The Issues of Sustainable Solid Waste Management System in Developing Countries.pdf

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/235901434 The Issues of Sustainable Solid Waste Management System in Developing Countries. CONFERENCE PAPER · MAY 2008 DOI: 10.13140/2.1.4223.0727 CITATION DOWNLOADS 1 87 VIEWS 110 3 AUTHORS, INCLUDING: Dr. Abdul-Sattar Nizami King Abdulaziz University 47 PUBLICATIONS 503 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Available from: Dr. Abdul-Sattar Nizami Retrieved on: 20 August 2015 The Issues of Sustainable Solid Waste Management System in Developing Countries a K Shahzad 1, I Ulfat 1, AS Nizami 1, * 1 Environmental Systems Analysis, Department of Energy & Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. * nizami_pk@yahoo.com a This paper is based on a research proposal submitted to Sida - Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency for research grant in 2007 by the corresponding author (AS Nizami). Later on, the main idea of the proposal was presented at the International seminar on ‘Societies of Tomorrow’, At Regina-Saskatchewan, Canada in 12-16 May, 2008 by one of the coauthor (K Shahzad). 1. Introduction 1.1 The Issues of Waste Management in Developing Countries Waste is generated as a result of most of our daily activities (Moberg et al., 2005). Through the 20 th century, solid waste management has evolved very significantly (Diaz and Warith, 2006). Today, the debate on waste management has become paramount due to overload of human needs and activities than the assimilative capacity of the biosphere (Marchettini et al., 2007). The question of concern is how to take care of this waste in the most efficient way and with the least negative impacts especially in the rapid urbanizing cities of the developing world, where the problems and issues of solid waste management are becoming a serious threat to the human health and the environment (Zurbrugg, 2003). To make solid waste management system sustainable, energy and resource conservation and reduced environmental impacts are necessary to be considered (Liamsanguan and Gheewala, 2007). The European Union guidelines mentioned the reduction of the present levels of waste generation and the increase in energy and materials recovery as important steps in the environmentally-sound waste management system (Marchettini et al., 2007). Nowadays, refuse is considered as a potential source through which something must be recovered or re-used so, it is no longer considered as a ‘waste’ (Dijkema et al., 2000 and Korhonen et al., 2004). Landfill is also no longer the first choice for disposal among other methods such as recycling, composting, incineration but a last step in waste management after all possible material and energy recovery . Electricity and heat is produced from the recovered biogas from landfill. To reduce waste mass, incinerators were used initially but nowadays energy is recovered from incinerators. From a mass view point of material recycling, composting represents the most important system (Marchettini et al., 2007). The environmental and sanitary conditions of developing countries are becoming serious year by year and people are forced to live in such conditions due to poverty. Regardless of the size of the city the collection, transportation and disposal or dumping is insufficient and improper. Regarding solid waste management, the scope of problems is very wide and it involves other aspects to be considered directly or indirectly. These include, the rate of urbanization, pattern and density of urban areas, physical planning and control of development, the physical composition of waste etc. To identify the overall environmental burdens and to assess the potential environmental impacts, the life cycle assessment (LCA) is successfully applied to solid waste management systems (Harrison et al., 2000). This remained also helpful for comparing the environmental performance of different scenarios for the management of mixed solid waste (Denison, 1996; Finnveden et a., 2000; Arena et al., Chaya and Gheewala, 2006; Wanichpongan and Gheewala, 2006). With the help of this tool, the solid waste management system is evaluated based on a system wide or life cycle perspective, so this provides a system that recovers energy from incineration, landfill and composting (Liamsanguan and Gheewala, 2007). 1.2 A Case Study from Pakistan In Pakistan, it is estimated that 54,888 tons of solid waste are generated per day (EPA, 2007), while it is 0.6 to 0.8 kg /capita/ day. The growth rate of waste-generation is 2.4% (WWF, 2001). There is a big difference between solid waste generation and the amounts reaching at final disposal sites. Only 51-69% waste is collected of the total waste generated (EPA, 2007) and around 40% of the generated waste remains in streets or collection points (WWF, 2001). Much of the collected waste finds its way in dumping grounds, open pits, ponds, rivers and agricultural land because of the lack of adequate disposal sites. As the urbanization and industrialization increase, the environmental degradation also advances which is causing economic losses (EPA, 2005). No weighing facilities are currently present at disposal sites. There is no waste sampling and analysis practice carrying out. At various steps of existing solid waste management, the scavengers play an important role as they separate recyclables (EPA, 2007). Presently, food waste represents 8.4 % to 21% of the total collected waste. 10.2% to 15.6% waste is composed of leaves, grass, straw, fodder while, recyclable materials represent 13.6% to 23% of the total fraction of waste. Industrial and hospital waste is treated as an ordinary waste. Air is polluting due to open burning of waste especially non-degradable components like plastic bags (EPA, 2007). The public health is being degraded due to clogging of drains, formation of stagnant ponds, which provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies with consequent risks of malaria and cholera (EPA, 2005). 1.3 Identification of Problem The handling of solid waste in Pakistan lacks ‘energy recovery’ principle. The energy potential of generating waste is distributed and circulating in the environment in a un-useful way. The problem is the non-recovery of energy in the form of electricity, bio-gas and fertilizers from waste. So, these energy contents are released into the air (toxic gases) due to open dumping and open burning and into the ground water (water contamination) due to non-sanitary landfill. Socioeconomic and environmental impacts are resulting due to current practices of treating solid waste. The economic development and the health and well-being of Pakistan’s population are closely linked with improved environmental management and protection. According to a recent study by Batool et al (2006) in Lahore (city of Pakistan) have found that if the recycling practices are adopted as an industry, they can generate a revenue of Rs. 530 million (US$ 8.8) million per year with the saving of enormous amounts of energy and natural resources. Resource conservation, creation of jobs, provisions of economic opportunities and a reduction in the impacts of waste disposal are the various benefits that can be created if energy recovery and resource conservation are considered. 2. Possible Approach and Methodology Empirical based environmental assessments, studies of institutions and system modelling will be carried out as methods. The main approach will be constituted by the socio-economic-ecological science. Through sampling and interviews, empirical data will be gathered and compared with the already available data and information, while the synthesis analysis (literature) will be carried out to get the theoretical data. The technical considerations and derived data with the help of LCA will be transferred into suitable modelling works. LCA will a major helping tool to achieve the aims of this research. It is used to evaluate the performance of different MSW management systems. According to UNEP (2003), to document the environmental considerations those are needed for decision making process towards sustainability, LCA is an important tool. Different solid waste management system scenarios will be developed and compared by using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Processes such as the collection of wastes, source reduction, material recovery facility (MRF), transfer stations (TS), incineration, anaerobic digestion and land filling will be considered in these scenarios. The environmental impacts will be quantified with the weighing factors of each category to develop the environmental profiles of each scenario. The source reduction scenario will be preferred. They will be evaluated on the basis of their water emission, air emission, final solid waste produced, energy consumption and economics. By the assessment of scenarios, the comparison of different technologies of the waste management system of Pakistan will be carried out, so that the most energy efficient, cost effective and least polluting waste management option could be achieved. According to ISO (1997), four different phases of LCA will be performed in an iterative manner. They are 1) goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory analysis, life cycle impact assessment are finally the interpretation using results from all three previous steps. In impact assessment phase, the contents necessary for consideration are selection of impacts categories, indicators and models, classification, characterization and weighting. 2.1 Relevant Research questions Following questions are made to meet up the above mentioned aims.      What are the findings of already conducted studies by the developed world societies about the physical and chemical properties of different kinds of generated and collected waste and their energy potential in terms of caloric values against the reality of big cities of Pakistan like Karachi, and Lahore? What are socioeconomic and environmental problems associated with solid waste system and their link with the presence and absence of energy recovery and resource conservation principle? What are the different ground realities (e.g. Conflicting interests of different actors) important to be considered in finding of the most feasible waste management option? What policies or strategies are necessary to develop or improve to make integrated solid waste management system? What are the different sustainability indicators necessary for consideration to make this sector sustainable? 2.2 How the Aims can be Achieved in Developing Countries? The aim of this research is to make a detailed assessment and evaluation study of different solid waste management technologies such as recycling, composting, incineration etc with respect to their potential of energy recovery, the environmental impacts and economy. This will help to develop an integrated solid waste management system of Pakistan that will be environmentally effective, economically affordable and socially acceptable. This will further ensure the quality of life now and for coming generations. This can be achieved by doing the following things   To evaluate the socio-economic-ecological potential to implement the energy recovery principle in different solid waste management technologies. Based on above mentioned evaluation, to identify the most energy efficient, most cost effective and least polluting waste management option from a system perspective   To identify the different actors, their role and participation in policy and decision making process in the solid waste sector. To develop life cycle assessment for different waste management methods and procedures in terms of energy recovery, the environmental impacts and economy 2.3 Significance of Sustainable Solid Waste Management System This research will be a milestone for different stakeholders, policy makers and decision makers at national and international levels who are or will be interested to develop different waste management technologies in Pakistan because, this will provide them a complete feasibility assessment of different waste management options with respect to energy recovery, the environmental impacts and economy and will also tell what is possible to implement in the presence of different conflicting interests. In the long run, this research will be helpful to municipalities if the energy recovery and resource conservation principle would consider in solid waste management system because;     Waste management practices will be optimized. Disposal options with new recovery for managing particular material and material streams will be examined. As a result of integrated and optimized waste management, the benefits such as resource conservation, creation of jobs, provisions of economic opportunities and a reduction in the impacts of waste disposal will be realized. Environmental assessment reports on the ‘state of environment’ will be prepared. References Arena, U., Mastellone, M. L., Perugini, F. 2003. The Environmental Performance of Alternative Solid Waste Management Options: A Life Cycle Assessment Study. Chemical Engineering Journal 96:207-222. Batool, S. A., Chaudhry, N., Majeed,K. Accepted 2006. Economic Potential of Recycling Business in Lahore, Pakistan. Article in press. Waste Management xxx (2007) xxx-xxx. Chaya, W., Gheewala, S. H. 2006. Life Cycle Assessment of MSW to Energy Schemes in Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, in Press. Denison, R.1996. 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