Agenda

13:00    Welcome and introduction – NCE

13:10    Opening presentation – Weine Wiqvist, former CEO of Avfall Sverige

13:25      Presentation on EU legislation and waste – Edward John Sims, Deloitte Denmark (Circular Economy expert)  

13:40    Break

13:45      Presentations from Nordic authorities – Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and Norway

• Current data systems for waste monitoring / reporting and latest developments

14:45    Panel discussion – joint discussion among the Nordic representatives

• Discussion around challenges, where the Nordic authorities look to for improvement and development, and how the Nordic countries can collaborate moving forward.

15:15    Summary – NCE

Photo:
unsplash.com

Photo: unsplash.com

Purpose of the webinar  

Due to the EU’s WFD (Waste Framework Directive, ongoing revisions), EEA member countries are required to introduce new forms of reporting of waste which both will support increased material recycling and target achievements regarding the transition towards a circular economy in Europe. There is an extensive need for good statistics and data on waste, which makes it useful for the Nordic countries to exchange knowledge on how the waste management sector could benefit from digitalization and digital tools to improve their waste statistics. There are also a number of development projects going on in the Nordic countries that aim at improving waste data management. The experiences in these projects can benefit similar developments in other Nordic countries.

General outcome 

The webinar provided an overview of and insight into the data systems for each of the Nordic countries (Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway) regarding waste monitoring and reporting. Moreover, challenges and approaches to improve the data systems were highlighted. It is a complex topic with many actors involved, the reporting requirements and data needs are only increasing, and the sector has a lot of room to improve in terms of automation.  

Key outcomes  

• Present statistical systems are usually designed to fit linear consumption models and need to be rearranged to fit a circular economy. The systems are often based on quantity, while there will be more focus on quality in the future.  

• Different countries approach challenges of monitoring and reporting in different ways, leading to different solutions.  

• Generally, there is a lack of integration and harmonization. A higher degree of harmonization between countries regarding waste categorization would be advantageous, yet this seems to be challenging to achieve.   

• There is an agreement among the countries that it is interesting and valuable to see how other countries produce their waste statistics and their digital systems. It is important to have discussions, webinars and workshops that contribute to the exchange of knowledge, so that challenges and solutions are highlighted and discussed. A forum like this should be continued. 

• A tool such as ‘Avfall Web’ in Sweden is something several countries do not have and should strive for.