The international waste and resource management company Geminor carries out an annual survey to establish the environmental impact of the company's services. The report for 2018 now gives an indication of the positive environmental effects of recycling: Overall, the material recovery and waste-to-energy production gives a total environmental benefit of as much as 284,700 tonnes of CO2. The figure is calculated by including Geminor's emissions in connection with international sea and land transport.
The services provided an average positive climate factor of 0.21 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of waste. Recycling of waste wood gives the largest climate surplus, according to the report, and material recycling provides approximately 12 percent better climate effect than energy-from-waste (EfW) production.
Considerable savings
The savings in emissions of 284,700 tonnes of CO2 corresponds to emissions equivalent to the toal annual activities of around 30,000 EU citizens - or emissions from as much as 148 000 cars. This shows the significant climate contribution that waste recovery delivers, says CEO of Geminor, Kjetil Vikingstad.
