ACTIVITIESREPORT 2017

Vlaanderenis materiaalbewust

TOGETHER WE MAKE TOMORROW MORE BEAUTIFUL

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OVAM is the Public Waste Agency of Flanders. OVAM ensures that Flanders handles its waste, materials and soil in a well-thought out and environmentally sound manner. We develop policies on waste, materials and soil, thus influencing the implementation of environmental legislation. We protect Flemish soil through official soil quality checks, the prevention of soil contamination, and soil remediation. Moreover, we help families and companies optimally reduce and sort their waste. Last but not least, we join forces with all the inhabitants of Flanders to develop a circular econ-omy to maximise the life cycle and reuse of products and raw materials.

About OVAM

OVAM in figures

117 municipalities

ARE PARTICIPATING IN “OPERATION CLEAN”

111 organisations

WILL MAKE USE OF CIRCULAR PURCHASING

11.2% OF FLANDERS CONSISTS OF risk lands

63 companies

PUT THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY INTO PRACTICE

152 kg

RESIDUAL WASTE WAS COLLECTED PER INHABITANT

338 kg

WASTE WAS SELECTIVELY COLLECTED PER INHABITANT

LITTER: 20 426 TONNES

TOTAL HOUSEHOLD WASTE: 3 191 000 TONNES

TOTAL INDUSTRIAL WASTE: 15 677 000 TONNES

HOUSEHOLD WASTE PER INHABITANT: 490 KG

From 2017, OVAM will be using a new inventory report for household waste. To this end, it developed a new measuring method designed to monitor compliance with the ambitious targets for 2022.

The Flemish Government approved the new implementation plan for household waste and similar industrial waste in September 2016. The plan converts the waste policy until 2022 into concrete actions in the field. The main objective: reduce by sixteen kilos the amount of residual waste produced per person in Flanders by 2022.

TRANSITION REPORTTo check whether these objec-tives are feasible in practice, OVAM included them in a new inventory

NEW WAY OF CALCULATING HOUSEHOLD WASTE FIGURES

WASTE RECYCLING

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past, plastics often ended up with mixed household waste or bulky waste.”

INDIVIDUALLY TAILORED TARGETSIn Flanders, waste collection is in the hands of the local govern-ments and the intermunicipal util-ity companies. In the new imple-mentation plan, the objectives are tailored even more to each municipality. For this, the Flemish municipalities are divided using the Belfius methodology. Municipalities that are comparable in socio-eco-nomic terms have been assigned to sixteen clusters. Instead of one residual waste target for all municipalities, there are now spe-cific objectives per cluster. Coastal municipalities receive less stringent

objectives than rural municipalities because the former process more residual waste due to tourism.

Because the new implementation plan is based on a different meas-urement method, it is no longer possible to compare the figures for household waste with periods before 2013. Mieke Vervaet: “How-ever, we are able to recalculate the waste figures according to the new method from 2013 onwards. Therefore the evolution since this year has been charted.”

Also see:www.ovam.be/inventarisatie -huishoudelijke-afvalstoffen

69%OF HOUSEHOLD WASTE IS SELECTIVELY COLLECTED

Activities Report 5

report. In addition to household waste, this report now also con-tains figures on reuse, prevention, litter and similar industrial waste collected.

A proviso needs to be made for the figures used in the first report for 2016: because the new implemen-tation plan was only approved in September 2016, the 2016 report must be read as a transition report. Mieke Vervaet of OVAM: “The municipalities may not be judged based on their 2016 figures. After all, that waste had already been produced before the local authorities were able to adapt their policy.” With that in mind, a number of conclusions can still be drawn from the residual waste figures for 2016. For example, res-idents of Flanders collected about as much residual waste as the year before. The amount of selectively collected waste rose slightly. “The latter can be explained by the wet spring of 2016,” says Mieke Vervaet. “As a result, there was considerably more plant growth and therefore more garden waste than in drier 2015. In addition, more plastics were selectively collected because an increasing number of munici-pal recycling centres are providing a separate option for this. In the

Asbestos remains a common problem in Flanders. It is estimated that 114 000 tonnes of this risky substance is hidden in school buildings alone. The Flemish Government aims to reduce this amount as quickly as possible, and in 2017 released 7.5 million euros to make this happen.

FLEMISH GOVERNMENT INVESTS IN ASBESTOS-SAFE SCHOOLS

DUURZAAM MATERIALENGEBRUIK

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ASBESTOS-SAFE EDUCATIONIn 2018, OVAM aims to conclude a new protocol for all Flemish schools with the Education Office. This pro-tocol follows on the protocol for the three hundred schools of the sample, for which OVAM has already signed agreements with the Public Education System (GO!) and the Agency for Infrastructure in Education (AGION). “These agreements include the main lines of our policy plan for 2018. We offer practical support in the protocol, mainly consisting of framework contracts with asbestos removers and contractors with a ‘simple operations’ certificate. Schools themselves, for exam-ple, no longer have to arrange for the appointment of asbestos removers, and they are also certain of the quality delivered. Finally, we offer them financial support for their asbestos removal work.” OVAM hopes that all Flemish educational institutions will be able to make use of some form of support in the long term.

Also see:www.ovam.be/asbestafbouwbeleid

7.5MILLION EUROS FOR

ACCELERATED REMOVAL OF ASBESTOS IN SCHOOLS

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OVAM is developing a policy to make Flanders asbes-tos-safe by 2040. In addition to residential buildings and agricultural and horticultural businesses, edu-cational institutions were given the highest priority. In the past, asbestos-containing materials were used frequently, in schools too. Children are extra vulnera-ble when exposed. OVAM aims to have a final plan for asbestos ready by no later than mid-2018.

REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLEMany schools had already taken an asbestos inventory, but in many cases it proved to be incomplete. “You don’t need certification to prepare such an inventory, so the differences in quality are great”, says Astrid Verheyen of OVAM. In 2017, OVAM conducted an inven-tory at three hundred representative schools. Analysis of the results revealed how much asbestos is present. The sample shows that the three hundred schools studied together account for 5197 tonnes of asbestos. “But school buildings do not contain proportionately more asbestos than other types of buildings in Flan-ders, such as sports complexes or private homes.”

TOTAL 2 329 000 TONNES

SCHOOLS 114 000 TONNES

HOUSES AND APARTMENTS

865 000 TONNES

AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE

518 000 TONNESCOMPANIES

689 000 TONNES

GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS

143 000 TONNES

MAINS PIPES (UNDERGROUND)

40 000 KM

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THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ON RISK LANDS IS VIRTUALLY COMPLETE

The Flemish municipalities have mapped out all historical risk activities on their territory. Thanks to this major undertaking, since last year OVAM has at its disposal a comprehensive view of where exactly in Flanders the soil may have been contaminated.

OF FLANDERS CONSISTS OF RISK LANDS

Since 2012, the municipalities have been using the OVAM website to exchange all information about the so-called risk activities on their territory. These are activities that have posed or may pose a threat to the soil. This process gained momentum in 2016. Each Municipal Inventory had to be complete by the end of 2017. To meet that deadline, 187 municipalities were assisted by a team of experts. They were helped in digitally processing and sending all data, including Flemish environ-mental regulation (VLAREM) permits and older permits. Nathalie Van Trier of OVAM: “The inventory is now complete for 297 of the 308 munic-ipalities. And the bulk of what was missing followed in early 2018.”

EXACT DATAToday, OVAM knows exactly how many plots are at risk in Flanders as well as their exact location. “In 2017, the municipalities already reported more than 180 000 high-risk plots,” says Nathalie Van Trier. “And that number continues to rise each day. We estimate that Flanders has a total of 85 000 risk lands, each accounting for an aver-age of 2.5 high-risk plots. These risk lands make up around 11.2 percent

of the total surface area in Flan-ders. Presently 40 percent of this has already been inspected.”

STEPPING UP THE PACE Now that the map of risk lands is almost complete, the munic-ipalities and OVAM can look to the future. Thus realisation of the ambitious targets for 2036 is a bit closer: a Flanders without histor-ical soil contamination for which further steps are needed. “The inventory is now as good as com-plete, so we are focussing on the next step: surveying the high-risk plots to determine where the soil has effectively been contaminated”, explains Nathalie Van Trier. “We want to speed up the pace of

SAFE SOIL

11.2%

RISK LANDS (ESTIMATE): 85 000

these surveys in the coming years, so that remediation can start as soon as possible. Due to a change in the Soil Decree, a new obligation has been introduced to survey risk lands that would otherwise remain under the radar. This is necessary if we want to eliminate all soil con-tamination by 2036.” The remedia-tion work often paves the way for the redevelopment of the unused high-risk plots. In Flanders, where available space is scarce, this is not a luxury.

Also see:www.ovam.be/risicogrondenovam.be/gewijzigdbodemdecreet

REMEDIATION IS NEEDED FOR 16% OF THESE = 6091 cases soil require a remediation project (BSP)

SITUATION ON 01/01/2018: 16% = 6237 CASES

45% OF WHICH HAS BEEN SURVEYED= 38 522 cases with an assessed exploratory soil survey (OBO)SITUATION ON 01/01/2018: 47% = 39 965 CASES

Activiteitenoverzicht 1110 Activities Report

OVAM has been working on the sustainability of its own operations since 1994. In 2017, it shifted its corporate social responsibility ambitions to a higher gear by signing the Flanders Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VOKA) Corporate Sustainability Charter. It also initiated ten specific sustainability actions.

OVAM has been working on its in-house environmental care since 1994. In 2016, this concept was extended to include ‘corporate social responsibility’. The VOKA Corporate Sustainability Charter provides OVAM with a tailored action plan to achieve its specific sustainability goals. The charter is based on the seventeen Sustain-able Development Goals of the United Nations that have been in force since 2015.

In 2017, OVAM focused specifically on ten actions in support the Development Goals. This included

projects on energy saving, sus-tainable mobility (Mobility Week), health and well-being (encourag-ing colleagues to exercise more), and responsible consumption (further reducing residual waste). But it by no means stopped here. Sustainable purchasing, biodiver-sity and other pillars of corporate social responsibility were also explicitly addressed at OVAM in 2017.

Also see:www.ovam.be/maatschappelijk- verantwoord-ondernemen-0

WasteNew waste contract better insight into the quantity & types of waste

Saving energy• Replaced part of the lighting with LEDs

• Lighting in staircases equipped with a motion sensor

• A better measuring system for OVAM’s electricity consumption

• Encouraging staff to save energy at home via www.energieID.be

• Free electricity meters offered to staff

Sustainability actionsEventsSustainability Week, Warm Sweater Day, Mobility Week, The Longest Veggie Table …

Charities the staff collected around 3400 euros for the benefit of various NGOs, among others by organising a charity market and opting not to receive an end of year gift in exchange for a donation to a charity

Circular purchasing• Registration with Green Deal Circular Purchasing

• Reuse & recycling of office furniture during the partial refurbishment of the interior: saved 1519.9 kg CO2 emissions

• Sustainability check integrated into public procurement tool

Biodiversity• Construction of insect hotel

• Partnership with nature conservation organisation Natuurpunt

Health & well-being• Various team building events

• Decoration of stairway & fitness room

• Campaign to promote using the stairs

MobilityMobility Weekbicycle repair, lectures on car sharing, and breakfast for sustainable commuters

Communication & networks• CSR in the spotlight on the intranet, internet and in the newsletter

• Involving other office tenants (VMM, VSV and Vlaco) in CSR 10

ACTIONS SUPPORT UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

GOALS

OVAM CONTINUES TO DEVELOP ITS SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS OPERATIONS

OVAMStationsstraat 1102800 Mechelenwww.ovam.be

COLOPHON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND PUBLISHER:

Sofie De Keyser

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Anne Vandeputte, Jan Verheyen, Willy Sarlee, Caroline Van Gool,

Chloé Van Hecke, Ilse Pepermans, Raf Engels, Sam Deckmyn en

Karolien Van Geldre

CONCEPT, COPYWRITING AND DESIGN:

Pantarein Publishing

PHOTOGRAPHY: OVAM, shutterstock,

ID/ photo agency, iStock

LEGAL DEPOSIT NUMBER: D/2018/5024/10