A lack of proper treatment infrastructure and sufficient capacity for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment is a crucial barrier for the environmentally sound management of waste. However, overcapacities, especially for waste incineration, also have to be taken into account regarding their potential impacts on recycling markets and waste treatment prices. The paper "Europe's waste incineration capacities in a circular economy" of Henning Wilts and Nadja von Gries (Wuppertal Institute) provides a comprehensive overview of existing MSW incineration plants and their capacities within Europe. In combination with the analysis of imports and exports of MSW for incineration, it provides an indication of over- and undercapacities for incineration plants. Among other things, the results show that in six of the 32 countries analysed in this study, capacities exceed more than 50% of the annual waste generation, while in two countries the total amount of annually generated waste is not enough to fill all the incineration plants.
The Paper has been published in the Journal "Proceedings of the ICE - Waste and Resource Management".