Industrial and consumption waste-article
Statistical Journal of the United Nations ECE 19 (2002) 65–78
IOS Press
65
Industrial and consumption waste. How to meet the indicator needs. Experiences from
Finland
Simo Vahvelainen
Statistics Finland, Environment and Energy, PB 6A, FIN-OOO22 Statistics Finland, Finland
Tel.: +358 9 1734 3457; Fax: +358 9 1734 2465; E-mail: simo.vahvelainen@stat.fi
Abstract. Statistics Finland has compiled waste statistics since the mid-1980s. The data material included administrative registers, surveys and research results. Waste was initially classified according to a ‘Finnish’ classification based on composition of waste until the mid-1990s, and later according to the European Waste Catalogue (EWC). A Guide to Waste Classification was drafted to facilitate classification in 1999. The Standard Industrial Classification (NACE) has been employed as a background classification for waste statistics. Waste statistics have been and are being used especially for preparing the national waste strategy and the waste management guidelines, in the planning stage of waste treatment plants, for research, and as supplementary material for compilation of material flow accounting.
Although Finnish waste statistics are fairly exhaustive, they have not been able to elucidate all the required features. The biggest problem is that the development trend of waste volumes still remains unclear. Regional and international comparability also remains weak. When waste statistics are not sufficient to describe change, they cannot be adequate indicators of sustainable development. At the heart of these problems may be that waste has been separated from its social origins – although environmental load such as emissions and waste are results of economic and social activity, their measurement is made ‘scientifically’.
This report attempts to demonstrate with a few examples how social change can influence waste and lead to interpretation errors with respect to the development of waste volumes. In
IOS Press
65
Industrial and consumption waste. How to meet the indicator needs. Experiences from
Finland
Simo Vahvelainen
Statistics Finland, Environment and Energy, PB 6A, FIN-OOO22 Statistics Finland, Finland
Tel.: +358 9 1734 3457; Fax: +358 9 1734 2465; E-mail: simo.vahvelainen@stat.fi
Abstract. Statistics Finland has compiled waste statistics since the mid-1980s. The data material included administrative registers, surveys and research results. Waste was initially classified according to a ‘Finnish’ classification based on composition of waste until the mid-1990s, and later according to the European Waste Catalogue (EWC). A Guide to Waste Classification was drafted to facilitate classification in 1999. The Standard Industrial Classification (NACE) has been employed as a background classification for waste statistics. Waste statistics have been and are being used especially for preparing the national waste strategy and the waste management guidelines, in the planning stage of waste treatment plants, for research, and as supplementary material for compilation of material flow accounting.
Although Finnish waste statistics are fairly exhaustive, they have not been able to elucidate all the required features. The biggest problem is that the development trend of waste volumes still remains unclear. Regional and international comparability also remains weak. When waste statistics are not sufficient to describe change, they cannot be adequate indicators of sustainable development. At the heart of these problems may be that waste has been separated from its social origins – although environmental load such as emissions and waste are results of economic and social activity, their measurement is made ‘scientifically’.
This report attempts to demonstrate with a few examples how social change can influence waste and lead to interpretation errors with respect to the development of waste volumes. In
References: Programme (proposal), Brussels, 2001. European Environment Agency (EEA), Household and municipal waste: Comparability of data in EEA member countries, Topic report No 3/2000, Copenhagen, 2000. Eurostat, Indicators of Sustainable Development, Luxembourg, 1997. Eurostat, Towards environmental pressure indicators for the EU, Luxembourg, 1999. Ministry of the Environment – Statistics Finland – Finnish Environment Institute, Guide to Waste Classification, Handbooks 37B, Statistics Finland, Helsinki, 1999. J. Muukkonen, TMR, DMI and Material Balances, Finland 1980–1997, Eurostat Working Papers 2/2000/B/1, 2000. Statistics Finland, Changes in Household Consumption Expenditure in the 1990s, Income and Consumption 28 (2000), Helsinki. Statistics Finland, Environment Statistics, Environment and Natural Resources 2 (2001), Helsinki. S. Vahvelainen and E. Salomaa, Wastes from Production and Consumption, Environment and Natural Resources 5 (2000), Statistics Finland, Helsinki. Finland, at the Unit of Environment and Energy as a Senior Statistician. He has worked temporarily at Eurostat (1999–2000).