Report-Sweden Should Increase Incin.

[Neil Tangri <ntangri@essential.org>]

Sweden Struggles with Mountains of Waste Packaging

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, December 6, 1999 (ENS) - Sweden's waste
packaging recycling policy is "exceedingly inefficient" and should be
replaced by policies encouraging more incineration and landfilling of
waste, according to a new report for the Swedish Finance Ministry.

According to author Marian Radetzky of Lulea University and  Stockholm
based think tank SNS, the cost to Swedish society of  reaching the high
recycling levels aimed at for packaging waste are  as much as 20 times
greater than the environmental benefit achieved.

His report concludes that incineration and landfilling should be
increased in place of recycling.

 The main reason for the imbalance, the report says, is a failure to
undertaken any cost-benefit analysis of increased recycling  compared to
other waste management options. In particular, the  report finds, the
policies have been structured to "impose a huge burden" on households,
which have to clean, sort and transport waste to collection points.

The study assumes a cost to households of 60 Swedish krona per  hour,
the equivalent of seven euros or US$7.22, for this service and
quantifies environmental damage caused by each waste treatment method.

It concludes that recycling packaging waste costs Swedish society just
over SKr34,000 (US$4,076) per tonne, while incineration costs SKr1,842
(US$220.83) and landfilling SKr1,840 (US$220.59) per   tonne.

Virtually all the estimated costs to society of the recycling option
are  due to the costing of householders' time taken in cleaning, sorting
and transporting waste. Comparing the three options in purely
environmental terms, recycling actually emerges as the most  preferable
one.

The results of the study contradict an environment ministry review of
recycling policies published last year, which concluded that recycling
of packaging should be increased. They also run counter to the  European
Union's current approach on recycling, which is to progressively
increase rates.

Greenpeace Sweden says in a report published today that dioxin  levels
in ashes from Sweden's waste incinerators are "many times"  official
estimates, undermining claims of a substantial cut in total  national
emissions in the past 20 years.

 Compiled using data from scientists, waste-handling companies and
public authorities, the report calculates the national dioxin content
of    incineration ashes at between 18 and 216 grams per year, with a
"median estimate" of 114 grams.

According to the Swedish environmental protection agency (EPA),emissions
in ashes now represent just five percenter of total Swedish dioxin
emissions, which it puts at five grams.

Until now, the Swedish EPA has concentrated on cutting emissions to
air, by introducing better incineration techniques and filtering of
stack gases. But by analysing ash from several incinerators and
comparing figures from Denmark and Austria, Greenpeace concludes the
official figures are a "gross underestimation."

 "The more we clean the air from dioxins the more dioxins we will have
in the mountains of residues," Greenpeace claims. "We are moving our
present pollution to the future."

A ban in Sweden on landfilling combustible waste that takes effect in
2002 will increase the amount of chlorinated plastics and food - the
two prime sources of dioxin - going for incineration.

If the government is to achieve its target of stabilising dioxin at
"natural" levels by 2020, a phase out of incineration in favor of
recycling and waste reduction is imperative, Greenpeace says.