1NV Afvalzorg Holding, Assendelft, the Netherlands.
Waste Manag Res. 2012 Dec;30(12):1234-42. doi: 10.1177/0734242X12465788. Epub 2012 Nov 5.
The primary goal of waste regulations is to protect human health and the environment. This requires the removal from the material cycle of those materials that cannot be processed without harm. Policies to promote recycling hold a risk that pollutants are dispersed. Materials have an environmental impact during their entire life cycle from extraction through production, consumption and recycling to disposal. Essentially there are only two routes for pollutants that cannot be rendered harmless: storage in sinks or dispersion into the environment. Many sinks do not contain substances absolutely, but result in slow dispersion. Dispersion leads to exposure and impact to human health and the environment. It is therefore important to assess the impact of the release to the environment. Based on various sources this paper discusses important material flows and their potential impact. This is compared with the intentions and achievements of European environmental and resource policy. The polluter pays principle is being implemented in Europe, but lags behind implementation of waste management regulations. As long as producers are allowed to add hazardous substances to their products and don't take their products back, it is in society's best interest to carefully consider whether recycling or storage in a sink is the better solution. This requires further development of life-cycle assessment tools and harmonization of regulations. In many cases the sink is unavoidable. Landfills as sinks will be needed in the future. Fail-safe design and construction as well as sustainable management of landfills must be further developed.
废物法规的主要目标是保护人类健康和环境。这要求将那些如果不加以处理就会造成危害的物质从物质循环中去除。促进回收利用的政策存在污染物分散的风险。材料在从提取、生产、消费和回收利用到处置的整个生命周期中都具有环境影响。基本上，对于那些无法无害化处理的污染物只有两种途径：储存在汇或分散到环境中。许多汇并不完全包含物质，而是导致缓慢的扩散。扩散会导致对人类健康和环境的暴露和影响。因此，评估向环境释放的影响非常重要。本文基于各种来源讨论了重要的物质流及其潜在影响。这与欧洲环境和资源政策的意图和成就进行了比较。污染者付费原则在欧洲得到实施，但落后于废物管理法规的实施。只要生产者被允许在其产品中添加有害物质，而不回收其产品，那么仔细考虑是进行回收还是在汇中储存是更好的解决方案，符合社会的最佳利益。这需要进一步开发生命周期评估工具和协调法规。在许多情况下，汇是不可避免的。未来将需要将垃圾填埋场作为汇。必须进一步开发可靠的设计和施工以及对垃圾填埋场的可持续管理。
