The Present and Future Role of Energy Recovery in Waste Management - A Case Study of Linköping and Norrköping

In the European Union 500 million tonnes of waste are either incinerated without energy recovery,or deposited in landfills, which could have been recycled instead. The European Union initiated theCircular Economy Package in order to decrease the amount of waste being generated, lost inlandfills, and to increase the recycling and usage of recycled material. However, the CircularEconomy Package did not contain any targets focusing on energy recovery, and only mentionedenergy recovery as having a role in decreasing the amount of waste deposited in landfills. TheCircular Economy Package was in the end of 2014 withdrawn but will come back with moreambitious targets. In Sweden energy recovery is treating more than 50% of the municipal waste andwould then be affected by the targets of the Circular Economy Package when it comes back.This thesis focuses on Linköping and Norrköping to identify the what role energy recovery have inthese municipalities, both present and future, as well as asking the questions of how waste is valuedas a resource.The results were that both municipalities thought that it was important to have separate sorting ofmunicipal waste, to separate organic waste from the rest, in order to use it in material recycling andthe rest in energy recovery. In both municipalities the energy recovery had the role of treating themunicipal waste which was found to be not recyclable, as well as to deliver heat and electricity. Allof the organisations were identified to have a high environmental value on waste, but the economicvalue of waste were low or negative. The municipalities also knew little of the Circular EconomyPackage, but were aware of it, while the energy companies knew a little more of it, but still littlecompared to their national interest organisations Avfall Sverige and Svensk Fjärrvärme. All of theorganisations had identified similar challenges such as increased focus on recycling, minimisationof waste, but also a focus on decreasing amount of hazardous substances in products in order ...