Municipal Solid Waste System Research Articles

Tools for Managing Business Processes in the Municipal Solid Waste System

The economy of the Russian Federation at the present stage is characterized by an extremely high level of consumption of raw materials and waste generation. This is due to the export-raw material orientation of production, as well as the level of technological development. In this regard, the amount of waste generation and accumulation is steadily increasing. Analysis of current trends has shown that every year, on average, Russians emit about 80 million tons of municipal waste. At the same time, both in Russia and in other countries, the structure of MSW is approximately the same. These are primarily glass, paper, plastics, fabrics and organic products, as well as oversized items such as old furniture, car parts, etc. At first glance, recycling household garbage is a fairly simple and profitable business. Thus, by recycling car tires, you can get rubber coatings that are actively used in the economy, new paper is made from waste paper, and organic garbage is obtained from. The methodology used for creating data or information flow diagrams is described. The relevance of using this technology in modern practice is shown. The practical application of the DFD methodology in modeling a new financing system in the field of solid municipal waste management is presented.

English

The design of a sustainable waste management system is pivoted on the ability to generate and compute real-time operational data for a strategic developmental decision plan. The real-time waste data generated at the University of Lagos Campus waste management system was used to develop a mathematical model with three operational indicators, namely, Total Cost Indicator (TCI), to show the overall daily cost for managing one metric ton of mixed municipal waste in the system from collection to final disposal, Lost Revenue Indicator (LRI), to show revenue loss for each metric ton of residual waste landfilled, and Material Recovery Indicator (MRI), to show the fraction of recyclable materials recovered from collected mixed waste. All three indicators were calculated at different recyclable materials recovery efficiencies to determine the cost implication on the system’s operational parameters. The model revealed that the present municipal solid waste (MSW) system operates at a recyclables recovery efficiency rate of approximately 3% but can be increased at optimum capacity to 18%. This performance improvement will result in a cost reduction of $0.32/ton when daily sorters’ capacity, material revenue potential and result-based financing recycling operations are determined using this model as a strategic management planning tool. The model provides an adaptable framework for the development of MSW management decision plans for cities in a developing nation.   Key words: Material recovery, municipal solid waste, cost minimization model.

Closing the gap in the municipal solid waste management between metropolitan and regional cities from developing countries: A life cycle assessment approach

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important challenge in developing and emerging countries, where two realities co-exist. On the one hand, their metropolitan cities exhibit an integrated MSW system with a specialized fleet for the collection and landfills for the final disposal, concentrating on environmental initiatives such as municipal recycling programs. On the other hand, their regional cities show an MSW system based on adapted transports for collection and open dumps for final disposal. Besides, they face other environmental problems due to local conditions. This research proposes a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to close the gap between these two realities. In particular, we study the city of Valdivia (Chile), one of the main regional capitals of South America, which shares similarities with other southern regional cities in the Global South. This city disposes 95% of its MSW in open dumps and presents one of the highest environmental pollution rates in Latin America. We analyze the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy performance of six scenarios, seeking a solution for these problems. The results obtained show that a waste-to-energy scenario would generate savings of GHG emission and particulate matter, reaching 11.3% and 21.8%, respectively. Using our LCA approach, we can provide environmental evidence to highlight the importance of improving MSW management in regional cities, closing the gap with MSW management in metropolitan cities, and contributing to national targets such as United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Nationally-Determined Contributions.

Analyzing The Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in Da Nang City, Vietnam

Recently, most cities in Vietnam are facing waste problems that are mainly caused by the rapid increase of municipal solid waste (MSW) amount and the limitations of the MSW management system. This study aims to characterise the waste generation, composition and characteristics of MSW in Da Nang city, which is one of the five biggest cities in Vietnam. The current problems and challenges of MSW system are also analysed. The sampling survey was conducted in the dry and wet seasons in August and November 2018. The MSW was taken directly from trucks at the landfill site with the sample size by 500 kg/waste sources. This study shows that the simultaneous development of production, trade and service activities in the last decade has led to the speedy growth of waste by 9 %/y, and reached 1,073 t/d in 2018. In which, waste generated from industry and the hospitals account inconsiderable proportions by 3.9 % and 1.4 %. This study also indicated that the MSW generation rate from the urban areas is more than that of the coastal and industrial areas. For the composition of MSW, biodegradable waste and recyclables are the main components with the proportion of 54 % and 27 % of the total waste. While the waste composition almost do not differ considerably by seasons, the difference in the characteristics of waste is a consideration for the processing. The current problems and solutions to improve the MSW system toward sustainability are also discussed and suggested.

On the limits of empirical partition coefficients for modeling material recovery facility unit operations in municipal solid waste management

Material recovery facilities and mechanical biological treatments play an important role in current municipal solid waste systems, by providing a way to separate the different municipal solid waste fractions according to their main physical properties. However, the composition of their outputs streams is directly impacted by the composition of the input stream and by the sequence of unit operations considered, rending it particularly difficult to predict. Some authors have analyzed the sorting efficiency of the different unit operations commonly found in these processes and have derived partition coefficients. The main available coefficients were reviewed to identify the differences on both the methodological and numerical levels. Results showed large discrepancies for both cases amongst literature data but also with experimental data derived from an MRF plant located in Canada. A sensitivity analysis realized on a typical MRF plant showed the strong influence of the partition coefficient differences on the potential recovery of these plants. The trommel was identified as the unit operation having the largest impact on the modeling results. According to the sensitivity of the recovery of these kind of plants for each unit operation, a modeling approach is proposed for three groups of unit operations.

Зарубежная и российская практика использования механизмов финансирования в системе твердых коммунальных отходов

Зарубежная и российская практика использования механизмов финансирования в системе твердых коммунальных отходов

A comparative study of soil-water characteristic curves for compacted lateritic soil – bacillus coagulans mixtures

A comparative study of soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) for compacted lateritic soil ̶ Bacillus coagulans (B. coagulans) mixtures for municipal solid waste (MSW) application was studied. Soil treatment was performed at approximately about one-third pore volume of the microbes (i.e., B. coagulans) for suspension densities of 0, 1.5×108, 6.0×108, 1.2×109, 1.8×109 and 2.4×109cells/ml, correspondingly. Soil specimens were prepared at optimum moisture content (OMC) of British Standard light (BSL) compaction energy. Cementation reagent was applied on the compacted soil and permitted to penetrate until partial saturation was achieved. A set-up of pressure plate extractor was employed to measure the volumetric water content, θ (VWC) in the laboratory for varying matric suctions with a minimum of 10 kPa up to a maximum of 1,500 kPa. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (UHC) and VWC were assessed using Brooks - Corey (BC) and Fredlund - Xing (FX) models. Largely, BC and FX models overrated the VWC. Also, the VWC decreased with higher matric suction for the two models considered and the laboratory measured values. The UHC predicted for matric suctions of 500 and 1,500 kPa initially decreased for B. coagulans suspension density up to 1.2×109 cells/ml for BC and FX models, with the exception of a few cases, but thereafter increased with increase in microbial density. For FX model at 1,500 kPa, UHC values of 2.42×10–9, 2.02×10–9, 9.31×10–10, 8.09×10–10 , 1.29×10–9 and 2.27×10–9m/s were recorded at 0, 1.5×108, 6.0×108, 1.2×109, 1.8×109 and 2.4×109cells/ml, respectively. In the case of BC model, values of 2.26×10–17, 1.41×10–14, 2.2×10–14, 4.6×10–19 , 3.25×10–17 and 2.45×10–14m/s were recorded at 0, 1.5×108, 6.0×108, 1.2×109, 1.8×109 and 2.4×109cells/ml, respectively. Thus, the FX model met the design maximum hydraulic conductivity value of 1 x 10–9 m/s requirement for MSW system when lateritic soil was treated with B. coagulans suspension density of 1.2×109 cells/ml, while the BC model satisfied the requirement for all the microbial densities considered and it is recommended for modelling of UHC of lateritic soil admixed with B. coagulans for MSW containment application.

Municipal solid waste management under Covid-19: challenges and recommendations

Covid-19 is proving to be an unprecedented disaster for human health, social contacts and the economy worldwide. It is evident that SARS-CoV-2 may spread through municipal solid waste (MSW), if collected, bagged, handled, transported or disposed of inappropriately. Under the stress placed by the current pandemic on the sanitary performance across all MSW management (MSWM) chains, this industry needs to re-examine its infrastructure resilience with respect to all processes, from waste identification, classification, collection, separation, storage, transportation, recycling, treatment and disposal. The current paper provides an overview of the severe challenges placed by Covid-19 onto MSW systems, highlighting the essential role of waste management in public health protection during the ongoing pandemic. It also discusses the measures issued by various international organisations and countries for the protection of MSWM employees (MSWEs), identifying gaps, especially for developing countries, where personal protection equipment and clear guidelines to MSWEs may not have been provided, and the general public may not be well informed. In countries with high recycling rates of MSW, the need to protect MSWEs’ health has affected the supply stream of the recycling industry. The article concludes with recommendations for the MSW industry operating under public health crisis conditions.

Geochemical Modeling Applied in Waste Disposal, and Its Relevance for Municipal Solid Waste Management

Solid waste management is a challenge for municipalities mainly due to the increasing generation of residues worldwide. Much waste still ends up in landfills, either as a final disposal sink, or as a temporary yet long-term storage prior to eventual landfill mining. Through degradation and infiltration processes, these materials threaten groundwater, soil and the environment, invariably causing expressive societal concern. Waste managers, environmentalists and regulators alike focus upon predicting how these complex geochemical systems will evolve over decades. Geochemical modeling and transport simulation are commonly used to support the design, operation or characterization of these dynamic systems. In this targeted critical review of the literature over the last two decades concerning geochemical modeling applications to waste disposal (including municipal, incineration residue, and industrial), we have attempted to provide an assessment of the current state of knowledge in this field, supported by a comprehensive list of modeling methodologies and data analyses, relevant for municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems. The information provided is meant to be useful for specialists when planning, implementing or adapting MSW systems.

Optimization of municipal solid waste management using a coordinated framework

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important but complex logistical problem. The deployment of MSW management systems is hindered by the ever-growing generation of waste and the often insufficient infrastructure to manage, process, and dispose of waste. This paper presents a coordinated framework for complex MSW management systems. The framework accommodates multiple key stakeholders in MSW systems, such as suppliers of waste, consumers of waste and derived products, and providers of transportation and processing services. Here, the stakeholders submit bids to a coordinator that solves an optimization problem to determine allocations and clearing prices that maximize the collective profit for all stakeholders and that balance supply and demand for waste and products. Furthermore, the clearing process guarantees that the individual profits are non-negative (no stakeholder loses money). Notably, the framework operates as a competitive market that accelerates transactions between stakeholders and that handles complex logistical constraints that would be difficult to handle in peer-to-peer transactions. The framework also facilitates the integration of policy incentives and the monetization of environmental impacts. In this regard, we evaluate a tax applied to open dump disposal. To illustrate the applicability, an MSW system in Mexico was analyzed as a case study. Results reveal that taxation can be used to incentivize the provision of services for all stakeholders. Specifically, we found that an appropriate tax can completely avoid disposal in open dumps. A tax of 5.1 USD/tonne was identified as the minimum penalization that avoids diverting waste to open dumps.

A methodology for the technical-economic analysis of municipal solid waste systems based on social cost-benefit analysis with a valuation of externalities.

Countries face a serious problem due to the generation and management of higher volumes of waste. Large-scale production of waste has promoted the establishment of various operations (collection, transport, treatment and disposal) for its management. When a MSW management system is implemented, it can generate different impacts or consequences (internal or external impacts). Generally, external impacts (social and environmental impacts) are not reflected in MSW economic analysis or taken into consideration in decision-making processes in regard to MSW management options. For this reason, the objective of this paper is present a methodology with which is viable to conduct the technical-economic analysis of municipal solid waste management projects based on social cost-benefit analysis (sCBA) as it considers internal and external impacts. Its main objectives are to determine the total benefits (the difference between revenues and costs) generated by a project and to reduce uncertainty and risk of investing in particular MSW management system. Finally, a case study was carried out to verify the validity of the methodology through analysis and valuation of different impacts of a light packaging waste and bulky waste facility. Through the application of the methodology, it has been possible to visualize that this facility is viable operationally (BP = 42.94€/ton) as economically (BT = 87.73€/ton).

An Eco-Balanced and Integrated Approach for a More-Sustainable MSW Management

Strategies for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management can be sustainable only because of site-specific analyses and choices that take into account not only financial but also environmental costs. Generally, a correct approach should use different scenarios based on the environmental, social, economic and technological conditions of the specific area and on its expected potential. The aim of this paper is to presents an innovative model for the implementation of integrated MSW management approach which can result extremely useful where the MSW systems have to be refined or even designed such in the case of low-income countries. The proposed approach provides the best solid waste (SW) allocation/distribution among the available treatments and disposal options minimizing at the same time the total cost by means of an optimization procedure. The environmental impacts of potential scenarios are simultaneously estimated by means of a tailored Life Cycle Assessment procedure. The LCA tool in the model focus on the specific impacts from a SW management scenario that makes the model more explicit with respect to traditional LCA application. Additional tools allow, through site-specific numerical models, to provide also a preliminary evaluation of local impacts when required (e.g. atmospheric emissions). Such a model can be useful as a supporting tool in decision making for both governmental and non-governmental institutions involved in the planning of more sustainable eco-friendly strategies for MSW management.

Challenges and opportunities of municipal solid waste management system in Homs city, Syria

The management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a serious challenge facing both the national and local authorities in Syria. As a consequence of the conflict that began in March 2011, the solid waste situation worsened where collection vehicles and waste containers were damaged or looted, and workers were kidnapped and killed. The unsafe circumstances due to the war, the scarce financial resources, the nature of the inadequate infrastructure and the lack/migration of skilled engineers resulted in weak management and treatment of solid waste. The paper aims to present the current practices of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in Homs city, assess and understand the MSW system and its main challenges in order to remedy the current problems in the solid waste sector and to contribute to the building of a future of sustainable solid waste management in Syria. A combination of methods was employed in this study in order to understand the MSWM system of Homs city, and data were collected from scientific literature, existing databases, observations made during visits to urban areas and structured interviews with relevant stakeholders.

A sustainable municipal solid waste system design considering public awareness and education: A case study.

The municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system design considered here is effective in reducing supply chain costs and environmental risks. One of the practical approaches that governments use to encourage MSWM practices is educating households with regard to reducing waste generation and increasing recycling and composting rates. This research aims to utilize a new multi-objective stochastic optimization model to design a MSWM system, taking public awareness and educating the public into consideration. Further, the efficiency induced by educating the public is also taken into account using its corresponding factors in the model. In this article, two types of truck for collecting the mixed and separated waste are appraised. Due to the unpredictability of some of the parameters of the MSWM models, allowances are made for uncertainty. The proposed model is applied to a real case in Tehran, Iran. To show the impact of educating households, the model is compared with a similar model that does not take educating the public into account. The results show a reduction of 40% in the total cost and an increment of 17% in the social impact as opposed to the model that does not take educating the public into consideration. This acknowledges that educating the public will improve the results obtained.

Key informants’ perspectives on the challenges of municipal solid waste management in Iran: a mixed method study

Evaluation of the municipal solid waste (MSW) management system seems necessary to promote urban services. The present study is aimed to identify and prioritize the problems and deficiencies of MSW management in Iran. This study has used a mixed-methods (Scoping review and Delphi technique) approach to achieve its goals. The results obtained by the scoping review showed that the average rate of Iran’s MSW generation in the last decade (2009–2019) was 0.745 kg/capita/day. The average of MSW composition was estimated to include: organic material (68.42%), paper and cardboard (7.31%), plastic (9.80%), pet (0.99%), metal (1.59%), rubber (1.09%), textile (3.02%), glass (2.33%), wood (0.97%), and others (4.48%). Also a scoping review of the current status of Iran’s MSW management showed that at present, Iran’s MSW management has both some strengths (such as collecting more than 90% of the total generated MSW) and lot of weaknesses such as lack of a systematic program for MSW reduction, weakness in source separation, low processing and recycling, unsanitary disposal of MSW, etc. According to the results of the Delphi technique, Iran’s main MSW management problems are: disregarding the investment for culturalization in the field of SWM and low effectiveness of the existing educational methods, disregarding the principles of integrated solid waste management hierarchy, imbalance in cost-efficiency in MSW systems, the existence of major deficits and weaknesses in recruitment and selection of staffs and the existence of additional non-expert human resources, lack of incongruity between the non-standard solid waste disposal crimes and their penalties, lack of executive guarantees for the proper implementation of the existing regulations, poor performance of the responsible organizations in the field of public education, as well as lack of effective cooperation among the responsible bodies in this field. Overall, consideration and elimination of priority problems and reinforcement the strengths of Iran’s MSW management system can be effective in improving the performance of this system.

Sustainable Development Planning: Examining the Mismatch of Urban Solid Waste Management Services in Bauchi Metropolis

Municipal solid waste systems are essential components of environmental infrastructure in human settlements. This system comprises all the activities undertaken from the point of waste generation to the final phase of disposal. It is an important environmental health service and an integral part of basic urban services. In most cities of developing world, waste service provision is a responsibility of municipal authorities. However, solid waste generation out-weighed the collection capacities of these municipalities and agencies responsible for waste collection and its management. The problem of solid waste generation and management is also compounded, and increasingly becoming difficult for these agencies due to lack of availability of reliable data on existing waste streams within the metropolis. This study compared the solid waste management service provided by Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) and the result of a study on waste characteristics and management streams in Bauchi Metropolis. The methodology of the study used waste characterization,, physical interviews, focus group discussion and observations; the results finally established the lacuna between the current situation and the unsustainable waste management services rendered by the municipality which became a bottleneck in achieving a sustainable urban solid waste management services in Bauchi metropolis respectively.. Keywords; Solid Waste, Solid Waste Management, Urban Areas, Environmental Agencies, Bauchi Metropolis DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-3-06 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

Enhancing Waste Management Practice - The Appropriate Strategy for Improving Solid Waste Management System in Vietnam Towards Sustainability

This study aims to build the appropriate model of waste management practice (WMP) towards sustainable municipal solid waste (MSW) system in a city of developing country like Vietnam. A waste audit was performed and material flow analysis method was simulated to describe and analyse the current status of MSW system and its assumpted models. Four WMP models were built based on the feature of the region, the intention and optimisation of WMP, and the consensus of the government. This study shows that the improvement of the SWM system can reduce a significant amount of waste to landfill. Notably, the waste reduction performance is 5.0, 7.8, 11.11 and 29.3 % in S1, S2, S3 and S4, respectively. Also, the recovery performance of recyclables changes in proportional to the level of SWM practice and reach at 3.78, 5.843, 4.593, and 7.120 t/d, respectively. This study reveals that the improvement of SWM practice at source from intentional to optimal rate is the sustainable strategy for developing an SWM system in Hoi An City.

Household Solid Waste Management in Monrovia, Liberia: Influencing Factors, Characteristics, and Management Solutions

The ineffective management of household solid waste (HSW) in most developing cities in Africa including Monrovia has become a major issue threatening the environment and public health. In response to these waste challenges, developed countries have embarked upon major environmental reforms, and have made advances in best practices and sustainable management of their Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). However, in most developing countries like Liberia, such environmental reforms have not been initiated and therefore the situation has become compounded; this is due to several factors impeding the development of a sustainable municipal solid waste system. This study, therefore, aims to critically analyze the influencing factors of solid waste management; the characteristics of household waste and suggest management solutions for effective and sustainable management.<br/> Results from the analysis of data, using The Ordinary Least Square Regression (OLS) method estimates the average household waste per capita generation as 0.76kg/capita/day. Regarding the composition of the waste stream, the results show that 67% of the waste sampled from Monrovia is biodegradable and mostly comprised of high wet weight and high moisture content kitchen waste. On the other hand, the remaining percentage is mostly non-degradable but recyclable materials such as glass ceramics and metals. This suggests that due to the high moisture content in the waste, samples are suitable for composting and other mechanical and biological management options. Using the stratified sampling method, 300 households were chosen. Multiple regressions were conducted to determine the relationship between waste generation and socio-economic factors and these showed that the effect of income, household size and the environmental concern on HSW generation is statistically significant at a 1% significance. However, further findings revealed a negative relationship between income and HSW generation at a 1% level of significance. These findings provide new insight regarding the role of socio-economic characteristics affecting the generation of household waste in Monrovia.

Prognóstico da gestão dos resíduos sólidos urbanos de uma cidade de médio porte: estimativa de impactos ambientais

A busca por um sistema de gestão de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos (RSU) sustentável é um desafio para gestores municipais. Para isso, é necessário inicialmente entender o atual sistema de gestão e seus futuros resultados. Este trabalho teve o objetivo de realizar o prognóstico do atual sistema de gestão de RSU do município de Juazeiro do Norte no Ceará. O estudo é quantitativo e utilizou métodos quantitativos de modelagem para estimar, em um período de 20 anos (2016 a 2035), impactos ambientais de ocupação de área por aterro e de emissão de gás metano (CH4) e de gás carbônico (CO2). Os resultados apontam que, caso nada seja feito, os RSU coletados e enterrados no aterro do município, entre 2016 e 2035, ocuparão uma área equivalente a 20 campos de futebol (147.140 m2) e emitirão aproximadamente 153.300 e 420.600 toneladas de CH4 e CO2, respectivamente, que se estenderão por 40 anos. Os resultados dessa pesquisa destacam um cenário futuro preocupante que pode e deve ser mitigado através do planejamento e implementação de alternativas de mudanças do atual sistema de gestão de RSU da região.

Implementing Circular Economy in municipal solid waste treatment system using P-graph

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the issues associated with the growth of economic and urban population. The aim of this study is to develop an integrated design of waste management systems in support of a Circular Economy by P-graph (a bipartite graphical optimisation tool) as an effective decision support tool. The case study considers four MSW compositions based on different country income levels. Solving the P-graph model identifies the most suitable treatment approaches, considering the economic balance between the main operating cost, type, yield, quality of products, as well as the GHG emission (externality cost). The identification of near-optimal solutions by P-graph is useful in dealing with the trade-offs between conflicting objectives, e.g. local policy and practical implementation, that are difficult to monetise. For a lower-income country, the optimal solution includes a combination of at source separation, recycling, incineration (heat, electricity), anaerobic digestion (biofuel, digestate) and the landfill. It avoids an estimated 411 kg CO2eq/t of processed MSW and achieves a potential profit of 42 €/t of processed MSW. The optimisation generally favours mechanical biological treatment as the country income level rises, which affects the composition of the MSW. The relative prices of biofuel, electricity and heat (>20%) cause a significant impact on the highest-ranking treatment structure and overall profit. This study shows that the developed framework by P-graph is an effective tool for MSW systems planning. For future study, localised data inputs can be fed into the proposed framework for a customised solution and economic feasibility assessment.