Industrial hazardous wastes in Finland – trends related to the waste prevention goal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyse one of the goals of the latest National Waste Plan of Finland: the relative reduction of hazardous waste (HW) generation by 15% over the period 1992 to 2005. Official statistics and a national database of the annual reports of HW generators were used as one basis for this study. A case study was focused on a selection of HW classes that were considered to be typical to the metal workshop industry. These HW classes were combined to form functional HW groups for the purpose of forming time series. Trends at the company level were studied by performing interviews and by studying the environmental permit documents of about 50 companies. The total amount of HW reported in Finland increased by 133% over the studied period. Meanwhile the GDP of Finland grew by 74%. This means that thus far no de-coupling of HW generation with economic growth can be verified. However, several changes in the definition and classification of HW and changes in the statistical methods make the figures for the trend analysis unreliable. The waste groups in the metals sector that increased in quantity were: metal finishing wastes such as pickling acids, wastes from painting and lacquering, oily wastes and – more modestly – HW containing cyanide or heavy metals. HW from machining oils and emulsions did not increased significantly and finally, hazardous foundry wastes and HW from adhesives and sealants decreased. The number of registered HW producers has grown strongly, even doubled, in several waste groups, which may explain most of the growth. In addition, the changes in the HW classification apply also to these waste groups. The study of some exceptional anomalies in the data revealed significant coding errors in the waste information database. Interviews of personnel from selected companies from the metals sector indicated that all of them had been taking action to minimize wastes, including HW. However in the national or waste group specific data, this trend towards cleaner production was overshadowed by changes in classification, statistical errors, increased production, improvements in enforcement and also conflicting technical trends, such as increased HW output from wastewater treatment or air pollution control systems. The waste monitoring and reporting system in the industry should be improved to provide data about the specific generation of wastes from specific industrial processes. Such data could then be used in describing the BAT for these processes, as pointed out earlier by other experts. The authors suggest that quantitative HW prevention targets would not be effective in the forthcoming National Waste Plan for Finland and that HW minimization goals should mainly be promoted via sustainable chemicals policy, integrated pollution control and integrated product policy. The goal of minimizing HW generation is not feasible as an independent policy target.