A total of 41.7 million tonnes of waste was incinerated in thermal waste treatment plants and combustion plants in Germany in 2010. The amount of waste which was incinerated thus exceeded the amount which was landfilled for the second year running, the German federal statistics office reported today.
In particular incineration in combustion plants gained more ground in 2010 and accounted for 17.3 million tonnes of waste, which represents an increase by one sixth compared with 2009. Dedicated thermal waste treatment plants raised their input by only 3 per cent compared with the year before to 24.3 million tonnes, according to the statistics office. The amount which was landfilled declined by 900,000 tonnes compared with the year before and stood at 34.6m tonnes in 2010.