Waste incineration
Waste incineration is one of the main pillars of waste management in Germany. The thermal treatment renders the waste inert and sanitises it (pollutant sink). Waste incineration also offers the possibility of generating electricity and heat. A large share of the inert slag remaining after incineration can be recovered following treatment that includes separation of metals, removal of impurities and ageing. One example of recovery is the use of slag as road construction material in line with the relevant reference documents for road construction, the Substitute Building Materials Ordinance and the technical rules (see LAGA guideline M20 on the requirements for the recovery of mineral waste/waste). Slag that cannot be recovered can be disposed of in landfill sites as long as it complies with the allocation criteria set out in the Landfill Ordinance. This kind of slack does not cause any long-term environmental pres-sures.
While grate firing with a variety of grate types is the most common incineration technology in Germany, there are also installations that use fluidised-bed combustion. The license for waste incineration installations sets out which types of waste may be incinerated in an installation, using waste codes in line with the Waste Catalogue Ordinance. The requirements for hazardous wastes are particularly strict. These wastes can only be incinerated in special facilities licensed for the respective type of waste or in suitable industrial installations.
High energy components of household waste or household-type commercial waste that has been separated in mechanical-biological treatment or separation facilities and other high calorific value wastes (substitute fuels) are also co-incinerated in coal-fired power plants or industrial installations such as cement works.
Strict requirements under immission control legislation (17th Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act on the incineration and co-incineration of waste – 17th BImSchV) apply to waste treatment in waste incineration installations and to the co-incineration of high-energy waste. These requirements are in place to avoid the discharge of harmful emissions into the air and water. In order to comply with these provisions, waste incineration installations use special flue gas purification facilities that use a variety of technologies (wet, semi-dry, dry) and do not produce wastewater.
According to DESTATIS, the Federal Statistical Office, approximately 25 million tonnes of waste were incinerated across Germany in 156 thermal waste incineration installations in 2019.
More information about the location of installations, technical features and waste volumes is available on the websites of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and ITAD, a German stakeholder organisation for thermal waste treatment installations.