Page 64 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2019 publication
P. 64
64 Spring 2019 European Energy Innovation
ENERGY FROM WASTE
Energy from waste as part of
the circular economy concept
By Prof. Mario GROSSO, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
(Italy)
Let’s start with some facts: to be methane is always possible, being a
Despite energy recovery from honest, not all forms of energy much more powerful greenhouse gas,
waste not being formally recovery are excluded from this whether it is biogenic or not.
acknowledged as part paradigm, in fact biogas from
of the circular economy
paradigm, but rather a “leakage to biogenic sources is included, despite What is missing from the discussion
be minimized”, at the same level of potentially generating emissions into is that the recovery of energy from
landfilling, there is mounting the atmosphere. It is acknowledged the residual waste (which still
evidence that if properly managed that such emissions are climate- accounts for the majority of the
it can play a crucial role in achieving neutral, since they compensate for municipal waste generated in many
the ambitious targets set by the EU the uptake of CO2 during the growth European countries) is on the one
Circular Economy Package. of the plants, but a certain release of hand unavoidable if we need to get
rid of landfilling, on the other hand
functional to some further material
recovery activities.
The new Circular Economy Package
issued by the European Commission
in 2018 is ambiguous in that sense,
because it shows a great emphasis
towards avoiding landfilling of
waste (“A binding landfill target
to reduce landfill to maximum of
10% of municipal waste by 2030”;
“A ban on landfilling of separately
collected waste”; “Promotion of
economic instruments to discourage
landfilling”), while at the same
time it excludes the contribution
of energy recovery in achieving the
very ambitious targets of “recycling”
(not “recovery”, in fact, that would
include also energy recovery). There
is a clear embarrass in the legislator,
that prefers to even avoid mentioning
such topic, paving the way to the
mounting popular and political
opposition to any type of energy
recovery activity.
It worth briefly discussing the reasons
that stand behind such an opposition,
which have evolved during the past
decades. The first and oldest concern
is the one related to the potential
emission of toxic substances that
might impact the human health.
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
