Waste Disposal Capacity Research Articles

An Improved Strategy to Effectively Manage Healthcare Waste after COVID-19 in Republic of Korea

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, 24,289 tons of infectious waste was generated in 2021 in Korea, a 320% increase compared to that generated in 2020 (5788 tons). The disposal of other healthcare waste has been delayed because COVID-19 infectious waste must be disposed of first, leading to long-term concerns related to the lack of healthcare waste disposal capacity. To solve this problem, this study investigated healthcare waste classification systems in Korea and overseas. We analyzed the current state of healthcare waste in Korea and compared the treatment methods and healthcare waste treatment systems by country. The results showed that Korea has a strict healthcare waste management system compared to other countries, which relies on dedicated incinerators and transport. It is difficult to expand incinerators exclusively for healthcare waste due to site selection issues because they incinerate infectious waste. Therefore, to solve the healthcare waste disposal problem, Korea should improve its management system to reduce treatment amounts. This study suggests that general healthcare waste that is considered less infectious should be excluded from healthcare waste-exclusive treatment and that sterilization/grinding as an intermediate treatment method should be allowed.

Exploring long-term global environmental impacts of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) in waste: Implications for the Stockholm and Basel Conventions and the global plastic treaty

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs), mainly short-chain CPs (SCCPs) and medium-chain CPs (MCCPs), are currently the most produced and used industrial chemicals related to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) globally. These chemicals are widely detected in the environment and in the human body. As the release of SCCPs and MCCPs from products represents only a small fraction of their stock in products, the potential long-term release of CPs from a large variety of products at the waste stage has become an issue of great concern. The results of this study showed that, by 2050, SCCPs and MCCPs used between 2000 and 2021 will cumulatively generate 226.49 Mt of CP-containing wastes, comprising 8610.13 kt of SCCPs and MCCPs. Approximately 79.72 Mt of CP-containing wastes is predicted to be generated abroad through the international trade of products using SCCPs and MCCPs. The magnitude, distribution, and growth of CP-containing wastes subject to environmentally sound disposal will depend largely on the relevant provisions of the Stockholm and Basel Conventions and the forthcoming global plastic treaty. According to multiple scenarios synthesizing the provisions of the three conventions, 26.6–101.1 Mt of CP-containing wastes will be subject to environmentally sound disposal as POP wastes, which would pose a great challenge to the waste disposal capacity of China, as well as for countries importing CP-containing products. The additional 5-year exemption period for MCCPs is expected to see an additional 10 Mt of CP-containing wastes subject to environmentally sound disposal. Thus, there is an urgent need to strengthen the Stockholm and Basel Conventions and the global plastic treaty.

Distributionally robust optimization for dispatching the integrated operation of rural multi-energy system and waste disposal facilities under uncertainties

With the increasing global attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, governments around the world attach great importance to the low-carbon reform of rural energy and waste management. The interaction between waste-to-energy technology (W2E) and rural multi-energy system has emerged as one of the important issues that must be considered. Based on this, this paper combines two W2E technologies, biomass biogas power generation and garbage incineration power generation, with photovoltaic and energy storage systems. A distributionally robust optimization (DRO) model for the waste-disposal-facilities-involved rural multi-energy system (W-RMES) is proposed. An ambiguity set of the photovoltaic output probability distribution is constructed by the Wasserstein metric. The minimum operation cost of W-RMES is solved under the condition that the prediction error of photovoltaic output obeys the worst probability distribution of the ambiguity set. Finally, through simulation verification, the rational utilization of waste can effectively realize the coordination and optimization between the waste disposal and multi-energy supply of electricity, heat, and biogas. Compared with the conventional rural energy system, W-RMES is more economical and eco-friendlier, which is reflected in the reduction of operation cost by >14.87 %, the removal of flue gas production by >12.89 % and the improvement of waste disposal capacity by >21.77 %. Besides, the model also realizes systemic coordination of robustness and economic efficiency.

GHG emissions reduction patterns from waste sectors after forced source separation

Waste management is the bridge to balance resource conservation and climate change protection, and source separation is the pre-requirement to improve the recycling rate and normal human behavior. In this work, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission patterns were investigated from waste sectors from 2016 to 2021 in Shanghai, where force MSW source separation was first implemented in China since 2019. The GHG emission in the waste sector increased from 3.06 (2016) to 9.28 (2021) Mt CO2-eq due to the increase of waste disposal amounts from 7.35 (2016) to 11.83 Mt (2021). With the implementation of forced source separation in Shanghai on July 1st, 2019, the proportion of kitchen waste and water content decreased by 37.31% and 20.74% in dry waste, resulting in the increase of low heating value (LHV) by 99.39% (13,160 kJ/kg). The waste disposal system was optimized by employing resource recycling and anaerobic digestion of wet waste, and the corresponding GHG emission intensity decreased from 0.29 to 0.24 t CO2-eq per ton MSW. Three scenario analyses, including the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, New Policy (NP) scenario, and Low-carbon (LC) scenario, were conducted to study the influence of the grid emission factor, wet waste disposal capacity, incineration power generation efficiency, and lower waste plastic proportion on the GHG emissions. The results showed that the GHG emission intensity would reach 0.28, 0.21, and 0.12 t CO2-eq per ton MSW in the BAU, NP, and LC scenarios. Optimizing waste disposal mode and reducing waste plastic from sourced separation was critical to reduce GHG emissions more effectively from the waste sector.

Comprehensive evaluation of municipal solid waste power generation and carbon emission potential in Tianjin based on Grey Relation Analysis and Long Short Term Memory

With the rapid development of China's economy, the contradiction of the mismatch between municipal solid waste disposal capacity and its growth has become increasingly prominent, and the need to develop alternative energy sources has become increasingly urgent. Municipal solid waste incineration plays an important role in waste management. In this study, the Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) prediction model is constructed to achieve effective prediction of municipal solid waste generation by taking 11 influencing factors of municipal solid waste generation as input indicators in Tianjin. Meanwhile, this study predicts the power generation from municipal solid waste incineration and carbon emissions in Tianjin based on the prediction results. The experimental results show that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) value of the combined GRA-LSTM model established in this study is 6.759 %, and this model outperforms the other five structural methods in terms of prediction performance. By 2025, the amount of MSW in Tianjin will reach 3.74 million metric tons, the power generation through incineration will be 20.02–39.47 GWh, and the CO2 emission through incineration will be about 1.14 million metric tons. Finally, to cope with the growth of municipal solid waste generation and unbalanced power supply structure in the country's mega-cities, this paper puts forward relevant suggestions for achieving sustainable urban development.

Collaborative mechanism for promoting the cross-regional management of construction and demolition waste

With the increasing contradictions between the limited waste disposal capacity and the vast generation of construction and demolition waste, the cross-regional disposal strategies for the waste have been adopted by some cities to alleviate the local waste management pressure. However, so far there is very limited knowledge regarding the collaborative mechanism for promoting cross-regional waste management. As an “up-to-bottom” approach, the system dynamics approach has been used extensively for investigating complex and dynamic systems and is capable of simulating the dynamic interactions of key driving factors in collaborative management of the cross-regional waste. Hence, a system dynamics model was built to evaluate measures that could promote the cross-regional collaborative management of the waste. The results indicate that a reasonable landfill charging scheme considering landfilling capacity helps to increase the efficiency of cross-regional collaborative management. Particularly, when the landfilling capacity is insufficient, a landfill fee at 95 yuan/ton could minimize the illegal dumping activities in regions involving the waste cross-regional mobility. While if the landfilling capacity is sufficient, the landfill fee could be adjusted from 95 yuan/ton to 70 yuan/ton. Finally, five recommendations have been proposed to improve the cross-regional collaborative waste management policies, which are: 1) unifying waste treatment standards, 2) defining cross-regional waste management decisions, 3) establishing dynamic penalty mechanisms, 4) optimizing the landfill charging scheme, and 5) facilitating collaborative waste management mechanisms. The findings provide suggestions for the waste disposal enterprises to make decisions on cross-regional disposal and suggest approaches for government departments to promote practices of cross-regional collaborative management of the waste.

Modeling waste generation and end-of-life management of wind power development in Guangdong, China until 2050

Waste generation and end-of-life (EoL) management of wind power systems (WPSs) have attracted increasing attention as the number of decommissioned wind turbines continues to increase. In this study, we have addressed this issue by applying a technology-specific, component-by-component, and stock-driven prospective dynamic material flow analysis model in the case of Guangdong, a province in South China with high wind power potential. A particular improvement in our model includes the consideration of the foundation type for offshore wind turbines and the impact of water depth. We set three scenario combinations, high, medium, and low, to reveal the scale of material stocks and flows of wind power development in Guangdong from 1989 to 2050. We found that, as the escalating development of wind power continues (particularly offshore), the total waste generation has increased from 0 tons in 1989 to 24 kilotons in 2018, and will further increase to 1,200, 740, and 490 kilotons in 2050 under the high, medium, and low, scenario combinations, respectively. This indicates a growing demand for waste disposal capacity (particularly for recycling) in the future and a necessity to consider such EoL management issue (particularly for EoL blades) and circular economy strategies (e.g., material efficiency) associated with a much-needed ambitious wind energy development plan. We also argue that relevant EoL policy for WPSs (including Extended Producer Responsibility) should be in place in advance and feasible business models should be explored with joint efforts of wind, waste, and utility industries.

Environmental management strategy in response to COVID-19 in China: Based on text mining of government open information

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic and a major health emergency. In the process of fighting against COVID-19, the China Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) responded quickly and set up a working group as soon as possible. This article uses text mining to retrospectively analyze the government's public information on the website of MEE during the epidemic, sort out the timeline of MEE's response to COVID-19. We find that MEE's work during the COVID-19 pandemic is focused on medical waste and wastewater treatment, environment emergency monitoring, pollution prevention, and other environmental management for supporting economic recovery. It drafted three main medical waste management plans, an emergency environmental monitoring plan, and formulated “two lists” – a Positive checklist for Environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval and a positive checklist for supervision and enforcement, to promote the resumption of work and production. 2020 is the final year of China's “three years of fighting pollution prevention and control”. In the case of the sudden COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese environment department has ensured that the quality of the ecological environment has not been affected by the epidemic prevention and control while ensuring the smooth progress of the fight against pollution. China's medical waste disposal capacity has also been greatly improved during this epidemic. The review of China's environmental management strategy in response to COVID-19 can provide a reference for countries in the world that are still in the critical period of epidemic control; it can provide action guidelines for the ecological environment system to respond to sudden pandemic events in the future.

Urban Waste Disposal Capacity and its Energy Supply Performance Optimal Model Based on Multi-Energy System Coordinated Operation

In the world with Zero Waste City and Energy Internet construction is promoting to meet waste reduction and power grid regulation flexibility improvement. Based on the waste stockpile and disposal demands, the waste disposal facilities multi-time scale model of energy supply and demand is proposed. On these premises, This paper presents the Multi-energy Waste Disposal System (MEWDS) topology and its optimal model based on coordinated operation of multi-energy system and waste disposal facilities to maximize economic benefits. Through simulation, the case studies are performed for the waste stockpile and multi-energy operation data of a Chinese city from different waste disposal scenarios to demonstrate. The proposed MEWDS optimal model can make the waste reduced and the economic benefits best. Meanwhile, it can also improve the flexibility of power grid regulation effectively.

Influence of Internal and External Capacity on Adults' Food Waste Disposal Capacity

Influence of Internal and External Capacity on Adults' Food Waste Disposal Capacity

Analysis of hazardous waste based on GIS

The increasing production of hazardous waste and the imbalance of regional disposal capacity are more and more prominent in the contradiction between industrial development and environmental protection. His paper takes the production of hazardous waste as the research object, combined with the geographic information system, and based on the regional difference and institutional density of hazardous waste [1], starting from the production of hazardous waste in each province, reveals the temporal and spatial evolution law of hazardous waste production in China, and explores the potential gathering areas of high-risk hazardous waste and their site selection in the future. Based on the hazardous waste disposal capacity of each province, the production of hazardous waste in the next five years in the high-high-type regions was predicted by using the Holt-Winters model fitting prediction model [2]. The results show that there is no significant spatial autocorrelation of hazardous waste production in China. As can be seen from the local accumulation characteristics of hazardous waste production in each province, the high-high type is mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal area. During 2011-2019, the number of high-high type significant hot spots increased from 1 to 4.In the next five years, the production of hazardous waste in high-high-type regions will continue to increase, and it may move to the direction of decline in Shandong Province. Based on the weighted factor method, the proposed optimal location of hazardous waste treatment plant is located in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province.

Emergency disposal and management of medical waste duringthe COVID-19 outbreak in China

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 began to explode on a large scale around the world, with medical and health institutions around the world are facing great pressure. During this period, medical institutions that treat patients with COVID-19 will also generate a large amount of medical waste. If not handled properly, infectious viruses will enter the environment and cause secondary pollution and new epidemic. Wuhan was the first city to have a large-scale outbreak during the outbreak. In the early stage of the outbreak, the relevant competent departments of medical and health institutions and medical waste disposal agencies in China quickly and timely issued a series of technical guidelines and Management measures to control secondary pollution of medical waste during COVID-19. This article analysed the medical waste disposal capacity in Wuhan city, Hubei Province and China at 2020, which also introduce the medical waste treatment measures taken in China during the outbreak, hoping to provide technical reference for other countries.

Suggested guidelines for emergency treatment of medical waste during COVID-19: Chinese experience.

During the period of COVID-19, the medical waste disposal capacity is seriously inadequate. The main technical process of the municipal solid waste incineration system is the same as that of the medical waste incineration system. Under the conditions of optimizing the technological process, improving the supporting facilities, and controlling the co-processing ratio, the municipal solid waste incinerator (grate furnace) co-processing medical waste is feasible. Some suggested guidelines for emergency treatment of medical waste from COVID-19 have been provided by China.

Influence of flue gas recirculation on the performance of incinerator-waste heat boiler and NOx emission in a 500 t/d waste-to-energy plant

The flue gas composition and the flue gas temperature at outlet of the economizer were tested, and the influence of flue gas recirculation (FGR) on the efficiency of the incinerator-waste heat boiler and NOx emission in a waste incineration power plant with a waste disposal capacity of 500 t/d was explored experimentally. The results indicate that the largest proportion of the total heat loss is the exhaust heat loss under different loads, and the next is the heat loss of slag. Within the test range, the efficiency of the incinerator-waste heat boiler increases from 80.26% to 80.42% as the ratio of the recirculating flue gas increases from 0 to 16.43%. The oxygen content in the flue gas and FGR have significant influence on NOx emissions. The NOx concentration at outlet of the economizer increases from 209.54 mg/m3 to 307.30 mg/m3, that is an increase of 46.65%, when the oxygen content at outlet of the economizer increases from 4.52% to 8.00%. Compared with the shutdown of FGR system, the NOx concentration at outlet of the economizer decreases from 209.54 mg/m3 to 126.15 mg/m3 when the FGR valve is fully opened. The results have important reference significance for the design of incinerator-waste heat boiler and the optimal operation of power plant.

Garbage source classification performance, impact factor, and management strategy in rural areas of China: A case study in Hangzhou

Garbage classification and reduction is imperative in many developing countries, where the imbalance between the rapid growth of solid waste and insufficient disposal capacity can be challenging. In order to evaluate whether a novel ‘2 + T’ source classification method (biodegradable waste, other waste, and toxic waste) and three types of source classification and resourcing treatment patterns implemented in the rural areas of Hangzhou can be widely applied, field investigations, questionnaire interviews, and factor analysis were carried out comprehensively. By means of ‘2 + T’ source classification method, biodegradable waste, accounting for the largest proportion of rural domestic waste, can be effectively separated for the subsequent reduction and resource treatment. Classified deposition in the doorway and door-to-door collection of biodegradable and other wastes provided the best solution for the accuracy of source classification and public participation. Based on the analysis, appropriate classification methods and patterns, sustainable publicity and supervision of source classification behavior as well as sufficient financial support will be key factors for rural domestic waste classification and resourcing management. These methods have a great potential for promoting solid waste classification in the rural areas of China and in other developing countries.

System dynamics approach for the relationship between different types of hospitals and hospital waste management (case study: Tabriz)

Hospitals are at the centre of providing different health services to society and their activities may include nutrition therapy, rehabilitation, prevention and health education promotion. During these activities, hospitals may produce waste from medical and non-medical activities. Health waste management is similar to other waste management systems and includes production, separation, gathering, storing, purification and final disposal. If hospital waste is not managed correctly, it will become one of the major factors of infectious diseases in the world, regarded as a serious health problem. Health and therapy waste management is related to the health and safety risks of the transportation of the waste produced from health centres. Our long-term objective was to develop a planning and selection system to support the future waste disposal capacity. The present research included using a system dynamics model by means of Vensim software for the prediction of waste produced in the health waste system in different hospitals.

Korean Status and Prospects for Radioactive Waste Management

The safe management of radioactive waste is a national task required for sustainable generation of nuclear power and for energy self-reliance in Korea. Since the initial introduction of nuclear power to Korea in 1978, rapid growth in nuclear power has been achieved. This large nuclear power generation program has produced a significant amount of radioactive waste, both low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF); and the amount of waste is steadily growing. For the management of LILW, the Wolsong LILW Disposal Center, which has a final waste disposal capacity of 800,000 drums, is under construction, and is expected to be completed by June 2014. Korean policy about how to manage the SNF has not yet been decided. In 2004, the Atomic Energy Commission decided that a national policy for SNF management should be established considering both technological development and public consensus. Currently, SNF is being stored at reactor sites under the responsibility of plant operator. The at-reactor SNF storage capacity will run out starting in 2024. In this paper, the fundamental principles and steps for implementation of a Korean policy for national radioactive waste management are introduced. Korean practices and prospects regarding radioactive waste management are also summarized, with a focus on strategy for policy-making on SNF management.

Evaluation Indexes System for Assessing Road Construction with Recycled Waste Materials to Achieve Better Environmental Impacts

Evaluation indexes system has been put forward in this paper for quantifying thesystematical energy consumption, resources consumption, total emissions’ change and waste disposal capacity in road construction with recycled waste materials involved. With help of this evaluation indexes system, the contributions to environmental improvement caused by recycling waste materials in road construction can be quantified through calculating savings on environmental impact potentials, savings on energy consumption, on virgin materials’ consumption and waste disposal capacity provided by road construction. Based on the construction project of a road section numbered No.20 EWK0+400 ~ EWK0+600 of North highway to Shanghai Pudong international airport, which was the first trial project of using several kinds of recycled waste materials including bottom ash from incinerators to replace commonly used materials such as gravel in large scale in road pavement, the results of the four indexes, namely, savings on energy consumption and virgin materials’ consumption, environmental impact potentials as well as waste disposal capacity were obtained. It was found out that with multi recycled waste materials replacing part of the common construction material, systematical energy consumption can be reduced by 30%, a large amount of virgin resource consumption can be avoid and road construction also provides a remarkable large “dumping site” for solid wastes; while at the same time environmental impact potentials were saved for most impact categories except for increase in Ecotoxicity, water chronic, which was caused by heavy metals’ leaching and can be prevented by pre-treatment. Those results are useful for guiding the utilization of recycled waste materials, as well as for developing new technology process and advanced materials in road construction.

Environmental Policy Implications of Investor-State Arbitration under NAFTA Chapter 11

Have investors used NAFTA Chapter 11 to thwart the fair application of environmental protection measures? Are the compensation awards discouraging governments from taking environmental protection measures they would otherwise want to take? This report empirically reviews four arbitrations under Chapter 11 to try to answer those two questions. The case studies address the first question objectively. The government paid compensation in three cases (Metalclad, Ethyl, and S.D. Myers) in which the government had little scientific information to support its action and the surrounding circumstances strongly indicate that environmental protection was a cover for local political battles and economic motivations. In the two cases against Canada, the federal government withdrew the measure in question and the underlying environmental issue later resolved itself through changes in technology and market pressures. Nine years after Metalclad filed its case against Mexico, the ecological zone declared by the state governor to block the landfill has yet to be formally created or funded, there is no modern hazardous waste disposal capacity in industrialized central Mexico, pre-existing environmental contamination at the site still has not been cleaned up, and Mexico has had to compensate a Spanish investor in a similar case. In the fourth NAFTA arbitration, Methanex (a Canadian methanol producer), the investor was held not to have a claim under Chapter 11 because the regulation affected a product made by others with methanol, not methanol itself. Moreover, the Chapter 11 tribunal concluded that California had identified a legitimate environmental problem and conducted independent scientific assessment before adopting the MTBE ban, and thus had not acted with deliberate intent to favor a domestic competitor. The answer to the second question - Is Chapter 11 government environmental protection efforts? - is more elusive and subjective, but the report infers from the available evidence that the chilling effect, if it exists at all, is not significant. After Metalclad, Mexico improved environmental regulation with new legislation to establish a national strategy for management of hazardous waste and to improve transparency of public decision making. The circumstances in Canada are less clear, but Ethyl's fuel additive is scarcely used any more in Canada, and the handling of PCB wastes involved in S.D. Myers has shifted to technologies besides stationary incinerators. In the United States, the Methanex Chapter 11 claim did not dissuade other states from following California in banning MTBE. Moreover, the dismissal of the Methanex claim shows that Chapter 11 does not create an easy route to challenge environmental measures. After the four early cases studied here, only one Chapter 11 claim in the last five years involves substantive matters of environmental regulation. Meanwhile, the governments have made Chapter 11 procedures significantly more open and transparent.

A Security Vulnerabilities Assessment Tool for Interim Storage Facilities of Low-Level Radioactive Wastes

Limited permanent low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal capacity and correspondingly high disposal costs have resulted in the creation of numerous interim storage facilities for either decay-in-storage operations or longer term accumulation efforts. These facilities, which may be near the site of waste generation or in distal locations, often were not originally designed for the purpose of LLRW storage, particularly with regard to security. Facility security has become particularly important in light of the domestic terrorist acts of 2001, wherein LLRW, along with many other sources of radioactivity, became recognized commodities to those wishing to create disruption through the purposeful dissemination of radioactive materials. Since some LLRW materials may be in facilities that may exhibit varying degrees of security control sophistication, a security vulnerabilities assessment tool grounded in accepted criminal justice theory and security practice has been developed. The tool, which includes dedicated sections on general security, target hardening, criminalization benefits, and the presence of guardians, can be used by those not formally schooled in the security profession to assess the level of protection afforded to their respective facilities. The tool equips radiation safety practitioners with the ability to methodically and systematically assess the presence or relative status of various facility security aspects, many of which may not be considered by individuals from outside the security profession. For example, radiation safety professionals might not ordinarily consider facility lighting aspects, which is a staple for the security profession since it is widely known that crime disproportionately occurs more frequently at night or in poorly lit circumstances. Likewise, the means and associated time dimensions for detecting inventory discrepancies may not be commonly considered. The tool provides a simple means for radiation safety professionals to assess, and perhaps enhance in a reasonable fashion, the security of their interim storage operations. Aspects of the assessment tool can also be applied to other activities involving the protection of sources of radiation as well.