Agenda

• Note that the times are provided in CET

10:00 - Welcome and introduction – NCE

10:15 - Introduction on how targets for material recycling have been reached in Germany. This includes the main measures that have been implemented to obtain high recycling rates for municipal waste, and the main means of action for further improvements.

10:45 - Plenary session: One representative from each Nordic country provides a brief overview regarding municipal waste. Based on a pre-filled questionnaire, the presentation will include status measures for separate collection, a definition of the term, collection arrangements and responsibilities, separate collection of different waste types, sorting facilities and “bulky waste”.

11:25-12:00 - Lunch

• There will be panel discussions from 12:00. Please review the questions provided below in advance

1. Discussions about 2025-targets:

12:00 - Plenary session: Each country talks about the status on their 2025-targets, and the most important steps towards reaching them. This includes:

1. Which types of waste they focus on.

2. New measures/tools.

3. Whether the effect is known (quantitatively).

   
   

2. Discussions about what is needed to reach the 2035-targets:

13:00 - Group session: What will it take to achieve the 2035-targets?

1. Is improved design of products a prerequisite, and has anyone calculated the effect?

2. Is a change in consumer behavior necessary?

3. Is there a need for recycling of special waste types, such as sanitary items (diapers, wet wipes etc.)?

13:30 - Open questions from the participants regarding the topic of this workshop

13:40 - Summary and final remarks.

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Purpose of the webinar

The EU's Waste Framework Directive contains targets for material recycling including preparation for the reuse of "municipal waste". What strategies do the Nordic countries have to achieve these goals on a national level? What kind of research and policy developments (regulatory, economic, information) have been carried out or are planned? What challenges and barriers are experienced in reaching the targets? The workshop aims to address these questions through relevant presentations and discussions between representatives of the Nordic authorities, resulting in increased insight and knowledge about concrete policy measures and tools.

General outcome

Waste management systems differ across the Nordic countries, and hence different measures are needed to reach the targets for material recycling and preparation for reuse. All the countries are reviewing current practice and implementing new measures, but all the Nordic countries are struggling to reach the 2025 targets as well as the 2035 targets. Furthermore, there is a lack of clarity (guidelines) regarding how recycling rates are to be measured making it challenging to track the actual development towards EU targets.

Key outcomes

• Current recycling rates for Nordic countries are about 40% or above with one exception (26%).

• Approaches to meet the targets differ between countries depending on the national context, density of population and framework conditions.

• Norway has targets for sorting for the municipalities, while most other countries have targets for recycling, and they include the loss rates for most of the fractions, depending on the data at hand.

• Finland has less door-to door collections in rural areas than the other countries, but on the other hand and unlike the other countries, they offer door-to-door collection of bulky waste.

• So far, only Norway has established central sorting plants for plastics and metal packaging waste (2 plants - 12% of the population).

• All countries have targets concerning food waste reduction, but only Iceland has reduction targets for textiles

• Co-mingling (materials collected together) varies across the Nordics.

• Current legislation allows for the export of materials for further treatment, and these numbers can be reported to the EU as amounts of recycled material, as underlined by Wuppertal Institute. In practice there may be less control that exported waste is actually going through a high-quality recycling process.