Felsorterat farligt hushållsavfall i nordvästra Skåne - Innehåll, skillnader, trender samt förslag för framtida arbete

Sammanfattning: Annually, approximately 11 000 tons of hazardous waste ends up in the residual waste in Sweden, causing economic losses as well as negative environmental- and health impacts. This study examines the extent of incorrect sorting of household hazardous waste (HHW) in six municipalities in southern Sweden. With data from 62 waste composition analyses carried out during the period 2006-2015, a detailed item-based analysis is made which reveals the content, quantities and trends of the HHW in the region. Differences between municipalities, collection-systems and accommodation-type are also investigated, and recommendations for further work are given to the local waste company (NSR). The results show that batteries, light bulbs, electric and electronic equipment (EEE) and hazardous medical waste are the most common waste types which are discarded wrongly in the region. In line with previous research, the EEE-category covers a large variation of items. At a regional level there is a decreasing trend of the amount of HHW in residual waste during the period. Nevertheless there are notable differences among the municipalities. For example, in two municipalities the latest composition study had the highest value of incorrect sorting. Surprisingly, there is also a difference between houses and apartments, suggesting that the incorrect sorting of HHW is larger in houses. However, due to large dispersion in the waste composition analyses, in combination with insufficient data, it is hard to make any clear correlations to the impact of different collection-systems. Despite weaknesses in the empirical base, the study is judged to give valuable insight and knowledge which can be applied by NSR in order to decrease the amount of hazardous items in the residual household waste.