Comparison of incineration and landfill approaches to waste disposal in Amsterdam

general advantages of landfil

• Facilities are properly sited with necessary controls 

• Several types of waste accepted and ordered 

geenral disadvantages of landfill

• Often opposed by neighbouring residents 

• Potential leaching of chemicals threatens groundwater supply 

• Produces methane 

• Takes up a lot of space, and is unsightly 

• High transportation costs 

general advantags of incineration

• Can reduce volume of waste needing disposal by 90% 

• Can inactivate disease agents and reduce toxicity of waste 

• Can produce energy 

• Bottom ash can be recycled 

general disadvantages of incineration

• Expensive 

• Not all waste is combustible 

• Challenges of air pollution and bottom ash disposal 

• Capacity limitations 

• Unpopular with locals 

describe amsterdam

The cultural capital of the Netherlands, a densely populated low-lying country which has a growing population and a diminishing amount of spare land 

the dutch government aproach

Avoid creating waste in the first place, recover the valuable raw materials from it, generate energy by incinerating residual waste and only then dump what is left, but to do so in an environmentally acceptable way. 

negatices of landfill in amsterdam

• The increasing level of material consumption and the significant lack of physical space forced the Dutch government to take measures early on to reduce the landfilling of waste.  

• The public had objections to waste disposal sites due to smell, soil and groundwater contamination. 

when did ov introduce landfill tax (with detais of the tax) and what effects did this have

• In 1995, the government introduced a landfill tax. This gave waste processing companies the financial incentive to look for other methods such as recycling and incineration. Landfill tax was increased year on year until 2012 when it was repealed because the low level of landfilling made the tax unnecessary. 

• A landfill ban covering 35 waste categories was introduced in 1995. 

• The amount of waste sent to landfill decreased significantly in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2006, the country had already reached the targets of the Landfill Directive set for 2016. 

name of incineration plant

AEB incineration plant

how many tons of waste does the plant rocess anually

nnually, 1.4 million tons of waste is brought to the W2E plant.

how much Co2 does the plant avoid each year

Avoids 438 kilotons of CO2 per year. 

other posities of the plant

• Sixty-four per cent of the waste that ends up at the plant is recycled. 

• The AEB plant have installed a process of scrubbing the gases.Whatever material is left becomes landfill. 

• Neighbours a water treatment plant. The two plants work together: the incineration plant supplies energy and heat for water treatment processes 

negatives of theplant

Although attempts are made to reduce this the process still releases greenhouse gases