Content
About the statistics
Definitions
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Name and topic
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Name: Waste treatment in waste treatment plants
Topic: Nature and the environment
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Next release
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Responsible division
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Division for Energy, Environmental and Transport Statistics
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Definitions of the main concepts and variables
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Biodegradables : Readily biologically degradable waste, mostly food waste and waste from production of food and feeding stuff.
Biogas production: Biogas refers to a mixture of different gases produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas can be produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste or food waste.
Composting is a sort of aerobic biological treatment, i.e. decomposition of the waste by means of micro-organisms and in the presence of air.
Energy recovery is exploitation of the energy which is released during waste incineration.
Hazardous waste : Waste which requires special treatment according to Regulations Concerning Hazardous Waste, owing to its toxic or flammable Properties.
Landfilling is final disposal in an officially approved landfill.
Recycling (Material recovery) : processing and use of wastes in production and consumption processes
Reuse : Use of materials or products more than once, e.g. refilling of bottles
Waste handling is usually defined as everything which is done with the waste, from discarding to final disposal. The term treatment/disposal denotes processes which lead to physical or chemical transformation of the waste (material recovery/recycling, composting or incineration) or final disposal (landfilling, dumping, export and reuse).
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Standard classifications
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Data on Waste incineration and Waste landfilled are reported acorcing to the Norwagian Classification of Waste (NS 9431)
Administrative information
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Regional level
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National
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Frequency and timeliness
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Every third year. From the reference year 2004 inclusive, every year. No data for the years 2012-2016, and then annualy from 2017 and forward.
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International reporting
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The data are used in the Waste accounts for Norway. The Waste account is again the basis for the reporting on the Waste Statistics regulation (Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002).
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Microdata
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Data are stored in an Oracle database.
Background
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Background and purpose
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Municipal waste statistics have been published by Statistics Norway from 1992 to 1999 inclusive. That statistics covered waste that was handled by or on behalf of the municipalities, i.e. all household waste and parts of the industrial waste. During the 1990-ies, ever more industrial waste was handled outside the municipal waste treatment system. Municipal waste statistics hence could not provide a comprehensive picture of the waste treatment and disposal in Norway. The present waste treatment and disposal statistics is extended compared to the municipal waste statistics in that all waste treatment plants now are included in the survey.
The statistics were not published for the years 2012-2016. For 2017, a new scheme for biological treatment was created in cooperation with the Norwegian Environment Agency. All data for the statistics are now collected from the Norwegian Environment Agency.
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Users and applications
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Important users are: The Norwegian Environment Agency, The Ministry of Environment, regional environmental authorities, waste handling companies and environmental NGOs.
The statistics are applied directly in the Norwegian Waste Accounts and as part of the factual basis for the government's report on environment protection and pollution abatement status to the Storting. Regional waste treatment planning and international reporting are two other important applications.
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Equal treatment of users
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Not relevant
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Coherence with other statistics
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The figures are used in the waste accounts for Norway, but are not directly comparable. The waste accounts for Norway include all waste treated in Norway and Norwegian Waste treated abroad..
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Legal authority
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Pollution Control Act Section 49. Individual data are used for statistics production according to The Statistics Act Section 3-2
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EEA reference
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Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics
Production
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Population
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The figures include waste treated at Norwegian waste treatment facilities, i.e. waste incineration plants, landfills, composting- and biogass treatment facilities. Recycled waste is not included in the figures.
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Data sources and sampling
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Questionnaires
Full survey/census
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Collection of data, editing and estimations
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Electronic questionnaires
Automatic controls are incorporated in the electronic questionnaires. All questionnaires are scanned for obvious errors on arrival. Questionnaires are checked in Statistics Norway for completeness and internal consistency. At macro-level, results are compared with other waste statistics, especially the waste accounts, and checked for consistency.
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Seasonal adjustment
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Not relevant
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Confidentiality
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Not relevant
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Comparability over time and space
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The figures are comparable, both over time and between counties.
Accuracy and reliability
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Sources of error and uncertainty
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The waste weighing and registration procedures vary among the different treatment plants. Because of this, parts of the questions were answered to a little degree. Often there are no measured data. In these cases, the treatment plant operator sometimes estimates the reported data, or does not answer the question at all. Missing data are imputed.
The registry of waste treatment facilities may be undercovered, but probably of minor significanse.
The share recycled "incineration residues sorted out for material recycling", is unknown.
All of the data is reported to the Norwegian Environment Agency and is used by Statistics Norway to produce statistics.
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Revision
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Not relevant