Luxembourg: The Superdreckskescht special waste collection system

Abstract:

Since 1984 the Superdreckskescht waste system has proved to be an effective organisation for the collection and reclamation of special wastes from households and industries, especially small and medium-sized firms. The project is outstanding for the following reasons:

• the collection and recycling or disposal of materials and special waste is organised by a central organisation sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment;
• it has established the first nation-wide environmentally friendly refrigerator disposal system in Europe;
• the system covers all municipalities in Luxembourg with mobile, house-to- house, and stationary collection;
• it co-operates with recycling industries, trade and disposal companies;
• it offers consultancy for small and medium-sized businesses;
• it provides training for small and medium-sized businesses and disposal companies;
• it acts as a mediator between small and medium-sized businesses and authorities;
• it has succeeded in closing the destillation cycle for solvents;
• it has become the first contact for small and medium-sized businesses in regard to all kinds of environmental problems.

Concept and implication

Since 1985 three projects have given an orderly structure to special waste collection and disposal in Luxembourg. The projects are mainly addressing households and small and medium-sized firms. Besides collection and disposal, information and consultancy is regarded as a major field of action.

The project started in Autumn 1984 when the former Minister for the Environment, Robert Knieps, proposed to set up a collection and disposal system for special household waste. He argued that as long as there is no appropriate infrastructure in existence, the state can not call upon the citizens to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. The established collection system for households consists of mobile containers for on-site collection as well as of nine permanently stationed containers. Some stationary containers are located at recycling centres and waste dumping places and the municipalities run them. However, for the most part the collection is carried out by touring to the 118 towns in Luxembourg. Each municipality is visited four times per year. Apart from the special collection trucks the vehicle pool contains a mini-bus which is equipped with an info-box and waste advisers give advice on waste avoidance and on alternative environmentally friendly products. Since 1995 the service has been extended to house-to-house collection in remote areas and areas with a low collection rate (e.g. satellite towns). In some communities, local clubs support the waste collection by the distribution of collection boxes and by passing on information on the Superdreckskescht project. The initiative of Superdreckskescht has been accompanied by an intensive publicity campaign, and a survey has shown that 95% of the population know the logo and the service.

Since the collection of special waste has been widely accepted, the Superdreckskescht project has been extended to the collection and recycling of refrigerators (Superfreonskescht). In fact, Luxembourg was the first country in Europe to tackle the problem of refrigerator disposal nation-wide, in 1990. The project is a co-operation between the Superfreonskescht, the Ministry of the Environment and the municipalities. The project is also organised as a mobile on-site service. Local collection is taken on by selected electrical shops and each municipality has a central storeroom. The service includes the sucking out of the CFC-oil mixture (99% recovery) which is either reprocessed by destillation at the Höchst plant in Frankfurt and by chemical treatment in Delft, or is disposed of by thermal treatment at the Belgian Indaver company in Antwerp. The second mobile step of treatment is the chopping up of the refrigerator casing and the fine-grinding of the foamed polyurethane plus the absorption of CFCs by active coal. The shredded materials (metals, plastics, glass, cables) are taken to reprocessing. The finely ground polyurethane powder from the refrigerator´s insulating layer is 100% recycled and sold as oil binder to industry and craft business. The German SEG Umweltservice company in Mettlach developed a new method of processing the polyurethane powder as oil binder (OEKO-PUR) which saves two-thirds of the disposal costs. Furthermore, the recycled material is used as hard foam in industrial production (e.g. in automobile manufacturing or for the production of gymnastic mats). Between 1991 and 1998 141,903 refrigerators were collected and treated.

The third project of the Superdreckskescht initiative (Superdreckskescht 2, later renamed as Superdreckskescht fir Betriber) started in April 1992. It is a co-operative model on the basis of a treaty between the Ministry of the Environment and the Chamber of Crafts which authorised the private Oeko-Service Luxemburg S.A. company to set up and run the collection system. The target group has been small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which should be enabled to set new priorities for their waste management. Although it was not until June 1994 that the new principles of waste minimisation and waste economy were established in the new waste legislation, the Superdreckskescht fir Betriber project already aimed to implement the basic elements of an environmentally compatible waste management chain two years in advance. >From the start of the project it has become plainly visible that SMEs are not only looking for the disposal of special waste but are also willing to support the reuse of materials. Therefore, the concept of Superdreckskescht fir Betriber has been directed towards the following goals:

• selective collection of wastes in order to bring as much material as possible into the recycling process;
• unpolluted and safe storage of all materials and substances;
• transparent organisation of internal waste economy of the SMEs;
• collection of materials and substances on a regular time schedule;
• transparent organisation of the recycling and disposal paths;
• individual consultancy on SMEs’ waste minimisation potentials;
• beneficial public relations to the company’s waste management policy.

The primary goal of Superdreckskescht fir Betriber is the building up of an efficient, ecologically oriented waste economy for SMEs. Therefore, the participating SMEs are not obliged to dispose of their wastes via Superdreckskescht fir Betriber as long as they possess the required permission for trading and waste transportation. The priority of Superdreckskescht fir Betriber’s work is to speed up the process of setting up and organising internal waste management. A typical project in SME has a start-up phase as well as a permanent support service. At the start the new customer gets a complete information package which contains the following elements:

• information for the managers (legal requirements, recycling and disposal paths in Luxembourg);
• individual check on the quality and quantity of the company´s wastes,
• information of the employees while establishing the collection infrastructure.

The regular support service also consists of an advice and information offer. In addition, the SMEs get operational help. The following components are included:

• on-site discussion on further waste avoidance potentials;
• information on environmentally compatible manufacturing;
• training,
• information on new waste technologies,
• on-line advice,
• mediation between the company and authorities.

Superdreckskescht fir Betriber identifies potential participants via the branch of business. An ideal collection would be guaranteed if the collection containers could be installed on-site or at the place of the production of waste (e.g. at a garage, at a patrol station, or at a school). However, this principle has had to be modified as certain crafts like painters, electricians, joiners or roofers leave all or some of their waste with their customers. In this case the collection containers are stationed at the storage room or the work shop although such sites are not particularly well-suited. In the future the waste from building sites will be collected via the mobile Superdreckskescht system for private households.

Nevertheless, the Superdreckskescht fir Betriber did achieve some success. Instead of an expected participation of 20 - 30 SMEs, in the first two months more than 150 companies asked for a check of their waste situation. In 1998 the 500^th business joined the system. Each participating SME receives a monthly and an annual balance report on the quantities of collected waste. After six months the company is allowed to use the Superdreckskescht logo for advertising.

Superdreckskescht fir Betriber is not restricting its activities to disposal and consultancy but it is also pursuing a promotional policy for the use and introduction of recycled products. In particular, four areas have been selected:

1. Recycled paper: The aim is to convince the business manager to use recycled paper at least for internal correspondence.
2. Waste oils: All reusable oils are re-distilled at a German plant in Uetze and some big supermarket chains have agreed to sell the products if they have passed a quality control.
3. Remoulds: Due to the import of cheap car tyres from Eastern Europe and the lack of information on remoulds there is only a small market. Nevertheless, the aim is to convince car tyre sellers to offer remoulds as an alternative.
4. Solvents: The Superdreckskesch special waste collection system has succeeded in closing the destillation cycle for solvents. Therefore, the members of the system normally get 80% of the collected quantity of solvents as redistillate in return.

Results and Impacts

After three years in operation, in November 1995, the Superdreckskescht 2 or Superdreckskescht fir Betriber project carried out a survey among their customers. The results underline that the service is appreciated.

In the sector of residential waste of SMEs is becomes clear that a significant change has taken place. 79% of the SMEs have reduced this type of waste by 40 - 80%. 43% of the total number reached a reduction of even 60-80%. In particular, the collection of waste in small containers has proven to be effective:

• 77% of the SMEs had no problems in implementing the collection system.
• 92% of the SMEs have transferred the responsibilities for waste management to a person who acts a partner for Superdreckskescht fir Betriber staff. However, in most cases this is not the environmental officer and the basis of environmental competence within the companies is widened.
• 89% of the SMEs are satisfied with the services (56% are completely satisfied, 33% are generally satisfied).

From the SME point of view the Superdreckskescht fir Betriber collection system is beneficial for the following reasons:

• competence and advice 85 %
• monthly and annual balances 83 %
• transparency of the disposal paths 81 %
• acceptance of disposal cost by the customer 77 %
• good service 68 %
• central organisation 67 %
• regular collection and disposal 63 %
• environmentally compatible disposal 54 %
• guarantee of performance of legal duties 51 %
• advertising with the logo 28 %
• cleanness of the business 24 %
• 
  

Actors and Structures

Number of participants and type of business

Source of Information

Ahles, Hubert / Origer, Malou / Schmit, Robert 1994: Modell Luxemburg: Ökologisches und ökonomisches Konzept für das Handwerk (Aktioun Superdeckskescht 2), in: Büro für Umwelt- Pädagogik Media, (Hg.), Problemabfälle in Gewerbe und Kommune. Branchenspezifische Beratungskonzepte. Kommunales Abfallmanagement, Sehnde, S. 337-358

Origer, Malou 1996: Superdreckskescht fir Betriber - kompetenter Partner für Beratung und Entsorgung im Handwerk, Manuskript des Vortrag auf dem Symposium der Aktion Superdrecksketscht und Gesellschaft - Projekte, Abwicklungen und Resultate im europäischen Vergleich, 12-14. Juni 1996, Luxembourg

Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, Ministère de l’environnement. Rapport d’activité 1998. Luxembourg, March 1999

Contact:

Cities:

Luxembourg :

Luxembourg as a country has a population of 400,000 and an area of 2,500 square kilometres. It is the smallest member state of the European Community. 25% of the working population (approximately 43,000) are employed by 3,870 small and medium-sized businesses. Luxemburg is also the location of many European institutions.

Population:

Project was added at 18.06.1996
Project was changed at 22.08.2001

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