Current Municipal Solid Waste Management Research Articles

GHG Emissions in the Current and Future MSW Management System in Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Each and every step in the process of municipal solid waste (MSW) management generates the greenhouse gases (GHG). Therefore, it is imperative to focus on MSW from the source to the final waste disposal in order to decrease the negative impact on the environment. This study aims to calculate the GHG emissions at the present moment (Status Quo) for waste management as well as on the improved MSW management that should be implemented in this local community by 2027 (Scenario 2027). To visualize waste streams in these two scenarios, the STAN 2.5 software was used, and for the calculation of GHG emissions in the City of Zvornik, the IWM-2 software was used. The MSW management Status Quo is basically characterized by the collection communal of waste and its deposition on the landfill without a degasification system and landfill gas treatment. The guidelines and recommendations for MSW management improvement, Scenario 2027 propose the establishment of separate collections of secondary raw materials and biodegradable waste, and improved collection and treatment of landfill gas at the landfill site. The implementation of these measures would result in a reduction of approximately 40% in GHG emissions compared to the Status Quo. The most significant impact would be realized in the environment due to the collection and treatment of landfill.

Use of life cycle assessment for estimating impacts of waste-to-energy technologies in solid waste management systems: the case of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Analysing municipal solid waste (MSW) management scenarios is relevant for planning future policies and actions toward a circular economy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is appropriate for evaluating technologies of MSW treatment and their environmental impacts. However, in developing countries, advanced assessments are difficult to introduce due to the lack of technical knowledge, data and financial support. This research aims to assess the main potentialities of the introduction of waste-to-energy (WtE) systems in a developing Argentinean urban area considering the existing regulations about MSW recycling goals. The study was conducted with WRATE software and the proposed scenarios were current management, grate incineration of raw MSW and incineration of solid recovered fuel (SRF). In addition, a sensitivity analysis on the energy matrix was included. It was found that the production of SRF allows increasing the energy generation from waste by 200% and reducing the environmental impact of about 10% regarding the current MSW management system. Acidification Potential and Abiotic Depletion Potential were sensitive to changes in electricity mix. Results showed that if MSW reduction goals are achieved, changes in MSW composition will affect the performance of WtE plants and, in some cases, they will be not technically feasible. The outcomes of this study can be of interest for developing countries stakeholders and practitioners interested in LCA and sustainable MSW management.

Municipal solid waste management in developing economies: A way forward

This conceptual paper identifies how municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is currently being practiced in developing economies from an institutional perspective. Semi-systematic review of 934 peer-reviewed journal articles extracted from the Web of Science database is used as the foundation for this paper. The findings affirm that the current MSWM practices of most developing economies are either ineffective, inefficient, or limited. Hence, they are contributing to environmental, social, and economic negative impacts that can impede sustainable development. Though the literature highlights several remedies that could curtail the negative impacts of current MSWM practices, most developing economies are yet to engage with these due to numerous constraints. Special emphasis is on administrative constraints (or the norms, expectations, and requirements within the specific institutional field where MSWM is practiced in developing economies) that prevents adoption of new MSWM practices in developing economies. In this context, social movements can play a critical role in improving current MSWM practices. This paper makes recommendations for a way forward in which social movements could act as institutional entrepreneurs to change the norms, expectations, and requirements of the institutional field for a sustainable MSWM in developing economies.

Citizens’ willingness to pay for adaptive municipal solid waste management services in Jakarta, Indonesia

The capability of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) services and the system's sustainability are significant challenge in developing cities like Jakarta. MSWM provides a comprehensive, adaptive capacity framework for addressing problems in resource-constrained developing nations where poor assets, flexibility, social organization, learning, and agency have no adaptive means of regaining them. This paper aim to conduct an evaluation framework under adaptive MSWM, estimates citizens’ preferences heterogeneity and, evaluates willingness-to-pay (WTP) under hypothetical scenarios of future adaptive MSWM retribution. The findings indicate that adaptive MSWM services substantially impact the decision to expand their environment. In addition, citizens who supported the adaptive MSWM services tended to have a higher income than the minimum wage, live outside of slums, are older than 39 years, and are aware of climate change and the current MSWM system and infrastructure. The findings imply that policymakers must enhance citizen MSWM awareness of climate change and infrastructure used to dealing with adaptability strategies. Finally, we establish three adaptive MSWM scenario for sustainable services with the optimization of the MSWM system and infrastructure, community-based MSWM, and smart MSWM system and infrastructure.

Potential greenhouse gas emissions and reduction from municipal solid waste management in Phnom Penh municipality

AbstractThis study evaluates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduction potential from municipal solid waste management (MSWM) following the IPCC 2006 guidelines. Under different MSWM scenarios of Phnom Penh municipality, this study quantifies GHG emissions from transportation, open burning, composting, recycling, anaerobic digestion (AD), incineration, and landfilling municipal solid waste. The study also considers the GHG emissions avoided as a benefit of recycling and electricity generation from incineration and AD. Various waste separation rates are used to evaluate the effectiveness of source segregation in GHG mitigation. The results show that the most significant net GHG emission saving is under scenario 5, avoiding about 1.15 M kg CO2‐eq/day with treatment affords 389 t/day of organic waste, 714 t/day of mixed recyclables, 777 t/day of digestible food waste, and 1,280 t/day of commingled waste via composting, recycling, AD, and incineration, respectively. The worst‐case scenario represents the current MSWM method, which generates the highest GHG emissions of 3.13 M kg CO2‐eq/day. This is due to the open burning of uncollected waste (211 t/day) and landfilling (2,835 t/day). Based on the analysis, an integrated MSWM system along with source separation for recycling and resource recovery purposes is highly recommended as it leads to the most significant reduction in environmental impacts. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the practical implications of policy frameworks for MSWM, specifically in terms of GHG emissions reduction. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION AND PERCEPTIONS IN THE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT OF MANGALORE CITY CORPORATION, KARNATAKA, INDIA

The alarming increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation and its complex characteristics pose a significant threat to people and the environment worldwide. The success of solid waste management (SWM) depends on the involvement and active participation of all stakeholders, and in particular, the people in households play a vital role. The primary objective of this paper is to assess awareness, perception, and participation and suggest how an effective SWM can be achieved. Hence, the article aims to present the participation and perceptions of people with regard to the current Municipal Solid Waste Management System (MSWMS) in Mangalore City Corporation, Karnataka State, India. The feedback from 410 people from various households was collected based on gender, age, income, education status, etc. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze these datasets. The study shows that there is variation in the participation of people in all wards, and in some wards it is not satisfactory. It identifies areas where participation is lacking and highlights a potential gap between public perception and the actual state of waste management. The study suggests the need for administrative improvements and strategies based on public feedback to enhance the solid waste management system.

Environmental and economic performances of municipal solid waste management strategies based on LCA method: A case study of kinshasa

Like many populated urban agglomerations in Africa, Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, faces several challenges to manage its exponentially growing Municipal Solid Waste. With its 12, 000, 000 people daily generating 7800 tons of Municipal Solid waste, the city still struggles with basic services such as waste collection and sanitary landfill. This causes major social, environmental and health related issues. With the aim of contributing to the implementation of a better management system in Kinshasa, this study evaluates the environmental impact and the cost of the existing waste management framework and proposes 6 alternative scenarios. Each scenario attempts to optimize Greenhouse gas emissions and cost, using the Life Cycle Assessment approach. Results show that the current municipal solid waste management in Kinshasa city emits 640,673 tons of CO2 equivalent per year and costs a total of 17, 776, 169.78USD yearly. Focusing on increasing waste collection coverage and recycling activities in the proposed 6 scenarios, scenario 4 where all municipal solid waste is collected, produces 4,042,402 tons of CO2 equivalent per year and costs 143, 296, 983.4 yearly. In scenario 7, considered the most optimized management model for Kinshasa in this study, municipal solid waste is valorized through different treatment processes and atmospheric pollution reaches 2,835,491 tons of CO2 equivalent yearly, with a management cost of 152, 790, 779.4 USD/year. This study finds that the optimization of the Municipal Solid Waste management system in Kinshasa city causes the atmospheric pollution in terms of CO2 equivalent to decrease by half, when all waste is collected. Landfill diversion rate reaches up to 70%, but the overall MSW management cost increases by almost eight times as much as the current operational cost. The optimization of the management system is done by increasing waste collection coverage and implementing diverse streams of waste valorization. Despite the wide use of the Life Cycle Assessment method in waste management and decision making, this method has not yet been, to the best knowledge of the authors, applied in estimating Greenhouse gas emissions and cost of the Municipal Solid Waste in the specific context of Kinshasa city.

Multi-stakeholder synergies for enhancing environmental management of beach recreation in the eastern coast, Thailand

Considering the long-term growth of tourism, the environmental impact of aesthetic waste is necessary to manage sustainably. However, the current municipal solid waste management (MSWM) mostly lacks capacity and excludes the relevant stakeholders to involve tourism waste management comprehensively. Synergy was recruited as an important mechanism for enhancing the current MSWM, which had never been applied previously. Also, the private sector (accommodation and trades) and people sector (residents and tourists) were included in the multi-stakeholder approach for an effective MSWM study. Thus, this study aims to explore the stakeholders of the public sector and relevant stakeholders in beach recreation to find the synergistic opportunities for enhancing MSWM in the eastern region of Thailand. Primary data was gathered by semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys, as part of a mixed-methods methodology. Descriptive statistics, chi-square testing, regression, and content analysis were applied for data analysis. The finding shows that, in addition to the challenging, potential, and cross-sector synergy identified in the literature, this study discovered synergistic opportunities with other types of partnership specifically. To shed light on synergy and multi-stakeholder studies, the benefits derived and ecosystem must be indicated to stimulate partnership and enhance the MSWM in coastal tourism destination sustainability.

Waste-to-energy and electricity generation: Analysis for Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is a developing country experiencing both rapid economic growth and vast urbanization. These have led to waste disposal problems. Therefore, waste-to-energy (WTE) processes, a source of renewable energy, are expected to play an increasingly important role in sustainable management of municipal solid waste (MSW). The purpose of this paper is to estimate the energy produced from the WTE method, to assist policymakers to develop a strategy that enhances the environmental quality, through reducing energy generation in the electricity sector. This study begins by presenting Saudi's current MSW management situation and its waste disposal process as well as the major challenges associated with Saudi's WTE incineration before discussing the economic and environmental benefits of the WTE method. Since waste can be used to produce energy for electricity and heat, this study estimated energy generated from WTE technology through employing estimated baseline scenario and future scenarios. Findings indicated that future scenarios are better than the business-as-usual scenario. The paper concludes that the WTE method can produce energy for electricity generation which in turn reduces the volume and the production of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced from MSW. The waste-to energy approach with supportive policies could lead the country to achieve sustainable development.

A micro- and macro-scale look at the biochemical methanogenic potential of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste generated in a large city of a developing country

The management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a complex and expensive task. This is especially the case in developing countries, where waste generation rates are continuously increasing and where current MSW management strategies are focused on inadequate practices, such as landfilling and incineration, which result in numerous health and environmental problems. The anaerobic digestion (AD) of MSW has been implemented worldwide as a solution to decrease the amount of waste ending up in landfills. This process allows for the recovery of energy from the organic fraction of MSW (OFMSW) in the form of biogas, which is largely composed of methane. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to evaluate the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of the OFMSW generated within different socioeconomic strata of the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (MAG), Mexico. From a microscale perspective, the microbial communities within the experimental AD system were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to assess the relationship between these communities and the biogas composition. This microbial identification revealed a typical AD composition consisting of the following six phyla: Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Euryarchaeota, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. Furthermore, through the identification of Methanobacterium and Methanosaeta, two methanogenesis pathways (hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic) were pinpointed. From a macroscale perspective, a multi-stage Gompertz kinetic model was used to describe cumulative biogas production. This model considered the complex nature of the OFMSW substrate in order to estimate the potential level of biogas production in the MAG using a weighted average that was based on the size of the population in each socioeconomic stratum evaluated (732.8 mL⋅g−1 VS). This novel contribution to the literature provides an estimation of the potential economic, energetic, and environmental benefits of treating the OFMSW produced in the MAG through AD. Through this approach, an estimated 8.5 MWh·year−1 of electrical power could be produced, translating into 1.13 million USD of yearly revenue and resulting in reduced GHG emissions (10,519 tonne CO2eq⋅year−1).

Modular incinerator with pre-treatment plant for municipal solid waste treatment in the super-priority tourism destination of Labuan Bajo Indonesia

One of the competitiveness parameters of tourist destinations is the cleanliness index. Labuan Bajo as a super-priority tourist destination has a very serious municipal solid waste (MSW) problem. Waste generation in Labuan Bajo and Komodo National Park in 2020 reached 14.06 tons/day and is projected to be 15.51 tons/day in 2023. The main sources of MSW come from settlements, hotels, traditional markets, and seaports. The current MSW management system is that waste is collected from the source and then transported to a temporary storage tank to be transported by truck to the Warloka landfill. This system poses a threat in the form of shortening the service life of the landfill. Management through recycling is still a very low percentage because the recycling ecosystem has not yet developed. One alternative for MSW management that is currently being carried out by the central government in Labuan Bajo is to implement a modular incinerator. This paper describes the process of designing and operating a test incinerator with a combustion capacity of 20 tons/day consisting of 2 lines each with a capacity of 10 tons/day. The incinerator is equipped with a pre-treatment plant consisting of a sorting conveyor, thermal dryer, and storage conveyor. The incinerator furnace consists of two chambers and each is equipped with a burner. This furnace is designed to be able to burn waste with a calorific value of 1300 kcal/kg with a maximum moisture content (MC) of 60%. The test results show that the temperature in the primary chamber can reach a minimum of 800°C and a maximum of 1000°C in the secondary chamber. The burning rate has obtained a maximum of 527 kg/h which means it has passed the initial design of 417 kg/h. To meet emission-quality standards, exhaust gas is processed through flue gas treatment consisting of a cyclone, quencher scrubber, and chimney. Emissions measured by CEMS include parameters of particulates, CO, SO2, and NOx, all of which are below the national emission-quality standards. The heat generated from partial combustion will be channeled to the thermal dryer to reduce MC so that it can reach 40%. The results of burning waste with this incinerator produce fly ash and bottom ash about 4% of the weight of the input waste.

Solid Waste Management: A Case Study of Nagpur City

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to examine the waste management of Nagpur city. Nagpur is one of the largest market place in India with population of 24, 05, 665 NMC has divided Nagpur in total of 10 zones for proper administration. Due to factors like industrialization and urbanisation it is the fastest growing city leading to increase in waste generation. This present case study aims to analyse current MSW management practices and its status and it also discusses the issues related with collection, transportation, treatment and disposal. The goal of this study is to help in minimizing the waste generation and to reduce its impact on humans. It also suggests ways to improve the administration of NMC. Keyword: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Collection, Transportation, Disposal, Waste Generation, Administration of NMC

Assessment of the current municipal solid waste management system in Tehran, Iran: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development

Assessment of the current municipal solid waste management system in Tehran, Iran: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development

An Integrated Environmental Assessment of MSW Management in a Large City of a Developing Country: Taking the First Steps Towards a Circular Economy Model

Most of the municipal solid waste (MSW) in developing countries ends up in landfills. For example, more than 95% of the MSW generated in Latin America is disposed of in some type of landfill. Factors such as high organic compositions, low recycling rates and poor control over the disposal sites greatly increase the environmental impacts associated with MSW management in this region, resulting in increased emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and runoff of leachates. Therefore, local governments in Latin America are making efforts to transition to more “circular” management models for MSW. This is the case in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area (GMA), the third most populous city in Mexico, where the implementation of the following two mechanical biological treatment (MBT) alternatives are being considered: 1) a high-capacity mechanical sorting facility with no biological treatment and 2) a medium-capacity mechanical sorting facility coupled with a composting process. Thus, the aim of the present study was to assess the environmental performance of the current MSW management system (baseline) as compared to the two potential MBT alternatives through life cycle assessment (LCA) and sensitivity analyses. Furthermore, by using a SWOT analysis, this study aimed to provide insights into the main economical, sociocultural, legal, political and technological/infrastructure challenges that need to be overcome in the GMA, as well as other cities in developing countries, in order to transition to circular MSW management models. An assessment of global warming potential (measured in Gg CO2-eq/year) indicated that the current MSW management system (baseline) results in the emission of 111.21 Gg CO2-eq/year, while the two potential alternative scenarios displayed a net emissions reduction of 24 and 34%, respectively, due to material recycling and the substitution of petroleum coke with refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in cement kilns. When evaluating abiotic resource depletion (measured in Gg Sb-eq/year), the potential alternative scenarios both outperformed the baseline with savings increases between 3,380 and 3,501%. This result is largely attributed to the decrease in fossil fuel consumption (due to the substitution of petroleum coke with RDF), which provides a potential reduction of 5.62 Gg Sb-eq/year. The sensitivity analysis revealed that several key parameters, such as the fraction of food and plastic wastes in the MSW, can alter the scenario rankings. Recycling of the recovered materials and treatment of the organic fraction were found to be key strategies for a reduction in direct environmental impacts. Additionally, better management of waste picker activities, standardization of landfill operations and enhancement of material separation and selective collection must be addressed prior to the introduction of new treatment technologies. The results of the study herein can assist in the formation of policies to improve the feasibility of MBT implementation and drive the first steps towards a circular economy model in the GMA, as well as other cities within Latin American and Caribbean regions with similar characteristics.

Physical properties of recyclable materials and implications for resource recovery.

Mechanical sorting plays a pivotal role in current municipal solid waste management systems for resource recovery. However, material recovery facilities, generally face several challenges in meeting quality standards for multiple waste fractions. Improving these facilities requires a better understanding of municipal solid waste physical characteristics, since they are directly targeted by mechanical sorting unit operations. Three waste physical properties (bulk density, particle size and shape factor) were characterized for several recyclable materials. Narrow ranges of densities were observed for similar waste materials, while the particle size distributions were found to vary widely. Statistical parameters were determined for these two properties. A novel approach, based on the void fraction of a waste item, is proposed to quantify the shape factor. Potential applications of the characterization results for improving mechanical sorting are demonstrated through the analysis of the recovery of corrugated cardboards and multilayer cardboards in a material recovery facility.

The Future of Flash Graphene for the Sustainable Management of Solid Waste.

Graphene research has steadily increased, and its commercialization in many applications is becoming a reality because of its superior physicochemical properties and advances in synthesis techniques. However, bulk-scale production of graphene still requires large amounts of solvents, electrochemical treatment, or sonication. Recently, a method was discovered to convert bulk quantities of carbonaceous materials to graphene using flash Joule heating (FJH) and, so named, flash graphene (FG). This method can be used to turn various solid wastes containing the prerequisite element carbon into FG. Globally, more than 2 billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated every year and, in many municipalities, are becoming unmanageable. The most commonly used waste management methods include recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, and landfill disposal. However, around 70% of global waste ends up in landfills or open dumps, while the rest is recycled, composted, or incinerated. Even the various waste valorization techniques, such as pyrolysis and gasification, produce some waste residues that have their ultimate destination in landfills. Thus, technologies that can minimize waste volume or convert waste into valuable products are required. The thermal treatment process of FJH for FG production provides both waste volume reduction and valorization in the form of FG. In this Perspective, we provide an overview of FJH and its possible applications in various types of waste conversion/valorization. We describe the typical current MSW management system as well as the potential for creating FG at various stages and propose a schematic plan for the incorporation of FG in MSW management. We also analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of MSW as an FG precursor in terms of technical, economic, environmental, and social sustainability. This valuable waste valorization and management strategy can help achieve near-zero waste and an economy-boosting MSW management system.

DETERMINING OPTIMAL MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SCENARIO BASED ON BEST-WORST METHOD

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is one of the most important issues in urban environments, especially in developing countries. In this work, a comprehensive assessment framework for MSW management is proposed to evaluate and screen the optimal scenario. The best-worst method (BWM) is utilized to determine the optimal weight of each criterion for each disposal scenario. However, the original BWM model is difficult to be solved globally. A linear model is presented to solve the model and an interval model is employed to verify the optimality of the linear model. The results indicate that the results of the linear model and interval model are consistent. A case study of MSW disposal in Qingdao City is used to demonstrate the application of the proposed method. The results indicate that a combination of landfilling, incineration technology with energy recovery facility is preferred for the current MSW management in Qingdao from the chosen criteria. The framework proposed in this work can be assisted to help the decision-makers to identify the priority sequence of MSW management scenarios.

Assessment of municipal solid waste management system in Lae City, Papua New Guinea in the context of sustainable development.

Lae City (LC) of Morobe Province is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. Due to the abundant natural resources it inherits, the resultant urbanization has led to an influx of the human population. This increase in population as a result of industrialization has led to increased municipal solid waste (MSW) accumulation. To address this exigent issue, which affects the nation’s carbon footprint, it is imperative to review socio-economic and geographic factors to establish a feasible approach for managing MSW efficiently and sustainably. In the quest to achieve the same, the present assessment focuses on the 3 core waste management hierarchy systems to support sustainable development for LC by reviewing existing opportunities and challenges associated with the current MSW management system and the associated policies. The result shows that as a sustainable approach to MSW management of LC, a zero-waste campaign for resource recovery engaging all stakeholders can be implemented since the organic content of MSW generated in LC is as high as 70%. Moreover, the dumping of MSW at the dedicated dumpsite site can be minimized if policies are strengthened and the proposed waste avoidance pathway is implemented strictly. In addition to this, to avoid the contamination of groundwater and recovery of methane, the use of the Fukuoka approach in the existing landfills has been suggested to capture leachate without any huge expenditure.Graphic abstract

Towards a Framework for Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management: The Case of Swakopmund Municipality, Namibia

If municipal solid waste (MSW) is not properly managed, harmful environmental consequences are imminent. In many developed countries, MSW materials are hardly discarded but rather retained in the economic cycle through circular economy models. In many developing countries, MSW materials are discarded with little to no effort of repairing or recycling. Moving towards a circular economy substantially reduce waste volumes that are currently being disposed. The study provides an overview of how the current municipal solid waste management strategies being implemented by the Swakopmund Municipality could be shifted towards sustainability to derive environmental and socio-economic benefits from waste. Source reduction, separation at source and recycling, are some of the most effective strategies in the circular economy models that will help achieving the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Swakopmund Municipality should invest in infrastructure, techniques and programmes that are within circular economy model as an emerging system for sustainability.

Application of material flow analysis for the assessment of current municipal solid waste management in Karachi, Pakistan.

This article assesses the status of the solid waste management system (SWMS) in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, using the material flow analysis approach, a widely applied method in waste management (WM) studies. It involves a systematic assessment of the material flows of solid waste under the current WM system. A material flow diagram is developed to visualize the input and output waste flows. This study shows the quantification and identification of municipal solid waste (MSW) flow for the year 2019, from the point of generation to the end-use and disposal. Results show that the MSW generation increased from 10,435 to 15,600 metric tonnes per day (TPD) between 2017 to 2019. Approximately, 75% of the waste generated is collected: formally (50%); and informally (25%). The material recovery is low, accounting for only 26.28% of the total waste. There is no official material recovery and recycling facility. Therefore, material recovery solely depends on the informal sector. Results show that 70% of the daily waste ends up in landfills, which is 3120 TPD more than the formally collected waste. This estimated waste of 3120 TPD flows in either due to disposal activities of the backlogged waste or informally collected waste. Overall, Karachi's SWMS performs poorly with a significant need for improvement. This study recommends adopting integrated WM approaches and inclusion of the informal sector to ensure the affordability and sustainability of the WM system.