Waste Firm Stadtreinigung Adapting Waste Procedures : IN DEPTH: Refugees in Hamburg - The Impact on Waste Management

In their day-to-day operation, waste management companies are often confronted with new challenges and trends that force them to react quickly, flexibly and reliably. Following an influx of many thousands of refugees, waste firm Stadtreinigung Hamburg is having to do just that, on a grand scale.

By Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Siechau and Rhea Hellermann

Currently in Germany, the clean-up at refugee shelters is a tall order fit in with the daily operation of the municipal waste management companies – especially in a large city like Hamburg.

In the context of this situation, long term planning is virtually impossible. The placement of bins, the daily waste removal and the treatment of the corresponding capacities were presumably not included in most companies' budgets a year ago nor were the additional logistical and personnel resource requirements foreseen at that time.

In addition to the increased demands on the operations, planning and infrastructure, it is always necessary to consider the position and structure of the company, as the ability for a fee-financed company to offer additional services is extremely limited. Immediate help and emergency aid must be in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions.

In 2015 alone, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg has provided long term housing for more than 15,000 refugees. The actual number of refugees in Hamburg, however, is considerably higher. Currently, it's estimated that up to 500 new refugees arrive every day – so that by the end of the year approximately 40,000 refugees in Hamburg will need to be provided for. Even when the majority of them journey on after a short stop or are sent to other German states via an allocation key, the additional demands on the city and the service provider Stadtreinigung Hamburg (SRH) are atypical and immense.

For all of these people, the daily allowance on things such as food, clothing, accommodations, sanitary facilities, etc. has to be organised – waste disposal tends to play a minor role for the local authorities, organisations working on site, and occupants. Our "open arms culture”, however, demands a show of presence in the form of waste removal, sanitation and winter service – as the negative impact from inadequate waste collection and cleaning is all too well known; the resulting problems and consequential costs are inevitable.

Hamburg has several institutions (central registration facilities, emergency shelters, long term housing) and different types of dwellings (container homes, existing buildings, gymnasiums, tents, ships, wooden huts, new constructed buildings, exposition halls). In each case, SRH has to visit the site in order to determine which disposal system is best suited.

For this purpose, swap containers and dumpsters are used, whereby dumpsters (1100 litres) are the preferential system. All of the bins provided by SRH will be included in the normal workflow of the service fee calculation system and the scheduled collections. In this case, the city of Hamburg (department of internal affairs) is responsible to pay the service fees.

The utilisation of dumpsters can be flexibly organised and is widely used in the internal logistics. For reasons of safety, it is essential to use a driver's helper to direct the driver during the waste collection. The cost of purchasing the bins is comparatively low and normally they can be used in the future as forward-buying replacements in the daily business. As waste disposal at refugee shelters is a major undertaking for all of Germany, the necessary additional waste bins are in short supply and it is expected that prices will begin to rise.

In order to gain more insight into the development of the waste situation at the refugee shelters and to be able to respond more effectively, SRH commissioned the Institute u.e.c. Berlin GmbH to conduct an analysis of the residual waste at the central registration facility in Hamburg.

Key technical data from the sampled facility:

Accommodations for refugees are in use since June 2015

Number of people at the time of the analysis: 2,500

12 locations for housing, each with 20 individual containers (= 240 individual container homes) plus ca. 70 tents

Supply and provision: External catering service (food deliveries using disposable tableware)

Residual waste composition

26 dumpsters (1,100 liters); collection 6 times per week

3 swap containers (18 m³); collection 2 times per week

For the analysis of the waste composition (sampling and sorting in September 2015), the residual waste from the two container types (18 dumpsters and one swap container) was examined separately. The sampling was done on the day of the regular collection.

The waste was separated into fractions by means of various sorting methods. To enable the sieving, all of the closed sacks and garbage bags were first opened and emptied. In addition to the emptied sacks and bags, ceramic, porcelain and other fragile objects as well as larger quantities of source-separated materials were also sorted out prior to sieving.

The drum screen classified the waste according to the different particle sizes (sieving screen: 40 mm round perforation). In a further step, the fine waste (< 8 mm) was separated from the sieving screen (< 40 mm) via a vibration screen, so that three sizes of particles were generated (≥ 40 mm, 8 to 40 mm, < 8 mm).

The sieve overflow (≥ 40 mm) was sorted manually on a sieving screen (table 1).

A subsample of at least 20 liters was taken from every sampling unit for each of the particle sizes 8 – 40 mm and each sample was sorted by hand into the following sorting fractions:

organic 8 – 40 mm

non-organic without metal 8 – 40 mm

Fe metals 8 – 40 mm

non-Fe metals 8 – 40 mm

Altogether, the residual waste produced per week in the central registration facility can be estimated at about 18,130 kg. Based on the occupancy size of 2500 people at the time of the study, it was revealed that each occupant generates 7.3 kg of waste per week.

The residual waste consists of around 40% (w/w) biowaste. More than half of the biowaste is fermentable or compostable (organic l). The waste which is not fermentable or compostable (organic ll) consists of fish and animal bones or packaged foods. Furthermore, textiles (without shoes) make up another 14% (w/w). In total, composite materials inclusive e-waste make up 18% (w/w), roughly half of the fraction is disposable tableware. Together the recyclable materials paper/cardboard, plastics, glass and metal make up approximately 17% (w/w).

It is worth noting that unused or unneeded material donations of which a relevant portion are made up of textiles, shoes, miscellaneous types of paper (books), wood (boxes, toys) and plastic goods made of PE/PP (toys) end up in the waste bins. In total, the volume of waste resulting from material donations is circa 1.6 kg per week for each occupant.

As expected, in comparison to the separate collection of domestic waste from the private households in Hamburg, there is a significant difference in the waste composition. One striking feature is the high percentage of organic matter, from which a significant portion can be attributed to uneaten foodstuffs.

This could be due to the different eating habits of the refugees. The high percentage of textiles, and in some cases toys etc. Especially critical for SRH is the use of disposable tableware for the catering, particularly as the emphasis has been to promote "zero waste" options or "return-refill" systems within the scope of major events.

At first sight the waste production of refugees and citizens is comparable; the amount of biowaste within the residual waste in the refugee shelters seems to be quite high. As a result for some of the waste fractions such as biowaste, textiles or paper, the implementation of waste separation at the refugee shelters would be advisable. Currently, however, this issue at the refugee shelters – at least at the central registration facility – is not considered a priority.

The introduction of a sorting system at the long term housing facilities is certainly conceivable. SRH plans to hold information events at the shelters for the occupants, to introduce the topic of waste separation. Flyers and signs would enable SRH to have a lasting influence. Moreover, some of the shelter residents could be integrated into the project to help inform the other occupants and / or serve as interpreters.

Over the long term, if the refugees acquire a work visa, they could be hired by SRH as "special waste consultants". SRH could offer language courses to help combat the language barriers, thus enabling a win-win solution.

Another aspect concerning refugees is their integration into society and employment at companies. SRH is committed to advancing this goal. This is unchartered territory for all sides and as such will take time until it becomes a "normal" process in companies and the collaboration with the points of contact and refugees has been established.

At present, what is missing is a comprehensive information policy for companies in Hamburg as well as a concentration of interfaces via an external centralised administrative authority. Therefore, the SRH personnel department is, along with participating in a variety of information events, in contact with a number of institutions and advocacy groups in Hamburg. SRH is utilising these different avenues to communicate its interest in offering refugees internships, training and employment.

At the moment, one refugee is working part time cleaning paper bins and four interns were hired over the summer. However, the company plans to create a total of 10 positions for refugees. Refugees that have the necessary qualifications and work permit can also apply for normal job postings.

The experiences SRH has had with refugees have been without exception positive and even within the company there have been no cases of hostilities or xenophobic treatment from any employees. Nevertheless, there are a number of stumbling blocks which are very time intensive and must always be handled individually:

Language barriers (especially as concerns work safety)

Attaining work permits: the process is very lengthy as the legal requirements for each person vary accordingly (labor market priority, check via the foreigner's registration office and work office, etc.)

The person's residency status, duration of stay, prospect of right of residence, etc. must all be considered for internships, too

The legal basis for the employment of refugees is constantly changing (e.g. safe countries of origin, employment, internships)

Bringing together potential employers and interested parties is a time consuming process

No system has yet been implemented to attract applicants or for job placement - hardly any empirical data

Refugees require intensive support on the part of the SRH

As a result of the large number of requirements, SRH has created a new position for the project coordination of refugee integration. In the future, this topic will therefore be centrally coordinated. This will enable it to further develop contacts to the public authorities, institutions and other advocacy groups, expand existing networks and to steer the approval process for work permits while at the same time helping to guarantee that the refugees as well as the external advisors /support staff have a reliable contact partner at SRH.

SRH's willingness to employ refugees, along with its endeavors to provide reliable and flexible waste collection, cleaning and winter road service in the refugee shelters, is a testimont to Germany's "open arms culture".