Municipal solid waste production and composition in Finland-Changes in the period 1960-2002 and prospects until 2020

Laura Sokka; Riina Antikainen; Pekka E. Kauppi

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2007.01.011

Municipal solid waste production and composition in Finland-Changes in the period 1960-2002 and prospects until 2020

Laura Sokka^*
, Riina Antikainen
, Pekka E. Kauppi

^*Corresponding author for this work

Not published at VTT

University of Helsinki
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

73 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Waste reduction was recognised as the main goal of waste management policy in the EU in the 1990s. Although knowledge of past waste generation is essential for effective waste reduction policy there are no comprehensive statistics on the past development of municipal solid waste (MSW) production. MSW management is currently under turmoil in many EU countries as the requirements of the EC landfill directive (1999/31/EC) are set into force. In this study, the production and composition of MSW in Finland between 1960 and 2002 is presented using historical data. The impact of population, affluence and technology on MSW production are analysed using the IPAT equation and three scenarios are constructed until year 2020. The results are compared with national future targets on MSW production. Production of MSW increased in Finland until 1990, declined to year 1997, increased to 2000 and then declined again. The share of organic and plastic waste increased over the study period while the share of paper and cardboard declined. The results suggest that so far national targets on MSW reduction have been set fairly low. Moreover, our scenarios depict a wide range of future MSW production, even though the time horizon is not longer than 15 years into the future. In order to narrow this range, continuous improvement of the statistics of MSW is essential.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	475-488
Journal	Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Volume	50
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2007.01.011
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2007
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This study was a contribution to the AESOPUS 1 1 Analysis of Nutrient Cycles in Ecological and Socio-Economic Systems for Policy Purposes. research project, which was funded by the Academy of Finland, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and National Technology Agency of Finland as part of the SUNARE research project. The authors wish to thank professor Matti Melanen from the Finnish Environment Institute, and Dr. Jesse H. Ausubel and Dr. Paul E. Waggoner from the Rockefeller University, N.Y. City for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Keywords

Finland
IPAT
Municipal solid waste
Time series
Waste composition
Waste reduction

Access to Document

10.1016/j.resconrec.2007.01.011

Cite this

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title = "Municipal solid waste production and composition in Finland-Changes in the period 1960-2002 and prospects until 2020",

abstract = "Waste reduction was recognised as the main goal of waste management policy in the EU in the 1990s. Although knowledge of past waste generation is essential for effective waste reduction policy there are no comprehensive statistics on the past development of municipal solid waste (MSW) production. MSW management is currently under turmoil in many EU countries as the requirements of the EC landfill directive (1999/31/EC) are set into force. In this study, the production and composition of MSW in Finland between 1960 and 2002 is presented using historical data. The impact of population, affluence and technology on MSW production are analysed using the IPAT equation and three scenarios are constructed until year 2020. The results are compared with national future targets on MSW production. Production of MSW increased in Finland until 1990, declined to year 1997, increased to 2000 and then declined again. The share of organic and plastic waste increased over the study period while the share of paper and cardboard declined. The results suggest that so far national targets on MSW reduction have been set fairly low. Moreover, our scenarios depict a wide range of future MSW production, even though the time horizon is not longer than 15 years into the future. In order to narrow this range, continuous improvement of the statistics of MSW is essential.",

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AU - Kauppi, Pekka E.

PY - 2007/6/1

Y1 - 2007/6/1

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AB - Waste reduction was recognised as the main goal of waste management policy in the EU in the 1990s. Although knowledge of past waste generation is essential for effective waste reduction policy there are no comprehensive statistics on the past development of municipal solid waste (MSW) production. MSW management is currently under turmoil in many EU countries as the requirements of the EC landfill directive (1999/31/EC) are set into force. In this study, the production and composition of MSW in Finland between 1960 and 2002 is presented using historical data. The impact of population, affluence and technology on MSW production are analysed using the IPAT equation and three scenarios are constructed until year 2020. The results are compared with national future targets on MSW production. Production of MSW increased in Finland until 1990, declined to year 1997, increased to 2000 and then declined again. The share of organic and plastic waste increased over the study period while the share of paper and cardboard declined. The results suggest that so far national targets on MSW reduction have been set fairly low. Moreover, our scenarios depict a wide range of future MSW production, even though the time horizon is not longer than 15 years into the future. In order to narrow this range, continuous improvement of the statistics of MSW is essential.

KW - Finland

KW - IPAT

KW - Municipal solid waste

KW - Time series

KW - Waste composition

KW - Waste reduction

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ER -

Municipal solid waste production and composition in Finland-Changes in the period 1960-2002 and prospects until 2020

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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