essay about solid waste management

Essay on Waste Management for Students and Teacher

500+ essay on waste management.

Essay on Waste Management -Waste management is essential in today’s society. Due to an increase in population, the generation of waste is getting doubled day by day. Moreover, the increase in waste is affecting the lives of many people.

For instance, people living in slums are very close to the waste disposal area. Therefore there are prone to various diseases. Hence, putting their lives in danger. In order to maintain a healthy life, proper hygiene and sanitation are necessary. Consequently, it is only possible with proper waste management .

The Meaning of Waste Management

Waste management is the managing of waste by disposal and recycling of it. Moreover, waste management needs proper techniques keeping in mind the environmental situations. For instance, there are various methods and techniques by which the waste is disposed of. Some of them are Landfills, Recycling , Composting, etc. Furthermore, these methods are much useful in disposing of the waste without causing any harm to the environment.

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Methods for Waste Management

Recycling – Above all the most important method is the recycling of waste. This method does not need any resources. Therefore this is much useful in the management of waste . Recycling is the reusing of things that are scrapped of. Moreover, recycling is further converting waste into useful resources.

Landfills – Landfills is the most common method for waste management. The garbage gets buried in large pits in the ground and then covered by the layer of mud. As a result, the garbage gets decomposed inside the pits over the years. In conclusion, in this method elimination of the odor and area taken by the waste takes place.

Composting – Composting is the converting of organic waste into fertilizers. This method increases the fertility of the soil. As a result, it is helpful in more growth in plants. Furthermore it the useful conversion of waste management that is benefiting the environment.

Advantages of Waste Management

There are various advantages of waste management. Some of them are below:

Decrease bad odor – Waste produces a lot of bad odor which is harmful to the environment. Moreover, Bad odor is responsible for various diseases in children. As a result, it hampers their growth. So waste management eliminates all these problems in an efficient way.

Reduces pollution – Waste is the major cause of environmental degradation. For instance, the waste from industries and households pollute our rivers. Therefore waste management is essential. So that the environment may not get polluted. Furthermore, it increases the hygiene of the city so that people may get a better environment to live in.

Reduces the production of waste -Recycling of the products helps in reducing waste. Furthermore, it generates new products which are again useful. Moreover, recycling reduces the use of new products. So the companies will decrease their production rate.

It generates employment – The waste management system needs workers. These workers can do various jobs from collecting to the disposing of waste. Therefore it creates opportunities for the people that do not have any job. Furthermore, this will help them in contributing to society.

Produces Energy – Many waste products can be further used to produce energy. For instance, some products can generate heat by burning. Furthermore, some organic products are useful in fertilizers. Therefore it can increase the fertility of the soil.

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Essay on Waste Management

• Updated on  
• May 11, 2023

Every year, the amount of waste is doubling because of the increasing population around the world. The 3Rs, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle should be followed to help in waste management. Waste management is the need of the hour and should be followed by individuals globally. This is also a common essay topic in the school curriculum and various academic and competitive exams like IELTS , TOEFL , SAT , UPSC , etc. In this blog, let us explore how to write an essay on Waste Management.

This Blog Includes:

Tips for writing an essay on waste management , what is the meaning of waste management, essay on waste management in 200 words, essay on waste management in 300 words .

To write an impactful and scoring essay, here are some tips on how to manage waste and write a good essay:

• The initial step is to write an introduction or background information about the topic
• You must use a formal style of writing and avoid using slang language.
• To make an essay more impactful, write dates, quotations, and names to provide a better understanding
• You can use jargon wherever it is necessary, as it sometimes makes an essay complicated
• To make an essay more creative, you can also add information in bulleted points wherever possible
• Always remember to add a conclusion where you need to summarise crucial points
• Once you are done, read through the lines and check spelling and grammar mistakes before submission

Waste management is the management of waste by disposal and recycling of it. It requires proper techniques while keeping in mind the environmental situations. For example, there are various methods and techniques through which the waste is disposed of. Some of these are Landfills, Recycling, Composting, etc. These methods are useful in disposing of waste without causing any harm to the environment.

Sample Essays  on Waste Management

To help you write a perfect essay that would help you score well, here are some sample essays to give you an idea about the same.

One of the crucial aspects of today’s society is waste management. Due to a surge in population, the waste is generated in millions of tons day by day and affects the lives of a plethora of people across the globe. Mostly the affected people live in slums that are extremely close to the waste disposal areas; thus, they are highly prone to communicable and non-communicable diseases. These people are deprived of necessities to maintain a healthy life, including sanitation and proper hygiene. 

There are various methods and techniques for disposing of waste including Composting, Landfills, Recycling, and much more. These methods are helpful in disposing of waste without being harmful to the environment. Waste management is helpful in protecting the environment and creating safety of the surrounding environment for humans and animals. The major health issue faced by people across the world is environmental pollution and this issue can only be solved or prevented by proper waste management so that a small amount of waste is there in the environment. One of the prominent and successful waste management processes, recycling enables us not only in saving resources but also in preventing the accumulation of waste. Therefore it is very important to teach and execute waste management.

The basic mantra of waste management is” Refuse, Reuse, Reduce, Repurpose, and Recycle”. Waste management is basically the collection or accumulation of waste and its disposal. This process involves the proper management of waste including recycling waste generated and even generating useful renewable energy from it. One of the most recent initiatives taken by various countries at the local, national and international levels, waste management is a way of taking care of planet earth. This responsible act helps in providing a good and stable environment for the present and future generations. In India, most animals get choked and struggle till death because they consume waste on the streets.

So far many lives are lost, not only animals but also humans due to a lack of proper waste management. There are various methods and techniques for disposing of waste including Composting, Landfills, Recycling, and much more. These methods are helpful in disposing of waste without being harmful to the environment. Waste management is helpful in protecting the environment and creating safety of the surrounding environment for humans and animals. This process of waste management evolved due to industrialization as prior to these inventions simple burying was sufficient for disposing of waste.

One of the crucial things to control waste is creating awareness among people and this can only be achieved only when the governments and stakeholders in various countries take this health issue seriously. To communicate with various communities and reach each end of the country, the message can be communicated through media and related platforms. People also need to participate in waste management procedures by getting self-motivated and taking care of activities of daily living. These steps to create consciousness about waste management are crucial to guarantee the success and welfare of the people and most importantly our planet earth.

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Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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What a Waste: An Updated Look into the Future of Solid Waste Management

The Kiteezi landfill near Kampala was expanded as part of the Kampala Institutional Infrastructure Development Project, allowing for the storage and treatment of waste collected in the city. © Sarah Farhat/World Bank

“Waste not, want not.” This old saying rings so true today, as global leaders and local communities alike increasingly call for a fix for the so-called “throwaway culture.” But beyond individuals and households, waste also represents a broader challenge that affects human health and livelihoods, the environment, and prosperity.

And with over 90% of waste openly dumped or burned in low-income countries, it is the poor and most vulnerable who are disproportionately affected.

In recent years, landslides of waste dumps have buried homes and people under piles of waste. And it is the poorest who often live near waste dumps and power their city’s recycling system through waste picking, leaving them susceptible to serious health repercussions.

“Poorly managed waste is contaminating the world’s oceans, clogging drains and causing flooding, transmitting diseases, increasing respiratory problems from burning, harming animals that consume waste unknowingly, and affecting economic development, such as through tourism,” said Sameh Wahba, World Bank Director for Urban and Territorial Development, Disaster Risk Management and Resilience.

Greenhouse gasses from waste are also a key contributor to climate change.

“Solid waste management is everyone’s business. Ensuring effective and proper solid waste management is critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director of the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice.

What a Waste 2.0

While this is a topic that people are aware of, waste generation is increasing at an alarming rate. Countries are rapidly developing without adequate systems in place to manage the changing waste composition of citizens.

According to the World Bank’s What a Waste 2.0 report,

An update to a previous edition, the 2018 report projects that

How much trash is that?

Take plastic waste, which is choking our oceans and making up 90% of marine debris. The water volume of these bottles could fill up 2,400 Olympic stadiums, 4.8 million Olympic-size swimming pools, or 40 billion bathtubs. This is also the weight of 3.4 million adult blue whales or 1,376 Empire State Buildings combined.

And that’s just 12% of the total waste generated each year.

In addition to global trends, What a Waste 2.0 maps out the state of solid waste management in each region. For example, the  And although they only account for 16% of the world’s population,

Because waste generation is expected to rise with economic development and population growth, lower middle-income countries are likely to experience the greatest growth in waste production. The fastest growing regions are Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where total waste generation is expected to triple than double by 2050, respectively, making up 35% of the world’s waste. The Middle East and North Africa region is also expected to double waste generation by 2050.

Upper-middle and high-income countries provide nearly universal waste collection, and more than one-third of waste in high-income countries is recovered through recycling and composting. Low-income countries collect about 48% of waste in cities, but only 26% in rural areas, and only 4% is recycled. Overall, 13.5% of global waste is recycled and 5.5% is composted.

To view the full infographic, click  here . 

Toward sustainable solid waste management

“Environmentally sound waste management touches so many critical aspects of development,” said Silpa Kaza, World Bank Urban Development Specialist and lead author of the What a Waste 2.0 report. “Yet, solid waste management is often an overlooked issue when it comes to planning sustainable, healthy, and inclusive cities and communities. Governments must take urgent action to address waste management for their people and the planet.”

Moving toward sustainable waste management requires lasting efforts and a significant cost.

Is it worth the cost?

Yes. Research suggests that it does make economic sense to invest in sustainable waste management. Uncollected waste and poorly disposed waste have significant health and environmental impacts. The cost of addressing these impacts is many times higher than the cost of developing and operating simple, adequate waste management systems.

To help meet the demand for financing, the World Bank is working with countries, cities, and partners worldwide to create and finance effective solutions that can lead to gains in environmental, social, and human capital.

, such as the following initiatives and areas of engagement.

Scavengers burning trash at the Tondo Garbage Dump in Manila, Philippines. © Adam Cohn/Flickr Creative Commons

In   Pakistan , a $5.5 million dollar project supported a composting facility in Lahore in market development and the sale of emission reduction credits under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Activities resulted in reductions of 150,000 tonnes of CO 2 -equivalent and expansion of daily compost production volume from 300 to 1,000 tonnes per day.

In Vietnam , investments in solid waste management are helping the city of Can Tho prevent clogging of drains, which could result in flooding. Similarly, in the Philippines , investments are helping Metro Manila reduce flood risk by minimizing solid waste ending up in waterways. By focusing on improved collection systems, community-based approaches, and providing incentives, the waste management investments are contributing to reducing marine litter, particularly in Manila Bay.

Leaving no one behind

But the reality for more than 15 million informal waste pickers in the world – typically women, children, the elderly, the unemployed, or migrants – remains one with unhealthy conditions, a lack of social security or health insurance, and persisting social stigma.

In the  West Bank , for example, World Bank loans have supported the construction of three landfill sites that serve over two million residents, enabled dump closure, developed sustainable livelihood programs for waste pickers, and linked payments to better service delivery through results-based financing.

A focus on data, planning, and integrated waste management

Understanding how much and where waste is generated – as well as the types of waste being generated – allows local governments to realistically allocate budget and land, assess relevant technologies, and consider strategic partners for service provision, such as the private sector or non-governmental organizations.

Solutions include:

• Providing financing to countries most in need, especially the fastest growing countries, to develop state-of-the-art waste management systems. 
• Supporting major waste producing countries to reduce consumption of plastics and marine litter through comprehensive waste reduction and recycling programs. 
• Reducing food waste through consumer education, organics management, and coordinated food waste management programs.

No time to waste

If no action is taken, the world will be on a dangerous path to more waste and overwhelming pollution. Lives, livelihoods, and the environment would pay an even higher price than they are today.

Many solutions already exist to reverse that trend. What is needed is urgent action at all levels of society.

The time for action is now.

Click here to access the full dataset and download the report What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 .

What a Waste 2.0 was funded by the government of Japan through the World Bank’s Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC).

• The Bigger Picture: In-depth stories on ending poverty
• Press release: Global Waste to Grow by 70 Percent by 2050 Unless Urgent Action is Taken: World Bank Report
• Infographic: What a Waste 2.0
• Video blog: Here’s what everyone should know about waste
• Brief: Solid Waste Management
• Slideshow: Five ways cities can curb plastic waste

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Environmental Sustainability Impacts of Solid Waste Management Practices in the Global South

Ismaila rimi abubakar.

1 College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

Khandoker M. Maniruzzaman

2 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

Umar Lawal Dano

Faez s. alshihri, maher s. alshammari, sayed mohammed s. ahmed, wadee ahmed ghanem al-gehlani.

3 Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 32141, Saudi Arabia

Tareq I. Alrawaf

4 Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

Associated Data

No data were reported in this review article.

Solid waste management (SWM) is one of the key responsibilities of city administrators and one of the effective proxies for good governance. Effective SWM mitigates adverse health and environmental impacts, conserves resources, and improves the livability of cities. However, unsustainable SWM practices, exacerbated by rapid urbanization and financial and institutional limitations, negatively impact public health and environmental sustainability. This review article assesses the human and environmental health impacts of SWM practices in the Global South cities that are the future of global urbanization. The study employs desktop research methodology based on in-depth analysis of secondary data and literature, including official documents and published articles. It finds that the commonplace SWM practices include mixing household and commercial garbage with hazardous waste during storage and handling. While waste storage is largely in old or poorly managed facilities such as storage containers, the transportation system is often deficient and informal. The disposal methods are predominantly via uncontrolled dumping, open-air incinerators, and landfills. The negative impacts of such practices include air and water pollution, land degradation, emissions of methane and hazardous leachate, and climate change. These impacts impose significant environmental and public health costs on residents with marginalized social groups mostly affected. The paper concludes with recommendations for mitigating the public and environmental health risks associated with the existing SWM practices in the Global South.

1. Introduction

Solid waste management (SWM) continues to dominate as a major societal and governance challenge, especially in urban areas overwhelmed by the high rate of population growth and garbage generation. The role of SWM in achieving sustainable development is emphasized in several international development agendas, charters, and visions. For example, sustainable SWM can help meet several United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), such as ensuring clean water and sanitation (SDG6), creating sustainable cities and inclusive communities (SDG11), mitigating climate change (SDG13), protecting life on land (SDG15), and demonstrating sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG12) ( https://sdgs.un.org/goals , accessed on 26 September 2022). It also fosters a circular urban economy that promotes reductions in the consumption of finite resources, materials reuse and recycling for waste elimination, pollution reduction, cost saving, and green growth

However, coupled with economic growth, improved lifestyle, and consumerism, cities across the globe will continue to face an overwhelming challenge of SWM as the world population is expected to rise to 8 billion by 2025 and to 9.3 billion by 2050, out of which around 70% will be living in urban areas [ 1 , 2 ]. In developing countries, most cities collect only 50–80% of generated waste after spending 20–50% of their budgets, of which 80–95% are spent on collecting and transporting waste [ 3 , 4 ]. Moreover, many low-income countries collect as low as 10% of the garbage generated in suburban areas, which contributes to public health and environmental risks, including higher incidents of diarrhea and acute respiratory infections among people, particularly children, living near garbage dumps [ 5 ]. Obstacles to effective municipal SWM include lack of awareness, technologies, finances, and good governance [ 6 , 7 , 8 ].

Removing garbage from homes and businesses without greater attention to what was then carried out with it has also been the priority of municipal SWM in several cities of developing countries [ 9 ]. In most developing countries, garbage collected from households is disposed of in landfills or dumpsites, the majority of which are projected to reach their capacities within a decade. The unsustainable approach of dumping or burning waste in an open space, usually near poor communities on the city edge, or throwing garbage into water bodies was an acceptable garbage disposal strategy. Similarly, several cities still use old-generation or poorly managed facilities and informal uncontrolled dumping or open-air waste burning. Often, these practices affect marginalized social groups near the disposal sites [ 10 ]. Moreover, this approach poses several sustainability problems, including resource depletion, environmental pollution, and public health problems, such as the spread of communicable diseases.

However, ever since the advent of the environmental movement in the 1960s, there has been a far-reaching appreciation of environmental and public health risks of unsustainable SWM practices. In the 1970s and onward, SWM was a technical issue to be resolved using technology; hence, the emphasis and investments were placed on garbage collection equipment [ 5 ]. Although modern technology can significantly reduce emissions of hazardous substances, by the 1990s, that viewpoint changed when municipalities become unable to evacuate and dispose of garbage effectively without the active involvement of service users and other stakeholders [ 5 ]. The inability of the public sector in the global South to deliver sufficient improvement of SWM, coupled with the pressure from the financial institutions and other donor agencies, led to privatization policies at the end of the decade. However, as privatization failed to provide municipal SWM services to the poor and marginalized communities, the current global thinking on addressing municipal SWM problems is changing.

A more sustainable waste management approach prioritizes practices such as reduced production, waste classifications, reuse, recycling, and energy recovery over the common practices of landfilling, open dumps, and open incineration [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. This approach, which is still at an early stage but getting increased attention in the Global South, is more inclusive and environment-friendly and has less negative impact on human health and the environment than the common practices [ 14 , 15 , 16 ]. As such, there is a need to assess SWM practices in the Global South and their impacts on environmental and human health because 90% of the expected growth in the urban population by 2050 is expected to happen here. So far, there are a few studies on the impacts of SWM practices on human health and the environment in the global regions.

Therefore, this review article addresses this knowledge gap by assessing the negative impacts of the dominant SWM practices on human and environmental health. Section 2 presents the research methodology. Section 3 reviews the major SWM practices in the Global South and assesses the environmental and public health implications of SWM practices in the Global South cities. While Section 4 discusses the implications of the findings and proffers recommendations that could help authorities to deal with SWM challenges and mitigate public and environmental health risks associated with unsustainable SWM practices, Section 5 concludes the paper.

2. Materials and Methods

The present paper utilizes a desktop research method of collecting and analyzing relevant data from the existing literature, as utilized in some previous studies [ 17 , 18 ]. The method consists of three iterative stages shown in Figure 1 : (a) scoping, (b) collecting relevant literature, and (c) data analysis. Firstly, the scoping stage involves defining and understanding the research problem under investigation and setting the study scope and boundary. The scope of the paper is to explore human and environmental impacts of SWM practices toward policy and practical recommendations for a more sustainable SWM system, with the Global South as the study boundary. This stage also helped identify relevant keywords to search for during the literature review in the second stage.

The flow chart of the research method (Source: [ 18 ] (p. 4)).

The second stage involved identifying and collecting relevant literature from online sources. The researchers utilized Google Scholar and Scopus databases to identify peer-reviewed academic works (peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, and books) as well as the gray literature. The literature that satisfied the following three inclusion criteria was identified and downloaded: (1) It is related to the study’s objective; (2) it is in the English language; and (3) it was published within the last twenty years, although some old documents about established concepts and approaches were also accessed. The downloaded gray literature includes newspaper articles, statistics, technical reports, and website contents from international development organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations, and the World Bank.

In the last stage, the authors organized, analyzed, and synthesized the data collected from the literature. The downloaded works were organized according to the similarity of topics, even though some fit in more than one category. Then, each document was thoroughly examined, and themes concerned with SWM practices and their human and environmental impacts were collated, synthesized, and harmonized. Finally, the themes were summarized in Table A1 , Table A2 and Table A3 (see Appendix A ) and discussed. Implications and recommendations of the findings are then highlighted.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. solid waste management practices in the global south.

Global municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rose from 1.3 billion tons in 2012 to 2.1 billion tons (0.74 kg/capita/day) as of 2016, which by 2050 is expected to increase by 70% to reach a total of 3.40 billion tons or 1.42 kg/capita/day [ 19 ]. The per capita MSW generation varies among regions and countries. In the EU (European Union), it ranges from 0.3–1.4 kg/capita/day [ 20 ], and in some African cities, the average is 0.78 kg/capita/day [ 21 ]. In Asia, urban areas generate about 760,000 tons of MSW per day, which is expected to increase to 1.8 million tons per day or 26% of the world’s total by 2025, despite the continent housing 53% of the world’s population [ 22 , 23 ]. In China, the total MSW generation was around 212 million tons (0.98 kg/capita/day) in 2006, out of which 91.4%, 6.4%, and 2.2% were disposed of via landfilling, incineration, and composting [ 24 ]. In 2010, only 660 Chinese cities produced about 190 million tons of MSW, accounting for 29% of the world’s total, while the total amount of solid waste in China could reach at least 480 million tons in 2030 [ 25 ]. In China, industrial waste (more than one billion tons) was five times the amount of MSW generated in 2002, which is expected to generate approximately twice as much MSW as the USA, while India will overtake the USA in MSW generation by 2030 [ 26 ].

In Malaysia, while the average rate of MSW generation was about 0.5–0.8 kg/person/day, Kuala Lumpur’s daily per capita generation rate was 1.62 kg in 2008 [ 27 ], which is expected to reach 2.23 kg in 2024 [ 28 ]. About 64% of Malaysia’s waste consists of household and office waste, 25% industrial waste, 8% commercial waste, and 3% construction waste [ 29 ]. In Sri Lanka, the assessed mean waste generation in 1999 was 6500 tons/day or 0.89 kg/cap/day, which is estimated to reach 1.0 kg/cap/day by 2025 [ 30 ]. With a 1.2% population growth rate, the total MSW generation in 2009 was approximately 7250 tons/day [ 31 ]. In Ghana, the solid waste generation rate was 0.47 kg/person/day, or about 12,710 tons per annum, consisting of biodegradable waste (0.318), non-biodegradable (0.096), and inert and miscellaneous waste (0.055) kg/person/day, respectively [ 32 ].

Moreover, global SWM costs are anticipated to increase to about $375.5 billion in 2025, with more than four-fold increases in lower- to middle-income countries and five-fold increases in low-income countries [ 33 ]. Globally, garbage collection, transportation, and disposal pose a major cost component in SWM systems [ 19 ]. Inadequate funding militates against the optimization of MSW disposal services. Table 1 compares the everyday SWM practices in low-, middle- and high-income countries according to major waste management steps. The literature indicates that waste generation rates and practices depend on the culture, socioeconomic status, population density, and level of commercial and industrial activities of a city or region.

Common MSW management practices by country’s level of economic development (adapted from [ 34 ]).

3.2. Environmental and Public Health Impacts of SWM Practices in the Global South

• (a)  Weak and Inadequate SWM System

Many problems in the cities of the global South are often associated with a weak or inadequate SWM system, which leads to severe direct and indirect environmental and public health issues at every stage of waste collection, handling, treatment, and disposal [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Inadequate and weak SWM results in indiscriminate dumping of waste on the streets, open spaces, and water bodies. Such practices were observed in, for example, Pakistan [ 35 , 36 ], India [ 37 ], Nepal [ 38 ], Peru [ 39 ], Guatemala [ 40 ], Brazil [ 41 ], Kenya [ 42 ], Rwanda [ 43 ], South Africa [ 44 , 45 ], Nigeria [ 46 ], Zimbabwe [ 47 ], etc.

The problems associated with such practices are GHG emissions [ 37 , 48 ], leachates [ 40 , 44 , 49 ], the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue [ 36 ], odor [ 35 , 38 , 50 , 51 ], blocking of drains and sewers and subsequent flooding [ 52 ], suffocation of animals in plastic bags [ 52 ], and indiscriminate littering [ 38 , 39 , 53 ].

• (b)  Irregular Waste Collection and Handling

Uncollected and untreated waste has socioeconomic and environmental costs extending beyond city boundaries. Environmental sustainability impacts of this practice include methane (CH 4 ) emissions, foul odor, air pollution, land and water contamination, and the breeding of rodents, insects, and flies that transmit diseases to humans. Decomposition of biodegradable waste under anaerobic conditions contributes to about 18% and 2.9% of global methane and GHG emissions, respectively [ 54 ], with the global warming effect of about 25 times higher than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions [ 55 ]. Methane also causes fires and explosions [ 56 ]. Emissions from SWM in developing countries are increasing due to rapid economic growth and improved living standards [ 57 ].

Irregular waste collection also contributes to marine pollution. In 2010, 192 coastal countries generated 275 million metric tons of plastic waste out of which up to 12.7 million metric tons (4.4%) entered ocean ecosystems [ 58 ]. Moreover, plastic waste collects and stagnates water, proving a mosquito breeding habitat and raising the risks of dengue, malaria, and West Nile fever [ 56 ]. In addition, uncollected waste creates serious safety, health, and environmental consequences such as promoting urban violence and supporting breeding and feeding grounds for flies, mosquitoes, rodents, dogs, and cats, which carry diseases to nearby homesteads [ 4 , 19 , 59 , 60 ].

In the global South, scavengers often throw the remaining unwanted garbage on the street. Waste collectors are rarely protected from direct contact and injury, thereby facing serious health threats. Because garbage trucks are often derelict and uncovered, exhaust fumes and dust stemming from waste collection and transportation contribute to environmental pollution and widespread health problems [ 61 ]. In India’s megacities, for example, irregular MSW management is one of the major problems affecting air and marine quality [ 62 ]. Thus, irregular waste collection and handling contribute to public health hazards and environmental degradation [ 63 ].

• (c)  Landfilling and Open Dumping

Most municipal solid waste in the Global South goes into unsanitary landfills or open dumps. Even during the economic downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of waste heading to landfill sites in Brazil, for example, increased due to lower recycling rates [ 64 ]. In Johor, Malaysia, landfilling destroys natural habitats and depletes the flora and fauna [ 65 ]. Moreover, landfilling with untreated, unsorted waste led to severe public health issues in South America [ 66 ]. Based on a study on 30 Brazilian cities, Urban and Nakada [ 64 ] report that 35% of medical waste was not properly treated before disposal, which poses a threat to public health, including the spread of COVID-19. Landfills and open dumps are also associated with high emissions of methane (CH 4 ), a major GHG [ 67 , 68 ]. Landfills and wastewater release 17% of the global methane emission [ 25 ]. About 29 metric tons of methane are emitted annually from landfills globally, accounting for about 8% of estimated global emissions, with 1.3 metric tons released from landfills in Africa [ 7 ]. The rate of landfill gas production steadily rises while MSW accumulates in the landfill emissions. Released methane and ammonia gases can cause health hazards such as respiratory diseases [ 37 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. Since methane is highly combustible, it can cause fire and explosion hazards [ 72 ].

Open dumping sites with organic waste create the environment for the breeding of disease-carrying vectors, including rodents, flies, and mosquitoes [ 40 , 45 , 51 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ]. Associated vector-borne diseases include zika virus, dengue, and malaria fever [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ]. In addition, there are risks of water-borne illnesses such as leptospirosis, intestinal worms, diarrhea, and hepatitis A [ 80 , 81 ].

Odors from landfill sites, and their physical appearance, affect the lives of nearby residents by threatening their health and undermining their livelihoods, lowering their property values [ 37 , 38 , 68 , 82 , 83 , 84 ]. Moreover, the emission of ammonia (NH 3 ) from landfill sites can damage species’ composition and plant leaves [ 85 ]. In addition, the pollutants from landfill sites damage soil quality [ 73 , 84 ]. Landfill sites also generate dust and are sources of noise pollution [ 86 ].

Air and water pollution are intense in the hot and rainy seasons due to the emission of offensive odor, disease-carrying leachates, and runoff. Considerable amounts of methane and CO 2 from landfill sites produce adverse health effects such as skin, eyes, nose, and respiratory diseases [ 69 , 87 , 88 ]. The emission of ammonia can lead to similar problems and even blindness [ 85 , 89 ]. Other toxic gaseous pollutants from landfill sites include Sulphur oxides [ 89 ]. While less than 20% of methane is recovered from landfills in China, Western nations recover up to 60% [ 90 ].

Several studies report leachate from landfill sites contaminating water sources used for drinking and other household applications, which pose significant risks to public health [ 36 , 43 , 53 , 72 , 75 , 83 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ]. For example, Hong et al. [ 95 ] estimated that, in 2006, the amount of leachates escaping from landfill sites in Pudong (China) was 160–180 m 3 per day. On the other hand, a properly engineered facility for waste disposal can protect public health, preserve important environmental resources, prevent clogging of drainages, and prevent the migration of leachates to contaminate ground and surface water, farmlands, animals, and air from which they enter the human body [ 61 , 96 ]. Moreover, heat in summer can speed up the rate of bacterial action on biodegradable organic material and produce a pungent odor [ 60 , 97 , 98 ]. In China, for example, leachates were not treated in 47% of landfills [ 99 ].

Co-mingled disposal of industrial and medical waste alongside municipal waste endangers people with chemical and radioactive hazards, Hepatitis B and C, tetanus, human immune deficiency, HIV infections, and other related diseases [ 59 , 60 , 100 ]. Moreover, indiscriminate disposal of solid waste can cause infectious diseases such as gastrointestinal, dermatological, respiratory, and genetic diseases, chest pains, diarrhea, cholera, psychological disorders, skin, eyes, and nose irritations, and allergies [ 10 , 36 , 60 , 61 ].

• (d)  Open Burning and Incineration

Open burning of MSW is a main cause of smog and respiratory diseases, including nose, throat, chest infections and inflammation, breathing difficulty, anemia, low immunity, allergies, and asthma. Similar health effects were reported from Nepal [ 101 ], India [ 87 ], Mexico, [ 69 ], Pakistan [ 52 , 73 , 84 ], Indonesia [ 88 ], Liberia [ 50 ], and Chile [ 102 ]. In Mumbai, for example, open incineration emits about 22,000 tons of pollutants annually [ 56 ]. Mongkolchaiarunya [ 103 ] reported air pollution and odors from burning waste in Thailand. In addition, plastic waste incineration produces hydrochloric acid and dioxins in quantities that are detrimental to human health and may cause allergies, hemoglobin deficiency, and cancer [ 95 , 104 ]. In addition, smoke from open incineration and dumpsites is a significant contributor to air pollution even for persons staying far from dumpsites.

• (e)  Composting

Composting is a biological method of waste disposal that entails the decomposing or breaking down of organic wastes into simpler forms by naturally occurring microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. However, despite its advantage of reducing organic waste by at least half and using compost in agriculture, the composting method has much higher CO 2 emissions than other disposal approaches. In Korea, for example, composting has the highest environmental impact than incineration and anaerobic digestion methods [ 105 ]. The authors found that the environmental impact of composting was found to be 2.4 times higher than that of incineration [ 105 ]. Some reviews linked composting with several health issues, including congested nose, sore throat and dry cough, bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis, and extrinsic allergic alveolitis [ 36 , 106 ].

4. Implications and Recommendations

As discussed in the section above, there are many negative impacts of unsustainable SWM practices on the people and the environment. Although all waste treatment methods have their respective negative impacts, some have fewer debilitating impacts on people and the environment than others. The following is the summary of key implications of such unsustainable SWM practices.

• Uncollected organic waste from bins, containers and open dumps harbors rodents, insects, and reptiles that transmit diseases to humans. It also produces odor due to the decomposition of organic wastes, especially in the summer, and leachates that migrate and contaminate receiving underground and surface waters.
• Open dumps and non-engineered landfills release methane from decomposing biodegradable waste under anaerobiotic conditions. Methane is a key contributor to global warming, and it can cause fires and explosions.
• Non-biodegradable waste, such as discarded tires, plastics, bottles, and tins, pollutes the ground and collects water, thus creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes and increasing the risk of diseases such as malaria, dengue, and West Nile fever.
• Open burning of MSW emits pollutants into the atmosphere thereby increasing the incidences of nose and throat infections and inflammation, inhalation difficulties, bacterial infections, anemia, reduced immunity, allergies, and asthma.
• Uncontrolled incineration causes smog and releases fine particles, which are a major cause of respiratory disease. It also contributes to urban air pollution and GHG emissions significantly.
• Incineration and landfilling are associated with reproductive defects in women, developmental defects in children, cancer, hepatitis C, psychosocial impacts, poisoning, biomarkers, injuries, and mortality.

Therefore, measures toward more sustainable SWM that can mitigate such impacts must be worked out and followed. The growing complexity, costs, and coordination of SWM require multi-stakeholder involvement at each process stage [ 7 ]. Earmarking resources, providing technical assistance, good governance, and collaboration, and protecting environmental and human health are SWM critical success factors [ 47 , 79 ]. As such, local governments, the private sector, donor agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the residents, and informal garbage collectors and scavengers have their respective roles to play collaboratively in effective and sustainable SWM [ 40 , 103 , 107 , 108 ]. The following are key practical recommendations for mitigating the negative impacts of unsustainable SWM practices enumerated above.

First, cities should plan and implement an integrated SWM approach that emphasizes improving the operation of municipalities to manage all stages of SWM sustainably: generation, separation, transportation, transfer/sorting, treatment, and disposal [ 36 , 46 , 71 , 77 , 86 ]. The success of this approach requires the involvement of all stakeholders listed above [ 109 ] while recognizing the environmental, financial, legal, institutional, and technical aspects appropriate to each local setting [ 77 , 86 ]. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can likewise aid in selecting the method and preparing the waste management plan [ 88 , 110 ]. Thus, the SWM approach should be carefully selected to spare residents from negative health and environmental impacts [ 36 , 39 , 83 , 98 , 111 ].

Second, local governments should strictly enforce environmental regulations and better monitor civic responsibilities for sustainable waste storage, collection, and disposal, as well as health hazards of poor SWM, reflected in garbage littering observable throughout most cities of the Global South [ 64 , 84 ]. In addition, violations of waste regulations should be punished to discourage unsustainable behaviors [ 112 ]. Moreover, local governments must ensure that waste collection services have adequate geographical coverage, including poor and minority communities [ 113 ]. Local governments should also devise better SWM policies focusing on waste reduction, reuse, and recycling to achieve a circular economy and sustainable development [ 114 , 115 ].

Third, effective SWM requires promoting positive public attitudes toward sustainable waste management [ 97 , 116 , 117 , 118 ]. Therefore, public awareness campaigns through print, electronic, and social media are required to encourage people to desist from littering and follow proper waste dropping and sorting practices [ 36 , 64 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 91 , 92 , 119 ]. There is also the need for a particular focus on providing sorting bins and public awareness about waste sorting at the source, which can streamline and optimize subsequent SWM processes and mitigate their negative impacts [ 35 , 45 , 46 , 64 , 69 , 89 , 93 ]. Similarly, non-governmental and community-based organizations can help promote waste reduction, separation, and sorting at the source, and material reuse/recycling [ 103 , 120 , 121 , 122 ]. In Vietnam, for example, Tsai et al. [ 123 ] found that coordination among stakeholders and appropriate legal and policy frameworks are crucial in achieving sustainable SWM.

Fourth, there is the need to use environmentally friendly technologies or upgrade existing facilities. Some researchers prefer incineration over other methods, particularly for non-recyclable waste [ 44 , 65 ]. For example, Xin et al. [ 124 ] found that incineration, recycling, and composting resulted in a 70.82% reduction in GHG emissions from solid waste in Beijing. In Tehran city, Iran, Maghmoumi et al. [ 125 ] revealed that the best scenario for reducing GHG emissions is incinerating 50% of the waste, landfilling 30%, and recycling 20%. For organic waste, several studies indicate a preference for composting [ 45 , 51 , 75 ] and biogas generation [ 15 , 42 , 68 ]. Although some researchers have advocated a complete ban on landfilling [ 13 , 42 ], it should be controlled with improved techniques for leak detection and leachate and biogas collection [ 126 , 127 ]. Many researchers also suggested an integrated biological and mechanical treatment (BMT) of solid waste [ 66 , 74 , 95 , 119 ]. In Kenya, the waste-to-biogas scheme and ban on landfill and open burning initiatives are estimated to reduce the emissions of over 1.1 million tons of GHG and PM2.5 emissions from the waste by more than 30% by 2035 [ 42 ]. An appropriately designed waste disposal facility helps protect vital environmental resources, including flora, fauna, surface and underground water, air, and soil [ 128 , 129 ].

Fifth, extraction and reuse of materials, energy, and nutrients are essential to effective SWM, which provides livelihoods for many people, improves their health, and protects the environment [ 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 ]. For example, recycling 24% of MSW in Thailand lessened negative health, social, environmental, and economic impacts from landfill sites [ 89 ]. Waste pickers play a key role in waste circularity and should be integrated into the SWM system [ 65 , 89 , 101 , 137 ], even to the extent of taking part in decision-making [ 138 ]. In addition, workers involved in waste collection should be better trained and equipped to handle hazardous waste [ 87 , 128 ]. Moreover, green consumption, using bioplastics, can help reduce the negative impacts of solid waste on the environment [ 139 ].

Lastly, for effective SWM, local authorities should comprehensively address SWM challenges, such as lack of strategic SWM plans, inefficient waste collection/segregation and recycling, insufficient budgets, shortage of qualified waste management professionals, and weak governance, and then form a financial regulatory framework in an integrated manner [ 140 , 141 , 142 ]. Effective SWM system also depends on other factors such as the waste generation rate, population density, economic status, level of commercial activity, culture, and city/region [ 37 , 143 ]. A sustainable SWM strives to protect public health and the environment [ 144 , 145 ].

5. Conclusions

As global solid waste generation rates increase faster than urbanization, coupled with inadequate SWM systems, local governments and urban residents often resort to unsustainable SWM practices. These practices include mixing household and commercial garbage with hazardous waste during storage and handling, storing garbage in old or poorly managed facilities, deficient transportation practices, open-air incinerators, informal/uncontrolled dumping, and non-engineered landfills. The implications of such practices include air and water pollution, land degradation, climate change, and methane and hazardous leachate emissions. In addition, these impacts impose significant environmental and public health costs on residents with marginalized social groups affected mostly.

Inadequate SWM is associated with poor public health, and it is one of the major problems affecting environmental quality and cities’ sustainable development. Effective community involvement in the SWM requires promoting positive public attitudes. Public awareness campaigns through print, electronic, and social media are required to encourage people to desist from littering and follow proper waste-dropping practices. Improper SWM also resulted in water pollution and unhealthy air in cities. Future research is needed to investigate how the peculiarity of each Global South country can influence selecting the SWM approach, elements, aspects, technology, and legal/institutional frameworks appropriate to each locality.

Reviewed literature on the impacts of SWM practices in Asia (compiled by authors).

Reviewed literature on the impacts of SWM practices in South America (compiled by authors).

Reviewed literature on the impacts of SWM practices in Africa (compiled by authors).

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, I.R.A. and K.M.M.; methodology, I.R.A., K.M.M. and U.L.D.; validation, I.R.A., K.M.M. and U.L.D.; formal analysis, I.R.A. and K.M.M.; investigation, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A. and W.A.G.A.-G.; resources, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A., W.A.G.A.-G. and T.I.A.; data curation, U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A. and W.A.G.A.-G.; writing—original draft preparation, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A. and W.A.G.A.-G.; writing—review and editing, I.R.A., K.M.M. and U.L.D.; supervision, F.S.A. and T.I.A.; project administration, I.R.A.; funding acquisition, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A., W.A.G.A.-G. and T.I.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest in conducting this study.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Essay on Solid Waste Management

Students are often asked to write an essay on Solid Waste Management in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Solid Waste Management

Introduction.

Solid waste management is the process of collecting, treating, and disposing of solid materials that are discarded by purpose or no longer useful.

Improper disposal of solid waste can lead to harmful effects on the environment and human health. Therefore, managing it correctly is crucial.

Methods include landfilling, recycling, and composting. Landfills store waste, recycling reuses materials, and composting breaks down organic waste.

Proper solid waste management is important for our health and environment. We should all participate in it to keep our surroundings clean.

Also check:

• Advantages and Disadvantages of Solid Waste Management

250 Words Essay on Solid Waste Management

Introduction to solid waste management.

Solid waste management (SWM) is a comprehensive process that involves the collection, transportation, processing, recycling, or disposal of solid waste materials. It’s a critical environmental service to preserve the health of communities and the integrity of ecosystems.

The Importance of SWM

The importance of SWM is underscored by the escalating volumes of waste generated due to population growth, urbanization, and economic development. Unmanaged waste can lead to severe environmental problems, including air and water pollution, soil degradation, and climate change. Moreover, it poses significant health risks, such as the spread of diseases.

Methods of SWM

The primary methods of SWM include landfilling, incineration, recycling, and composting. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, and the choice depends on various factors, including the type of waste, local environmental regulations, and available resources.

Sustainable SWM

In recent years, the concept of sustainable SWM has gained traction. It emphasizes waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, aiming to minimize waste generation and maximize resource recovery. It also promotes the use of waste-to-energy technologies, turning waste into a resource rather than a burden.

In conclusion, effective SWM is a pressing need of our time. It requires a multi-faceted approach, involving technological innovation, policy reform, and public participation. By adopting sustainable SWM practices, we can mitigate environmental and health risks, conserve resources, and contribute to a circular economy.

500 Words Essay on Solid Waste Management

Solid Waste Management (SWM) is a critical component of our environmental and public health infrastructure. It encompasses the processes of generation, collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of solid waste. The complexity of SWM stems from the vast array of waste types, each requiring different treatment methods and disposal strategies.

The Importance of Solid Waste Management

Improper waste disposal poses a significant threat to the environment and human health. It can lead to air and water pollution, soil contamination, and the spread of diseases. Effective SWM is essential for sustainable development and a healthy environment. It reduces landfill dependency, prevents pollution, conserves resources through recycling, and contributes to a circular economy.

Challenges in Solid Waste Management

Despite its importance, SWM faces numerous challenges. Rapid urbanization and population growth have led to an increase in waste generation. Developing nations often lack the necessary infrastructure for effective SWM, leading to uncontrolled dumpsites and pollution. In developed countries, the issue lies in the high consumption rates leading to excessive waste. Additionally, the improper disposal of hazardous waste poses significant environmental and health risks.

Modern Approaches to Solid Waste Management

To address these challenges, modern SWM approaches focus on waste reduction, recycling, and reuse. The concept of the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – is widely adopted. This approach minimizes waste generation and maximizes resource recovery.

Waste-to-energy (WTE) technology is another promising solution. It involves the conversion of non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity, or fuel. This method not only reduces the volume of waste going to landfills but also provides a renewable source of energy.

The Role of Policy and Public Participation

Effective SWM requires robust policy frameworks and public participation. Policies should promote sustainable practices like recycling and composting and discourage wasteful behaviors. They should also ensure the safe disposal of hazardous waste.

Public participation is equally crucial. Households and businesses must be educated about proper waste segregation and disposal. Community involvement in waste management initiatives can significantly improve their effectiveness.

In conclusion, solid waste management is a complex but vital aspect of modern society. It is a shared responsibility that requires concerted efforts from governments, communities, and individuals. By adopting sustainable practices and leveraging technology, we can manage waste effectively and contribute to a healthier, cleaner environment.

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Waste Management Essay

Introduction.

Suppose you bought chocolate due to your craving while walking on the road. Now, what will you do with the wrapper? Will you keep it with you till you find a waste bin, or will you just throw it away on the road? While the first option is the right way to dispose of it, we often see many of us simply tossing the wrapper on the road. But what happens when every one of us behaves the same way and our surroundings become a huge pile of garbage?

Today, people are careless about what they do with their waste, and there are no proper methods to dispose of them. In this waste management essay, we will discuss the importance of waste management and look at different ways to manage waste.

Importance of Waste Management

Waste management should become an essential part of our lives as it plays an integral role in environmental protection and maintaining our health. Each day, the population is increasing, and waste is produced without any limit. Not aware of its dangerous effects, we either dump all the waste in a place where there are no proper disposal methods or burn them away, which releases harmful pollutants into the air. All the waste from homes, industries and factories must be properly managed; otherwise, it could lead to various environmental problems and health issues. This is why we need effective ways to collect, segregate, transport and dispose of waste materials, which we will be discussing in this solid waste management essay.

Methods for Waste Management

There are several methods for waste management, which vary depending on the type of waste that we handle. Waste can be classified into solid, liquid and gas, and they get generated from our homes, hospitals, factories or nuclear power plants. As each type of waste has a different method of disposal, landfills are suitable for solid waste management. A landfill is a deep garbage pit that is usually located away from the city where solid wastes are dumped, which decomposes over the years. Incineration is another popular method for waste management, but it is not the most effective as the combustion process often releases greenhouse gases that pollute the environment.

The waste management essay also highlights other efficient ways to dispose of waste. While the recycling of waste is considered to be productive by changing waste materials into useful things, reusing and reducing waste are also found to be cost-effective. Unlike landfills and incineration, recycling does not harm the environment in any way. As organic wastes can be recycled or reused, we must reduce the use of plastics, thus avoiding plastic pollution . Plastics contribute to the major portion of waste as they are not degradable. We must also practise composting as it is the ideal method for managing food waste and plant products. Through composting, organic waste gets converted into fertiliser, which nourishes the soil and thus supports the growth of plants and trees. In this manner, we must do whatever we can to dispose of waste and save the environment.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the advantages of waste management.

Through proper waste management, we can reduce pollution in the environment as well as ensure the safety and well-being of human beings and all other living beings. There will also be a reduction in the generation of waste as people resort to recycling and reusing.

What are the challenges to waste management?

The key challenge to waste management is the lack of proper amenities or measures to segregate waste. With different types of waste from different sources, it is difficult to separate them. Moreover, the waste never gets reduced as industries continue to dump waste everywhere, and the people and environment face its consequences.

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Home Essay Examples Business

Solid Waste Management

• Category Business
• Subcategory Entrepreneurship

Solid Waste Management is a pressing issue that needs abrupt consideration globally. The purpose of this study is to assess the characteristics of municipal solid waste from households waste to reduce disposal at landfill site. The study seeks to answer the research question, ‘What are the characteristics of solid waste in the municipality of Nadi in 2019 that can be recycled to reduce the amount of waste disposed at landfill site’. The goal is to characterize the types of solid waste from households and analyse the various types of recyclables waste discharged by volume and weight from households in Nadi. A descriptive and experimental study would be used to compare the baseline data available with the Nadi Town Council on the generation amount, generation rate and the participation rate of households.

Introduction

Solid Waste Management in countries that are developing becomes a challenge for the municipalities largely because of the growing amount of waste generated, high cost burden on the municipalities budget due because of its management, absence in understanding the wide range of factors affecting the dissimilar phases of managing waste and its associations that enables complete functioning of the management system.

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In developing countries, one of the problems faced in the management of waste is the absence of a culture of sorting waste by type at source or the generation point. This leads to the mixing of all types of waste generated. There may be other special solutions for recycling of solid waste, but separation at source is the starting point (Banga Margaret 2013).

The Fiji National Solid Waste Management Strategy 2011 – 2014 identifies waste management as a pressing issue that needs instantaneous action. Waste management which is recognized as a key concern has various potential impacts on development activities of any country such as the health of people, the environment, food security, tourism and trade. The strategy highlights the negative impacts that waste management has on tourism, its connotation with vector-borne and infectious diseases, and the likely chances of food contamination that affects the revenue generated from exports.

Waste management in Fiji is covered under several pieces of legislation as follows:-

• Public Health Act (Cap 111),
• Environment Management Act 2005,
• Environment Management (EIA Process) Regulations 2007,
• Environment Management (Waste Disposal and Recycling) Regulation 2007,
• Litter (Amendment) Decree 2010,
• Fijian Affairs Act (Cap 120),
• Biosecurity Promulgation 2008.

However, none of the legislation has anything on the promotion of the separation of recyclables waste in managing of MSW except for the SWM-MP of Nadi Town Council and Lautoka City Council. Currently, Fiji is drafting a 5R Policy for all councils to promote the concept of 3R.

In the setting of Nadi, the municipality of Nadi has a population of approximately 12,000 people and has land coverage of 666 hectares. The generation amount of MSW is 22.3 tons/day; the generation rate is 1,894g/person/day. The generation amount of HH waste is 4.4 ton/day; the generation rate of HH waste is 374g/person/day. Kitchen waste is 36.4% of total MSW discharged. The municipality of Nadi does not have a waste disposal facility, hence all MSW collected is transported and disposed at the Vunato Disposal Site in Lautoka (Master Plan on the Solid Waste management for Nadi Town Council , 2010).

Review of literature

Composition and categories of municipal solid waste.

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is one among the foremost issues within the current urban municipalities preponderantly in developing countries. Municipal solid waste includes all types of waste generated from the commercial and residential areas and it contains different categories and composition of waste. The separation of recyclables is integrated into the solid waste management strategy. It can be applied to mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) or to separately collected paper, plastic, glass, tins, cans, metals etc. Separate collection is where waste is collected separately from the waste stream by its nature and type so it can be treated specifically. Waste composition of most countries globally is often subjugated by organic matter followed by paper and plastics except for Japan who generates more recyclables waste (Agamuthu.P 2007).

A Qualitative and quantitative review by Mohee Romeela et.al (2015) discovered that the waste composition in small island developing states comprises mainly of organics (44%) shadowed by recyclables specifically paper, plastics, glass and metals which accounts to 43 percent. In the same review, as compared to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development countries, the recyclables waste accounts the highest (43 percent) followed by 37 percent of organics waste. The study reflects a high waste generation rate on the average in these islands which amounts to 1.29 kg/capita/day. Mohee Romeela et.al (2015) revealed the prevalent waste management practices in the small developing states of mainly landfilling, backyard burning and illegal dumping. With the emerging of sustainable waste management practices in these states, there is a need for the introduction of waste minimization and recycling promotion activities.

In another review by Rajendra K. Kaushal et al (2012) carried out in India revealed an increasing trend in the composition of solid waste generated from municipalities. The components of paper, plastic and glass have a growing pattern from 4.1%, 0.7% and 0.4% individually in 1971 to 8.18%, 9.22% and 1.01 correspondingly in 2005. Metals during the same period also revealed an accumulating pattern. This study concluded with revealing unorganized and unplanned segregation at source except for medical and industrial waste in India. Scavengers play an important role in sorting waste that reduces the competence of segregation since these people only segregate items that have high market return value. Therefore, this increasing trend of recyclables waste recommends the promotion of the separation of recyclables waste for formal recovery. Reduction of waste at source is a primary factor for improving the system and cost of managing waste (Latifah Abd Manaf et.al, 2009).

Baseline Data

To promote separation of recyclables it is necessary to have baseline data on the characteristics of MSW. Hassan N Mohd et.al (2002) in a study conducted in Malaysia revealed that one of the most important requirements for a successful recycling programe is to have reliable data on waste generation rates and composition.

A baseline study by ESCAP (2011) in Vietnam revealed how the city of Kon Tum used the baseline data in planning and implementation process of recycling. According to the writer, this city lacked practices of segregation of waste and all waste generated were disposed at landfill site. Based on the findings and information of the baseline data, the city of Kon Tum prepared the National Strategy for Integrated Solid Waste Management which included the concept of 3R and waste recovery in Vietnam.

Another baseline survey carried out in Australia by the Queensland University of Technology for Community Recycling Network Australia (2012), provides an in depth of how solid waste and recycling planning data to be used. The results were used and integrated into the Waste Management Strategy for strengthening waste separation and 3R practices in Australia. Such data is useful for solid waste and recycling managers to develop comprehensive plans and policies and persuade key stakeholders, municipalities and governments on the benefits of waste separation and recycling. Thus conducting a baseline survey assists in determining the local circumstances and situations to come up with critical information and data and such data and information helps support appropriate decision making (ESCAP 2010).

Awareness on separate collection of recyclables

Education and awareness on separate collection of recyclables is essential for change in behaviour of people. According to M Florica and Bucur Bondan (2017), environmental education is a tool for implementing changes and creating awareness to residents on environmental issues. For proper waste management in urban and rural areas it is important to cogitate on public education. The effectiveness of preventing and minimizing waste involving prevention and minimization at source is connected to community participation and behaviour of the people. Basis factor in recycling waste recovery is the attitude and behaviour of the people towards recycling (Wichitra Singhirunnusorn et al, 2012). Different forms of awareness raising should be promoted to disseminate information to the community level and achieve high participation rate in recycling.

In a descriptive and questionnaire survey study by L.A. Guerrero et al, (2013) on three continents comprising thirty urban areas in twenty two developing countries found that fourteen of the inspected cities do not have recycling practices. Management of MSW is improved once stakeholders are willing to take charge and share responsibility with municipalities on the decision making for SWM which are associated with three necessary components:-

• Awareness – The effectiveness on the separation of waste depends on the awareness of its people and leaders on the effects of waste management systems within the town/city.
• Knowledge – Municipal Decision makers are only likely to set up waste separation programs once they are familiar and acquainted with the new and suitable technologies and the proper practices for the management of waste.
• Equipment. The availability and provision of necessary equipment and machinery to manage and recycle waste is a key factor that promotes separation of waste at the household level.

Education and Awareness Techniques – Research has also been done on the different methods used for creating awareness. Adam D (1999) in a study conducted in the UK revealed the common methods of communication used by the UK local government in creating awareness on recycling were media campaigns, household leaflets, radio advertisement, seasonal promotions, public meeting, celerity launching, reminder cards, conference presentations, mobile advertisement, recycling tours, telephone hotline, school presentation, surveys, and promotional videos. To increase low public awareness and participation the local government found that door-to-door or house- to- house communications strategy is the most effective promotion to increase recycling rate and public participation in the recycling service. This study further concluded roadshow being helpful communication tool. These different forms of awareness campaign have increased average weekly recycling tonnage from 107 to 132 tonnes in the UK local government. Hence these varieties of methods for communication can form a central and effective approach to raising residents’ participation.

In support, a Pilot recycling program in Quito by Hernández Orlando (1999) revealed a mixture of cluster group discussions, in-depth interviews and a household survey being used to gauge the way to increase and sustain resident’s participation on separation of waste.

Furthermore, in another study by Omran, A. et al. (2009) carried out in Malaysia concluded various activities implemented to increase awareness on the importance of household participation in recycling which includes mass media awareness (TV and Radio ) advertisement, awareness programs organized in communities , schools and shopping complexes. However, in the same study various launching programs of recycling failed. It revealed that the households did not comprehend and respect the waste collection schedule and there was a lack of co-operation and understanding from the households in discharging waste separately. Omran, A. et al. (2009) in this study strongly emphasizes that social influences, altruistic and regulatory factors are a number of reasons which can inspire communities to develop strong recycling habits. Educating people on how, what, and where to recycle is paramount. Not everybody will participate. Thus it is necessary that people are aware of the reasons for recycling and the positive impact that waste separation and recycling has on the environment.

On the other hand, Banga Margaret (2013) in a case study conducted in Kampala, Uganda surveyed 500 randomly selected households and the results indicated that, although people were aware of separation and recycling practices, they had not participated in such initiatives. The result also indicated that participation in solid waste separation activities not only depends on the level of awareness of recycling activities but on resident’s attitude, household income, educational level and gender. Banga Margaret (2013) further found that one of the effective methods to increase the rate of participation in separation activities needs to be initiated by government policymakers and local authorities.

Increased participation and discharge rate of recyclables can be achieved through community participation. This is supported in a study by Hassan N Mohd et.al (2002) which concluded that community participation is critical to the success of any recycling programme and therefore the economical recovery of large volumes of great quality recyclable depends on people’s involvement. Wichitra Singhirunnusorn et.al (2012) supported by concluding that an important source of recycling knowledge come from public education and campaigns which shows a positive connotation with recycling rate.

Benefits – Separate collection of Recyclables

Hernández Orlando (1999) in another review revealed that local governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America spend 20 to 50 per cent of total municipal revenue on solid waste services. Thus, recycling can reduce costs to the municipality for the collection and disposal of solid waste by reducing the amount of waste transported to its landfill.

Alexis M. Troschinetz and James R. Mihelcic (2008) further, concluded that material or resource recovery is an advantage of recycling and substantial quantities of recyclables are reused as resources. This study shows the recycling rates of developed countries falling within the ranges of developing countries from 0 to 41%. It revealed comparison of the developed countries utilizing curbside recycling programs to amass and sort wastes for recycling processing while developing countries utilize the social sector known as scavengers to handle such activities. Such practices benefit thus; creating job opportunities for people thus reduces poverty that enhances stronger economy, lower cost for raw material for industries, resources and raw materials are preserved, pollution is reduced, and the environment is protected.

Similarly, the study by M. Sharholy et al (2009) revealed the key role of scavengers in solid waste management in Delhi India stating that the proportion of recyclables like paper, glass, plastic and metals is precisely low due to the presence of the more than 100 000 scavengers who separate and collect the recyclables at generation sources, assortment points and disposal sites. Approximately 40–80% of plastic waste is recycled in India in comparison to 10–15% in the developed nations. About 17% of waste handling in Delhi is done by scavengers where one collects 10–15 kg/ despite the health and safety risk associated with it. This allows saving for the governments of US$13,700 daily. M. Sharholy et al (2009) also revealed the informal sector involvement in Bangalore which again allows the municipalities in Pune to save around US$200,000/ year on description of scavengers. This does not only allow the government to save cost on collection, transportation and disposal but tolerate the scavengers to generate income at the same time reducing the need for landfill space.

To support the above, a guide by ASPEM (2016), also reflects about the advantages of waste recovery into resource materials. Waste if managed properly becomes a resource and can be recycled into new products thus stabilizing the reduction of raw materials. Such examples are recycle of cans into glasses, plastic containers into chair, glass bottles into a new glass bottle, PET fibres into clothes, glass into tiles (Tim Hornyak, 2017). Banga Margaret (2013) also supported by concluding that the enhancement of waste recycling activities saves resources and costs by reducing on the purchase of raw materials, lowers the costs of the final disposal of the residues, produces cheaper goods that support low-income households, and creates new jobs.

Proper solid waste management policies and practices can be adopted to manage MSW at a considerable level. Separation of recyclables waste is an imperative and key component of 3R practices. The benefits of recyclables waste separation are several folds and have various economical and environmental impacts. The implementation of recycling and separation is encouraged at the household level that also indicates the high interest and response of the citizens to get involved in the management of their waste. To achieve education and awareness on waste separation, behavioural and attitudinal changes in the residents is essential. Strengthening and enhancing environmental education brings about behavioral changes in the awareness level of the residents which contributes to heightened participation level as well.

Recovery of resource materials can be made possible by strengthening policies, and providing support on the advantages of recycling as it generates benefits at every level: environmental, financial and social. Since the composition of MSW comprises 40 – 60% recyclables waste, reducing by resource recovery does not only increases landfill life but addresses health hazards as well. There was a reduction of nuisance that occurred during the collection and transfer of MSW; it lowered the burden on landfill increasing their lifecycle. The various reviews also advocate that a holistic management of MSW at all levels not only reduces the burden on landfill sites but contributes to the reduced carbon emission. There are a large number of different stakeholders involved in waste management. They all play a role in shaping the system of a municipality, but often it is seen as a responsibility of the local authorities. An effective system is not only based on technological solutions but also environmental, socio-cultural, legal, institutional and economic linkages that should be present to enable the overall system to function. Therefore, proper management of MSW at all stages is very important to address not only health and hygiene issues of a population but also the effect it has on the environment which comes back to human health and environmental degradation. The planning, changing or implementing a waste management system in a city requires decision makers to be well informed in order to make positive changes in developing an integrated waste management strategy.

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Essay: Solid waste management

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The solid waste management is one of the most important problems for most cities around the world. Solid waste landfill must be designed to protect the environment from contaminants which may present in waste. Over 100 million tires are generated annually in India. But, only 10 to 20% of tires are beneficially and environmental safely reused or recycled (Kaushik et al., 2013). The tire causes harmful effects due to their non-biodegradable nature. So the reuse of tire in civil engineering application is as a drainage material, fill material in embankments and pavements etc. Moreover the MSW landfill leachate is generated as a consequence of precipitation, surface run-off and infiltration of groundwater percolating through a landfill, biochemical processes and the inherent water content of wastes themselves. Leachate is generated within the landfills from the percolation of water (precipitation) through the waste, release of moisture in the waste, and the biodegradation of organic waste. The leachate mound in the LCS is a function of the spacing of pipes, bottom slope, infiltration rate, and the hydraulic conductivity of the drainage layer material. Leachate mounding within the landfill will also increase possibilities of leachate leakage through the bottom liners. This leachate may percolate into the ground and causes the contamination of ground water and soil. To minimize this effect due to leachate generation in landfill, the leachate collection and removal system is provided. The materials used in the drainage layer of leachate collection and removal system are gravel and sand but these materials are not easily available in the region. A modern municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill typically includes two components (Rowe 2005) (i) a bottom liner system with low permeability to prevent leachate migration and (ii) a highly permeable leachate collection system (LCS) to reduce the hydraulic head on the bottom liner and hence to minimize the driving force for leachate flow. The leachate head in LCS is required to be less than thickness of drainage layer i.e. between 0.3-0.5 m for granular drainage layer. The leachate mound in the LCS is a function of the rate of infiltration, pipe spacing, bottom slope, and the hydraulic conductivity of the drainage layer. The studies showed that the permeated with MSW landfill leachate the granular drainage material experiences a growth of biomass, deposition of suspended particles, and precipitation of minerals (Cooke et al., 2001). In this study tire shreds will be used as a drainage material because to the high cost of gravel. They have shown relatively high hydraulic conductivity (Rowe and McIsaac 2005) and are a better thermal insulator than conventional materials. Tire shreds are the landfill construction material having similarities as the natural aggregates typically utilized as drainage media. Tyre shreds have properties that civil engineers generally need. The suitability of tyres as landfill drainage material have approved by several researches (Hudson et al. 2003; Van Gulck, Rowe 2004). Using these tyre shreds can significantly reduce construction cost. Tyre shreds are capable of providing free draining and are good insulator (Reddy et al. 2010). Tyre chips/shreds may be used around buried pipes and potentially keep both the pipe and tyre safe for the long term, keeping the rubber in an environmentally beneficial end application away from direct exposure of sunlight/UV radiation which may cause the possible degradation /deterioration in its quality/shape etc. (Rowe et al., 2012). High permeability of tyre shreds make them suitable for several landfill applications like leachate collection at the base, operations layer, foundation layer and drainage layer in the landfill cap but the most likely application is to use as drainage material for construction of drainage layer of leachate collection and removal system (Kaushik et al., 2014). These tyre shreds had been used as a substitute for granular material in landfill construction. Tyre shreds can be used in the most applications with negligible effects on ground water quality but a long term service life and durability (to provide long term functioning) of the drainage material is still unknown( ASTM D6270-98). The failure of landfill leachate collection system to control the leachate head due to decrease in hydraulic conductivity of the granular layer is due to biological and mineral clogging. The performance of the LCS is critical for a well-designed modern landfill and there is a need to be able to predict the service life of a given system. The considerable care is required to design the drainage layer by replacing gravels with tire derived aggregates. Gravels should be used in the critical zones of higher mass loading (McIsaac R. and Rowe R. 2005). In case of the continuous drainage layer, a suitable filter/separator layer between waste and underlying drainage layer is placed which will extend the service life of LCS by minimizing the migration of fines and other particulars (Fleming I. R. and Rowe R. K. 2004). Tire derived aggregates should be used in less critical zones and increased thickness of compressed tires is required to give a service life somewhat equal to that of given thickness of gravels. In order to determine the serviceability of the drainage layer, practical approach is used to estimate the service life of the drainage layer. The estimation of the service life of LCSs with different design configurations requires an understanding of the clogging mechanisms and the effects of the different factors on the clogging. The clogging process is caused by the removal of certain constituents from the incoming leachate. Clogging of these materials occurs in these drainage layers due to saturated and unsaturated zones. Clogging includes the accumulation of material in the voids of the drainage medium which decreases the effective porosity in the granular drainage medium. Thus reduces the hydraulic conductivity of the drainage medium and will eventually impair effective drainage. The clogging of drainage medium may also be due to leachate. The composition of the leachate has a critical effect on the rate of clogging. High levels of organic acids, inorganic cations, and suspended solids have all been shown to increase the rate of clogging. Greater clogging will also occur with higher mass loading (a product of the chemical concentration and flow rate). The clogging rate of the drainage layer is increased with: (1) increasing the mass loading (i.e., increasing the leachate strength, increasing the flow rate, or both); (2) decreasing the grain size or uniformity of the drainage material; and (3) increasing the landfill temperature. Thus, for a given leachate, a higher flow rate will produce greater clogging than a lower flow rate (Rowe and Yu 2010). The clog that develops, will decrease the pore space available to permeate leachate, reduces the hydraulic conductivity of the granular layer and reduced the efficiency of the leachate collection system. It is important in the initial stage of design to assess the likely service life of each component in the system, and to predict how the breakdown of any one component will affect the overall performance of the landfill system (Rowe et al., 2005, Rowe et al., 2011, Rowe and Yu, 2012). These systems are required to collect and remove leachate for extended periods of time and it is important that they be designed to optimize their long term performance and service life. Thus service life is defined as the time period from start of the use of a structure or of part of it, during which the intended performance is achieved. The time which is required for the leachate mound to increase to the point at which it is about to exceed the permitted head on the liner (usually the drainage layer thickness) is the service life of the drainage system. The service life of the LCS is said to correspond to the time when it can no longer control the leachate head below the specified design value, which is usually taken to be the layer thickness. Therefore, the service life may be extended by increasing the drainage layer thickness. The hydraulic conductivity of the drainage layer is usually specified to be greater than 1 × 10-5 m/s, but the best performance will occur when it as high as possible, and it should be at least 1 × 10-2 m/s (Rowe et al. 2004). So, in order to determine the service life of drainage layer made up of tyre chips/shreds, mathematical approach can be used. The service life of the drainage layer generally varies from a few years to over 100 years depending on the design of the system. In order to determine the service life of drainage layer made up of TDA (tyre chips/shreds), a mathematical practical approach based upon the characteristics, properties (hydraulic conductivity, compressibility) and permeate (COD, TSS, Ca+ Conc.) under test condition of continuous flow of active MSW landfill leachate in compressed condition may be performed. A simplified form of BioClog was presented by Yu (2012), allowing a more site-specific estimate of service life. The simplified model considers linearly decreasing source concentrations of calcium, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and TSS. CHAPTER III MATERIAL AND METHODS 3.1 Gravel:- Gravels are used as a conventional drainage material in landfill drainage layer. A common gravel size is 38 mm, with coarser and more uniform gravel providing a longer service life (Rowe 2009a). Although gravel has excellent drainage properties but is a scared natural resource. The availability of this drainage material is reducing day by day. Many projects in Punjab are delayed because of this reason. Moreover the MoEF, Government of India under the guidance by Supreme Court of India has banned the mining of natural aggregates from most of the rivers of the Punjab state. So, to continue with the processes, it is necessary to find an alternative for this conventional material which can be act as an efficient drainage material. The drainage material used for the study is tire derived aggregates in place of gravels. So there are some parameters which differ from one another. Table 3.1 Comparison between parameters of Gravel and Tire Shreds Parameters Gravels Tire Derived Aggregates Hydraulic conductivity (m/sec) 10-2-1 10-2 to 10-3 Void Ratio 0.3-0.5 0.55-0.75 Porosity 0.25-0.40 0.45- 0.60 Compressibility Not compressible 40-60% Specific gravity 2.62-2.72 1.1-1.28 Unit weight (Kg/m3) compacted 1520 522-690 Density (Kg/m3) 1500-1800 450-900 3.2 Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA):- Tire derived aggregate (TDA) is an engineered product made by cutting scrap tires into 25 to 300-mm pieces. TDA provides many solutions to geotechnical challenges since it is lightweight (0.8 Mg/m3), produces low lateral pressures on walls (as little as 1/2 of soil), is a good thermal insulator (8 times better than soil), has a high permeability (greater than 1 cm/s for many applications), and absorbs vibrations (D. N. Humphery). So due to their light weight, tires had been considered as an alternative for soil/mineral aggregates for civil engineering applications, as a drainage layer for landfill leachate collection systems. TDA has the excellent drainage properties, maintains its structural integrity. TDA reduces the weight makes the material easier to handle and results reduction in transportation costs. Thus the drainage material used in the leachate collection system is tire derived aggregates. Tire derived aggregates of thickness 900mm needed to achieve equal thickness of 300 mm of gravel, due to high compressibility of the tire shreds (44-48%). Thus the leachate collection system is considered to be failed when thickness of leachate mound exceed design thickness of drainage layer. Hydraulic conductivity of the tire rubber under various overburden pressures and confinement becomes important parameter if these scrap tires required to be utilized for drainage application. Fig. 3.1 Tire Derived Aggregate used as a Drainage Layer Material 3.2.1 Determination of hydraulic conductivity of tire derived aggregates: Apparatus used Permeameter mould (internal dia.=30 cm) Measuring cylinder Metre scale Stop watch Grease Fig. 3.2 Schematic Drawing of Constant Head Permeameter Procedure First of all take a permeameter and apply a little grease on the sides of the mould. Weight the permeameter and measured the internal diameter and effective height of the permeameter. Connect the valve of the permeameter with water system and allow water to flow out so that all the air in the permeameter is removed. When all the air has escaped, close the stop cock. Take tire derived aggregates and put 60 cm of TDA in the permeameter and place the plate over TDA, thus the height is reduced. Then allow the water to flow the through tires and establish a steady flow. The head of water is kept 5 cm. When steady state flow was reached, collect the water in the measuring cylinder for a conventional time interval (10 seconds). Increase the head with the increment of 5 cm up to 15 cm. To determine the permeability of the tire derived aggregates. Repeat this procedure thrice, quantity of water collected must be same, otherwise observations were repeated. The formula used for calculating permeability is, K=Q/(A.t) L/h Where k = permeability of tire chips/shreds (cm/sec) Q = quantity of water collected in time, t L = length of sample, cm A = cross sectional area of sample, cm² h = constant hydraulic head, cm 3.2.2 Determination of Compressibility of tire shreds:- The compressibility of tire derived aggregates is typically obtained in a compression test. The TDA particles are placed in a rigid, cylindrical mold, and then an increasing vertical stress is applied and the vertical strain or deformation is measured. The tire shreds are highly compressible due to high porosity. The compressibility of tire shreds can be measured by placing the tire shreds in containers having diameters ranging from 15 to 75 cm. The vertical compression (or strain) caused by an increasing vertical stress is then measured. The compressibility of tire derived aggregates can be measured by stress applied on the sample and the change in the height of the sample. The dial gauge is placed near the end of the container. The load applied on the tire derived aggregates by means of hydraulic jack. Fig. 3.3 Compressibility test set up for Tire Derived Aggregates Fig. 3.4 Tire Derived Aggregates Fig. 3.5 Application of load on the in the permeameter. TDA by hydraulic jack Fig. 3.6 Compressibility of TDA after application of load. Procedure:- The container of 30 cm diameter and 92 cm is filled with tire derived aggregates of average dimension 17×9 cm. The hydraulic jack was placed on the sample and is connected to the loading assembly. The container was connected to the hydraulic jack. Loads were applied incrementally on top of sample using the steel plate of thickness 2 cm. The stresses at the top of the sample were measured using a load gauge attached to the compression apparatus. The sample was loaded up to 50 KN and the unloaded to zero stress. Based on the average stress, a load of 150 KN is applied for 1 minute. As the load reached maximum stress, deformation is taken and then pressure is released to zero. Also the strain applied at the sample can be evaluated by measuring the initial and the final height of the sample after the application of the load. 3.3 Leachate: The characteristics of leachate are highly variable and depend on the composition of the solid waste, precipitation rate, site hydrology and hydrogeology, compaction, waste age, cover design, sampling procedures, interaction of leachate with the landfill design operation and environment. Leachate contains large numbers of organic, inorganic contaminants and high concentrations of total suspended solids. The age of the landfill also affects the concentration of substances in landfill leachate. Under the normal conditions, leachate is found at the bottom of the landfill and moves through the underlying strata, the lateral movement of leachate may also occur, depending on the characteristics of the surrounding drainage material. As leachate percolates through the underlying strata, its chemical and biological constituents will be removed by the filteration and absorptive action of the material composing the strata. The leachate data used in this study has performance results of a landfill site. Leachate samples were collected and analysed for various physico-chemical parameters to estimate its pollution potential. The leachate composition is typical of a mature landfill. The landfill is deposited with wastes of solid, non-hazardous, industrial, commercial and institutional waste from municipalities. The characteristics of leachate are evaluated in terms of BOD, COD and TSS etc. These characteristics are determined for the Jalandhar region (Warriana Dump Site). Fig. 3.7 Leachate Sample Taken from Dump Site 3.4 Leachate Sampling and Analysis: To determine the quality of leachate, integrated samples was collected from landfill location. The sites are non-engineered low lying open dumps. The landfill has neither any bottom liner nor any leachate collection and treatment system. Leachate sample was collected from the base of solid waste heaps where the leachate was drained out by gravity. The concentration of the COD, Ca2+, and TSS is evaluated in laboratory and analysed to determine pollution potential. 3.4.1 Determination of COD concentration:- Reagents: Standard potassium dichromate 0.25 N Sulphuric acid Ferrion indicator Standard ferrous ammonium sulphate solution. Fig. 3.8 Sample preparation for titration (COD conc.) Procedure: Place 0.4 g mercuric sulphate (HgSO4) in a reflux flask. Take 25 ml sample or a smaller amount diluted to 25 ml in a refluxing flask. Add 10 ml 0.25 N K_2 〖Cr〗_2 O_7 solution and again mix. Add 30 ml H2SO4 containing AgSO4 and mixing thoroughly. Attach the condenser and start the cooling water. Add ferroin indicator to the solution. Dilute the mixture and titrate excess of dichromate with standard ferrous ammonium sulphate. The colour will change from yellow to green – blue and finally red. Fig.3.9 End Result after Titration of Sample (COD conc.) Concentration of COD: (A-B) × N × 8000 ml of sample Where, A = blank volume of sample (ml) B= volume of sample used (ml) N= normality of ferrous ammonium sulphate 3.4.2 Determination of Ca2+ concentration:- Analysis method for calcium hardness Reagents: Buffer solution Murexide indicator (potassium purpurate) Sodium hydroxide Standard EDTA solution 0.01 N Fig. 3.10 Change in colour of sample before and after titration (Ca2+ conc.) Procedure: Take 25 ml in porcelain dish or conical flask. Add 1-2 ml buffer solution. Add a pinch of Murexide indicator and titrate with standard EDTA (0.01N) till wine red colour changes to blue. Note down the volume of EDTA required. Formula used = (volume of EDTA × D × 1000) volume of sample used 3.4.3 Determination of TSS concentration:- Analysis methods for Total Solids, Total Suspended Solids and Total Dissolved Solids: Apparatus required: Crucible dish Heater or oven Filter paper Weighing machine Funnel Beaker Fig. 3.11 Suspended Solids in Leachate after Heating Procedure: Total solids: The crucible was cleaned and then put on an oven. Then it was placed on the desiccators until it cools and then the weight was takenW_1. 100 ml of sample was taken in the crucible dish and it was placed in an oven for 24 hours. Then it was taken out of the oven and the weights were noted down i.e. W_2. Weight of total solid = ( W_2-W_1)mg/l. Total suspended solids : Take 100 ml sample in a beaker and filter paper were taken. Filter paper was weighted i.e. W_f and placed in the funnel. Pass water through filter paper. Filter paper was placed in the oven till it dried. Then the filter paper was weighed again i.e. W_f2 Total suspended solids were calculated as : Weight of total suspended solids = ( W_f2 – W_f) mg/l. 3.5 Method to determine the service life of drainage layer: Rowe and Yan (2013) developed a sophisticated numerical model to determine the characteristics of leachate and service life of drainage layer. It was a complex numerical model not suited to routine design application. Thus based on the findings from field studies of Flemming et al.,(1999), Brune et al., (1991) and Cooke et al., (2001), Rowe and Flemming (1998) developed a practical approach for estimating service life of LCS. To calculate the service life of LCS following steps were used (Rowe and Yu 2013): Select the bulk density of clog material, ρc (Kg/m3). Select the peak and residual COD concentration cL1,COD (Kg/m3) and cL2,COD (Kg/m3). Select the peak and residual Ca concentration cL1,Ca (Kg/m3) and cL2,Ca (Kg/m3). Select the peak and residual TSS concentration cL1, TSS (Kg/m3) and cL2,TSS (Kg/m3). Select infiltration rate of qo (m/year) Select size of tire derived aggregates (maximum length). Select the drainage length of LCS, L meter. Select average porosity reduction, ɳc,avg. required to cause clogging. Select drainage layer thickness, B. Select leachate mound thickness at upstream end, Bu (Bu = B-0.1). Select L.M.T at downstream end Bd. Select drainage length between upstream end and location with the maximum leachate mound thickness, Lm. Separator layer should be placed between waste and drainage layer. Calculate reduction in total void volume within the drainage layer .The total void volume occupied by clog mass, Vtot (m2), is equal to the volume of clog material accumulated in the drainage material and is given by: VTot = ∫_0^L▒ɳ_(c avg.) h_(x ) d_x = ɳ_(c avg. ) [1/3 L_(m ) (2B+B_(u) )+ 1/5 (L-L_m )(4B+ B_d)] For calcium concentration cL1,Ca = 2.3 kg/m3 and COD concentration cL1,COD = 26 kg/m3, the condition cL1,Ca > 0.041 cL1,COD is satisfied. Additional TSS concentration cL1,ADD = 0.018 cL1,COD Modified TSS concentration, cL1 = cL1,ADD + fFS cL1,TSS Calculate service life tc (years) of LCS from eq. tc = (ρ_(c f_TSS ) (t) V_Tot)/q_(oC_(L1 ) L) where tc is service life of LCS estimated from the practical model. Thus the service life predicted by using the practical model can be used for the engineering applications where it is difficult to approach BIOCLOG model (Rowe and Yu 2013). CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Tire Derived Aggregates: Tire derived aggregates have the hydraulic conductivity value in range of 1x 10-2 to 1×10-3 m/sec. This value of the hydraulic conductivity is suitable for the efficient drainage in leachate collection systems. The tire derived aggregates used in the drainage layer of leachate collection system should have higher hydraulic conductivity. Thus in comparison to the gravels used in drainage layer, tire derived aggregates can be used. The hydraulic conductivity values observed from the test results are given as: Table 4.1 Hydraulic conductivity values for Tire Derived Aggregates Sr. No. Hydraulic conductivity m/sec Hydraulic gradient, i Head, cm 1 4.7 x 10-3 0.09 5 2 2.9 x 10-3 0.19 10 3 2.1 x 10-3 0.28 15 Fig. 4.1 Variation in Hydraulic Conductivity of Tire Derived Aggregates Gravel:- Gravels have the hydraulic conductivity varying in range of 10-2 to 1. Gravels have the hydraulic conductivity more than that of the tire derived aggregates. Hydraulic conductivity of Gravels:- Table 4.2 Hydraulic conductivity values of Gravel Sr. No. Hydraulic conductivity m/sec Hydraulic gradient, i Head, cm 1 2.9 x 10-2 0.09 5 2 2.59 x 10-2 0.19 10 3 2.4 x 10-2 0.28 15 Fig. 4.2 Variation in Hydraulic Conductivity of Gravel Compressibility:- Gravels are not compressible even under the load. So the effect loading was not considered on the gravel. Although the tire derived aggregates has a great effect of the loading. The tire derived aggregates are much more compressible than that of the gravels. The strain value of the tire derived aggregates was measured with applied stress. The stress strain curve of TDA was plotted. Table 4.3 Compressibility of the Tire Derived Aggregates under loading S. No. Stress (kPa) Initial thickness of sample (cm) Final thickness of sample (cm) Strain% 1. 14 60 56 6.0 2. 28.16 60 54.5 9.16 3. 42.2 60 51.2 14.7 4. 70.42 60 49 18.33 5. 84.50 60 46.5 22.5 6. 112.67 60 42.3 29.5 7. 140.84 60 40.2 33.0 8. 154.92 60 36.8 38.6 9. 211.26 60 31.2 48.0 Fig. 4.3 Compression behaviour of the TDA 4.3 Leachate:- Leachate from active MSW landfill has high concentration of COD, Ca2+ and TSS. As the landfill is still in operating condition, so concentration of leachate is high. Chemical Oxygen Demand: COD represents the amount of oxygen required to completely oxidize the organic waste constituents chemically to inorganic end products. The COD values for leachate samples of the landfilling site after number of titrations are 25360 mg/l, 26450 mg/l, 26355 mg/l, 25480 mg/l, 26220 mg/l. Total Suspended Solids: The total suspended solids in the leachate have high concentrations. The values of TSS obtained are 2680 mg/l, 2720 mg/l, 2715 mg/l, 2690 mg/l, 2755 mg/l. Calcium Hardness: The conc. of Ca -hardness for the sample is obtained as 2275 mg/l, 2335 mg/l, 2345 mg/l, 2284 mg/l, 2330 mg/l. Thus the characteristics of leachate obtained in the laboratory. The average concentration of COD, TSS and Ca2+ is given as Table 4.4 Characteristics of leachate in Jalandhar dump site (Warriana) Sr. No. Parameters Concentrations 1 COD 26000 mg/l 2 Ca2+ 2300 mg/l 3 TSS 2700 mg/l 4.3 Initial characteristics values for service life calculation:- The concentration of the leachate of Jalandhar region is obtained. The leachate in the leachate collection system causes clogging of drainage material over a period of time. The concentration of COD into leachate varies from 25350 to 26400 mg/litres. The values are obtained from number of titrations done for the leachate. So the average concentration of leachate taken is 26000 mg/lit. The effluent average calcium concentration of leachate is about 2300 mg/litres. The calculated TSS concentration is about 2700 mg/litres. The concentration of these parameters is found very high because of continuous dumping of the waste in the area. The properties of TDA are evaluated under test conditions. The permeability of the TDA obtained is 3.1 ×10-3 m/s. The compacted unit weight of tire derived aggregate is 553.85 kg/m3 but generally varies from 525 Kg/m3 to 690 Kg/m3. Thus the calculated average porosity reduction within the leachate mound is 0.20 (the initial porosity was 0.60). The bulk density of the clog mass (ρc) is 1480 Kg/m3. The average annual infiltration rate is 0.2m/year. The thickness of drainage layer opted is 0.9 m and the compresses thickness for tire shreds is 0.54 which is to be used for service life calculation. The length of the drainage layer is taken as 20m, 30m, 32.5m and 100m. The separator layer provided waste and drainage layer. The filter separator coefficient for silt film is fFS = 1.0 Based upon these parameters the approximated service life is calculated for the tire derived aggregate. This evaluated service life is used in practical application of estimating service life as it is not suited to use the sophisticated numerical model. 4.4 Service life calculated using practical application for TDA drainage layer:- Using the above data the service life for the drainage layer can be evaluated. Consider a 0.9 m thick drainage layer at the different drainage length. The compressed thickness of drainage layer is 0.54 which is used. The average porosity reduction within leachate mound is 0.20.The bulk density of clog material is ρc = 1480 kg/m3. The average infiltration rate is taken to be 0.2 m/year. The strength of leachate is assumed to be constant with time having average COD concentration cL1, COD = 26000 ppm = 26 kg/m3, average calcium concentration cL1,Ca= 2300 ppm = 2.3 kg/m3, average TSS concentration, cL1, TSS = 2700 ppm= 2.7 kg/m3. The drainage length between upstream end and the location with maximum leachate mound thickness is Lm = (0.6 x L). The leachate mound thickness at downstream Bd = 0.1 and at upstream Bu = Bcompressed-0.1 = 0.44 m. The separator used may be taken as slim film separator placed between waste and TDA having filter separator coefficient fFS= 1.0. Thus using the equations (Rowe and Yu 2013), the service life for the tire derived aggregate drainage layer can be calculated Case 1: For drainage length L= 20 m. Maximun leachate mound thickness Lm = 0.6 ×L = 12m. .VTot=ɳ_(c avg. ) [1/3 L_(m ) (2B+B_(u) )+ 1/5 (L-L_m )(4B+ B_d)] = o.20 [1/3 12(2×0.54+0.44)+ 1/5 (20-12)(4×0.54+ 0.1)] = 1.95m3 For calcium concentration cL1,Ca= 2.3 kg/m3 and COD concentration cL1,COD = 26 kg/m3, the condition cL1,Ca > 0.041 cL1,COD is satisfied. So the additional TSS concentration cL1,ADD = 0.018cL1,COD = 0.468kg/m3 Modified TSS concentration, cL1 = cL1,ADD+ fFS cL1,TSS =3.16kg/m3 So service life for tire derived aggregate drainage layer is given by the equation tc = (ρ_(c f_TSS ) (t) V_Tot)/q_(oC_(L1 ) L) = (1480×0.375 ×1.95)/(0.2×3.16×20) tc = 86 years Case 2: For drainage length L= 30 m. Maximun leachate mound thickness Lm = 0.6 ×L = 18m. The other parameters remain same. VTot = ɳ_(c avg. ) [1/3 L_(m ) (2B+B_(u) )+ 1/5 (L-L_m )(4B+ B_d)] = o.20 [1/3 18(2×0.54+0.44)+ 1/5 (30-18)(4×0.54+ 0.1)] = 2.91m3 So the service life, tc = (1480×0.375 ×2.91)/(0.2×3.16×30) tc = 85 years Case 3: For drainage length L= 32.5 m. Maximun leachate mound thickness Lm = 0.6 ×L = 19.5m. VTot = ɳ_(c avg. ) [1/3 L_(m ) (2B+B_(u) )+ 1/5 (L-L_m )(4B+ B_d)] = o.20 [1/3 19.5(2×0.54+0.44)+ 1/5 (32.5-19.5)(4×0.54+ 0.1)] = 3.15m3 So the service life, tc = (1480×0.375 ×3.15)/(0.2×3.16×32.5) tc = 86 years Case 4: For drainage length L= 100 m. Maximun leachate mound thickness Lm = 0.6 ×L = 60m. VTot = ɳ_(c avg. ) [1/3 L_(m ) (2B+B_(u) )+ 1/5 (L-L_m )(4B+ B_d)] = o.20 [1/3 60(2×0.54+0.44)+ 1/5 (100-60)(4×0.54+ 0.1)] = 9.698m3 So the service life, tc = (1480×0.375 ×9.69)/(0.2×3.16×100) tc = 85 years From the above results it can be observed that the service life of tire derived aggregate drainage layer is 85 years whereas service life of gravels is found 114 years for the same condition. However the gravel is used as a drainage material worldwide but this conventional material is not easily available these days, so it is reliable to use tire derived aggregate as drainage material. CONCLUSION Based upon the above results it is concluded that The dump is non-engineered low lying open dumps. There is neither any bottom liner nor any leachate collection and treatment system. Therefore, all the leachate generated finds its paths into the surrounding environment. The concentrations of COD, TSS and Ca2+ are found to be more as the landfill is active landfill and still receiving the municipal solid waste. The concentration of these parameters depends upon the type of waste material that is dumped. The tire derived aggregates have the high hydraulic conductivity as it can be used as the drainage material. Tire derived aggregates are available in huge quantity as a waste material, so it is easy to use it as a drainage material, which would thus reduce the construction cost and its adverse effect on environment. It is a simplified mathematical approach, which can be used by the engineer in practice. The estimated service life by numerical approach was near to that of gravel. So tire shreds have enough service life so that can be used as the drainage material.

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Essay on solid waste management 2 models

Last updated Friday , 15-03-2024 on 10:54 am

Essay on solid waste management, recycling is one of the most important topics of concern to developed countries.

The importance of recycling garbage of all kinds for reuse and cleaning the environment from pollution. And when any country begins to set up factories for recycling garbage, it must allocate a factory for each type of garbage. There are several types of garbage, and each type has its own method of collection and recycling. If you want to know how to recycle solid waste, you must follow the following:

Essay on solid waste management

Because of the diversity of garbage and waste, it was necessary to invent specialized equipment in order to recycle all types, no matter how solid they are. In our essay on solid waste management we will talk in detail about possible ways to reuse solid materials. We will talk about the importance of recycling for all people. And we will not forget to talk about the importance of preserving the environment from pollution, through the proper removal of waste. And by recycling them to suit the materials they are made of.

What is recycling?

It is a process in which any material, whatever the material it is made of, is reused, as it is collected from homes or from garbage. After collecting the different materials, they are entered into specific factories to be recycled.

This process is delicate and expensive, but very important to both people and the environment. Instead of throwing these materials and piling them on the planet, it is better that they be recycled and resold to humans so that they can use them in a new form from their previous form. In the essay on solid waste management we can write about the garbage problem.

Garbage problem

Scientists who care about environmental affairs have investigated everything that harms the environment around us, as they said that the problem of garbage is one of the most important problems that must be disposed of. This is because humans dispose of very large amounts of garbage on a daily basis. And with time, the garbage accumulates to become tons everywhere. And because of the garbage, rodents and dangerous diseases spread. So, it was necessary to find solutions to get rid of this serious environmental problem.

Garbage damage

The problem that occurs to humans due to the accumulation of garbage is the breeding of rodents and insects, and the most important of these rodents are mice. Rats have spread a plague that has claimed many lives. Mosquitoes are also dangerous and transmit malaria.

One of the harms of garbage is that people burn it until they find a place to put new garbage, which causes air pollution. This polluted smoke causes human allergies of all kinds and serious respiratory diseases.

Recycled materials

There are several types of waste, such as plastic materials, from which other plastic tools such as cans, bottles, and others are made. There are many paper materials in the garbage, which are recycled into paper products again.

As for the type that we are talking about today in our essay on solid waste management, it is minerals of all kinds.

There are several types of solid waste, some of which are made of tin and others that are made of different metals.

What are the ways in which solid waste is recycled?

Solid materials are of great importance, as they play the role of raw materials for the manufacture of new materials.

In the essay on solid waste management, we will learn about the most popular solid materials, iron, aluminum and copper. These materials are exposed to strong temperatures until they are melted and new materials are made from them after melting.

The process of recycling solid materials helps countries to save raw materials instead of importing them from other countries, which costs them a lot of money. But when you melt the used materials, it saves a lot.

How do we know which materials are recyclable?

When we look at industrial products, they have arrow-like markings. It contains three arrows indicating the possibility of recycling. Therefore, recyclable products must be disposed of properly.

As for materials made of plastic, we find that some numbers are printed on them from the bottom, which are numbers from one to number seven. These numbers indicate that this product is suitable for recycling.

Materials that are permanently recycled, such as glass, are not labeled. But it is known that it is one of the best materials to be recycled and it does not have to have certain characteristics in order to be recycled.

In the essay on solid waste management, I will mention the recycling steps.

What are the three steps to recycling?

The first step: is to collect rubbish from homes or warn residents to put it in designated places. Where specific marks are placed on the garbage bins so that each type of them is placed in a place designated for it.

The second step: In this step, the garbage is sorted and all types made of the same materials are found together.

After confirming the species, they are cleaned of the impurities that have been attached to them until they are completely clean.

The third step: Each type of garbage is entered according to its appropriate manufacturing processes. Where each type is dealt with in a different way from the rest of the materials. In the end, the product comes out in a new form.

The fourth step: In this step, all new products that have been remanufactured are sent to the markets, where they are sold again to citizens. Indeed, people are buying commodities that were produced from yesterday’s rubbish.

What are the benefits of recycling?

Experience has shown that recycling is a very beneficial process. Those interested in the interest of humans and the cleanliness of the environment discovered that this process is one of the most important processes needed for the planet.

It has a variety of benefits, including those related to humans and those related to the environment, and I will explain this in my essay  on solid waste management.

The environment

The benefit of recycling for the environment is that it helps to get rid of the waste that accumulates terribly. When scientists who specialize in the environment and the dangers of pollution researched, they found that garbage is a great danger to the planet as a whole.

When waste is burned, it causes significant air pollution, as carbon dioxide and other toxic gases are released. These harmful gases raise the Earth’s temperature, which leads to global warming.

In the essay on solid waste management, it is important to write about human health, because it is the most important thing he possesses, as he needs to be healthy in order to be able to work and move freely. Therefore, we must eliminate what threatens human health in a strong and permanent manner. One of the most important causes of disease for humans is the accumulation of garbage.

Where humans get food poisoning when waste is thrown into water sources. And it is buried underground, which leads to the release of toxic plant substances. And let’s not forget the garbage that is burned near residential cities.

When we throw away garbage and do not recycle it, it costs the state billions to provide new materials to replace what was thrown away. But when we take the products that were piled up in the trash and reuse them again, we save the state the cost of producing new materials.

But if we do not recycle the old materials, we must import or consume a new stock of raw materials, and this reduces the stock available to the state. And it costs the state large sums of money to complete the import process.

Power generation

In the essay on solid waste management, it is important to talk about energy generation. For solid materials, the processes of smelting them generate great energy, allowing humans to use them for important things. Therefore, the recycling process provides good and clean energy to replace it with unclean energy.

Instead of using the energy resulting from the combustion of petroleum and its derivatives, which cause great damage and pollution to the environment, it is better to replace them with energy generated by recycling heavy and solid materials.

The earth without recycling

If humans do not recycle various products such as plastic, paper, metal and glass, these materials will pile up all over the globe. People will not find enough places for these tons that are increasing on a daily basis.

After several years, the Earth will turn from a habitable planet to a planet covered in deadly waste. Where agricultural lands will disappear and garbage will float on the surface of the seas and rivers. Even the oceans will not be spared from garbage.

In this interesting topic, essay on solid waste management, we learned about the meaning of the recycling process.

And we knew the importance of the recycling process in terms of environmental cleanliness and human health.

Where people contract several diseases when rubbish piles up everywhere. So, there had to be a radical solution to end this serious problem. Environmentalists have come up with good ways to recycle all materials that are thrown into the trash.

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Solid Waste Management: Hazardous Waste Management Essay

Solid waste has become a major upshot of development and modernization in many countries across the world, and its management continues to present many challenges to the developed nations as well as the developing countries.

However, the greatest challenge of solid waste management is felt in third world countries (Thomas-Hope, 1998), where the existing frameworks of solid waste management coupled with weak or inadequate policies regarding the same and population pressures have aggravated the issue to a point of attracting international attention.

This does not imply that developed countries have won the battle of solid waste management; on the contrary, countries such as China and India often stand accused of implementing improper solid waste disposal practices, thus endangering the health of the community and contributing to environmental degradation. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the issue of improper trash disposal practices and the human health problems that such practices may cause in the community.

A multiplicity of actions that we engage in on daily basis may in actual sense constitute improper trash disposal practices by the fact that we do not follow the proper procedures to discard the trash, mostly generated from our interactions with the environment (Thomas-Hope, 1998).

At the most basic level, we often drop banana peels in places not designated for garbage disposal, in the process endangering the lives of passersby, who may step on the peel and slip, causing injury. This in itself constitutes an improper trash disposal practice.

At a more specific level, some companies are known to drain chemical byproducts from their manufacturing processes into the nearby rivers, in the process generating a situation which can have far-reaching ramifications for the environment, the aquatic life, and for the public who may end up using such water for domestic purposes (Leach, 2010).

Other waste management practices end up mixing trash that can decompose with others that cannot decompose, resulting in an escalation of the waste disposal problem as seen in most Asian countries that are struggling to clear man-made ‘mountains’ of garbage generated by employing improper trash disposal practices (Thomas-Hope, 1998).

As such, it can be argued that methods and techniques of waste disposal that end up occasioning negative consequences for the environment, natural vegetation, inhabitants (people and animals), and the public health constitutes improper trash disposal practices.

Improper trash disposal practices may lead to a number of human health problems. Indeed, a meta-analysis of several environmental studies done by Thomas-Hope (1998) demonstrates that the consequences of improper disposal of waste causes governments to spend huge sums of money to mitigate against disease outbreaks or in treating individuals whose conditions are largely derived from the poor waste disposal practices.

In the decomposing phase, various types of garbage may combine to form gases and chemicals that are potentially dangerous to the health of individuals. As unpleasant as it may seem, dead animals and raw sewage are among the types of organic waste that may find their way into the ‘mountains’ of garbage in the absence of an effective solid waste management system (Leach, 2010).

Assuming that such an area is hit by a devastating earthquake or rains heavily, the waste and its poisonous emissions and chemicals will be soaked and then carried through the landmass and into the underground water table, which is a fundamental source of the water that we drink and use on daily basis.

These chemicals and compounds can cause irreversible health conditions in people who take such water, and studies have demonstrated that various forms of cancers, tooth decay, stomach problems, and birth defects are often caused by such contamination (Leach, 2010). These medical conditions end up consuming vast financial resources in treatment, but the solution can be readily found in developing and implementing effective trash disposal practices.

As demonstrated in Haiti after the devastating earthquake, disease outbreaks are likely to occur in areas with inadequate mechanisms or frameworks of disposing waste. The open pits and uncollected garbage has caused Haitians untold suffering in cholera outbreaks and diarrhea.

Away from Haiti, it has been observed that Malaria increases in areas where water collects in uncollected plastic bags because mosquitoes find ready bleeding grounds (Leach, 2010). As such, it is imperative to encourage people not to dispose their plastic wrappings and bags in the open fields within the community as this is likely to lead to more health challenges for the people residing in the area.

Lastly, the deterioration of air quality and climate change occasioned by improper trash disposal practices can cause human health problems, some of which may be very difficult to treat (Leach, 2010).

It is well known that the process of waste decomposition generates methane, a greenhouse gas that is considerably responsible for some of the changes in the global temperatures that is being experienced, and which have made many countries to come together to fight global warming. Indirectly, many of the diseases and parasites which threaten the health and wellbeing of individuals are known to thrive well in conditions brought about by global warming.

As such, it can be argued that the production of the methane gas upon decomposition of waste which has been improperly disposed off occasions the right conditions for disease prevalence through global warming. Burning of waste in the open is also an improper waste disposal method since it releases dangerous and toxic chemicals such as dioxin in to the environment (Leach, 2010). Such gases have the capacity to cause serious public health risks.

As such, the focus should be on all the interested stakeholders to develop mechanisms, frameworks, and practices that will necessitate proper trash disposal for the sake of the environment and its inhabitants, and for the sake of our own prosperity and well-being.

Reference List

Leach, M. (2010). Effects of improper solid waste disposal . Web.

Thomas-Hope, E. (1998). Solid waste management: Critical issues for developing countries . Kingston: Canoe Press.

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Essay on Solid Waste Management: Top 3 Essays | Waste Management

Here s an essay on ‘Solid Waste Management’ for class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Solid Waste Management’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Solid Waste Management

Essay # 1. introduction to solid waste management:.

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is also carried out to recover resources from it. Waste management can involve solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive substances, with different methods and fields of expertise for each.

Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations, for urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial producers. Management for non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.

Essay # 2. Waste Management Concepts:

There are a number of concepts about waste management which vary in their usage between countries or regions.

Some of the most general, widely-used concepts include:

i. Waste hierarchy:

The waste hierarchy refers to the “3 Rs” reduce, reuse and recycle, which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste mini­mization. The waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimization strate­gies. The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste.

ii. Extended producer responsibility:

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a strategy designed to promote the integration of all costs associated with products throughout their life cycle (including end of life disposal costs) into the market price of the product. Extended producer responsibility is meant to impose accountability over the entire lifecycle of products and packaging introduced to the market. This means that firms which manufac­ture, import and/or sell products are required to be responsible for the products after their useful life as well as during manufacture.

iii. Polluter pays principle:

The Polluter Pays Principle is a principle where the polluting party pays for the impact caused to the environment. With respect to waste management, this gener­ally refers to the requirement for a waste generator to pay for appropriate disposal of the waste.

Essay # 3. Steps for Solid Waste Management (Collection, Conveyance and Disposal):

Solid waste can be disposed to land or oceans. Solid wastes can also be recovered and reprocessed, a procedure popularly known as recycling. Before disposal or recovery, however, the waste must be collected. All these i.e., collection, disposal and/or recovery form a part of the solid waste management system.

A. Collection:

i. Access to waste collection points:

Many sources of waste might only be reached by roads or alleys which may be inaccessible to certain methods of transport because of their width, slope, congestion of surface.

ii. Public awareness and attitudes to waste:

This can affect the readiness to carry waste to a shared container, the willingness to accept the proximity of a shared container, the willing­ness to segregate waste to assist recycling, the frequency at which wastes should be collected, the amount of litter and animal excreta that are left on the street the willingness to pay for waste management services and the social groups from which waste management staff can be drawn.

iii. Collection includes all the activities:

Associated with gathering of solid wastes and hauling of the waste collected to the location from where collection vehicles will transport it to disposal site.

There are three basic methods of collection are:

1. Community storage point:

The municipal refuge is taken to fixed storage bins and stored till the waste collection agency collect it daily for disposal in vehicle.

2. Kerb side collection:

In advance of collection time the refuse is brought in containers and placed on the foot way, from it is collected by waste collection agency.

3. Block collection:

Individuals bring the waste in containers and hand it over to the collec­tion staff who empties it into waiting vehicle and return the containers to individuals.

The collection truck and crew are most important members of the collection system. Collection trucks commonly used are of the enclosed, compacting type. Compaction in a collection vehicle temporarily reduces the refuse volume by about 80%. Mechanical collection systems should be used. These systems consist of standardized containers and truck mounted lifting mechanism. The crew parks its truck near the container placed in road side and lift it at the backside of the truck. By mechanical handling the container is emptied into the truck.

Modern collection systems involve pneumatic pipe line transport. In pneumatic systems, refuse is pulled by suction or vacuum through underground pipes to central underground collection site or it can go directly to the processing site.

Transportation:

The method of transport involves two steps:

(1) The transfer of waste from the smaller collection vehicle to the large transport equipment and

(2) The subsequent transport of the wastes, to a long distance disposal site (Fig. 8.2).

Transfer stations:

It is not always feasible for individual collection trucks to haul refuse to a waste processing plant or final disposal site when the destination is not immediate vicinity of the community in which waste is collected. Therefore, to solve this problem, there may be several transfer stations area wise where the refuse will be collected and then it will be transported to the disposal or processing sites by bigger transport vehicles.

Individual transfer station capacities may vary from less than 100 tons to more than 500 tons of wastes per day, depending upon the size of community. There are two basic modes of operation- direct discharge or storage discharge. In a storage discharge transfer station, the refuse is first emptied from the collection trucks into a storage pit or on a large platform. But in a direct discharge station, each refuse truck empties directly into the larger transport vehicle. The trailers have a capacity of 75 m 3 and hold the solid waste from four collection vehicles if it is not compacted and from eight collection vehicles if it is compacted.

As an alternative to large (often international) companies that can provide most or all of the solid waste services in a city, Microenterprises or Small Enterprises (MSEs) can be involved. They often use simple equipment and labour-intensive methods, and therefore can collect waste in places where the conventional trucks of large companies cannot enter. These MSEs may be stated as a business, to create income and employment, or they may be initiated by community members who wish to improve the immediate environment of their homes.

A recurring problem with collection schemes that operate at the community level is that the community scheme generally takes the waste a relatively short distance to a transfer point, from where the waste is supposed to be collected by another organisation i.e., often municipality.

Problems of coordination and payment often result in the waste being left at transfer points for a long time. Another solution is to recycle as much of the waste locally so that there is very little need for ongoing transport to collected waste.

Waste collection methods vary widely between different countries and regions, and it would be impossible to describe them all. Many areas, especially those in less developed countries, do not have a formal waste-collection system in place.

For example, in Australia most urban domestic households have a 240-litre (63.4 U.S gallon) bin that is emptied weekly from the curb using side-or rear-loading compactor trucks. In Europe and a few other places around the world, a few communities use a proprietary collection system known as Envac, which conveys refuse via underground conduits using a vacuum system.

Roosevelt Island has had this system since 1975. In Canadian urban centres curbside collection is the most common method of disposal, whereby the city collects waste and/or recyclables and/or organics on a scheduled basis. In rural areas people usually dispose of their waste by hauling it to a transfer station. Waste collected is then transported to a regional landfill.

B. Disposal:

Waste management methods for vary widely between areas for many reasons, including type of waste material, nearby land uses, and the area available.

1. Processing of solid wastes (For volume reduction):

Processing is the second fundamental function of solid waste management. Processing improves the efficiency of solid waste disposal and prepares solid waste for subsequent recovery of materials and energy. In the not too distant past, disposal of solid wastes included open dumping, sanitary land filling and disposal at sea. Because of environmental problems associated with open dumps and sea disposal, the only acceptable method of solid waste disposal at present is sanitary land filling.

(a) Processing for recovery of materials for recycling:

Processing to segregate solid waste components may be done at the point of generation (on site processing) or at central processing facility. Onsite processing needs cooperation of waste producer; homes, commercial establishments, industries and the like. In onsite processing, wastes are segregated into types at the point of generation.

For example, paper into one container, cans into another, glass, plastic and so on. In absence of onsite processing segregation into components may be done at central facility. Unit operations, in a central facility involve screening, air classifying and magnetic separations size reduction using shred­ders is also used to produce a more uniformly sized products.

Screening is a unit operation of separating a feed into oversize and under- size products. Oversize products are those that do not pass the openings of the screen, undersized products are those that do pass the opening of the screen. Solids like plas­tic, glass, rubber, iron scraps, tin cans, paper etc., are picked up and sent for recycling to the factories.

(b) Shredding and pulverising:

First, in the processing is the size reduction, so that total volume and weight of wastes and reduced. Volume reduction helps in utilizing less land for disposal. It also reduces cost of transportation. Alongwith volume and weight reduction, waste processing changes its form and improves its handling character. Size reduction is effected by the physical processes of shredding or pulverizing.

Shredding means cutting and tearing whereas pulverisation means crushing and grinding. Shredding and pulverising reduce the overall volume of the original or raw waste materials about 40%. This is needed, because the production of refuse derived fuel on (RDF), requires processing of the raw solid waste.

(c) Hammer mills:

One of the most common types equipment used for processing munici­pal solid waste (MSW) into a uniform and homogeneous mass is the hammer mill. A hammer mill is a mechanical impact device in which the waste material is cramped with a force to crush or tear individual pie of the waste. Impact is provided by several hammers that rotate at high speeds around a central horizontal or vertical shaft. It is possible to reduce the size of waste material components to uniform fragments between 25 and 50 mm with proper operation.

(d) Baling:

Compacting the solid waste into the form of rectangular blocks or bales is called baling, MSW bales are typically about 1.5 m 3 in size and weight about 1 kN. Solid waste can be compacted high pressure (about-700 k Pa) in either vertical or horizontal presses, the bales are frequently wrapped with steel wire to help retain their rectangular shape during handling.

They may also be enclosed in hot a sphalt, plastic or port-land cement bags on tied with metal bands, depending on the intended use or disposal method. In this process, the volume reduction is about 90%. The basic advan­tage of an MSW baling process in the significant decrease in waste volume, the ease of handling the compacted refuse and the reduction of litter and nuisance potential.

(e) Incineration:

Incineration is a waste disposal method that involves the combustion of waste at high temperature. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as “thermal treatment”. In effect, incineration of waste materi­als converts the waste into heat, gaseous emissions, and residual solid ash. Other types of thermal treatment include pyrolysis and gasification.

A waste-to-energy plant (WtE) is a modern term for an incinerator that burns wastes in high-efficiency furnace/boilers to produce steam and/or electricity and incorporates modern air pollution control systems and continuous emissions monitors. This type of incinerator is sometimes called an energy-from-waste (EfW) facility.

Incineration is popular is countries such as Japan where land is a scarce resource, as incinerators do not consume as much area as a landfill. Sweden has been a leader in using the energy generated from incineration over the past 20 years. Denmark also extensively used waste-to-energy incineration in localized combined heat and power facilities support­ing district heating schemes.

Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals and on a large scale by industry. It is recognized as a practical method of disposing of certain hazardous waste materials (such as biological medical waste), though it remains a controversial method of waste disposal in many places due to issues such as emission of gaseous pollutants.

Breaking down complex chemical chains such a dioxin through the application of heat usually cannot be done by simply burning the material at the temperature seen in an open-air fire. It is often necessary to supplement the combustion process with gas or oil burners and air blowers to raise the temperature high enough to result in molecular breakdown.

Alternately, the exhaust gases from a natural air fire may pass through tubes heated to sufficiently high temperatures to trigger thermal breakdown. Thermal breakdown of pollutant molecules can indirectly create other pollution problems. Dioxin breakdown begins at 1000 °C, but at the same time poisonous nitrogen oxides and ozone begin to form when atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen break down at 1600 °C. This undesired oxide formation may require further catalytic treatment of the exhaust gases.

(f) Composting and anaerobic digestion:

Waste materials that are organic in nature, such as plant material, food scraps and paper products, are increasingly being recycled using biological composting and/or digestion processes to decompose the organic matter and kill pathogens. The resulting organic material is then recycled as mulch or compost for agricultural or landscaping purposes.

(g) Mechanical biological treatment:

Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) is a technol­ogy category for combinations of mechanical sorting and biological treatment of the organic fraction of municipal waste. MBT is also sometimes called BMT (Biological Mechanical Treatment), however this simply refers to the order of processing. The “mechanical” element is usually a bulk handling mechanical sorting state.

This re­moves recyclable elements from the waste (such as metals, plastics and glass), and/or processes it to produce Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) that is burnt in power plants, boilers or kilns. The “biological” element refers to a biological digestion process, which breaks down the biodegradable component of the waste to produce biogas and/or organic- matter. The biogas can be used to generate energy; and organic matter recycled as compost.

An example of large-scale biological treatment facility is the composting facility in Edmonton, Canada, where 200,000 tonnes of residential solid waste and 22,500 tonnes of bio-solids are composted each year to produce 80,000 tonnes of compost. The co- composter itself is 38,690 square metres in size, equivalent to 8 football fields.

(h) Pyrolysis and gasification:

Pyrolysis and gasification are two related forms of thermal treatment where waste materials are heated to high temperatures with limited oxygen availability. The process typically occurs in a sealed vessel under high pressure. Converting material to energy in a sealed environment is potentially more efficient than direct incineration, with more energy able to be recovered and used.

Pyrolysis of solid waste converts the material into solid, liquid and gas products. The liquid oil and gas can be burnt to produce energy or refined into other products. The solid residue (char) can be further refined into products such as activated carbon. Gasifica­tion is used to convert organic materials directly into a synthetic gas (syngas) com­posed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The gas is then burnt to produce electricity and steam. Gasification is used in biomass power stations to produce renewable energy and heat.

C. Recovery of Resources:

Resource recovery means the obtaining of some economic benefit from material that someone has regarded as waste.

It includes:

(i) Reuse- being used for the same purpose again (such as refilling a soft drinks bottle).  

(ii) Recovery-processing material so that it can be used again as the same material, such as the processing of waste paper to make pulp and then paper.  

(iii) Conversion- processing the material to make something different (such as producing padding for clothing and sleeping bags from plastic bottles, or producing compost from food waste).  

(iv) Energy recovery-usually referring to the burning of waste so that the heat can be used. Another method of energy recovery is to collect the gas is produced in very large sanitary landfills and use it as a fuel or to generated electricity.

Some key factors that affect the potential for resource recovery are the cost of the separated mate­rial, its purity, its quantity and its location. The costs of storage and transport are major factors that decide the economic potential for resource recovery. In many low-income countries, the fraction of material that is won for resource recovery is very high, because this work is done in a very labour- intensive way, and for very low incomes. In such situations the creation of employment is the main economic benefit of resource recovery.

A relatively recent idea is waste management has been to treat the waste material as a resource to be exploited, instead of simply a challenge to be managed and disposed of. There are a number of different methods by which resources may be extracted from waste: the materials may be extracted and recycled, or the calorific content of the waste may be converted to electricity.

The process of extracting resources or values from waste is variously referred to as secondary resource recovery, recycling, and other terms. The practice of treating waste materials as a resource is becoming more common, especially in metropolitan areas where space for new landfills is becoming scarcer. There is also a growing acknowledgment that simply disposing of waste materials is unsustainable in the long term, as there is a finite supply of most raw materials.

There are a number of methods of recovering resources from waste materials, with new technologies and methods being developed continuously.

Recycling means to recover for other use a material that would otherwise be considered waste. The popular meaning of ‘recycling’ in most developed countries has come to refer to the widespread collection and reuse of various everyday waste materials, such as newspapers and drink bottles.

They are collected and sorted into common types so that the raw materials from these items can be used again to create new products. In many areas, material for recycling is collected separately from general waste using dedicated bins and collection vehicles. Other waste management processes can recover materials from mixed waste streams.

In developed countries, the most common consumer items recycled include aluminium beverage cans, steel, food and aerosol cans, HDPE and PET bottles, glass bottles and jars, paperboard cartons, newspapers, magazines, and cardboard. Other types of plastic (PVC, LDPE, PP, and PS) are also recyclable, although these are not as commonly collected. These items are usually composed of a single type of material, making them relatively easy to recycle into new products. The recycling of complex products (such as computers and electronic equipment) is more difficult and costly, due to the separation and reprocessing required.

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Municipal solid waste management in Russia: potentials of climate change mitigation

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• Published: 29 July 2021
• Volume 19 , pages 27–42, ( 2022 )

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The goal of this study was to assess the impact of the introduction of various waste management methods on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from these activities. The assessment was carried out on the example of the Russian waste management sector. For this purpose, three scenarios had been elaborated for the development of the Russian waste management sector: Basic scenario, Reactive scenario and Innovative scenario. For each of the scenarios, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated during waste management was calculated. The calculation was based on the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The results of the greenhouse gas net emissions calculation are as follows: 64 Mt CO 2 -eq./a for the basic scenario, 12.8 Mt CO 2 -eq./a for the reactive scenario, and 3.7 Mt CO 2 -eq./a for the innovative scenario. An assessment was made of the impact of the introduction of various waste treatment technologies on the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions generated in the waste management sector. An important factor influencing the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from landfills is the recovery and thermal utilization of 60% of the generated landfill gas. The introduction of a separate collection system that allows to separately collect 20% of the total amount of generated municipal solid waste along with twofold increase in the share of incinerated waste leads to a more than threefold reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions from the waste management sector.

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Introduction

Population growth, urbanization and changing life style have resulted in increased amounts of generated solid waste, which poses serious challenges for many cities and authorities around the world (Abu Qdais et al. 2019 ; Chen 2018 ; Dedinec et al. 2015 ). In 2011, world cities generated about 1.3 Gt of solid waste; this amount is expected to increase to 2.2 Gt by 2025 (Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata 2012 ). Unless properly managed on a national level, solid waste causes several environmental and public health problems, which is adversely reflected on the economic development of a country (Abu Qdais 2007 ; Kaza et al. 2018 ).

One of the important environmental impact of the waste management sector are the generated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These emissions come mostly from the release of methane from organic waste decomposition in landfills (Wuensch and Kocina 2019 ). The waste management sector is responsible for 1.6 Gt carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2 -eq.) of the global GHG direct anthropogenic emissions per year (Fischedick et al. 2014 ), which accounts for approx. 4% of the global GHG emissions (Papageorgiou et al. 2009 ; Vergara and Tchobanoglous 2012 ). The disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) contributes to 0.67 Gt CO 2 -eq./a worldwide (Fischedick et al. 2014 ), which is approx. 1.4% of the global GHG emissions. Per capita emissions in developed countries are estimated to be about 500 kg CO 2 -eq./a (Wuensch and Kocina 2019 ), while in the developing and emerging countries, it is around 100 kg CO 2 -eq./a per person. This low contribution of waste management sector comparing to other sectors of the economy, such as energy and transportation, might be the reason for the small amount of research that aims to study GHG emissions from the waste management sector (Chung et al. 2018 ).

However, it is important to consider that the mitigation of GHG emissions from waste management sector is relatively simple and cost-effective as compared to other sectors of the economy. Several studies proved that separate waste collection and composting of biowaste as well as landfilling with landfill gas recovery is currently found to be one of the most effective and economically sound GHG emissions mitigation options (Chen 2018 ; EI-Fadel and Sbayti 2000 ; Yedla and Sindhu 2016 ; Yılmaz and Abdulvahitoğlu 2019 ). Metz et al. 2001 estimated that 75% of the savings of methane recovered from landfills can be achieved at net negative direct cost, and 25% at cost of about 20 US$/Mg CO 2 -eq./a. In any country of the world, the potential of the waste management sector is not yet fully utilized; the implementation of relatively simple and inexpensive waste treatment technologies might contribute to national GHG mitigation goals and convert the sector from a net emitter into a net reducer of GHG emissions (Crawford et al. 2009 ; Voigt et al. 2015 ; Wuensch and Simon 2017 ).

While there are many well-established solutions and technologies for the reduction in GHG emitted from the waste sector, there is no universal set of options that suits all the countries. When thinking to adapt certain solutions of GHG mitigation, it is important to take into account local circumstances such as waste quantities and composition, available infrastructure, economic resources and climate (Crawford et al. 2009 ).

It is expedient to assess how the introduction of modern waste management methods affects the amount of GHG emissions from the waste management process by the example of those countries in which the waste management sector is undergoing reform. These countries include the Russian Federation, where the values of targets for the waste management industry until 2030 are legally established (Government of the Russian Federation 2018 ). In addition, on February 8, 2021, Russia issued a Presidential Decree “On Measures to Implement State Scientific and Technical Policy in the Field of Ecology and Climate,” which prescribes the creation of a Federal Program for the Creation and Implementation of Science-Intensive Technologies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation 2021 ).

The goal of this study was to quantify the impact of the introduction of various modern waste treatment methods on the volume of GHG emissions from the waste management sector using the example of Russia. To achieve this goal, the following objectives were set and solved:

Elaborate scenarios for the development of the waste management industry, based on the established Industry Development Strategy for the period up to 2030 (Government of the Russian Federation 2018 )

Determine the weighted average morphological composition of MSW;

Select emission factors for various waste treatment methods;

Calculate GHG emissions under each scenario and analyze the calculation results.

The study was conducted from November 2019 to May 2020; the text was updated in March 2021 in connection with the changed situation, as climate change issues began to play an important role on the agenda in Russia. The study and its calculations are theoretical in nature and did not involve experimental research. It was carried out by the authors at their place of work—in Germany (Technische Universität Dresden, Merseburg University of Applied Sciences) and in Russia (Perm National Research Polytechnic University).

Greenhouse gas emissions related to municipal solid waste management sector in Russia

According to the State Report on the Status of Environmental Protection of the Russian Federation of 2018 (Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation 2019 ), the volume of generated MSW has increased by 17% from 235.4 to 275.4 m 3 (49.9 to 58.4 Mt) during the time period 2010 to 2018. With approx. 147 million inhabitants, the annual per capita generation rate is about 400 kg. Until now, MSW management in Russia has been disposal driven. More than 90% of MSW generated is transported to landfills and open dump sites; 30% of the landfills do not meet sanitary requirements (Korobova et al. 2014 ; Tulokhonova and Ulanova 2013 ). According to the State Register of the Waste Disposal Facilities in Russia, there were 1,038 MSW landfills and 2,275 unregistered dump sites at the end of 2018 (Rosprirodnadzor 2019 ). Such waste management practices are neither safe nor sustainable (Fedotkina et al. 2019 ), as they pose high public health and environmental risks and lead to the loss of valuable recyclable materials such as paper, glass, metals and plastics which account for an annual amount of about 15 Mt (Korobova et al. 2014 ).

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requirements, the signatory parties of the convention need to prepare and submit national communication reports that document GHG emissions and sinks in each country by conducting an inventory based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines (UNFCCC 2006 ). Being the fourth biggest global emitter of GHG emissions, Russia submitted its latest National Inventory Report (NIR) to UNFCCC in April 2019. The report documents national GHG emissions by source and removals by sink (Russian Federation 2019 ). The total emissions had been decreased from 3.2 Gt in 1990 to about 2.2 Gt of CO 2 -eq. in 2017, which implies 30% reduction over a period of 27 years. At the same time, the emissions from the disposal of solid waste increased from 33 Mt in 1990 by more than 100% to 69 Mt CO 2 -eq. in 2017. In terms of methane emissions, Russian solid waste disposal sector is the second largest emitter in the country and accounts for 18.1% of the total emitted methane mostly in the form of landfill gas, while the energy sector is responsible for 61.2% of methane emissions (Russian Federation 2019 ).

Landfill gas recovery from MSW landfills is not widely practiced in the Russian Federation. According to the statistics of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, the share of landfill gas energy in the total renewable energy produced in Russia was 8.61%, 5.43%, 2.77% and 2.59% in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively (Arkharov et al. 2016 ). Different studies show that the potential of recovering energy from landfill gas in the Russian Federation is high (Arkharov et al. 2016 ; Sliusar and Armisheva 2013 ; Starostina et al. 2018 ; Volynkina et al. 2009 ).

Waste-to-energy technology is still in its infancy in Russia; the country is lagging in this area (Tugov 2013 ). Despite that, there is a great interest among the public as well as the private sector in the possibilities of the recovery of energy from MSW. In April 2014, the State Program “Energy Efficiency and Energy Development” was approved, which includes a subprogram on the development of renewable energy sources in the Russian Federation (Government of the Russian Federation 2014 ). In this program, MSW was considered as a source of renewable energy. Until the year 2017, there were only four waste incineration plants in Moscow region processing 655,000 Mg MSW per year, with only one incinerator recovering energy in form of heat and electricity (Dashieva 2017 ). In the nearest future, the construction of four additional incinerators in Moscow region and one in the city of Kazan is planned. The annual total combined capacity of the four new plants in Moscow will be about 2.8 Mt (Bioenergy International 2019 ). In the Kazan incinerator, 0.55 Mt of MSW will be treated annually, which eventually will allow ceasing of landfilling of solid waste in the Republic of Tatarstan (Bioenergy International 2019 ; Regnum 2017 ). The construction of these five new incineration plants is part of the Comprehensive Municipal Solid Waste Strategy adopted by the Russian government in 2013 (Plastinina et al. 2019 ). The focus of this strategy is the reduction in the amount of landfilled waste by creating an integrated management system and industrial recycling of waste.

Separate collection of MSW and the recycling of different waste fractions at the moment plays only a negligible role in the Russian Federation.

Materials and methods

Scenarios of the development of municipal solid waste management system.

To assess the current situation and the potential for reducing GHG emissions from the MSW management industry, three scenarios of the development of the Russian waste management system had been elaborated. The developed scenarios are based on the official statistics data on the amount of waste generated and treated, and also on the adopted legislative acts that determine the development directions of the Russian waste management system and set targets in these areas (Council for Strategic Development and National Projects 2018 ). That is why the developed scenarios include such measures to improve the waste management system as elimination of unauthorized dump sites, introduction of landfill gas collection and utilization systems at the landfills, incineration of waste with energy recovery, separate collection of waste, and recycling of utilizable waste fractions, and do not include other waste-to-energy technologies and waste treatment strategies contributing to climate change mitigation. Separate collection and treatment of biowaste is not applied in the national waste management strategy of the Russian Federation (Government of the Russian Federation 2018 ) and therefore was beyond the scope of the elaborated scenarios. For the purpose of the current study, three scenarios had been developed.

Scenario 1: BASIC (business as usual)

This scenario is based on the current waste management practices, under which 90% of the generated mixed MSW is disposed of on landfills and dump sites. According to the 6th National Communication Report of the Russian Federation to UNFCCC, the total MSW generated that found its way to managed landfills Footnote 1 was 49.209 Mt in 2009, while the amount of MSW disposed in unmanaged disposal sites (dumps) was 5.067 Mt. In 2017, the amount of MSW generated was 58.4 Mt with 10% being diverted from landfills: 3% incinerated and 7% recycled (Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation 2019 ). According to Russian Federation 2019 , landfill gas recovery is not taking place at Russian landfills. This scenario implies the closure of unorganized dump sites, with all the waste to be disposed of on managed dump sites or landfills only.

Scenario 2: REACTIVE (moderate development)

The reactive scenario implies a moderate development of the waste management sector, based on the construction of several large incinerators, a small increase in the share of waste to be recycled and the disposal of remaining waste at sanitary landfills, Footnote 2 with the closure of all the existing unorganized dump sites. In this scenario, all Russian regions were divided into two clusters: the first cluster included the city of Moscow and the Republic of Tatarstan, where new waste incinerators are being built, and the second cluster which includes — all the other cities and regions.

Moscow and the Republic of Tatarstan

In Moscow and Tatarstan together, 8.586 Mt of mixed MSW is generated annually (Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan 2018 ; Department of Housing and Communal Services of the city of Moscow 2019 ). In an attempt to introduce the waste-to-energy technology in Russia, an international consortium that consists of Swiss, Japanese and Russian firms is currently involved in constructing five state-of-the-art incineration plants in these two areas. Four incinerators are to be built in the Moscow region and one in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. The annual combined capacity of the four plants in Moscow will be about 2.8 Mt of MSW, and the one of Kazan 0.55 Mt (Bioenergy International 2019 ; Regnum 2017 ). In this scenario, it is assumed that compared to the basic scenario, the share of waste undergone recycling is increased to 10%, i.e., 0.859 Mt annually. Furthermore, these 10% would be transferred to recycling plants to recover secondary raw materials. The remaining 4.377 Mt of mixed MSW would be disposed of in sanitary landfills.

Other cities and regions

In the other cities and regions of Russia, in accordance with the Development Strategy of Waste Recycling Industry until 2030 (Government of the Russian Federation 2018 ), over two hundred new eco-techno parks (i.e., waste recycling complexes) will be built. These facilities will receive mixed MSW that will be sorted there for recycling purposes. Under this scenario, it is also assumed that compared to the basic scenario, the share of waste undergone recycling is increased to 10%, thus transferring 4.982 Mt annually of the mixed MSW to recycling plants. The remaining 44.932 Mt of MSW are disposed of in sanitary landfills.

Scenario 3: INNOVATIVE (active development)

This scenario is based on the legally established priority areas for the development of the industry (Council for Strategic Development and National Projects 2018 ; Government of the Russian Federation 2018 ). The scenario implies deep changes in the industry with the introduction of technologies for incineration, separate collection and recycling of waste. In this scenario, the regions of Russia are divided into three clusters, in accordance with the possibilities of improving the infrastructure for waste management and the need for secondary resources and energy received during the processing of waste. When determining the share of waste to which this or that treatment method is applied, federal targets (Council for Strategic Development and National Projects 2018 ; Government of the Russian Federation 2018 ) and estimates made by the World Bank (Korobova et al. 2014 ) were used.

The first cluster includes two huge, densely populated urban agglomerations in which large incineration plants are under construction: Moscow and Tatarstan. With the construction of new waste incinerators, 3.35 Mt of mixed MSW will be incinerated annually. It is assumed that some 10% of mixed MSW (0.859 Mt) generated in these two regions is to be transferred to eco-techno parks for secondary raw material recovery. Some 20% of the MSW (1.712 Mt) is to be recovered from separately collected waste, and the rest of 2.66 Mt (31%) to be disposed of in sanitary landfills.

Cities with more than 0.5 million inhabitants

This cluster includes large urban agglomerations with developed industry and high demand for materials and energy resources. In this cluster, approx. 28 Mt of MSW is generated annually (Korobova et al. 2014 ). Under this scenario, it is assumed that waste incineration plants are also built in some larger cities, besides Moscow and Kazan. However, the exact quantity and capacity of these plants is yet unknown; it was assumed that in comparison with the basic scenario, in this scenario, the share of incinerated waste increased to 10%, the share of recycled waste to 15%, and a separate waste collection system is partially implemented. Hereby, 10% of the generated mixed MSW (2.79 Mt) is undergoing incineration, 15% (4.185 Mt) is transferred to sorting facilities for secondary raw material recovery, some 20% of the MSW (5.58 Mt) is recovered from separately collected waste and the rest 55% (15.345 Mt) is disposed of in sanitary landfills.

Smaller cities with less than 0.5 million inhabitants and rural areas

This cluster includes smaller cities and towns with some industrial enterprises, as well as rural areas. The amount of waste generated annually in this group of settlements is 21.914 Mt. It is assumed that no waste is incinerated, 15% of the mixed MSW (3.287 Mt) is transferred to sorting facilities for secondary raw material recovery, 10% (2.191 Mt) is recovered from separately collected waste, and the rest 75% (16.435 Mt) is disposed of in sanitary landfills.

Waste flow diagrams corresponding to the three scenarios with their input and output flows are shown in Fig.  1 .

MSW management scenarios with model inputs and outputs

In all the three scenarios, mixed MSW is transferred to sorting facilities where the recovery of valuable materials by mostly hand sorting takes place. Detailed accounts of process efficiency for material recovery facilities, in terms of recovery rates and quality of recovered materials, are scarce in the published literature (Cimpan et al. 2015 ). In the study of Cimpan et al., 2015 , at least three data sets were evaluated with the result that 13–45% of paper, 3–49% of glass, 35–84% of metals and 1–73% of plastics were recovered from the plant input of these materials. Two other studies report similar recovery rates between 60 and 95% for paper, glass, plastic and aluminum for hand and automatic sorting test trials (CalRecovery, Inc and PEER Consultants 1993 ; Hryb 2015 ). Based on this data and the results of the authors’ own experimental studies on manual waste sorting in Russia, the recovery rates for the most valuable waste fractions, including paper/cardboard, glass, metals and plastics had been calculated (Table 1 ). In the Scenario 3, separate collection of paper/cardboard, glass and plastic is introduced. Recovery rates related to the input of the corresponding waste type into each waste management cluster (see Table 1 ) for Moscow and Tatarstan as well as for the cities with more than 0.5 million inhabitants are considered to be higher than for the settlements with less than 0.5 million inhabitants.

For the comparison of GHG emissions of the three elaborated scenarios, a specific assessment model was elaborated.

Model structure

The calculation of the amounts of released and avoided GHG emissions for the different considered waste treatment technologies are based on the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The IPCC methodology is scientifically widely recognized and used internationally, which makes the results easy comprehensible and easier to compare with other studies.

For the elaboration of the model that would allow calculating the GHG balance emissions, the upstream-operating-downstream (UOD) framework (Gentil et al. 2009 ) was used, where direct emissions from waste management procedures and indirect emissions from upstream and downstream activities are differentiated. On the upstream side, the indirect GHG emissions, like those related to fuel and material extraction, processing and transport as well as plant construction and commissioning, are excluded from the consideration. Indirect emissions from infrastructure construction on the downstream side are outside the system boundaries and not accounted for as they are relatively low (Boldrin et al. 2009 ; Mohareb et al. 2011 ). Direct GHG emissions from the waste transport are also excluded from the system boundaries since they are negligible comparing to the direct emissions from the waste processing/treatment (Weitz et al. 2002 ; Wuensch and Simon 2017 ). Since indirect GHG emissions avoided due to energy and material substitution, as well as carbon sequestration in the downstream processes is significant, they are included into the model. The conceptual framework of the model and its boundaries are shown in Fig.  2 .

Conceptual framework of the model showing upstream and downstream processes along with the system boundaries [derived from Abu Qdais et al. ( 2019 )]

The inputs to the model are waste (its quantity, composition, carbon content fixed in biomass and no-biomass), as well as energy and fuel that are used in the waste treatment processes (see Table 2 and Figs.  1 , 2 and 3 ). The outputs include generated and delivered electricity, recovered secondary materials and sequestrated carbon.

Compensatory system for the substitution of primary materials and energy [derived from Abu Qdais et al. ( 2019 )]

The analysis of MSW composition is not regularly done in Russia, and only a limited number of studies on this subject are published. Since waste composition is the basis for the determination of direct GHG emissions from waste management activities, accurate data is desirable. The Russian Federation is a huge country with both densely populated urban areas and sparsely populated rural areas. Due to the different settlement structures, the waste compositions also differ a lot. It is not expedient to assume an average composition for the entire country. Therefore, hereinafter three clusters had been considered to define waste compositions. The first cluster includes Moscow and the Republic of Tatarstan, since in these regions, a larger amount of mixed MSW is/will be incinerated in the nearest future. The second cluster includes the cities with the population of more than 0.5 million people, and the third cluster includes the settlements with the population of less than 0.5 million people. The waste compositions for these three clusters given in Table 2 are weighted averages of the results of a number of experimental studies of waste composition which were found in sources of the literature published after 2010 and further analyzed. Weighted average here means that the respective data on waste composition that was found for a city or region was included in the weighted average with the proportion that the amount of MSW generated in the city or region takes up as part of the total mass of MSW generated in the respective cluster.

To determine the avoidance of GHG emissions in the downstream processes by means of energy and material substitution as well as carbon sequestration, a compensatory system must be used. In Fig.  3 , the compensatory system for the substitution of energy and primary materials is shown.

Emission factors

Waste incineration.

It is necessary to know the emission factors when calculating GHG emissions from thermal treatment of waste, and also when compiling national emissions inventories (Larsen and Astrup 2011 ). Information on GHG emission factors of various solid waste treatment technologies for each country is of great importance for the assessment of GHGs emitted as a result of adopting a certain technology. However, such factors are not available for the Russian Federation, which implies using the data available in the literature for the countries with the conditions similar to the Russian ones, examining local circumstances of solid waste management system (Friedrich and Trois 2013 ; Larsen and Astrup 2011 ; Noya et al. 2018 ).

There are different factors affecting GHG emission levels from waste incineration. One of the most important factors in determining CO 2 emissions is the amount of fossil carbon in the waste stream meant for incineration. Non-CO 2 emissions are more dependent on the incineration technology and conditions, and for modern waste incinerators, the amounts of non-CO 2 emissions are negligible (Johnke 2001 ; Sabin Guendehou et al. 2006 ).

The amount of fossil carbon was calculated based on waste composition, carbon content and share of fossil carbon given in Table 2 ; the resulting fossil carbon content in wet waste was 0.117 kg C/kg. For the indirectly avoided GHG emissions, the recovery of electricity with a net efficiency of 24% for all the scenarios and for the Scenario 3 also from metals contained in the incinerator slag to substitute primary metals was considered. The recovery of heat in form of process steam or district heat was not considered in the scenarios (Dashieva 2017 ). Further parameters for the calculation of GHG emissions from waste incineration are given in Table 3 .

For the calculation of the impact of the methane released from landfills to climate change over a 100 years’ time horizon, the first-order decay kinetics model was used. Almost 80% of the Russian MSW landfills occupy an area larger than 10 ha (Volynkina and Zaytseva 2010 ). Here, it is assumed that all the MSW is highly compacted and disposed of in deep landfills under anaerobic conditions without the recovery of landfill gas (Govor 2017 ). Since no landfill gas is recovered, in Scenario 1, only the sequestrated non-biodegradable biogenic carbon in the landfill results in avoided GHG emissions. There is an intention in Russia to introduce the collection of landfill gas as the primary measure to reduce GHG emissions from the waste management sector (Government of the Russian Federation 2018 ; Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation 2013 ) within the next years. In the literature, methane recovery rates between 9% (Scharff et al. 2003 ) and 90% (Spokas et al. 2006 ) are reported. For example, most US landfills are well-controlled and managed; in particular, in California, gas collection efficiencies are as high as 82.5% (Kong et al. 2012 ). Based on these values, for both Scenario 2 and Scenario 3, landfill gas recovery is introduced with a recovery rate of 60%. Under these two scenarios, in addition to carbon sequestration, the recovered landfill gas is used to produce electricity, which results in avoided indirect GHG emissions. Other parameters used for the calculation are mainly taken from the latest Russian National Inventory Report where IPCC default parameters were used (Pipatti et al. 2006 ; Russian Federation 2019 ). The parameters used for the calculation of GHG emissions from landfills for all the three scenarios are shown in Table 4 .

• Material recovery

In all the scenarios, some part of mixed MSW is treated in eco-techno parks, where valuable secondary raw materials like metals, paper, glass and plastics are recovered, and the sorting residues are forwarded to landfills. In addition, separate collection of some amounts of paper, glass, and plastics in the Scenario 3 is presumed. The corresponding recovery rates are already given in Table 1 . Each recovered secondary material substitutes a certain amount of primary material. Since the production of primary materials is usually connected with higher energy and raw material consumption than that of the secondary materials, more GHGs are released during the production of the former ones. Therefore, every unit of recovered secondary material obtained leads to a reduction in released GHGs.

GHG emission or substitution factors are developed for specific geographical areas and technologies, and their appropriateness to other circumstances may be questionable (Turner et al. 2015 ). The application of one specific emission factor for a recovered material in the whole Russian Federation would already be debatable due to the size of the country. Perhaps that is why emission factors for Russia cannot be found in the literature. For this study, the average values of GHG emission/substitution factors determined for other industrial countries from the study of (Turner et al. 2015 ) were used. The amounts of avoided GHG, i.e., the values of the emission factors in CO 2 equivalents for the recovered valuable waste fractions, including steel, aluminum, paper/cardboard, glass and plastic, are given in Table 5 .

In Table 5 , the used equivalent factor (Global Warming Potential over a time horizon of 100 years) of released methane versus carbon dioxide, the emission factor of the use of fuel oil in the waste incineration process and the substitution factor of delivered electrical power are shown. The emission factor of the generated electricity in the Russian Federation is relatively low, since approx. half (52%) of the electricity is produced by natural gas and approx. 13% by hydro- and nuclear power, while only 13% is produced by coal (British Petrolium 2019 ; U.S. Energy Information Administration 2017 ). The electricity mix factor is therefore only 0.358 Mg CO 2 -eq./MWh generated electricity (Gimadi et al. 2019 ).

Results and discussion

The population of the Russian Federation is expected to decrease in the next decades (United Nations 2019 ), but due to the economic growth, the amount of waste generated per capita is expected to increase in the same ratio; that is why the calculation of the GHG emissions for all the three scenarios was based on an assumed fixed annually amount of 58.4 Mt of MSW. Average waste compositions were calculated for this study on the basis of eleven waste analyses conducted in different Russian cities between 2010 and 2017 and grouped into three clusters (Moscow and Tatarstan, cities with more than 0.5 million inhabitants and cities/settlements with less than 0.5 million inhabitants). From the available literature data for the countries with conditions similar to Russian ones, emission factors were adopted to be further used in calculations of GHG emissions from waste disposal on managed and sanitary landfills, waste incineration and waste recycling with the recovery of secondary raw materials.

In Fig.  4 , the amounts of CO 2 -equivalent emissions per year that contribute to global warming for each of the three scenarios considered in the study are shown. Since the emissions related to the collection and transportation of waste, as well as energy consumption in the upstream side, are almost similar for all the treatment processes (Komakech et al. 2015 ), and as they are relatively small compared to the operational and downstream emissions (Boldrin et al. 2009 ; Friedrich and Trois 2011 ), they were not considered in the model. Avoided and sequestrated emissions were subtracted from the direct emissions to calculate GHG net emission values.

Global warming contribution of the three considered scenarios

The basic scenario (mostly managed landfilling without landfill gas recovery) gives the highest GHG net emissions among all the analyzed scenarios of approx. 64 Mt CO 2 -eq./a, followed by the reactive scenario (mostly sanitary landfilling with landfill gas recovery) with approx. 12.8 Mt CO 2 -eq./a of GHG net emissions. The innovative scenario (sanitary landfilling with landfill gas recovery and increased shares of MSW incineration, separate collection and material recovery) had shown an almost neutral GHG balance with approx. 3.7 Mt CO 2 -eq./a of GHG net emissions.

To assess the impact of the introduction of various waste treatment methods on the amount of GHG emissions from the waste management sector, the specific GHG emissions for each scenario as a whole was calculated, as well as “within” scenarios for each considered waste management process/method (Table 6 ).

The amount of specific total GHG emissions under Scenario 2 is five times less than under Scenario 1. Such a large difference is due to the modernization of existing managed dumpsites (Scenario 1), instead of which MSW is disposed of at sanitary landfills equipped with landfill gas and leachate collection systems, with intermediate insulating layers and top capping (Scenario 2). Such a transition from managed dumpsites to sanitary landfills leads not only to a decrease in the amount of specific released GHG emissions by approx. 1 Mg CO 2 -eq./Mg MSW, but also to a decrease in total emissions due to avoided emissions in the amount of 0.053 Mg CO 2 -eq./Mg MSW generated by energy recovery.

The amount of specific total GHG emissions under Scenario 3 is 3.4 times less than under Scenario 2. This reduction is mainly due to an almost twofold increase in the volume of waste incinerated, along with the introduction of a separate waste collection system (Scenario 3). At the same time, in Scenario 3, the share of plastic in the mixed waste stream sent to incineration is less than in Scenarios 1 and 2 (see Fig.  1 ). Climate-related GHG from waste incineration are generated mainly due to the plastic contained in the waste. Therefore, in Scenario 3, less GHG emissions are released during waste incineration. Reduction in GHG emissions from waste incineration is also facilitated by the recovery of metals from the bottom ash, which occurs only in Scenario 3.

In Scenario 3, the total amount of recycled material is larger than in Scenario 2, since not only part of the mixed waste is recycled, but also separately collected. According to the Scenario 3, metals are not included in the waste fractions collected separately. Metals have a comparably high GHG substitution factor (see Table 5 ); this explains the slight decrease in avoided GHG emissions due to material recovery in Scenario 3 compared to Scenario 2 because of a decreased share of metals in the total waste stream sent for recycling.

Many studies confirm GHG emissions reduction by the application of these waste treatment concepts. It is shown that the recovery of landfill gas from managed landfills has a high potential to reduce GHG emissions from landfills (EI-Fadel and Sbayti 2000 ; Friedrich and Trois 2016 ; Lee et al. 2017 ; Starostina et al. 2014 ). The transfer from the disposal of mixed MSW on landfills to the incineration on waste incineration or waste-to-energy plants leads to further reduction in GHG emissions (Bilitewski and Wuensch 2012 ; Chen 2018 ; Voigt et al. 2015 ). The recovery of secondary materials from MSW allows avoiding additional amounts of GHG emissions (Björklund and Finnveden 2005 ; Franchetti and Kilaru 2012 ; Turner et al. 2015 ; Wuensch and Simon 2017 ).

It should be noted that the calculated results of the direct GHG emissions from landfilling and waste incineration are subject to uncertainties. Waste composition (Table 2 ) and the parameters set/assumed for the landfills (Table 4 ) and waste incineration (Table 3 ) affect the level of the results. Indirect downstream emissions from recovered secondary materials and substituted energy cannot be provided with accuracy, as indicated by missing data for the substitution factors of recovered secondary materials in Russia and the variability of the scenarios for substituted electricity. To get an impression about the possible fluctuation range of the determined results, a sensitivity analysis was carried out. Therefore, all values shown in Tables 1 , 3 , 4 and 5 were ones decreased by 10% and once increased by 10%. The impact of the sensitivity analysis on the GHG net emissions is shown as error bars in Fig.  4 . The results of the sensitivity analysis show a range for the GHG net emissions of the basic scenario between 35.129 and 91.446 Mt CO 2 -eq./a, for the reactive scenario between 5.133 and 16.324 Mt CO 2 -eq./a and for the innovative scenario from − 1.516 to 4.871 Mt CO 2 -eq./a.

All the exact values of the final results shown in Fig.  4 as well as the graphical representation of the results of the sensitivity analysis can be checked in the provided supplementary materials.

The most recent data about global GHG emissions from solid waste disposal shows that direct emissions contribute with 0.67 Gt CO 2 -eq./a (Fischedick et al. 2014 ) to about 1.4% of the total anthropogenic GHG emissions of 49 Gt CO 2 -eq./a (Edenhofer et al. 2015 ). For the Russian Federation, the contribution of the direct emissions from the MSW management accounts for approx. 3.7% of the total GHG emissions of the country of around 2.2 Gt CO 2 -eq./a (Russian Federation 2019 ). In this study, the potential of different waste management methods in relation to climate change impact was assessed using the example of the Russian waste management industry. For this purpose, three scenarios had been developed and analyzed:

Basic scenario (business as usual), based on the existing waste management practices. The scenario implies that 90% of the generated mixed MSW is disposed of on managed dumpsites, 7% is undergone material recovery and 3% incinerated. All the unorganized dumpsites are closed; on managed dumpsites, there is no landfill gas recovery.

Reactive scenario (moderate development). This scenario implies construction of a number of large waste incineration plants and an increase in the share of waste to be recycled so that 84.3% of generated MSW is disposed of in sanitary landfills, 10% is sent to recycling plants for material recovery, and 5.7% is incinerated.

Innovative scenario (active development). This scenario assumes partial implementation of a separate waste collection system and broader introduction of waste processing technologies. As a result, 20% of the total generated MSW is collected separately and then recycled, 14.3% undergoes material recovery, 55.2% is disposed of in sanitary landfills, and 10.5% is incinerated.

For determining weighed average morphological composition of MSW, three clusters of human settlements had been considered, and the respective data on waste compositions had been analyzed. The first cluster includes Moscow and the Republic of Tatarstan, the second cluster includes the major cities (those with the population of more than 0.5 million people), and the third cluster includes the minor cities and rural areas.

For determining emission factors, both own calculation results and reference data from the National Inventory Report and other sources were used. Thus, the amount of fossil carbon, being one of the most important factors determining CO 2 emissions from waste incineration, was calculated based on the waste composition, carbon content and the share of fossil carbon in the waste. For the calculation of the amount of CH 4 released from MSW landfills, the first-order decay kinetics model was used. Avoided GHG emissions are the result of sequestrated non-biodegradable biogenic carbon in landfills (all the scenarios) and recovered landfill gas used to produce electricity (Scenarios 2 and 3). With the use of emission factors for material recovery included those for the recovered valuable waste fractions steel, aluminum, paper and cardboard, glass and plastic, GHG emissions were calculated under each scenario. As it was expected, the basic scenario gives the highest amount of total GHG net emissions of approx. 64 Mt CO 2 -eq./a (1.096 Mg CO 2 -eq./Mg MSW). Under the reactive scenario, the amount of total GHG net emissions is approx. 12.8 Mt CO 2 -eq./a (0.219 Mg CO 2 -eq./Mg MSW), and under the innovative scenario, it is about 3.7 Mt CO 2 -eq./a (0.064 Mg CO 2 -eq./Mg MSW).

The calculation of specific GHG emissions made it possible to assess the extent to which the introduction of various waste treatment methods makes it possible to reduce GHG emissions resulting from the respective waste treatment processes. Analysis of the results of these calculations showed that the transition from managed dumpsites to sanitary landfills can reduce total GHG emissions from the Russian waste management sector by up to 5 times. The introduction of a separate collection system (in which 20% of waste is collected separately) with a simultaneous twofold increase in the share of waste incinerated has led to a more than threefold reduction in total GHG emissions from the sector of Russian waste management. Another factor influencing the reduction in GHG emissions from waste incineration is the recovery of metals from the bottom ash.

Direct GHG emissions can be further reduced with a shift from landfilling to treatment of mixed MSW in material recovery facilities and waste incinerators or even to separate collection and treatment of MSW. In addition, indirect downstream emissions can be avoided by a significant amount via energy and material recovery. With a separate collection and treatment of biowaste and the recovery of district heat from waste incineration process, further GHG mitigation can be obtained. With these additional measures, the MSW industry of the Russian Federation could become a net avoider from a net emitter.

For this study, a number of parameters and emission factors from the literature where used, which does not precisely reflect the situation in Russia. Conducting further research for determining country specific, for a huge country like Russia, possibly even region-specific data and emission factors resulting in the development of a corresponding database would be useful to minimize these uncertainties.

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Wünsch, C., Tsybina, A. Municipal solid waste management in Russia: potentials of climate change mitigation. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19 , 27–42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03542-5

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The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop (2001)

Chapter: 14 problems of waste management in the moscow region, problems of waste management in the moscow region.

Department of Natural Resources of the Central Region of Russia

The scientific and technological revolution of the twentieth century has turned the world over, transformed it, and presented humankind with new knowledge and innovative technologies that previously seemed to be fantasies. Man, made in the Creator’s own image, has indeed become in many respects similar to the Creator. Primitive thinking and consumerism as to nature and natural resources seem to be in contrast to this background. Drastic deterioration of the environment has become the other side of the coin that gave the possibility, so pleasant for the average person, to buy practically everything that is needed.

A vivid example of man’s impact as “a geological force” (as Academician V. I. Vernadsky described contemporary mankind) is poisoning of the soil, surface and underground waters, and atmosphere with floods of waste that threaten to sweep over the Earth. Ecosystems of our planet are no longer capable of “digesting” ever-increasing volumes of waste and new synthetic chemicals alien to nature.

One of the most important principles in achieving sustainable development is to limit the appetite of public consumption. A logical corollary of this principle suggests that the notion “waste” or “refuse” should be excluded not only from professional terminology, but also from the minds of people, with “secondary material resources” as a substitute concept for them. In my presentation I would like to dwell on a number of aspects of waste disposal. It is an ecological, economic, and social problem for the Moscow megalopolis in present-day conditions.

PRESENT SITUATION WITH WASTE IN MOSCOW

Tens of thousand of enterprises and research organizations of practically all branches of the economy are amassed over the territory of 100,000 hectares: facilities of energy, chemistry and petrochemistry; metallurgical and machine-building works; and light industrial and food processing plants. Moscow is occupying one of the leading places in the Russian Federation for the level of industrial production. The city is the greatest traffic center and bears a heavy load in a broad spectrum of responsibilities as capital of the State. The burden of technogenesis on the environment of the city of Moscow and the Moscow region is very considerable, and it is caused by all those factors mentioned above. One of the most acute problems is the adverse effect of the huge volumes of industrial and consumer wastes. Industrial waste has a great variety of chemical components.

For the last ten years we witnessed mainly negative trends in industrial production in Moscow due to the economic crisis in the country. In Moscow the largest industrial works came practically to a standstill, and production of manufactured goods declined sharply. At the same time, a comparative analysis in 1998–99 of the indexes of goods and services output and of resource potential showed that the coefficient of the practical use of natural resources per unit of product, which had been by all means rather low in previous years, proceeded gradually to decrease further. At present we have only 25 percent of the industrial output that we had in 1990, but the volume of water intake remains at the same level. Fuel consumption has come down only by 18 percent, and the amassed production waste diminished by only 50 percent. These figures indicate the growing indexes of resource consumption and increases in wastes from industrial production.

Every year about 13 million tons of different kinds of waste are accumulated in Moscow: 42 percent from water preparation and sewage treatment, 25 percent from industry, 13 percent from the construction sector, and 20 percent from the municipal economy.

The main problem of waste management in Moscow city comes from the existing situation whereby a number of sites for recycling and disposal of certain types of industrial waste and facilities for storage of inert industrial and building wastes are situated outside the city in Moscow Region, which is subject to other laws of the Russian Federation. Management of inert industrial and building wastes, which make up the largest part of the general volume of wastes and of solid domestic wastes (SDW), simply means in everyday practice their disposal at 46 sites (polygons) in Moscow Region and at 200 disposal locations that are completely unsuitable from the ecological point of view.

The volume of recycled waste is less than 10–15 percent of the volume that is needed. Only 8 percent of solid domestic refuse is destroyed (by incineration). If we group industrial waste according to risk factor classes, refuse that is not

dangerous makes up 80 percent of the total volume, 4th class low-hazard wastes 14 percent, and 1st-3rd classes of dangerous wastes amount to 3.5 percent. The largest part of the waste is not dangerous—up to 32 percent. Construction refuse, iron and steel scrap, and non-ferrous metal scrap are 15 percent. Paper is 12 percent, and scrap lumber is 4 percent. Metal scrap under the 4th class of risk factor makes up 37 percent; wood, paper, and polymers more than 8 percent; and all-rubber scrap 15 percent. So, most refuse can be successfully recycled and brought back into manufacturing.

This is related to SDW too. The morphological composition of SDW in Moscow is characterized by a high proportion of utilizable waste: 37.6 percent in paper refuse, 35.2 percent in food waste, 10 percent in polymeric materials, 7 percent in glass scrap, and about 5 percent in iron, steel, and non-ferrous metal scrap. The paper portion in commercial wastes amounts to 70 percent of the SDW volume.

A number of programs initiated by the Government of Moscow are underway for the collection and utilization of refuse and for neutralization of industrial and domestic waste. A waste-recycling industry is being developed in the city of Moscow, mostly for manufacturing recycled products and goods. One of the most important ecological problems is the establishment in the region of ecologically safe facilities for the disposal of dangerous wastes of 1st and 2nd class risk factors.

Pre-planned industrial capacities for thermal neutralization of SDW will be able to take 30 percent of domestic waste and dangerous industrial waste. Construction of rubbish-burning works according to the old traditional approach is not worthwhile and should come to an end. Waste-handling stations have been under construction in the city for the last five years. In two years there will be six such stations which will make it possible to reduce the number of garbage trucks from 1,156 to 379 and to reduce the amount of atmospheric pollution they produce. In addition the switch to building stations with capacity of briquetting one ton of waste into a cubic meter will decrease the burden on waste disposal sites and prolong their life span by 4–5 fold. Trash hauling enterprises will also make profit because of lower transportation costs.

Putting into operation waste-segregation complexes (10–12 sites) would reduce volumes of refuse to disposal sites by 40 percent—that is 1,200,000 tons per year. The total volume of burned or recycled SDW would reach 2,770,000 tons a year. A total of 210,000 tons of waste per year would be buried. So, in the course of a five year period, full industrial recycling of SDW could be achieved in practice.

Collection of segregated waste is one of the important elements in effective disposal and utilization of SDW. It facilitates recycling of waste and return of secondary material into the manufacturing process. Future trends in segregation and collection of SDW will demand wide popularization and improvement of the ecological culture and everyday behavior of people.

In recent years the high increase in the number of cars in Moscow has brought about not only higher pollution of the atmosphere, but also an avalanche-like accumulation of refuse from vehicles. Besides littering residential and recreation areas, cars represent a source for toxic pollution of land and reservoirs. At the same time, automobile wastes are a good source for recycled products. In the short-term outlook, Moscow has to resolve the problem of collection and utilization of decommissioned vehicles and automobile wastes with particular emphasis on activities of the private sector. Setting up a system for collection and utilization of bulky domestic waste and electronic equipment refuse is also on the priority list.

In 1999 in Moscow the following volumes of secondary raw materials were produced or used in the city or were recycled: 300,000 tons of construction waste, 296,000 tons of metal scrap, 265 tons of car battery lead, 21,000 tons of glass, 62,500 tons of paper waste, 4,328 tons of oil-bearing waste, and 306 tons of refuse from galvanizing plants.

Such traditional secondary materials as metal scrap and paper waste are not recycled in Moscow but are shipped to other regions of Russia.

The worldwide practice of sorting and recycling industrial and domestic wastes demands the establishment of an industry for secondary recycling. Otherwise segregation of waste becomes ineffective.

There are restraining factors for the development of an effective system of assorted selection, segregation, and use of secondary raw resources, namely lack of sufficient manufacturing capacities and of suitable technologies for secondary recycling.

The problem of utilization of wastes is closely linked with the problem of modernization and sometimes even demands fundamental restructuring of industries. The practical use of equipment for less energy consumption and a smaller volume of wastes and a transition to the use of alternative raw materials are needed. Large enterprises—the main producers of dangerous wastes—are in a difficult financial situation now, which is an impediment for proceeding along these lines.

Private and medium-size enterprises are becoming gradually aware of the economic profitability in rational use of waste. For example, the firm Satory started as a transportation organization specialized in removal of scrap from demolished buildings and those undergoing reconstruction. It now benefits from recycling of waste, having developed an appropriate technology for the dismantling of buildings with segregation of building waste. So, as it has been already mentioned above, the first task for Moscow is to establish a basis for waste recycling.

HOW TO CHANGE THE SITUATION WITH WASTE

Transition to modern technologies in the utilization of wastes requires either sufficient investments or a considerable increase in repayment for waste on the part of the population. Obviously, these two approaches are not likely to be realized in the near future.

The recovery of one ton of SDW with the use of ecologically acceptable technology requires not less than $70–100.

Given the average per capita income in 1999 and the likely increase up to the year of 2005, in 2005 it will be possible to receive from a citizen not more than $14 per year. This means that the cost of technology should not exceed $40 per ton of recycled waste. Unfortunately, this requirement can fit only unsegregated waste disposal at the polygons (taking into account an increase in transportation costs by the year 2005).

Such being the case, it looks like there is only one acceptable solution for Russia to solve the problem of waste in an up-to-date manner: to introduce trade-in value on packaging and on some manufactured articles.

In recent years domestic waste includes more and more beverage containers. Plastic and glass bottles, aluminium cans, and packs like Tetrapak stockpiled at disposal sites will soon reach the same volumes as in western countries. In Canada, for example, this kind of waste amounts to one-third of all domestic waste.

A characteristic feature of this kind of waste is that the packaging for beverages is extremely durable and expensive. Manufactured from polyethylene terephthalate (PTA) and aluminum, it is sometimes more expensive than the beverage it contains.

What are the ways for solving the problem? Practically all of them are well-known, but most will not work in Russia in present conditions. The first problem relates to collection of segregated waste in the urban sector and in the services sector. A number of reasons make this system unrealistic, specifically in large cities. Sorting of waste at waste-briquetting sites and at polygons is possible. But if we take into account the present cost of secondary resources, this system turns out to be economically unprofitable and cannot be widely introduced.

The introduction of deposits on containers for beverages is at present the most acceptable option for Russia. This system turned out to be most effective in a number of countries that have much in common with Russia. In fact this option is not at all new for us. Surely, all people remember the price of beer or kefir bottles. A system of deposit for glass bottles was in operation in the USSR, and waste sites were free from hundreds of millions of glass bottles and jars. We simply need to reinstate this system at present in the new economic conditions according to new types and modes of packaging. Deposits could be introduced also on glass bottles and jars, PTA and other plastic bottles, aluminium cans, and Tetrapak packing.

Let us investigate several non-ecological aspects of this problem, because the ecological impact of secondary recycling of billions of bottles, cans, and packs is quite obvious.

Most of the population in Russia lives below the poverty line. When people buy bottles of vodka, beer, or soft drinks, they will have to pay a deposit value (10–20 kopeks for a bottle). The poorest people will carry the bottles to receiving points. A system of collection of packaging will function by itself. Only receiving points are needed. Millions of rubles that are collected will be redistributed among the poorest people for their benefit, and a social problem of the poor will be solved to a certain extent not by charity, but with normal economic means.

A second point is also well-known. In a market economy one of the most important problems is that of employment. What happens when the trade-in value is introduced?

Thousands of new jobs are created at receiving points and at enterprises that recycle glass, plastics, etc. And we don’t need a single penny from the state budget. More than that, these enterprises will pay taxes and consume products of other branches of industry, thus yielding a return to the budget, not to mention income tax from new jobs.

There is another aspect of the matter. Considerable funding is needed from budgets of local governments, including communal repayments for waste collection and disposal at polygons and incinerators. Reduction of expenses for utilization of waste can be significant support for housing and communal reform in general.

It is practically impossible to evaluate in general an ecological effect when thousands of tons of waste will cease to occupy plots of land near cities as long-term disposal sites. Operation costs of receiving points and transportation costs could be covered by funds obtained from manufacturers and from returned packaging. Besides, when a waste recycling industry develops and becomes profitable, recycling factories will be able to render partial support to receiving points.

Trade-in value can be introduced on all types of packaging except milk products and products for children. It could amount to 15 or 30 kopecks per container, depending on its size. If all plastic bottles with water and beer are sold with trade-in value only in Moscow, the total sum will reach 450 million rubles a year. If we include glass bottles, aluminum cans, and packets, the sum will be one billion rubles. This sum will be redistributed at receiving points among people with scanty means when they receive the money for used packaging and jobs at receiving points and at recycling factories.

The bottleneck of the problem now is the absence in Russia of high technology industries for waste recycling. It can be resolved rather easily. At the first stage, used packaging can be sold as raw material for enterprises, including those overseas. There is unrestricted demand for PTA and aluminum on the part

of foreign firms. When waste collection mechanisms are established, there will be limited investments in this branch of industry.

With regard to the inexhaustible source of free raw material, this recycling industry will become one of the most reliable from the point of view of recoupment of investments. The Government, regional authorities, the population, and of course ecologists should all be interested in having such a law.

The same should be done with sales of cars, tires, and car batteries. Prices of every tire or battery should be higher by 30–50 rubles. These sums of money should be returned back to a buyer or credited when he buys a new tire or a new battery. For sure, such being the case we will not find used batteries thrown about the city dumps. In this case the task is even simpler because there are already a number of facilities for the recycling of tires and batteries.

In fact, a law of trade-in value can change the situation with waste in Russia in a fundamental way. Russian legislation has already been prepared, and the concept of an ecological tax has been introduced in the new Internal Revenue Code. Now it needs to be competently introduced. The outlay for waste recycling has to become a type of ecological tax. To realize this task much work has to be done among the deputies and with the Government. Public ecological organizations, including international ones, should play a leading role.

ACTIVITY OF PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS IN THE SPHERE OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE MOSCOW REGION

We know examples of the ever increasing role of the general public in the solution of the problem of waste utilization, first of all in those countries that have well-developed democratic institutions. “Fight Against Waste” is one of the popular slogans of public organizations abroad. Public opinion has brought about measures of sanitary cleaning in cities, secured better work by municipal services, shut down hazardous industries, and restricted and prohibited incineration facilities. Nevertheless, the struggle against wastes in the economically developed countries, being a manifestation of an advanced attitude towards the environment, has in the long run brought about a paradoxical result. Transfer of hazardous industries to countries with lower environmental standards and inadequate public support—Russia, as an example—has made the world even more dangerous from the ecological point of view.

Russia has just embarked on the path of formation of environmental public movements by the establishment of nongovernmental organizations. Representatives of nongovernmental organizations from Russia took part in the international gathering in Bonn in March 2000 of nongovernmental organizations that are members of the International Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Elimination Network. A declaration against incineration was adopted in

Bonn by nongovernmental organizations, which called for elaboration of effective alternative technologies for utilization of waste and safe technologies for elimination of existing stockpiles of POP.

Quite a number of environmental organizations are operating now in Moscow. First to be mentioned is the All-Russia Society for the Conservation of Nature, which was established in Soviet times. There are other nongovernmental organizations: Ecosoglasiye, Ecolain, Ecological Union, and the Russian branches of Green Cross and Greenpeace. All these organizations collect and popularize environmental information and organize protest actions against policies of the Government or local administrations on ecological matters. A new political party—Russia’s Movement of the Greens—is being formed.

Laws currently in force in the Russian Federation (“On Protection of the Environment,” “On State Ecological Examination by Experts,” “On Production and Consumption of Waste”) declare the right of the public to participate in environmental examination of projects that are to be implemented, including those on the establishment of facilities for elimination and disposition of waste. Public examinations can be organized by the initiative of citizens and public associations. For example, under the law of Moscow “On Protection of the Rights of Citizens while Implementing Decisions on Construction Projects in Moscow,” public hearings are organized by the city’s boards. Decisions taken by local authorities, at referenda and public meetings, may be the very reason for carrying out public examinations. Such examinations are conducted mainly by commissions, collectives, or ad hoc groups of experts. Members of public examination panels are responsible for the accuracy and validity of their expert evaluations in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. A decision of a public environmental panel has an informative nature as a recommendation, but it becomes legally mandatory after its approval by the appropriate body of the State. Besides, the opinion of the public is taken into account when a project submitted for state environmental review has undergone public examinations and there are supporting materials.

Public environmental examination is supposed to draw the attention of state bodies to a definite site or facility and to disseminate well-grounded information about potential ecological risks. This important facet of public environmental organizations in Moscow and in Russia is very weak. To a large extent, it can be explained by an insufficient level of specific and general knowledge of ecology even on the part of the environmentalists themselves. Lack of knowledge on the part of ordinary citizens and public groups and inadequate information (for various reasons) produce alarm-motivated behavior by those who harm the organization of environmental activity in general and waste management in particular.

There are nevertheless positive examples of public participation in designing policies of local authorities in the waste management sphere.

Speaking about the Moscow region we can point to the very productive work of the Public Ecological Commission attached to the Council of Deputies in Pushchino, in Moscow Oblast.

The population of Pushchino is 21,000. The polygon for solid biological wastes (SBW) has practically exhausted its capacities. In 1996, in order to find a way out, the Administration of the town showed an interest in a proposal made by the Austrian firm FMW to support financially the construction of an electric power station in the vicinity of the town that would operate using both fuel briquettes and SBW of the town. The briquettes would be manufactured in Turkey and would contain 70 percent Austrian industrial waste with added oil sludge. It was also envisaged that during the construction period of the electric power station, 300,000 tons of briquettes would be shipped and stockpiled. The original positive decision was annulled due to an independent evaluation of the project organized by the Public Ecological Commission.

The general public of Puschino put forward a counter proposal before the Administration in order to reduce volumes of SBW disposal at the polygon and to prolong its operation—segregation of SBW (food waste, paper refuse, fabrics, metal, glass, used car batteries). As a result, a new scheme for sanitary measures in the town was worked out in 1998, which on the basis of segregation of waste provided for a considerable decrease in refuse flow to the polygon. Unfortunately, for lack of finances in the town budget, the scheme has not been introduced to the full extent. But in spite of severe shortages of special containers for segregated wastes, a network of receiving points for secondary materials was set up.

One of the pressing tasks for greater public activity is wide popularization of environmental knowledge on waste management, especially among the young generation. There is a very important role for public organizations to play in this domain when enlightenment and education are becoming a primary concern of nongovernmental organizations. Referring again to the example of the Public Ecological Commission in Pushchino, I have to underline that this organization is taking an active part in the enlightenment of the population through organizing exhibitions, placing publications in the press, and spurring school children into action to encourage cleaning of the town by means of environmental contests, seminars, and conferences. Children help the Commission organize mobile receiving points for secondary material. They even prepare announcements and post them around the town calling on the citizens to take valuable amounts of domestic wastes and car batteries to receiving points.

There are other examples of a growing influence of public organizations on the policy of administration in the sphere of waste management in the Moscow region. The Moscow Children’s Ecological Center has worked out the Program “You, He, She and I—All Together Make Moscow Clean,” which is being introduced with the support of the Moscow Government. In the framework of this program, children collect waste paper at schools, and they are taught how to

be careful about the environment and material resources. The storage facilities agreed to support the initiative. They buy waste paper at a special price for school children. Then, the schools spend the earned money for excursions, laboratory equipment, books, and plant greenery.

Another example of an enlightened activity is a project realized in 1999 by the firm Ecoconcord on producing video-clips for TV about the adverse effects of waste incineration and the illegality of unauthorized storage of waste.

The name Ecoconcord speaks for the main purpose of this organization—to achieve mutual understanding between the general public and governmental organizations, to encourage public involvement in decision-making, and to promote the formation of policy bodies that would not let public opinion be ignored.

Proceeding from the global task of integrating the activities of interested parties in lessening adverse waste pollution, public organizations have to cooperate with authorities and not stand against them. Cooperation and consensus between governmental and nongovernmental organizations in working out strategies and tactics in waste management should become a prerequisite in successful realization of state policy in this sphere in the Russian Federation.

An NRC committee was established to work with a Russian counterpart group in conducting a workshop in Moscow on the effectiveness of Russian environmental NGOs in environmental decision-making and prepared proceedings of this workshop, highlighting the successes and difficulties faced by NGOs in Russia and the United States.

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West Bank Environmental Technology Solid Waste Management

Solid Waste Management in the West Bank

Municipal Solid Waste in the West Bank is a major challenge facing Palestinians for its environmental, health, economic, and social impact. Over the years, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has passed several laws related to solid waste management, such as the Local Authorities Law, Environmental Rule of Law, Public Health Law, Solid Waste Management Bylaws, and the Joint Services Council Bylaws. In addition to these laws, a solid waste management strategy was developed by the PA between 2017-2022.  Among its goals were policies related to waste minimization through reduction, recycling, and reusing.  Waste can be reduced either by separation at source or by diversion through recycling and waste-to-energy investments.      

Municipal waste is collected mainly by local government units, such as municipalities and village councils, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugee camps. The Ministry of Local Government’s Joint Services Council is responsible for regional collection, operation of transfer stations, and sanitary landfills.  Around 54% of solid waste is collected by the Joint Services Council and the remaining part is collected by local government units and UNRWA.  

There are 15 transfer stations in the West Bank that receive collected solid waste and perform sorting treatment and recycling before sending to three regional sanitary landfills: Zahrat Al Finjan in Jenin in the northern part of the West Bank, Al-Minya in Bethlehem in the southern part, and Jericho landfill in the eastern part.  Since it is challenging to establish a sanitary landfill in the West Bank’s central area, there are around 80 random dumpsites specifically near Ramallah.  

Solid Waste Categories Palestinians generate around 1.2 million tons of municipal solid waste in the West Bank and the estimated per capita generation rate is around 1Kg per day. Generated waste is composed of organics, plastics, paper, metal, glass, and others.  Organic waste in the form of food and green waste accounts for 46% of the total, followed by 16% plastics and 14% paper.  Good U.S. export potential exists for technologies related to the treatment of organics, plastics, and paper wastes.

Waste-to-Energy

Waste-to-energy is the process of converting municipal solid waste into energy.  The three most used technologies are thermal conversion by incineration, biological conversion, and landfills gasification.  Due to the amount, characteristic, and composition of solid waste in the West Bank, incineration is considered the most reliable and economical technology for electricity generation especially if the content is 9-13 MJ/Kg.  Waste-to-energy technologies will also increase Palestinian generation of electricity, secure local energy resources, implement a solution to solid waste disposal, and reduce waste by up to 90%.

Palestinian municipalities are actively looking for waste-to-energy technologies to reduce municipal waste and the high cost of transferring municipal solid waste to landfills.  With appropriate private sector investments and Palestinian government support, there could be good potential for U.S. companies that specialize in solid waste management and recycling. Interested U.S. companies should contact Senior Commercial Specialist, Assad Barsoum, [email protected] at the U.S. Commercial Service in Jerusalem .     

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Enhancing co 2 gasification-reforming of municipal solid waste with ni/ceo 2 and ni/zro 2 catalysts †.

* Corresponding authors

a Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of CO2 Utilization and Reduction Technology, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P. R. China E-mail: [email protected] , [email protected]

b Shanxi Research Institute for Clean Energy, Tsinghua University, Taiyuan 030000, Shanxi, P. R. China

The global energy crisis and environmental sustainability challenges are exacerbated by the rapid increase in population and industrialization, necessitating effective management of municipal solid waste. The CO 2 gasification-reforming of municipal solid waste with Ni/CeO 2 and Ni/ZrO 2 catalysts was conducted in a two-stage fixed-bed reactor. A significant increase in gas production from various waste samples (cabbage, poplar leaves, printed paper, PET, and HDPE) was observed, with the 5% Ni/CeO 2 demonstrating higher efficiency than the 5% Ni/ZrO 2 catalyst. The structural characterization of the catalysts revealed that Ni was more uniformly dispersed on the CeO 2 support compared to ZrO 2 , resulting in enhanced activity of the 5% Ni/CeO 2 catalysts. Further exploration into the optimal nickel loading and the ideal reforming temperature was conducted to maximize the efficiency of the CO 2 gasification-reforming. The application of 5% Ni/CeO 2 catalysts in the CO 2 gasification-reforming of simulated municipal solid waste notably increased CO and total gas yields by 223% and 106%, respectively. This advancement holds promise for new technical approaches in resource utilization and the environmentally friendly processing of municipal solid waste.

• This article is part of the themed collections: Journal of Materials Chemistry A Emerging Investigators 2024 and Journal of Materials Chemistry A HOT Papers

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Enhancing CO 2 gasification-reforming of municipal solid waste with Ni/CeO 2 and Ni/ZrO 2 catalysts

S. Zhang, Y. Peng, M. Wu, Q. Li, Y. Zhang and H. Zhou, J. Mater. Chem. A , 2024, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D4TA00665H

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UK researchers study turning solid waste into aviation fuel

The U.S. faces a critical challenge with over 50% of municipal solid waste (MSW) ending up in landfills, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and resource loss. This project seeks to address these issues head-on by developing innovative technologies to enhance the surface properties and uniformity of MSW feedstocks — facilitating their efficient conversion into biofuels and bioproducts.

“We are embarking on a journey to divert landfilled waste for bioenergy production,” said Jian Shi, associate professor in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE). “Our goal is to transform municipal solid waste from an environmental burden into a valuable resource, paving the way for sustainable, clean energy solutions.”

Titled “Surface Enhanced Smart Preprocessing of Municipal Solid Wastes for Year-Round Supply of Conversion-Ready Feedstocks,” the study aims to address excessive landfill waste. Led by Jian Shi , , this project has been awarded $2.12 million in federal funding from the Department of Energy (DOE).

The project is a collaborative effort involving a multiinstitutional team, including researchers from Iowa State University, Idaho National Laboratory, Red Rock Biofuels and Wasatch Integrated Waste Management.

Spanning 36 months, the initiative aims to:

• Develop novel blending and densification strategies to improve the stability and convertibility of waste plastics with biomass feedstocks.
• Implement mechanical separation methods to remove inorganic contaminants from MSW.
• Create a rapid, nondestructive 3D imaging technology for comprehensively characterizing MSW fractions.
• Use deep learning-based predictive models to guide preprocessing strategies and optimize feedstock quality.

“The team wants to try and leverage advanced 3D imaging and hyperspectral technologies to identify and categorize waste materials,” Shi said. “This technological approach allows for the efficient sorting of waste components suitable for biofuel conversion, a critical step managed through machine learning algorithms. These algorithms, akin to those used by tech giants for image recognition, play a crucial role in determining waste composition and optimizing the sorting process.”

Upon completion, the project is expected to deliver a novel preprocessing strategy tailored for converting non-recycled MSW into high-quality, conversion-ready feedstock for SAF biorefineries. This will mark a significant milestone in advancing biofuels and bioproducts research, promoting sustainable MSW-based bioeconomy and addressing the technical risks associated with the thermochemical conversion of MSW to SAF.

By turning trash into valuable jet fuel, Shi and his team are not just addressing environmental issues but are also paving the way for a sustainable industrial model that other sectors might emulate.

“We’re aiming to close the loop between waste generation and energy production,” said Mike Montross , BAE professor and co-principal investigator of the project. “We want not only to reduce landfill use and greenhouse gas emissions but also to enhance energy security by developing domestic, renewable energy sources.”

—By Jordan Strickler, UKnow

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