household appliances and equipment category (microwaves, vacuum cleaners, tools, etc.), 20% – under large equipment category (electric stoves, washing machines, copying equipment, etc.), 17% – refrigerators, etc. devices and equipment, 15% –monitors and TVs, 9% – small IT equipment (mobile phones, laptops, etc.). At the same time, household refrigeration equipment, large and small household electrical appliances demonstrate the highest growth rates in terms of the volume of EEE formation.
The most acute problem for the ewaste segment is the lack of adequate statistical data on the volume of generation, collection and circulation. To solve this problem, the Global partnership Ewaste statistics was created in January 2017 on the basis of the UN University (UNU), the International telecommunication Union (ITU) and The international solid waste Association (ISWA). Regional associations for the management of electronic waste are being created everywhere (including in Russia).
However, it is known that the successful resolution of this problem will depend on the creation and practical use of an adequate reporting system for producers of recyclable materials from electronic waste, which will lead to a successful "whitewash" of this segment of the recyclable materials world market. Public policy efforts in developed countries are aimed at tightening legislation (including a ban on dumping) and increasing the attractiveness of circular economy sectors in order to reduce the amount of waste produced. Most developed countries have environmental policy measures that are currently being implemented in Russia (in particular, ROP – extended producer responsibility).
Examples of growth in European market of recyclables from production and consumption waste The main trend of the European environmental policy in the field of waste management of production and consumption are the institutional measures
to increase the share of certified secondary raw materials obtained from waste. For example, the European waste Directive, adopted in 2008, aims to increase the share of household waste recycling to 50% by 2020. According to the amendments to the EU framework Directive on waste, 60% of household
waste will be processed in Europe by 2025 and 65 % by 2030.
We will analyze the production of recycled materials in the process of handling Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in some EU countries. Germany. The system of handling MSW in Germany has been constantly improved. This is evidenced by the constant growth in the amount of recycled materials obtained from MSW.
From the resource part of the MSW, the largest part is processed for recyclable materials -24.9 million tons (48.4 %), 16.7 million tons (32.4%) are kept in the waste incineration plant and 9.4 million tons (18 %) are processed for compost. Finland. All activities carried out in Finland to improve the system of handling MSW, were carried out purposefully and well-organized using maximum of all modern approaches and techniques.
It should be noted that forecasts for the further development of the MSW management system in Finland suggest that by 2030:
the amount of recyclable waste will reach 2400 thousand tons.; the amount of incinerated waste at the plants will be 1100 thousand tons; the amount of buried waste in landfills will be 0 tons.
The diverse and purposeful range of activities in the field of MSW in Finland since 1995 has provided a fairly high level of the MSW management system at the present time
Results of MSW processing into recyclable materials for the last 30 years (from 1988 to 2018): the amount of waste buried in landfills has decreased by 7 times (from 1380 thousand tons to 50 thousand tons); the amount of waste disposed of at the waste incineration plant increased 7 times (from 250 thousand tons to 1750 thousand tons); the amount of processed and used raw materials increased by 1.5 times (from 570 thousand tons to 860 thousand tons); the amount of compostable waste at the recycling plant increased by 1.75 times (from 80 thousand tons to 140 thousand tons).
From the results of the calculation, we can conclude that in Finland, over the past 20 years, special attention has been paid to increasing the number of incineration of MSW and reducing the number of MSW buried in landfills. Also there was an increase in the amount of waste collected in the recyclable materials and in the composting of municipal solid wastes.
In Finland, waste recycling is concentrated in large regional recycling centers, where it can be carried out more efficiently and economically. All centers have sites for disposal of waste that cannot be recycled.
All of these activities in Finland aimed to improve the system of handling MSW over the past 30 years have allowed to create a fairly effective system, which now gives tangible positive results.
Estonia. The strategic benchmark for the development of the MSW management system is to achieve 50% of secondary raw material selection by 2020.
The task is quite difficult, since the existing technologies in Estonia do not allow efficient sorting of mixed waste, where there is food waste, plastic, glass, paper, metal, etc. Therefore, some of the MSW is burned or taken to landfills. Currently, there are only two types of separate collection containers: for bio-waste and waste paper.
Estonia is one of the leading EU countries in terms of the number of mixed household waste per person, which is due to the frequent reluctance of residents to sort out MSW at the place of their formation. Only one third of the population sorts garbage. In order to solve this important issue, it is advisable to introduce prices for the export of sorted and unsorted garbage. However, according to the national audit Office, a system of organized waste reception has been established and is working, but it needs to improve its efficiency.
Estonia is a country where 50% of garbage is burned. This project is being implemented at the waste incineration plant in Tallinn, the Yyelyakhtme landfill plant, and the waste incineration unit of the IRU power plant. Over the past year, 245 thousand tons of MSW were disposed of at this station, and 140 thousand tons were burned at other plants. The missing MSW is imported from Finland and Ireland. Often factories do not operate at full capacity and use construction waste.
Examples of growth in the Russian market of recyclables from production and consumption waste What's old is new again. The foundations of the circular model of the economy were laid in the USSR. This was manifested in the fact that the USSR actively collected waste paper, glass containers and scrap metal. Collateral prices stimulated the delivery of secondary raw materials from the population and legal entities. Products were wrapped in paper or packaged in recycled glass containers. The leadership of a country with a planned economy did not set at that time the task of switching to circular economic models, in addition, the concept of business did not officially exist in the USSR at that time. However, some of the principles that successfully functioned in the planned economic model then are quite applicable to the market economy model of Russia today. It is worth mentioning that all the EAEU countries are undergoing a gradual transition to a circular economy in which waste is considered a secondary resource for obtaining certified commodity products in the form of secondary raw materials, so the experience of the USSR is of great importance.
Among other countries, particularly noteworthy is China, whose waste-processing industry is based on the principles of a planned economy using principles and methods that combine state leadership and public-private partnership.
The modern experience of China is a subject of independent study. The coordinated actions of the political leadership, public and private companies to battle the coronavirus have proved that the beautiful China program, which includes the transition to a circular economy and the creation of a waste-processing industry that ensures environmental conservation and prevention of environmental damage by using production and consumption waste as a secondary resource for the production of goods certified according to international standards (secondary raw materials) and selling it on the domestic and foreign market.
In January, 2018 the Russian Federation has adopted the "Industrial development strategy for processing, recycling and disposal of production and consumption waste for the period up to 2030" The main goal of the strategy is the formation and future development of the industry for processing, recycling and minimizing the amount of waste that is not subject to further disposal.
It should be noted that the adoption of this strategy meets the global trends of integrated economic and environmental development with the application of the 3R principle – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
The new Russian environmental policy in the field of waste management is based on the following principles:
prevention and reduction of waste generation in the production of goods, works and services by implementing the best available technologies (BAT); recycling of generated waste in the system of material production and consumption into secondary resources; production of secondary raw materials from secondary resources for reuse or for sale on national or international commodity markets.
For their implementation of the new environmental policy, a waste processing industry is being created in the country, whose target products are represented by secondary raw materials that are certified as a commodity product on the national and international commodity markets. Resolution of the strategic task of creating and developing the waste processing industry envisions the actual transition to the formation of a circular economy
One of the practical tools of the new environmental policy was the creation of the Institute of regional оperators: a company that is selected on a competitive basis by each subject of the Russian Federation for a period of at least 10 years to coordinate the process of handling MSW. This entity becomes the legal entity with which the waste owners will have to sign a contract for the collection, removal and disposal of solid municipal waste. Accumulating all the cash flows from the population, management companies and other generators of household waste, the COMPANY enters into contracts with other market partic
ipants to carry out actual actions with waste, or does everything on its own if possible.
It is assumed that the regional operator will help to streamline the relationship between all participants in the waste management industry. For the waste management industry, the new Institute, if successfully implemented, means that each region will have a wellestablished mechanism for the movement of raw materials, since the regional operator is responsible for creating infrastructure for collecting and transporting waste, as well as ensuring the construction of the necessary sorting facilities. Table 1 shows the structure of the main indicators of the Russian market of recyclable materials from MSW.
The main indicators of production of recyclable materials (commodity product) on the Russian market of recyclable materials from MSW are presented in table 1. Indicators of the volume of production and sale of recyclable materials (commodity product) on the domestic and global markets are presented in table 2.
The problem of human resources in the Russian waste processing industry Currently, the most important conditions for the successful implementation of the Russian waste processing industry (as well as in other countries of the EAEU) is the training of specialists who have the appropriate professional competence and have passed the qualification assessment according to approved professional standards using evaluation tools.
The new industry at the beginning of its formation faced a human resources problem. The analysis of educational programs showed that the training programs do not meet the requirements of the labor market due to the fact that educational institutions do not use professional standards for training specialists, which are a characteristic of the qualification required for an employee to carry out a certain type of professional activity (and, as a result, there is a gap between theoretical knowledge and real professional activity in the field of environmental protection and environmental management, this often leads to a lack of demand for graduates of Universities and colleges in the labor market in a new branch of Russian industry. The special relevance of creating an industry coordinating body in the field of professional qualifications was noted.
In conclusion, it should be noted that our analytical review covered the most relevant and debatable problems of the formation and development of the world market of recyclables from production and consumption waste. We hope for an active discussion and continuation of this topic in the «HERALD».
Table 1.
Kind of wastes (secondary raw material) Estimated volume of secondary raw material resource, million tons Production Volume of recyclables (commercial product), million tons Ratio of production efficiency of recycling (commercial product), %
Paper waste 12,0 3,23 27
Glass, sheet glass, 4,0 1,13 28 etc.
All types of plastics in waste, 3,6 0,45 12 including packaging
Rubber containing waste 0,73 0,095 13
Table 2.
Type of MSW (secondary raw material resource) Type of secondary raw material (certified commodity product) Volume of production of secondary raw materials, million tons Volume of sales of a commodity product from secondary raw materials in the markets, million tons
Estimated consumption in the domestic market External markets
Export Import
Waste paper Waste paper 3,23 2,9 0,35 0,034 Sorted waste paper
Glass Glass Cullet, 1,13 1,2 0,002 0,063 including untreated
Plastic Plastic Crushers, 450 0,46 0,012 0,023 flakes, granules, etc.
Tires, tires, Rubber crumb 66 0,076 0,0005 0,001 cameras, etc. rubber products rubber crumb
