SKU balance sheet 2022

Material flow, greenhouse gas and environmental balance for the year 2022 for the state of Berlin

The SKU balance sheet has been compiled every two years since 2010. The aim and objective is to further optimise Berlin's waste management and recycling economy, evaluate targets and control waste streams. The SKU balance sheet for 2022 once again includes updates and innovations.

There are no annual surveys or documentation on the volume and destination of organic waste that is composted on site, as well as grass clippings, leaves, tree and shrub cuttings that are collected in the districts and also by gardening and landscaping companies. For the 2022 SKU balance sheet, the data was completely updated based on a biomass potential study in which ifeu was involved. As a result, the amount of home composting in particular has been drastically reduced by half. Other organic waste volumes are also predominantly lower, although not all GaLa construction companies could be surveyed.

Special attention was again paid to the material flows of used textiles, electronic waste and used tyres. Used textiles in particular have a significant impact on climate and the environment, and their reuse, recycling and recovery are therefore very important. The possibility of reuse (especially exports to third countries) has decreased significantly in 2022, but this has been offset by increased reuse as cleaning rags, for example. However, the potential savings in terms of climate gas and environmental impact are lower than in 2020. The state of Berlin has set itself the goal of establishing a circular textile economy, and a wide range of activities are already underway to achieve this. As one aspect of this, ecological studies for two pilot projects on textile recycling were carried out as part of the SKU balance sheet for 2022.