Municipal Solid Waste Problem Research Articles

Development of solid recovery fuel for power generation with bacterial bio-drying of municipal solid waste in Lombok Island West Nusa Tenggara

Abstract The growth of waste in big cities in Indonesia increases sharply every year. The Government’s ability to manage solid waste only reaches 40.09% in urban areas and 1.02% in rural areas, so the right policies are needed so that Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) does not save potential problems that will impact the future. The waste problem is no longer just a matter of cleanliness and the environment but has become a social problem that has the potential to cause conflict. The most likely solution to solving the MSW problem is to use it as a source of alternative fuel, which can be done by a mechanical-biological treatment technology into Solid Recovery Fuel (SRF). The proposed SRF processing method is straightforward and requires a little technology; thus, it could be developed at the community level. The MSW is collected and processed by communities and then sold to power plants or factories or used in communities to replace solid fuels such as wood or charcoal. Compared with the standard RDF and SRF specifications, MSW SRF falls under medium-grade Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) or SRF specifications. Further comparison with coal, water hyacinth SRF, and sorghum shows that MSW SRF has several advantages, such as low fixed carbon, sulfur, and moisture, that could be beneficial for combustion performance, which concludes that MSW has potential and meet the specification as an alternative fuel for thermal power plant or other industry that utilizes thermal energy. This paper proposes a processing methodology for municipal solid waste into alternative energy. The method could guide local people in using biomass resources to improve local economic prosperity.

Problems and Possible Solutions to Municipal Solid Waste Management in Malawi Urban Areas – An Overview

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management poses significant challenges in urban areas of Malawi, with rapid population growth, poor sanitary conditions, and inadequate waste disposal infrastructure exacerbating the situation. This overview synthesizes existing literature to examine the complexities of MSW management in key Malawian cities, including Mzuzu, Blantyre, Zomba, and Lilongwe. Drawing from diverse sources such as peer-reviewed papers, governmental reports, and policy documents, the study investigates the root causes of MSW problems and explores potential remedies. Key issues identified include poor waste disposal habits, lack of waste classification, insufficient waste removal services, and community perceptions towards waste disposal. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the legal frameworks and environmental regulations governing MSW management in Malawi, highlighting the roles of various stakeholders and policy instruments. To address these challenges, the paper proposes a multi-faceted approach involving enforcement of legal laws, civic education and awareness campaigns, community engagement, involvement of private operators, conversion of waste to energy, promotion of recycling activities, composting, and provision of public bins/trash containers. By implementing these strategies, Malawi can move towards sustainable MSW management, mitigate environmental risks, and improve public health outcomes in urban areas.

A Master’s Course Can Emphasize Circular Economy in Municipal Solid Waste Management: Evidence from the University of Pisa

Municipal solid waste (MSW) represents a significant global threat, which has to be managed by a model of production and consumption involving the sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling of existing materials and products for as long as possible, otherwise known as a circular economy (CE). However, there is not a universal rule for waste recycling strategies, and it has been demonstrated that active public participation is crucial in the satisfactory management of waste. In this context, citizen participation and education are two interrelated approaches, which can help to engage and inform people regarding waste and its wider impact. The present study describes the development of an interdisciplinary hackathon (hackathons are events whereby individuals from different backgrounds are brought together to work on the solutions to different problems), targeted to students of a postgraduate Master’s course on Sustainable Development and Climate Change in order to develop and understand the MSW problems and priorities currently being targeted, with the aim to propose new potential solutions for MSW reduction, reuse, and recycling. Following an empirical approach, four working groups were established and assigned the following specific tasks: (i) communication/citizen education on MSW; (ii) the reduction of MSW production; (iii) innovative solutions to recover and enhance secondary raw materials deriving from MSW processing; and (iv) the eco-design of the cities of the future concerning CE principles applied to MSW recycling. Overall, the following main findings were derived from the hackathon event: (i) an essential objective of the CE strategy is to drive Europe’s internal market towards the production and consumption of more sustainable products, thus reducing environmental and social pressures, while still retaining value; (ii) the most effective ways of tackling environmental problems are to ‘change the way we consume’, as well as to ‘change the way we produce and trade’, with the responsibility shared between businesses, governments, and the EU, as well as the citizens themselves. In this scenario, research and innovation play a key role in driving the necessary systemic changes to reach climate neutrality and ensure an inclusive ecological and economic transition. Overall, the present study confirms how the hackathon represents an effective tool to engage citizens in participation and education.

On the issue of building an integrated waste management system: World practice and its application in the Russian Federation

The problem of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the world is increasing every year. According to the World Bank, more than 2 billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) are produced annually in the world. The paper shows that problem of waste management is growing all over the world. And if the developed countries have the opportunity to build an effective circulation system, then the developing countries, which are the majority, still solve this problem through open landfills and burial. It shows that only the presence of a balanced comprehensive program of the MSW management system will allow solving the problem of accelerated creation and effective functioning of the modern waste management industry.

Revising the effectiveness of municipal waste management in Hong Kong

Although there have been many studies related to the municipal solid waste (MSW) problem in Hong Kong, only limited research has recently discussed the spatial variation of citizens’ environmental awareness in different geographical constituencies. Also, the relationship between environmental awareness of citizens and the effectiveness of waste management has been poorly understood. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of three proposed approaches; investigate whether the environmental awareness of citizens will affect the effectiveness of current waste management strategies; and examine the differences in the level of environmental awareness of residents in different geographical constituencies, so we can provide suggestions to help mitigate the solid waste problem. In addition, the hypothesis is that there is a relationship between environmental awareness of citizens and its effectiveness. This research adopted quantitative observations and questionnaires as well as qualitative interviews to understand the public perception about the proposed MSW charging, plastic shopping bag charging and recycling in Hong Kong. This research confirmed that the environmental awareness of Hong Kong citizens varies among various geographical constituencies. Residents in Kowloon West have comparatively lower environmental awareness may due largely to the socio-economic background of residents and comparatively unhygienic environment, and they often do not support plastic shopping bag charging and recycling. In addition, males have a lower environmental awareness than females as their attitude towards charging policy may not have much impact on their lifestyle. It is not surprising that low environmental awareness of citizens will reduce the effectiveness of current environmental policies. MSW charging tends to be effective and should be implemented in Hong Kong. Furthermore, plastic shopping bag charging can be effective in the short term but ineffective in the long term, and recycling tends to be invalid as Hong Kong has not developed a circular economy. The limitations of each policy should be considered, and more studies are needed to improve the existing policies as well as exploring novel ways to solve the MSW problem.

Based on Improved NSGA-II Algorithm for Solving Time-Dependent Green Vehicle Routing Problem of Urban Waste Removal with the Consideration of Traffic Congestion: A Case Study in China

The dense population and the large amount of domestic waste generated make it difficult to determine the best route and departure time for waste removal trucks in a city. Aiming at the problems of municipal solid waste (MSW) removal and transportation not in time, high collection and transportation costs and high carbon emissions, this paper studies the vehicle routing problem of municipal solid waste removal under the influence of time-dependent travel time, traffic congestion and carbon emissions. In this paper, a dual objective model with the lowest total economic cost and the highest garbage removal efficiency is established, and a DCD-DE-NSGAII algorithm based on Dynamic Crowding Distance and Differential Evolution is designed to improve the search ability, improve the convergence speed and increase the diversity of the optimal solution set. The results show that: according to the actual situation of garbage collection and transportation, the method can scientifically plan the garbage collection and transportation route, give a reasonable garbage collection scheme and departure time, and effectively avoid traffic congestion time; Through algorithm comparison, the algorithm and model proposed in this paper can reduce collection and transportation costs, improve transportation efficiency and reduce environmental pollution.

Assessing the implementation effect of Shanghai's compulsory municipal solid waste classification policy.

Waste treatment is a problem faced by cities all over the world. In recent years, China, as a developing country, regards the municipal solid waste (MSW) classification as one of the important strategies to deal with the MSW problem. The previous MSW classification policies in China were all only advocacy in nature. It was not until January 2019 that the "Regulations on the Management of MSW in Shanghai" was officially promulgated as China's first compulsory MSW classification policy, marking the beginning of an era of compulsory MSW classification in China. How effective is the implementation of Shanghai's compulsory MSW classification policy 18months after its implementation and can developing countries continuously and effectively implement compulsory MSW classification policies? These are important issues of concern to the government, academia, and the public. This paper establishes a three-stage DEA model to evaluate the implementation effect of the compulsory MSW classification policies in Shanghai during the period of February 2019 and July 2020. The study found that the average efficiency of the compulsory MSW classification policy in Shanghai reached 0.906 during the study period, indicating that the policy was executed reasonably well. However, there are only 5months in 18months that the policy was fully effective (reaching efficiency level 1), suggesting that there is still room for improvement. The main reason for not being able to achieve full effectiveness in some months is attributed to scale efficiency. At the same time, the general public budget revenue and expenditure of environmental variables have positive and negative impacts on the policy implementation effect in Shanghai. The research results can provide experience for China to comprehensively implement the compulsory MSW classification policy in the future and can also provide valuable case study information for cities in other developing countries to implement the compulsory MSW classification policy.

Karakterisasi Proses Gasifikasi Menjadi Listrik Berbahan Baku Sampah Padat Perkotaan Menggunakan Reaktor Tipe Downdraft Di Provinsi Nusa Tenggara Barat

Indonesia is currently experiencing the problem of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), energy and environmental crisis. Gasification by electric generator is the solution. This study about the design and characterization of the gasification reactor with MSW feed. This research was conducted by examining the effect of gasification temperature (550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850oC) and Air Fuel Ratio variations (0,5; 0,51; 0,53; 0,54; and 0,55). The variabel tes of temperature variations is syngas, FC, CGE,CCE, and scf. The AFR evaluated syngas and SCF. The result showed an increase the syngas levels with the increasing the gasification temperature, except CO2. The FC value increased(71% to 74%) and The CGE increases (77 to 97%). The CCE increases from 69% to 78% (550-650oC) and decreases again to 66% (850oC), and Scf decreased (4.5-0.5 kg/kWh). In the AFR variation, syngas levels increase with increasing AFR, but scf decreased (5.3 to 2).

THE PROBLEM OF HOUSEHOLD SOLID WASTE IN THE TERRITORY OF THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC

The article deals with the problem of municipal solid waste is typical for the entire territory of the Russian Federation. In 2018 alone, more than 7 million tons of waste were generated, which is 16.8% more than in 2017. Accordingly, this problem is also typical for the Chechen Republic

Problem of municipal solid waste of Ukraine and ways to solve it

Currently, Ukraine is among the countries with the largest absolute volume of waste generation and accumulation. Situation with landfills in Ukraine is uncontrolled. This is evidenced by unspecified landfills. The situation is constantly worsening due to harmful chemical emissions of landfills. The paper describes how pollution by landfills affects environmental components. Foreign experience, domestic waste management and methods of waste disposal were analyzed. The publication contains statistical data about dumps, landfills of household waste in Ukraine and describes normative-legal acts regulating issue of waste management. This paper outlines several recommendations for decreasing of environmental pollution from landfills on the territory of Ukraine. Following measures should be taken to solve the problem: sorting municipal solid waste; recycling; control and landfills registration; landfill placement; construction of waste-recycling and waste-burning plants; increasing awareness through environmental education on responsible attitude to waste.

Optimal Waste-to-Energy Strategy Assisted by Fuzzy MCDM Model for Sustainable Solid Waste Management

In Vietnam, rapid population and economic growth are responsible for the recent increase in solid waste. Energy production from waste is now becoming an effective solution around the world, especially in Vietnam, to solve environmental challenges while contributing to the country’s sustainable energy production. Waste-to-energy production has become a solution to the municipal solid waste problem, which is projected to increase by 10–16%. In this study, the author proposed a fuzzy MCDM model to assess and select a solid-waste-to-energy plant location in Vietnam. In the first stage, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) technique is utilized to analyze the relative weight of the primary and secondary evaluation elements, and a combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) model is used to rank the candidates in the final stage. This is the first solid-waste-to-energy plant location evaluation and selection model used in a renewable energy project in Vietnam based on expert interviews and a literature review. This study’s contribution can be a significant guide in analyzing and selecting appropriate locations for solid-waste-to-energy projects, as well as for decision makers and investors in other renewable energy projects in Vietnam and throughout the world.

Sustainable Energy Transition in Thailand: Drivers, Barriers and Challenges of Waste-to-Energy at Krabi Province

Waste-to-Energy (WtE) has been considered as an option to eliminate Krabi’s problems of municipal solid waste (MSW) management. A survey on WtE potential as well as key drivers, barriers, and challenges to overcome the barriers was conducted in this study. The study found high WtE potential due to huge amount of many years accumulated MSW in couple with the increasing trend of new daily waste generation. Meanwhile, Krabi is an island having land limitation for landfill. The urgent need to eliminate the huge amount of MSW has become a key driver for WtE implementation. One more key driver of WtE is Krabi Goes Green roadmap with target to generate electricity from 100% renewable energy by the year 2026. Another key driver is disruptive effects of MSW management roadmap under Section 44 of Thailand's Constitution 2017. By the way, implementation of WtE is facing with public opposing due to concerning of dioxin and air pollutant emissions from solid waste combustion. How to ensure zero emission of dioxin and air pollutants is very challenging to achieve public trust and acceptance. High temperature combustion as well as installation of high efficiency end-of-pipe treatment together with real-time monitoring system was recommended by some interviewees of the present study. In addition, due to MSW management and WtE power plant investment must involve with many organizations; therefore, stakeholders' open mind consultation and policy integration among relevant governmental agencies are highly recommended.

Environmental Practices of Waste Management in the Small Towns of the European Part in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation

Introduction. The relevance of the study is determined by the negative consequences for the environment from the constant increase in the amount of municipal solid waste. The most vulnerable in this situation are small towns in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The remoteness, inaccessibility, as well as the difficult socio-economic situation of these settlements are serious obstacles to achieving both the effectiveness of the implementation of the reform of production and consumption waste management, and the goals of sustainable development of the region. The purpose of the article is to identify the value foundations prevailing in environmental consciousness and the prevailing types of environmental behavior of the population of small towns in the European part of the Russian Arctic in the field of solid waste management. Materials and Methods. The article presents the results of an empirical study conducted by a questionnaire survey in August-November 2020 in the Arctic territories of the Republic of Karelia and the Murmansk region. The number of respondents is 1303. The questionnaire method is used to carry out a mass representative survey of residents of the Arctic territories on the problem of municipal solid waste. Statistical methods for processing quantitative data makes it possible to identify the main correlations between variables in relation to grassroots practices in the management of municipal solid waste by gender, age and place of residence of the respondents. Results. The paper shows the findings of a sociological study, during which the peculiarities of the perception of the population of small towns in the Republic of Karelia and the Murmansk region of environmental problems were identified and an assessment of the degree of threat to the environment from illegal dumps and household waste was given. The authors studied the direct practices of handling household waste and the willingness of respondents to change the traditional poorly environmentally oriented behavior to environmentally conscious actions. Discussion and Conclusion. The study showed that the problem of the increasing amount of MSW is relevant and causes a high degree of concern among the population. At the same time, the majority of respondents implement behavioral practices that indirectly affect the environment. The decisive problem for the population of remote areas of the Russian Arctic is the poor organization of the waste management process: lack of investment attractiveness for business, low level of infrastructure development, little funding, which determines low motivation and mobilization of the population to master various environmental practices. The results obtained can be used by regional and municipal authorities, regional operators and specialists of environmental nongovernment organizations.

Trash to Hryvnias: The economics of electricity generation from landfill gas in Ukraine

Utilization of landfill gas for electricity generation should be an attractive option for Ukraine in light of the country’s rapidly growing municipal solid waste problem, the influx of intermittent renewable electricity into the national grid, and renewable energy adoption commitments. However, the deployment of landfill gas power plants has been slow vis-à-vis other alternative energy technologies despite the existing government incentives. This article aims to help understanding this trend by investigating the economic feasibility of landfill gas power plants. The research focuses on determining the Levelized Cost of Electricity of these electricity generation facilities and comparing it to the feed-in tariff available to landfill gas electricity producers. The results show making an investment into a landfill gas-fired power plant is an appealing strategy due to a potential high and quick return on investment at 5.1 years. This leads to the ultimate conclusion that economic feasibility is not a cause for the slow adoption of landfill gas as a source of renewable electricity generation in Ukraine. In addition, the article identifies several potential barriers to landfill gas electricity generation deployment to be investigated in future research.

Municipal solid waste landfill: Evidence of the effect of applied landfill management on vegetation composition.

Proper management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is crucial to avoid pollution, environmental impacts and threat to public health. The problem of MSW is mainly arising from inadequate landfill site management. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of management practices and environmental risks at two landfill sites. The landfills were subject to long-term (10 years) vegetation monitoring. The vegetation was assessed using a floristic survey of identified plant species. The vegetation analysis showed that significant differences existed between the two landfill locations, with neophytes, invasive and expansive species dominating on one of the landfill sites, which may be attributed to climatic and geomorphological differences between the two sites, but also to variations in landfill management. These environmentally problematic species can potentially spread from the landfill into adjacent ecosystems, displace native plants and degrade adjacent farmland areas. The study of vegetation monitoring data suggests that, in addition to other types of monitoring, landfills should be subjected to regular vegetation biomonitoring, too. Landfill management practices should target the regulation of unwanted species, create conditions that are favourable to native plant species and provide as early as possible the restoration of filled cells.

Converting waste into fuel via integrated thermal and electrochemical routes: An analysis of thermodynamic approach on thermal conversion

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a common problem as it typically ends up in landfills. MSW could be a potential sustainable energy source with proper technology considering its abundant availability and high energy content. As a part of the solution to the MSW problem, the present research investigated a new integrated gasification process to ensure the complete removal of organic compounds (tar) by splitting char and gas products. The char is directed to the combustor to produce electricity for powering CO2-to-methanol electrolysis, while the gas products are sent to the reforming section to decompose tar into syngas. It is found that char composition is sensitive towards the syngas yield and the gasification temperature. The increase of char combustion from 20% to 50% promotes methanol production via electrolysis but suppresses the overall energy productivity due to energy loss in the power generation and electrolysis. The optimum gasification performance is observed at the air/O2 equivalence ratio of ∼0.3 with the syngas heating value (6.4 and 12.3 MJ/Nm3), H2/CO ratio (1.4 and 1.1) and overall efficiency of 65% and 64% for air and oxygen gasifying agents, respectively. These findings show the potential of MSW to electricity and chemical products via gasification which can increaseeconomic value and optimistically increase the residents’ acceptance.

Co-digestion of municipal solid waste with lignocellulosic waste in mesophilic Environment

The present study deals with the dual problem of municipal solid waste and lignocellulosic waste in which authors tried to use these two waste materials as clean and renewable energy source. In the present study, anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste and lignocellulosic waste in varying combinations was carried out. Five-set of experiments (S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5) under mesophilic conditions were conducted in batch reactors. From all the combinations, reactor S3 (organic fraction of municipal solid waste: lignocellulosic waste, 1:1 ratio) was observed to be the best combination producing 70.09 ml concentration of methane out of 78.76 ml of biogas as compared to all other combinations. The increase in methane production rate was observed by 53.67% due to the addition of lignocellulosic waste. The decline in methane production at the end of the 50th day was observed due to a fall in pH, which created acidic conditions, thus inhibiting the conversion process. It was found that the mesophilic condition acted as a governing factor in the process of digestion.

Динаміка поширеності методів спалювання твердих побутових відходів в Україні

In order to solve the problem of municipal solid waste in developed countries, it is common to incinerate it in incinerators. Therefore, the definition of regression dependence, which describes the dynamics of the prevalence of municipal solid waste incineration methods in Ukraine to solve the problem of municipal solid waste management, is an urgent scientific and technical task. The aim of the study is to determine, by regression analysis, the dependences that describe the dynamics of the prevalence of municipal solid waste incineration methods in Ukraine to solve the problem of municipal solid waste management. The method of regression analysis of the results of one-factor experiments and other pair dependences with the choice of a more adequate type of function from the 16 most common variants by the criterion of the maximum correlation coefficient was used during the research. The regression was performed on the basis of linearizing transformations, which allow reducing the nonlinear dependence to the linear one. The coefficients of the regression equation were determined by the method of least squares with the help of the developed computer program "RegAnaliz", which is protected by the copyright registration certificate for the work. Adequate regression dependences describing the dynamics of the prevalence of municipal solid waste incineration methods in Ukraine are obtained. A graphical dependence is constructed, which describes the dynamics of the prevalence of municipal solid waste incineration methods in Ukraine and allows illustrating this dynamics, to show a sufficient convergence of theoretical and actual results. It is established that in Ukraine during 2012—2019 the prevalence of municipal solid waste incineration for energy purposes increased exponentially, and the prevalence of non-municipal solid waste incineration - decreased exponentially hyperbolic. It is projected that in Ukraine in 2031 among the methods of solid waste incineration, the prevalence of incineration for energy under appropriate conditions may be 99,66 %, and without energy — 0,34 %.

A contribution to the municipal solid waste management in Havana, Cuba

Problems of municipal solid waste (MSW) are increasing with growing populations and urbanisation, resulting in the need for improved waste management strategies. The physical composition and generation rate of MSW from residential areas in five representative municipalities in Havana were classified into 11 categories according to ASTM standards. The study reveals that over 65% of the MSW was comprised of organic waste (food waste). The average generation rate of MSW in the city was 0.7 kg/person-d. Five components of MSW in Havana are indicating promising dimensions for recycling activities, with paper and cardboard being largest. The recycling rate is currently insufficient and there is potential for significant improvements.

Update on waste reduction performance by waste-to-energy incineration pilot plant PLTSa Bantargebang operations

Many big cities in Indonesia are facing the problem of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal. PLTSa Merah Putih, a waste-to-energy incineration pilot plant, was built as an alternative solution to reduce waste. This study aims to evaluate the performance of PLTSa Merah Putih Bantargebang in reducing volume of waste. During the first semester of 2021, the pilot plant has been running for 174 days and a total of 5647.1 ton of waste was burned generating around 1000 ton of ash. Based on the feeding waste and generated ash, the pilot plant can reduce over 79% of waste, even with high moisture content. The furnace and grate temperature can be maintained at 800°C and 1000°C, respectively, to minimize harmful gases generation. This study showed that the waste reduction of PLTSa was comparable with the performance of other waste-to-energy pilot plants, which is in the range of 70-90%.