Yesterday, Hartmut Haeming, President of the European Landfill Association (ELA), and Christian Rasquin of INWESD had the pleasure to visit the Dutch Waste Management Association in the Netherlands.
At the Stainkoeln site in Groningen, they received a warm welcome from Gerrit Jan Georg, Chair of the Landfill Division of the Dutch Waste Management Association and Managing Director of Indaver Netherlands.
Following a tour of the landfill site, we had a valuable exchange on European developments affecting our sector.
Among the topics discussed was the EU ETS, including the European Commission’s proposal for methane emissions monitoring. With European legislation like this, it is essential that practical, operational expertise is brought to the table at an early stage.
Because even in an increasingly circular economy, we will continue to need safe final destinations for materials that cannot be recycled or that, because they contain pollutants, must deliberately be removed from the circular material loop. ELA therefore aptly describes landfills as “pollutant sinks”: an essential part of keeping unwanted substances safely out of our material cycles.
And that is precisely where the European Landfill Association has an important role to play. ELA brings together landfill operators, national associations, policymakers and other stakeholders from across Europe to share knowledge, further reduce emissions and work towards safe and future-proof landfills. Another important objective is to end the landfilling of organic waste in Europe, thereby reducing methane emissions.
After all, circularity is not only about what we keep in the loop. It is also about what we responsibly take out.