2.17. Urban Waste Management

Question 1

What is the unregulated waste management strategy?

Answer 1

Not controlled or supervised by regulation of law

Question 2

Negative environmental impacts of unregulated waste

Answer 2

• Solid waste that’s not properly disposed of can be a breeding ground which can pass on air and water borne diseases
• Areas where waste isn’t collected can cause the incidence of diarrhoea to be 2x as high and acute respiratory infections 6x higher
• Contamination of groundwater and surface water by leachates
• Air pollution from burning waste

Question 3

What is reduction (incineration)?

Answer 3

When materials are burned to reduce the volume of disposed waste

Question 4

Positive environmental impacts of incineration

Answer 4

+ Incineration can reduce volume of disposed waste by up to 90%

+ General waste can be safely burned at high temps under carefully controlled conditions to produce electricity and heat

Question 5

Negative environmental impacts of incineration

Answer 5

• Incineration without energy recovery is costly and polluting
• Open burning of waste causes severe air pollution

Question 6

What is burial (landfill)?

Answer 6

The placement of waste in man made or natural excavations such as pits or landfills -> landfill sites are a common final disposal site for waste from urban areas

Question 7

Positive environmental impacts of burial

Answer 7

+ HICs have stricter regulations and types of material that can be sent to landfill are often defined by law

+ In the UK, most landfill sites control and collect gas that is released by decomposing waste

Question 8

Negative environmental impacts of burial

Answer 8

• Methane is produced by rotting organic matter and other chemicals like bleach and ammonia
• Dust and other forms of non-chemical contaminants can make their way into the atmosphere
• Landfill can affect groundwater and river quality due to leachates
• In LICs there may be a hole in the ground where open dumping occurs

Question 9

What is recycling/recovery?

Answer 9

The select extraction of disposed materials for a specific next use, such as recycling, composting or energy generation.
Recycling is carried out when materials from which the new items are made can be reprocessed into new products

Question 10

Positive environmental impacts of recycling:

Answer 10

+ Manufacturing new products using recycled products can save significant energy -> e.g. producing aluminium requires 95% less energy than producing it from virgin materials

+ By collecting and salvaging valuable components to be reused and recycled, there is a greater chance of reducing landfill waste

+ Reduced quantities of disposed waste and return of materials to the economy

Question 11

Negative environmental impacts of recycling:

Answer 11

• Energy may be required for the operation of material recovery from waste, leading to greenhouse gas emissions
• Greenhouse gas emissions from processing materials for sale or reuse can be relatively high if improperly burned

Question 12

What is trade waste?

Answer 12

Waste may be moved between and within countries.
The global waste trade is the international trade of waste between countries for further treatment, disposal or recycling.
Toxic or hazardous wastes are often exported from HICs to LICs.

Question 13

Negative environmental impacts of trade:

Answer 13

• LICs often don’t have access to recycling processes or facilities
• Hazardous wastes are not properly disposed of/treated
• Illegal movement of waste

Question 14

Where is Manila located?

Answer 14

Manila is located on the island of Luzon on the eastern shore of Manila Bay

Question 15

How much of Manila’s waste is recycled or composted?

Answer 15

It’s estimated only 10% is recycled or composted, leaving 1000s of tonnes of MSW generated daily to be disposed of

Question 16

What is Manila doing with the waste?

Answer 16

Pastas is the largest of Manila’s landfill sites -> six mountains of rubbish tens of metres high covering 200 metres

Question 17

Who is involved in waste management in Manila?

Answer 17

People living in the settlements- more than 80,000 slum dwellers live around Payatas

Question 18

What are people’s views on waste management in Manila?

Answer 18

It’s their livelihood and the way they make their money

Question 19

What are people’s views on waste management in Manila?

Answer 19

It’s their livelihood and the way they make their money

Question 20

Negatives of the waste management in Manila

Answer 20

• Lives are blighted by the stench
• Drinking water contaminated with heavy metals, lubricants and solvents
• Over 4000 waste pickers face severe health problems including typhoid, hepatitis, cholera and other infectious diseases

Question 21

Positives of the waste management in Manila

Answer 21

Making money

Question 22

Background info of Amsterdam

Answer 22

• Cultural capital of the Netherlands
• A densely populated low-lying country which has a growing population and diminishing amount of spare land
• Located in the Western Netherlands
• Capital City

Question 23

What is the Dutch approach of waste management?

Answer 23

To avoid creating waste in the first place, recover the valuable raw materials from it, generate energy by incinerating residual waste, and only then dump what’s left, but do so in an environmentally acceptable way

Question 24

What is the Dutch approach of waste management?

Answer 24

To avoid creating waste in the first place, recover the valuable raw materials from it, generate energy by incinerating residual waste, and only then dump what’s left, but do so in an environmentally acceptable way

Question 25

When was the Dutch approach incorporated into legislation?

Answer 25

1994

Question 26

Why has the waste management strategy been put in place in Amsterdam?

Answer 26

• Population is increasing
• There is a growing awareness of waste

Question 27

Who is involved in the waste management in Amsterdam?

Answer 27

Companies
Government
Population as a whole

Question 28

What is the landfill strategy in Amsterdam?

Answer 28

• Increased level of material consumption, lack of space and deterioration of land forced government to take action early on to reduce landfill
• In 1995, the government introduced a landfill tax on every tonne of material landfilled. This gave waste processing companies the financial incentive to look for other methods such as recycling or incineration
• Landfill tax increased every year until 2012 when it was repeated
• A landfill ban covering 35 waste categories was introduced in 1995

+ The amount of waste sent to landfill decreased in late 1990s to 2000s. By 2006, the country has already the reached the targets of the Landfill Directive set for 2016.

Question 29

What is the incineration strategy in Amsterdam?

Answer 29

• The Afval Energie Bedriff
• Strategy referred to as waste energy Amsterdam has created AEB capable of producing MWh of electric8th annually. Beyond the energy factor, the plant is also being use to create heating for several communities around Amsterdam 300,000 gigajoules of heat annually

Question 30

Positives of incineration in Amsterdam

Answer 30

+ Annually 1.4 million tonnes of waste is brought to WZE plant

+ 64% of waste that ends up in plant is recycled

+ AEB plant have installed a complex process of scrubbing flue gases; attempts are being made to close the loop for other by products so material can be used in other industrial processes
- However, whatever is being used becomes landfill

+ Next to W2E plant is the Waternet water treatment plant which work together -> incineration plant supplies energy + heat for water treatment + water treatment plant injects its sludge and biogas into incineration plant as an additional fuel source

+ Avoids 438kg of Co2 per year

Question 31

What is the conclusion of the Amsterdam waste management strategy?

Answer 31

• Waste to energy strategy = economically and environmentally better than landfill but is still controversial
• 2014 -> Dutch government set the target to reduce waste to incineration by 50% and focus on improving rates of reduction and recycling -> waste reduction is the ultimate goal