Waste accounts, 2017

National

Annual publication.

Waste Account for Norway is data source for reporting waste statistics to Eurostat pursuant to Regulation on waste statistics (No 2150/2002).

Micro data, calculations and revised years for the different waste statistics are archived at Linux. Sub-calculations and finished calculations for the waste accounts are stored as SAS and/or- Excel-files.  

The main purpose with Waste Accounts is to present a holistic overview of the waste situation in Norway. Waste streams are quantified based on three different characteristics: material type, source of origin and treatment.

The work with the waste accounts started in 1995. The first results for paper and glass were published in 1997. Until 2011 the waste accounts showed data for paper, glass, wetorganic waste, metalls, wood, plastics, sludge, other materials and hazardous waste.

From the 2012 publications and forward the waste accounts has been revised and new materials have been included. The waste accounts now publish data for wetorganic waste, park and garden waste, wood, sludge, paper,  glass, metals, WEEE, concrete and tiles, cinders, dust, bottom ash and fly ash, plastics, rubber, textiles, discarded vehicles, hazardous waste, mixed waste, other materials and slightly polluted soil.

The Norwegian Environment Agency makes use of the figures in their reports to the Parliament. The figures also constitute the main data source on waste statistics presented to Eurostat and OECD. Moreover, the statistics are also applied as part in the Norwegian Emission Inventory, the integrated Economic and Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) and sustainable development indicators, thereby representing a relevant foundation for resource and environmental studies. The waste account is also used by industrial and nongovernmental organisations, education and research institutes and the media.

Not relevant

The Waste Account depends on an array of statistics for its calculations. Simultaneously, the Waste Account forms the basis of analyses and comparisons with other statistics, both internally in Statistics Norway and within external institutions.

Principally, the Waste Account is now included in the following statistics:

• Other waste statistics. For instance, the Manufacturing waste survey and the Waste treatment and disposal survey are forming parts of the hazardous waste statistics.
• Discharge of methane from landfills.
• Air pollution and energy accounts (figures on waste incineration).
• NAMEA (Norwegian Economic and Environmental Accounts).
• Fees and full costs statistics in the municipal waste sector.

It is considered using waste statistics in the set of sustainable development indicators.

A long-term goal is to make the waste account more integrated into a comprehensive system of environmental and socio-economic statistics. Waste amounts can then be seen in context with environmental effects from discharge to air and water, transport and logistic, employment and withdrawal of natural resources, together with environmental consequences by production and use of commodities.

The Waste Accounts require no separate data collection authorized by the Statistics Act, but build on other statistics were the Statistics Act is applied. See also "About the statistics" for the other waste statistics from Statistics Norway.

Regulation on waste statistics (No 2150/2002) requires detailed reporting on the different materials, sources and treatment/disposal methods of waste in Norway.

The Waste Accounts statistics comprise all waste as defined in Pollution Control Act §27 but with the following exceptions:

• Clean masses of stones, gravels and soil.
• Other materials, which readily may be brought back into the natural cycle of the ecosystems.
• Internally recycled production residues.
• Used products covered by recycling systems, for instance the bottle deposit scheme.
• Infectious, explosive and radioactive wastes.
• Secondary waste, except incineration residues.

Slightly contaminated soil and stones (non-hazardous) are covered, but generally excluded from the totals.

The statistics encompass hazardous waste as defined in Waste regulation §11.4. Certain estimates are also made from other selected groups of health- and environmentally dangerous waste.

The waste statistics use Statistic Norway's statistics on foreign trade. The geographical extent is the same for that statistic.

Waste account makes use of an array of different statistics/data sources. The most important ones are listed in table 1. For an overview of all sources, please refer to the publications connected with these.

Table 1. Main data sources in the waste accounts.

One of the main intentions with waste accounts is to build upon already existing data sources, like register data and statistics.

However it is still beeing collected some data from the recovery industry, This is numbers for treatment of special material fractions and types (for instance plastic packaging, WEEE and more). This extra numbers is used in the calculations of treatment numbers for the different material types. We also hope in the future to be able to have separate surveys for the sectors where we now have old and somewhat lacking data, but where we now have not been able to collect data because we assume that the numbers are quite small. This is true for some of the materials from the sectors A, D and E.

In the data collection for the statistics on waste from the service industry , customer registers from several waste handlers are collected. These registers contain among other data treatment and waste amounts data. This treatment data is used together with other sources for the treatment to calculate treatment for all the material types.

The different waste statistics of Statistics Norway making part of the waste account use different methods of data collection. Samples and methods of data collections of waste accounts are presented in table 2. For the remaining statistics and sources, please refer to other publications.

Table 2. Samples and data collection in the waste statistics forming the micro data of the waste accounts.

Revision carried out in connection with waste accounts may be divided into two steps:

• Revision of the different basic statistics
• Revision in connection with the compilation of the account

1. Revision of the basic statistics: The possibility for revision of basic statistics varies depending on the data collection methods in use. It also depends on which institution being responsible for the data collection. The statistics on household waste, industrial waste, waste handling and hazardous waste treatment is revised mainly through the following techniques:

• Automatic controls in the electronic forms, for example numerical limits and logical controls.
• Comparison with previous reported figures for municipalities and enterprises.
• Comparison with country average and comparable municipalities and enterprises.
• Collection of missing/insufficient information.
• Direct contact with municipalities/enterprises regarding errors or cases of doubt, which cannot readily be corrected internally in Statistics Norway.

Several revision controls are carried out automatically by computer-based applications.

The micro data concerning the service industries are based on customer registers from waste collectors. Revision of these includes identifying the establishments and connecting them to the Business register, and calculating the amount of waste per employee for each establishment as a basis for identifying outliers. No corrections are made in the micro data, but some industries delivering other establishments’ waste (transport, real estate activities, etc.) are excluded from the survey.

External sources are checked for errors or shortcomings in the following way:

• Units and values are checked against previous reference years of the same data source.
• Register units are checked automatically and manually against the Business register in Statistics Norway.
• Reported values are checked against values normally to be expected.
• Reported values are compared to values of comparable units for example assessed by size of enterprises (number of employees or turnover).

Corrections are made in copies of original fils or separat correction files. Moreover, information originating directly from other statistical sources is covered by revision routines performed by the unit responsible for the statistics or data.

2. Revision in connection with the compilation of the waste accounts: Compilation of the different basic statistics, summed up into one single account, may reveal inconsistencies in any of the underlying statistics. In addition, shortcomings in the account, not covered by the available basic statistics, must also be incorporated. This applies to both specific years and parts of the account.

These tasks are mainly carried out by the following techniques: * By returning back to the original information source, deviations of values in different substatistics can be checked again. Then, the most credible value is chosen.

• Incomplete time series and deficiencies are interpolated. Alternatively, using for example gross product (value added), production value (output) or number of employees as an auxiliary variable, deficiencies may be amended.
• Time series are extended by extrapolation using an auxiliary variable.

Similar techniques are utilized also in the compilation of the different waste statistics. For further details, please refer to the associated publications.

In compiling the waste accounts, all available waste statistics and other statistics, factors, etc. that may derive to waste statistics are collected and compiled. Please refer to the different waste statistics for further details.

Not relevant

The figures are aggregated prior to release, and follow SSB's rules for confidentiality.

This version of the about statistics is valid from year 2012. For versions describing the methodology used prior to 2012, go via an earlier publication.

One of the goals with the waste accounts is to follow the waste amounts over time. Therefore, it has been emphasized to make the account comparable in time. Therefore, until the year 2010, all reference years were revised when the waste accounts were updated. This is not happening anymore. There are several reasons for this, one is a great change in methodology from year 2012 and another is that many sources for the statistics do not have numbers for earlier years.

From the publication in 2012, the waste types are also different and many more than before and mixed waste is no longer separated onto its different material types.  By including more material types like park and garden waste, mixed waste, WEEE, discarded vehicles and cinders, dust, bottom ash and fly ash, the waste amounts on many of the other categories are smaller than before.

Comparison of waste statistics in different countries may be problematic, because of dissimilar set of definitions etc. This applies especially to waste totals, depending on what's been included in the different countries. The same applies to waste divided into different sources. The semi-annual reporting to Eurostat, pursuant to Regulation No 2150/2002 on waste statistics, is believed to have improved this situation. A detailed description of this reporting is to be given in a comprehensive quality report, which is also reported.