Waste Management Crisis Research Articles

Sustainable practices in construction: Exposing the Potential of Waste as a Resource.

Abstract This paper examines the critical issues facing the construction and demolition industry in the countries of the European Union, with a particular focus on Germany. It presents strategies for waste management and sustainable development goals in construction sector. The construction industry is responsible for a significant proportion of waste production, which underscores the urgency of addressing the impending waste management crisis. The paper highlights the necessity for the implementation of circular-oriented construction practices that prioritize recycling and the reduction of waste, aiming to improve the efficient use of resources in building design and construction. Using a real non-residential building demolition as a case study, the paper outlines specific steps to determine building materials and document demolition procedures. This study presents a variety of selective demolition strategies, with consideration of end-of-life scenarios for materials, including reuse, recycling, and downcycling. The analysis highlights the complexity of the demolition process, emphasizing the necessity for comprehensive evaluation methodologies. By closing the material cycle and prioritizing reuse and recycling, it is possible to achieve sustainable and long-term value retention of building materials. Additionally, methods such as life cycle assessment and material flow analysis for waste streams are introduced. The environmental impact of the demolition of the “Elementum” office building in Munich was analyzed and the CO2 emissions calculated, in relation to transport distances. Results were presented on the reduction in CO2 emissions due to the elimination of transport to landfill and the associated impact on the Life Cycle Assessment. By considering factors such as resource conservation, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation and pollution, stakeholders can make informed decisions to mitigate negative environmental impacts.

Towards Circular Economy: Integrating Waste Management for Renewable Energy Optimization in Zimbabwe

Many countries across the globe are not yet exploiting the full potential energy that is inherent in waste to solve their energy and waste management crisis. This review critically examines the intersection of waste management and renewable energy optimization within the context of Zimbabwe’s transition towards a circular economy. This review explores the integration of waste management practices into renewable energy initiatives to foster a circular economy in Zimbabwe. Therefore, by assessing the feasibility and benefits of incorporating waste-to-energy technologies, this study elucidates the potential for synergistic resource utilization and environmental sustainability. Through a comprehensive analysis of existing waste management frameworks and renewable energy strategies, this paper highlights opportunities for optimizing energy production while addressing pressing waste management challenges. Ultimately, the findings underscore the importance of adopting a comprehensive approach to renewable energy development that leverages waste as a valuable resource in Zimbabwe’s transition towards a circular economy paradigm.

Dhaka’s Dual Crisis: A Call for Collective Action on Waste Contamination and Homeless Animal Welfare

Dhaka, Bangladesh, is grappling with a dual crisis as waste pollution and a severe health crisis affecting homeless animals cast a worrying shadow over the city’s reputation. This article carefully explores metropolises’ interconnected challenges, emphasising the critical need for a collective response from governments, citizens, and diverse organisations. The waste management crisis, characterised by inefficient disposal systems and increased garbage piles, poses substantial health risks to the population. At the same time, homeless animals endure dire living conditions, which raises significant concerns for animal welfare. Notably, this article addresses a significant research gap by highlighting the limited existing studies examining the effects of waste pollution on animal welfare. In doing so, it proposes a comprehensive approach that includes immediate waste management solutions, public awareness campaigns, government support for animal welfare, community participation, international cooperation, policy reform, emergency medical care for animals, as well as long-term sustainable planning, and a robust monitoring and Evaluation framework. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, including surveys, expert interviews and a systematic literature review, the study identifies sources of pollution, factors affecting animal population development indicators. The findings underscore the need for urgent and concerted efforts to address these interrelated challenges and restore the city’s ecological and social well-being for all its species.

When should DIY have a localized healthcare waste management system?

Purpose: The 2018 healthcare waste management crisis catalyzed a critical review of the concerns expressed by the Health Office (dinkes) and healthcare facilities regarding healthcare waste management in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY). Due to this crisis, the Ministry of Health hired Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) to look into potential solutions and promote DIY government policy responses. This paper examines the management strategy during crisis times and possible alternative solutions.
 Methods: This paper uses focused group discussions reports involving separate groups of (1) environmental health officials from community health centers, (2) hospitals, (3) environment health officials of district health authorities, and (4) cross-sectoral province officials in the Yogyakarta Special Region. It is part of a project 'A case study of strengthening regional-based medical waste management model', fund from the Environmental Health Directorate, Directorate General of Public Health, Ministry of Health (Project KN 01.03/6.1/0198/2019).
 Result: A simulation of policy options based on health facility managers suggests that a province-based system is the most profitable in the long term for DIY, with several possible options. The national policy roadmap was considered inadequate to respond to DIY's urgent local needs. Furthermore, the series of meetings succeeded in forming an informal forum between health facilities, provincial health offices, and associations of hospital environmental sanitation experts, monitoring medical waste management.
 Conclusion: The 2018 medical waste management crisis led to the formulation of policy response choices tailored to the capacity of DIY. These choices considered the expenditures and legal sanctions faced by healthcare facilities and the economic value of a region-based waste system for local government authorities. This comprehensive approach highlights the importance of local capacity. It needs to shape effective and sustainable medical waste management policies, underscoring the necessity of region-specific strategies in the face of national health crises.

Coastal City and Zero Waste Masterplan: Exploring a Strategy of Resilience and Inclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic has once again caused citizens around the world to attach importance to the urgency of the waste management crisis and the need for environmental action in general, and this should act as a wake-up call for taking the boundary between human consumption of non-sustainable activities and the capacity of the natural environment seriously. Governments in the Netherlands and Japan designed and implemented policies to facilitate the transition to a circular economy and to promote sustainable waste management. This paper reviews waste management policies and practices in the two countries, explores a circular economy strategy based on coastal cities, using examples of different zero waste cities to examine how coastal cities have adapted to the zero waste masterplan.

Zero-Smart Recycle Bin : IoT-Object Detection Based Smart Trash Bin System

Inadequate global recycling rates led the world to face a worsening waste management crisis. Humans keep producing numerous tons of waste every year while the landfills of the waste remain piled up and poison the world's health sustainability. Zero-Smart Recycle Bin is designed to promote recycling movement to achieve zero net carbon emission goals. The target of the system is notably for the environmentally conscious or recycling activist, as well as for other groups in society. This paper focuses on designing the system and discussing the proposed system. The system is designed to identify and segregate the waste into different categories such as paper, metal can, and plastic bottles. The device is designed to be operated automatically using Raspberry Pi3 due to The efficiency of the processor and the compatibility with the network . The Raspberry Pi3 is integrated with object visual detection by using YOLOv5 and inductive-capacitive sensors to identify the material of the waste. The system also involves an integrated web application as the user platform. The research has achieved in proposing the design of the system, however the realization of the system design into a real product yet is still beyond of this research. Further study is aviseably required to verify and test the proposed framework and algorithm to get more desired result in the future.

Managing Municipal Solid Waste Issues; Sources, Composition, Disposal, Recycling, and Volarization, Chililabombwe District, Zambia

Solid waste continues to pose important challenges to our environment on a daily basis. Insufficient solid waste management systems and equipment have contributed to the alteration to the ecosystems, including water, air, and soil pollution that infringes on the health of the general public that is associated with health ailments like cholera and other food and water borne diseases. Chililabombwe district’s face has continued to be dented with the unkempt environment with littered solid waste that has become a stinging and widespread challenge, especially in the urban areas of the district. Solid waste (SW) collection and working disposal systems are the major problems of the urban environment in most developing countries worldwide. MSW management solutions are financially dependable for the technical viable, socially inclement, and legally accepted. Solid waste management remained the biggest challenge that all the local authorities in Zambia and many developing countries in Africa. Commercialization or valorization of organic food waste was one of the important research areas that could combat the increased solid waste in the environmental causing environmental degradation. The objective of this study was to address matters that would respond positively to the waste management crisis in the district. As waste continues to be accumulated, with its high generation, more technologies are sought in the area of treatment and exploitation of organic and municipal waste through composting and anaerobic digestion in the management of waste. The lack of technologies and machinery has equally downplayed the essence of waste management in the Chililabombwe district. Keywords: Anaerobic, Digestion, Landfill, Organic, Solid wastes, Valorization.

TOWARDS AN ALTERNATIVE PLANNING PERSPECTIVE FOR HOUSEHOLD SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN URBAN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS: THE CASE OF KHULNA, BANGLADESH

The scope of spatial planning within a community scale for household solid waste management (HHSWM) in space-constraint situations like urban informal settlements is almost absent in waste management studies, and this study fills the gap. In Bangladesh, most of the fast-growing cities with a high population density have no significant solid waste management (SWM) system, and the municipal services are incompatible. Along with several socio-economic and awareness issues, one of the major difficulties for urban informal settlements is connecting the SWM system with the municipal waste collection service because of the highly congested spatial arrangements and lack of accessibility. It is evident through several studies that decentralized waste treatment is one of the most effective solutions to a fast-growing waste management crisis. This study aims to investigate an alternative in situ approach from spatial planning dimensions for the HHSWM in informal settlements in Khulna, the southern metropolitan city of Bangladesh. The methods comprise investigation data from observations, built environment mapping, spatial analysis, key personal interviews, and focused group discussions with stakeholders. The finding contributes to a spatial planning framework for HHSWM in informal settlements that incorporate multiple benefits, like waste-to-income opportunities, reducing pressure on municipal services and maintaining a healthy and hygienic living environment.

Effective multipurpose sewage sludge and food waste reduction strategies: A focus on recent advances and future perspectives

Energy crisis and increasing rigorous management standards pose significant challenges for solid waste management worldwide. Several emerging diseases such as COVID-19 aggravated the already complex solid waste management crisis, especially sewage sludge and food waste streams, because of the increasingly large production year by year. As mature waste disposal technologies, landfills, incineration, composting, and some other methods are widespread for solid wastes management. This paper reviews recent advances in key sewage sludge disposal technologies. These include incineration, anaerobic digestion, and valuable products oriented-conversion. Food waste disposal technologies comprised of thermal treatment, fermentation, value-added product conversion, and composting have also been described. The hot topic and dominant research foci of each area are summarized, simultaneously compared with conventional technologies in terms of organic matter degradation or conversion performance, energy generation, and renewable resources production. Future perspectives of each technology that include issues not well understood and predicted challenges are discussed with a positive effect on the full-scale implementation of the discussed disposal methods.

A Review on Utilization of Processed Inorganic Mixed Municipal Solid Waste by Mechanical Device in Manufacturing of Bricks

Abstract: Municipal solid waste which is increasing day by day becomes eyesore and in turn pollutes the environment. The modern world is having a significant waste management crisis, particularly inorganic mixed municipal solid waste. Every day, hundreds of tones of inorganic mixed wastes are thrown in landfills, yet there aren't enough methods in the world to process and recycle them. Every day, a considerable volume of non-biodegradable waste is dumped or burnt, damaging the environment and the air. The accumulation of non-biodegradable trash in the environment is harmful to both plant and animal life. Nonbiodegradable pollutants like Polyethylene Teraphthalate pose a significant environmental burden, and recycling them is difficult owing to their non-biodegradability. The huge amounts of materials required for infrastructure construction provide a potentially major opportunity for waste material reuse. To resolve this concern, plastic waste has been mixed with clay to form brick for construction purposes. This alternatively saves the quantity of sand/clay that has to be taken away from the precious river beds/mines. The inorganic MSW is naturally available in surplus quantity and hence the cost factor comes down.

THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE TOWARDS SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AMONG MOGADISHU RESIDENTS - SOMALIA

This research we proposed the knowledge, attitude and practice towards solid waste management among Mogadishu residents – Somalia. Solid waste management is one of the major challenges faced by many countries around the globe. Inadequate collection, recycling or treatment and uncontrolled disposal of waste in dumps can lead to severe hazards, such as health risks and environmental pollution. Similarly there is problem in Africa. Africa is facing a growing waste management crisis. While the volumes of waste generated in Africa are relatively small, compared to developed regions, the mismanagement of waste in Africa is already impacting human and environmental health. Specially in Somalia show that solid waste management is a growing crisis that engulfs all urban centers within the country, because of a turbulent history, especially over the last quarter century. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of recycling solid waste management in Banadir region, Mogadishu – Somalia. However, this study is used quantitative approach conducted in Shebelle campus, Km4 campus and Gaheyr campus in Mogadishu Somalia. The numbers of students in all faculties from batch five to batch eight are 4,467 Students and the sample size will be 367. Findings of the study Knowledge level of the Majority of respondent 330 (89.2%) were have knowledge. While the most respondents 134 (36.5%) were finding over TV. The relationship between the knowledge, attitude and practice was significantly positive as the respondents majorities have said. This study is significant for staff and students by Increasing their safety and health, Reducing and eliminating adverse impacts of solid waste materials on human health and the environment surrounded. Finally recommend to be aware that improper waste disposal is a threat to environment.

The health-trash nexus in challenging environments: A spatial mixed methods analysis of Accra, Ghana

Increasing urbanization in Ghana has led to a waste management crisis with multiple public health consequences. The contextualized mapping of what is dumped, where and why might provide vital on-the-ground support to address the problem itself, as well as the spillover disease impacts. One of the biggest challenges, however, are the required spatial and temporal granular data. In this paper, we employ a spatial mixed methods approach to investigate the issue of waste management through the lens of health and disparity in Teshie, a suburb of Accra, Ghana.

Stabilization of marble wastes using cement and nano materials for subgrade applications

Marble has been widely used as a construction material for many centuries. Due to its wide use, managing of marble wastes has become a pressing issue for authorities as of the environmental threat driven by its increased stockpiles in roadside or abandoned lands. This study investigates a new use of marble waste in weak field soils as subgrade application using additive based stabilization. Raw marble waste was first stabilized with Fly ash based – Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) having various PPC content (0.5 to 10%) to investigate the behaviour changes of physical and mechanical characteristics. Then, the modified matrix with cement (1% and 10%) was further stabilized using nano materials of 0.1% reduce Graphene Oxide (rGO) powder by weight in order to enhance the strength properties. The improvements in strengths and mechanisms were characterised using detailed morphological studies to identify new formations of elements, functional groups and microstructure changes during stabilization process. Results showed significant increase of strength in the modified matrix (800% increase of CBR and 3 MPa increase of UCS from negligible strength) compared to raw marble waste due to the efficacy of adopted stabilization in the current study. Outcomes revealed that the novel marble matrix derived from this research using wastes and additives does not only indicate great potential in replacing weak subgrade soil which usually is the route problem for many road defects, but also provides an efficient solution for waste management crisis.

Co-Combustion Studies of Low-Rank Coal and Refuse-Derived Fuel: Performance and Reaction Kinetics

In connection to present energy demand and waste management crisis in Pakistan, refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is gaining importance as a potential co-fuel for existing coal fired power plants. This research focuses on the co-combustion of low-quality local coal with RDF as a mean to reduce environmental issues in terms of waste management strategy. The combustion characteristics and kinetics of coal, RDF, and their blends were experimentally investigated in a micro-thermal gravimetric analyzer at four heating rates of 10, 20, 30, and 40 °C/min to ramp the temperature from 25 °C to 1000 °C. The mass percentages of RDF in the coal blends were 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%, respectively. The results show that as the RDF in blends increases, the reactivity of the blends increases, resulting in lower ignition temperatures and a shift in peak and burnout temperatures to a lower temperature zone. This indicates that there was certain interaction during the combustion process of coal and RDF. The activation energies of the samples were calculated using kinetic analysis based on Kissinger–Akahira–Sunnose (KAS) and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO), isoconversional methods. Both of the methods have produced closer results with average activation energy between 95–121 kJ/mol. With a 30% refuse-derived fuel proportion, the average activation energy of blends hit a minimum value of 95 kJ/mol by KAS method and 103 kJ/mol by FWO method.

Plastic waste associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: Crisis or opportunity?

Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has a huge impact on the plastic waste management in many countries due to the sudden surge of medical waste which has led to a global waste management crisis. Improper management of plastic waste may lead to various negative impacts on the environment, animals, and human health. However, adopting proper waste management and the right technologies, looking in a different perception of the current crisis would be an opportunity. About 40% of the plastic waste ended up in landfill, 25% incinerated, 16% recycled and the remaining 19% are leaked into the environment. The increase of plastic wastes and demand of plastic markets serve as a good economic indicator for investor and government initiative to invest in technologies that converts plastic waste into value-added product such as fuel and construction materials. This will close the loop of the life cycle of plastic waste by achieving a sustainable circular economy. This review paper will provide insight of the state of plastic waste before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The treatment pathway of plastic waste such as sterilisation technology, incineration, and alternative technologies available in converting plastic waste into value-added product were reviewed.

Sustainable utilization of energy from waste: A review of potentials and challenges of Waste-to-energy in South Africa

ABSTRACT In South Africa, the burden placed on energy due to the rise in its demand coupled with the huge amount of untreated waste that ends up in landfills has called for the quest for sustainable energy utilization from waste resources. The literature has revealed a huge amount of theoretical energy potential recoverable from waste generated in Africa. However, many African countries are not yet exploiting the full potential energy inherent in waste to solve their energy and waste management crisis. To achieve success in WTE Industry, it is important to assess the peculiar local factors which impede its growth. The study evaluated the energy potential from waste in Africa with emphasis on South Africa’s case and the existing and proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) projects in South Africa. It was revealed that South Africa has the highest theoretical potential of energy from waste in Africa based on the quantity of generated and collected waste. About 104463 TJ/year and 22710 TJ/year can be recovered from incineration and landfill gas, respectively, in South Africa. Some of the barriers to full-operative WTE processing in South Africa were identified and discussed. Major resource-related barriers which are peculiar to South Africa’s waste management and energy system are the cheap and affordable coal resources and the low landfill tax. Recommendations for the future directions of WTE and sustainable energy recovery from waste in South Africa were made

Green building rating systems and construction waste in high density urban environment: The case study of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, as many other countries, is currently facing a waste management crisis with the shortage of reclamation sites and landfill space. Examination of construction waste management (CWM) criteria within Hong Kong’s BEAM Plus is limited and lacking. In this paper, CWM criteria were assessed and a case study was conducted on a recent project, pursuing BEAM Plus, to assess the effectiveness of CWM criteria to facilitate waste reduction. The findings revealed that the overall impact of BEAM Plus on construction waste reduction is negligible. The case study showed that the reasons material/waste-related credits are not commonly attempted is due to the lack of minimum thresholds and a low weighting relative to credits in other categories. In the case study, waste generated per constructed floor area was 0.21 tons/m2. This paper also makes recommendations to improve CWM criteria in BEAM Plus in order to promote a more sustainable building industry.

Techno-economic assessment of energy generation through municipal solid waste: a case study for small/medium size districts in Pakistan

There is an increase in annual waste generation due to urbanization, industrialization, and population growth. The waste management crisis in developing countries and its complexity from region to region has inspired extensive research work in this area. Poor management not only results in environmental hazards, but it also causes significant socio-economic losses. Due to the absence of comprehensive studies on waste to energy (WTE) assessment, this study assesses and reports the merits of alternative technologies for converting WTE in small and medium-size districts. Quantitative analysis for waste collection data in this study uses a pilot study approach to provide useful insights and waste classification. A cantonment district of Pakistan (Wah Cantt) has been used as a case study for performing a technological and economic assessment of energy generation through the use of thermal and biological treatment processes. A mathematical modeling approach has been adopted for generating an economic value of each technology through which this waste can be processed. Further, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) based assessment has been performed to provide a methodological framework for selecting the most feasible WTE technology in a small or medium-size district. Based on the model results, anaerobic digestion appears to be the most sustainable technology due to the organic nature of waste in Wah Cantt, land legislation, and availability of area to install a waste plant. Considering all the waste collected, the district can generate approximately 14.4 MW of energy through thermal treatment, 19,110 m3 of daily biogas through anaerobic digestion, and 5 million tons of fertilizer through composting. Hence, if a proper supply chain is established for converting a portion of Pakistan’s annual waste generation, a significant amount of waste energy potential can be restored.

NIMBYism, waste incineration, and environmental governance in China

With the world’s largest population and rapid urbanization, China is in the throes of a waste management crisis. Efforts to cope with this crisis through waste incineration have been met with growing NIMBYism as the Chinese public become more environmentally aware and are determined to protect their health and economic interests. We review the turn to incineration and the major characteristics of NIMBYism and ensuing protests against waste incinerators. We then describe the May 2014 Jiufeng incinerator protest in Hangzhou and the subsequent efforts to successfully respond to NIMBYist protests and build the proposed incineration plant on the planned site. The Hangzhou Jiufeng case offers a model for breaking the logjam between development and NIMBYism, leading to important improvements in environmental governance and regulation.

The economic value of sustainable recycling and waste management policies: The case of a waste management crisis in South Korea

The price of recyclable waste has declined, and China is refusing solid waste imports. As a result, recycling companies in South Korea are refusing to collect recyclable waste, which caused a solid waste management crisis in April 2018. Due to this crisis, many people are unable to discard their recyclable waste. This study aims to assess the economic value of a sustainable recycling and waste management policy to solve the waste management crisis. The analysis in this study is divided into two parts: The first part estimates the inconvenience costs to residents using a contingent valuation method, whereas the second part analyzes the preferences for a new policy using a mixed logit model with a choice experiment. The results show that mean willingness to pay (WTP) per household is 41,234 (USD 36.96) KRW/year; the total WTP would be able to increase the total disposal capacity by up to 4.51%. In addition, at an adequate price level for the policy alternative, the policy acceptance rate suggests that the price of biodegradable volume-rate disposal bags should increase by no more than KRW 66 (USD 0.06) per bag. This study provides guidance to policy makers who wish to consider both validity and acceptability.