Waste - National Responses (Luxembourg)

Luxembourg has few levers available for influencing the design or composition of products. It can, however, act on consumer habits and on household and business participation in selective sorting and in waste prevention and ecological management programmes. Its policy is to introduce separate collection and appropriate management systems, together with information targeted at households and consumers, as well as advisory services and training, and assistance to businesses.

For 20 years now, separate collection of municipal waste has been based on both mobile and fixed collection, a network of 24 recycling centres and a programme of regular public information. Separate collection applies to all recoverable items as well as to ‘problematic’ and hazardous waste via the ‘SuperDrecksKëscht® fir Biirger’ initiative (see one of our national and regional stories). The volumes collected by voluntary delivery to recycling centres have more than doubled since 1999 (905 000 deliveries in 2008).

To prevent the generation of consumer waste, the emphasis is on informing the public about the products that generate waste, components that are hazardous to the environment and health, and available substitutes. These efforts rely on joint public- and private-sector initiatives and on economic instruments.

Luxembourg has therefore for many years been pursuing an active policy of waste management based on prevention and recovery with a view to minimising environmental impact and supplying high-quality secondary raw materials. It gives priority to recovering materials for reintroduction into the economic circuit.

The legislative and regulatory framework is based on the amended Waste Prevention and Management Act of 2000, the 2010 Waste Management Plan(‘Plan Général de Gestion des Déchets’, PGGD), which calls for full-cost pricing at every stage of waste management and sets the following goals: (i) preventing and reducing waste production and pollution from waste; (ii) recovery through reuse, recycling or any other environmentally appropriate method; and (iii) disposal of final waste in environmentally and economically appropriate ways.

With regard to industrial, commercial and service waste, the main instruments for achieving waste prevention targets and reintroducing materials into the economic circuit are the PPGDs and the advice provided to businesses by the ‘SuperDrecksKëscht® fir Betriber’ programme, an initiative presented in one of our national and regional stories.

Other laws and Grand Ducal regulations concerning specific waste flows supplement the PGGD Act and transpose European legislation into national law (movements of hazardous waste, packaging waste, waste oils, PCBs, waste incineration, sewage sludge, WEEE, batteries, etc.). European legislation plays an increasing role in determining policies and establishing objectives. Luxembourg must also comply with other international commitments relating to cross-border waste movements and to the ecological management of waste and resource productivity.

Other interesting links

Various statistics on waste generation and treatment: click here (in French and German).

Laws and legal texts relating to waste management: click here (in French).

The SuperDrecksKëscht® (SDK) programme: click here (in French, German, Luxembourgish and English).

2009 Activity Report of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure – p. 207-259: click here (in French).