Klimarelevanz der kommunalen Abfallwirtschaft in OÖ. und Entwicklung innovativer Konzepte zu ihrer umweltwirtschaftlichen Optimierung

Due to the problems caused by the emission of greenhouse gases, the Upper Austrian waste management targets to work in a sustainable way. In order to determine whether there are more capabilities to reduce the emitted greenhouse gases caused by the Upper Austrian municipal solid waste management, a study was carried out by the Institute for Environmental Management in Companies and Regions and the Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. The principal objective of the study was to illustrate implementation-oriented approaches in order to optimise the municipal solid waste management in an environmental-economical way, especially concerning biogenic waste. The study focused on the appraisal of the carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq) for the municipal waste management in Upper Austria, including landfilling, waste incineration, biotechnological waste treatment, mechanical waste treatment as well as collecting and transports of waste. The greenhouse gas emissions produced by the waste management were depicted for the reference year 1990, the present situation (2007) and for the year 2012 considering the proposed methods and developments. The findings of the study illustrate that in the future the increased function of the Upper Austrian solid waste management will be producing energy. In addition, the production of secondary raw materials coming from solid waste contributes to resource protection.