Abstract
Municipal waste management system modeling based on the mass balance of individual waste streams allows us to answer the question of how the system will react to organizational changes, e.g., to the expected reduction in the amount of plastics or the introduction of a deposit for glass and/or plastic packaging. Based on the data on Polish municipal solid waste and the forecast of changes in its quantity and composition, as well as demographic data, a balance model was prepared to assess the impact of introducing higher and higher levels of recycling, in accordance with the circular economy assumptions on the waste management system. It has been shown that, for the Polish composition of municipal waste, even if the assumed recycling levels of individual streams are achieved, achieving the general target level of 65% recycling in 2025/30 may not be feasible. The possibility of achieving a higher level of recycling will be possible due the introduction of selective ash collection from individual home furnaces, while the impact of reducing the amount of plastics or introducing a deposit on packaging is minimal. The calculations also showed that, to complete the waste management system in Poland, we need at least 3.5 million Mg/year of incineration processing capacity and the present state (approx. 1.3 million Mg/year) is insufficient.
Highlights
In the introduction to the excellent textbook “Air Pollution Modeling”, Paolo Zanetti [1]stated that “Contrary to popular belief that point measurements in the environment represent the real world, it must be firmly stated that only a well-tested and well-calibrated simulation model is a correct representation of the three-dimensional real world, its dynamics and responses to all possible future disturbances
The aim of the study was to analyze the possibilities of implementing the circular economy concept in Poland and the impact of possible changes in the system of collecting and managing specific groups of waste, such as glass, plastics or ash from household stoves, on the achievable recycling rate of all amount of municipal solid waste (MSW)
The waste separated in the mechanical-biological waste treatment (MBT) installation is only theoretically suitable for recycling because of the content of moisture and contaminants
Summary
In the introduction to the excellent textbook “Air Pollution Modeling”, Paolo Zanetti [1]stated that “Contrary to popular belief that point measurements in the environment represent the real world, it must be firmly stated that only a well-tested and well-calibrated simulation model is a correct representation of the three-dimensional real world, its dynamics and responses to all possible future disturbances. Only mathematical models can answer our question, what if . Mathematical modeling of processes occurring in the atmosphere, surface waters or soil (e.g., modeling of pollutant dispersion) has been widely practiced for years. We use mathematical modeling to simulate gas or wastewater treatment processes—in this area, chemical engineering perfectly complements environmental engineering. Modeling of waste management is still a big problem. The main reason is that we are most often dealing with very heterogeneous material, such as waste and with stochastic processes that are difficult to describe mathematically. It provides an opportunity to simulate the impact of various types of decisions (often political) and both systemic changes and changes in the behavior of residents on the final waste mass streams that we must manage
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