Modelling separation strategies of municipal solid waste in Finland

The first Finnish National Waste Plan follows the waste policy of the European Union by setting high recovery rate targets, i.e., 50%wt by the end of 2000 and 70%wt by 2005, for municipal solid waste management (MSWM). A computer model, TASAR (Tool for Analysing Separation Actions and Recovery), was developed to study recovery levels reached by different separation strategies in Finland. The model includes a special method which was developed for the analysis of interdependence between the on-site obligation limits and the coverage of on-site collection systems. In the study TASAR proved to be a useful tool in calculating the recovery rates attained with various separation strategies. The recovery rate targets set in the National Waste Plan cannot be reached by source separation alone. This conclusion holds true regardless of the source separation strategy used. Even when the source separation activity of waste producers was increased by 15 to 30% the 70%wt target required an all-inclusive on-site collection for all recoverable waste components and all waste producers. Consequently, central separation of mixed waste must be added to the MSWM strategies pursued in order to improve the efficiency of source separation.