Cooperation aims to secure landfill capacity in the long term
Over the next two years, the cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau and Schaffhausen will be developing planning principles for new landfills for slag from waste incineration (WIP). The aim is to ensure secure waste disposal for the next 30 years and to exploit economic and ecological advantages.
The cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau and Schaffhausen are working together to plan new landfills for slag from waste incineration plants, according to a statement from the Department of Construction and Environmentof the Canton of St. Gallen. Over the next two years, the waste management authorities of the three cantons will develop a coordinated plan that identifies the need for landfill volume and landfill sites. The aim is to ensure secure waste disposal for the next 30 years and to exploit economic and ecological advantages.
The starting point for the collaboration is the foreseeable shortage of suitable landfill volume. The incineration of waste in waste incineration plants produces waste incineration plant slag that cannot be further recycled and must be stored in specially secured type D landfills. Such facilities are in short supply both in the participating cantons and throughout Switzerland. Without additional capacity, there is a risk of bottlenecks in waste disposal in the medium term.
Coordinated planning aims to optimise existing cantonal waste streams, exploit economic and ecological advantages and enable the rational use of individual sites. In this way, the three cantons want to offer long-term planning and disposal security for waste producers as well as waste incineration plants and landfills.
With this project, the cantons are fulfilling their legal mandate for waste planning. This includes determining future landfill requirements and identifying suitable locations. The jointly developed planning basis will then serve as the foundation for cantonal planning instruments such as structure plans and other procedures.