Case Study: Amsterdam Flashcards
Where is Amsterdam?
It is the cultural capital of The Netherlands
Why has there been an increase in waste generation in the past years?
Rising prosperity in the twentieth century led to greater production and consumption of goods
What is the ‘Lansink’s Ladder’?
The Dutch’s simple approach to waste
What does this process entail?
Avoid creating waste in the first place, recover the valuable raw materials from it, generate energy by incinerating residual waste, and only dump what is left but do it in an environmentally way.
When was the approach incorporated into Dutch Legislation?
1994
Why did the Dutch Government have to take measures early on?
Due to the increasing level of material consumption, the significant lack of physical space and the environmental deterioration of the land
Hy did locals oppose the waste disposal sites?
Due to smell, soil pollution and groundwater contamination
What was introduced in 1995?
A landfill tax on every tonne of material landfilled
What did this tax do?
Gave waste processing companies the financial incentive to look for other methods such as recycling and incineration.
How long did this tax increase for
Every year until 2012
Why did the increasing tax stop in 2012?
Low level of landfilling had rendered the tax unnecessary
What else was introduced in 1995?
A landfill ban covering 35 waste categories
What had been achieved by 2006
The targets of the landfill directive set for 2016
