Waste generation and treatment (env_wasgt)

National Reference Metadata in ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS)

Compiling agency: Administration de l'Environnement


Eurostat metadata
Reference metadata
1. Contact
2. Statistical presentation
3. Statistical processing
4. Quality management
5. Relevance
6. Accuracy and reliability
7. Timeliness and punctuality
8. Coherence and comparability
9. Accessibility and clarity
10. Cost and Burden
11. Confidentiality
12. Comment
Related Metadata
Annexes (including footnotes)
 



For any question on data and metadata, please contact: Eurostat user support

Download


1. Contact Top
1.1. Contact organisation

Administration de l'Environnement
1.2. Contact organisation unit

Unité statistiques et évaluation de l'environnement
1.5. Contact mail address

Administration de l'Environnement, 1, avenue du Rock'n'Roll, L - 4361 Esch-sur-Alzette


2. Statistical presentation Top
2.1. Data description

[not requested]
2.2. Classification system

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
2.3. Coverage - sector

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
2.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
2.5. Statistical unit

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
2.6. Statistical population

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
2.7. Reference area

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
2.8. Coverage - Time

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
2.9. Base period

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.


3. Statistical processing Top
3.1. Source data
Relationship of the parties/sources to the areas of the Regulation on Waste Statistics:
 

 

Assessment of the continuity of the data source, e.g. legal basis for the data source:

Law of 21 March 2012 on waste management

Law of 10 June 1999 on classified establishments

 

Institutions involved and distribution of tasks
Name of institution Description of key responsibilities

Administration de l'environnement

Unité statistiques et évaluation de l'environnement

  

Data coordination, collection and processing in Luxembourg

Drafting the quality report
   
   

 

General description of Data set 1: Waste generation by waste category (EWC-STAT) and economic activity (NACE)

General description of methodology:
 

In Luxembourg companies handling and/or transporting waste have to submit annual reports. The information from these reports is being used to compile the report on waste generation and waste treatment. As the obligation to submit these reports result from environmental regulation requirements they fall under the responsibility of the Environment Agency.

The legal basis for all annual reports is the law of 21 March 2012 on waste management and the law of 10 June 1999 on classified establishments. The Environment Administration requires companies/establishments licensed under the abovementioned laws to submit an annual report on waste. For the reference year 2016, reports from authorised organisations established in Luxembourg under Directives 2000/53/EC and 2002/96/EC have been used.

Four main categories of companies are identified:

-          Waste shipping and trading companies;

-          Waste recovery and disposal facilities;

-          Waste producers;

-          Authorised organisations.

Those companies mentioned here above have to report on an annual basis the quantities of waste handled, transferred, treated or generated according to

  • the type of waste (CED-code),
  • the origin of waste (NACE – code or import),
  • the method of final treatment (disposal, incineration etc.),
  • the destination (name and address of the company that the waste is transferred to,
  •  the name of the waste shipping or trading company.

This data is fed in a central database where all waste transfers between companies are mapped out and data on waste generation and treatment identified.

 

Determination of waste generation in the economy on the basis of information on waste collection
 

 

Determination of waste generation in the economy on the basis of administrative sources
 

 

Data sets 2 and 3: Waste treatment

General description of methodology:

In Luxembourg companies handling and/or transporting waste have to submit annual reports. The information from these reports is being used to compile the report on waste generation and waste treatment. As the obligation to submit these reports result from environmental regulation requirements they fall under the responsibility of the Environment Agency.

The legal basis for all annual reports is the law of 21 March 2012 on waste management and the law of 10 June 1999 on classified establishments. The Environment Administration requires companies/establishments licensed under the abovementioned laws to submit an annual report on waste. For the reference year 2016, reports from authorised organisations established in Luxembourg under Directives 2000/53/EC and 2002/96/EC have been used.

Four main categories of companies are identified:

          Waste shipping and trading companies;

-          Waste recovery and disposal facilities;

-          Waste producers;

-          Authorised organisations.

Those companies mentioned here above have to report on an annual basis the quantities of waste handled, transferred, treated or generated according to

  • the type of waste (CED-code),
  • the origin of waste (NACE – code or import),
  • the method of final treatment (disposal, incineration etc.),
  • the destination (name and address of the company that the waste is transferred to,
  •  the name of the waste shipping or trading company.

This data is fed in a central database where all waste transfers between companies are mapped out and data on waste generation and treatment identified.

 

Identification of relevant treatment facilities:
 

 

Registers used for identification of waste treatment operations
Identification of register(s) used (name; responsible institution) Description of register(s) (coverage; frequency and procedure of updating, ..)
   
   
   

 

Data collection on treated quantities:
 The relevant quantities are indicated in the respective annual reports.

 

Determination of treated waste quantities
Description of data sources and methods by treatment category
Item 1
Incineration
(R1)		  Annual reports from waste treatment facilities
Item 2
Incineration
(D10)		  NA
Item 3a
Recycling
(R2 – R11)		   Annual reports from waste treatment facilities
Item 3b
Backfilling		   Annual reports from waste treatment facilities
Item 4
Landfilling
(D1, D5, D12)		   Annual reports from waste treatment facilities
Item 5
Other disposal
(D2,D3,D4, D6,D7)		  na

 

Data collection on capacity of treatment facilities:
 The relevant capacities are indicated in the respective annual reports.
3.2. Frequency of data collection

Annual.
3.3. Data collection

 -
3.4. Data validation
  • The amount of metal  in NACE C24_25 'Manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment'waste is higher than reported in 2018. The increase can be traced back to one manufacturing site which produces an increased amount of EWC 100210. The same increase can be seen in the annual report from the wase transport company and in the report from the manufacturing site
  • One wood chipper in Luxembourg was granted a permission to declare the waste wood (EWC 75 that it is processing as non hazardous. As a result there has been an increase in the amount of non-hazardous wood waste an a decrease in hazardous wood waste in NACE E38, F and G.
  • The difference in waste oil (EWC 12 01 09) between 2018 and 2020 can be attributed to one single industrial waste producer (NACE 20.4). As the amount has gradually been reduced between 2018 and 2019 and 2020 the data seems accurate
  • The difference in waste oils (EWC 13 02 05) between 2018 and 2020 is a swap between NACE 30.120 and 38.2
  • The sorting residues have declined in 2020 as a large fraction residual household waste was not processed by a MBT treatment but went do incineration instead
  • The increase between 2018 and 2020 and waste from the category NACE B ‘Mining and quarrying’ can be traced back to one single company in Luxembourg operating under the NACE code 08.120. This company extracts sand stones from quarries while at the same time does backfilling of disused quarries and operates a few crushers for construction and demolition waste (for subsequent backfilling or recycling). Depending on the waste flows between the different waste operators in Luxembourg that company is responsible for the waste and is hence identified as waste producer. As the waste streams are difficult to trace between waste operators it is not possible to identify the original activity that has generated the waste. Considering the type of waste it seems however likely that it originated from the construction sector.
    A major cement producer in Luxembourg uses EWC 10 02 01 wastes from the processing of slag in the cement production. Some years this waste has been imported and other years it has been extracted in Luxembourg from disused slag piles (and hence the origin being identified as mining and quarry)


Annexes:
Validation rules
3.5. Data compilation
Wet matter for sludges
  03.2
Industrial effluent sludges		 03.2
Industrial effluent sludges		 11
Common sludges

12.7
Dredging spoils
non-hazardous hazardous non-hazardous non-hazardous
amounts  451 t  4508 t
18865t
0

With regard to the quantities of sludge, the data for 2020, as it has already been the case for 2018, are expressed as "dry matter". Since Luxembourg does not have a national conversion factor, the conversion factors as presented in the Eurostat working document WASTE WG 79/3.1 b (2008) were applied. A conversion factor of 0.2 was applied to the new EWC-Stat 4 category "Sludges and liquid wastes from waste treatment" (03.31), based on the approach in the abovementioned document.
3.6. Adjustment

[not requested]


4. Quality management Top
4.1. Quality assurance

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.
4.2. Quality management - assessment

[not requested]


5. Relevance Top
5.1. Relevance - User Needs

[not requested]
5.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction

[not requested]
5.3. Completeness
Description of missing data in data set 1 on waste generation

Description of missing data
(waste category, economic activity, ..)

Explanation

How to overcome the deficit
     
     
     

There is no known missing data. Some smaller quantities of waste can be omitted if reports are missing 

Description of missing data in data sets 2 and 3 on treated waste quantities and capacities

Description of missing data
(waste category, treatment category, region, ..)

Explanation

How to overcome the deficit
     
     
     
5.3.1. Data completeness - rate

[not requested]


6. Accuracy and reliability Top
6.1. Accuracy - overall

[not requested]
6.2. Sampling error

No sampling error is calculated as the data is collected for the whole country.
6.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Totals and coefficients of variation for the key aggregates

Key aggregate

Amount of hazardous waste

[1000 tonnes]

Amount of Non-hazardous waste

[1000 tonnes]

Coefficient of variation hazardous waste
[%]

Coefficient of variation non-hazardous waste
[%]
Waste generation

Waste generated by households

        

Waste generated by economic activities

        
Waste treatment

Waste used as fuel (item 1) (incineration in the form of recovery R1)

        

Waste incinerated (item 2) (incineration as disposal D10)

        

Waste recovered (R2 – R11), incl. backfilling (item 3a and 3b)

        

Waste disposed of by landfilling (D1, D5, D12) and other disposal operations (D2, D3, D4, D6, D7) (item 4 and 5)

        

The data used comes mainly from administrative data, thus no sampling was involved.
6.3. Non-sampling error

-
6.3.1. Coverage error
Coverage of waste statistics with regard to extractive waste1)

Coverage

Topsoil

Overburden

Waste-rock

Tailings
(non-haz.)

Completely covered

  n.a.   n.a.   n.a.   n.a.

Partially covered

        

Generally excluded

        

1)Please mark with an X whether the listed materials are completely covered, partially covered or generally excluded from waste statistics.

 

Description of issues related to the allocation of mining waste to NACE section B or C:
 

 

Annex I on waste generation:
 

Data on waste generation are compiled on the basis of various reports. The assumption is that the amount of waste collected and treated is equal to the amount of waste generated. To identify waste from private individuals, a fictitious NACE code (00.001) is used in the annual reports.

 a) Annual reports of waste shippers/traders

In 2018, 282 of the 1145 companies with a waste shipping/trading licence did not submit an annual report. As these companies have either abandoned their business or shipped waste to Luxembourgish consignees, the data were still recorded in the Environment Administration's database through the annual reports of the waste recovery and disposal facilities. It is however important to know that even if a report from a waste transport company is missing the quantity of waste is still accounted for as it is included in the report from the waste treatment facility which receives the waste.

 b) Miscellaneous findings

Unauthorised waste shippers: This arises from the country's specific location: shippers/collectors from neighbouring companies may appear temporarily on the Luxembourgish market. The Environment Administration and the Customs and Excise Administration carry out regular roadside inspections relating to the legislation on waste shipments. Certain categories of waste are covered by foreign suppliers (e.g., toner cartridges and batteries). Under the Eurostat grant agreement ESTAT200471200017, we found that the amount of waste retrieved by suppliers was minimal.

Direct exports by waste producers: We found that very little waste was exported by the producers themselves under Eurostat grant agreement ESTAT200471200017. We nonetheless found that certain categories of waste were exported by the producers themselves, namely end-of-life vehicles and scrap. This is explained by the fact that two shredders are located close to the Luxembourg border. The declared quantities of end-of-life vehicles come from the producers' reports in the context of the implementation of Directive 2000/53/EC.

 

Annex II on waste treatment:
 

Data coverage is limited to licensed establishments in accordance with Article 30 of the law of 21 March 2012 on waste management. Where additional information was available, it was entered in the database, e.g., surveys for establishments which are in the process of being approved or which have not yet obtained the necessary licences.

To identify waste from private individuals, a fictitious NACE code (00.001) is used in the annual reports. For imports, another fictitious NACE code (00.002) is used in the annual reports.

a) Annual reports of waste recovery and disposal facilities

In 2014, only 5 waste recovery and disposal facilities didn't submit their annual report.

b) Miscellaneous findings

Uncontrolled management of waste: The Environment Administration is occasionally contacted with regard to uncontrolled management methods, such as the illegal incineration of waste. These quantities of waste are not included in the statistics.

 

 

Coverage of waste treatment facilities and criteria for exclusion
 

No. of facilities included

No. of facilities excluded

Reasons for exclusion of facilities
and other comments

Item 1Incineration (R1)

  6  0  

Item 2Incineration (D10)

  0  0  

Item 3a Recycling (R2-R11)

  93  0  

Item 3b Backfilling

  5  0  

Item 4 Landfilling
(D1, D5, D12)

  10  0  

Item 5 Other disposal
(D2, D3, D4, D6, D7)

  0  0  

 

Commercial waste inclusion: Main problems description:
   
6.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate

[not requested]
6.3.1.2. Common units - proportion

[not requested]
6.3.2. Measurement error

a) Annual reports

Annual reports require many hours of data entry and checking before they can be reliably used as data sources. Furthermore, it is often the case that reports are only submitted to the Administration after several reminders.

However, the greatest difficulty to overcome is double counting.  To this end, data must be validated case by case.

A methodology has been developed to eliminate as far as possible double counting when several shippers in succession are involved in the collection and shipment of the same waste (for example: company A collects and transports waste shipment F to a sorting or packaging facility, then shipper B transports waste shipment F from the facility to the final consignee;  waste shipment F is included in the annual reports of both shipper A and shipper B.

Based on the information presented above, double counting can be avoided as far as possible by following a well-defined methodology, the key features of which are as follows:

-          validation only of the quantities of waste transported where these figures are identical to the quantities of waste traded;

-          validation of the quantities of waste exported directly;

-          validation of the quantities of waste permanently disposed of or recycled in a national facility.

In the context of the reports from waste shippers and traders, declarants must indicate whether the producer is the original producer of the waste or whether the waste comes from another collector or a waste recovery and disposal facility. This information also enables double counting to be eliminated.

The Environment Administration converts data in the annual reports which are expressed in cubic metres, litres or units into unit weight according to its own correlation table. Thus, for example, the following conversion factor is applied in calculations involving inert waste: 1 m3 = 1.8 t.

The NACE code is assigned to the producer by either the waste shippers/traders or the waste treatment facilities. Luxembourg attributes the waste to the producer (the party which produced the waste as a result of its activity) and not to the party which delivered the waste to a treatment facility.

This explains the poor comparability of certain categories of waste in the different Member States (such as end-of-life vehicles, contaminated soils and dredging spoils). The allocation of end-of-life vehicles is fairly complicated. The vast majority of end-of-life vehicles come from private individuals. However, the collectors assign NACE code 45.112 Commerce to vehicles taken over by garages. Written off end-of-life vehicles are assigned NACE 38 by the shippers taking them to the shredders. The same problem was found in assigning a NACE code to polluted soils: Who is the producer? The oil company treating its service station, the drilling company or the consultancy organising and overseeing the work?  In addition, in Luxembourg's case, the issue of the allocation of waste for which the communes are responsible has not been definitively resolved. Some employ private companies, others carry out their own collections. If the waste is collected by a private company, should it be attributed to private individuals or to communes? The same problem arises for waste generated by communal services: waste from cleaning roads, cemetery waste, waste from communal workshops, etc. In this context, for the purposes of simplification and consistency, inert waste is systematically assigned NACE Rev. 2 code 43.110 Demolition work.

b) Double counting/primary waste-secondary waste

Double counting is avoided as far as possible in order to obtain an accurate picture of the waste generated in Luxembourg. This applies to both primary waste and secondary waste.

Waste is validated as new waste when its nature changes: Thus an untreated vehicle (160104) is counted when it enters a treatment plant, and is counted as secondary waste (160106) when it leaves the treatment plant to be sent to a shredder.  This is not the case for cardboard entering a sorting facility and subsequently leaving the facility to be sent to a paper mill, as there is no change in the nature/composition of the waste.

In the tables relating to waste generation (GENER) and treatment (TREATM), there may be very slight discrepancies between the totals (by waste, activity, treatment, hazardous and non-hazardous) calculated automatically by the Web Form and those obtained from the Environment Administration's internal calculation tables. This is due to the fact that the information is collected in kilograms and litres in Luxembourg. When they are converted to unit tonnes, the quantities are either rounded down or rounded up and then added together.

c) Capacity of waste recovery and disposal facilities

 The capacity of waste recovery and disposal facilities is determined on the basis of several criteria:

1)    The operational capacity authorised by the ministerial decree;

2)    The amount of waste treated in 2014 as indicated in the annual report;

3)    The capacity in Megagrams per hour: crushing and screening plants for inert waste notify their capacity in Megagrams per hour. This capacity is multiplied by eight working hours per day, 200 working days per year. The figure may vary according to the nature of the material to be treated;

4)    Land treatment resulting in benefit to agriculture or ecological improvement (R10) covers only sewage sludge;

5)    For backfilling, all concerned facilities have been analysed based on the Eurostat backfilling criteria, an the ones fulfilling the latter, have been inclueded under the treatment category 3b in the REGIO 1 webform.
6.3.3. Non response error

In 2018, 282 of the 1145 companies with a waste shipping/trading licence and only 2 waste recovery and disposal facilities didn't submit their annual report.
6.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate

[not requested]
6.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate

[not requested]
6.3.4. Processing error

Errors in the annual reports are corrected by the person responsible for checking the reports or entering them into the database, e.g., processing method error.

 
6.3.4.1. Imputation - rate

[not requested]
6.3.5. Model assumption error

The data used comes mainly from administrative data, thus no modelisation is involved.
6.4. Seasonal adjustment

[not requested]
6.5. Data revision - policy

[not requested]

[not requested]
6.6. Data revision - practice

[not requested]
6.6.1. Data revision - average size

[not requested]


7. Timeliness and punctuality Top
7.1. Timeliness

 

Data are collected annually using standardised forms. The deadline for submission of annual reports is 31 March of the year following the reporting year. Companies are required to produce annual reports.

Once the Administration has received the reports, their consistency is checked before inputting the data: this involves checking the consistency of the waste transported in relation to the type of waste, and the consistency of waste treatment methods according to the type of waste.

If problems are detected, the values are compared to those of previous years or to data in the database of records of notifications on shipments of waste. If there is a discrepancy between the values, the establishment concerned is contacted to confirm the validity of the data. This is also the case if the annual report is incomplete.

Depending on staff availability, reports are entered into a centralised database. In general, data entry takes two to three months. Data control and validation is carried out by someone other than the person who entered the data into the database. This allows errors made during manual data entry to be spotted. It takes around six weeks to verify and validate the data.
7.1.1. Time lag - first result

[not requested]
7.1.2. Time lag - final result

[not requested]
7.2. Punctuality
Explanation for any delay in data transmission and measures taken to avoid delays in future:
 
7.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication

[not requested]


8. Coherence and comparability Top
8.1. Comparability - geographical
Description of classifications used
 

Name of
classification(s) used

Description of the classification(s)
(in particular compatibility with WStatR requirements)

Economic activities

  NACE rev. 2  Application as indicated in the amended REGULATION (EC) No 2150/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics

Waste types

  LoW - EWC 2   Application as indicated in the amended REGULATION (EC) No 2150/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics

Recovery and treatment operations

  Recovery and Disposal Operation Codes from Directive 2008/98/EC   Application as indicated in the amended REGULATION (EC) No 2150/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics
8.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient

[not requested]
8.2. Comparability - over time
 Changes compared with previous years:
 All minor changes are highlighted in the footnotes of the xls data submission sheet

 

 Foreseen changes:
 

 

 Specific issues concerning the data collection on the current reference year:
 

 

 Detailed description and consequences:
 

There is no regional comparability requirement for this data, as there are no regions in Luxembourg at that level. Mobile waste recovery facilities are also included in the statistics.
8.2.1. Length of comparable time series

[not requested]
8.3. Coherence - cross domain
Environment statistics:
 

 

Socio-economic statistics:
 

[not requested]
8.4. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics

[not requested]
8.5. Coherence - National Accounts

[not requested]
8.6. Coherence - internal

[not requested]


9. Accessibility and clarity Top
9.1. Dissemination format - News release

[not requested]
9.2. Dissemination format - Publications

[not requested]
9.3. Dissemination format - online database

[not requested]
9.3.1. Data tables - consultations

[not requested]
9.4. Dissemination format - microdata access

[not requested]
9.5. Dissemination format - other

[not requested]
9.6. Documentation on methodology

[not requested]
9.7. Quality management - documentation

[not requested]
9.7.1. Metadata completeness - rate

[not requested]
9.7.2. Metadata - consultations

[not requested]


10. Cost and Burden Top
Burden on respondents

Survey /
Source

Type and total number of respondents

Actual no. of respondents

Time required for response

Measures taken to minimise the burden
         
         
         

Companies produce reports as a condition of their operating licence. The statistical regulation has not led to any changes for operators in comparison to the previous requirements.


11. Confidentiality Top
11.1. Confidentiality - policy
Description of the relevant confidentiality policy:
 

Statistical data on waste are collected and processed by the Environment Administration. A selection of data is published on the website of the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure:

The Luxembourg statistical office STATEC does not draw up statistical data on waste in Luxembourg, but receives this information from the Environment Administration:

http://www.statistiques.public.lu/stat/ReportFolders/ReportFolder.aspx?IF_Language=fra&MainTheme=1&FldrName=3&RFPath=65
11.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

[not requested]


12. Comment Top

The "Administration de l'environnement" is only partie involved. It is responsible for data collection, processing and reporting.

 

 


Related metadata Top


Annexes Top
Annex