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Waste Management in Switzerland–Achievements and Perspectives

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 Proceedings of International Symposium on EcoTopia Science 2007, ISETS07 (2007)

Waste Management in Switzerland – Achievements and Perspectives

Patrick A. Wäger1

1. Technology and Society Laboratory, Empa, St. Gallen, Switzerland

Abstract: In Switzerland, after a period of growth associated with partly severe environmental damages
related to waste disposal, a reflection process regarding the prerequisites for an environmentally sound
waste management initiated in the 70’s of the past century. As a main output of this process, the Guide-
lines on Waste Management, which defined principles and goals for an environmentally sound waste
management, were issued in 1986. Today, many of the goals set down in the Guidelines on Waste Man-
agement have been reached, and the environmental impacts caused by waste treatment and disposal have
significantly been reduced. At the same time, however, new issues emerged, which pose new challenges
for the Swiss waste management system. In this paper, I will give a short overview of the achievements of
the Swiss waste management policy within the last 20 years and identify some societal challenges to be
addressed in the near future.

Keywords: Resource Management, Sustainable Development, Waste Management

1. INTRODUCTION sitization of the Swiss population, the first Swiss Federal

For more than 20 years, the Swiss waste policy refers
to the goals and principles for an environmentally sound
waste management defined in the Guidelines on Waste
Management [1]. Based on existing literature and own
research, I will give a short outline of the history of waste
management in Switzerland, show some achievements of
the last 20 years, and identify some societal challenges to
be addressed in the near future.
2. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SWISS WASTE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Switzerland is a central European country, which ex-
tends over an area of 41,285 square kilometres and has
about 7.5 million inhabitants. Politically, it is a federal
state subdivided into 26 cantons having their own consti-
tution, government, parliament, courts and laws. Geo-
graphically, it can be subdivided into three regions dif-
fering in landscape and climate: the Jura, the Plateau and
the Alps. Culturally, it integrates a great variety of lan-
guages (with the four national languages German, French,
Italian and Rumantsch), dialects and traditions. This great
political, geographical and cultural diversity
co-determines the shape of the Swiss waste management
system.
According to Taverna et al. [2], the history of Swiss
waste management can be roughly subdivided into three
periods: A first period up to 1955, a second from 1956 to
1985, and a third from 1986 up to now.
2.1. Waste Management in Switzerland up to 1955
Until 1955 there basically were no regulations to pre-
vent environmental pollution from waste. The predomi-
nant way to dispose of waste was uncontrolled landfilling.
This resulted in partly severe sanitation problems, land-
scape degradation, and water pollution.
2.2. Waste Management in Switzerland between 1955
and 1986
As a consequence of emerging water pollution in the
50s of the past century, which was associated with a sen-
Law on the Protection of Waters issued in 1955. The law
for the first time explicitly prohibited the landfilling of
waste which could endanger watercourses. In the waste
management sector it led, among others, to the construc-
tion of municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWI), com-
posting facilities, as well as to the installation of con-
trolled landfill sites.
However, triggered by the increasing amounts and the
changing composition of waste, new problems arose:
Because of insufficient flue gas cleaning equipment,
MSWI became an important source of pollutants, i.a.
cadmium, mercury and hydrochloric acid. The use of slag
partly mixed with fly ashes from MSWI in road and dam
construction increased soil and groundwater pollution.
And hazardous waste disposal became a serious envi-
ronmental threat.
2.3. Waste Management in Switzerland after 1986
Before 1986, measures were defined according to the
identified environmental problems waiting to be dealt
with, as well as in response to the then existing laws.
However, these laws defined targets on a quite general
level (e.g. reduction of water pollution through waste
treatment; volume reduction to preserve landfill capaci-
ties; reduction of airborne pollution from MSWI plants).
As they were domain-specific, single measures led to an
improvement in one domain, but induced new problems
in others. There was no strategy, which addressed the
waste management system as a whole and referred to
medium and long-term goals.
Following a parliamentary inquiry, the Swiss Confed-
eration charged a working group of the commission for
waste management to develop extensive guidelines for
the Swiss waste management system. As a result, the
Swiss Guidelines on Waste Management, which define
political, socio-technical and economic goals and princi-
ples for an environmentally sound waste management
within Switzerland, were issued in 1986 [1]. Below, some
of the goals and principles of the guidelines are given.

Corresponding author: P. Wäger, patrick.waeger@empa.ch

799
 Proceedings of International Symposium on EcoTopia Science 2007, ISETS07 (2007)
Political goals
- Waste management complies with the goals of the laws
for the protection of man and his environment;
- All waste management systems must be environmen-
tally sound as a whole;
- Switzerland strives for a disposal in its own country;
- The management and disposal of municipal solid waste
has to be customized according to regional aspects by
the cantons and communities;
- Public authorities have a subsidiary role in waste man-
agement.
Scientific-technical principles
- Disposal systems only generate two types of material
classes from waste, namely recyclable materials and
materials suitable for final disposal;
- Waste treatment processes are to be conceived such
that materials harmful for the environment are gener-
ated in a most concentrated form and environmentally
sound materials are generated in a most pure form, i.e.
similar to earth crust or soil;
- Organic compounds have nothing to do in a final dis-
posal site;
- Final disposal shall take place in mono-landfill sites.
Economic goals
- Public authorities shall not subsidize disposal systems,
which are operated by public authorities or privately;
- The taxes from waste treatment to final disposal are to
be adequate with regard to costs and risks;
- Within a waste category, the waste taxes shall be pro-
portional to the waste amounts;
- A waste shall be recycled, if the environmental impacts
are smaller compared to the production from new ma-
terials.
The goals and principles of the Swiss Waste Guidelines
can be condensed to the 5 goals listed in table 1, the first
two goals having the greatest relevance.
Table 1. Summary of the goals of the Swiss Waste
Guidelines [3]
Goal I Minimisation of environmental impacts
from waste disposal
Goal II Resource prevention
Goal III Economisation of disposal plants
Goal IV Financing of waste disposal by waste pro-
ducer
Goal V Reduction of waste exports through dis-
posal in own country
Based on these guidelines, in 1992 the Swiss Agency
for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL)
developed the Waste Concept, in which strategies and
measures to reach the goals and principles stated in the
Guidelines on Waste Management were defined [4]. The
four strategies addressed in the Waste Concept for Swit-
zerland are
800
- to avoid waste at the source;
- to reduce pollutants in production and in goods;
- to reduce waste through improved recycling;
- to preserve the environment through environmentally
sound disposal of the remaining wastes inland.
The strategies defined in the Waste Concept for Switzer-
land are reflected in the Swiss Environmental Protection
Act (USG) as the principle of waste avoidance, the Pol-
luter Pays Principle, and the obligation for an environ-
mentally sound disposal.
3. SOME ACHIEVEMENTS SINCE 1986
The Guidelines on Waste Management of 1986 and the
Waste Concept for Switzerland of 1992 induced a trans-
formation of the Swiss waste management system and led
to some major improvements. Following, some of the
achievements of the last 20 years will be highlighted with
regard to the four strategies addressed in the Waste Con-
cept. The considerations are based, in particular, on a re-
port evaluating the Swiss Federal waste policy [3] and on
the Swiss waste statistics pubished by the Federal Office
for the Environment FOEN [5]. All cited Swiss Federal
laws and ordinances can be accessed on
http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/sr.html.
3.1. Waste avoidance at the source
The strategy of waste avoidance at the source primarily
aims at (1) minimising the environmental impacts from
waste disposal, (2) resource prevention and (3) econo-
mising waste disposal plants.
3.1.1 Legal framework
In 1995, the principle of waste avoidance was included
in the Swiss Environmental Protection Act (USG). Fur-
thermore, since the mid 80s of the past century, the fed-
eral law was improved in two domains, which are ex-
pected to indirectly promote waste avoidance: On the one
hand, the Polluter Pays Principle was implemented (pre-
scription of taxes on a cause basis for municipal solid
waste; building the foundations for anticipated recycling
fees (ARF)). On the other hand new standards regarding
the obligation for an environmentally sound disposal
were defined, in particular, with the Ordinance on Sub-
stances (StoV), the Technical Ordinance on Waste (TVA),
the Ordinance on Air Pollution Control (LRV) and the
revision of the Environmental Protection Act (USG),
which aimed at increasing the cost to be paid by the pol-
luter and guiding them towards avoiding waste generation
[3].
3.1.2 Waste avoidance in municipal solid waste
Since the mid 80’s of the past century, the amount of
municipal solid waste (including recyclable fractions) has
significantly increased, the percentage increase being
bigger than the growth of the population and of the real
gross domestic product (GDP). From 1993 to 2005 the
amount of municipal solid waste per capita and year in-
creased from 592 kg to 662 kg [5].
There are several indications that the taxes on a cause
basis for the disposal of municipal solid waste have an
attenuating effect on the growth of the waste amounts of
private households. For example, in communities with
 Proceedings of International Symposium on EcoTopia Science 2007, ISETS07 (2007)
bag taxes, the amounts of municipal solid waste per in-
habitant have decreased after its introduction, whereas
they have increased in communities without bag tax. Lit-
tering, which is a phenomenon that can increasingly be
observed in Switzerland, is not related to the bag tax [6].
3.2 Reduction of pollutants in waste
The strategy of pollutant reduction in waste refers to
the production process as well as to the resulting goods.
The aim of this strategy is to significantly reduce the en-
vironmental impacts from waste disposal.
3.2.1 Legal framework
To reduce environmental impacts induced by pollutants,
the Federal Ordinance on Substances (StoV) defined bans
and restrictions for specific pollutants. In the revision of
the Environmental Protection Act (USG) from 1995, the
polluter pays principle to finance waste disposal was
concretised. In combination with the obligation for envi-
ronmentally sound disposal, producing companies have
an incentive to avoid hazardous wastes whose disposal is
expansive. Moreover, it becomes profitable to separately
collect and dispose of waste with and without pollutants
[3].
3.2.2 Selected pollutants in products and production
Cadmium in plastic products and zinc
As indicated by results of controls regarding the cad-
mium content of plastic products and galvanised items,
the number of products with elevated cadmium content
has significantly decreased since the 90s of the past cen-
tury. In 2002, the items found to have elevated cadmium
content had all been galvanised outside of Switzerland
[3].
Mercury and cadmium in batteries
The mercury content in products as well as the total
mercury amounts, which have been put on the market,
have significantly decreased from 8’670 kg in 1987 to 22
kg of mercury in 2001 [5]. However, mercury containing
batteries are still entering the market via devices
equipped with cheap batteries from unknown provenience
[7].
At the same time, cadmium concentrations in different
battery types have decreased. However, the application of
nickel-cadmium accumluators is still widespread: The-
Federal Office for the Environment estimates that from
3’700 tons per year of dry batteries and accumulators (car
batteries not included) currently consumed in Switzerland,
about 5% are still nickel-cadmium based [8].
PCB in capacitors and transformers
In 1986, some 10’000 capacitors and transformers, which
contained about 4’000 t of Polychlorinated Biphenyls
(PCB), were in use. As a consequence of the Ordinance
on Substances, these devices had to be disposed of until
August 31, 1998. Today, it is expected that more than
90% of the PCB-containing capacitors have been prop-
erly disposed of [3].
Pollutants in municipal solid waste
According to [9], waste from private households directed
towards MSWI had significantly lower heavy metal con-
801
centrations in 2001 than in 1991. This is due to better
separate collection and lower pollutant concentrations in
products.
Solvent-free dyes
In the revision of the Water Protection Law (GschG,
1992) the dye sector issued different recommendations to
switch from solvent based dyes to solvent free dyes. Be-
tween 1992 and 2001 the amounts of painting, varnish
and adhesive waste organic phase, which had to be dis-
posed of as special waste, decreased from 3’286 tons to
993 tons [3].
3.3 Recycling
The strategy of recycling contributes, in particular, to
(1) resource prevention and (2) economising waste dis-
posal plants.
3.3.1 Legal framework
The implementation of the recycling strategy in Swit-
zerland is based on the following three measures:
- Build-up of a collection system for recyclable fractions
of municipal solid waste;
- Information and guidance of the population as well as
of industry;
- Application of the Polluter Pays Principle.
Regarding the build-up of a collection system, the
Swiss Environmental Protection Act (USG) prescribes
that waste has, in principle, to be recycled as far as possi-
ble. Furthermore, it allows the Federal authorities to pre-
scribe the separate collection and take-back of waste
(USG, 1995), and to forbid materials and products in view
(a) of a reduction of environmental impacts or (b) pro-
moting products from waste recycling (USG, 1995). The
cantons have to guarantee that recyclable fractions are
collected and recycled separately from municipal solid
waste, as far as this is possible (TVA, 1990). According to
the subsidiarity principle, the cantons have delegated
these duties to the communities, which often merge to
special purpose associations.
As to information and guidance, the Federal authorities
and the cantons are to work together with economic or-
ganisations (USG, 1995).
With regard to the Polluter Pays Principle, the Federal
Council can oblige producers and importers to pay an
Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF) to a private organisation
commissioned and supervised by the Federal authorities
(USG, 1997). For aluminium-, glass- and PET- beverage
containers, the Federal authorities have defined a minimal
collection rate of 75% in the Ordinance on Beverage
Containers (VGV). According to the Technical Ordinance
on Waste (TVA) the Federal Authorities can require from
industrial or service companies to recycle waste, where
this is technically and economically feasible.
Altogether, the emphasis of the existing legislation
clearly lies on separate collection of municipal solid
waste fractions, as in this domain the public authorities
have the greatest influence [3].
3.3.2 Recycling of municipal solid waste fractions
In 2005, the collection rates for aluminium, glass, PET,
 Proceedings of International Symposium on EcoTopia Science 2007, ISETS07 (2007)
used paper and tinplate amounted to 90%, 95.3 %, 75%,
74.4% and 79%, respectively [5]. For PET, the collection
rate has slightly been increased to 76% through installa-
tion of new collection points in 2006, preventing the levy
of an ARF prescribed by the public authorities [10].
With these figures, Switzerland belongs to the
front-runners regarding separate collection of municipal
solid waste in Europe [11]. The separate collection con-
tributes to resource prevention on one side, and to the
economisation of MSWIs, on the other side. Although the
total amount of municipal solid waste increased from 3.2
million tons in 1985 to 4.94 million tons in 2003 (with
some insecurities regarding the data between 1985 and
1995), the amount of waste disposed of in MSWI and in
landfills approximately stayed on the same level (see
Figure 1) [5].
Figure 1. Municipal solid waste and separately col-
lected materials since 1985 [5]
3.3.3 Recycling of construction waste
Today, about three quarters of construction waste is
recycled in Switzerland; the rest is either incinerated or
landfilled. It is expected that the amount of mineral con-
struction waste will increase from about 12 million tons
in 2005 to approximately 14.5 million tons in 2010 [3,5].
3.4. Environmentally sound treatment and disposal
The strategy of environmentally sound treatment and
disposal contributes, in particular, to the minimisation of
environmental impacts from waste disposal. From the
perspective of 1986, it was important to quickly reduce
pollutant emissions from waste disposal, to stop the ex-
portation of waste and to prevent the formation of new
contaminated sites.
3.4.1 Legal framework
In this domain many specific regulations have been
decreed, the emphasis lying on the environmentally
sound disposal of hazardous waste, the build-up of
enough incineration capacity and the adaptation of land-
fills to the best available technology.
According to article 30 of the revised Environmental
Protection Act (USG), all waste has to be disposed of in
an environmentally sound way. In addition, principles of
waste avoidance and environmentally sound disposal of
waste inland have been formulated.
The Technical Ordinance on Waste (TVA) of 1990 de-
fines requirements for an environmentally disposal of
waste. In 1996, a first revision of the TVA led to the land-
filling ban for combustible waste from January 1st, 2000.
Additional guidelines for the disposal of municipal solid
802
waste incineration residues have been defined with the
latest revision of 2007 (TVA, 2007), among othegrs re-
garding vitrified residues.
Hazardous waste
Until 2005 the Ordinance on Movements of Hazardous
Waste (VVS) regulated the delivery, the transport, and the
acceptance of hazardous waste, including import, export
and passage in transit. In 2006, the VVS has been re-
placed by the Ordinance on the Movements of Waste
(VeVA). The new ordinance includes alleviations (e.g. an
online registration system) as well as exceptions, and it
introduces prescriptions for other controllable waste (e.g
end-of-life vehicles, mixed scrap, used tyres, waste
wood).
The Federal Ordinance on Substances (StoV) from
1986 made prescriptions regarding hazardous waste, pol-
luted waste wood, as well as fertilizers (sewage sludge,
compost and fermentation products). In 2005, the StoV
was replaced with the Ordinance on (ChemRRV), which
includes restrictions and bans on manufacture, placing on
the market, or use, as well as special requirements in rela-
tion to labelling and disposal for a total of 31 substances
or product groups.
The transboundary movements of hazardous wastes
and their disposal are regulated by the Basel Convention,
which has been ratified by Switzerland in 1989.
Other waste
Regulations for other waste exist, among others, wor
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and
animal waste.
Under the Ordinance on the Return, the Taking Back
and the Disposal of Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(VREG, 1998), retailers, manufacturers and importers are
required to take back, at no charge, appliances of the kind
that they normally stock and are responsible for their en-
vironmentally sound disposal. Consumers, for their part,
are obliged to return end-of-life appliances and are not
allowed to dispose of them via household waste or bulky
item collections. The ordinance covers electrical and
electronic equipment in the following categories:
• Consumer electronics;
• office, IT and telecommunications equipment;
• Refrigeration equipment;
• household appliances;
• Tools (except large-scale stationary industrial tools);
• Sport and leisure appliances as well as toy;
• Lighting fixtures;
• Lamps (without incandescent lamps).
The ordinance on animal waste (VETA, 1993) defines
disposal routes for hazardous animal waste.
Incineration plants
The Ordinance on Air Pollution Control (LRV) from
1985 contains provisions and limit values for emission
from waste treatment plants. With its revision in 1992, the
limit values for NOx, CO, particulate matter, SO2, and
volatile heavy metals were tightened. Since 2007, the Or-
dinance includes a limit value for dioxins and furans of
0.1 ng/m3 (LRV, 2007).
 Proceedings of International Symposium on EcoTopia Science 2007, ISETS07 (2007)

The Water Protection Ordinance (GSchV 1999) defines
limit values and quality goals regarding wastewater emis-
sions from waste treatment plants.
According to the Technical Ordinance on Waste (TVA),
the cantons define the catchment areas of waste treatment
plans.
construction of a shredder residue combustion plant in
Monthey, which would have included a melting process,
energy recovery and a flue gas cleaning equipment, and
would have allowed to recover metals and to improve the
quality of the residues [15], will not be realised because
of high investment and operational costs.

Landfills

amount of waste [tons]

According to the Environmental Protection Act
(USG), waste may only be disposed of in landfills. The
operating approval requires a confirmation of necessity as
well as a confirmation that the landfill complies with the
requirements of the Technical Ordinance on Waste (TVA).
The latter defines landfill types with many technical and
operational requirements.
incineration landfilling
3.4.2 Treatment and disposal of selected waste
categories Figure 2. Shredder residues from end-of-life vehicles [14]
Batteries
Between 1993 and 2006 the rate of return for batteries Special Waste
(collected batteries/batteries sold) has increased from
58% to 66.4% [7]. Compared to collection rates for e.g. With the introduction of the Ordinance on Movements
glass, aluminum, paper, tinplate and PET, as well as to of Hazardous Waste (VVS) in 1986, special waste be-
the goal of 80% rate of return defined by the FOEN, this came subject of a strict control by the authorities; at the
rate is moderate. Hence, Inobat, the organisation which is same time, the build-up of a special waste disposal struc-
in charge of managing the advanced recycling fees (ARF) ture within Switzerland was initiated. Today, the major
for batteries and accumulators, increased its efforts re- part of special waste is incinerated, followed by chemical
garding collection. The collected batteries are recycled in or physical treatment, landfilling, recycling and exporta-
a plant within Switzerland (Batrec, Wimmis), with ferro- tion. Of the 500’000 t of incinerated special waste, about
manganese, mercury, zinc and slag as main output frac- two thirds are treated in special furnaces, one eighth in
tions [12]. The disposal outside Switzerland would be MSWI, one fifth (oil and solvent) in cement kilns, and the
less costly; however, the export of battery types which rest outside of Switzerland [3,5].
can be disposed of in the Swiss battery recycling plant is
forbidden until 2008 [3]. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
In Switzerland, take-back and recycling of waste elec-
Biogenic waste trical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are covered by
The composted and fermented amounts of green waste an ARF, which is paid by the costumer when buying
have more than doubled since 1992. Since 1996 fermen- electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Office elec-
tation gains in importance; in 2002, 12% of the biogenic tronics and Information Technology (IT) equipment is
waste was fermented. The products of composting and taken back free of charge and disposed of since 1994,
fermentation are mainly used in farming and gardening. consumer electronics since 2002 and household appli-
Biogas produced during fermentation is used for energy ances since 2003. Other appliances like toys or gardening
recovery [13]. and hobby appliances followed. This reflects in the
amounts of WEEE taken back since 2002 (see Figure 3).
Sewage sludge
According to the Ordinance on Risk Reduction Related
to Chemical Products (ChemRRV), the application of
sewage sludge in farming is prohibited since September
30, 2006, with some exceptions until September 30, 2008,
at the latest. About 200’000 t of sewage sludge (as dry
matter) will then have to be thermally treated. Approxi-
mately 160’000 t are already disposed of in cement works,
special sludge combustion plants and MSWI plants.

Shredder Residues
With the landfilling ban of the Technical Ordinance on
Waste (TVA), landfilling of shredder residues was
stopped by end of 1999. Since then, shredder residues Figure 3. Amounts of WEEE disposed of in Switzer-
from car recycling are exclusively disposed of in MSWIs land via SENS and SWICO since 2002 [16]
(see Figure 2).
Due to the unfavourable composition and high heavy Take-back and recycling of WEEE in Switzerland are
metal content of shredder residues from car recycling, managed by the Swiss Foundation for Waste Management
alternative disposal processes are being evaluated. The (SENS) and the Swiss Association for Information,

803
 Proceedings of International Symposium on EcoTopia Science 2007, ISETS07 (2007)
Communication and Organization Technology (SWICO),
each of them being responsible for different
WEEE-categories. As shown by [17], the take-back and
recycling system for WEEE established in Switzerland
(see Figure 4) has clear environmental advantages when
compared to a complete incineration of WEEE.
Figure 4. System boundaries of the Swiss WEEE
take-back and recycling system [17]
3.4.3 Selected disposal and treatment technologies
Landfills
In Switzerland, thee types of landfills exist: landfills
for inert materials, landfills for stabilised residues, and
bioreactor landfills. For all of them, strict requirements as
to the composition and the emissions of the waste dis-
posed of have been defined.
At landfills for inert materials, only rock-like wastes
may be disposed of, from which virtually no pollutants
will be leached out by rainwater. These include materials
such as construction waste (concrete, bricks, glass, road
rubble) and uncontaminated soil that cannot be used
elsewhere. At suitable locations, landfills for inert materi-
als do not require any special sealing. They are thus less
costly and require less monitoring than other types of
landfill [18]. Today, there are still some landfills for inert
materials, which do not comply with the requirements of
the Technical Ordinance on Waste (TVA) and might pol-
lute soil and groundwater.
Landfills for stabilised residues are designed for the
disposal of materials of known composition, with high
concentrations of heavy metals and only a small organic
share, and which cannot release either gases or substances
readily soluble in water. Typical materials include solidi-
fied fly ash and flue gas cleaning residues from municipal
solid waste incinerators. These sites are subject to more
stringent requirements than landfills for inert materials.
Impermeable linings are required for the base and sides of
the landfill, and leachate is to be collected and, if neces-
sary, treated [18].
All other types of landfillable waste have to be dis-
posed of at bioreactor landfills, in which chemical and
biological processes are expected to occur. At these sites,
drainage controls are required, and, in addition, any gases
emitted are to be captured and treated. Given the unpre-
dictable composition of their contents, bioreactor landfills
are at greatest risk of requiring expensive remediation at a
later date. Certain types of waste (e.g. incinerator slag)
are required to be disposed of in separate compartments,
804
isolated from other types of waste. If these wastes were
intermixed, heavy metals would be leached out in much
greater quantities as a result of the relatively low pH of
incinerator slag [18]. Bioreactor landfills emitted about
60’000 t of methane in the year 2000, which corresponds
to 28% of the total methane emissions in Switzerland [3].
Municipal solid waste incinerators
In Switzerland, all combustible waste that is not recy-
cled must be incinerated in appropriate plants. The large
majority of these materials end up in one of the country's
29 municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs). In 2005,
the total incineration capacity amounted to 3.38 million
tonnes, which is sufficient to be able to comply with the
landfilling ban enacted on January 1st, 2000 [18]. Energy
recovery in MSWIs allowed to cover about 1.7 % of the
total end energy consumption in Switzerland in 2006 [19].
Extraction of ferrous metals from the MSWI slags con-
tributes to the goal of resource prevention.
Compared to 1990, the air pollutant flows from MSWIs
were significantly reduced. However, while they were
curtly reached for SO2, HCl, particles and cadmium, the
reduction goals of the Waste Concept were missed for
NOx-, lead- and zinc-emissions. NOx-emissions are ex-
pected to decrease as a consequence of planned flue gas
cleaning equipment sanitations and an MSWI reconstruc-
tion. The reasons for the elevated lead- and
zinc-emissions most probably lie in changed waste com-
position [3].
Cement works
Cement works can use suitable types of waste as an al-
ternative fuel or raw material. To avoid an increase of air
pollutant emissions from kilns or a reduction of the qual-
ity of the cement produced, the Federal Office for the
Environment (FOEN) has developed guidelines on dis-
posal of wastes in cement plants in close collaboration
with the industry and the cantonal authorities [20]. These
guidelines prohibit the incineration of municipal waste
and problematic special wastes (e.g. chlorinated solvents
or paint residues with high heavy metal content) in ce-
ment works. However, bulk wastes with a low pollution
potential and high calorific value - such as used oil, sew-
age sludge, animal flour/animal fat, low-chlorinated sol-
vents, plastics, used tyres etc. - may be used as alternative
fuels. Alternative fuels covered 47.8% of the primary en-
ergy consumption of Swiss cement kilns in 2002 [3]. In
2005, a total of about 240,000 tonnes of combustible
waste and 175,000 tonnes of alternative raw materials
were disposed of in cement works [5].
4. NEW CHALLENGES FOR WASTE
MANAGEMENT
Compared to the situation in 1986, new societal chal-
lenges have emerged, which are to be considered when
defining the future role and shape of waste management.
Among these challenges are the emergence of the concept
of Sustainable Development and the changing production
and consumption patterns.
4.1 The emerging concept of Sustainable Development
With the new Swiss Federal Constitution of 1999, the
promotion of Sustainable Development became a national
 Proceedings of International Symposium on EcoTopia Science 2007, ISETS07 (2007)
objective. According to the Brundtland definition [21],
which constitutes the basis of the Swiss Confederations’
relevant documents, intra- and intergenerational justice
are the core issues of the concept of Sustainable Devel-
opment. In a widely accepted interpretation, Sustainable
Development relates to the three fields of economy, soci-
ety and environment, and states that the three target di-
mensions 'ecological responsibility', 'social solidarity' and
'economic efficiency' are to be considered as having equal
value [22].
Regarding resource management, closing the material
loops and life cycle thinking are two core elements on the
way to sustainability. Life cycle thinking implies the ex-
tension of the focus from a restricted life stage perspec-
tive (e.g. waste disposal) towards the consideration of the
whole life cycle from extraction to disposal, including
production, distribution and use.
An important issue related to Sustainable Development
is climate change. According to [23], waste is responsible
for 3 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
4.2 Increased production and consumption rates
Compared to 1950, the worldwide production of con-
sumer goods in 2000 has increased by a factor of seven,
and the depletion of primary resources has augmented by
a factor of five [24]. For the near future, these trends are
expected to continue, not least because of the increasing
world population and the emergence of new markets [25].
As shown by [26] for metal resources, providing today’s
developed-country level of services for copper worldwide
(as well as for zinc and, perhaps, platinum) would appear
to require conversion of essentially all of the ore in the
lithosphere to stock-in-use plus near-complete recycling
of the metals from that point forward.
At the same time, resource productivity has increased.
In the European Union, for example, the direct material
input (DMI) per capita did not significantly change since
1980 [27]. In Switzerland, the DMI has stabilised on the
level of about 14 t per person and year. Besides increased
resource productivity, this is due to intensified recycling
and to a shift of the economic activities from the secon-
dary sector to the tertiary service sector [25]. However,
the 14 t per person and year do not consider the indirect
flows, which include both hidden flows associated with im-
ports of material and energy and material extracted in Swit-
zerland but not used. The general increase of imports in the
input flows to Swiss economy, and the gradual change in the
type of these imports, produce more and more hidden flows,
creating increased environmental pressure abroad [28].
According to [29], in the OECD area the quantity of
municipal waste has been rising since 1980 and exceeded
570 kg per capita in the last few years. Waste generation
intensity has risen mostly in line with private final con-
sumption expenditure and GDP, but there has been a
slowdown in the rate of growth in recent years. By 2020,
Europe will generate 45% more waste than in 1995 [30].
4.3 Increasing product complexity
Today, many products are significantly more complex
than they were a few years ago, i.e. they contain an in-
creasing variety of hazardous and valuable materials at
low concentrations [31, 32]. Examples are the ever more
miniaturised electrical and electronic devices entering the
805
markets, which create a series of new waste treatment and
disposal problems. These include, among others, ham-
pered recovery of valuable materials, dissipation of valu-
able and hazardous materials into other material fractions
and into the environment, and adverse effects on recy-
cling quality and - quantities [31, 32, 33, 34]. Further de-
velopments induced by emerging technologies like e.g.
fuel cells or nanotechnology applications might increase
some of these drawbacks, in particular the dissipation of
valuable and potentially scarce elements [35].
Counter-measures against phosphorous and metal scarci-
ties within the Swiss waste management system have
been proposed by [36].
4.4 Globalisation of the production and recycling
chains
Since the 80s of the last century, production and recy-
cling chains for many products have increasingly become
global. This appears to be particularly true for the elec-
tronics industry, with resulting significant social and en-
vironmental impacts [37, 38]. As demonstrated for WEEE
and end-of-life vehicles, global recycling flows have to
be better understood and managed in order to avoid sig-
nificant reductions in recycling rates through losses along
the lifecycle [31].
5. CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK
In the last 20 years, the Swiss Waste management sys-
tem has significantly reduced its environmental impacts.
A fundamentally new orientation of the system does not
seem to be necessary with regard to an environmentally
sound treatment and disposal of waste and to the avail-
ability of adequate collection and disposal capacities.
However, selective improvements of the existing system
regarding e.g. the competitiveness of secondary raw ma-
terials, the safeguarding of landfill capacities or the crea-
tion of incentives for energy recovery from (renewable)
waste are still necessary [25].
With the emergence of the concept of Sustainable De-
velopment and the appearance of significant changes in
production and consumption patterns, waste management
has to face new challenges. These new challenges require
that particular attention is paid to strategies expanding
sectoral waste management policies towards integrated
resource management.
In Switzerland, the basis for such a strategy has been
provided by the Swiss Federal Council with its commit-
ment to Integrated Product Policy (IPP) [39]. Although
first steps have been taken, e.g. with the constitution of a
competence centre for Life Cycle Inventories, which is
hosted by Empa [40], the implementation of IPP is still in
its infancy. Next steps will include, among others, the
development of an approach for the enhancement of pro-
ducer responsibility [25].
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