Waste

Hazardous waste

The "Hazardous waste" fact sheet measures the amount of hazardous waste produced and collected in mainland Portugal, as well as the proportion to be sent to a recovery operation or to a disposal operation. This fact sheet also measures the relative quantity of hazardous waste sent to the different recovery and disposal operations.
Description: 

Hazardous waste (HW) is all the waste that presents at least one of the hazard characteristics listed in EU Regulation 1357/2014 namely, explosiveness, oxidising properties, flammability, ecotoxicity, mutagenicity, toxicity, among others.

The production of hazardous waste occurs mainly in the industrial sector, but also in the health sector, in agriculture, in retail, in services and even in the household sector. The hazardousness associated with these wastes, for both human health and the environment, requires more careful attention to their management in order to avoid/reduce the occurrence of harmful effects.

On a preventive basis, it is important to limit the production of waste, reducing the operations necessary for its management, which themselves originate environmental impacts (eg. transportation as well as recovery and disposal operations).

According to the waste hierarchy, disposal operations should be avoided whenever the alternatives are economically and environmentally viable. Disposal operations should be considered end-of-the-line operations, as they do not promote circular economy, and generally entail greater environmental impacts. Given the current waste production and management patterns in Portugal, the waste policy should consider reducing the amount of disposed waste as a goal to be achieved.

This fact sheet concerns mainland Portugal and shall be updated on an annual basis.

 

 

Objectives and targets: 
  • Prevent the production of waste, hazardous waste in particular, which implies reducing it at the source thus reducing the quantity to be subjected to treatment;
  • Reduce the hazardousness of waste;
  • Reduce the amount of disposed waste.
Progress analysis:

Production of hazardous waste in Portugal

Notas: p - provisional data
Source: INE, 2017

Analysing the evolution of hazardous waste production in Portugal, there is an increasing trend in production between 2008 and 2011, with a slight fall in 2010. From 2011 to 2014, possibly due to the economic situation in the country, there was a reversal of this trend, corresponding to a reduction of production of HW in Portugal of around 42%, a minimum of production of the time series under analysis having been reached in 2014. From 2014 onwards, domestic production of HW increased significantly, with a production maximum in 2016 of about 832 thousand tons, which corresponds to an increase of more than 80% over the minimum registered in 2014. Contributing to this increase we have, in 2016, the treatment of industrial liabilities and contaminated soils.

 

Production of hazardous waste per activity sector

Notas: p - provisional data
Source: INE, 2017

Regarding the distribution of HW production by economic activity, between 2008 and 2016, most of the HW produced in Portugal originated in trade and services (including waste produced by health units), in waste treatment activities and in the base metallurgical industry and metal products. Of note is the sector of waste collection, treatment and disposal, which since 2009 is the sector of economic activity with most expressiveness in the total HW produced in mainland Portugal, and in 2016 represented about 44% of the national HW production.

The chemical, synthetic fibers, pharmaceuticals, rubber and plastics manufacturing sector also made a significant contribution to the production of HW in Portugal in the years under analysis, corresponding on average to around 7% of the total produced annually in Portugal.

In relation to HW from the Construction sector, considerable variations have been observed in recent years in its contribution to total HW production, which may be related to fluctuations in the activity of this economic sector.

 

Rate of recovery/disposal of HW produced in Portugal

Notas: p - provisional data
Source: INE, 2017

The recovery/disposal ratio of Hazardous Waste produced in Portugal suffered oscillations throughout the 2008-2016 series, with significant weight of disposal operations in the total waste treated. Recovery greater weight in 2008 and between 2012 and 2014 (despite the decreasing trend in this period), with variations between 50 and 55%. In 2015 and 2016, this situation changed and the percentage of HW sent for disposal exceeded the one sent for recovery, with an elimination rate of 54% and 61%, respectively.

In relation to the different disposal operations to which the HWs produced in Portugal were subject in 2016, the main ones were landfill deposition and physical-chemical and biological treatments, which corresponded to 49% and 35% of the of waste subject to a disposal operation, respectively.

In terms of recovery of HW in the same year, intermediate storage operations stood out, corresponding to 39% of total recovered waste, followed by the recycling of metals and metal compounds (18%) and the refining of oils and other reuses of oils (16%).

 

Last update: 
Saturday, 23 December, 2017
More information at: 

Portuguese Environment Agency – www.apambiente.pt