Conceptualization of Bioreactor Landfill Approach for Sustainable Waste Management in Karachi, Pakistan

Ihsanullah Sohoo,Muhammad Farooq,Kerstin Kuchta,Marco Ritzkowski,Muhammad Sultan

doi:10.3390/su14063364

Abstract

Finding a sustainable approach for municipal solid waste (MSW) management is becoming paramount. However, as with many urban areas in developing countries, the approach applied to MSW management in Karachi is neither environmentally sustainable nor suitable for public health. Due to adoption of an inefficient waste management system, society is paying intangible costs such as damage to public health and environment quality. In order to minimize the environmental impacts and health issues associated with waste management practices, a sustainable waste management and disposal strategy is required. The aim of this paper is to present a concept for the development of new bioreactor landfills for sustainable waste management in Karachi. Furthermore, this paper contributes to estimation of methane (CH4) emissions from waste disposal sites by employing the First Order Decay (FOD) Tier 2 model of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and determining of the biodegradation rate constant (k) value. The design and operational concept of bioreactor landfills is formulated for the study area, including estimation of land requirement, methane production, power generation, and liquid required for recirculation, along with a preliminary sketch of the proposed bioreactor landfill. This study will be helpful for stockholders, policy makers, and researchers in planning, development, and further research for establishment of bioreactor landfill facilities, particularly in the study area as well as more generally in regions with a similar climate and MSW composition.

Highlights

In order to control environmental impacts and maintain better public health, municipal solid waste (MSW) must be managed in a sustainable way [1]
The degradable organic content (DOC) of MSW used in this study was determined using Equation (2), as per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2001 [75]: DOC = (0.4 × A) + (0.2 × B) + (0.15 × C) +(0.43 × D) + (0.24 × E) + (0.24 × F)
Population growth and and increasing increasing commercial commercial activities activities are are cumulatively cumulatively increasing increasing the amount of waste generated in the waste disposal sites in the the amount of waste generated in Karachi

Summary

Introduction

In order to control environmental impacts and maintain better public health, municipal solid waste (MSW) must be managed in a sustainable way [1]. Sustainable management of huge amounts of MSW is a challenge, especially in developing countries, due to lack of financial and technical resources, increasing population, economic development, and rapid urbanization [2]. The costs to be paid by society if waste is not managed effectively is a ‘cost of negligence’ which includes public health costs, the cost of environmental deterioration because of uncollected wastes, uncontrolled dumping, open burning, and inefficient resource recovery, productivity loss, flood damage, loss of business and tourism, and long-term cleanup costs [3]. About 2.01 billion metric tonnes of MSW are generated yearly, and this amount is expected to increase more than two- or even three-fold in lower-income countries by 2050 due to significant economic development and rising populations [4,5]. In high-income countries, the collection rate is close to 100%; in lower–middle income and low-income countries the waste collection rate is about 51% and 39%, respectively [5]

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