ENV 107

Introduction to
Environmental Science

Solid Waste Management

North South University

 Video

MAN Steve Cutts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGMYdal
ClU
2 Dr. Sujauddin
 Resource efficiency
•We are leading towards an alarming supply restriction
scenario due to increasing global consumption of resources
which will particularly affect the economic growth

•The inevitable sustainability push, therefore, necessitates

mankind to delve into means of more efficient utilization of
the planet’s remaining stock and to investigate practicable
resource decoupling options- “reducing the rate of use of
(primary) resources per unit of economic activity”

[UNEP 2011]

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 Decoupling
• Recently “Decoupling” becomes a very important keyword. We hope our
human well-being keep increasing. In order to support that, our economic
activity also should increase.

• Then, the questions of resource use raises. Since in the way of economic
development, we need resources, i.e., materials or fuels or, so on.
However, some developed nations have significant amount of experiences
and technologies for now. Utilizing these experiences and technologies,
we can use resources more efficiently. If so, even if the resource use
increases, still the ratio of increase for resource use can be much lower
than that of economic activity. Then, we can “DECOUPLE” resource use
from economic development. This is the concept of decoupling in
resource use.

• We also often talk about the decoupling of environmental impact from

economic activity. [Murakami 2011]

4 Dr. Sujauddin
 Decoupling
Human well-being

Economic Activity (GDP)

Resource Decoupling

Resource Use

Time

Impact Decoupling

Environmental Impact

[UNEP 2011]

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Simplified flowchart of the resource cycle
Dr. Sujauddin
[Botkin and Keller 2011]
Mineral products used in a home office

7 Dr. Sujauddin
[Botkin and Keller 2011]
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Guess, what it is?
Dr. Sujauddin
[Botkin and Keller 2011]
 What a waste?
“Human activities generate waste materials that are
often discarded because they are considered useless.

These wastes are normally solid, and the word waste

suggests that the material is useless and unwanted.

However, many of these waste materials can be reused,

and thus they can become a resource for industrial
production or energy generation, if managed properly”.

9 Dr. Sujauddin
 Solid Waste

•Waste material that cannot be easily passed through a pipe

•Comprises a very wide range of materials that come from a variety of
sources
•When solid wastes accumulate, water may pass through and pick up
soluble components; as a result, the distinction between solid and liquid
waste may become blurred

Liquid Waste

•One that can be passed through a pipe i.e. sewage or watery mud
•May become separated or concentrated into a more solid form as a result
of treatment procedures or natural settling processes
 Types of Solid Waste

All of the above should be included as municipal solid waste. Industrial, commercial, and
institutional (ICI) wastes are often grouped together and usually represent more than 50% of
MSW. C&D waste is often treated separately: if well managed it can be disposed separately.
The items below are usually considered MSW if the municipality oversees their collection
11 Dr. Sujauddin
and disposal. [World Bank 2012]
SWM Scenario in Bangladesh
SWM Scenario in Bangladesh
Unsanitary landfilling
SWM Scenario in Bangladesh
Unsanitary landfilling
SWM Scenario in Bangladesh
Waste pickers (boy)
SWM Scenario in Bangladesh
Clogged water by SW
SWM Scenario in Bangladesh

MSW in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, with the world’s seventh highest population

Unplanned rapid urbanization

(Rural to urban areas: 19514.33%, 2001 24%, 2010 30.3%)

Slum development

Environmental impacts

UNCONTROLLED WASTE

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SWM Scenario in Bangladesh

Background: waste in wrong places

Children in waste picking without any protection Wastes are dumped just beside the crop field

Wastes are dumped just beside the water body Wastes are burnt in open space

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SWM Scenario in Bangladesh

Legal aspects of MSW in Bangladesh

No specific national policy for Solid Waste Management (SWM)

City Corporation
Ordinance and
Paurashava Ordinance
1977

• Types of wastes have not been

defined
• No indication of recycling
• No provision of hazardous waste
materials

Organized data is required for SWM

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SWM Scenario in Bangladesh

General
information

•13,333 tons of wastes are

generated daily

•WGR in urban area: 0.41

kg/capita/day

•WGR in rural settings: 0.15

kg/capita/day

•Projected waste generation is

17.2 million tons per year by
2025

•Average collection efficiency

is 56%

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 MSW flow in Bangladesh
Waste flows in Bangladesh in 2005 Unit: million ton
Collection coverage: less than 50%

(Self disposal, illegal dumping)

Uncollected 4.21-6.73

Waste Generation
Waste Generation
689
6.91-10.41
Residential Residents/NGOs/CBOs Responsibility of city corporation
Commercial
Industrial

Secondary
Final

Transport-
Roadside
collection

House to

storage
Street sweeping

ation
house

Bin/
Healthcare Disposal
2.00-2.63

84 0.69-1.04
Informal recycling of inorganic waste

Input to domestic industries Export

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Major Sectors of Waste in Bangladesh
Composition of Municipal Solid Waste in Dhaka

Dhaka City Corporation waste composition

Brick chips, Glass
Dust, Const. 0% Metal
13% 0%
Plastic,
Textile
Polyethylene,
3%
Rubber,
Leather
2%

Paper
1%

Food/ organic
waste
81% 0.56 kg/ca/day
 Early Concepts of Waste Disposal
• Early concept of waste disposal was “dilute and disperse”

• Factories were located near rivers- easy disposal of waste into the
river

• With a few factories and sparse population, volume of waste

produced was relatively small- dilute and disperse seemed to
remove the waste from the environment

• As industrial and urban areas expanded, the concept of dilute and

disperse became inadequate

• “Concentrate and contain”- a new concept on managing materials

and eliminating waste; but not always achieved
 Modern Trends
• Environmentally preferable concept is to consider wastes as
resources out of place

• Economically feasible to reuse and recycle more resources

• Waste, if produced, would be a resource to be used again

– This is referred to as the “Zero waste” movement

• Waste from one part of the system would be a resource for another
part

• In developing countries, waste management programs involve

simply moving waste from one site to another and not really
managing it; this is a problem
 “Zero waste”
“The environmentally correct concept with respect to waste management
is to consider wastes as resources.

Although we may not soon be able to reuse and recycle all waste, it seems
apparent that the increasing cost of raw materials, energy, transportation,
and land will make it financially feasible to reuse and recycle more
resources and products.

Moving toward this objective is moving toward an environmental view

that there is no such thing as waste. Under this concept, waste would not
exist because it would not be produced—or, if produced, would be a
resource to be used again. This is referred to as the “zero waste”
movement”.

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[Botkin and Keller 2011]
 Industrial Ecology
“Zero waste is the essence of what is
known as industrial ecology, the
study of relationships among industrial
systems and their links to natural
systems.

Under the principles of industrial

ecology, our industrial society would
function much as a natural ecosystem
functions. Waste from one part of the
system would be a resource for
another part”

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[Botkin and Keller 2011]
 Integrated Waste Management
“Integrated waste management (IWM) can be defined
as the selection and application of suitable techniques,
technologies, and management programs to achieve
specific waste management objectives and goals”.
[Tchobanoglous and Kreith, 2002]

“The dominant concept today in managing waste is

known as IWM, which is best defined as a set of
management alternatives that includes reuse, source
reduction, recycling, composting, landfill, and
[Botkin and Keller 2011]
incineration”
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 Waste Hierarchy

*As a minimum, waste should be disposed at a “controlled dump,” which includes site
selection, controlled access, and where practical, compaction of waste. Incineration
requires a complimentary sanitary landfill, as bottom ash, non-combustibles and by-
passed waste needs to be landfilled.
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[World Bank 2012]
 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)

Reduce: consume less and live a simpler lifestyle.

Reuse: rely more on items that we can use repeatedly
instead of on throwaway items, and buy necessary items
secondhand or borrow or rent them.
Recycle: separate and recycle paper, glass, cans,
plastics, metal, and other items, and buy products made
from recycled materials.

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[Miller and Spoolman, 2012]
 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
The ultimate objective of the 3Rs of IWM is to
reduce the amount of urban and other waste that
must be disposed of in landfills, incinerators, and
other waste management facilities.

A 50% reduction by weight could be achieved

by
(1) source reduction, such as packaging better designed
to reduce waste (10% reduction);
(2) large-scale composting programs (10% reduction);
(3) recycling programs (30% reduction)

32 Dr. Sujauddin
[Botkin and Keller 2011]
 HW

Composting
“Composting is a form of recycling that mimics nature’s
recycling of nutrients—one of the three principles of
sustainability”.
It involves using decomposer
bacteria to recycle yard
trimmings, vegetable food scraps,
and other biodegradable organic
wastes. The resulting organic
material can be added to soil to
supply plant nutrients, slow soil
erosion, retain
water, and improve crop yields.
Findings from Sujauddin et al (2008): Waste Composition

33 Dr. Sujauddin http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/?NID=3730

 Incineration
Incineration burns combustible waste at temperatures
high enough (900°–1,000°C, or 1,650°–1,830°F) to
consume all combustible material, leaving only ash and
noncombustibles to dispose of in a landfill.

Under ideal conditions, incineration may reduce the

volume of waste by 75–95%.

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[Botkin and Keller 2011]
 Incineration

A modern waste-to-energy incinerator with pollution

controls burns mixed solid wastes and recovers some of
the energy to produce steam to use for heating or
producing electricity. Great Britain burns about 90% of
its MSW in incinerators and Denmark burns about 54%,
compared to 13% in the United States and 8% in Canada.
To be economically feasible, incinerators must be fed
huge volumes of trash every day. This encourages trash
production and discourages reuse, recycling, and waste
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reduction. Dr. Sujauddin
[Miller and Spoolman, 2012]
 Incineration

36 Dr. Sujauddin
[Miller and Spoolman, 2012]
 Sanitary Landfills
A sanitary landfill (also called a municipal solid-waste landfill) is
designed to concentrate and contain refuse without creating a
nuisance or hazard to public health or safety.

The idea is to confine the waste to the smallest practical area,

reduce it to the smallest practical volume, and cover it with a layer of
compacted soil at the end of each day of operation, or more
frequently if necessary.

Covering the waste is what makes the landfill sanitary. The

compacted layer restricts (but does not eliminate) continued access
to the waste by insects, rodents, and other animals, such as seagulls.
It also isolates the refuse, minimizing the amount of surface water
seeping into it and the amount of gas escaping from it.

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[Botkin and Keller 2011]
 Sanitary Landfills
Leachate - noxious, mineralized liquid
capable of transporting bacterial
pollutants [Botkin and Keller
2011]

38 Dr. Sujauddin
[Miller and Spoolman, 2012]
 Sanitary Landfills

39 Dr. Sujauddin
[Miller and Spoolman, 2012]
 Actions you can take to reduce the waste
you generate

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 Integrated waste management
• The major concept of IWM is 3Rs:
– Reuse
– Reduce
– Recycling
• At least 50% reduction of solid waste can be
achieved through
– Better design of packaging to reduce waste (10% source
reduction).
– Establishment of recycling programs (30% reduction), and
– Large-scale composting programs (10% reduction).
 Waste Management Plan
• Defined as a set of management alternatives which combine different
strategies to properly reduce and/or dispose off waste

The steps of Integrated Waste Management are:

• Sorting
• Storage
• Collection of Waste
• Disposal of Solid Waste

• Solid disposal processes include:

– Composting
– Incineration
– Open Dump
– Landfill
Interested students are requested to read

Generation-Collection-Composition-
Disposal
[ from World Bank report]
Page 08-16

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/
Resources/336387-
1334852610766/What_a_Waste2012_Final.pdf

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