SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ;

CHALLENGES, FUTURE
TRENDS & TECHNIQUES

Presented by:
M.Khalid Jawed (EN-004) (engr_M.Khalid@yahoo.com)
Course#526 Municipal & Hazardous Solid Waste Management Practices
Presented to:
Course Instructor Engr. Javed Aziz Khan and M.Engg fellows

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

NED UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this presentation is to:
describe

the current trends of Solid Waste generation,

and the management
identify the relevant challenges.
discuss the possible future techniques and innovations
to counter it.

GLOBAL WASTE PRODUCTION ESTIMATES

Current global MSW generation levels are approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year,
and are expected to increase to approximately 2.2 billion tonnes per year by 2025.

Waste generation rates will increase more than double over the next twenty years in
lower income countries.

The per capita waste generation rates are expected to increase from 1.2 to 1.42 kg
per person per day by 2025.

Globally, solid waste management costs will increase from todays annual $205.4
billion to about $375.5 billion in 2025.

WASTE GENERATION BY REGION

AFR = Africa region

EAP = East Asia & Pacific
ECA = Europe & Central Asia
LAZ = Latin America & The
Caribbean
MENA = Middle East & North
Africa
OECD = Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (includes
most of the developed countries)

SAR = South Asia region

Waste Generation by Country Income Level

2012
*

*Countries are classified into four income

levels according to World Bank estimates
of 2005 GNI per capita.
High: $10,726 or above
Upper middle: $3,466-10,725
Lower middle: $876-3,465
Lower: $875 or less.

Waste Generation by Income Level ;

2010 VS 2025
Key points :
43.71% increase in
Urban population
26.25% increase in
per capital annual
waste generation
71.84% increase in
total waste
generated!

Waste Collection Efficiency

Global MSW Disposal Practices;

Recycling Trends

MSW Financial Cost Projection

82.57% increase in cost!

So What are the CHALLENGES?

Lack of recycling.

Increasing amounts of solid waste generated, i.e. lack of Reduce.

Dependence on plastic and paper.

Lower rates of waste collection in many regions of the world.

The financial problems related to waste recycling and processing.

Future Recycling and Waste

Management Trends
Although

the waste generation rates are alarming and the traditional

methods are exceedingly non-feasible in long-term scenario, the past
few years have been an interesting time for the eco-movement.

It's

been a time of cardboard bicycles and eco-friendly urban housing;

a time where some countries might be recycling too much, while
some cities have a hard time recycling anything at all.

We

are continuing to see new developments, and innovations related

to the 3 Rs Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Some

of these developments and innovations are discussed here.

Future Recycling and Waste

Management Trends

Ban on Plastics
Why?

Plastics take hundreds, if not thousands of years to photodegrade (which is still bad for the environment
anyway).

They are wildly hazardous to local ecosystems and wildlife.

Alternative?

Gradual phase-out of unsustainable plastics like Styrofoam, and continuous introduction and usage of biodegradable plastic.

Future Recycling and Waste Management Trends

Biodegradable Plastics

They are plant-derived resins, like polylactic acid.

The market for biodegradable plastic resins is currently expected to increase by 19% a year into 2017.

Some possible applications include car parts, clothing, and even electrical components

With proper municipal recycling and composting systems in place to break down the plant-based
material, these plastics will degrade in a relatively short span of time.

The RISK :

When a bio-degradable plastic, polylactic acid in particular, is mixed with other types of plastics
during processing, it can contaminate even the entire batch of recycled plastic, rendering it all
useless. So, proper labelling and intensive care would be required.

Future Recycling and Waste

Management Trends
From Paper to Digital

In 2012, the U.S.A. President Barack Obama signed legislation requiring the EPA to move to a completely
digital system of records by 2015.

Benefits?

The retailers and commercial businesses will be able to report their hazardous waste data directly to
the EPA via an e-manifest, making industrial and commercial waste tracking a much more streamlined,
efficient process.

Digital record systems generate considerably less waste.

Forests conservation.

Future Recycling and Waste

Management Trends

Mandatory Composting
In

the US, 95% of food waste in 2012 went to landfills.

It

means there is potentially millions of tons of food waste that can be

turned into a healthy compost material for personal or municipal use.

Many

municipalities across the US are starting to institute programs for

organic material composting, and some are even making it mandatory.

Public

awareness and interest holds the key.

Future Recycling and Waste Management Trends

Sustainable Innovation
In

2013 A Swedish student at the Ume

institute of Design developed a conceptual
design for the concrete eating robot,
a robot that can actually recycle buildings that
are made of concrete and rebar, using
high-pressure water.

What

was previously waste, now turns into

labeled packaged asset to be transferred right
away into concrete pre-casting stations to be
re-molded into new building blocks.

No

dust, no waste, no separation. Only clean

bags of aggregate to be re-used and rust and
dust free rebar to be cut and re-used directly.

Innovations

like these can help control the

waste generation within sustainable limits.

Future Recycling and Waste Management Trends

3-D Printing
3D

printing refers to various processes used to synthesize a threedimensional object. It usually uses plastic as an input.

On

one hand it may increase our dependence

on plastics but on the other hand it can be
used to recycle plastic.

Grinded-up

plastics from around your can be

a viable option for printing. Imagine if a
whole new market was opened up for
plastic waste to be used in 3-D printing?

3-D

printing has innumerable positive

applications, but we should ensure that the
materials used are as sustainably-sourced as possible.

3D printer

Future Recycling and Waste Management Trends

BIO-DIGESTERS - Energy from Organic Waste

In

the capital of the US state California, Sacramento Bio-Digester, the

largest anaerobic digestion system of its kind in North America was
officially opened in January 2013.

The

25 ton per day facility is currently scaling up to process 100 tons per
day of organic waste, that might otherwise have gone to the landfills.

After

increasing the capacity to about 40,000 tons per day, the

facility will :

I.

produce 700,000 diesel gallons per year of renewable CNG

II.

prevent the release 18,000 tons of CO 2 into the atmosphere

Future Recycling and Waste Management Trends

III. produce 8 million gallons/year

of organic soils & fertilizer
products for Sacramento area farms.
IV. generate one million kilowatts of
electricity to be used to power
the facility and the adjacent fueling
station.
V. produce the only commercially
available fuel that has negative
carbon intensity in the US,
meaning it destroys more carbon
than it creates.

Future Recycling and Waste

Management Trends

Recycling Cigarettes?

Every year, billions of cigarette butts end up in dumpsters and landfills, or get
tossed as litter across the globe.

TerraCycle's Cigarette Waste Brigade recycling program is an important

initiative in countering this massive waste stream.

Any person, organization or business can actually collect and send cigarette
waste directly to TerraCycle.

The tobacco and paper gets composted and the cellulose acetate filters are
recycled into industrial plastic products like shipping pallets.

As more people begin to realize that there actually is a solution to this

enormous waste stream, we hope to see more people and municipalities
following suit.

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS:

The

waste generation rates are alarmingly high and are increasing

exponentially.
The high-income developed countries are the chief contributors to the
waste generation and hence they owe a huge responsibility not only to
counter this challenge in their countries but also to transfer advance
green technologies to the low-income nations.
Organic, paper, and plastic waste makes the bulk of the solid waste,
and hence special attention must be given to them.
Traditional methods of waste disposal, such as land filling, can be
replaced by more innovative and far more efficient techniques and
better law making.
The 3 Rs hold the key and are needed to be applied in a stringent
manner across the globe.

REFERENCES

WHAT A WASTE : A Global Review of Solid Waste Management (by

World Bank)

Trends in Solid Waste Management: Issues, Challenges and

Opportunities (by UNEP ; United Nations Environment Programme)

http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/10-recyclingand-waste-management-trends-watch-out-near-future.html

http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/beware-brutalismconcrete-eating-robot-literally-erases-buildings.html

http://www.cleanworld.com/news/cleanworlds-sacramentobiodigester-named-international-bioenergy-project-of-the-year/

http://www.energy.ca.gov/tour/cleanworld/

http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/cigarette-wastebrigade.html

THANKS FOR PAYING ATTENTION

QUESTIONS?