(best examples and good practices) on household organic waste ...

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has been specified only for some product types such as packaging <strong>and</strong> waste
electric <strong>and</strong> electronic equipment. For waste generated by households, the
Recycling Management <strong>and</strong> Waste Act assigns responsibility to the local public
waste disposal authorities (in most federal states these are the districts <strong>and</strong>
towns). Their responsibility covers collecting <strong>and</strong> transporting waste, measures
to promote waste prevention <strong>and</strong> recovery, <strong>and</strong> planning, constructing <strong>and</strong>
operating waste disposal facilities. Municipalities have more practical tasks
such as providing sites for waste collection. (EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
One of the key means of diverting waste from l<strong>and</strong>fills is limiting the organic
content of l<strong>and</strong>filled waste. A l<strong>and</strong>fill ban was introduced to achieve this goal. It
was introduced in two steps <strong>and</strong> using three pieces of legislation because the
initial statute contained severe loopholes.
The first step was an administrative regulation (TASi) in 1993, which limited the
organic content in waste going to l<strong>and</strong>fills to less than 3 % total organic carbon
(TOC). Achieving such a low organic content necessitated thermal treatment of
the waste. The debate concluded that incineration should be the only
pre-treatment method but it was agreed to extend the transition period from 8
to 12 years so the final deadline would be 1 June 2005. The aim was to allow
enough time to establish treatment capacity especially in the federal states
formerly situated in East Germany. Moreover, it was agreed to permit
exemptions in exceptional cases to allow some flexibility. Finally, the Bundesrat
(the body at which the federal states are represented) called on the Ministry of
Environment to define the criteria for environmentally sound l<strong>and</strong>filling of
residues from mechanical-biological treatment. (EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
In some cases states exp<strong>and</strong>ed the use of incineration as a method of waste
treatment in order to achieve the targets set by TASi, whereas others invested
in MBT as the main pre-treatment method <strong>and</strong> made use of extensive
exemptions from the provisions.
Separate collection of biowaste <strong>and</strong> paper is also regulated mainly through
legislative measures. In 1983 the Federal State of Hesse initiated separate
collection of biowaste to divert waste from l<strong>and</strong>fill. Between 1985 <strong>and</strong> 1993 the
number of inhabitants with a collection system for biowaste increased from 400
000 to 7.6 million. Intervention at national level came in 1993 with TASi, which
requires the competent waste authorities to set up separate collection schemes
for biowaste from households <strong>and</strong> garden waste from public parks. (EEA Report
No 7/.,2009)