Comparative analysis of municipal waste from representative regions in Germany to determine the proportion of problematic substances and recyclable materials

The objective of the project is to close data gaps on the waste composition of residual municipal waste in Germany, especially with regard to proportions of problematic and pollutant substances contained and materials that can still be recycled. Despite biowaste collection, the native-organic material group still represents a significant component of household waste, especially in the case of public waste management authorities, which have only realized unsatisfactory biowaste collection. Since the volume of biowaste, especially green and garden waste, is largely determined by growth in the vegetation season, there are significant differences in biowaste generation during the vegetation-rich and vegetation-poor periods. This circumstance is to be taken into account by targeted (seasonal) waste analyses in representative catchment areas using statistically tested methods.