Umeå universitets logga

In Sweden´s society today, there is a considerably amount of invisible waste in circulation that may contain mercury, such as electrical waste. In a typical garbagebag half of the content counts as hazardous waste that ends up in combustion. There have been changes in regulation surrounding mercury in recent years from EU, yet mercury is still notable in waste incineration. The aim of this study was to identify efficient management of waste containing mercury, in the waste chain with recycling centres and companies in focus. For instance, if inadequate routines can be identified, how could those be improved to prevent waste containing mercury being combusted. Emission data were retreived from environmental reports and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. In addition a questionnarie was sent to recycling centres and companies handling waste. A positive correlation between emissions data of mercury and waste quantites were found, the mercury emission was not affected by imported waste or waste included hazardous waste. The result of the questionnarie survey, demonstrated most of the respondents work with collecting waste by the right terms. The majority of respondents thought that their waste management was very good. Although, some indications showed that more communication is needed to spread knowledge surrounding mercury. It is rather the amount of waste that determines the percentage of mercury. More profound research in the area is needed to draw a solid conclusion about why mercury still occurs in combustion.