Incineration of Medical Waste: An Introduction

Incineration is a thermal process that transforms medical wastes into inorganic, incombustible matter thus leading to significant reduction in waste volume and weight. The main purpose of any medical waste incinerator is to eliminate pathogens from waste and reduce the waste to ashes. However, certain types of medical wastes, such as pharmaceutical or chemical wastes, require higher temperatures for complete destruction.

Medical waste incinerators typically operate at high temperatures between 900 and 1200°C. Developing countries of Asia and Africa usually use low-cost, high-temperature incinerators of simple design for stabilization of healthcare wastes.

The most reliable and predominant medical waste incineration technology is pyrolytic incineration, also known as controlled air incineration or double-chamber incineration. The pyrolytic incinerator comprises a pyrolytic chamber and a post-combustion chamber.

Medical waste is thermally decomposed in the pyrolytic chamber through an oxygen-deficient, medium-temperature combustion process (800– 900°C), producing solid ashes and gases. The gases produced in the pyrolytic chamber are burned at high temperature (900– 1200°C) by a fuel burner in the post-combustion chamber, using an excess of air to minimize smoke and odours.

Small-scale decentralized incinerators used in hospitals, of capacity 200–1000kg/day, are operated on demand in developing countries, such as India. On the other hand, off-site regional facilities have large-scale incinerators of capacity 1–8 tonnes/day, operating continuously and equipped with automatic loading and de-ashing devices.

In recent years, mobile incinerators are getting attraction in the developing world as such units permit on-site waste treatment in hospitals and clinics, thus avoiding the need to transport infectious waste across the city.

However, the WHO policy paper of 2004 and the Stockholm Convention, has stressed the need to consider the risks associated with the incineration of healthcare waste in the form of particulate matter, heavy metals, acid gases, carbon monoxide, organic compounds, pathogens etc.

In addition, leachable organic compounds, like dioxins and heavy metals, are usually present in bottom ash residues. Due to these factors, many industrialized countries are phasing out healthcare waste incinerators and exploring technologies that do not produce any dioxins. Countries like United States, Ireland, Portugal, Canada and Germany have completely shut down or put a moratorium on medical waste incinerators.

How To Get Rid Of A Non-Running Junk Car?

Cars, all of us know their importance and how they make our lives easier. However, you may have a car that you hate because it’s not running, and you want to get rid of it. Haste makes waste, and the same is right in the case of a beaten-up, out-of-order car. It might cost you money to get rid of it, or you may earn money from the junk car with car recycling. Are you ready to learn your options as the owner of a junk car? Keep reading if your answer is “yes.”

1. Spend Money And Get Rid

Well, if you are a lazy person, your only choice is to contact junk removal guys and asking them to take your car away. However, don’t forget that you will have to pay for this service. Junk removal services come at your doorstep to take your car out, and then they put it in a crusher to put it in a junkyard later where it harms the environment.

But spending your money to get your junk car is not the only option. Other ways might help you make some money or help the community.

old-car

2. Renovate And Resell

Well, think about all the people who love to drive old cars. For some people, driving older cars connects them with the days of their youth. At the same time, younger guys love to drive old cars to show their taste and connection with the previous generation. Whatever the reason be for people driving old cars, you can make money with the one you have by renovating it. So what do you do? You sell it for the value of your junk car.

If you are wondering where can I sell my car that doesn’t run, gear up and find a car repair shop near you to get your vehicle up and running once again. And then, after making it look like a new car, seek the services of a junk car buyer and sell it off to the people who are interested in the aesthetics of driving old cars. It’s a win-win for you and the old car lovers.

3. The Auto Parts

A junk car is not all junk if you take a closer look at it. In your old and junky vehicle, you may still find some components that are running well and can endure years to come. Therefore, throwing off your car in a junkyard or a landfill is not the best thing for your pocket.

Find out the parts in your junk automobile that can still work for some time and try selling it to the local buyers or look for online prospects. There’s a massive demand for the parts of old cars, so don’t miss out on your opportunity to make some money.

4. Scrap Your Car

Well, if you don’t have time to renovate your car or find the working parts in it, giving your car to auto recycling services is the best thing to do. The guys over car recycling companies are pros when removing metal from your car and sending it to the recycling plants.

old-cars

Good recycling service providers will come to your home, take your junk car away and give you some cash as well. So don’t forget about car recycling services to get rid of your old car.

5. Donating Your Car

If you think that your car still has some value left in it, then the best thing is to give it to a charity. Charities are always on the lookout to make gather donations and empower poor people.

A charity can take your car and make it running for some underprivileged people. They might even renovate your car and sell it for a higher price. So, if you are willing to help your community, go with the option of giving your car to a charity.

6. Its Auction Time

Auction houses make it fun for people to buy and sell their stuff. The junk car that you see as an utter disturbance for you might be the best thing in the world for a car enthusiast. Don’t overlook the opportunity of taking your car to the auction house and try your luck. You can make even more money with auctioning if you renovate it first.

Conclusion

Your junk car might still give you some money or help a needy person if you think about making use of it. Give it to a charity or consider the ways mentioned above to make money out of your old car. I hope you find the best thing to do with your junk car!

10 Small Ways to Make a Big Difference in Waste Reduction

At this point, pretty much everyone is aware that plastic drinking straws are bad for the environment, namely the animals that inhabit our oceans, rivers, and lakes. But that’s just one small aspect of the global waste problem we’re currently facing.

Becoming aware of the impact of straws began a major change in the way we drink beverages. Similarly, understanding how other wasteful behaviors negatively affect our world should help us all reduce our waste and become better consumers.

While it will take major changes amongst the masses to turn our trajectory around, it all begins when individuals start adjusting their personal habits.

Start making an impact on our Earth by reducing your waste generation in these 10 small ways:

1. Reduce Consumption

The first step to reduce waste? Reduce consumption. Start by logging where you are spending your money. Notice which areas cost the most and begin reducing in that area. Once you improve there, find the next budget category to tackle. By simply buying less, we can make a big difference.

2. Avoid Plastic Wrap

Instead of relying on plastic wrap to preserve food or make it portable, consider other eco-friendly alternatives, like Super Bee beeswax wraps. These can be washed and reused over and over again. They work for anything including sandwiches, partially used produce, and a bowl of leftovers.

3. Shop with Reusable Bags

You should strive to always bring your own shopping bags rather than getting a single-use one from the store. This will cut down on the clutter in your house and save a few bags in the process. If you forgot your bags, opt for paper instead of plastic and find a way to re-use it afterward.

4. Support Local

Locally made products require much less packaging, shipping, and manufacturing overhead. Buying these kinds of products supports lower-waste businesses and contributes positively to the environment. Farmers markets are great for purchasing delicious produce without any packaging.

5. Whatever You Do, Don’t Litter

Of course, you should never litter. Throwing trash on the ground with the assumption that someone else will pick it up is incredibly flawed. You should always pick up after yourself. In addition, you can make a difference by simply picking up after those who haven’t.

6. Reuse Food Containers

If your takeout is transported in non-environmentally friendly packaging, find a way to reuse it. Even if you only find one more use for it, you will have just doubled its life span and done a small part in reducing waste.

7. Start Your Own Garden

One way to really reduce the amount of wasteful packaging you consume is to start growing your own food. This will be a fun hobby, provide nutritious food, and cut your produce-related waste down to zero.

8. Stretch Your Groceries

Challenge yourself to stretch your groceries an extra day or two. This practice can help save you a nice bit of money each year and will ensure you’re using what you already have rather than consuming more.

9. Repurpose Furniture

Instead of buying a new couch, consider just reupholstering the fabric. Finding ways to repurpose old furniture cuts down on heavy item shipping costs and reduces the large amounts of waste that commonly come along with these types of products.

10. Recycle

If you’re not already, get on the recycling bandwagon. By separating your recyclable waste from your general trash, you can give many of your consumer products a second life!

Also Read: The Role of Bioenergy in Waste Minimization

Conclusion

Even if you are unable to accomplish all of the things on this list, working towards a few sustainable development goals can make an impact. By becoming more mindful of how we consume and waste products, we can slowly improve Earth’s environmental state.

Recycling and Waste-to-Energy Prospects in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia produces around 15 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) each year with average daily rate of 1.4 kg per person. With the current growing population (3.4% yearly rate), urbanization (1.5% yearly rate) and economic development (3.5% yearly GDP rate), the generation rate of MSW will become double (30 million tons per year) by 2033. The major ingredients of Saudi Arabian MSW are food waste (40-51 %), paper (12-28 %), cardboard (7 %), plastics (5-17 %), glass (3-5 %), wood (2-8 %), textile (2-6 %), metals (2-8 %) etc. depending on the population density and urban activities of that area.

recycling-Saudi-Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, MSW is collected and sent to landfills or dumpsites after partial segregation and recycling. The major portion of collected waste is ends up in landfills untreated. The landfill requirement is very high, about 28 million m3 per year. The problems of leachate, waste sludge, and methane and odor emissions are occurring in the landfills and its surrounding areas due to mostly non-sanitary or un-engineered landfills. However, in many cities the plans of new sanitary landfills are in place, or even they are being built by municipalities with capturing facilities of methane and leachate.

Recycling Prospects in Saudi Arabia

The recycling of metals and cardboard is the main waste recycling practice in Saudi Arabia, which covers 10-15% of the total waste. This recycling practice is mostly carried out by informal sector. The waste pickers or waste scavengers take the recyclables from the waste bins and containers throughout the cities. The waste recycling rate often becomes high (upto 30% of total waste) by waste scavengers in some areas of same cities. The recycling is further carried out at some landfill sites, which covers upto 40% of total waste by the involvement of formal and informal sectors.

Saudi_Arabia_Waste

The recycled products are glass bottles, aluminum cans, steel cans, plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, waste tire, etc. depending on the area, available facilities and involved stakeholders. It is estimated that 45 thousand TJ of energy can be saved by recycling only glass and metals from MSW stream. This estimation is based on the energy conservation concept, which means xyz amount of energy would be used to produce the same amount of recyclable material.

Waste-to-Energy Potential in Saudi Arabia

The possibilities of converting municipal wastes to renewable energy are plentiful. The choice of conversion technology depends on the type and quantity of waste (waste characterization), capital and operational cost, labor skill requirements, end-uses of products, geographical location and infrastructure. Several waste to energy technologies such as pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion (AD), trans-esterification, fermentation, gasification, incineration, etc. have been developed. Waste-to-energy provides the cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions to both energy demand and MSW disposal problems in Saudi Arabia.

As per conservative estimates, electricity potential of 3 TWh per year can be generated, if all of the KSA food waste is utilized in biogas plants. Similarly, 1 and 1.6 TWh per year electricity can be generated if all the plastics and other mixed waste (i.e. paper, cardboard, wood, textile, leather, etc.) of KSA are processed in the pyrolysis, and refuse derived fuel (RDF) technologies respectively.

Conclusion

Waste management issues in Saudi Arabia are not only related to water, but also to land, air and the marine resources. The sustainable integrated solid waste management is still at the infancy level. There have been many studies in identifying the waste related environmental issues in KSA. The current SWM activities of KSA require a sustainable and integrated approach with implementation of waste segregation at source, waste recycling, WTE and value-added product (VAP) recovery. By 2032, Saudi government is aiming to generate about half of its energy requirements (about 72 GW) from renewable sources such as solar, nuclear, wind, geothermal and waste-to-energy systems.

A Guide to Sustainable Waste Management for Businesses

There are many reasons to adopt sustainability as your main guiding policy in conducting business. With environmental problems becoming more prevalent worldwide, consumers seem to show a strong preference for businesses that adhere to environmental ethics. A sustainable business strategy can thus give you an edge over competitors. But business sustainability is tightly connected to waste management because any business activity generates waste that can harm the environment.

In this article, you’ll discover a detailed guide to sustainable waste management for businesses that want to build an eco-friendly identity.

waste-management-in-companies

Identify Wasteful Activities

Whether you deliver products or services, analyze your business practices and determine what activities produce the largest amounts of waste. Most importantly, determine whether these waste-generating activities can be avoided or reduced. For example, paper consumption in offices is often wasteful and can be easily reduced by avoiding unnecessary printing and copying and working predominantly with electronic files.

So, identify all wasteful activities in your company. Then implement a series of rules to avoid these activities or reduce their recurrence. Much better than implementing a sustainable waste management system is not to generate waste at all.

Reuse, Recycle or Donate

Pay attention to the waste generated in your company and determine which items or components can be reused, recycled, or donated. In many cases, what you consider waste can find an application elsewhere.  Good waste management involves foremost an assessment of whether an item has lost all functional and practical purposes or is fit for other uses inside your company or elsewhere.

Always consider reusing items that haven’t lost their properties or features. Instruct employees to recycle. Add bins in the office for materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, or aluminum. Never send electronics, office equipment, furniture, or tools to the landfill. Either send them to a recycling facility or donate them to a charity.

Create a Disposal Plan

It’s almost impossible to avoid all waste since even raw materials and supplies can turn into waste due to being contaminated or damaged. This is why you need a waste disposal plan that it’s either dangerous to keep on your premises or cannot be recycled. For example, old and unused fuels can become contaminated and require removal from a specialized service.

waste-management-plan

To maintain a clean, healthy, and safe environment for your employees and customers, create a disposal plan for each type of waste. Ideally, only biodegradable waste should go to the landfill.

Conclusion

Although a business can find it difficult not to generate waste, it’s important to develop a waste management system that takes into consideration environmental concerns. Businesses need raw materials, supplies, tools, electronics, and various equipment to function properly. They also need energy, electricity, and water. And because businesses consume so many tangible and intangible resources, governments and customers expect them to show a sense of responsibility for the environment.

By adopting a sustainable waste management system, you demonstrate an ethical, future-oriented business approach. Perform a waste audit and use the tips above to set waste reduction goals for your business.

Utilization of Date Palm Biomass

Date palm trees produce huge amount of agricultural wastes in the form of dry leaves, stems, pits, seeds etc. A typical date tree can generate as much as 20 kilograms of dry leaves per annum while date pits account for almost 10 percent of date fruits.

date-wastes

Date palm biomass is found in large quantities across the Middle East

Date palm is considered a renewable natural resource because it can be replaced in a relatively short period of time. It takes 4 to 8 years for date palms to bear fruit after planting, and 7 to 10 years to produce viable yields for commercial harvest. Usually date palm wastes are burned in farms or disposed in landfills which cause environmental pollution in dates-producing nations.

The major constituents of date palm biomass are cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. In addition, date palm has high volatile solids content and low moisture content. These factors make date palm residues an excellent biomass resource in date-palm producing nations.

Date palm biomass is an excellent resource for charcoal production in Middle East

A wide range of physico-chemical, thermal and biochemical technologies exists for sustainable utilization of date palm biomass. Apart from charcoal production and energy conversion (using technologies like combustion and gasification), below are few ways for utilization of date palm wastes:

Conversion into fuel pellets or briquettes

Biomass pellets are a popular type of alternative fuel (analogous to coal), generally made from wood wastes and agricultural biomass. The biomass pelletization process consists of multiple steps including pre-treatment, pelletization and post-treatment of biomass wastes. Biomass pellets can be used as a coal replacement in power plant, industries and other application.

Conversion into energy-rich products

Biomass pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of date palm biomass occurring in the absence of oxygen. The products of biomass pyrolysis include biochar, bio-oil and gases including methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide.

Depending on the thermal environment and the final temperature, pyrolysis will yield mainly biochar at low temperatures, less than 450 0C, when the heating rate is quite slow, and mainly gases at high temperatures, greater than 800 0C, with rapid heating rates. At an intermediate temperature and under relatively high heating rates, the main product is bio-oil.

Bio-oil can be upgraded to either a special engine fuel or through gasification processes to a syngas which can then be processed into biofuels. Bio-oil is particularly attractive for co-firing because it can be more readily handled and burned than solid fuel and is cheaper to transport and store.

Conversion into biofertilizer

Composting is the most popular method for biological decomposition of organic wastes. Date palm waste has around 80% organic content which makes it very well-suited for the composting process. Commercial-scale composting of date palm wastes can be carried out by using the traditional windrow method or a more advanced method like vermicomposting.

Waste Management Progress in Nigeria’s Delta State

Waste management is a serious problem in Nigeria, and Delta State is no exception. It is a problem that starts at a cultural level: many of the populace believe that once they remove waste from their homes it is no longer their concern. It is a problem that starts at a cultural level: many of the populace believe that once they remove waste from their homes it is no longer their concern, and you often see people disposing of their household waste in the streets at night. Once the waste gets out into the streets, it’s perceived as the duty of the government to handle it.

However, I have never yet heard of any Nigerian politician making waste management a feature of his or her manifesto during the election campaign process. Having said that, a few of Nigeria’s political leaders deserve to be commended for coming to terms with the fact that waste has to be managed properly, even if such issues were far from their minds when they entered political office.

waste-management-nigeria

Legislation and Framework

Nigeria does have a waste legislation framework in place. Its focus has been on the most toxic and hazardous waste: partly in response to some major pollution incidents in the 1980s, the government took powers in relation to Hazardous Waste in 1988. In the same year, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency was established – and was subsequently strengthened by the addition of an inspectorate and enforcement department arm in 1991, with divisions for standard regulation, chemical tracking and compliance monitoring. These laws have since given rise to regulations and guidelines pertaining to environmental and waste management issues.

Under our laws, waste management in each state is the duty of the local governments that fall within it, but few are taking an active approach to implementing and enforcing the sensible measures that the regulations require. A small number of states have taken over this task from local government, and Delta State’s decision to do this has led to significant new investment in waste management.

One of the fruits of that investment is the Delta State Integrated Waste Management Facility at Asaba for treating both household and clinical waste generated locally. It was developed when the Delta State government decided to put an end to the non-sustainable dumping of waste in Asaba, the state capital.

Integrated Waste Management Facility at Asaba

It is described as an integrated waste management facility because it includes a composting department, a recycling department and a (non-WTE) incineration department. Trucks carrying waste are weighed in as they come into the facility. From the weigh bridge, they move to the relevant reception bay – there are separate ones for household and clinical wastes – to tip their load, and are then weighed again on the way out.

Medical waste is taken directly for incineration, but household wastes are sent along conveyors for sorting. Recyclables and compostable materials are, so far as possible, separated both from other waste and from one another. Each recyclable stream ends up in a chamber where it can be prepared for sale. The compostable materials are moved to the composting section, which uses aerated static pile composting.

The remaining waste is conveyed into the three incinerators – moving grate, rotary kiln and fixed end– for combustion. The resulting ash is recycled by mixing it with cement and sharp sand and moulding it into interlocking tiles. The stacks of the three incinerators are fitted with smoke cleaning systems to reduce emissions. The process produces wastewater, which is channelled to a pit where it is treated and reused. Overall, 30% of the waste is composted, 15% recycled and 55% incinerated.

There are many examples of sophisticated waste infrastructure being built in developing countries, but failing because the necessary collection systems were not in place to support them. To ensure that this problem is avoided at Asaba, the Delta State government is working with a group known as the Private Sector Participants (PSP).

Each member of this group has trucks assigned to them and has been directed to collect household waste from different parts of the city, for delivery to the facility for treatment. The arrangements made by each PSP are different: some collect from outside individual properties, and some from communal sites; most collect waste that is found in the streets; and while each is subsidised by the state, households also have to pay towards the cost.

Before the Asaba waste management facility was developed, most of the wastes generated in Asaba were disposed of at a dumpsite just adjacent to the Delta State Airport. This created a pungent odour, as well as visual disamenity for people nearby. A great deal of remediation work is now taking place at the dumpsite, which is vastly improving the local environmental quality.

War on Waste

Of course, although this is an improvement there remains more to do. First on the list is education. People do not know how sustainable waste management can impact positively in their lives, reducing their exposure to toxins as well as improving their surroundings. Nor do they understand that recycling a beverage can or a plastic bottle will cost less than producing one from virgin materials and will have a lesser environmental impact. There remains a good deal of cultural change and environmental education that is needed before people will stop throwing waste and litter on the streets – but there are few countries where, to some extent, the same would not be true.

Next is the lack of infrastructure. Nigeria has 36 states and a federal capital, yet the facility in Asaba is the first publicly commissioned one of its kind in the country; there are also some privately owned incinerators that a few companies in Port Harcourt use to treat wastes from vessels (ships), hospitals and industries. Lagos state and Abuja are relatively advanced, simply by virtue of having put in place a few managed landfills, but they are still far from having the level of facility that Asaba can now boast.

The backbone of Asaba’s progress is the state government’s commitment to put a proper waste management solution in place. We’ve seen the impact in the form of infrastructure, collections and remediation, and law enforcement work is starting to change people’s perception about waste management in Delta State. At the moment, plans are being concluded to setup another facility in Warri, Delta State’s industrial hub, which will be twice the size of the Asaba facility.?

My hope is that the progress made by Delta State will be a beacon for other states’ governments. The example we are providing of cleaner, hygienic, more environmentally responsible waste management, and the positive changes that is bringing about, should inspire new development elsewhere in the country, which could equal or even exceed Delta State’s results. So whilst Nigeria’s track record on waste may leave a lot to be desired, the path ahead could be a great deal more promising.

Note: The article is being republished with the kind permission of our collaborative partner Isonomia. The original article can be found at this link.

Sustainable Solid Waste Management: Need of the Hour

The primary aim of sustainable solid waste management is to address concerns related to public health, environmental pollution, land use, resource management and socio-economic impacts associated with improper disposal of waste. “This growing mountain of garbage and trash represents not only an attitude of indifference toward valuable natural resources, but also a serious economic and public health problem”. These words from the former US President Jimmy Carter is enough to understand the social, economical and environmental impact of mismanaged waste disposal and an urgent call for help to look for innovative, smart, sustainable and effective waste disposal techniques.

As a citizen of a community is imperative to contribute to keeping it clean. Waste management can be challenging if you’re not sure how to do it correctly; your best option is to look for an expert. For instance, if you need a Philadelphia dumpster rental, you can find many great companies that will get rid of your waste, preserving the image of your house and your neighborhood.

According to UNEP, around 3 billion tons of waste is generated every year, with industrial waste being the largest contributor, especially from China, EU and USA. There has been a steady increase in the quantity of e-wastes and hazardous waste materials. The UNEP study observed a drastic shift from high organic to higher plastic and paper corresponding to increase in the standards of living and also made an interesting correlation between the higher GDP and the quantity of municipal waste collections.

In developing and under-developed countries, the use of open dumps to dispose of the solid waste from different sectors is staggeringly high compared to the developed and high income countries that are more dependent on recycling and use of sanitary landfills that are isolated from the surrounding environment until it is safe.

There are serious concerns on the increasing cost of waste disposal, especially in developing countries. It is estimated that around $200 billion are being spent on waste management in the OECD countries for both municipal and industrial waste.

For developing countries, at least 20-50% of its annual budget is devoted to waste management schemes and strategy that has been reported insufficient and inefficient at the same time. In these countries, use of unscientific and at times unethical and outdated waste management practices have led to various environmental repercussions and economic backlashes. Even the relatively small proportion of waste recycling and other waste minimization and re-use techniques for waste disposal is alarming.

The increasing cost of waste disposal is a cause of major concern in developing nations

As sustainable solid waste management evolves through waste awareness among general public, efforts within the industry, and waste management becoming not just an environmental concern but a political and strategic apprehension too, there are realistic chances of advancements and scientific innovations.

Innovation will then give birth to revolutionary and self-sustaining ideas within the industry, which earlier focused on basic waste management, will now grow towards maximum utilization and sustainable management of waste.

In the last couple of decades, sustainable solid waste management has become a matter of political significance with robust policies, strategies and agendas devised to address the issue. The good thing is that the industry has responded with innovative, cost-effective and customized solutions to manage solid wastes in an environmental-friendly manner.

Emerging Trends in Recycling and Waste Management

Waste management is an inelegant subject to discuss, but a crucial one when thinking about national infrastructure. With a growing population, and a finite volume of resources, cities across the US begin to buckle.

Waste collection and disposal is a small but essential part of a larger societal puzzle, and a vital discussion when sustainability measures are more important than ever before. But change is afoot, as the following emergent trends in recycling and waste management effectively illustrate.

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Zero Waste Programs

Zero waste programs are the bread and butter of contemporary waste management solutions, being agitated for by sustainability activists and local communities and receiving widespread corporate support. Big businesses are increasingly on-board to re-evaluate their business’ waste practices – and to seek ways to bring excess waste down to zero.

More importantly, US cities are getting on board, with municipal waste programs that promote recycling and re-use techniques to citizens and businesses alike.

Technological Advancements

1. Tech-Enabled Waste Receptacles

There are many ways in which technological is having a positive impact on waste management, but some smaller developments are set to have a significant effect on urban waste collections and cleanliness. One specific scheme has seen compactors installed in larger city waste containers, allowing a much larger amount of waste to be stored.

Sensors are used in tandem with new compactor technology to alert waste removal services when an area is ready for collection. This cuts down on fuel costs and logistical issues, through cutting down the number of waste trucks and visits needs to clear an area.

smart waste management

AI-based waste management systems can help in route optimization and waste disposal

2. Domestic 3D Printing

Developments beyond the world of waste management could provide their own unique solutions to domestic waste management, as evidenced by the possibilities created by the 3D printer. 3D printers have become a commercial success at rapid speed, enabling consumers to ‘print’ their own designs and products out of a plastic compound. With the help of firewire cables and basic CAD software, product design has been effectively democratized.

But more innovation is on the way, as the prospect of directly recycling plastics into new products becomes a reality. Waste plastics could be ground up in the home and used to feed 3D printers, in order to create new items and effectively eliminate plastic landfill waste from that household.

Harvesting Energy

Energy harvesting from organic sources is nothing new; water treatment facilities frequently harvest methane from solid waste extracted from sewage supply, for re-sale to the energy industry. But the methods used to harvest energy from organic processes are only getting more efficient.

biogas-enrichment

The result is a concerted effort to create renewable energy from organic waste sites, through the creation of bioenergy-producing waste disposal locations that receive biodegradable waste to transform into energy.

E-Waste

But, even with real leaps forward in sustainable waste measures and new technological implementations, there are new challenges on the horizon when it comes to waste management. The key challenge relates to the safe disposal of ‘e-waste’, a.k.a. disposed items of electronics – of which there is a steady-growing volume.

Electronic waste items contain dangerous materials, from toxic rare-earth minerals to corrosive substances that toxify the local environment. Recycling efforts are ongoing, but there is no easy way out for recycling circuitry. This illustrates the ongoing need for urgency in the fight against unsustainable waste.

Waste Minimisation – Role of Public, Private and Community Sector

When it comes to waste minimisation and moving material up the waste hierarchy you will find partisan advocates for the roles of the public, private and community sectors. Each will tell you the reasons why their sector’s approach is the best. The private sector will extol their virtues as the only ones capable of efficiently and effectively doing the job.  They rightly note that they are the providers on the front lines who actually recover the vast majority of material, that the private sector approach drives innovation and efficiency, and that if waste minimisation is to be sustainable this must include economic sustainability.

 

The community sector on the other hand will make a strong case to say that their model, because it commonly encompasses social, environmental, and economic outcomes, is able to leverage value from recovered materials to dig deeper into the waste stream, to optimise recovered material quality, and to maximise employment and local economic benefit.

Before recycling and composting were economically viable prospects, community sector organisations led the way, developing many of the techniques now widely used. They remain the leaders in marginal areas such as furniture reuse, running projects that deliver environmental outcomes while providing wider community benefits such as rehabilitation and training for marginalised groups.

Finally, in the public sector corner, advocates will point out that the profit-driven private sector will only ever recover those materials that are able to generate positive revenues, and so cannot maximise waste minimisation, while social outcomes are strictly a secondary consideration. The community sector, on the other hand, while encompassing non-monetary values and capable of effective action on a local scale, is not set up to deliver these benefits on a larger scale and can sometimes struggle to deliver consistent, professional levels of service.

The public sector can point to government’s role in legislating to promote consistent environmental and social outcomes, while councils are major providers and commissioners of recycling services and instrumental in shaping public perceptions around waste issues. The public sector often leads in directing activity towards non-monetary but otherwise valuable outcomes, and provides the framework and funding for equity of service levels.

So who is right? Each sector has good arguments in its favour, and each has its weaknesses. Does one approach carry the day?  Should we just mix and match according to our personal taste or based on what is convenient?

Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Maybe the issue is not “which approach is better?” but instead “how might the different models help us get to where we ultimately want to go?”

Smells Like Waste Minimisation

So where do we want to go?  What is the waste minimisation end game?

If we think about things from a zero waste perspective, the ideal is that we should move from linear processes of extraction, processing, consumption and disposal, to cyclical processes that mimic nature and that re-integrate materials into economic and natural systems.  This is the nirvana – where nothing is ‘thrown away’ because everything has a further beneficial use.  In other words what we have is not waste but resources.  Or to put it another way – everything has value.

Assuming that we continue to operate in an essentially capitalist system, value has to be translated into economic terms.  Imagine if every single thing that we now discard was worth enough money to motivate its recovery.  We would throw nothing away: why would we if there was money to be made from it?

So in a zero waste nirvana the private sector and the community sector would take care of recovery almost automatically.  There might evolve a community and private sector mix, with each occupying different niches depending on desired local outcomes. There would be no need for the public sector to intervene to promote waste minimisation.  All it would need to do would be to set some ground rules and monitor the industry to ensure a level playing field and appropriate health and safety.

Sectoral Healing

Returning to reality, we are a long way from that zero waste nirvana.  As things stand, a bunch of materials do have economic value, and are widely recycled. Another layer of materials have marginal value, and the remainder have no value in practical terms (or even a negative value in the case of hazardous wastes).

The suggested shift in perspective is most obvious in terms of how we think about the role of the public sector. To bring us closer to our goal, the public sector needs to intervene in the market to support those materials of marginal value so that they join the group that has genuine value.

Kerbside (or curbside) collection of certain materials, such as glass and lower value plastics, is an example of an activity that is in effect subsidised by public money. These subsidies enable the private sector to achieve environmental outcomes that we deem sufficiently worthwhile to fund.

However, the public sector should not just be plugging a gap in the market (as it largely does now), but be working towards largely doing itself out of a job. If we are to progress towards a cyclical economy, the role of the public sector should not be to subsidise marginal materials in perpetuity, but to progressively move them from marginal to genuinely economic, so that they no longer require support.

At the same time new materials would be progressively targeted and brought through so that the range and quantity requiring disposal constantly shrinks.  This suggests a vital role for the public sector that encompasses research, funding for development of new technologies and processes, and setting appropriate policy and price structures (such as through taxes, levies, or product stewardship programmes).

Similarly, the community sector, because it is able to ‘dig deeper’ into the waste stream, has a unique and ongoing role to play in terms of being able to more effectively address those materials of marginal value as they begin to move up the hierarchy.  The community sector’s unique value is its ability to work at the frontiers.

Meanwhile, the private sector’s resources and creativity will be needed to enable efficient systems to be developed to manage collection, processing and recycling of materials that reach the threshold of economic viability – and to create new, more sustainable products that fit more readily into a waste minimising world.

In the end, then, perhaps the answer is to stop seeing the three models as being in competition. Instead, we should consciously be utilising the unique characteristics of each so that we can evolve our practices towards a future that is more functional and capable of delivering the circular economy that must eventuate if we are to sustain ourselves on this planet.

Note: The article is being republished with the kind permission of our collaborative partner Isonomia. The original article can be viewed at this link