Afvalspectrum

Afvalspectrum is a term used in waste management and environmental analytics to describe the distribution of a waste stream across different material, hazard, or functionality categories. In Dutch, afval means waste and spectrum denotes a range or continuous distribution; the term is used to articulate how a given waste stream is composed across predefined classes.

Applications include municipal solid waste composition studies, industrial waste profiling, and life-cycle assessment, where the afvalspectrum informs decisions on sorting, recycling, energy recovery, and disposal.

Methodology: afvalspectrum is derived from waste sampling, manual or automated sorting, and laboratory analyses that quantify fractions by material type (plastics, metals, organics, paper), hazard level (eco-toxicity, flammability), recyclability, or energy-content. Data are often represented as a distribution or spectrum (e.g., histograms or stacked charts) across a defined axis (volume, weight, energy value).

Interpretation: by analyzing the spectrum, policymakers and engineers can identify dominant fractions to target for diversion, track changes over time, and benchmark against standards or targets.

Limitations: results depend on sampling strategy, classification schemes, and data quality. Differences in national or industrial definitions can affect comparability of afvalspectra.

See also: waste composition, material flow analysis, circular economy, recycling rate, hazardous waste management.