Biomass waste

Goal: try and find as much information as you can on the waste flows of the 12 biomass materials and add those to the sublayers of 3.5 Waste flows with the usual upload and tagging procedure.

As you know, waste occurs along the supply chain in the various lifecycle stages:

  • Extraction
  • Manufacturing
  • Wholesale + retail, import and export
  • Transport
  • Use/consumption: households, supermarkets, restaurants, canteens, nursing homes, hospitals etc.

Therefore, try to find data from all these stages.

Tip 1: Start with use and consumption, as it is generally easiest to find data here.

Tip 2: We can also advise to split up your search into waste collection and waste treatment, because often there are different data sources and even values, meaning just because something is collected locally, it doesn’t mean it is treated locally or at all.

In the case of biomass, next to focusing on the use phase, it is easiest to start with household waste, as this data is generally easier to find, or you may already have it. Consider the different types of waste (household, organic, paper etc.) or the bins in which your waste is collected. Biomass waste almost always has a fairly large share in the residential waste (garbage, black or grey bin) and in some cases, it is collected separately in an organics (green or brown) bin.

Waste collection

(1) waste collection system overview

For this task, it helps to have a good idea on what the waste collection system is like in your city. We recommend to try and make an overview of that by answering the following questions:

  • Does the city itself collect waste?
  • Are there private haulers?
  • Does the city have to issue licenses to them?
  • Who runs the waste depots and recycling drop-off centers?
  • What needs to be separated?

Write this down somewhere and you can later on include it in your SCA report.

(2) collected waste amounts

Try to find the quantities/amounts of the 12 biomass materials that are collected, both separately, as well as with other materials. E.g. it could be that in the bins of a supermarket, (some of the) waste materials are mixed in one container. But, the quantities of the single materials can usually be estimated (e.g. 50% biomass, 20% plastic, 30% cardboard).

Waste treatment

As for waste treatment, try to determine what happens with the amounts.

  • How much is being composted, digested anaerobically (biogas plant), incinerated, recycled (incl. reused etc.), landfilled?
  • Does the waste treatment happen locally or is exported?

Outline of the video

  • Waste in two components: collection and treatment
  • Biomass waste collection for the two main types of biomass waste: food waste and garden waste
  • M1:33, Food waste
    • sources, all the places where meals are consumed: households, restaurants
  • M1:50, Garden/yard waste, both from private and public sources
  • M2:12 Paper waste and furniture
  • Biomass waste treatment
    • Composting, collected from households, composted by households or even by neighbourhoods
    • Biogas plants (anaerobic digestion)
    • Incineration
    • Recycling (incl. reused etc.),
    • Landfilling
  • M3:19, Examples