Handbook of Solid Waste Management: Sustainability through Circular Economy 981164229X, 9789811642296
The issue and finding the green solution of Solid Waste Management are important challenges throughout the world. This b
615 78 54MB
English Pages 2334 [2335] Year 2022
Preface
Contents
About the Editors
Contributors
Part I: Solid Waste Management, Municipal Solid Waste Management, and Food Waste Management
1 Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries: Towards a Circular Economy
Introduction
Potential of MSW to Contribute Circular Economy: a Literature Review
Waste to energy
Produce Bioenergy and Value-Added Products
The Situation of MSW Management in South Asia
Institutional Arrangement for Waste Management in South Asia
Generation and Composition of MSW
Waste Generation and Composition in Bangladesh
Waste Generation and Composition India
Other South Asian Countries
Waste Collection
Disposal and Treatment of MSW
The Management of Waste Using WtE Technologies and Circular Economy
WtE Technology and Its Potentials for Circular Economy: Case Studies
Case Study-1: Waste-to-Energy in Italy
Institutional Arrangement and Management of MSW
The WtE Technologies
Case Study-2: Waste to Energy in United Kingdom
Arrangement and MSW Management
Contribution of WtE to Circular Economy
Case Study-3: Estonia
MSW Management and Organization: Estonia
WtE Technologies
Discussions
The Way Forward
Improving Institutional Arrangement
Improving to Current Waste Management Practice
Selection of WtE Technology
Raising Public Awareness
Minimizing Environmental and Social Impacts
Conclusion
Annexure-A
References
2 Research Trends of the Management of Solid Waste in the Context of Circular Economy
Introduction
Solid Waste and Circular Economy
Methodology
Results
Evolution of Scientific Production
Analysis of Scientific Production by Subject Area
Most Relevant Journals from 1993 to 2019
The Most Prolific Authors from 1993 to 2019
Identification of the Most Relevant Institutions
Characteristics of the Most Relevant Countries in the Research
Analysis of the Keywords Used During 1993-2019
Conclusion
References
3 Pretreatments of Solid Wastes for Anaerobic Digestion and Its Importance for the Circular Economy
Introduction
Solid Wastes for Anaerobic Digestion
Organic Solid Waste
Municipal Solid Waste
Industrial Solid Waste
Livestock Manure
Lignocellulosic Biomass
Agro-industrial Solid Waste
Forestry Solid Waste
Production of Biogas by Anaerobic Fermentation
Production of Biohydrogen by Dark Fermentation
Production of Biogas and Biohydrogen from Solid Wastes
Pretreatments of Solid Wastes
Hydrogen Production by Biomethane Reform
Steam Reforming
Partial Oxidation
The Role of the Anaerobic Digestion of Solid Wastes in the Circular Economy
Conclusion
References
4 Understanding Circular Economy in Solid Waste Management
Introduction
Types of Economy
Circular Economy
Linear Economy
Principles of Circular Economy
Preservation and Strengthening of Natural Capital (Reduce)
Resource Yields Optimization (Reuse)
Negative External Factors Identification (Recycle)
Characteristics of Circular Economy
Designed Out of Waste
Diversity as Strength
Renewable Energy Sources
Systematic Thinking
Transparency in Real Expenses
Circular Economy as a Development Strategy
Development of the Circular Economy
Entrepreneurship and CE
Current Practices of Circular Economy
The Case of China as a Single and Major CE Implementer
Other Practiced Cases
Assessment of Circular Economy Practices
Challenges and Barriers to Implementation of a Circular Economy
From a General Perspective
From an Entrepreneurial Perspective
From an Innovation Perspective
As a Part of Entrepreneurial Strategy
As an Innovative National Level Development Strategy
General Policy Recommendations
Conclusion
References
5 Greenways for Solid Waste Management
Introduction
Global Scenario of Solid Waste Statistics
Projected Waste Generation
Different Categories of Solid Waste
General Principles for Solid Waste Management
Waste Hierarchy
Life Cycle of a Waste Product
Resource Efficiency
Polluter Pays Principle
Key Method for Solid Waste Management
Handling and Separation
Collection
Transportation
Processing and Transformation of Solid Waste
Disposable
Effects of Poor Solid Waste Management
Litter Surroundings
Hazardous Impact on Human Health
Pests and Disease
Environmental Problems
Soil and Groundwater Pollution
Emission of Toxic Gases
Impact on Land and Aquatic Animals
Green Technology: A Novel Approach for Solid Waste Management
Concepts
Why Green Methods Are Required
Best Practices Within Green Technology
Recycling
Recycling Is a Good Option for Electronic Waste Management
Recycling of Electronic Waste Consists of the Following Two Steps
Feedback to Market
Green Concrete: A Recyclable Product of Solid Waste
Bioremediation
In Situ Bioremediation Are of Two Types
Bioventing
Biosparging
Ex Situ Bioremediation
Biopiling
Land Forming
Composting
Mechanical Sorting
Biological Processing
Some Bioremediation Process Is Involved in Special Solid Waste
Bioremediation of Heavy Metals
Bioremediation of Xenobiotic Compounds
Bioremediation of Agricultural Waste: Vermiremediation
Bioremediation of Plastic and Rubber
Phytoremediation
Microbial-Assisted Phytoremediation System
Greening on Dumping Site
Landfill Capping (Clay and Photocopying)
Genetic Engineering Technique in Bioremediation
Genetically Engineered Fungi for Mycoremediation
Transgenic Plants for Remediation of Heavy Metals and Pollutants
Role of Nanotechnology in Solid Waste Management: Nanobioremediation
Source Reduction Technique
Green and Renewable Energy
Waste Treatment and Recycling Using Nanotechnology
Green Manufacturing
Green Conversion of Solid Wastes (Waste to Energy)
Policies Responsibilities and Public Awareness to Support the Greenways for Solid Waste Management
Future Research
Conclusion
References
6 Waste Management in the Changing Climate
Introduction
Climate Change Impact to Waste Management
Disasters Impact from Climate Change
Waste Situation Under the Flooding Risk
Flood Waste Management
Challenges in Waste Management Under Flooding
Flood Waste Management in Different Phases
Flood Waste Mitigation and Adaptation Plan
Impact Evaluation to Mitigation and Adaptation Plan
Identifying Appropriate Alternative for Mitigation and Adaptation Measure
Lesson Learned from Bangkok Major Flood 2011
Guideline for Developing an Action Plan
Conclusion
References
7 Future Perspective of Solid Waste Management Strategy in India
Introduction
Solid Waste Generation Status
Categories of Solid Wastes
Industrial Wastes
Agricultural Wastes
Municipal Solid Wastes
Radioactive Solid Waste
Biomedical Waste
E-Waste
Composition of Solid Waste
Evolution of Solid Waste Management Policy and Programs
Solid Waste Management
Basic Principles of Solid Waste Management
Integrated Solid Waste Management
Hierarchy of Waste Management Options
Waste Minimization/Reduction at Source
Recycling and Recovery
Waste Processing with Recovery of Useful Products and Energy
Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT)
Thermal Treatment (TT)
Waste Disposal
Factors Governing Choice of Technology
Green Technology
Need of Green Technology
Goals of Green Technology
Categories of Green Technology
Applications of Green Technology in SWM
Future of Green Technology
Waste Valorization
Impacts of Improper Solid Waste Management
Gaps for Sustainable Solid Waste Management
Conclusion
References
8 Assessment of Quality of Compost Derived from Municipal Solid Waste
Introduction
Composting
Materials for Composting
Microbiology of Composting Wastes
Variables Controlling Compost
Types of Composting
Quality of Compost
Classification of Compost
Case Study
Conclusion
References
Internet Resources
9 Current Waste Management Status and Trends in Russian Federation: Case Study on Industrial Symbiosis
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
Current Status and Trends of Waste Management in Russia
Background of CE in Russia
Case Study on Eco-industrial Park in Novokuznetsk District
Circular Economy Benefits
Conclusion
References
10 A Transition Toward a Circular Economy: Insights from Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste
Introduction
Brazilian Waste Solid Waste Management
Brazilian Socioeconomic Context Faced with the Worldwide Solid Waste Generation
Solid Waste Classification According to the National Policy on Solid Waste
The Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective
Waste Hierarchy
Reverse Logistics
Shared Responsibility
Barriers for the Adoption of an Efficient Solid Waste Management in Brazil from the CE Perspective
SWOT Analysis: Brazil´s National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective
Strengths
Opportunities
Weakness
Threats
Conclusions
References
11 Analysis of the Implantation of a System for the Sustainable Management of Solid Urban Waste in Brazil
Introduction
Systems for the Management of Recyclable Urban Solid Waste
Description of the Londrina Case
Constitution and Composition of the Portfolio of Products from Selective Collection
Critical Successful Factors for the Effectuation of Management Programs for Solid Waste with the Participation of Collectors
Synthesis of the Program´s Main Results
Conclusion
References
12 Thermal Utilization of Municipal Solid Waste in the Central Region of Mexico
Introduction
Circular Economy
Coprocessing
Results
Conclusion
References
13 Developing ``Zero Waste Model´´ for Solid Waste Management to Shift the Paradigm Toward Sustainability
Introduction
Background
Solid Waste: Composition, Sources, and Types
Current Practices of Solid Waste Management and Its Consequences
Current Treatment Strategies
Open Dumping
Open Burning
Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan
Minimum Waste Generation
On-Site Storage
Waste Collection
Relocation and Transportation
Processing and Recovery
Disposal
Legal Framework for Solid Waste Management in India
Governance for Solid Waste Management
Solid Waste Management Rule, 2016
Role of Economy in the Solid Waste Management
From Eco-effectiveness to Eco-efficiency
Zero Waste Model: A Visionary Concept
Refuse
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Repot or Compost
Final Disposal
Case Studies
Indore
Thiruvananthapuram
Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur
Conclusion
References
14 Food Waste Management Practice in Malaysia and Its Potential Contribution to the Circular Economy
Introduction
Solid Waste Generation and Management in Malaysia
Current Scenario on Food Waste Management in Malaysia
Landfilling
Composting
Macroorganism-Based Bioconversion
Anaerobic Digestion
Managing Food Waste Transformation Through Circular Economy Framework
Efforts in Managing Food Waste for Sustainable Development
Opportunities and Challenges in Food Waste Management
Conclusion
References
15 Life Cycle Assessment to Support Waste Management Strategies in a Circular Economy Context
Introduction
Circular Economy and Life Cycle Assessment
Eco-Efficiency
Industrial Ecology
Industrial Symbiosis
Reverse Logistics
Zero Waste
LCA and Circular Economy
Life Cycle Assessment and Waste Management
Circular Economy and Waste Management
Perspectives and Topics for Further Research
Case Study
Conclusion
References
16 Circular Economy Approach to Address the Industrial Solid Waste Management
Introduction
Classification of Industrial Waste in the Economy
Opportunities, Challenges, and Trade-Offs of Industrial Waste Recovery and Recycling Processes
Waste Recycling
Composting and Anaerobic Digestion
Energy Recovery
Circular Economy Tools and Framework for Industrial Waste Management
Level(s)
Environmental Technology Verification
Product Environmental Footprint and Organization Environmental Footprint
Ecolabel
Eco-management and Audit Scheme
GPP
Conclusion
Nomenclature
References
17 From Waste to Wealth: Stepping Toward Sustainability Through Circular Economy
Introduction
Solid Waste
Solid Waste Sources and Classification
Factors Influencing the Composition of Solid Waste
Impacts of Unmanaged/Poorly Managed Solid Waste
Solid Waste Management (SWM)
Informal Sector Involved in Waste Management
Health and Safety Risks Associated with Informal Recycling
Economics of Solid Waste Management (SWM)
Role of Circular Economy in Solid Waste Management
Environmental and Economic Benefits of Recycling
Recent Developments and Perspectives of ``From Waste to Wealth´´
Future Perspective and Challenges
Conclusion
References
Part II: Agricultural Solid Waste Management
18 Recovery of Agricultural Waste Biomass: A Sustainability Strategy for Moving Towards a Circular Bioeconomy
Introduction
Agriculture as a Strategic Sector for Economic Growth and Global Development
The Transition from Traditional Intensive Agriculture to a Sustainable Agriculture
Principles and Problems of the Conventional Intensive Agricultural System
New Foundations of Agriculture in the Context of Sustainable Development
Family Farmers as Key Agents in the New Model of Sustainable Development
The Circular Economy and the Bioeconomy as Transformation Strategies Towards a Sustainable Agriculture
The Circular Bioeconomy: An Opportunity for the Recovery and Conservation of Biological Resources in Agriculture
The Bioeconomy: A Priority for the Post-2020 CAP
Agricultural Biomass as the Main Resource in the Bioeconomy
Characterization of the Agricultural Waste Biomass (AWB)
Approaches to the Use of AWB in the Framework of the Bioeconomy
Main Approaches of Some Bioeconomy Strategies on the Use of AWB
Main Alternatives for the Valorization of AWB
The Role of Biotechnology and Bio-Industries in the Sustainable Processing of AWB
The Importance of AWB Recovery in the Bioeconomy Framework
Significant Aspects of the Processes of Recovery of AWB
Conclusions
References
19 Sustainable Management of Agricultural Waste in India
Introduction
Classification of Agricultural Waste
Field Residue
Process Residue
Livestock Waste
Fruit and Vegetable Waste
Composition of Agricultural Waste
Agricultural Waste Management Strategies
Thermochemical Conversion (Incineration, Pyrolysis, and Gasification)
Aerobic Composting and Vermicomposting of Agricultural Waste
Bioethanol Production by Hydrolysis and Fermentation
Biogas Production by Anaerobic Fermentation
Biobutanol Production by ABE Fermentation
Biohydrogen Production by Dark Fermentation
Pretreatment Methods
Physical Pretreatment
Chemical Pretreatment
Physiochemical Pretreatment
Biological Pretreatment
Conclusion
References
20 Solid Waste Management and Policies Toward Sustainable Agriculture
Introduction
Solid Waste and Its Type
What is Waste?
Solid Waste
Types of Solid Waste
Agricultural Waste
Municipal Waste
Industrial Waste
Solid Waste Generation
Disposal of Municipal Solid Waste
3R Principle for Solid Waste Management
Reducing, Recycling, and Reusing of Solid Waste Materials
Sustainable Solution for Solid Waste Management
Zero Emissions Industrial Ecosystems
Developing the Production of Bio-products
Landfill and Open Dumping Sites
Incineration
Agriculture Organic Solid Waste
Valorization of Organic Matter Solid Waste via Composting and Anaerobic Digestion
Composting
Industrial Organic Solid Waste
Municipal/Domestic Food Solid Waste
Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Plant for Biogas Production via Anaerobic Digestion Through Valorization
Policies
Swachh Bharat Mission
Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2000
Conclusion
References
21 Agricultural Solid Waste Management: An Approach to Protect the Environment and Increase Agricultural Productivity
Introduction
Components of Agricultural Solid Waste
Functions of Agricultural Solid Waste Management
Use of Agricultural Solid Waste
Solid State Fermentation (SSF)
Substrate Used for Solid State Fermentation
Utilization of Agro-Wastes Using Solid State Fermentation
Use of Algae in Agricultural Solid Waste Management
Conclusion
References
22 Agricultural Bio-wastes: A Potent Sustainable Adsorbent for Contaminant Removal
Introduction
Types and Structure of Agricultural Waste
Agricultural Waste as Adsorbents
Why Should Agricultural Wastes Be Utilized?
Current Approaches and Methodologies for Modifying Agricultural Wastes
Carbonization, Thermal Treatment, and Activation
Agriculturally Derived Nanostructures and Nanocomposites
Grafting Via Copolymerization
Removal of Inorganic Contaminants
Heavy Metal
Nitrogen and Phosphorus
Removal of Organic Contaminants
Dyes
Drugs
Pesticides
Aromatic Compounds
Oil Substances
Adsorption Mechanisms for Organic Pollutant Removal
Adsorbent Regeneration
Future Perspectives
Conclusion
References
23 Use of Agricultural Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Introduction
Agricultural Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Use as Binder Component
Palm Oil Fuel Ash
Rice Husk Ash
Corn Cob Ash
Bamboo Leaf Ash
Sugarcane Bagasse Ash
Wheat Straw Ash
Use as Aggregate
Palm Kernel Shells
Rice Husks
Coconut Shell
Groundnut Shell
Sawdust
Challenges with the Use of Agricultural Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Conclusion
References
24 Mass Production of Trichoderma from Agricultural Waste and Its Application for Plant Disease Management
Introduction
Benefits of Trichoderma
Disease Control
Plant Growth Promoter
Biochemical Elicitors of Disease
Transgenic Plants
Bioremediation
Biomass Production of Trichoderma on Agricultural Wastes
Cultivation of Trichoderma Using Various Agro-Waste Products
Preparation of Sorghum Seeds and Initial Inoculum of T. harzianum
Cultivation of Trichoderma Using Bagasse
Cultivation of Trichoderma Using Compost
Cultivation of Trichoderma Using Paddy Straw
Method of Application
Seed Treatment
Cutting and Seedling Root Dip
Nursery Treatment
Soil Treatment
Plant Treatment
Furrow Application
Mechanism of Trichoderma in Biological Control
Competition for Nutrients
Mycoparasitism
Antibiosis
Tricho-Remediation
Climate Stress Reliever
Trichoderma: A Tool for Climate Smart Agriculture
Trichoderma: A Potential Biocontrol Agent
Conclusion
References
25 Impact of Agricultural Waste Characterization in Biomass: Solar PV Hybrid Mini-grid Performance
Introduction
The Concept of Hybrid Mini-grid
What Is a Hybrid Mini-grid?
The Importance of Mini-grid Hybridization
Biomass-Solar PV Hybrid Mini-grid (BSPVHM)
Biomass Technologies Commonly Used
System Description
Biodigester
Solar PV Panel
Inverter and Converter
Energy Management System (EMS)
Diesel Generator
Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
Methodology
Results and Discussions
Conclusions and Future Works
References
26 Simultaneous Fermentative Production of Lipase and Bio-polymeric flocculants from Produce (Vegetable) Wastes
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Materials
Chemicals
Measurement of Lipolytic Activity
Statistical Optimization of Experimental Variables
Detection of Lipase-Producing Bacteria
Visual Screening for Lipase Production in Formulated Vegetable Media
Kinetics for Lipase Production
Optimization of Media Components for Lipase Production
Location of Enzyme
Response Surface Methodology
Production of Bacterial Extracellular Polymer
Structural and Functional Characterization
Determination of Flocculating Activity of the Extracellular Polymer
Results and Discussion
Detection of Lipase-Producing Bacteria
Characteristics of the Formulated Vegetable Media
Kinetics for Lipase Production
Effect of Carbon Sources on Lipase Production
Effect of Nitrogen Source on Lipase Production
The Effect of pH on the Lipase Production
Effect of Temperature on Lipase Production
Location of Enzyme
Response Surface Methodology for the Optimization of Parameters
Final Equation in Terms of Coded Equation
Production of Polymeric Flocculant
Flocculating Potential of the Extracellular Polymer
Economics of the Formulated Media
Conclusion
References
27 Paddy Straw-Based Circular Economy for Sustainable Waste Management
Introduction
Harvesting of Paddy Crop
Straw Collection
Postharvest Concept
Total Harvest Concept
Baling Machines for Straw Collection
Paddy Straw: Disposal Problems
Challenge and Options
Effects of Paddy Straw in Soil
Strategies for Residue Management
In Situ Incorporation
Role of Cellulolytic Microbes
Ex Situ Composting
Livestock Feed
Ensiling
Bioconversion of Paddy Straw
Biomethanation
Pretreatment
Co-digestion
Optimized Process
Solid State Anaerobic Digestion
Dry Fermentation
Biochar Production
Hydrochar Production
Electricity Generation
Bioethanol Production
Paper and Pulp Industries
Other Uses of Paddy Straw
Conclusion
References
28 Circular Economy Model for Florists: Need of the Hour
Introduction and Significance of the Study
Scope of the Study
Objectives of the Study
Review of Literature
Methodology
Limitations of the Study
Findings and Analysis
Demographic Variable-Wise Classification of Respondents
Ways to Manage Unsold Flowers
Flowercycling Activities
Opinion of Respondents About Feasibility of Recycling Unsold Flowers
Procedure for Composting Unsold Flowers
Composters
Opinion of Respondents About Composting of Unsold Flowers
Suggestions
Conclusion
References
29 Temple Floral Waste Management in India
Introduction
Generation of Wastes at Various Temples
Existing Practice of Their Disposal
Exploitation of Waste
Strategy for Utilization of Floral Wastes
Utilization of Flowers According to Their Specific Nature
Technologies Available for Conversion of Floral Wastes into Value-Added Products
Essential Oil
Steam Distillation
Solvent Extraction
Carbon Dioxide Extraction Process
Enfleurage
Hot Enfleurage
Technologies Available for Making Animal Feed from Flowers
Technologies Available for Dye Manufacturing
Technologies Available for Preparation of Biocompost
Composting
Phases of Composting
Methods of Composting
Methodology
Vermicomposting
Major Benefits of Vermicomposting Chamber
Advantages of Vermicomposting
Manufacturing of Scented Sticks from Floral Wastes (Help us Green, Kanpur)
Description of Major Flowers Used in the Offerings
Lotus
Composition and Health Benefits
Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)
Composition of Flower
Technologies Used for the Production of Essential oil from Hibiscus
Steam Distillation
Solvent Extraction
Nutritional Value of Hibiscus per 100 gm (Hibiscus Benefits and Its Side Effects/Lybrate)
Rose Flower (Rosa)
Significance
Chemical Composition
Technologies Used for the Production of Rose Essential Oil
Steam Distillation
Solvent Extraction
Carbon Dioxide Extraction
Jasmine Flower
Chemical Characteristics
Preparation of Jasmine Oil
Preparation of Sample
Hydrodistillation
Solvent Extraction
Supercritical Fluid Extraction
Marigold
Chemical Composition
Therapeutic Values
Effective Antioxidant
Antibacterial Properties
Essential Oil from Marigold
Preparation of Extracts for Manufacturing Dyes
Aqueous Extraction Method
Aqueous: Ethanol Extraction Process
Solvent Extraction Method
Preparation of Animal Feed
Methodology
Cosmetic Cream
Fertilizer
Conclusion
References
30 Utility of Fruit-Based Industry Waste
Introduction
Occurrence of Bioactive Compounds in Fruit Wastes and Their Applications
Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Fruit Waste
Different Bioactive Compounds Obtained from Fruit Wastes
Phenolic Compounds
Application of Phenolic Compounds
Dietary Fiber
Application of Dietary Fiber
Enzymes
Organic Acids
Flavor
Other Applications of Fruit Industry Waste
Lipids
Essential Oils
Single-Cell Protein
Animal Feed
Biochar
Production of Different Biofuels
Biogas
Biohydrogen
Bioethanol
Biodiesel
Adsorbent
Identification of Challenges in Fruit Waste Valorization
Conclusion
References
31 Turning Crop Waste into Wealth-Sustainable and Economical Solutions
Introduction
Agriculture Sector in Punjab
Shifts in Cropping Pattern
Crop Residue Generation and Surplus
Status of Crop Residue Burning and Its Economic Impact
Status of Paddy Residue Management in Punjab
Gainful Crop Residue Management Options
Mulching/Retention of Residue on Soil Surface
In situ Incorporation of Crop Residue in the Soil
Collection/Removal of Crop Residue for Off-Farm Uses
Promotion of Short-Duration Rice Varieties for Promoting Better Straw Management
Power Generation
Policy Initiatives Taken Up by the Government for Crop Residue Management
Conclusion
References
32 Sustainable and Economical Approaches in Utilizing Agricultural Solid Waste for Bioethanol Production
Introduction
Issue of Open-Field Burning of ASW as a Major Sustainability Concern
Biofuel Policy in India
Salient Features of NPB-2018
Agricultural Solid Waste as a Potential Feedstock for Bioethanol Production
Process of Bioethanol Production from Agricultural Solid Waste
Pretreatment Technology of Lignocellulosic Biomass
Process Modeling of Pretreatment Methods to Improve Fermentable Sugar Release
Physical Pretreatment
Chemical Pretreatment
Integrated Physicochemical Pretreatment
Inhibitors from Biomass Pretreatment and Their Removal to Improve Ethanol Production
Novel Pressure-Driven Membrane System for the Removal of Inhibitors from Hydrolysate
Biological Pretreatment
The novel Ethanol Fermentation Process for Hydrolyzed Agricultural Solid Waste
Novel Microbial Strains for Ethanol Production
Optimized Process Condition for Improved Ethanol Production
Design and Optimization of Ethanol Production
Sustainable Framework and Process Economics of Bioethanol Production
Sustainability Principles for Biofuel Production
Sustainability Index of the Process
Lifecycle Assessment as a Sustainability Index Tool of Bioethanol Production
Future Prospects
Conclusion
References
33 A Community-Driven Household Waste Management System in the Tea Plantation Sector: Experiences from Sri Lanka Toward a Circ...
Introduction
Importance of the Waste Management System in the Plantation Sector in Sri Lanka
Challenges in the Traditional Waste Management Systems in the Plantation Sector
Project Overview
New Approach to Manage Suburban and Rural Domestic Waste
Key Features and Principles of the Novel Waste Management Program
Reusing and Circulation of Plastic Materials Within the System
Main Stakeholders of the Project
Project Implementation
Channel 1: Through Child Development Centre Parent Committees (CDCPCs)
Channel 2: Via Local Schools
Project Benefits
Project´s Challenges and Way Forward
Challenges
Remedial Actions Pursued
Lessons Learned
Conclusion
References
34 Sludge Waste Management Techniques and Challenges in Water Resources Supply
Introduction
Sludge Management Practice in Several Countries
Sludge Disposal Options in Water and Wastewater Treatment System
Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater Treatment Sludge
Dewatering of Wastewater Treatment Sludge
Thermal Process of Wastewater Treatment Sludge
Incineration
Gasification
Pyrolysis
Land-Based Applications
Reuse of Water Treatment Sludge as Construction Materials
Reuse of Water Treatment Sludge in Pollutant Removal
Challenges of Water and Wastewater Treatment Sludge Management Options
Conclusion
References
35 Optimal Management of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate Using Mathematical Modeling: A Case Study in Valencia
Introduction
Leachate Production in Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
Leachate Composition
Leachate Generation
Leachate Flow Through the Landfill
Hydraulic Conductivity
Field Capacity
Modeling Leachate Production in Landfills
Models Based on the Water Balance Equation
Models Based on the Flow Equation
BIOLEACH Model
Calculation of Leachate Production in BIOLEACH. Water Balance Equation Formulation
Leachate Recirculation
Criterion 1: Biogas Production Criterion
Criterion 2: Hydrological Criterion
Case Study: MSW Landfill in Valencia Region (Spain)
Available Data
Results
Scenario 1: Landfill Management Using Classical Techniques Without Leachate Recirculation
Scenario 2: Landfill Management Considering the Possibility of Recirculating Leachate to the Landfill Surface
Scenario 3: Landfill Management as a Bioreactor, Considering the Possibility of Recirculating Leachate Both into the Waste Mas...
Discussion
Conclusion
References
36 Contribution of a Well-Managed Landfill to Sustainable Development
Introduction
Landfill Operations in Relation to the Sustainable Development Goals
Waste Compositions and Disposal in Landfills
Waste Management Policies as Applicable to Landfilling in Different Countries
Overview of a Sustainable Landfill Design
Placing Sustainable Landfills Within the Circular Economy
Conclusion
References
37 Phytoremediation: A Cost-Effective Tool for Solid Waste Management
Introduction
Heavy Metal Pollution
Effects of Heavy Metal Contamination
Traditional Remediation of Contaminated Soil
Hyperaccumulators
Criteria to Select Plants for Phytoremediation
Metal Hyperaccumulators Plants
Phytoremediation
Phytoextraction of Metals
Mechanism of Phytoextraction
Examples of Phytoextraction
Continuous Phytoextraction
Induced Phytoextraction
Rhizofiltration
Advantages
Disadvantages
Phytostabilization
Advantages
Disadvantages
Phytovolatilization
Phytodegradation
Advantages
Disadvantages
Phytostimulation or Rhizodegradation
Advantages
Disadvantages
Phytoremediation of Pesticide-Contaminated Soil
Water Hyacinth as Phytoremediation Plant
Hydraulic Control
Phytoscreening
Benefits
Limitations
Forensic Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation Through Genetically Engineered Plants
Phytoremediation of Arsenic-Contaminated Soil
Role of Plant-Associated Microbes in Heavy Metal Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation of Polluted Water by Trees
Buffer Strips/Riparian Corridors
Advantages
Disadvantages
Role of Genetics
Limits of Phytoremediation at Hazardous Waste Sites
Root System
Growth Rate
Contaminant Concentration
Impacts of Contaminated Vegetation
Conclusion
References
38 Bioremediation of Solid Waste Management
Introduction
Environmental Issues of Solid Waste
Concept of Bioremediation and Current Technologies
Current Technologies: Kinds of Bioremediation
Types of Bioremediation
Bioventing
Enhanced Bioremediation
Phytoremediation
Mycoremediation
Biopiles or Windrows
Composting
Land Farming
Slurry-Phase Biological Treatment
Comparison of Technologies
Methodology for the Implementation of Bioremediation Technology
Feasibility Assessment
Data Requirements
Physical Properties
Chemical Composition
Maximum Allowable Concentrations
Regulatory Requirements
Treatable Contaminants
Treatability Studies
Bench Testing
Pilot Trial
Finalizing Style
Anaerobic Bioremediation
Validation
In Situ Bioremediation
Ex Situ Bioremediation
Health and Safety
Phytoremediation Method
Applicability
Contaminants
Site Conditions
Processes of Phytoremediation
Types of Phytoremediation
Harvesting/Disposal of Plant Material
Implementation
Groundwater Remediation Methods
Rhizofiltration
Phytotransformation
Plant-Assisted Bioremediation
Soil Remediation Methods
Phytoextraction
Phytostabilization
Plant-Assisted Bioremediation
Phytoremediation Technology Performance
General
Cost Information
Phytoremediation Technology Advantages
Phytoremediation Technology Limitations
Precautions for Implantation of Bioremediation Technology
Underground Water Remediation
Sewage Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment
Rainwater Treatment
Soil Remediation
Indoor Air Purification and Atmospheric Pollution Remediation
Merits and Demerits of Bioremedition Technology
Merits of Bioremediation
This Practice Is Highly Lucrative
Keeps the Environment Clean and Fresh
Saves the Earth and Conserves Energy
Reduces Environmental Pollution
Waste Management Will Help you Earn Money
Creates Employment
Demerits of Waste Management
The Process Is Not Always Cost-Effective
The Resultant Product Has a Short Life
The Sites Are Often Dangerous
The Practices Are Not Done Uniformly
Waste Management Can Cause More Problems
Conclusion
Recommendations
References
39 Bioremediation of Oil-Contaminated Effluent Pits and Soil Plot for Pollution Control and Environment Protection
Introduction
Bioremediation Technology
Technology Development Stages
Crude Oil
Characterization of Oily Waste
Bioremediation Approaches
Bioremediation Treatment Technologies
Land Farming
Composting
Slurry Bioremediation
Phytoremediation
Historical Perspective
Need for Bioremediation
Major Contributors of Oil Spillage in Oil Industry
The Drilling Process
Oil Spillage from Drilling Operations
Production Process
Principle of Bioremediation
Bioremediation Strategies
The Biological and Chemical Processes of Bioremediation
Biological Process
Chemical Process
Environmental Requirements
Factors Affecting Rates of Microbial Degradation of Hydrocarbons
Chemical Composition of Petroleum
Concentration of the Petroleum Hydrocarbons
Adaptation
Phytoremediation
Bioremediation by INBIGS
Materials and Methods
Field Application of Bioremediation in Effluent Pits
Determination of Oil Content
Case Studies of Bioremediation by INBIGS
Field Implementation of Bioremediation
Photographs of some Bioremediated Pits
Conclusion
References
40 Bioremediation: Harnessing Natural Forces for Solid Waste Management
Introduction
Concept of Waste
The Exigency to Harness Natural Forces
Bioremediation
Principle of Bioremediation
Factors Affecting Bioremediation
Organisms (Biological Agents)
Bioremediation Strategies
Bioattenuation
Classification of Bioremediation Based on the Type of Natural Agent Involved
Microbial Bioremediation
Mycoremediation
Phycoremediation
Phytoremediation
Enzymatic Bioremediation
Oxidoreductases
Hydrolases
Bioremediation Techniques for Waste Management
Landfarming
Biocomposting
Bioleaching
Bioreactors
Bioventing
Applications of Bioremediation
Limitations of Bioremediation
Synthetic Biology: An Emerging Ingenious Technology in Escalating Bioremediation Efficacy
Bioremediation Comprehending a Circular Economy Perspective
Conclusion
References
Part III: Plastic Waste Management, Rubber Waste Management, Textile Waste Management, and E-Waste Management
41 Utilization of Plastic Wastes and Its Technologies: An Overview
Introduction
Global Scenario of Plastic Waste
Plastic Waste Generation: Indian Scenario
Plastic Waste Management: Current Scenario
Landfilling of Waste Plastics
Recycling of Plastic Wastes
Mechanical Recycling
Chemical Recycling
Plastic Waste Management: Modern Approaches
Plasma-Assisted Pyrolysis
Feeder Section
Plasma Torch and Power Supply
Scrubber
Induced Draft Fan and Chimney
Pyrolyzer/Reactor
Biodegradable Plastics
Other Technologies
Recent Approaches in India
Waste Plastic to Fuels (Pyrolysis)
Plasma Pyrolysis Technology
Polymer-Blended Bitumen
Co-processing of Plastic
Toward Circular Economy Through Green Chemistry
Conclusion and Moving Forward
References
42 Integrated Strategy of Plastic Waste Management to Green Environmental Sustainability and Health Care
Introduction
Universal Consequence of Left-over Plastics
Plastic Manufacture, Ingesting, and Waste Generation: Worldwide Consequence
Plastic Manufacture, Ingesting, and Waste Generation: Indian Consequence
Reducing the Consumption of Plastic
Edification and Consciousness
Refining the Discarding of Waste
Removal and Assortment of Waste
Processing and Sustainability
Avoiding Littering
Waste Management Strategies
Energy Recovery from Plastics Waste
Ecological Pollutant Strategies
Management of Plastic Left-over
Reuse, Recycling, Ignition, and Landfill
Conclusion
References
43 Recent Innovations in Chemical Recycling of Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste: A Circular Economy Approach Toward Sustainabi...
Introduction
Introduction of PET
Introduction of Circular Economy
Physical Properties of PET
Synthesis of PET
Esterification Reaction
Transesterification Reaction
Applications of PET
Recycling of Post-Consumer PET: Circular Economy Concerns
Primary/Re-extrusion
Secondary/Mechanical Recycling
Tertiary/Feedstock/Chemical Recycling
Hydrolysis
Methanolysis
Glycolysis
Quaternary Recycling/Energy Recovery
Glycolytic Depolymerization of PET
Catalyzed Glycolysis
Metal Salt
High Surface Area Catalysts: Nanocomposite-Based Catalysts
Recyclable Catalyst: Ionic Liquid
Subcritical and Supercritical Glycolysis
Microwave-Assisted Glycolysis
Enzymatic Glycolysis
PET Recycling, Circular Economy, and Sustainability
Conclusion
References
44 Stakeholders Perception of Used Plastics
Introduction
Plastic Waste and Its Challenges
Solid Waste Situation in Nepal
Solid Waste Management in Nepal
Municipal Solid Waste Management in Nepal (SWM)
The Problem
Theoretical Framework: Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM)
Method and Data
ISWM in Nepalese Municipality
Stakeholders´ View
Plastic Waste and Its SWM
Management and Cost Responsibilities of SWM
The Solution to Plastic Waste Management
Recover Material from Solid Waste
Sustainable Financing
Environmental and Social Benefits
Complementing Strategies for the ISWM in Nepal
Household Behavioral Change
Scaling up the Recovery Rate and Collection Efficiency
Tax and Charges on Plastic Goods
Landfill Management
Conclusion
References
45 Biopolymer-Based Liners for Waste Containment Facilities: A Review
Introduction
Biopolymers
Hydraulic Conductivity of Biopolymer-Treated Soils
Strength of Biopolymer-Treated Soils
Durability
Sustainable Development and Circular Economy
Conclusion
References
46 Solid Waste Management in Textile Industry
Introduction
Classification of Textile Fiber
Natural Fiber
Regenerated Fiber
Synthetic Fiber
Environmental Impact of Fibers
Cotton and Wool
Rayon and Tencel
Nylon and Polyester
Classification of Textile Waste
Pre-consumer Waste
Post-consumer Textile Waste
Soft and Hard Waste
Causes of Textile Waste Generation
Industrialization
Modern Lifestyle
Rapid Change in Fashion
Easy and Cheap Availability of Textiles
Lack of Consumer Awareness About Environment Friendliness
Lack of Strict Government Policies
Lack of Classic Designs
Low Popularity of Secondhand Clothing
Lack of Systematic Pipeline of Textile Recycling
Major Textile Waste-Generating Activities
Necessity of Textile Waste Management
Principles of Textile Waste Management
Rethink
Reduce
Reuse/Upcycle
Recycle
Reintroduce
Upcycling and Recycling of Textile Waste
Traditional Textile Upcycling and Recycling Processes
Textile Waste Upcycling and Recycling Processes at Household Level
Textile Waste Upcycling and Recycling Processes at Crafts Sector
People of Wagdi Community
People of Kathiyawad Community
Traders of Secondhand Clothing (SHC)
Real Fabric Zari (Gold and Silver Work) Extractors
Fabric Scrap Collectors
Secondhand Clothes (SHC) Retailers
Modern Textile Waste Upcycling and Recycling Processes
Mechanical Recycling
Chemical Recycling
Bio-recycling
Modern Concepts of Textile Waste Management
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Extended Producers Responsibility
Take-Back Program
Recycling-Based Entrepreneurship
Online Market Place
Circular Textile Program
Benefits of Textile Waste Management
Reduction of Environmental Pollution
Positive Impact on Economy of Country
Clothes for the Poor and Disaster Relief Purpose
Conservation of Natural Resources
Reduction of Pressure on Virgin Materials
Enhancement of Creative Ability
Contribution Towards Business Generation
Employment Regeneration
Global Impact
Social Progress
Constraints for Indian Textile Recycling Industry
Lack of Awareness Among Citizens
Lack of Proper Channel
Neighbor Country Competitions
Lack of New Technologies
Lack of Government Support
Things to Consider for Improving Waste Management Practices
Conclusion
References
47 Turning Plastic Wastes into Textile Products
Introduction
Plastics: From Production to Waste Generation
The Recycling Methods of Plastic Wastes
Textile Industry and Sustainability
Recycling of Plastics in Textile Industry
Closed-Loop and Open-Loop Approaches in Recycling Plastic Wastes in the Textile Industry
Recycled Pet Fiber in Textile Industry
Fast-Fashion Trend in Textile Sector
The Role of Life Cycle Assessment in Circular Economy
Example of a Life Cycle Assessment of rPET
Consumer Attitudes Toward Recycled Textiles
Precursor Brands and Retailers of Textile Industry Supporting the Use of Recycled Plastics
Conclusion
References
48 Sources and Fates of Textile Solid Wastes and Their Sustainable Management
Introduction
Waste Management
Definition
Principle
Waste Management Systems
Waste Management Criteria
Waste Hierarchy
Textile Solid Waste Management
Sources and Common Fates
Sustainable Development in Waste Management
Sustainability in the Context of Textile Solid Waste Management
Current Strategies to Treat the Textile Solid Waste
Case Study: Bangladesh Scenario
Some Promising Methods for Textile Solid Waste Management
Composting
Regeneration of Valuable Products from Textile Solid Waste
Radiation Technology to Decontaminate Textile Sludge
Briquettes from Textile Sludge
Conclusion and Future Perspectives
References
49 Reuse of Textile ETP Sludge into Value-Added Products for Environmental Sustainability
Introduction
Textile Wet Processing Industry
Textile Sludge
Harmful Effects of Textile Sludge
Aquatic Life
Soil
Health Risk
Reuse of Textile Sludge
Bricks
Concrete
Building or Construction Materials
Fertilizers
Biogas
Adsorbent
Defoamer
Conclusion
References
50 Bio-management of Textile Industrial Wastewater Sludge Using Earthworms: A Doable Strategy Toward Sustainable Environment
Introduction
Environmental Pollution Associated with the Textile Industry
Textile Dye Pollution
Solid Waste and Wastewater Sludge Pollution
Disposal of Textile Industrial Sludge Employing Biological Methods
Anaerobic Digestion
Composting Technology
Vermicomposting Technology
Suitable Earthworm Species for Remediation of Textile Industrial Sludge
Earthworm Degradation Process
Potential Earthworm Mechanism for Nutrient Enrichment
Nitrogen (N) Dynamics
Phosphorus (P) Dynamics
Potassium (K) Dynamics
Microelements
Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in the Internal Body of the Earthworms
The Pivotal Role of Vermicompost in Crop Production
Conclusion and Perspectives
References
51 Integrated Biotechnological Interventions in Textile Effluent Treatment
Introduction
Non-biological Processes and Their Drawbacks
Physical Methodologies
Chemical Methodologies
Drawbacks
Biotechnological Processes
Enzymes and Whole Cell Biocatalysts (WCBs)
Microbial Fuel Cells
Nano-biotechnology
Functional Metagenomics
Challenges and Future Perspectives
Conclusion
References
52 Effects of Marine Littering and Sustainable Measures to Reduce Marine Pollution in India
Introduction
Mobility of Plastic from the Economy to the Marine Environment
The Current Situation on Global Marine Littering
Global Mismanaged Plastic
Global Ocean Plastic Source: Land Versus Marine
Marine Littering in India Cause and Effect
Pathways to Marine Littering in India
Plastic Inputs from Indian River Catchments into the Global Marine
Actions to Mitigate Marine Littering in India
Impact of EPR on Recycling
Impact of EPR on Job Creation
Impact of EPR on the Quantity of Waste Collected
Impact of Beach Cleaning
Ocean Cleaning
Awareness Creation
Model Demonstrating the Current and Projected Impact of Several Waste Management Pathways
Importance of Collaborating International and Regional Marine Debris Network in Mitigating Marine Littering
Global Efforts to Support Marine Litter Actions
G20 Action
Network Comparison and Connection Between Regional, National, and Global Marine Debris Network
Conclusion
References
53 Utilization of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Introduction
Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Composition of Tyre Wastes
Processing of Tyre Wastes
Types of Tyre Wastes Used in Cementitious Composites
Properties of Cementitious Composites Incorporating Tyre Wastes
Physical Properties
Workability
Density
Thermal Properties
Acoustic Properties
Mechanical Properties
Compressive Strength and Modulus of Elasticity
Tensile and Flexural Strength
Durability Properties
Permeability
Drying Shrinkage
Resistance to Physical Attacks
Resistance to Chemical Attacks
Interfacial Properties
Benefits of Using Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Major Challenges with the Use of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Prospects for the Use of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites
Conclusion
References
54 Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry
Introduction
Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry
Circular Economy Initiatives in the Concrete Industry
Circular Economy Challenges in the Concrete Industry
Future of Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry
Conclusion
References
55 Experimental Investigation of Physiochemical Properties of Cement Mortar Incorporating Clay Brick Waste Powder: Recyclable ...
Introduction
Literature Review
Pozzolanic Index of CBW
Mechanical Properties of Mortars
Durability Properties of Mortars
Experimental Program
Materials and Mix Proportions
Methodology
Result and Discussion
Particle Size Analysis
Findings
Conclusion
References
56 A Sustainability Approach to Geopolymer Brick Manufacture Using Mine Wastes
Introduction
Siginificance of work
Experimental Program
Experiment and Test Methods
Results and Discussions
Conclusion
References
57 Integrated Electronic Waste Management: Issues and Strategies
Introduction
E-Waste: A Global Issue
Life Cycle of E-Waste
E-Waste Management in India
Existing Legislation for E-Waste in India
E-Waste Management Issues
Impacts of Informal Recycling
E-Waste Disposal Methods in India
E-Waste Management Strategies
Waste Management Strategies in Developing Countries
Waste Management Strategies in Developed Countries
Regulations and Policies for E-Waste
Producer´s Responsibility in E-Waste Management
Reprocessing of E-Waste
Training and Awareness Programs on Electronic Waste Management
Conclusion
References
58 e-Waste Management: A Transition Towards a Circular Economy
Introduction
Global e-Waste Scenario
WEEE Management in Developed and Developing Countries
Case Scenario: India
Strategic Approaches
DEMATEL Method
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Hazardous Materials Found in e-Waste and Their Impact on Health and Environment
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to Develop a Circular Economy
Challenges Associated with e-Waste Recycling
WEEE Characterization
Conclusion
References
59 Management of E-Waste: Technological Challenges and Opportunities
Introduction
What Is e-Waste?
Definition
Categories of e-Waste
Material Composition
Key Statistics
Legislations for e-Waste
Current Practices of e-Waste Management and Its Challenges
Landfill Disposal
Thermal Treatment
Open Burning of e-Waste
Incineration
Gasification
Pyrolysis
Physical/Mechanical Processes
Dismantling and Sorting
Size Reduction
Separation
Challenges in Physical/Mechanical Treatment of e-Waste
Chemical/Metallurgical Processes
Pyrometallurgical Process
Hydrometallurgical Process
Biometallurgy Process
Biosorption
Bioleaching
Advanced e-Waste Management Technologies
Treatment of e-Waste Contaminated Surrounding
Sustainable Opportunities in e-Waste Management
Development of Circular Economy
Urban Mining of e-Waste Has Emerged as Business Opportunity
Opportunities in e-Waste Management for Government
Opportunities in e-Waste Management for Consumer
Conclusion
References
60 Exploring E-waste Management: Strategies and Implications
Introduction
E-waste
Human Toxicity of Hazardous Substances in E-waste
Environmental Aspects
E-waste Implications in Developing Nations
E-waste Management Strategies
E-waste Treatment
Global Initiatives and Implications
Conclusion
References
61 E-Waste Management: Rising Concern on Existing Problems, Modern Perspectives, and Innovative Solutions
Introduction
Urbanization Trend and Waste Generation: Current and Future Scenario of E-waste
Composition of E-waste
Sources of E-waste
Types of E-waste and Its Hazard
Type 1: Major Appliances
Type 2: Small Appliances
Type 3: Computer and Telecommunication Appliances
Type 4: Consumer Electronics
Type 5: Lighting Devices
Type 6: Electrical and Electronic Tools
Type 7: Toys and Leisure
Type 8: Medical Devices
Type 9: Monitoring Devices
Type 10: Vending Machines
E-waste Management
Preview of E-waste: A Global Challenge
Consequences of E-waste on Human Health
Effects of E-waste in Future
E-waste Treatment Technologies
Treatment Stages of E-waste: Comparative Scenario
Environmentally Encyclopedic E-waste Treatment Technologies
First Level Treatment of E-waste
Collection, Decontamination, Dismantling, and Segregation
Secondary Level Treatment
Third Level Treatment
Other Treatment Methods
Environmentally Responsible E-waste Disposal Methods
Importance of Repair, Reuse, and Recycle
BMW´s Gas-To-Energy Project
Silicon Circuit Boards
Boards and Dissolvable Batteries
E-waste: Innovative Solutions
Eco-friendly Laptops
Green Chargers and Solar Power Banks
Wooden Keyboards and Other Materials
Regulations on E-waste
Extended Producer Responsibility (WEEE): Redefining E-waste Management
The Handy Kiosks: Empowering People to Manage E-waste
Innovative Approach on Management of E-waste
NaMo E-waste Processing
Conclusion
References
62 Consumer´s Awareness and Perception Towards E-Waste Management
Introduction
Understanding Past Research Through Literature
Concerns Addressed in This Chapter
Main Issues Focused
Process Adapted to Understand the Issues
Discussion and Analysis
Conceptual Framework
Conclusion
References
63 Recycling and Management of Lithium Battery as Electronic Waste
Introduction
Electronic Waste
Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs)
Recycling of LIBs
Recycling Approaches
Currently Utilized Recycling Procedures
Pretreatment
Battery Sorting
Component Separation and Size Reduction
Removing Current Collector and Binder
Graphite Separation
Hydrometallurgical Method
Sulfate System
Chloride System
Nitrate System
Pyrometallurgical Method
Biometallurgy
Trends and Challenges for Recycling
Economic Evaluation
Challenges of Recycling
Conclusion
References
64 Recycling of Rechargeable Batteries: A Sustainable Tool for Urban Mining
Introduction
Background of Rechargeable Batteries
Environmental Impacts due to Battery Disposal
Recycling Technologies for Waste Batteries
Pyrometallurgical
Hydrometallurgy
Biohydrometallurgy
Conclusions
References
Part IV: Hazardous Waste Management, Bio-waste Management, Waste Water Management, Solid Waste to Energy
65 Hazardous Waste Management, Challenges, and Risks in Handling Laboratory Waste in Universities
Introduction
Background
Current Issues and Management
Literature Review
Scheduled Waste
Definition of Scheduled Waste
Scheduled Waste Characteristics
Scheduled Waste Best Management Practices and Policies
Malaysia
European
Asian
Institutional and Administrative Changes for Privatization
Standard Operating Methods
Packaging and Labeling Scheduled Wastes in Malaysia
Storage Designs for Managing Scheduled Wastes
Organizing Containers Carrying Scheduled Wastes
Materials and Method
Methodology
Sampling Area
Universiti Sains Malaysia´s Scheduled Waste Management System
Data Collection and Analysis
Analysis of Data over a Period of Three Years
Descriptive Literature Research on Evaluation of Scheduled Waste
Results and Discussion
Generation of Scheduled Waste in Study Area
Observational Analysis on Storage Facility Management
Evaluation of Risk and Hazard of Scheduled Waste
Conclusion
References
66 The Global Menace of Hazardous Waste: Challenges and Management
Introduction
Hazardous Waste Sources
Listed Wastes
Hazardous Waste Effect on Environment and Public Health
Hazardous Effect of Heavy Metals
Hazardous Effect of Pesticides
Hazardous Effect of Hydrocarbons
Hazardous Effect of Radioactive Materials
Hazardous Effect of Plastic Waste
Methods of Sampling and Measurement for Hazardous Wastes
Hazardous Wastes Sample Collection Containers
Measures for Quality Control for Sampling Hazardous Wastes
Hazardous Waste Sample Preparation
Quality Control of Hazardous Wastes Samples
Hazardous Wastes Storage, Collection, and Transportation Methods and Techniques
Hazardous Waste Sample Vault or Dome
Hazardous Waste Sample Container
Hazardous Wastes Containment Building
Hazardous Wastes Conveyors or Transporters
Methods for Hazardous Wastes Reduction, Minimization, and Recycling
Technologies for Hazardous Wastes Treatment and Disposal
Radioactive Wastes Management
High-Level Radioactive Waste (Spent Nuclear Fuel)
Radioactive Waste Sources
Radioactive Waste Classification
Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Wastes
Low- and Intermediate-Level Liquid Wastes (LIL)
Low- and Intermediate-Level Solid Wastes (LIS)
Low- and Intermediate-Level Gaseous Wastes (LIG)
High-Level Radioactive Wastes (HLW)
Vitrification and Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes
Conclusion
References
67 Inorganic and Organic Pollutants in Baltic Sea Region and Feasible Circular Economy Perspectives for Waste Management: A Re...
Introduction
Pollution Sources in the Baltic Sea
Sediment Dredging
Metal Pollution
Eutrophication
Organic Pollutants
Beach Wrack in the Coastal Zone Baltic Sea: An Ecological Asset or a Nuisance?
Biowaste Management
Biowaste Generation, Associated Problems, and Management
Conversion of Biowaste into Biochar
Conversion of Biowaste into Biogas
Conclusion
References
68 Opportunities for Circular Initiatives via Waste Recovery in the Region of Campos Gerais, Brazil
Introduction
Theoretical Constructs
Circular Economy
Industrial Ecology, Industrial Symbiosis, and Existing Global Initiatives Toward Greater Circularity
Methods
Alternatives for Value Recovery of Waste Streams in the Campos Gerais Region, Paran
Conclusion
References
69 Insight into Pharmaceutical Waste Management by Employing Bioremediation Techniques to Restore Environment
Introduction
A General View of Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical Waste
Criteria for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Waste
Classification of Pharmaceutical Waste
Sources of Pharmaceutical Waste
Pharmaceutical Industries
Healthcare Institutions
Household Pharmaceutical Waste
Human Uptake of Pharmaceuticals
Agriculture and Agro-Products
Persistence and the Fate of Pharmaceuticals
Impacts of Pharmaceutical Waste
Essentiality of Bioremediation for Environmental Restoration
Bioremediation of Pharmaceutical Waste
Enzymatic Bioremediation of Pharmaceutical Waste
Oxidoreductases
Membrane Bioreactors
Aerobic Treatment of Pharmaceutical Waste
Anaerobic Treatment of Pharmaceutical Waste
Hybrid Systems (Anaerobic+Aerobic)
Circular Economy: A Novel Perspective for Pharmaceutical Waste Management
Innovative Approaches for Mitigating the Risk of Pharmaceutical Waste
Conclusion
References
70 Recycling Waste Biopolymers via Electrospinning for Water Treatment: Waste to Wealth Roadmap, Future Perspective, and Chall...
Introduction
Fundamentals of Electrospinning Process
Lignocellulosic Biopolymers and Their Derivatives as Electrospun Nanofibers (ENFs)
Cellulose and Its Derivatives
Cellulose
Nanowhiskers of Cellulose (CNWs)
Functionalized/Derivatives of Cellulose
Alginate and Its Derivatives
Alginates
Derivatives of Alginates
Functionalization of Alginates with Synthetic Polymer
Functionalization of Alginates with Bio-based Polymer
Aloe Vera and Its Derivatives
Aloe Vera
Functionalization of Aloe Vera Using Synthetic/Bio-based Polymer
Process Variables for Electrospinning Process
Operational Factors
Influence of Voltage
Feed Flow Rate
Distance from the Spinneret
Solution Factors
Selection of Solvent
Selection of Polymers
Effect of Concentration and Viscosity
Effect of Volatility
Effect of Conductivity
Application of Electrospun Nanofibers (ENFs) for Water Treatment
Applications in Water Treatment
Ultrafiltration (UF)
Microfiltration (MF)
Nanofiltration (NF)
Reverse Osmosis Desalination (RO)
Separation of Oil/Water
Removal of Heavy Metals
Challenges Associated with Electrospun Biopolymer Usage in Water Treatment
Conclusion and Future Perspectives
References
71 Used Water Management from Circular Economy Perspective
Introduction
Energy-Water Nexus in Wastewater Treatment
The Need for Energy, Nutrient, and Water Recovery from the Wastewater
Water Recovery
Nutrient Recovery
Energy Recovery
Circular Economy Concept
How Can Circularity Be Improved?
Resource Recovery Potential and Practical Feasibility
Scale of Economies
Treatment Technologies for Circular Economy
Enhanced Carbon Capture and External Feedstock Addition
Near Future Opportunities for Integrated Recovery of Resources
Advanced Wastewater Treatment Schemes
Integrated Anaerobic Treatment Systems: Bioelectrochemical Systems
Conclusion
References
72 Promising Algae-Based Biotechnology for Terbium Removal and Recovery from Waste(Water)
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Chemicals and Reagents
Macroalgae Acquisition and Maintenance
Bioaccumulation Assay
Tb Quantification in Water and Macroalgae Biomass
Experimental Data and Kinetic Modelling
Biomarkers
Oxidative Stress
Antioxidant and Biotransformation Defenses
Statistical Analysis
Results
Removal of Tb by Living Macroalgae
Accumulation of Tb in Macroalgae Tissue: Kinetic Modelling
Toxic Effects of Tb in Ulva lactuca
Discussion
Tb Concentration in Seawater and Macroalgae Tissues
Biochemical Responses of Ulva lactuca to Tb Exposure
Conclusion
References
73 Arsenic Removal Using Nanoparticles from Groundwater: A Review
Introduction
Iron-Based Adsorbent
Zero-Valent Iron
Iron Oxide Nanoparticle
Metallic Organic Framework Adsorbent
Bio-adsorbent
Industrial Waste/By-products
Conclusion and Future Scope
References
74 Application of Adsorbents Prepared from Waste for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Water and Wastewater
Introduction
Heavy Metals
Cost-Effective Adsorbents
Activated Carbon
Biosorbents
Synthetic Adsorbent
Gap and Future Prospect of Cost-Effective Adsorbents
Strengths of Cost-Effective Adsorbents
Opportunities for Using Cost-Effective Adsorbents
Weaknesses of Cost-Effective Adsorbents
Threats of Cost-Effective Adsorbents
Conclusion
References
75 Removal of Struvite in Wastewater Using Anammox Bacteria
Introduction
Struvite Characteristics
Materials
Wastewater
Struvite
Anammox Bacteria
Application of Anammox Bacteria
Experimental Procedure
Calculations
Magnesium Reduction
Ammonium Reduction
Phosphorus Reduction
Conclusions
References
76 Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles: A Solution to Environmental Pollution
Introduction
Nanoparticles and Their Properties
Approaches for the Synthesis of Nanoparticles
Synthesis of Nanoparticles
Physical Synthesis of Nanoparticles
Chemical Synthesis of Nanoparticles
Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles
Application of Green Synthesized Nanoparticles in Day-to-Day Life
Health Sector
Drug Delivery
Dentistry
X-Ray Imaging
Environmental Pollution Sector
Agriculture Sector
Agricultural Engineering
Types of Green Synthesized Nanoparticles and Their Application
Green Synthesis from Enzymes
Green Synthesis from Vitamins
Microwave-Assisted Synthesis
Biobased Methods
Bacteria and Actinomycetes
Fungi, Molds, and Yeast
Algae
Plants and Phytochemicals
Green Synthesize Metal Nanoparticles
Copper (Cu) and Copper Oxide (CuO)
Zinc Oxide (ZnO)
Cerium Oxide (CeO2)
Cadmium Sulfide (CdS)
Iron (Fe) and Its Oxides
Lead Sulfide (PbS) and Ruthenium (Ru)
Silver (Ag) and Gold (Au)
Palladium (Pd)
Titanium Dioxide (TiO2)
Characterization of Green Synthesized Nanoparticles
UV-Visible Spectroscopy
Fourier Transmission Infrared (FT-IR)
High-Resonance SEM and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)
XRD Spectroscopy and Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS)
Dynamic Light-Scattering Analysis (DLS) and EDAX
Conclusion
References
77 Relevance on the Recovery of High Economic Value Elements and Potential of Ionic Liquids
Introduction
Critical Raw Materials
New (Secondary) Sources of Critical Raw Materials: Circular Economy
Batteries
Lithium-Ion Batteries
Lithium, Cobalt, and Nickel
Scarcity
Its Presence in Waters and Toxicity
Other Components of Electrical and Electronic Devices
Platinum-Group Elements (PGEs)
Industrial Applications
Platinum and Palladium in Water
Gallium, Germanium, Indium, and Niobium
Industrial Applications
Gallium, Germanium, Indium, and Niobium in Water
Recovery of High Economic Value Elements from Water
Ionic Liquids
Properties
Ionic Liquids in Extraction and Separation Processes
Toxicity and Ecotoxicological Impact
Recovery of High Economic Value elements
Conclusion
Abbreviations
References
78 Solid Waste to Energy: Existing Scenario in Developing and Developed Countries
Introduction
Present Scenario of Waste to Energy at Global Level
Need for Waste-to-Energy Technologies
Selection of WtE Generation Technologies
Thermal Process
Pyrolysis
Gasification
Incineration
Biochemical Process
Pretreatment of Biomass
Physical Methods
Physico-Chemical Methods
Chemical Methods
Biological Methods
Biomethanation or Anaerobic Digestion
Aerobic Composting
Bioethanol Production
Biohydrogen Production
Dark Fermentation
Photo-Fermentation
Conclusion
References
79 Solid Waste to Energy: A Prognostic for Sound Waste Management
Introduction
World Scenario of WtE Technology
Waste Generation, Composition, and Characterization
The Concept of Waste to Energy
Incineration
Pyrolysis
Gasification
Sanitary Landfilling
Anaerobic Digestion
Role of Waste-to-Energy Technology in Sustainable Waste Management
Volume Reduction
Resource Conservation
Environmental Protection
Hygienization
Social Acceptance
Economics of Waste-to-Energy Facilities
Environmental and Public Health Concerns
Waste-to-Energy Technology During Health Emergencies
Conclusion
References
80 Waste-to-Energy as a Method of Refuse Disposal: An Analysis of Sustainable Technologies and Their Environmental Impact
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Survey
Results and Discussion
Conclusion
References
81 Waste-to-Energy Technologies: Industrial Progress for Boosting the Circular Economy
Introduction
Progress of Waste-to-Energy Technologies
Incineration
Type of Waste, Pre-Treatment, and Efficiency
Reaction Products, Emissions, and Residuals
Progress of Gasification
Type of Waste, Pre-Treatment, and Efficiency
Reaction Products, Emissions, and Residuals
Progress of Pyrolysis
Type of Waste, Pre-Treatment, and Efficiency
Reaction Products, Emissions, and Residuals
Progress of Anaerobic Digestion
Type of Waste, Pre-Treatment, and Efficiency
Reaction Products, Emissions, and Residuals
Progress of Landfilling
Type of Waste, Pre-Treatment, and Efficiency
Reaction Products, Emissions, and Residuals
Barriers of Waste-to-Energy Technologies
Technological Maturity
Incineration
Gasification
Pyrolysis
Anaerobic Digestion
Landfilling
Finance
Incineration
Pyrolysis and Gasification
Anaerobic Digestion
Landfilling
Regulation
Comparison of Waste-to-Energy Technologies
Type of Waste
Pre-Treatment
Waste Reduction
Net Efficiency
Emissions
Product Valorization
Technological Maturity
Cost
Regulation
Discussion
Conclusion
References
82 Solid Waste as Energy Resource
Introduction
Classification of Solid Waste
Agricultural Waste
Municipal Solid Waste
Industrial Waste
Hospital Waste
Waste to Energy Conversion Technologies
Thermochemical Conversion
Biochemical Conversion Technologies
Advantages of Using Waste as Energy Source
Constraints of Waste for Energy
Future Scope of Waste-To-Energy Technology
Conclusion
References
83 Application of Klebsiella pneumoniae in Treatment and Electricity Generation from Piggery Solid Wastes
Introduction
Experimental Section
Sample Collection and Isolation of Anaerobic Microbes
Screening of Electrogenic Bacteria
Growth Kinetics and Biofilm Formation of Isolated Bacterial Strains
MFC Construction and Biofilm Formation on Electrode
IR Sensor-Based Object Detector
Result and Discussion
Isolation of Anaerobic Bacterial Strains
Screening of Electrogenic Bacterial Stains
Growth Kinetics and Biofilm Formation Ability of Isolated Bacterial Strains
Dual-Chamber MFC Preparation Using Biofilm on Aluminium Electrode
Scanning Electron Microscopy Analysis of Aluminium Electrode with Biofilm
Application of MFC in IR Sensor-Based Object Detector
Conclusion
References
84 Contribution of Biomethane from Different Substrate into Energy Sustainability and Greener Economy
Introduction
Methodology
Substrate Characterization
Elemental Analysis (Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur)
Calorific Value
Results and Discussion
Characteristics of Substrates
Effects of Mono-, Co-, and Tri-digestion of Substrates
pH Levels
Comparison of Substrates Biogas Production Rates and Quantity or Accumulative Rates
Comparison of Substrates´ Energy Content and Biogas Production Capacity
Energy Content
Effects of Impurities in Biogas
Conclusion
References
85 Utilization of Biogas from Solid Waste in the Production of Biomethane and Its Use as Biofuel in the Transport Sector
Introduction
Solid Waste
Circular Economy
Biogas: Characteristics and Utilization
Biomethane: Characteristics and Production Process
Use of Biomethane as a Vehicle Biofuel
Conclusion
References
86 Biogas Potential from the Biomethanization of Biodegradable Municipal Solid Waste Generated in Harare
Introduction
Anaerobic Digestion of Biodegradable MSW
Classification of AD Processes
Dry or Wet AD Process Classification
Stages of AD Process
Single-Stage and Two-Stage AD Processes
Factors Affecting Biogas Yield and Quality
Substrate Characteristics
pH Level
Temperature
Digester Feeding and Operation
Seeding
Biodegradable MSW Collection System
Biodegradable MSW Substrate Pretreatment
Mechanical Pretreatment
Thermal Pretreatment
Chemical Pretreatment
Biological Pretreatment
Biogas Production and CHP Generation
Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste
Anaerobic Codigestion of Biodegradable MSW and Waste Activated Sludge (WAS)
Theoretical Methane Potentials (TMP)
Estimates of Biogas Potential
Institutional and Legislative Framework
Barriers to AD Operationalization in Zimbabwe
Lack of Information on Market Potential
Undefined Economic Case for Biogas-Derived Energy
Inadequate Infrastructure
Absence of Institutional Structure Responsible for Approvals and Clearances
Limited Funding
Limited Capacity
Policy Initiatives and Strategies
Conclusion
References
87 Adverse Effect of Lawn on Carbon Sequestration Vis-a-Vis Climate Change and Mitigation Strategies
Introduction
Maintenance of Lawn
Lawn Mowing
Nutrient Application
Management of Major Diseases of Lawn
Management of Major Insect of Lawn
Weed Management
Impact of Grass Invasion on Climate Change
Overall Environment Impacts of Turf Maintenance
Carbon Sequestration by Lawn
Mitigation
Soil Improvement
Selection of Appropriate Plants spp.
Cultural Control
Precise Fertilizer Application
Precautions Concerning Application of Fertilizer, Pesticide, Insecticides, and Herbicide
Integrated Pest Management
Biological Method
Record Keeping
Policy Change
Planning and Design of Lawn
Conclusion
References
88 Environmental Impact of Free-Floating Bike Sharing: From Life Cycle Perspective
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Background: Collaborative Mobility Services in Beijing
LCA Framework
Estimation Model for Air Waste as GHG Emissions
Data Sources
Results and Discussions
Life Cycle GHG Emission Factors for Transportation Modes
Energy-Powered Vehicles
Non-energy-Powered Vehicles
Air Waste as GHG Emissions Impact of FFBS to Urban Transportation
Conclusion
References
89 Women Warriors of Waste Management
Introduction
The Indian Waste Management Scenario
Women in Waste Management: Comparison Between Global and Indian Viewpoints
Waste Management System in Ambikapur: The First Zero Dustbin City of India
Women Warriors of Waste Management in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh
Result and Discussion
Details of the Female Workers Involved in Waste Management
Details of Waste Collection and Segregation in SLRM Centers of Ambikapur, Surguja (Chhattisgarh), India
Monthly Waste Collection (Organic and Inorganic Wastes)
Categorization of Organic Wastes
Inorganic Waste Collection Monthly in Different Categories
Conclusion
Suggested Recommendations
References
Weblink
Index
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Chinnappan Baskar Seeram Ramakrishna Shikha Baskar Rashmi Sharma Amutha Chinnappan Rashmi Sehrawat Editors
Handbook of Solid Waste Management Sustainability through Circular Economy
Handbook of Solid Waste Management
Chinnappan Baskar • Seeram Ramakrishna • Shikha Baskar • Rashmi Sharma • Amutha Chinnappan • Rashmi Sehrawat Editors
Handbook of Solid Waste Management Sustainability through Circular Economy
With 568 Figures and 318 Tables
Editors Chinnappan Baskar Research and Development Center Teerthanker Mahaveer University Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Seeram Ramakrishna Department of Mechanical Engineering Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology National University of Singapore Singapore, Singapore
Shikha Baskar Chemistry and Bioprospecting Division Forest Research Institute Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Rashmi Sharma Department of Science and Technology Government of India New Delhi, Delhi, India
Amutha Chinnappan Department of Mechanical Engineering Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology National University of Singapore Singapore, Singapore
Rashmi Sehrawat Department of Basic Science Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India
ISBN 978-981-16-4229-6 ISBN 978-981-16-4230-2 (eBook) ISBN 978-981-16-4231-9 (print and electronic bundle) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore
This book is dedicated to our beloved parents Mr. S. Chinnappan & Mrs. Mariya Chinnappan; Sushila Mary; and Mr. Pawan Kumar Sambher & Mrs. Sudesh Sambher Special dedication to scientists, researchers, doctors, nurses, caretakers, hospital staff, and teachers who are combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Preface
The word sustainability is derived from the French verb soutenir, which means to hold up or support. The concept of sustainable development was framed in a 1987 United Nations document, “World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future,” known widely as the Brundtland Report and defined sustainable development as “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” It contains within it two key concepts: (i) the concept of “needs,” in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given, and (ii) the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs. Since that time, approaches to sustainability have received increasing attention in academia, industry, and society with critical system thinking, analysis, frameworks, theories, innovation, inter-/transdisciplinary research and development for the benefit of the environment, energy, human development, and economic activities worldwide. The concept of sustainability goals involves many aspects that include the integration of inter/multidisciplinary knowledge, green methodologies, novel technologies, and efficient use of renewable raw materials and waste materials. The linear economy model (take-make-use-dispose) dominated last decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century, and it is a very inefficient and expensive approach, one that harms the environment or depletes natural resources. Due to the exponential growth of the global population and subsequent consumption of our natural resources, ineffective waste management, and climate change, the linear economy model can no longer be encouraged and acceptable. The circular economy model (reduce-reuse-refuse-recycle-recoveryrethink-redesign) is a new way of creating value, and ultimately prosperity. Circular economy is designed to be restorative and regenerative and defined as “a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimized by slowing, closing, and narrowing material and energy loops. This can be achieved through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling.” The circular economy model has garnered increasing attention among academia, scholars, industry, governments, policy makers, and citizens as it seems to overcome the harmful consequences of
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linear patterns of growth and is an innovative approach to achieve sustainable development. The issue of solid waste management and finding green solutions to solid waste management are important challenges throughout the world. Based on the concept of sustainability, circular economy, green chemistry, and engineering, this book aims to provide an overview of present trends and future potential in solid waste management from different sectors into valuable green materials and products, novel methodologies, green technology, green energy, sustainability, and applications. This book consists of 89 peer-reviewed chapters contributed by renowned professionals, researchers, and scientists from academia, laboratories, centers, and industry from various countries. This book has been divided into four parts: (i) Solid Waste Management, Municipal Solid Waste Management, and Food Waste Management (ii) Agricultural Solid Waste Management (iii) Plastic Waste Management, Rubber Waste Management, Textile Waste Management, and E-Waste Management (iv) Hazardous Waste Management, Bio-waste Management, Waste Water Management, and Solid Waste to Energy This book also features the importance of integration of multi-disciplinary research fields and provides solutions to addressing all concerned problems associated with solid waste management and latest research perspectives, technology development, critical analysis and thinking, societal requirements, and development of green circular economy of solid waste management to researchers, scientists, engineers, environmental managers, policy makers, and experts in the energy division of governments as well as private organizations and industries. We gratefully acknowledge the hard work and patience of all the authors who have contributed to this book project during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sincerely thank the Springer Nature editorial and production team, especially Dr. Stephen Yeung (Executive Editor, Major Reference Works) and Ms. Swati Meherishi (Editorial Director) and Ms Abiramy Sarangapani (Project Manager), for their suggestions and help. Our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Salmanul Faris Nedum Palli (Project Coordinator, Springer Nature) for his continuous support, dedication, and hard work. We would like to express our gratitude to the external reviewers whose contributions helped to improve the quality of this book. January 2022
Dr. Chinnappan Baskar Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna Dr. Shikha Baskar Dr. Rashmi Sharma Dr. Amutha Chinnappan Dr. Rashmi Sehrawat
Contents
Volume 1 Part I Solid Waste Management, Municipal Solid Waste Management, and Food Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
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Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries: Towards a Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zobaidul Kabir and Mahfuz Kabir Research Trends of the Management of Solid Waste in the Context of Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ana Batlles-de-la-Fuente, Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña, José Antonio Plaza-Úbeda, and Emilio Abad-Segura Pretreatments of Solid Wastes for Anaerobic Digestion and Its Importance for the Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sabrina Vieira, Jaíne Schneider, Walter José Martinez Burgos, Antônio Magalhães, Adriane Bianchi Pedroni Medeiros, Julio Cesar de Carvalho, Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe, Carlos Ricardo Soccol, and Eduardo Bittencourt Sydney
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Understanding Circular Economy in Solid Waste Management . . . Monika Patel, Sweta Kumari, Neetu Kumari, and Arkendu Ghosh
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Greenways for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amrita Kumari, Anita Roy Aich, Sweta Kumari, and Samanyita Mohanty
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Waste Management in the Changing Climate Chanathip Pharino and Nuchcha Phonphoton
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Future Perspective of Solid Waste Management Strategy in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samanyita Mohanty, Sushanta Saha, Gour Hari Santra, and Amrita Kumari
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Assessment of Quality of Compost Derived from Municipal Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M. Chandra Sekhar and G. Venkatesam Current Waste Management Status and Trends in Russian Federation: Case Study on Industrial Symbiosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amani Maalouf, Vladimir A. Maryev, Tatiana S. Smirnova, and Antonis Mavropoulos A Transition Toward a Circular Economy: Insights from Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luís Paes, Barbara Bezerra, Rafael Deus, Daniel Jugend, and Rosane Battistelle Analysis of the Implantation of a System for the Sustainable Management of Solid Urban Waste in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antonio Marco-Ferreira and Reginaldo Fidelis Thermal Utilization of Municipal Solid Waste in the Central Region of Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Francisco Gutierrez-Galicia, Ana Lilia Coria-Páez, Ricardo Tejeida-Padilla, and Víctor Ramón Oliva-Aguilar
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Developing “Zero Waste Model” for Solid Waste Management to Shift the Paradigm Toward Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sudipti Arora, Jasmine Sethi, Jayana Rajvanshi, Devanshi Sutaria, and Sonika Saxena
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Food Waste Management Practice in Malaysia and Its Potential Contribution to the Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leong Siew Yoong, Mohammed J. K. Bashir, and Lim Jun Wei
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Life Cycle Assessment to Support Waste Management Strategies in a Circular Economy Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lineker Max Goulart Coelho and Rafaella de Souza Henriques
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Circular Economy Approach to Address the Industrial Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Salman Raza Naqvi, Bilal Beig, and Muhammad Naqvi
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From Waste to Wealth: Stepping Toward Sustainability Through Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rashmi Paliwal
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Agricultural Solid Waste Management
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Recovery of Agricultural Waste Biomass: A Sustainability Strategy for Moving Towards a Circular Bioeconomy . . . . . . . . . . Mónica Duque-Acevedo, Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña, Francisco J. Cortés-García, and Francisco Camacho-Ferre
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Sustainable Management of Agricultural Waste in India Rachana Jain and Satya Narayan Naik
.......
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Solid Waste Management and Policies Toward Sustainable Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vijay Kant Singh, Praveen Solanki, Arkendu Ghosh, and Apurba Pal
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Agricultural Solid Waste Management: An Approach to Protect the Environment and Increase Agricultural Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Faraz Ahmad Khan, Anita Tomar, Yogesh Kumar Agarwal, and Hari Om Shukla
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Agricultural Bio-wastes: A Potent Sustainable Adsorbent for Contaminant Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adyasa Barik, Geetanjali Rajhans, Sudip Kumar Sen, and Sangeeta Raut
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Use of Agricultural Wastes in Cementitious Composites . . . . . . . . Adeyemi Adesina
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Mass Production of Trichoderma from Agricultural Waste and Its Application for Plant Disease Management . . . . . . . . . . . . Bireswar Sinha, Poorvasandhya Rajendran, and Phanjoubam Sobita Devi
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Impact of Agricultural Waste Characterization in Biomass: Solar PV Hybrid Mini-grid Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. E. Bambokela, Edison Muzenda, and Mohamed Belaid
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Simultaneous Fermentative Production of Lipase and Bio-polymeric flocculants from Produce (Vegetable) Wastes . . . . . Moushumi Ghosh, Surbhi Sharma, and Vivek Sharma
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Paddy Straw-Based Circular Economy for Sustainable Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kalyanasundaram Geetha Thanuja, Subramanian Marimuthu, Desikan Ramesh, and Subburamu Karthikeyan Circular Economy Model for Florists: Need of the Hour . . . . . . . . M. Ponnien Selvi and R. Atheeswari
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Temple Floral Waste Management in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neelam Srivastava
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Utility of Fruit-Based Industry Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aditi Guha Choudhury, Pinaki Roy, Sweta Kumari, and Vijay Kant Singh
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Turning Crop Waste into Wealth-Sustainable and Economical Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ranguwal Sangeet and Raj Kumar
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Sustainable and Economical Approaches in Utilizing Agricultural Solid Waste for Bioethanol Production . . . . . . . . . . . Vikas Chandra Gupta, Meenu Singh, Shiv Prasad, and Bhartendu Nath Mishra A Community-Driven Household Waste Management System in the Tea Plantation Sector: Experiences from Sri Lanka Toward a Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H. M. P. Peiris and Nuwan Gunarathne Sludge Waste Management Techniques and Challenges in Water Resources Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mu’izzah Mansor and Mohd Omar Fatehah Optimal Management of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate Using Mathematical Modeling: A Case Study in Valencia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri and María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero Contribution of a Well-Managed Landfill to Sustainable Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O. O. Ololade and I. R. Orimoloye Phytoremediation: A Cost-Effective Tool for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arkendu Ghosh, Vijay Kant Singh, Koyel Dey, Monika Patel, and Apurba Pal
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Bioremediation of Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Naresh Gopal Shrivastava
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Bioremediation of Oil-Contaminated Effluent Pits and Soil Plot for Pollution Control and Environment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039 Yashwant Singh Yadav, P. C. Nath, P. K. Hazarika, and Sanjay Bhutani
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Bioremediation: Harnessing Natural Forces for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077 Navdeep Kaur Sahota and Ramica Sharma
Part III Plastic Waste Management, Rubber Waste Management, Textile Waste Management, and E-Waste Management . . . . . . . . .
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Utilization of Plastic Wastes and Its Technologies: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111 Arenjungla Kichu and Nirmala Devi
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Integrated Strategy of Plastic Waste Management to Green Environmental Sustainability and Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133 Sugumaran Karuppiah and Mahalakshmi Mathivanan
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Recent Innovations in Chemical Recycling of Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste: A Circular Economy Approach Toward Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149 Amandeep Singh, S. L. Banerjee, K. Kumari, and P. P. Kundu
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Stakeholders Perception of Used Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 Bishal Bharadwaj and Rajesh Kumar Rai
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Biopolymer-Based Liners for Waste Containment Facilities: A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1207 Evangelin Ramani Sujatha and Subramani Anandha Kumar
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Solid Waste Management in Textile Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225 Monika Patel, Ankita Sahu, and Ravikant Rajak
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Turning Plastic Wastes into Textile Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257 Hande Sezgin and Ipek Yalcin-Enis
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Sources and Fates of Textile Solid Wastes and Their Sustainable Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285 Md. Shafiul Islam and Jahid M. M. Islam
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Reuse of Textile ETP Sludge into Value-Added Products for Environmental Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307 Subrata Chandra Das, M. Sarwar Jahan, Debasree Paul, and Mubarak Ahmad Khan
50
Bio-management of Textile Industrial Wastewater Sludge Using Earthworms: A Doable Strategy Toward Sustainable Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1337 Ananthanarayanan Yuvaraj, Ramasundaram Thangaraj, and Natchimuthu Karmegam
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Integrated Biotechnological Interventions in Textile Effluent Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357 Geetanjali Rajhans, Adyasa Barik, Sudip Kumar Sen, and Sangeeta Raut
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Effects of Marine Littering and Sustainable Measures to Reduce Marine Pollution in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1375 Satyanarayana Narra, Vicky Shettigondahalli Ekanthalu, Edward Antwi, and Michael Nelles
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Utilization of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites . . . . . . . . . 1407 Adeyemi Adesina
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Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry Adeyemi Adesina
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Experimental Investigation of Physiochemical Properties of Cement Mortar Incorporating Clay Brick Waste Powder: Recyclable Sustainable Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1449 Hemraj R. Kumavat and Rohan V. Kumavat
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A Sustainability Approach to Geopolymer Brick Manufacture Using Mine Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1461 M. Beulah, J. Pratap Kumar, Mothi Krishna Mohan, Gayathri Gopalakrishnan, and M. R. Sudhir
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Integrated Electronic Waste Management: Issues and Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1479 V. Rathinakumar, G. Ashwin Sriram, and G. I. Gunarani
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e-Waste Management: A Transition Towards a Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1499 Sheetal Barapatre and Mansi Rastogi
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Management of E-Waste: Technological Challenges and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1523 Deepak Sakhuja, Hemant Ghai, Ravi Kant Bhatia, and Arvind Kumar Bhatt
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Exploring E-waste Management: Strategies and Implications . . . . 1559 Nitika Goyal and Deepam Goyal
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E-Waste Management: Rising Concern on Existing Problems, Modern Perspectives, and Innovative Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1573 Ravichandran Subramaniam, Kamarajan Rajagopalan, Melinda Grace Rossan Mathews, Jackson Durairaj Selvan Christyraj, and Johnson Retnaraj Samuel Selvan Christyraj
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Consumer’s Awareness and Perception Towards E-Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1593 Richa Goel, Seema Sahai, and Gurinder Singh
63
Recycling and Management of Lithium Battery as Electronic Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605 Mohammad Tanhaei, Zahra Beiramzadeh, Saeideh Kholghi Eshkalak, and Reza Katal
64
Recycling of Rechargeable Batteries: A Sustainable Tool for Urban Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1635 Pankaj Pathak and Karan Chabhadiya
Volume 3 Part IV Hazardous Waste Management, Bio-waste Management, Waste Water Management, Solid Waste to Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1653
65
Hazardous Waste Management, Challenges, and Risks in Handling Laboratory Waste in Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1655 Annabelle Joy Siril, Siti Nurwajihah Abu Bakar, and Mohd Omar Fatehah
66
The Global Menace of Hazardous Waste: Challenges and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1715 Musa Neksumi, Mohd Zishan, Banerjee Sushmita, and Uzma Manzoor
67
Inorganic and Organic Pollutants in Baltic Sea Region and Feasible Circular Economy Perspectives for Waste Management: A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1743 Vivek Rana, Justyna Milke, and Małgorzata Gałczyńska
68
Opportunities for Circular Initiatives via Waste Recovery in the Region of Campos Gerais, Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1779 Franco Sebastián Suarez, Juan Martín Ortolani, Murillo Vetroni Barros, Rodrigo Salvador, Cristiane Karyn de Carvalho Araújo, Fabio Neves Puglieri, and Daniel Poletto Tesser
69
Insight into Pharmaceutical Waste Management by Employing Bioremediation Techniques to Restore Environment . . . . . . . . . . . 1795 Navdeep Kaur Sahota and Ramica Sharma
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Contents
70
Recycling Waste Biopolymers via Electrospinning for Water Treatment: Waste to Wealth Roadmap, Future Perspective, and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1827 Zaira Zaman Chowdhury, Amutha Chinnappan, Ahmed Elsayid Ali, Yasmin Abdul Wahab, NorAliya Hamizi, Marlinda Binti Ab Rahman, and Seeram Ramakrishna
71
Used Water Management from Circular Economy Perspective . . . 1861 Veera Gnaneswar Gude
72
Promising Algae-Based Biotechnology for Terbium Removal and Recovery from Waste(Water) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885 Bruno Henriques, Pedro Moleiro, Marcelo Costa, Rosa Freitas, José Pinheiro-Torres, and Eduarda Pereira
73
Arsenic Removal Using Nanoparticles from Groundwater: A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911 Parwathi Pillai and Swapnil Dharaskar
74
Application of Adsorbents Prepared from Waste for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Water and Wastewater . . . . . . . . 1927 Hossein Esfandian, Amir Hoshang Taheri, Saeideh Kholghi Eshkalak, and Reza Katal
75
Removal of Struvite in Wastewater Using Anammox Bacteria . . . 1951 G. Gayathri, Dinesh Sankar Reddy, M. Beulah, and M. R. Sudhir
76
Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles: A Solution to Environmental Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1965 Monika Patel
77
Relevance on the Recovery of High Economic Value Elements and Potential of Ionic Liquids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1995 Joana C. Almeida, Celso E. D. Cardoso, Tito Trindade, Mara G. Freire, and Eduarda Pereira
78
Solid Waste to Energy: Existing Scenario in Developing and Developed Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2023 Aman Kumar, Ekta Singh, Rahul Mishra, and Sunil Kumar
79
Solid Waste to Energy: A Prognostic for Sound Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2047 Bhargavi N. Kulkarni and V. Anantharama
80
Waste-to-Energy as a Method of Refuse Disposal: An Analysis of Sustainable Technologies and Their Environmental Impact . . . 2079 Maddalena Buffoli, Andrea Rebecchi, Carlo Signorelli, and Stefano Capolongo
Contents
xvii
81
Waste-to-Energy Technologies: Industrial Progress for Boosting the Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2093 Spyridon Achinas, Maarten Gramsbergen, Vasileios Achinas, and Gerrit Jan Willem Euverink
82
Solid Waste as Energy Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119 Sunita Barot
83
Application of Klebsiella pneumoniae in Treatment and Electricity Generation from Piggery Solid Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2139 Akriti Kodesia, Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Vivek Sharma, and Moushumi Ghosh
84
Contribution of Biomethane from Different Substrate into Energy Sustainability and Greener Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2153 Lloyd Lottering, Mohamed Belaid, and Anthony Njuguna Matheri
85
Utilization of Biogas from Solid Waste in the Production of Biomethane and Its Use as Biofuel in the Transport Sector . . . . . . 2169 Geovana Menegheti, Reinalda Blanco Pereira, Cassiano Moro Piekarski, Antonio Carlos de Francisco, Eduardo Bittencourt Sydney, and Juliana Vitoria Messias Bittencourt
86
Biogas Potential from the Biomethanization of Biodegradable Municipal Solid Waste Generated in Harare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2197 Trust Nhubu, Edison Muzenda, Charles Mbohwa, and Mohamed Belaid
87
Adverse Effect of Lawn on Carbon Sequestration Vis-a-Vis Climate Change and Mitigation Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2229 Sweta Kumari, Monika Patel, Aditi Guha Choudhury, and Amrita Kumari
88
Environmental Impact of Free-Floating Bike Sharing: From Life Cycle Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2255 Shouheng Sun and Myriam Ertz
89
Women Warriors of Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2281 Joystu Dutta, Anandi Kerketta, Moharana Choudhury, and Madhur Mohan Ranga
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2305
About the Editors
Dr. Chinnappan Baskar is a visiting professor at Pattimura University, Ambon, Indonesia, and a former director (officiating) of THDC Institute of Hydropower Engineering and Technology, Tehri, Constituent Institute of Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He was a professor and founding director of the Research and Development Center at Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, India; research professor at Brain Korean 21 (BK21), Department of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology; and co-researcher at the Energy and Environmental Fusion Technology Center, Myongji University, South Korea. He has worked as director (academic affairs), Dev Bhoomi Group of Institutions, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, and assistant professor and head of the Department of Chemistry, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India. He received his PhD in organic and materials chemistry from the Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, and MSc in chemistry from the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. His research interests include synthetic organic chemistry, conducting polymers, green chemistry and engineering, biomass conversion, biodegradable polymers, green materials, smart functional materials, solid waste management, sustainability, and circular economy. He has published several research papers in reputed international journals and conference proceedings. He has Korean patent and Singapore patent to his credit. He has been invited to attend and deliver lectures/seminars at international and national conferences and workshops, and faculty development programs. He has been a chief guest, session chairman, advisory committee member, scientific committee xix
xx
About the Editors
member, and convener for many national and international conferences and workshops. He is member of editorial advisory boards and referee for many international chemistry, materials science, biotechnology, and energy journals. He was a member of the Research and Development Committee for up-to-date progress of PhD students of chemistry at Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun. He has been examiner for PhD and MPhil theses at various universities and institutes. He has great passion for teaching. He taught various courses in the areas of organic chemistry, retro-synthesis, green chemistry, stereochemistry, research methodology, biomass conversion, general chemistry, and engineering chemistry for PhD, postgraduate, and undergraduate students. He has received the “Teaching Excellence Award” from THDC Institute of Hydropower Engineering and Technology; Distinguished Academician Award from Pentagram Research Center (P) Ltd., India, and award for “Excellent Institute for Promoting Hydropower in Uttarakhand” at the 2nd National Uttarakhand Education Summit & Awards 2015 from CMAI Association of India. Dr. Baskar is the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Green Materials, Springer Nature Singapore. He was the editor of Biomass Conversion: The Interface of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Materials Science (Springer-Verlag, 2012); author of Engineering Chemistry textbook (Wiley India, 2012); co-author of Stereochemistry textbook (Narosa Publishing House, Indian Edition, 2014; Alpha Science International Ltd., United Kingdom, 2014), and co-author of Systematic Nomenclature of Organic Compounds textbook (IK International Publishers, Delhi, 2015; Dreamtech Press and Wiley India, 2019). He was the editor-inchief of Analytical Chemistry Letters, a journal of Taylor & Francis Groups, United Kingdom. Dr. Baskar is an author at YSB Foundation, Public Charitable Trust, Uttarakhand, India.
About the Editors
xxi
Professor Seeram Ramakrishna FREng, Everest Chair, is among the top five impactful authors at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as well as in Singapore. NUS ranked among the top five best global universities for engineering in the world. He is among the top 500 highly cited researchers in the world. He is the director of the Center for Nanotechnology & Sustainability and chair of the Circular Economy Taskforce. He is a member of Extended Producer Responsibility Advisory Committee of National Environment Agency (NEA), Ministry of Sustainability and Environment (MSE), Singapore. Prof. Ramakrishna is a member of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) committee at Singapore Institute of Directors. He is a member of Enterprise Singapore/ISO Committees on ISO59020/TC323 Circular Economy and WG3 on Circularity. He chairs the Sustainable Manufacturing TC at the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES) and is a member of standards committee of Singapore Manufacturing Federation. He is a member of Singapore Standard Council working group on circular economy and circularity of materials. His book on circular economy received 2021 Springer Nature China New Development Award. The European Commission Director General for Environment, His Excellency Daniel Calleja Crespo said, “Professor Seeram Ramakrishna should be praised for his personal engagement leading the reflections on how to develop a more sustainable future for all.” He co-authored a book, Sustainability for Beginners. He is a member of UNESCO’s Global Independent Expert Group on Universities and the 2030 Agenda. He also advises the World Bank. He has been honored with the Excellent Presentation Award by the ICWMT (International Conference on Waste Management and Technology) 2021 initiated by Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific and UNEP. He is the editor-in-chief of the Springer Nature journal Materials Circular Economy – Sustainability. He is an associate editor of eScience journal. Prof. Ramakrishna is an opinion contributor to the Springer Nature Sustainability Community. He teaches ME6501 Materials and Sustainability course. He also mentors Integrated Sustainable Design ISD5102 project students. Google Scholar shows 2,000 articles with 129,000 citations,
xxii
About the Editors
164 h-index, and 1084 i10-index for his sustained publications over the past three decades. Microsoft Academic ranked him among the top 50 authors out of 3 million materials researchers worldwide based on saliency, publications, citations, and H-index. He is named among the World’s Most Influential Minds (Thomson Reuters) and World’s Highly Cited Researchers (Clarivate Analytics). He is an impact speaker at the University of Toronto, Canada, Low Carbon Renewable Materials Center (https://www. lcrmc.com/). He is a judge for the Mohammed Bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity.He advises technology companies with sustainability vision such as TRIA, Green Li-Ion, InfraPrime, Volt14, and AntePlastics. Prof. Ramakrishna is a vice president of the Asian Polymer Association. He is a founding member of Plastics Recycling Association of Singapore, PRAS, and chairman of Plastics Recycling Center of Excellence, PRCOE. His senior academic leadership roles include university vice president (Research Strategy); dean of Faculty of Engineering; director of NUS Enterprise; and founding chairman of Solar Energy Institute of Singapore. He is an elected fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng); AAET; Singapore Academy of Engineering; and Indian National Academy of Engineering. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, and his GMP from Harvard University, USA. Dr. Shikha Baskar is a principal investigator of SYSTDST Project, Chemistry and Bioprospecting Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. She obtained her PhD in organic chemistry and MSc in chemistry from the Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India, and received her postdoctoral training at Myongji University, South Korea. She has worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, Lovely Professional University, Punjab; associate professor of chemistry and dean (Academic Affairs), GRD Institute of Management and Technology, Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, India; guest faculty, Faculty of Pharmacy at Women Institute of Technology, Dehradun, Uttarakhand Technical University. Her current research
About the Editors
xxiii
interests include synthetic organic chemistry, green chemistry, ionic liquids, biomass conversion, biodegradable polymers, and bioplastics. She is the section editor of the Encyclopedia of Green Materials, Springer Nature. Dr. Baskar was co-editor of Biomass Conversion: The Interface of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Materials Science (Springer-Verlag, 2012); co-author of Engineering Chemistry textbook (Wiley India, 2012); and co-author of Systematic Nomenclature of Organic Compounds textbook (IK International Publishers, Delhi, 2015; Dreamtech Press and Wiley India, 2019). She was the associate editor of Analytical Chemistry Letters, a journal of Taylor & Francis Groups, United Kingdom. Dr. Rashmi Sharma is a senior scientist in the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. She received her PhD from the University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, and MSc in biotechnology from the University of Roorkee (presently known as the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee). She is a recipient of the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship (2002–2004) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Fellowship (1993–1995). She has worked at LABINDIA Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon (as a senior scientist); Ocimum Biosolution Ltd., Hyderabad (as a lab manager); and Amity Institute of Biotechnology (AIB), Noida (as an assistant professor). Currently, she is associated with Science for Equity Empowerment and Development (SEED) Division, State Science and Technology Programme and National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) Division of DST for developing and disseminating appropriate S&T interventions for societal need and communicating science to society. She has published several research papers in international journals. Dr. Sharma is member of several departmental and ministerial Committees and is a prolific speaker at national and international conferences, seminars, workshops, and All India Radio. She has been honored with the Women Scientist Empowerment Award at the National Conference by National Commission of Women; the Amity Outstanding Women Award on International Women Day (2019); SHERO by
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About the Editors
Biostandups in 2018; and Star of the Department, Ocimum Biosolutions (2008). Dr. Amutha Chinnappan received her PhD degree in organic nanomaterials using ionic liquids for energy applications from Myongji University, South Korea, in 2013. She worked as a BK21 Postdoctoral Fellow until 2015 and then became an assistant professor (Research) in the Department of Energy, Science and Technology, Myongji University. She is currently working as a senior research fellow at the Center for Nanofibers & Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore. She has published more than 75 peer-reviewed scientific research articles in reputed international journals with high impact factors and large number of citations 1626 with h index-22 (Google Scholar). She has been invited to attend and deliver lectures/seminars in international and national conferences and workshops. She has received many awards and accolades for her research work. Dr. Chinnappan has received Brain Korea 21 Plus (BK21+) Postdoctoral Fellowship, South Korea; Excellence Award for outstanding achievements and exemplary performance as a postdoctoral researcher, Department of Energy Science and Technology, Myongji University, South Korea; and Best Research Paper Award 2013 for outstanding performance in PhD, Myongji University, South Korea. She was co-advisor in The New Nano Advisory Board, Springer Nature. Her current research interests include green chemistry, circular economy, plastic recycling, conducting cables/ wires, smart textiles, wearable/flexible electronics, and ionic liquid-based functional nanomaterials for energy applications. She is the section editor of the Encyclopedia of Green Materials, Springer Nature. She was the associate editor of Analytical Chemistry Letters, a journal of Taylor & Francis Groups, United Kingdom.
About the Editors
xxv
Dr. Rashmi Sehrawat is a senior scientist in the Chemistry and Bioprospecting Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India, and presently working as a professor and head of the Department of Basic Science at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, India. She has received her doctorate degree in natural product chemistry from Chemistry Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India. She is a recipient of the prestigious Daiko Foundation Fellowship, Japan, and has completed her postdoctoral studies at Kinjo Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan, in 2009. Her research interests focus on phytochemical investigation of medicinal and aromatic plants, essential oils, fatty oils, biopesticides, and value addition of waste biomass into biodegradable entities. She has been conferred with the Scientist Assistance Programme (SAP) Award by the International Union of Forestry Research and Organization (IUFRO), Vienna, Austria, and young scientist awards by national scientific organizations in India. She has worked on a number of international and nationally funded research projects and developed green technologies/products. Dr. Rashmi is a patent holder. She has authored/co-authored more than 60 research papers that reflect her research interests in diversified field of natural product chemistry. She is honorary member of professional societies.
Contributors
Marlinda Binti Ab Rahman Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Emilio Abad-Segura Department of Economy and Business, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain Yasmin Abdul Wahab Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Siti Nurwajihah Abu Bakar School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Penang, Malaysia Spyridon Achinas Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Vasileios Achinas Solid Waste Management Agency of Attica Region, Special Inter-Grade Association of Attica Region, Athens, Greece Adeyemi Adesina Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada Yogesh Kumar Agarwal Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation, Prayagraj, UP, India Anita Roy Aich Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, India Joana C. Almeida Department of Chemistry and CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Department of Chemistry and LAQV-REQUIMTE, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Subramani Anandha Kumar Centre for Advanced Research on Environment, School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, India V. Anantharama Department of Civil Engineering, R V College of Engineering (Visvesvaraya Technological University-recognized Research Center), Bangalore, India xxvii
xxviii
Contributors
Edward Antwi Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany Sudipti Arora Department of Biotechnology, Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur, India R. Atheeswari V. V. Vanniaperumal College for Women, Madurai Kamaraj University, Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu, India J. E. Bambokela Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa S. L. Banerjee Department of Polymer Science and Technology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India Sheetal Barapatre Department of Environmental Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India Adyasa Barik Center for Biotechnology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Sunita Barot PLS Analytical, East Brunswick, NJ, USA Murillo Vetroni Barros Sustainable Production Systems Laboratory (LESP), Postgraduate Program in Industrial Engineering (PPGEP), Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Mohammed J. K. Bashir Department of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia Ana Batlles-de-la-Fuente Department of Economy and Business, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain Rosane Battistelle São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Bauru, SP, Brazil Bilal Beig School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan Zahra Beiramzadeh Research and Development Department, Green Li-Ion, Singapore, Singapore Mohamed Belaid Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña Department of Economy and Business, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain M. Beulah Department of Civil Engineering, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India
Contributors
xxix
Barbara Bezerra São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Bauru, SP, Brazil Bishal Bharadwaj School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia Ravi Kant Bhatia Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India Arvind Kumar Bhatt Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India Sanjay Bhutani Institute of Biotechnology and Geotectonic Studies (INBIGS), A&AA Basin, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Jorhat, India Juliana Vitoria Messias Bittencourt Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Maddalena Buffoli Department of Architecture, Built environment and Construction engineering (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy Francisco Camacho-Ferre Department of Agronomy, CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain
Research
Centre
Stefano Capolongo Department of Architecture, Built environment and Construction engineering (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy Celso E. D. Cardoso Department of Chemistry and CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Department of Chemistry and LAQV-REQUIMTE, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Karan Chabhadiya Research and Development, Vardhman Environmental Consultancy Services, Rajkot, Gujarat, India M. Chandra Sekhar Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India Arun Kumar Chatterjee Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India Amutha Chinnappan Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Aditi Guha Choudhury Department of Fruit science (Fruit Breeding), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Moharana Choudhury Voice of Environment, Guwahati, Assam, India Zaira Zaman Chowdhury Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Contributors
Ana Lilia Coria-Páez Instituto Politécnico Nacional, ESCA-Tepepan, Mexico City, Mexico Francisco J. Cortés-García Faculty of Business and Communication, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, Logroño, Spain Marcelo Costa Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Subrata Chandra Das Advanced and Sustainable Engineering Materials Laboratory, Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gjøvik, Norway Julio Cesar de Carvalho Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Cristiane Karyn de Carvalho Araújo Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Guaratinguetá, Brazil Antonio Carlos de Francisco Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Rafaella de Souza Henriques Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais – CEFET-MG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Rafael Deus São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Bauru, SP, Brazil Faculdades Integradas de Jahu (FIJ), Jaú, SP, Brazil Nirmala Devi Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India Phanjoubam Sobita Devi Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, CAU, Imphal, India Koyel Dey Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India Swapnil Dharaskar Nano-Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar, India Mónica Duque-Acevedo Department of Agronomy, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain Joystu Dutta Department of Environmental Science, Sant Gahira Guru University, Sarguja, Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, India Ahmed Elsayid Ali Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Contributors
xxxi
Myriam Ertz LaboNFC, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, QC, Canada Hossein Esfandian Faculty of Engineering Technologies, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran Saeideh Kholghi Eshkalak Department of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Gerrit Jan Willem Euverink Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Mohd Omar Fatehah School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Penang, Malaysia Reginaldo Fidelis Department of Mathematics, Federal University of Technology of Paraná, Campus Londrina, Londrina, Brazil Mara G. Freire Department of Chemistry and CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Rosa Freitas CESAM, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Małgorzata Gałczyńska Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland G. Gayathri Department of Civil Engineering, ACS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India Kalyanasundaram Geetha Thanuja Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Hemant Ghai Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India Arkendu Ghosh Department of Fruit Science, Horticulture College, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Moushumi Ghosh Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India Richa Goel Amity International Business School, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India Gayathri Gopalakrishnan Department of Civil Engineering, ACS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India Lineker Max Goulart Coelho Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais – CEFET-MG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
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Contributors
Deepam Goyal Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Rajpura, Punjab, India Nitika Goyal Department of Computer Science, Guru Nanak College, Budhlada, Punjab, India Maarten Gramsbergen Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Veera Gnaneswar Gude Richard A. Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA G. I. Gunarani School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India Nuwan Gunarathne Department of Jayewardenepura, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Accounting,
University
of
Sri
Department of Business Strategy and Innovation, Griffith University, Southport, Australia Vikas Chandra Gupta Department of Biotechnology, IILM-College of Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida, UP, India Francisco Gutierrez-Galicia Instituto Politécnico Nacional, UPIIH, Pachuca, Mexico NorAliya Hamizi Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia P. K. Hazarika Institute of Biotechnology and Geotectonic Studies (INBIGS), A&AA Basin, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Jorhat, India Bruno Henriques LAQV-REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Jahid M. M. Islam School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia Md. Shafiul Islam Department of Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali, Bangladesh M. Sarwar Jahan BSCL Scientific Research Laboratory, Bombay Sweets & Co. Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh Rachana Jain Centre for Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India Daniel Jugend São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Bauru, SP, Brazil
Contributors
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Mahfuz Kabir Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh Zobaidul Kabir School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah, Australia Natchimuthu Karmegam Department of Botany, Government Arts College (Autonomous), Salem, Tamil Nadu, India Subburamu Karthikeyan Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Sugumaran Karuppiah School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India Reza Katal Research and Development Department, Green Li-Ion, Singapore, Singapore Anandi Kerketta Department of Environmental Science, Sant Gahira Guru University, Sarguja, Chhattisgarh, India Faraz Ahmad Khan Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation, Prayagraj, UP, India Mubarak Ahmad Khan Jute Polymer Unit, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, Ministry of Textiles and Jute, Dhaka, Bangladesh Saeideh Kholghi Eshkalak Department of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Arenjungla Kichu Department of Science and Humanities, National Institute of Technology Nagaland, Dimapur, Nagaland, India Akriti Kodesia Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India Bhargavi N. Kulkarni Department of Civil Engineering, R V College of Engineering (Visvesvaraya Technological University-recognized Research Center), Bangalore, India Aman Kumar CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, India J. Pratap Kumar Department of Civil Engineering, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India Raj Kumar Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India Sunil Kumar CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, India
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Contributors
Amrita Kumari Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidalaya Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India K. Kumari Department of Chemical Engineering, S.L.I.E.T, Longowal, India Neetu Kumari Department of Social Science, Horticulture College, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Sweta Kumari Department of Floriculture Landscape Architecture (Flower Breeding), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Hemraj R. Kumavat Civil Engineering Department, R C Patel Institute of Technology, Shirpur, India Rohan V. Kumavat Civil Engineering Department, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai, India P. P. Kundu Department of Polymer Science and Technology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India Lloyd Lottering Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Amani Maalouf Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon Research Department, D-Waste, Athens, Greece Antônio Magalhães Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Mu’izzah Mansor School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia Uzma Manzoor Department of Agricultural Sciences, Sharda University, Noida, India Antonio Marco-Ferreira Department of Production Engineering, Federal University of Technology of Paraná, Campus Londrina, Londrina, Brazil Subramanian Marimuthu Department of Nano Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Walter José Martinez Burgos Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Vladimir A. Maryev R&D Center for Waste and Secondary Resources Management, Ecological Industrial Policy Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Moscow, Russian Federation
Contributors
xxxv
Anthony Njuguna Matheri Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Melinda Grace Rossan Mathews Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Mahalakshmi Mathivanan School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India Antonis Mavropoulos Research Department, D-Waste, Athens, Greece Charles Mbohwa Department of Quality and Operations Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Adriane Bianchi Pedroni Medeiros Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Geovana Menegheti Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Justyna Milke Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland Bhartendu Nath Mishra Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Engineering and Technology, AKTU, Lucknow, UP, India Rahul Mishra CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, India Mothi Krishna Mohan Department of Science and Humanities, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India Samanyita Mohanty Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, India Pedro Moleiro Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Edison Muzenda Department of Chemical, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Botswana International University of Science and Technology, Palapye, Botswana Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Satya Narayan Naik Centre for Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India Muhammad Naqvi Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
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Contributors
Salman Raza Naqvi School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan Satyanarayana Narra Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum (DBFZ), Leipzig, Germany P. C. Nath Institute of Biotechnology and Geotectonic Studies (INBIGS), A&AA Basin, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Jorhat, India Musa Neksumi Department of Environmental Sciences, Sharda University, Noida, India Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Adamawa State Polytechnic, Yola, Nigeria Michael Nelles Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum (DBFZ), Leipzig, Germany Trust Nhubu Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Víctor Ramón Oliva-Aguilar Instituto Politécnico Nacional, EST, Mexico City, Mexico O. O. Ololade Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa I. R. Orimoloye Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa Juan Martín Ortolani Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Luís Paes São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Bauru, SP, Brazil Apurba Pal Department of Basic Science, Hoticulture College, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Rashmi Paliwal Institute of Environmental Studies, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India Monika Patel Department of Floriculture Landscape Architecture (Floriculture), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Pankaj Pathak Department of Environmental Science, SRM University – AP, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, India
Contributors
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Debasree Paul Department of Textile Engineering, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh H. M. P. Peiris Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Maskeliya Plantations PLC, Maharagama, Sri Lanka Reinalda Blanco Pereira Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Eduarda Pereira Department of Chemistry and LAQV-REQUIMTE, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Chanathip Pharino Department of Environmental Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Nuchcha Phonphoton Department of Environmental Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Cassiano Moro Piekarski Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Parwathi Pillai Nano-Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar, India José Pinheiro-Torres N9VE – Nature, Ocean and Value, Lda, Porto, Portugal José Antonio Plaza-Úbeda Department of Economy and Business, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain M. Ponnien Selvi V. V. Vanniaperumal College for Women, Madurai Kamaraj University, Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu, India Shiv Prasad Centre for Environment Science and Climate Resilient Agriculture, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Fabio Neves Puglieri Sustainable Production Systems Laboratory (LESP), Department of Industrial Engineering (DAENP), Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Rajesh Kumar Rai School of Forestry and Natural Resource Management, Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal Kamarajan Rajagopalan Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Ravikant Rajak RNTC Agriculture College, Deoghar, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
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Contributors
Poorvasandhya Rajendran Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, CAU, Imphal, India Geetanjali Rajhans Center for Biotechnology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Jayana Rajvanshi Department of Biotechnology, Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur, India Seeram Ramakrishna Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Desikan Ramesh Department of Vegetable Science, Horticultural College and Research Institute for Women, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India Vivek Rana Water Quality Management Division, Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Delhi, India Madhur Mohan Ranga Department of Environmental Science, Sant Gahira Guru University, Sarguja, Chhattisgarh, India Mansi Rastogi Department of Environmental Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India V. Rathinakumar School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India Sangeeta Raut Center for Biotechnology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Andrea Rebecchi Department of Architecture, Built environment and Construction engineering (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy Dinesh Sankar Reddy Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Andhra Pradesh, India María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero Instituto de Ingeniería del Agua y Medio Ambiente (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri Instituto de Ingeniería del Agua y Medio Ambiente (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain Pinaki Roy Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India Sushanta Saha Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, West Bengal, India Seema Sahai Amity International Business School, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India Navdeep Kaur Sahota Department of Pharmacy, Rayat-Bahra Institute of Pharmacy, Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India
Contributors
xxxix
Ankita Sahu ICAR – Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India Deepak Sakhuja Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India Rodrigo Salvador Sustainable Production Systems Laboratory (LESP), Postgraduate Program in Industrial Engineering (PPGEP), Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Ranguwal Sangeet Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India Gour Hari Santra Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Science, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan, deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Sonika Saxena Department of Biotechnology, Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur, India Jaíne Schneider Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Technology of Paraná – Campus Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, Brazil Jackson Durairaj Selvan Christyraj Scientist ‘C’, Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Johnson Retnaraj Samuel Selvan Christyraj Scientist ‘C’, Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Sudip Kumar Sen Biostadt India Limited, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India Jasmine Sethi Department of Biotechnology, Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur, India Hande Sezgin Textile Technologies and Design Faculty, Textile Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Ramica Sharma Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sachdeva College of Pharmacy, Gharuan, Punjab, India Surbhi Sharma Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India Vivek Sharma Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India School of Life Sciences, SIILAS campus, Jaipur National University, Jaipur, India
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Contributors
Vicky Shettigondahalli Ekanthalu Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany Naresh Gopal Shrivastava Pollution Control Research Institute, BHEL, Ranipur, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India Hari Om Shukla Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation, Prayagraj, UP, India Carlo Signorelli School of Medicine, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy Amandeep Singh Department of Polymer Science and Technology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India Ekta Singh CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, India Gurinder Singh Amity International Business School, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India Meenu Singh Department of Biotechnology, IILM-College of Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida, UP, India Vijay Kant Singh Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India Bireswar Sinha Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, CAU, Imphal, India Annabelle Joy Siril School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Penang, Malaysia Tatiana S. Smirnova R&D Center for Waste and Secondary Resources Management, Ecological Industrial Policy Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Moscow, Russian Federation Department of Industrial Ecology, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University), Moscow, Russian Federation Carlos Ricardo Soccol Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Praveen Solanki Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, India G. Ashwin Sriram School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India Neelam Srivastava Pollution Control Research Institute, BHEL, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India Franco Sebastián Suarez Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil
Contributors
xli
Ravichandran Subramaniam Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India M. R. Sudhir Department of Civil Engineering, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India Evangelin Ramani Sujatha Centre for Advanced Research on Environment, School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, India Shouheng Sun LaboNFC, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, QC, Canada Banerjee Sushmita Department of Environmental Sciences, Sharda University, Noida, India Devanshi Sutaria Department of Biotechnology, Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur, India Eduardo Bittencourt Sydney Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Technology of Paraná – Campus Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, Brazil Amir Hoshang Taheri Department of Chemical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore Mohammad Tanhaei Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore Ricardo Tejeida-Padilla Instituto Politécnico Nacional, EST, Mexico City, Mexico Daniel Poletto Tesser Sustainable Production Systems Laboratory (LESP), Department of Industrial Engineering (DAENP), Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Ponta Grossa, Brazil Ramasundaram Thangaraj Vermitechnology and Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India Anita Tomar Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation, Prayagraj, UP, India Tito Trindade Department of Chemistry and CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal G. Venkatesam Municipal Administration, Hyderabad, India Sabrina Vieira Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Technology of Paraná – Campus Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, Brazil Lim Jun Wei Fundamental and Applied Science Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
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Contributors
Yashwant Singh Yadav Institute of Biotechnology and Geotectonic Studies (INBIGS), A&AA Basin, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Jorhat, India Ipek Yalcin-Enis Textile Technologies and Design Faculty, Textile Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Leong Siew Yoong Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia Ananthanarayanan Yuvaraj Vermitechnology and Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India Mohd Zishan Department of Agricultural Sciences, Sharda University, Noida, India
Part I Solid Waste Management, Municipal Solid Waste Management, and Food Waste Management
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Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries: Towards a Circular Economy Zobaidul Kabir and Mahfuz Kabir
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Potential of MSW to Contribute Circular Economy: a Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste to energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Produce Bioenergy and Value-Added Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Situation of MSW Management in South Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Institutional Arrangement for Waste Management in South Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Generation and Composition of MSW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disposal and Treatment of MSW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Management of Waste Using WtE Technologies and Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WtE Technology and Its Potentials for Circular Economy: Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study-1: Waste-to-Energy in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study-2: Waste to Energy in United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study-3: Estonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Way Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annexure-A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4 5 6 6 10 10 11 15 17 18 20 20 23 24 25 26 29 30 33
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of how sustainable solid waste management practices contribute to circular economy. As a paradigm shift, circular economy may contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specially the Goals 11 and 12. It is well recognized that current Z. Kabir (*) School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah, Australia e-mail: [email protected] M. Kabir Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_1
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global consumption levels and the associated over-reliance on waste disposal and emissions are unsustainable. This chapter has identified how Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) with good practice can lead to circular economy in the context of developing countries with particular focus on South Asian countries. First, this chapter has provided an introduction including the objectives of the chapter. Second, this chapter discussed the potential of solid waste management (e.g., waste to energy) to create circular economy based on literature. Third, the situation of MSW management including generation, composition, collection, disposal, and treatment of MSW in South Asian countries was analyzed. Fourth, developing countries were presented as case studies to learn lessons on how good practice of MSW management using WtE technology can lead towards a circular economy. Fifth, discussions included the potential of circular economy from WtE and issues relating to WtE for South Asian countries. Finally, this was followed by conclusions. Keywords
Circular economy · Sustainability · Municipal solid waste · Technology · South Asia
Introduction The notion and practices of circular economy (CE) have been gaining considerable attention as means of achieving local, national, and global sustainability since it has the potential to address the manifold challenges of development and environment posed by overconsumption of resources at local and global levels. The materials extraction at the global level was nearly 89 gigatons (Gt) in 2017, which is projected to reach 167 Gt by 2060 (OECD 2018). CE practices offer opportunities to address the waste management through recycling and reuse, which would be especially beneficial for low- and middle-income countries that mostly manage industrial and final consumer wastes through landfilling (Tisserant et al. 2017). Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) defined that a CE is “an industrial economy that is restorative or regenerative by intention and design” (EMF 2013) and “restorative and regenerative by design and aims” (EMF 2015). Thereafter, the notion of CE heavily implies a restorative and regenerative economy. The practices and principles of CE would help achieve many targets of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG 8 is aimed to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all on increasing resource efficiency. The CE practices can directly contribute to achieving 21 of the targets and indirectly contribute to achieving an additional 28 targets. The CE practices would help directly achieve five SDGs, which are SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production), and SDG 15 (life on land) having high scores both for direct and
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Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries: Towards a Circular Economy
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indirect contributions. However, it can promote achieving three additional SDGs indirectly, that is, SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), and SDG 14 (life below water) (Schroeder et al. 2019). Table 11 (Annexure-A) shows the relevance of SDGs and subsequent targets to sustainable waste management and circular economy. The urban population is on the increase all over the world along with improving standards of living, which is accompanied by rising rate of resource use and massive waste generated from residential, industrial, commercial, and institutional sources. Consequently, the generation of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) has emerged as a daunting challenge for decision-makers, especially in the developing countries in the context of attaining the SDGs. Conventional landfilling approach of waste management leads to a number of ecological and environmental damages, such as evaporation of leachates, infections, nuisance odors, presence of UV quenching substances in leachate and contaminated streams. Therefore, municipal authorities are looking for sustainable management strategies for wastes aiming to reduce waste generation and ensure optimal recovery of resource from wastes through CE practices (Bagheri et al. 2020). One of the key options of reducing waste generation and achieving circular economy is the recovery of energy from MSW. While developed countries have already adopted technologies for recovery of energy from MSW, developing countries are still lagged behind in good practice of MSW management. With this in mind, the aim of this chapter is to understand the prospects of WtE practice in developing countries to promote circular economy particularly in the South Asian context.
Potential of MSW to Contribute Circular Economy: a Literature Review The most recent literature indicates that the MSW management can be conducted in the following areas within the CE framework (Fig. 1): Fig. 1 A typical process of circular economy. Source: Adapted from FernándezDelgado et al. (2020)
Plants growing
Fertilizer production
Food consumption Circular Economy
Organic matter recovery
Waste collection
Mixed municipal waste compost
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Waste to energy The traditional fossil fuels that dominate the global energy market cause considerable damage to environmental due to emission of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the policymakers and scientific community are paying considerable attention towards alternative, economical, renewable, and green sources of energy and at the same time manage the ever-growing waste in a sustainable manner. Given this backdrop, wasteto-energy (WtE) is a sustainable approach to managing the waste (Sharma et al. 2020a) in which, a raw material of energy, waste can solve three problems: waste management, produce clean energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emission. Thus, WtE plays a key role in establishing circular economy. The WtE technologies utilize the 5R principles, viz. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, Recovery, and Reclamation. Efficient WtE technologies convert wastes into energy, which are easy to operate, costeffective, and helpful in shifting from linear to circular economy (Sharma et al. 2020a). The WtE technology for generating renewable energy from solid waste helps recover energy from municipal solid wastes instead of landfill disposal as well as reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Bagheri et al. 2020). Nevertheless, the WtE projects have not been widely installed in most of the municipalities in the world, especially in the low- and middle-income countries, even though there is a growing interest on such technologies, such as landfill gas recovery, thermal WtE systems, and biological system among some cities within the CE framework which is expected to address manifold environmental and health concerns emanating from municipal wastes (Bagheri et al. 2020). Therefore, investment can be encouraged in WtE sector, which has considerable business potential with financial value in new “circular business” models. It needs to change the mindset of the potential investors towards willingness to recycle the MSW. The organic portion of MSW, such as yard waste which constitutes 54–64 per cent of total MSW, can also be used to produce energy (Sharma et al. 2020b). Reduce CO2 emission: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is a carbon removal technology, which can be used to remove net carbon dioxide (CO2) permanently from the atmosphere. Organic waste from MSW can be a notable resource of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Pour et al. (2018) conducted an environmental impact assessment, which demonstrates that nearly 0.7 kg CO2-eq is removed for each kg of wet MSW incinerated. It implies around 2.8 billion tons CO2 if 4 billion tons of MSW generated annually by 2100 is utilized in Carbon Capture and Storage system, which is quite significant to counter GHG emission (Pour et al. 2018). Thus, MSW-based BECCS technologies can be a gamechanger for abating and removing considerable amount of the GHGs from the atmosphere and thus contribute in attaining emission reduction targets.
Produce Bioenergy and Value-Added Products The MSW can be effectively used in a closed loop integrated refinery platform to generate bioenergy and manufacture value-added products. The biodegradable solid
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waste can be treated to produce bioenergy, for example, bio-hydrogen, bio-methane, bioelectricity, and value-added products, such as Butanol, Ethanol, Methanol. Internal combustion engines can be used to process the waste for generating energy, while nonbiodegradable portion of the MSW can be used for construction and pavement processes of civil engineering. Applying CE approach to recycling and reuse of nonbiodegradable wastes for civil construction as well as producing energy and value-added products can effectively reduce the landfilling problems, saving energy, and reverse the emission of GHGs. It is evident that the MSWs originate from households, commercial, educational, and constructional activities, including wastes generated from office buildings, marketplaces, shops, cafeterias or restaurants, educational institutions, industrial sites, water and wastewater/sewage facilities, construction and demolition sites, agricultural land, and farms. There are many technologies of WtE for treatment of MSW. The major content of MSW particularly in developing countries is organic matter (Khan and Kabir 2020) or biodegradable waste. It is well recognized that the treatment of biodegradable waste produces bioenergy and bi-products that may add value to CE. Municipal biodegradable waste or bio-waste can be used to produce biogas containing rich methane through anaerobic digestion (AD) process, which can be a fuel for combustion in transport or energy production (Nuhaa 2019). AD technique can be applied to stabilize a large volume of municipal organic solid waste (MOSW) and at the same time recover energy and nutrients. In other words, it provides renewable materials and fuels through sustainable manner and thus contributes to circular economy (Antoniou et al. 2019). Currently, biogas industry is growing steadily because of apparent substantial reduction operating costs of AD facilities and associated costs of the capital. The AD and composting can be applied to treat MOSW to recover both renewable energy and nutrients. These two technologies can play a key role in achieving circular economy by diverting MOSW from landfill and burning and improving the circularity of biological nutrients even though there is significant improvisation of the technologies before adoption at large scale (Zhang et al. 2019). Luis et al. (2019) argue that as much as 60 million tons of solid waste could be recycled in Europe by using AD and composting technologies, which could help save nearly one million tons of nitrogen and 20 million tons of organic carbon. Currently, most of which are lost through landfilling organic waste ― European countries recycle only 5% of the total MOSW. The countries could replace up to 30% of chemical fertilizer (i.e., 1.8 million tons phosphate) per annum by recycling and reusing OSWs (Luis et al. 2019). A range of green and clean products, fertilizer, heat, clean fuel, plant and soil nutrients, and methane can be generated from MOSW if different processing technologies are applied. Also, dark fermentation process is another technology in which MOSW can be used to recover energy. It is an intermediate process within the AD to release hydrogen. Traditional steam reforming of methane and noncatalytic partial oxidation of fossil fuels are more energy-intensive and require greater petroleum resources than production of hydrogen from MOSW (Zhang et al. 2019). Several important acids are also produced by adopting the AD technology, which are used in industries. Volatile fatty acids (VFAsz), short-chain aliphatic carboxylic acids, are generated as intermediate goods during the AD process. Solid wastes
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being utilized as raw materials instead of petroleum resources are currently for industrial VFAs, which is an important approach of circular economy. These acids can be of potential use in a range of industrial processes. For example, acetic acid can be applied in pharmaceutical industries, propionic acid in manufacturing paints, butyric acid in perfumes, and caproic acid in the preparation of food additives. The mixed solution of these VFAs can be used in wastewater treatment plants for biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, biosynthesis of mixed alcohols, and manufacturing of biodegradable plastics. The VFAs can be used in generating power in microbial fuels cells and serving as the source of carbon for bioprocessing of biodiesel (González-Garcia et al. 2019). Among others, lactic acid is used for production of acrylic acid, biodegradable polymers, pyruvic acid, and propanediol (Phanthumchinda et al. 2018). Factors such as level of acidity, temperature, and nitrogen concentration are controlled in fermentation of industrial production. Food wastes and organic fraction of MSW can be processed using microbes during the acidogenic phase in the AD processes (Gu et al. 2018). Zhou et al. (2018) argue that the acidogenic biodegradation of wastes can lead to biosynthesis of other chemicals together with VFAs, lactic acid, and hydrogen. One of the biproducts is succinic acid that can be used in manufacturing of inks, polymers, and pharmaceuticals and is bio-synthesized via the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA). E-waste management: In recent years, e-wastes are the most recent MSWs of major concerns in terms of both landfilling and recycling. Interestingly, an average 0.347 kg of gold can be extracted from recycling one ton of mobile phones, which is 80% of the material value of waste mobile phones. The e-waste valorization is an important management option to optimize the entire system and extract the maximum possible valuable materials from MSW. Within the framework of the CE, all phases of lifecycle of an electronic product must be connected and directed to a return system for e-waste. In this framework, Reverse Logistics, remanufacturing, and redesigning are required as tools to implement a circular pattern in the stream of e-wastes (Ottoni et al. 2020). Table 1 shows the retention options applied for circular e-waste management. Waste composting at landfill sites: Waste composting is another dimension of integrated management of MSW, which is recently becoming popular. Using compost improves soil properties and helps reduce the dependence on chemical fertilizers and minimization of environmental pollution. Composting on a landfill surface fosters to close the waste loop and material cycle, which appears to be as convenient means of management of the organic MSW. However, since composting through open landfill has a number of negative externalities including environmental pollution, closed landfill cell would be more appropriate for composting (Vaverková et al. 2020). The gas that is generated from landfills (usually 400–500 cubic meters from one ton of degradable waste) contains substantial amount Green House Gases (GHGs) such as carbon-di-oxide (CO2) and methane. Emission of these gases goes to the air and increases the pollution as well as temperature. The hazardous chemicals including leaking of toxins from landfills may contaminate soil and water. Furthermore, infiltrated toxic materials cause the pollution of ground water. The animals and human health are also affected by waste from landfills.
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Table 1 Retention options applied for a circular e-waste management model Option R0 Refuse R1 Reduce
R2 Re-use/Re-sell R3 Repair R4 Re-furbish R5 Re-manufacture R6Re-propose/ Rethink R7 Re-cycle
R8 Recover (energy) R9 Re-mine
Description Refrain from buying; make product redundant (abandoning its function or offering this function with a different product) Use less, use longer; recently: share the use of products; increase efficiency in product manufacture or use by consuming fewer natural resources and materials Buy second hand (good conditions, fulfills its original function), or find buyer for your nonused produced/possibly some cleaning, minor repairs Making the product work again by repairing or replacing deteriorated parts Restore an old product and bring it up to date Use parts of discarded product in a new product with the same function Buy new product with new function Process materials to obtain the same (high grade) or lower (low grade) quality. Consumer must dispose separately; buy and use secondary materials Energy production as by-product of waste treatment Buy and use secondary materials from landfills
Source: Modified from Ottoni et al. (2020)
On the other hand, the AD is a cost-effective means of biological treatments of the municipal bio-waste, which can generate nutrient-rich digestate and reduces natural impacts of the waste transfer. The digestate can be used as fertilizer or organic alteration for farming to provide vitality and recover other nutrients in the farm (Thiriet et al. 2020). Apposite biochemical technologies can be used to treat the MOSW for producing compost, the nutrient-rich fertilizers that contain nutrients, for example, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (Thiriet et al. 2020). Plasma gasification: Besides processing through biological techniques, such as composting, aerobic and anaerobic digestion, two other techniques can be applied for making MSW useful, viz. hydrothermal (e.g., wet oxidation, thermal hydrolysis, liquefaction, and carbonization) and thermochemical (e.g., gasification, pyrolysis, and incineration). These techniques enable the useful and value-added processing of the MSWs. However, plasma gasification, an emerging thermochemical technique, can be suitable for MSW disposal and value processing as it can be used (i) extract recyclable goods from landfill waste and (ii) convert carbon-based waste materials into syngas and fuel energy. It can also help achieve zero-waste accumulation, which is a crucial objective of the CE. Table 2 shows the techniques of recovering of energy from MSW. Separation of valuable matters from fly ashes: MSW incineration fly ashes can contain high concentrations of zinc and other valuable matters, such as copper, lead, tin, and antimony. Selectively volatilizing and condensing them in thermal processes would be necessary to separate these elements from fly ashes. Therefore, an
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Table 2 Techniques of extracting resources from MSW Techniques Biological
Outputs from MSW Biogas or compost
Hydrothermal
Extracts valuables from waste Charcoal, oil, syngas, or heat
Thermochemical
Remarks Expensive, inefficient for hazardous waste, requires a large area, slow process Relatively fast and environmentally safe, but incurs higher operational costs Fast and environmentally safe, but incurs higher operational costs
Source: Scarlat et al. (2019)
important CE approach to MSW would be to develop fly ash treatment technologies for recovery of valuable metals and metalloids from the ash. It can be done through destruction, stabilization, or removal of harmful compounds in the ash, thereby facilitating safe disposal, storage, and re-utilization of the ash in a circular manner. Thus, thermal ash treatment technologies would be useful in separating valuable materials and removing harmful matters from fly ashes destructing injurious organic pollutants by volatilization (Lindberg et al. 2015). Valuable metals and materials can also be separated from fly ash through applying differences in metal volatilities at different temperatures and in different gas atmospheres (Lane et al. 2020). Produce organic carbon: Soil organic carbon (SOC) is necessary for agricultural production as improves physical soil conditions, nutrient retention, bacterial diversity, and fertility of the agricultural land. Humic substances, a typical SOC, can be used in agricultural lands to enhance plant growth and water holding capacity, and strengthening their bactericidal and fungicidal properties (Kanmaz 2019). SOC also plays important role in mitigating the global warming. Even the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere increases notably if small losses in SOC take place (Kanmaz 2019). The SOC can be generated from processing mixed municipal waste as well.
The Situation of MSW Management in South Asia Institutional Arrangement for Waste Management in South Asia There are policies and plans for management of MSW in all South Asian Countries. For example, the Ministry of Environment and Forest in India issued MSW (Management and Handling) Rules 2000 (amended as Solid Waste Management Rules 2016) to ensure proper waste management and new updated draft rules have recently been published. In general, municipal authorities or city corporations are accountable for executing these rules and building infrastructure for collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing, and disposal of MSW in India. Table 3 shows the policies of South Asian countries for MSW management. Usually, MSW management in developing countries is considered public services, and therefore, this arrangement approach is appear to be weak (Khatib 2018). Although countries in South Asia have introduced rules and regulations for MSW management, the implementation of the rules is a challenge. Many cities in India, for
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Table 3 Policy and legislations for MSW management in South Asian countries Countries India
Bhutan Maldives Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
Afghanistan
Policy potions Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules, 2015 E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 Nation al Strategy on Integrated Solid Waste Management 2007 The Waste Prevention and Management Act and Regulation, 2012 National Solid Waste Management Policy 2008 Environmental Prevention and Protection Act 1993 Environmental Policy and Action Plan 1993 Solid Waste Management National Policy 1996 Solid Waste Management Act of 2011 Solid Waste (Management and Resource Mobilization) Act 2013 Environmental Protection Act 1997 Hazardous Substance Rules 2003 Guidelines for Solid Waste Management 2005 Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005 Municipal Council Ordinance 1947, Urban Council Ordinance 1987 Pradeshiya Sabha Act 1917 National Waste Management Policy 2018 Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 National Renewable Energy Policy 2008 National Solid Waste Management Handling Rules 2010 Comprehensive Healthcare Waste Management Plan 2014
Source: Khatib (2018), Kabir and Khan (2020), Pucino (2016), Phuntsho et al. (2010), and Asian Development Bank (2013)
example, are still incapable of complying with regulations due to lack of manpower. This situation is being exacerbated due to rapid urbanization and population growth (Sharma et al. 2020a). The policies and acts mentioned in Table 3 emphasize waste management in municipal and urban areas. The review of the policies and regulations indicates that the key and common objectives of policies and acts are to (1) make MSW management simple and effective, (2) minimize the impacts of solid waste on public health and environment, (3) treat solid waste as resources, (4) include private sector participation for effective MSW management, and (5) increase awareness about better management of MSW through public participation.
Generation and Composition of MSW South Asia is one of the fastest growing region where the generation of total waste is expected to triple than double by 2050 and this means the amount of waste generation will be increasing rapidly. The reasons behind the increasing the generation of waste include repaid urbanization, population growth, and the
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increasing economic growth. Population of South Asian is about 1.4 billion or 1/5th of the world population and by 2050, the population is likely to exceed 2 billion (World Bank 2012). In 2016, the total generation of waste in South Asia region amounted to 334 million tons (World Bank 2018). The average generation of waste is 0.52 kilogram per person each day much lower than the global average 0.72 kilogram per day. Among the South Asian countries, the Maldives generates the highest amount of waste per capita, 1.5 kilogram per day. This is due to its relatively higher income than other South Asian countries and intensive tourism activities upon which the economy of Maldives mostly depends. The waste generation rates vary widely in South Asia, with cities such as Kabul in Afghanistan generates about 1.5 kilograms per capita per day, and cities such as Thimphu in Bhutan and Kathmandu in Nepal, generate only about 0.2 kilogram per capita per day (Asian Development Bank 2013; World Bank 2018). Table 4 shows the sources and types of MSW generated. Table 4 Sources and types of waste Source Residential
Typical waste generators Single and multifamily dwellings
Industrial
Light and heavy manufacturing, fabrication, construction sites, power and chemical plants
Commercial
Stores, hotels, restaurants, markets, office buildings, etc.
Institutional
Schools, hospitals, prisons, government centers New construction sites, road repair, renovation sites, demolition of buildings Street cleaning, landscaping, parks, beaches, other recreational areas, water and wastewater treatment plants Heavy and light manufacturing, refineries, chemical plants, power plants, mineral extraction and processing Crops, orchards, vineyards, dairies, feedlots, farms
Construction and demolition Municipal services
Process (manufacturing, etc.) Agriculture
Source: Asian Development Bank (2013)
Types of solid wastes Food wastes, paper, cardboard, plastics, textiles, leather, yard wastes, wood, glass, metals, ashes, special wastes (e.g., bulky items, consumer electronics, white goods, batteries, oil, tires), and household hazardous wastes Housekeeping wastes, packaging, food wastes, construction and demolition materials, hazardous wastes, ashes, special wastes Paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, food wastes, glass, metals, special wastes, hazardous wastes Same as commercial Wood, steel, concrete, dirt, etc.
Street sweepings; landscape and tree trimmings; general wastes from parks, beaches, and other recreational areas; sludge Industrial process wastes, scrap materials, off-specification products, tailings Spoiled food wastes, agricultural wastes, hazardous wastes (e.g., pesticides)
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Table 5 Average waste composition in various income group countries Type of countries Low income group Middle Income Countries High Income Countries
Organic (%) Paper (%) Plastic (%) Metals and glass (%) Others (%) 64 6 9 6 15 56 12 13 7 12 28
30
11
13
18
Source: Kumar and Samadder (2017a)
While the generation of waste is increasing rapidly, the composition of waste, however, varies considerably from one country to another. This is due to level of income, life style and the quality of life, cultural heritage, geographic location, and domination of weather condition (World Bank 2012). In particular, the composition of MSW differs from high income countries to low income countries. Indeed, the quality of life and lifestyle of people and GDP characterize the percentage composition. Table 5 shows the variability of waste composition by income level worldwide. In South Asia, the MSW is composed of Foods and green (Organic), rubber, metal, paper, plastic, wood, and others. More than half (57%) of waste in the South Asia region is organic as indicated by Fig. 2. This is because countries of South Asia are in between middle and low incomes. The other major components are other (15%) such as leather, paper (10%), plastic (8%), and glass (4%) (Asian Development Bank 2013). The organic component of MSW of South Asia is much higher than the usual content of 28% in developed countries (World Bank 2012). This major part of MSW can be converted to fertilizer or used to generate biogas using anaerobic digestion plants. Figure 2 shows the composition of MSW in South Asia.
Waste Generation and Composition in Bangladesh Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with more than 160 million people living in 147,570 square kilometers of land. Of the total population, only 30% people are living in urban areas, although the density of urban population and expansion of urban area is rapidly increasing due to rural to urban migration. Indeed, urbanization in Bangladesh is changing at a rapid pace where population growth rate in urban areas is 3%, much higher than the national average 1.31%. The generation of waste particularly in the densely populated cities is more than other urban areas including district towns and upazilla (subdistrict) towns (There are 336 municipalities including 8 cities, 56 district towns and paurasavas (sub-districts) in urban Bangladesh in addition to 200 sub-districts those are not yet declared Paurosava). The cities are facing challenges with waste management due to the generation of huge amount of waste. However, generation of MSW varies from city to city. For example, the Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh, generates highest amount of waste 4334.52 kg per person per year. The lowest total generation of waste is in Barisal city which is 134.38 kg (Ahmed et al. 2018). In 336 municipalities including eight cities of Bangladesh, the waste generation varies from 0.25 to 0.56 kg per person per day (UNDP 2017). It is to be noted that there is a variation
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Fig. 2 MSW composition in South Asia. Source: World Bank (2018)
in waste generation rate in dry and rainy season. Waste contains a great amount of moisture during the rainy season and therefore the weight of the bulk of the waste is more than that of in dry season. Furthered, the generation of MSW is increasing. The projection on the generation in Dhaka city, for example, indicates that municipal waste of Dhaka north city which is 1,050,000 ton in 2016–2017 will likely to increase nearly about 1,200,000 ton of waste in 2021–2022. The MSW in Bangladesh is composed of compostable waste (e.g., food waste), paper, plastic, metal, wood, textile, glass, and wreckage. The density of these materials in per cubic meter is compostable 240 kg, paper 85 kg, plastic 65 kg, metal 320 kg, wood 240 kg, textile 65 kg, glasses 195 kg, and wreckage 480 kg (UNDP 2017). A recent study on waste composition in four major cities indicates that on an average MSW including food and vegetable waste 70%, paper 4.5%, plastics 5.3%, metals 0.7%, wood grasses and leaves 4.5%, rags, textile and jute 3.7%, glasses 0.3%, organic noncompostable 7%, and others 3%. However, it is to be noted that the composition of MSW varies from one city corporation to another.
Waste Generation and Composition India India, one of the countries with 1.3 billion population where 377 million people live in urban areas generate 62 million tons of MSW every year (Nixon et al. 2017). India generates approximately 133,760 tons of MSW per day. The per capita generation of MSW in India ranges from approximately 0.17 kg per day in small towns and to approximately 0.62 kg per person per day in cities. It has been estimated that the amount of waste generation is expected to increase by 5% per year due to population
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and economic growth and change of lifestyle (Sharma and Jain 2019) in addition to density of population in urban areas and their income, commercial activities, culture, and the city of region. India generated 31.6 million tons of waste in 2001 and is currently generating 47.3 million tons. By 2041, the generation of MSW in urban areas in India is projected to be 0.7 kg per person per day or 161 million tons. This amount is approximately four to six times higher than the MSW generated in 2001 (Sharma and Jain 2019). Given the increasing amount of waste, in urban areas of India, 1240 hectors of land is required for landfills every year. The composition of MSW in India varies significantly between urban and rural areas. Overall, the MSW consists of high percentage of organic content. The percentage of paper, plastic, glass, and metal is often found to be low. This is particularly when rag pickers collect recyclable materials from disposed MSW.
Other South Asian Countries Total MSW generation in Pakistan is roughly 20 million tons annually with annual growth rate of 2.4%. The generation of MSW in Pakistan ranges between 0.283 and 0.612 kg/capita/day and the waste generation growth rate is 2.4% per year. Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, generates more than 9,000 tons of MSW daily (Bioenergy Consult, 2020). Broadly the composition of household waste includes 71% organic wastes, 12% plastics, 7.5% paper and paper products, 5% dirt and construction debris, and 1.5% medical and other waste. The composition of other sources such as commercial including restaurants and hotels shows high percentage of organic waste (Bioenergy Consult, 2020). Based on 58 municipalities, Nepal generate 524,000 tons of total MSW. The waste composition analysis indicates that the highest waste fraction is organic matter (66%), followed by plastics (12%), paper and paper products (9%), glass (3%), metals (2%), textile (2%), rubber and leather (1%), and others (5%). Sri Lanka generates 80 million and 150 million tons of MSW per year and per capita waste generation ranges from 0.2 to 1.7 kg per day. Bhutan is a small country but the generation of waste per capita is 0.53 kg per day. Tables 6 and 7 show the summary of waste generation and composition of MSW in South Asian countries, respectively. Table 7 shows that in South Asian countries, the composition of MSW shows almost similar pattern where most of the MSW is organic. The portion of organic matter of MSW ranges from 51% to 76%. Sri Lanka shows the highest portion (76%) of organic of MSW where India shows the lowest portion (51%) of organic of MSW among the South Asian countries. The other materials of MSW include plastic, paper, glasses, metals, and others. The use of technology for generation of energy from MSW often depends on the composition of MSW of a country.
Waste Collection The coverage of Municipal Waste Collection in South Asia is about 77 percent excluding Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan where data are not available (World Bank 2018). However, the coverage of collection varies remarkably from one country to another. For example, a survey indicates that 62% of total MSW is
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Table 6 MSW generation in South Asia by countries Countries Pakistan India
Nepal Bhutan Bangladesh Maldives Sri Lanka
Afghanistan
Total MSW generation per year (tons) Total 20 million Total 62 million
Total 524,000 tons in 58 municipalities Total 43,700 tons from 61 town Total 22.4 million tons Total 365,000 tons Total 11.5 million tons from 311 municipalities Total 394,200 tons in Kabul city
Per capita per day (kg) 0.283 to 0.612 kg 0.17 to approximately 0.62 kg 0.66 kg
Growth rate of MSW generation/ year 2.4% 5%
0.53 kg
–
0.25 to 0.56 kg 0.3 to 2.5 kg 0.2 to 1.7 kg p
3.5% – By 2025, this rate will be increased to about 1.8 million tons per day NA
0.31 and 0.43 kg
–
Source: United Nations Centre for Regional Development (2017)
Table 7 Composition of MSW in South Asia by countries Countries Nepal Bangladesh Sri Lanka Maldives India
Organic 56 71 76 75 51
Plastics 16 7 6 3 10
Paper 16 5 11 5 7
Glass 3 – 1 4 3.4
Metals 2 – 1 3 2.6
Others 7 16 5 10 26
Pakistan Bhutan
71 58
12 17
7.5 13
5 3.7
– 0.7
1.5 7.6
References World Bank (2012) UNDP (2017) World Bank (2012) Pucino (2016) Sharma et al. (2020b) World Bank (2012) Phuntsho et al. (2010)
collected. This collection efficiency is better than the average for low-income countries (41%) although a bit lower than the average of South Asia (77%). The services of waste collection in South Asian cities is not door-to-door services except a few parts of some cities. For example, in Navi Mumbai, India, waste collectors notify residents to carry waste to the collection vehicles (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs 2016) and Sri Lanka recently started the provision of door to door collection (World Bank 2018) in some parts of the city of Colombo. The residents dispose their household waste at primary collection point and municipalities collect the aggregated using their transport and dispose the waste to the final disposal site. This is the most common practice of waste collection in South Asian urban areas with a few exceptions. This means there is limited scope to segregate waste based on the characteristics of waste by waste producers including households. In addition, informal waste collection and materials recovery activities are also common in South Asia where city corporations and municipalities partly adopt
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private firms for collection and transport of MSW. There are active waste pickers in cities and the number of waste pickers varies between 150 and 1,20000. It is to note that the large cities such as Dhaka in Bangladesh and Delhi in India, there are 120,000 and 90,000 active waste pickers individually (Asian Development Bank 2013). Such unorganized waste pickers collect mostly recyclable materials and sell the collected materials to retailers (scavengers) and the retailers supply the recyclables to the recycling companies. Overall, the collection of MSW in South Asian countries gives a dismal picture. For example, present collection efficiency on an average is 62% in Nepal’s municipalities and only around 40% waste is collected of the total MSW generated in Sri Lanka. Dhaka City Corporation in Bangladesh collect 44% of MSW generated per day. Similarly, in Pakistan, only 60% is collected by the municipal authorities. However, India is performing well in waste collection relatively to other countries where 82% of waste is collected of total MSW generated.
Disposal and Treatment of MSW The management of MSW however is inefficient and poor in developing counties where most of the MSW are dumped in open fields located near the cities (World Bank 2018). The South Asian countries are not exception to this practice. Although there are landfills for dumping MSW, most of the landfills in South Asian Countries are lacking in the collection of leachate and treatment and collection of gas from landfills (World Bank 2012). This poor management practice of MSW affects both environment and public health. The consequence of poor management system of waste is severe particularly to the vulnerable poor families who can come direct contact to the contaminated waste and their health can be affected. The environmental and social cost is also high. The poor management system of waste damages the soil quality, underground water, emits GHSs and odor, and thereby creates hazard and risk for residents and nature. The dumping of waste in the wetland and open field may be harmful to even animals when they consume the waste unknowingly and may affect economy of a country for example, through tourism. Table 8 shows a typical scenario of MSW disposal in countries by income. The table indicates that the countries with low income and lower middle income have more open dumping disposal practice of MSW. It is to be noted that all of the South Asian countries belong to either low income or lower middle-income economies and the percentage of open dumping of MSW is between 66% and 93%. On the other hand, the Table 8 Disposal methods by income
Countries HI UMI LMI LI
Open dumping 2% 30% 66% 93%
Landfill 39% 54% 18% 3%
Source: World Bank (2018)
Composting 6% 2% 10% 0.3%
Recycling 29% 4% 6% 3.7%
Incineration 22% 10% 1% –
Other advanced method 2% – – –
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Table 9 Current status of MSW management in India
7 8 9 10 11
Parameters House-to-house collection of waste Segregation of waste at the source Number of unsanitary landfill sites identified Number of sanitary landfill sites constructed Number of ULBs operating compost/vermicompost facilities Number of ULBs under construction compost/vermicompost facilities Number of operating pipe composting facilities Number of operating RDF facilities Number of operating biogas plants Number of energy generation plants Waste collection
12
Waste treated
1 2 3 4 5 6
Status 18 states (of 29) 5 states (of 29) 1285 95 553 143 7000 12 645 11 (6 operational) 117,644 Mt/day (82%) 32, 871 Mt/day (28%)
Source: CPCB (2016)
percentage of open dumping of MSW countries with higher income and upper middle income is much lower (only 2% and 30%, respectively) than the other countries with low and lower middle income. Recently, some governments of South Asian countries have been putting efforts for the improvement of this poor management of MSW. For example, India has been putting efforts to improve its waste management. Table 9 shows the current situation of waste management in India. Almost all cities in the South Asia region exercise some open dumping, but cities are increasingly developing sanitary landfills and pursuing recycling (World Bank 2018). Four out of the eight countries recycle between 1% and 13% of waste, and seven out of the eight countries have begun composting programs to manage organic waste (World Bank 2018). This limited process of recyclable materials cannot harness the full benefits of circular economy. One of the key reasons is, in South Asia, 44% of waste material inputs carry energy, which are burnt and therefore not recyclable and cannot add value to economy (For example, large quantity of e-waste are burnt, notably insulated copper wire, the valuable metal which can be easily recycled and treaded) (Haas et al. 2015). Figure 3 shows a typical process of MSW management in South Asian countries.
The Management of Waste Using WtE Technologies and Circular Economy One of the key options for MSW management for circular economy is the use of advanced WtE conversion technologies (Kabir and Khan 2020). There are several popular WtE conversion technologies to efficiently manage the various types of
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materials available in MSW (Ahmed et al. 2018). The most common technologies commercially available for MSW treatment and recovering energy are AD, pyrolysis, gasification, and incineration. The cost of installation and operation is the key dominant factor for adoption of these technologies. Table 10 shows the cost of installation and operation of the four WtE technologies. For example, while the installation cost for incineration and pyrolysis are same, the incineration method is preferable to pyrolysis as the operation cost of pyrolysis is higher than the incineration. While the adoption of these WtE technologies depends on installation and operational cost, the composition of waste and local context including culture, financial ability, social acceptability, land use policy, environment, and socioeconomic issues also have influence on the adoption of these advanced technologies. The use of these WtE converting technologies may reduce the overload of growing MSW on the one hand and can contribute to circular economy through generating various products and reducing environmental impacts as well as generating employment for local communities. The use of WtE energy is rapidly growing in developed countries to generate energy for electricity because substantial results of waste management using these technologies have already been proven. The developed countries are using these technologies for energy generation considering
Waste collection by Municipalities
Waste Generation
Dispose in unmanaged dumpsites
Little amount MSW go to Sanitary Landfills or incinerators
More than 30% of MSW is not collected and dumped in river, drain and open space
Fig. 3 Process of MSW management in South Asia. Source: Developed by authors
Table 10 Cost of installation and operation of WtE technologies (Conversion of MSW to useful products known as thermal efficiency, while the conversion of useful products to electricity is defined as electric efficiency)
WTE technologies Incineration Pyrolysis Gasification Anaerobic digestion
Capital cost (USD/ton of MSW/year 400–700 400–700 250–850 50–350
Operational Cost (USD/ton of MSW/year) 40–70 50–80 45–85 5–35
Thermal efficiency (Average %) 80–90 30 70 40
Electricity efficiency (Average %) 19 34 25 35
Source: Kumar and Samadder (2017b) and Kabir and Khan (2020)
Global warming potential (kg CO2 equivalent per unit MWh electricity generation) 424 412 412 222
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the technical, social, economic suitability of technology in addition to acceptance of local community. The developed countries are reducing dependency on landfills and increasingly investing on the installment of these technologies for producing energy and recovering other materials (Astrup and Davide, 2015). The WtE technologies could have a key role in achieving circular economy objectives to divert waste from landfill or open dumping. It is possible to recover energy for electricity, fertilizer, biogas or syngas, and many other organic and inorganic matter through the application of WtE technologies. While landfilling is the most common option for MSW treatment in many countries, it is the least necessary treatment in the waste management hierarchy (Achillas et al. 2011). The landfilling has relatively more environmental and social cost than the operation of WtE technologies (Khan and Kabir 2020). Therefore, the use of WtE technologies for recovering energy from waste can be a good alternative to conventional methods like landfilling. Figure 4 shows a graphic view of a theoretical WtE plant for burning waste and generating electricity. At present most of these materials are lost through the landfills and open dumping not only in South Asian countries but also in other parts of the world. Furthermore, the percentage of recycling of MSW is very low even in developed countries. From MSW only plastics, paper, glass, and metals are recyclable, and these materials consist of less than 50% of total MSW generated. The organic waste, major portion of MSW is not possible to treat efficiently through recycling process or using landfills. Even with intensive recycling, there is always remaining waste which has no material or market value and is in some cases classified as hazardous. This residual waste with a certain calorific value can be utilized to recover energy and substitute the use of fossil fuels (GIZ 2017). While the installation and operation cost of WtE technologies higher than the landfills, the WtE technologies are increasingly applied specially in developed countries to achieve “no waste” and the ultimate benefits of using these advanced technologies are relative higher than landfills in the long run.
WtE Technology and Its Potentials for Circular Economy: Case Studies In this section, three counties have been taken into account particularly from Europe to understand the contribution of WtE to circular economy. The case studies were selected from Europe because efforts to move toward a circular economy using WtE approach are gaining momentum particularly in this region.
Case Study-1: Waste-to-Energy in Italy Institutional Arrangement and Management of MSW Italy is one of the populous countries in Europe with over 60 million population. Although the country has 8040 municipalities, most of the population are
Anaerobic Digestion
Main useful product: Heat
Waste type: Combustible materials (moisture < 50%) Process: Thermo-chemical process at temperature above 850 degree C (highly exothermic process) Residue: Flue gas and ash
Incineration
Main useful product: Syngas
Waste type: Carbon-based waste Process: Thermo-chemical process at temperature above 650 degree C (in between exothermic and endothermic process) Residue: Solid residue of non-combustible materials
Gasification
Main useful product: Syngas
Waste type: Organic waste Process: Thermo-chemical process at temperature between 500-800 degree C Residue: Tar (liquid) and char (solid products)
Pyrolysis
Main useful product: Biogas
Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries: Towards a Circular Economy
Fig. 4 Process of waste for electricity generation by WtE technologies. Source: Adapted from Khan and Kabir (2020)
Waste
Waste type: Organic wastes & domestic sewage Process: Bio-chemical process at temperature 55-75 degree C Residue: Organic matter
Biogas Syngas Steam
Gas Engine Gas Turbine Steam Turbine
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Electricity
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concentrated in 741 municipalities where the number of inhabitants is higher than 15,000 and the rest of the municipalities are small. Italy introduced the waste legislation in 1997 (replaced by Legislative Decree in 2006) and this legislation formed the waste management system including the targets about separate collection of MSW nationwide. In 2014, the per capita waste generation in Italy was 488 kg in 2014 close to European average 476 kg. The Ministry of Environment introduced a national program for prevention (N245 2013) in 2013 with the target a 5% decrease in MSW production for 2020 and it was achieved in 2015 due to close monitoring of the efficacy of the actions proposed by plans at National, Regional, and Municipal levels under the program. The total MSW generation was 29.5 million tons in 2015 and the generation of waste is gradually decreasing. This indicates the success of the program of “prevention,” one of the keyways to improve waste management. In 2015 the total collection of recyclables was approximately 14 million tons. In 2014, 33% of MSW went to landfill, 23% to incinerators, 16% to compost and anaerobic digestion, and 28% in recycling (ISPRA 2016). Italy does not have a NWMP, because planning is authorized to regions where each region develops a management plan every 2–3 years or following the new rules when introduced by EU. However, there is the National Program for waste prevention focusing on sustainable production using suitable raw materials and technologies, green procurement. Under this program the Ministry of Environment developed a plan for the environmental sustainability for Public Administration including the activities such as re-use, research, and raising awareness and education on waste prevention (Pernice 2013). The country has taken initiative to phase-out landfilling of recyclable and recoverable waste and thereby to improve the separate collection and alternative infrastructure to improve waste treatment capacity more efficiently and finally to extend and improve the cost-effectiveness, monitoring, and transparency of existing EPR schemes (European Commission 2017a).
The WtE Technologies For generation of energy from MSW, Italy has 41 incinerators, one of the European Union countries with the highest number of incinerators in the EU. These plants treated about 5.6 million tons municipal waste including dry fraction, secondary solid fuel, and bio-dry fraction in 2015 to recover energy. However, out of these 41 plants, there are 24 plants generate energy for electricity. In 2015, these 24 plants generated 2.7 million MWh of thermal energy using 3.4 million tons of MSW. In the same year, the other 15 plants, which are equipped with co-generative cycles, treated 2.6 million tons of waste and recovered 2.7 million MWh of thermal energy and 1.7 MWh of electricity. Additionally, there is also a production of 1.6 million tons of fertilizer from aerobic and aerobic/anaerobic treatments (ISPRA 2016). In general, anaerobic digestion process is of specific attention because of its potentials within the circular economy. First, the production of renewable energy that is the production of biogas, reduction of Green House Gas emissions, steadiness of biomass, and further use of the solid residue as fertilizer (secondary raw material). In 2015 there were 26 plants equipped with this technological process and they treated about 30% of the organic fraction of collected MSW nationally.
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In general, anaerobic digestion process is of specific attention in Italy because of its potentials within the circular economy. This is because the production of renewable energy such as biogas, reduction of GHGs emissions, steadiness of biomass, and further use of solid residue as fertilizer. In 2015, there were 26 plants equipped with this technological process and they turned about 30% of the organic fraction of collected MSW nationally.
Case Study-2: Waste to Energy in United Kingdom Arrangement and MSW Management The population of the United Kingdom is 65.5 million, one of the large countries in Europe in terms of population size. The population of UK is increasing, and it is estimated the number of populations will exceed 74 million by 2039 (Office for National Statistics 2017a). For waste management, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has a policy on waste and recycling. There are three major authorities for waste management in the UK. These are the Environmental Agency which act as the main regulator, The Waste Collection Authorities which is controlled by local councils (Districts), and finally the Waste Disposal Authority to dispose waste usually at County level. The Central Government adopted the waste management policies and the local councils are accountable for waste collection and disposal. The UK government introduced Waste Regulations (amended) 2012 where the regulations include the isolated collection of waste (i.e., paper, metal, plastic, and glass), as necessary by the EU regulations. “Municipal waste” in Britain referred to all waste collected by Local Authorities, including a significant proportion of waste similar in nature and composition to household waste generated by businesses (DEFRA 2016). In 2014, total 26.8 million tons municipal waste were generated; about 10.7% of total waste (251 million tons) generated nationwide (DEFRA 2016). There is gradual decreasing in MSW production. The generation of MSW (485 kg per capita) in 2015 is approximately 20% lower than the MSW produced (615 kg per capita) in 2004. One of the key policy aspects of MSW management is to reduce MSW generation through the imposing of landfill tax. The Landfill Tax introduced by the UK in 1996 played a vital role in minimizing the generation of waste and its landfilling. Since 2011, the tax has increased by 8 pounds per ton each year and reached up to 80 pounds in 2014. By 2020, the UK has a target to reduce the amount of MSW sent to landfills particularly biodegradable waste sent to landfills. The target was to reduce the landfilled waste by 45% compared to that of in 1995. The UK successfully achieved the target. The UK presented the national waste management plan in 2013. The plan along with the Waste Strategy document indicates the UK’s aspiration of sustainable MSW management in waste management sector and ways to achieve the targets. One of the key efforts of the government is to provide incentives to reduce, re-use, and recycle waste and to recover energy from waste. Another target is to reduce the cost of waste management through landfills. To achieve the set targets, the national, regional, and local governance have clear understanding and better coordinated action to deliver services. The UK government becomes able to promote high quality recycling with
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increased frequency of waste collection. Moreover, the separate collection of waste materials such as paper and plastic simplified further recycling. Also the treatment of residual waste using WtE technology adds value to circular economy and the UK has adequate plant to treat residual waste.
Contribution of WtE to Circular Economy For WtE generation using Anaerobic Digestion (AD) technology, the United Kingdom government specifically adopted Anaerobic Digestion Strategy and Action Plan in 2011 and endorses the anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic waste (DEFRA 2016). The contribution of AD technology to circular economy, the prospective of AD the reduction of greenhouse gases, benefits from energy recovery, and recovery of gas or fertilizer were considerable characteristics. Given the contribution of AD process to circular economy, the number of AD plants in the UK became doubled in 2 years after the Strategy was released. Also, the energy recovery from residual waste from AD process (through thermal processes) was taken into account as one of the contributors to circular economy. Indeed, all opportunities of the recovery of energy and the treatment of residual waste (including those are deposited after recycling) provide more economic and environmental benefits and thereby contribute to circular economy. Jamas and Nepal (2010) concluded that energy recovery from MSW plays an important role in circular economy through both waste management strategy and renewable energy policy. Importantly, the flexibility in the choice of technology may improve the efficiency of the WtE sector and thereby contribute more in circular economy. Among the 29 energy recovery facilities, five were dedicated to MSW process with a total of 2.3 million tons annually. In addition, there are 83 facilities including incineration plants for energy recovery. These WtE facilities have capacity to treat 9.8 million tons of waste per year (DEFRA 2016). In general, the incinerators can treat about 8–9% of MSW generated in the UK with highly efficient energy recovery. The total energy recovery using WtE reached 17.4 Mtoe in 2015. More than 2 Mtoe of this energy was taken from MSW, which accounts for about 11.5% (Office for National Statistics 2017b).
Case Study-3: Estonia MSW Management and Organization: Estonia With a population of 1.315 million, Estonia is one of the leading counties in Europe to generate energy from waste. The generation of MSW in Estonia is 400 kg wellbelow the EU average of 476 kg/per capita. In Estonia, Ministry of Environment (MoE) is authorized to the implementation of waste management policy following the EU legislation and enforcement of the policy. Local councils are responsible for collection, transport, recovery, and disposal of MSW within their administrative territory under the Waste Act (Estonia Government, 2004). Waste Management Companies are selected through public procurement, collect MSW, and transport the waste. Estonia has introduced the National Waste Management Plan (NWMP) that gives a general priority to separate biowaste from mixed MSW.
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The policy measure for MSW in Estonia was effectively implemented. Estonia has introduced a landfill tax in 1990 under the Environmental Charges Act where the rate of tax depended on the type of waste. The Environmental Charges Act established that increased rates for environmental charges would be applied if the volume of waste for landfills was larger than permitted volume. In addition, Estonia also introduced a ban on the landfill of unsorted municipal waste in 2008 (European Commission 2017b). In its current National Waste Management Plan (NWMP 20142020), Estonia places an emphasis on further reduction of landfilling and the promotion of recycling. The NWMP highlights the need to meet the EU’s 2020 targets to recycle at least half of four key household waste streams glass, metal, paper, and plastic (Zamparutti et al. 2017).
WtE Technologies In the past, Estonia was dependent on Landfills and even open dumping. In order to make MSW management more efficient through avoiding environmental cost and to harness the maximum benefits MSW, there has been a major change of its MSW management system. There has been a major shift from prime reliance on landfilling to a high level of energy recovery (OECD 2018) using WtE technologies. Estonia constructed an incineration plant in 2013 and several MBT facilities in recent years. The use of advanced WtE technology for MSW management resulted in various benefits particularly the recovery of energy, use of residue, and production of various other materials. Therefore, a radical reduction of landfilled municipal waste happened. Where the landfills used 14% of the total waste, in 2013 the landfills used 8% in 2014 and 5% in 2015. Concurrently the use of WtE technologies such as incineration of MSW has increased dramatically and become the main MSW treatment option (European Commission 2017b). In 2012, the WtE technologies used 16% of total MSW. The use of MSW reached 56% of total MSW in 2014 a dramatic increase of the application of WtE technology. The introduction of a landfill tax in 1990 has also contributed to the diversion of waste from landfills.
Discussions The case studies in section “WtE Technology and Its Potentials for Circular Economy: Case Studies” demonstrate that there is a potential of WtE technologies and all the three countries are generating energy for electricity successfully and thereby contributing to circular economy. The case studies also show that they initially were dependent on landfilling for MSW management. Now they are gradually reducing dependence on landfills and increasingly shifting to the use of advanced technologies for MSW management and harnessing more benefits. All the three countries have reformed and updated their waste management policies and legislations and set targets to reduce the MSW waste at a certain level by a certain time in accordance with their own plans and European Union Directive. Importantly, each of the counties under case study has strategies and action plans for the use of WtE technologies to manage MSW efficiently. To achieve the targets, the use of WtE technologies is playing a vital
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role through recovering energy and other materials those have market value. According to Preston et al. (2019), “a suitable WtE technology for waste management not only beneficial to environmental security but also to important to furnace a circular economy.” This goes beyond the typical loop of circular economy that is avoid, reuse, and recycle and maximize the value of waste management. The member states comply with EU legislations and also developed individual national legislations given their local context. For example, the Italy introduced National Program for prevention in 2013 with a target of a 5% decrease in MSW production by 2020. Of the total collected MSW, about 40% now goes to WtE technologies such as incinerators and anaerobic digestion (ISPRA 2016). Similarly, the UK introduced National Waste Management Plan in 2013 along with the waste strategy where one of the key strategies is to recovery of energy (DEFRA 2016). These policy initiatives and enforcement of legislations enable the countries to operate WtE technologies to manage MSW successfully. Overall, the case studies demonstrate that the use of WtE is effective to contribute to circular economy. The use of WtE technologies is increasing in developed countries. Given these case studies, it is clear that the developing countries need go for adopting the advanced technology if they intend to reduce the waste smartly and contribute to circular economy. Considering the increasing MSW generation in South Asian countries based on economic growth, population size, and rapid urbanization, there is a potential to harness the benefits from waste management adoption of WtE technologies. The next subsection focuses on how MSW in South Asia can contribute to achieve circular economy.
The Way Forward To contribute circular economy using WtE as one of the best options for MSW management in South Asia, the governments need to address some issues. These issues are improved institutional development with up-to-date legislations and their enforcement, development of capacity, selection of technology, community involvement and awareness development about waste, skilled persons and technical knowhow, minimization of pollutions released WtE technologies, participation of private sector, financial investment, and market demand and supply. Some of these key issues were discussed below. Figure 5 indicates the key issues relating to the WtE technology for circular economy in South Asia. To obtain circular economy using WtE, it is imperative to address the following issues.
Improving Institutional Arrangement The adoption and implementation of suitable regulations and compulsory standards for WtE technologies with respect to circular economy is an important issue. In the countries in South Asia, although some initiatives have been taken to use WtE technologies to generate energy for electricity, the lack of adequate institutional arrangement including legislations, policies, and strategies may be the challenges to deploy and operate such advanced technologies. For example, the Government of Bangladesh has initiated to implement two WtE projects to generate energy from
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Fig. 5 Key issues towards circular economy using WtE technology. Source: Developed by authors
Partnership Awareness
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Skills
WtE technology to circular economy
Policy reform
Capacity Financing
Managing pollutants
MSW (UNDP 2016). However, it is necessary to formulate policy strategy for installation, operation, and management WtE technologies in place. Recently some developing countries are putting efforts to pursue and develop national CE policies incorporating the use of WtE technologies and strategies for MSW management. For example, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa launched the African Circular Economy Alliance in 2017 (NITI Aayog 2017). Among the South Asian Countries, India has set out a strategy for resource efficiency which recognizes the role of the WtE to CE as well as the achievement of sustainability (NITI Aayog 2017). In addition to formulation and adoption of plan and legislations suitable for WtE technology use, enforcement of legislations is important and this depends on the capacity of government. Inadequate institutional capacity may limit the procedure of corrective measures such as taxes on poor waste management, for example (Preston et al. 2019).
Improving to Current Waste Management Practice In South Asian countries, an improved waste management system is essential, where the state of current waste management is relatively poor in the absence of clear and strict laws and lack of enforcement of laws. This poor waste management system is a challenge to utilize technologies and recover the economic benefits. Most of the MSW collected are not separated from sources due to lack of proper system of collection. Most of the collected MSW are dumped in open lands with a few exceptions such as landfills and incinerators where available (e.g., in India and Sri Lanka). The recovery of energy from MSW can be a key driving force for an improved waste management system (Scarlat et al. 2019). There is also lack of knowledge and information among the residents about the value of waste. They think it is the responsibly of the Municipalities to collect, sort out, and transfer the waste and dispose at the landfills. They think waste is simply useless leftovers, not as beneficial resources. An innovative model is necessary in place instead of this end-of-pipe approach (Cholifihani 2018) allowing the recovery of energy from waste and use of byproducts such as fertilizer or other materials. Priority should be given to shift from reliance on dumping of MSW to improved waste management systems including the use of advanced technology and recovery of energy and other materials. The separation of waste at source and use of technology for particular waste can play a
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key role. Importantly, to dispose the residual waste after extraction of material resources needs investment in waste-to-energy facilities (Kumar and Samadder 2017a). There need to have a resilient and self-governing organizations to control waste management if management of MSW is to improve in South Asian countries. A clear regulation and enforcement is a must to improve the management system and to drive for innovation (Mathews and Tan 2016). Waste management services need to be made finically attractive and profitable to policy makers and companies on the one hand and provision of financial penalties in place for not complying with the regulations (Kumar and Samadder 2017a).
Selection of WtE Technology The WtE technologies if selected and used properly for the treatment of MSW have potential to increase product yields and thereby contribute to increase economic benefits for the society (Awasthi et al. 2019). There is a growing interest of adoption of WtE technology in South Asian Countries (Kumar and Samadder 2017b). SriLanka, Bangladesh, and India, for example, have already taken initiative to deploy WtE technologies. Among the WtE technologies, four technologies Anaerobic Digestion, Pyrolysis, Incineration, and Gasification are commercially viable and available to use. While all these available technologies are useful to treat MSW, the selection and adoption of technologies vary according to the composition of MSW and local context. Among the WtE methods, the AD process can be a promising one in South Asian countries for achieving and enhancing circular economy (Awasthi et al. 2019) because of the characteristics of the technology include low energy consumption, low cost and investment, high organic removal rate, and meeting the requirement of circular economy (Khan and Kabir 2020). Since 50% of total MSW in South Asia is organic, the AD process is suitable to capture biogas and other associated materials (UNDP 2017). Anaerobic digestion has already become an attractive method in Europe for the biodegradation of organic fractions derived from MSW (Scarlat et al. 2019) despite having relatively less portion (around 20–30%) of organic matter in MSW. Utilization of the organic fraction of MSW for biogas production has a large potential and many AD plants are in operation around the world (Scarlat et al. 2019). While AD technology is a suitable one for South Asian countries, other technologies can be used for MSW management since no single technique can fix the issue of waste management and due to composition of waste that may vary from country to country. Consideration of the feasibility of all WtE technologies will not only provide an adaptable waste treatment decision (organic or inorganic) but also support to recover energy and materials effectively through it (Khan and Kabir 2020). Overall, the selection of suitable technology for any developing country may depend on the waste types, capital and operational costs, technological efficiencies, and complexities involved in the availability of skilled labor, socio-economic context, and geographical locations of the facilities. Raising Public Awareness There is generally a lack of responsibility among communities towards waste management. There is a need to cultivate community awareness and change the attitude of people towards waste, as this is fundamental to developing proper and
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sustainable waste management systems (Kumar and Samadder 2017b). A certification or labeling system for circular economy products will help build awareness among consumers, encourage rapid uptake by companies, and reward leading companies (Preston et al. 2019). Community awareness programs can significantly improve segregation of waste at source. Public awareness generation is a powerful tool for driving the system in a sustainable manner and a critical part of any waste management program (ADB, 2013). The formulation of plans and MSW goals requires public involvement to decide the real requirements of local community and thereby able to prioritize MSW management options.
Minimizing Environmental and Social Impacts While the WtE technologies have potentials to recover energy and other materials and thereby contribute to circular economy, the WtE also generate some toxic pollutants those need to be addressed. The WtE technology often releases toxic materials and gas (e.g., dioxin) that may harmful to human health (Kabir and Khan 2020) and to some extent Green House Gases. Guidelines for environmental Impact Assessment for WtE technologies should be in place and an EIA needs to be undertaken before installing WtE technology given its technical nature and scope and the type of waste to be use (Kabir and Khan 2020). In addition, the government needs to set stringent operational conditions and technical requirements to minimize the environmental and health impacts associate with WtE technology operation. For example, Municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerators require effective flue gas treatment (FGT) to remove pollutants.
Conclusion The aim of this chapter was to understand the potential of the contribution of MSW to circular economy through WtE recovery process. The potential of circular economy particularly in developed countries is proven in practice. Given the huge population in developed countries particularly in South Asia, there is a potential of creation of circular economy particularly from recovery of energy from waste in addition to recycling. In this chapter, the case studies from Europe show that the countries in Europe not only focused on recycling for circular economy but also advancing on the recovery of energy from MSW to add more value to circular economy. At the same time the sustainable waste management is being achieved. Given these examples, the lessons show that the South Asian countries have huge potential to recover energy from MSW and thereby contribute to circular economy. Some countries, for example, India, have initiated to recover energy from MSW. However, there are some challenges or issues need to be addressed to contribute circular economy through WtE process. These include improving institutional arrangement and policy support, minimizing environmental and social impacts, raising public awareness, selection of WtE technology suitable to the country context, and improvement of current waste management practice.
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Annexure-A (Table 11) Table 11 Goals and targets relevant to sustainable Municipal Solid Waste management SDGs GOAL 1: No Poverty
GOAL 2: Zero Hunger
GOAL 3: Good health and wellbeing GOAL 6: Clean water and sanitation
GOAL 7: Affordable and clean energy
Targets Target 1.5: To build the resilience of the vulnerable poor people and reduce their exposure to impacts of climate change including extreme events such as cyclones by 2030 Target 2.4: To develop resilient agricultural practices with increasing production by 2030. This will support to the delivery of ecosystem services and enhance adaptive capacity to extreme events due to climate change impacts. This process in turn will increase the land and soil quality by 2030. Target 2.5: Maintaining the genetic diversity of seeds and domestic animals by 2020. Also, to promote access to benefits of all farmers. Emphasis will be given on the value of traditional knowledge in this regard. Target 3.9: To reduce the number of deaths and sufferings from illness due to hazardous waste including pollution of air, water and soil due to untreated solid waste 2030. Target 6.1: To achieve worldwide and reasonable access to safe and inexpensive drinking water for all by 2030. Target 6.3: Improvement of water quality by 2030 through the reduction of pollution and eradicating the dumping and optimizing the release of hazardous waste such as chemicals. To make half the amount of untreated waste water through recycling. Target 6.4: Efficient use of water will be increased significantly across all sectors and withdrawals and supply of water will be sustainable to make sure that nobody suffers from scarcity of water for farming as well as to meet their basic needs by 2030. Target 6.5: To implement integrated water resources management across the globe including transboundary cooperation and negotiation as appropriate by 2030. Target 6.6: To restore and conserve the aquatic ecosystem by 2020 including water bodies such as lakes, rivers, aquifers and wetland. Target 6.a: To increase global collaboration and capacitybuilding provision for developing countries where water is used in a unsustainable manner. This will require training program on water collecting, treatment, efficient use of water, waste water treatment using best available technology. Target 6.b: To provide supportive activities and enhance the involvement of local communities in the management and improvement of water quality. Target 7.1: To confirm worldwide access to reasonable, dependable and best energy services with particular focus on renewable energy by 2030. Target 7.2: To enhance significantly the portion of renewable (continued)
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Table 11 (continued) SDGs
GOAL 8: Decent work and economic growth
GOAL 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Targets energy in the energy mix worldwide by 2030. Target 7.3: To enhance the rate of energy efficiency double by 2030. Target 7.a: To augment international collaboration to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology. This will include renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced technology for clean energy in addition to promotion of investment for energy infrastructure development by 2030. Target 7.b: To increase structure and advancement technology for providing supportable energy services for all in developing countries including least developed countries. Target 8.4: Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavor to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-year framework of programs on sustainable consumption and production, with developed countries taking the lead Target 8.9: By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products Target 11.2: To provide access to safe, reasonable, and available transport systems preferably with the expansion of public system for all including people with special needs, women, children and aged persons and ensure road safety. Target 11.3: To increase all-encompassing and supportable urbanization and improve capability for development of livable human settlement with appropriate planning in all countries by 2030. Target 11.4: To enhance initiatives to prevent and maintain global cultural and natural heritage. Target 11.5: To substantially decrease the number of deaths of poor and vulnerable people due to decrease of economic loss caused by disasters by 2030. Target 11.6: To decrease the negative environmental footprint or impacts of cities with particular focus on municipal solid waste management by 2030. Target 11.7: To offer widespread admittance to safe, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities. Target 11.a: To establish optimistic economic, social and environmental links between urban, semi-urban and rural areas by developing suitable national and regional development planning. Target 11.b: To significantly enhance the number of livable smart cities through the implementation of integrated and inclusive policies and plans relating to efficient resource management, adaptation and mitigation of climate change, resilience to disasters in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. (continued)
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Table 11 (continued) SDGs GOAL 12: Sustainable consumption and production
GOAL 14: Life below water
Targets Target 12.1: To implement the 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production where actions taken by all countries both developed and developing. To implement the framework the development and capacity of developing countries need to take into account. Target 12.2: To obtain the natural resource management with more efficiency and sustainability by 2030. Target 12.3: To reduce and make half of the per capita global food waste and decrease the loss of food along the production of food and supply chains and protection of post-harvest losses by 2030. Target 12.4: To obtain environmentally sound chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, following the international provisions and substantially reduce the release of the chemicals to air, soil and water in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment by 2030. Target 12.5: To decrease the generation of waste significantly through avoidance, reduction, recycling and reuse. Target 12.6: To encourage corporates to introduce and implement sustainable practices and to incorporate sustainability reporting to share with stakeholders regularly. Target 12.7: To endorse green public procurement policies and practices through adoption of suitable national policies and priorities. Target 12.8: To confirm that people have access to relevant information and they are aware about the sustainable development and how to live with nature coherently; that is without harming the nature. Target 12.a: To move towards sustainable pattern of consumption and production it is mandatory to develop the scientific and technological capacity of developing countries. Target 12.c: To justify ineffective subsidies for fossil-fuel that inspire extravagant consumption through restructuring taxation and removing those harmful subsidies, where they exist. This is important not only for reflecting the environmental impacts but also taking into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries in addition to protect the poor and a effected communities. Target 14.1: To protect substantially marine pollution of all kinds where the pollution is occurred by land based activities including marine debris and nutrient pollution by 2025. Target 14.5: Based on the adequate scientific information and relevant national and international law it is imperative to ensure at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas as protected areas. Target 14.7: To enhance the economic benefits to developing countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism by 2030. (continued)
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Table 11 (continued) SDGs
GOAL 15: Life on land
Targets Target 14.a: To enhance knowledgebase based on scientific evidences to increase the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries including small island states. Target 14.c: To enhance the increase the maintenance and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in UNCLOS. Target 15.1: To maintain preservation, reinstatement and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands by 2020. Target 15.5: To take urgent initiative and action to combat the degradation of natural habitats including the loss of biodiversity by 2020 in addition to protection of the extinction of threatened species. Target 15.7: To take immediate action to end trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna in addition to addressing both demand and supply of illegal wildlife products. Target 15.9: By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts Target 15.b: To provide adequate incentives and technical support to developing countries so that important resources are mobilized in a sustainable fashion including management of forests and other resources. Target 15.c: Strengthening global support to reduce the illegal trafficking of protected species by enhancing the capacity and awareness of local communities. This will also provide sustainable livelihood opportunities.
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Research Trends of the Management of Solid Waste in the Context of Circular Economy Ana Batlles-de-la-Fuente, Luis Jesu´s Belmonte-Uren˜a, Jose´ Antonio Plaza-U´beda, and Emilio Abad-Segura
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste and Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evolution of Scientific Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analysis of Scientific Production by Subject Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Most Relevant Journals from 1993 to 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Most Prolific Authors from 1993 to 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Identification of the Most Relevant Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Characteristics of the Most Relevant Countries in the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analysis of the Keywords Used During 1993–2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Circular economy (CE) pursues to contribute economic prosperity and to enhance sustainability. This model focuses on the reduction of pollution, the consumption of natural resources, and the revaluation of waste. The interest in the CE and the management of solid waste are linked with regulatory changes that have been developed in recent years, mainly since 2015 with the publication of new regulations such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the agreement of the new European Union policy about CE which manages the contribution to the sustainability of solid waste management. The transition from linear to A. Batlles-de-la-Fuente · J. A. Plaza-Úbeda · E. Abad-Segura Department of Economy and Business, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] L. J. Belmonte-Ureña (*) Department of Economy and Business, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_2
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circular systems has a direct impact on business strategies, especially in areas such as operations management, environmental management, or social responsibility. This circularity, in terms of economic strategy, seeks to improve the balance between natural and social systems through a more environmental behavior of the stakeholders. In this sense, this conduct focuses on the last phase of production involved in waste management through different options such as energy source, recycling, or composting, which play a fundamental role. This highlights the influence it can have on the business models and strategies of a company. The present work focuses to provide a global standpoint of the connection between solid waste management and the different business models in the scope of the CE. In this sense, a bibliometric analysis of scientific production is proposed to obtain empirical evidence of the performance in different levels: authors, institutions, and countries, as well as an evolution of research trends by the analysis of the main keywords. Keywords
Circular economy · Bibliometric analysis · Solid waste management · Sustainable development · Environmental management practices
Introduction In recent years, there has been a growing concern on the part of society and the production sector for issues related to environmental protection and sustainability. This increased awareness has resulted in the creation of periodic summits against climate change. These summits address the necessary expansion and creation of actions that help mitigate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in addition to those actions agreed by countries at previous summits in this regard (Parker et al. 2017). Likewise, the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs pursue a process of transformation in unsustainable models of current production (United Nations 2015; Carrasco et al. 2018; Montalbán et al. 2018). In other words, new strategies need to be generated in public and private organizations that support the creation of a more sustainable economic development model that represents the counterpoint to reduce certain harmful outputs, such as pollution (Ozsabuneuoglu 1996). The stakeholders that make up the economic ecosystem should understand that it is not possible to keep up with the systemic environmental stress of the current economic model. In addition, it is distinguished by population growth, GHG concentration, energy, quality and quantity of water, minerals, and natural resources (Plaza-Ubeda et al. 2011; Reh 2013). The system of production and provision of goods and services must be reoriented to reduce the effects that these negative externalities are causing in natural and environmental ecosystems and in social and human habitat ecosystems as well. According to the commitments of the Paris Agreement (2015), within the framework of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, measures were established to reduce CO2 emissions from 2020. For this reason, from supranational
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institutions such as the United Nations (UN), strategies have been developed so that all countries have as a reference the concept of sustainable development (United Nations 2015). The new policy approaches adopted by the European Union (EU) require that companies change their current position to the new scenario of the CE, according to the regulations of the European Commission (European Commission 2018, 2019). In this sense, these institutions have generated resolutions, which have designed specific programs to promote the CE, together with a schedule to apply different measures. For all these reasons, sustainability, understood as the survival capacity in the long term, has entered the culture of organizations (Uruburu et al. 2018). All this teaches us that we should generate more environmental awareness. It is important to remember the development of theories such as functionality, ecology, and sustainable development so that our efforts join the global challenges related to sustainability (Stafford et al. 1999). Thus, the productive sector must work harder to preserve the environment, ecosystems, etc. while it rations the limited resources and their effective and sustainable management (Torres et al. 2016; Honoré et al. 2019). The CE principles are a response to the demand of companies caused by their environmental concerns. In this way, the CE refers to a business management paradigm that will facilitate the company’s transition toward a more sustainable model. The current economic model is wasteful and unsustainable. That is why governments, companies, research institutes, and NGOs are exploring ways to reuse their products or components to make sustainable consumption of materials and energy through the CE. Global initiatives seek to transform our economy and society to disassociate industrial growth and negative environmental impacts. The purpose of this research was to examine the evolution of scientific knowledge on the management of solid waste in the CE context, while the initial question was to determine how scientific activity has evolved in this area. Thus, the main objective of this study is to analyze research trends on solid waste management in the context of the CE global level during the period 1993–2019. To obtain an answer to the research question, 1096 articles from scientific journals selected from the Scopus database were analyzed. This review uses the bibliometric method to synthesize the knowledge base on management of solid waste in the CE context. Additionally, the chapter presents an approach that allows future research to clarify the interest of the scientific community in solid waste management in the CE context. This chapter has the intention of increasing the scope of the underlying effects and circumstances that determine the specific results.
Solid Waste and Circular Economy The theoretical basis of the management of solid waste in the CE context is supported by a series of theoretical principles so that their insertion in organizations is properly founded. Thus, the theoretical focus of the stakeholders is established, stated by Freeman in 1984 (de Gooyert et al. 2017). Previously, the need to disclose the active contributions of corporate social responsibility was considered. Interest in corporate responsibility has grown with increasing social demands for companies to assume the commitment of their social impacts. Thus, companies tend to change
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their business models to reflect the concepts of social responsibility, including environmental and social objectives and interaction with stakeholders (PlazaÚbeda et al. 2011; Uruburu et al. 2018). Likewise, this study is associated with concepts with a specific meaning that define the conceptual framework of this research. The linear economy model consists of extracting the raw material, manufacturing the products, and eliminating them once they have performed their function. In the last decades, work has been done on waste treatment, adding a new step in the linear economy chain to apply the 3R principle (reduce, reuse, and recycle) with the aim of reducing the amount of waste produced by the model economic (Górecki et al. 2019; Salguero-Puerta et al. 2019; Leckner and Lind 2020). In this order, the CE refers to the industrial economy that is restorative and regenerative by concept, intention, and design (Ellen Macarthur Foundation 2013; Lieder and Rashid 2016). One of its prominent characteristics is that the main energy factor or input comes from renewable energies. It eliminates or mitigates the use of toxic chemicals, byproducts, and waste through a process to minimize the resources used in manufacturing. This leads to the reduction of the energy production balance, water footprint (WF), and carbon footprint (Duque-Acevedo et al. 2020). For these reasons, a company is considered to produce under the CE model when its production process is regenerative with respect to the inputs used and has a low environmental impact, in terms of GHG and WF emissions (Zengwei et al. 2006). The optimization of the production process and minimization of negative externalities generated are the aims of the CE model. It is regenerative by design, it uses renewable energy, and it reduces the use of chemical waste (Argudo-García et al. 2017; Molina-Moreno et al. 2017; Nuñez-Cacho et al. 2018). In the CE, reuse is a symbol of good management. The 3R concept contributes to reducing the pressure on the global resource stock (Reh 2013). The EC is based on biomimetics of the life cycle but in a technological setting. The cradle to cradle theory drives the imitation of nature in the biological recycling process but with industrial materials (Ellen Macarthur Foundation 2013). Thus, the concept of biological and technological nutrients appears. Biological nutrients are materials that can be renewed without human process, whereas technological nutrients are materials or resources that cannot be processed by the biosphere and natural digesters. Therefore, humans would be responsible for their industrial digester process to mitigate its negative externality and ensure the sustainability of the process (Lieder and Rashid 2016; Nuñez-Cacho et al. 2018). These technological nutrients require specific human action at each step of the circular flow (Ellen Macarthur Foundation 2013). The materials will be completely recycled based on the idea of biomimicry, which implies that a resource is transformed and reintegrated into the biosphere without the need of any chemical process. The residues, byproducts, and waste could be converted into technological nutrients which would contribute to maintaining sustainability from an environmental and industrial point of view (Zhang and Yuan 2019). In this way, the CE is constituted as a new paradigm where all companies, regardless of the sector to which they belong, must incorporate these standards.
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Furthermore, enterprises should gradually incorporate them into their production and service delivery systems. It would require new technological solutions and business models with increasingly sustainable production, consumption, and waste management (Zengwei et al. 2006; Urbinati et al. 2017). On the other hand, solid waste refers to substances, products, or byproducts in solid or semisolid state that have gone through a manufacturing, transformation, use, consumption, or cleaning process and are destined for abandonment (Boyle 2000; Abdulkareem and Adeniyi 2019). Among these, organic wastes stand out as substances that can decompose in a relatively short time compared to inorganic wastes, which are materials and elements that do not decompose easily and suffer long degradability cycles, generating a greater environmental impact (Diaz 2007; David et al. 2020). The increasing extraction and use of resources, due to the prosperity in many regions of the world, produces more waste (Narayana 2009; Triyono et al. 2019). The average citizen generates around 5 tons of waste per year, of which only a limited amount is recycled. This means that a significant part of the waste is dumped in landfills or incinerated (Colvero et al. 2019; Tom et al. 2019). Managing increasing amounts of waste, particularly in growing urban areas, represents a significant cost for institutions and society and puts pressure on the natural environment (Ayiania et al. 2019). Nevertheless, this discarded material represents a valuable resource that can be exploited by adopting a CE model that reduces waste and allows for the reuse of resources (Chu et al. 2019; Meng et al. 2019). Proper management of the last phase of production is the key in the CE process (Vivekanand and Prakash 2019). The recovery of energy from waste also plays an important role. Waste disposal should be carried out gradually and controlled for the safety of human health and the environment (Gidarakos et al. 2006; Dehghani et al. 2019). The interest in the CE and solid waste management is linked to the regulatory changes that have led, since 2015, to the application and implementation of the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda or to the agreement of the Commission Union to implement the Circular Economy Action Plan. This plan executes and values the contribution to the sustainability of EU waste management policies among its member states (United Nations 2015; European Commission 2018, 2019; Montalbán et al. 2018). The priority given to the CE policies by the EU has motivated the Joint Research Centre to support research on waste-related aspects of the CE. In this sense, they work with stakeholder experts in structured and transparent consultation processes. The results propose end of waste criteria for certain waste streams, in addition to safety and quality requirements for recycled materials. They produce baseline information on best available techniques and best practices, carry out technical, economic, and environmental evaluations of recycling processes, and propose options for converting waste into energy and waste disposal operations (JRC 2020; Sulemana et al. 2020). Along these lines, different European institutions present innovative solutions with projects financed by the EU through the Horizon 2020 program that promote the reduction of waste and the improvement of resource efficiency. These initiatives focus on industrial symbiosis, a key driver in enabling the next step in a circular
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economy with a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and help to achieve a climate neutral economy by 2050 (EU-E 2020; IWMCE 2020).
Methodology This study aims to show a global vision of solid waste management in the CE context. Bibliometric analysis has been carried out using mathematical, statistical, and mapping tools. Therefore, the objective of this methodology is to identify, organize, and analyze the main components within a specific field of research (Lievrouw 1989). The main elements of the research topic have been identified and analyzed, representing the metadata available in the different repositories and determining trends in a specific field of research (Cronin 2001; Xu et al. 2020). This methodology presents the evolution of interest in the subject matter of this study reflecting the most relevant authors, countries, journals, and keywords in recent years. By the same token, the most important links between them are presented through an analysis of coauthorship and co-occurrence (Sedighi 2016; Kong et al. 2019). Several databases of academic and scientific works related to the subject matter have been consulted (Harzing and Alakangas 2016; Mongeon and Paul-Hus 2016). Finally, the documents from Scopus have been selected because it is the largest repository of scientific articles, and has a greater number of peer-reviewed journals and authors compared to the rest of the databases. Moreover, Scopus provides more information about each author, institution, and country than other databases, such as Web of Science or Google Scholar (Harzing and Alakangas 2016). For the search of articles in the Scopus database on the development of the CE, the terms “circular economy,” “sustainability,” “management,” and “solid waste” were used as search parameters. The search has focused on the fields of title, abstract, and keywords over a period of 27 years, that is, from 1993 to 2019, as it has been reflected in other bibliometric studies (Abad-Segura et al. 2019; Honoré et al. 2019; Belmonte-Urenã et al. 2020). The final sample included a total of 1096 articles, with a wide diversity of variables to analyze for each record, such as the year of publication, the journal, the subject area, the author and coauthors of the work, and the institutional affiliation of the authors, as well as the country of affiliation and the keywords that define the article. Regarding the scientific production indicators, the evolution of the number of articles published year by year and the productivity of the authors, countries, and institutions are presented through the count of works presented in each field, as well as the count of the number of citations, the h index, and the SJR impact index of the main works (Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) 2020). Likewise, through the VOSviewer tool, the collaboration structure of authors and countries is analyzed through network maps, and research trends were searched based on the use of keywords (Van Eck and Waltman 2010). Network maps are a widely used technique for processing and grouping words given their suitability for studies based on bibliometric analysis (Van Eck and Waltman 2007).
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Results Evolution of Scientific Production Table 1 shows the main characteristics of the research on CE, sustainability, and waste management. The study covers all the scientific production related to these topics. The period obtained is 27 years, and each period analyzed (9) covers 3 years of research. A total of 1096 articles make up the sample. The research started with 12 publications between 1993 and 1995, which represents 1% of the total production. The last period (2017–2019) has a total of 472 articles and represents 43% of the total production. The year with the highest number of publications is 2019 with a total of 173 articles. The number of authors who have participated in the research activity is 3318. During 1993–1995, there were 24 authors representing an average of 2 authors per article. In the last 3 years (2017–2019), 1645 authors are registered and a value of 3.5 in the average number of authors is reached. These two periods represent 0.7% and 49.6% of the total authors, respectively. The greatest variation in the number of authors occurs between 1999 and 2001 with an increase of 250%. On the other hand, scientific production is produced by a total of 97 countries. In 1993–1995, there were 8 countries, compared to 78 countries in 2017–2019. The 1999–2001 period is again the one with the greatest variation in the number of authors. The period 1996–1998 is the first to record citations, with a total of 16. Since then, the number of citations has been increasing until it reached 9620 in the last period. Furthermore, the last two periods represent 80% of the total citations obtained. The sample has been published in 349 journals. In the first period (1993–1995), 10 journals published on this line of research, which represents an average of 1.20 articles per journal. The last period analyzed has an average of 2.97 articles per magazine, addresses 159 journals, and represents 46% of the total. All variables have experienced growth during the periods analyzed, especially the last one (2017– 2019). However, the second period (1996–1998) stands out for being the only one to Table 1 Major characteristics from 1993 to 2019
Period 1993–1995 1996–1998 1999–2001 2002–2004 2005–2007 2008–2010 2011–2013 2014–2016 2017–2019
A 12 9 16 21 60 105 163 238 472
AU 24 10 35 55 178 275 468 818 1645
C 8 5 10 18 36 44 53 57 78
TC 0 16 50 103 293 920 1966 3798 9620
TC/A 0 2 3 5 5 9 12 16 20
J 10 7 13 14 40 58 85 118 159
A ¼ articles per period; AU ¼ number of authors; C ¼ number of countries, TC ¼ total citations in articles; J ¼ number of journals per period
44
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have lower values in the variables of articles, authors, countries, and journals compared to the previous period (1993–1995). Figure 1 shows the evolution of the research and the percentage variation in the number of articles for each year studied. This figure shows an increasing trend in the number of articles published. In the first five periods analyzed, there were decreases in the number of investigations. However, since 2008 the number of publications began to increase annually. In 2015, the approval of the 2030 Agenda in favor of the planet was published. However, the SDGs and this Agenda began to be officially implemented in 2016 (United Nations 2019). Since then, numerous investigations have been registered trying to know the sustainable measures that are being carried out and the possibility of efficiently managing waste. For this reason, the last period analyzed (2017–2019) stands out for having the largest number of publications and exceeding 100 articles per year. The highest percentage of variation (300%) occurs from 1993 to 1994, increasing from one to four articles. 2003 and 2006 are the following years with higher percentages of variation with values of 200% and 100%, respectively. Finally, 2017 experiences a variation percentage of 59.6%, a value that exceeds the percentage of the previous 10 years, which had an average variation of 14.1%.
Analysis of Scientific Production by Subject Area
350%
180
300%
160
250%
140
200%
120 150% 100 100% 80 50%
60 40
0%
20
-50%
0
-100%
Number of articles
Percentage variation
Fig. 1 Comparison between the number of articles published and their variation percentage
Percentage variation of number of articles
200
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of articles by year
The publications analyzed allow classifications in the Scopus database (Burnham 2006). Each article can belong to one or more categories depending on the interest of
2
Research Trends of the Management of Solid Waste in the Context of. . .
45
the authors and the publisher. In this case, the sample of 1096 articles is classified into 25 subject areas. In the last period analyzed (2017–2019), there was an exponential increase in the number of publications. To understand how this last period affects the overall result of the subject areas, Fig. 2 has been prepared. The green line does not include the last period (2017–2019), while the blue does. The yellow line represents the percentage of variation experienced between both periods. All categories experience an increase in the number of articles with the exception of the nursing and health professions, which are maintained with five and two articles, respectively. The order of classification of the subject areas is the same in both periods. The figure does not represent the last category (veterinary) because there were no publications in the period 1993–2016. For a 27-year period of study, 1993– 2019, this category appears in 2018 with an article. The discipline with the highest percentage of variation (350%) is physics and astronomy. This is the subject category that has experienced most growth, increasing from two articles in 1993–2016 to nine in 1993–2019. Information sciences with 229% represents the second highest percentage of variation. These subject areas are followed by decision sciences with 175%, energy with 160%, and business, management, and accounting with 160% as well. Environmental sciences, social sciences, engineering, energy, business, administration and accounting and economics, econometrics, and finance are the subject
1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
350% 300% 250% 200% 150% 100% 50% 0%
1993-2016
1993-2019
Percentage of variation
Fig. 2 Comparison of the growth trends and the percentage variation of the subject areas between periods
46
A. Batlles-de-la-Fuente et al.
areas that have the most representation in this line of research. For this reason, in Fig. 3, an analysis is made of its trajectory over the 27 years studied. Environmental sciences with 894 articles is the main category and represents 44.5% of the articles published in the entire period studied. This category is one of the most relevant because it has published articles during the entire 27 years of study. This is due to the direct link between the research topic (solid waste management in the CE context) and the subject area (environmental sciences). This subject category is followed by social sciences, which represents 9.4% with a total of 182 articles. Since 1995, it has been considered as a category annually. In this way, its second position is due to its seniority as a category. In fact, in 2019, it has 29 articles, a value that exceeds four of the five categories considered in Fig. 3. Engineering, with 182 articles (8.9%), and Energy, with 173 articles (8.7%), are the following disciplines. Both categories have increased the number of articles in recent periods and especially during 2017–2019. The business, management, and accounting discipline represents 5.8% of the articles published and has a total of 112 articles. Finally, the economics, econometrics, and finance area has 105 articles and represents 5.4%. These six categories accumulate a total of 1605 articles and represent 82.6% of the research activity carried out. This total of articles that exceed the analyzed sample allows to visualize the interrelation between the disciplines and the different approaches in the investigations. The categories of agricultural and biological sciences and chemical engineering have a percentage of variation in articles of 175% and 300%, respectively, in the last 2 years studied (2018–2019). However, these disciplines are not considered in the figure because they represent less than 3%.
160 140
Number of articles
120
Environmental Science Social Sciences Engineering Energy Business, Management and Accounting Economics, Econometrics and Finance
100 80 60 40 20 0
Fig. 3 Comparison of the growth trends of the main subject areas from the period studied
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Most Relevant Journals from 1993 to 2019 The scientific production has been published in a total of 349 journals. Table 2 shows the 20 most prolific journals in this line of research, in which 75% belong to the first or second quartile. It shows the main characteristics of the journals such as the number of articles published, the H index (Hodge and Lacasse 2011), the impact factor according to the Scimago Journal Rank, or the country. The main characteristics of the articles are also considered, such as the total number of citations, the average number of citations per article, the H index, or the ranking according to the number of articles published in each period analyzed. The journals considered in the table, which represent 5.7% of the total of the journals, accumulate a total of 593 articles, a value that represents 54.1% of the total research activity. It is interesting to highlight that between the periods of 1999–2001 and 2002–2004 the highest percentage of variation in the number of journals was recorded. On the other hand, journals from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom stand out since 50% of the most prolific magazines belong to these countries. The journal that published most of the articles is Waste Management with a total of 133 articles, 3837 total citations, and an average of 28.85 citations per article. This British magazine has an H index of 127 and belongs to the first quartile with an impact factor of 1523. The first article was published in 2004, and the number of annual publications has risen to a total of 57 in the last period analyzed (2017–2019). Resources Conservation and Recycling is the journal in second position with 80 articles, 1827 total citations, and an average of 22.84 citations per article. This journal is from the Netherlands and has a long researcher career since 1995 when it published its first article. The last period (2017–2019) has a variation percentage of 75% compared to the previous period (2014–2016). The fourth journal in the table is the Journal Of Cleaner Production which has 59 articles, a total of 1146 citations, an H index of 150 and belongs to the first quartile. This journal from the Netherlands that published its first article in 2010 has surpassed the journal Waste Management in a number of articles in 2019. The journals Wit Transactions On Ecology And The Environment, Habitat International, and International Journal Of Environmental Technology And Management belong to the United Kingdom and have in common that they are among the most prolific journals, even when in the last period analyzed they had only a single article published. Environmental Science & Technology has the highest H-index of journals with a value of 345. The Journal of Industrial Ecology, from the United States, has the highest average number of citations in the table (83.70) and is the journal that has published the article (Kennedy et al. 2007) that has received the most total citations of the entire sample analyzed, with a total of 609 citations.
The Most Prolific Authors from 1993 to 2019 The characteristics of the most prolific authors are shown in Table 3. The 10 most prolific authors represent a total of 63 articles from the total sample and a percentage
Journal Waste Management Resources Conservation and Recycling Waste Management and Research Journal of Cleaner Production Sustainability Switzerland Journal of Environmental Management Science of the Total Environment WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment Habitat International
26 103
18 66
22 150
11 53
A TC TC/A 133 3837 28.85
80 1827 22.84
77 1054 13.69
59 1146 19.42
32 230
4
18 46
16 563 35.19
14 59
19
10 205
18 263 14.61
2.56
13 146
30 490 16.33
7.19
Hi (A) Hi (J) 36 127
1.524 UK (Q1)
0.125* UK
1.536 Netherlands (Q1)
0.549 Switzerland (Q2) 1.206 USA (Q1)
1.620 Netherlands (Q1)
0.527 USA (Q2)
SJR C 1.523 UK (Q1) 1.541 Netherlands (Q1)
Table 2 The most active journals during 1993–2019
0
0
0
0
0
0
8(1)
7(1)
R (A) 1993– 1995 0
1(2)
0
0
0
0
0
2(2)
0
1996– 1998 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
12(1)
1(3)
1999– 2001 0
9(1)
0
0
0
0
0
14(1)
1(4)
2002– 2004 4(2)
2(5)
40(1)
0
21(1)
0
0
5(3)
3(4)
2005– 2007 1(7)
2(17)
8(4)
78(1)
9(2)
7(4)
46(1)
4(8)
50(1) 9(3)
4(4)
0
38(1) 7(4)
6(4)
2(10) 3(14)
8(4)
9(4)
16(3)
24(2)
5(7)
4(11)
2(22)
3(16)
2008– 2011– 2014– 2010 2013 2016 1(17) 1(18) 1(32)
99(1)
158(1)
9(11)
6(19)
5(24)
2(43)
4(26)
3(28)
2017– 2019 1(57)
48 A. Batlles-de-la-Fuente et al.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Environmental Science and Pollution Research Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management Water Science and Technology Bioresource Technology Environmental Science & Technology International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management Journal of Industrial Ecology Engenharia Sanitaria E Ambiental
5
4.14
8.00
14 58
14 112
4
9
4
2.58
12 31
10 837 83.70
9
7.00
11 345
12 376 31.33
63
9
13 172 13.23
14
85
19
251
10 124
33
82
91
14 393 28.07
7
7
15 182 12.13
0.198 Brazil (Q3)
1.486 USA (Q1)
0.169 UK (Q4)
0.455 UK (Q2) 2.157 Netherlands (Q1) 2.514 USA (Q1)
0.487 Germany (Q2)
0.828 Germany (Q1)
0.623 Netherlands (Q2)
0
0
0
0
0
9(1)
0
0
0
0
5(1)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8(1)
0
5(2)
0
0
0
0
24(1)
7(2)
16(1)
0
4(4)
26(1)
0
15(1)
38(1)
64(1)
54(1)
39(1)
25(1)
24(1) 34(1)
5(4)
3(5)
8(2)
0
13(2) 19(2)
42(1) 65(1)
0
27(1) 6(4)
12(3)
0
13(3)
7(4)
6(4)
17(3)
0
0
50(1)
(continued)
16(4)
25(3)
108(1)
21(3)
10(8)
0
8(11)
7(13)
11(8)
2 Research Trends of the Management of Solid Waste in the Context of. . . 49
TC/A 5.00
3.38
TC 45
27
4
29
Hi (A) Hi (J) 3 31
0.273 Italy (Q3)
SJR C 0.345 Romania (Q3)
0
R (A) 1993– 1995 0
0
1996– 1998 0
0
1999– 2001 0
0
2002– 2004 0
0
2005– 2007 14(1)
0
0
11(3)
2008– 2011– 2014– 2010 2013 2016 0 36(1) 46(1)
14(5)
2017– 2019 12(6)
R ¼ rank position by the number of articles published; A ¼ number of articles; TC ¼ total citations for all articles; TC/A ¼ number of citations by article; Hi (A) ¼ H index articles; Hi (J) ¼ H index journal; SJR ¼ Scimago Journal Rank (Quartile); C ¼ country; UK ¼ United Kingdom; USA ¼ United States; * ¼ not yet assigned quartile
Journal A Environmental 9 Engineering and Management Journal Chemical 8 Engineering Transactions
Table 2 (continued)
50 A. Batlles-de-la-Fuente et al.
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Table 3 The most prolific authors Author Torretta, V.
A 9
TC 104
TC/A 11.56
Ragazzi, M.
7
61
8.71
Vaccari, M.
7
72
10.29
Aldaco, R.
6
86
14.33
Ferronato, N. 6
43
7.17
Irabien, A.
6
51
8.50
Margallo, M. 6
86
14.33
Wilson, D.C. 6
196
32.67
Arena, U.
5
155
31.00
Chang, N.B.
5
250
50.00
Institution Università degli Studi dell’Insubria Università degli Studi di Trento Università degli Studi di Brescia Universidad de Cantabria Università degli Studi dell’Insubria Universidad de Cantabria Universidad de Cantabria Imperial College London Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli University of Central Florida
C Italy
1st A 2012
Last A 2019
H index 7
Italy
2005
2019
5
Italy
2012
2018
5
Spain
2014
2019
4
Italy
2016
2019
5
Spain
2014
2019
4
Spain
2014
2019
4
UK
2012
2017
5
Italy
2012
2018
5
USA
2008
2013
5
A ¼ number of articles; TC ¼ number of citations for all; TC/A ¼ number of citations by article; C ¼ country
of 5.75% of the total scientific production. In this table, the authors who belong to Italy and Spain represent 80%. The other two more prolific authors are from the United States and the United Kingdom. Vincenzo Torretta is the first author of the table with 9 articles, a total of 104 citations, and an average of 11.56 citations per article. This Italian author published his first article in 2012 and has an H index of 7 (Hirsch 2005). Marco Ragazzi, an Italian author, is the second most relevant. He has 7 articles, an average of 8.71 citations, and an H index of 5. He belongs to the University of Trento and is the author with the longest research career in the table. However, he is the third author with the lowest number of total citations and average citations, 61 and 8.71, respectively. Chang Ni-Bin from the University of Florida has 5 articles and an H index of 5. He is the last author of the table but stands out for being the one with the highest number of total citations and average total citations, with a value of 250 and 50, respectively. The article “An AHP-based fuzzy interval TOPSIS assessment for sustainable expansion of the solid waste management system in Setúbal Peninsula, Portugal” (Pires et al. 2011) was published in 2011 and has received 96 citations. David C. Wilson (Wilson 2020) of British Imperial College London is considered a mentor in resource management and is the second author with the highest number of total citations (196) and average citations per article (32.67).
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Only two of the ten authors listed in the table published an article before the 2011–2013 period: Marco Ragazzi, in 2005, with the article “Some Research Perspectives on Emissions from Bio-Mechanical Treatments of Municipal Solid Waste in Europe” (Rada et al. 2005); and Chang Ni-Bin, in 2008, with the study “Municipal solid waste characterizations and management strategies for the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas” (Chang and Davila 2008).
Identification of the Most Relevant Institutions Table 4 shows the characteristics of the most prolific institutions from 1993 to 2019. These 10 institutions collect 117 articles and represent 11% of the total number of publications carried out in this line of research. The first institution in the table is Universidade de Sao Paulo – USP. This Brazilian university has 21 articles, a total of 139 citations, and an average of 6.62 citations per article. It has an H index of 6 and is the second institution with the lowest percentage of collaboration index, with a value of 14.3%. This institution receives more citations in articles without international collaboration than in those that cooperate with other countries. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro is the second institution in the ranking with 14 articles. In addition, it has 252 total Table 4 Characteristics of the most prolific institutions Institution Universidade de Sao Paulo – USP Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Imperial College London Università degli Studi di Brescia Universidad de Cantabria Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Tsinghua University Universiteit Gent Università degli Studi dell’Insubria UNESPUniversidade Estadual Paulista
C Brazil
A 21
TC 139
TC/A 6.62
H index IC (%) 6 14.3%
TCIC 3.67
TCNIC 7.11
Brazil
14
252
18.00
8
21.4%
22.33
16.82
United Kingdom Italy
13
445
34.23
8
76.9%
43.70
2.67
11
170
15.45
7
45.5%
9.00
20.83
Spain
10
119
11.90
5
30.0%
19.67
8.57
Malaysia
10
101
10.10
6
50.0%
8.80
11.40
China Belgium Italy
10 10 9
230 198 104
23.00 19.80 11.56
8 7 7
40.0% 50.0% 55.6%
22.00 18.60 6.60
23.67 21.00 17.75
Brazil
9
33
3.67
4
11.1%
0.00
4.13
C ¼ country; A ¼ number of articles; TC ¼ number of citations for all; IC ¼ percentage of articles with international collaboration; TCIC ¼ number of citations with international collaboration; TCNIC ¼ number of citations without international collaboration
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citations, an average of 18 citations, and an H index of 8, variables that exceed in value of the first institution in the ranking (Universidade de Sao Paulo – USP). This Brazilian institution has a collaboration rate of 21.4% and has a greater number of citations in those publications that have collaborated internationally with other countries. Imperial College London (ICL 2020) stands out for having the highest value of total citations (445), average citations per article (34.23), collaboration index (76.9%), and total citations in articles with international collaboration (43.70). Tsinghua University is from China and has a total of ten articles. It is the third institution with the highest number of total citations (230) and the second with the highest number of citations per article. It has a 40% collaboration index and is the institution in the table with the highest number of citations in articles without international collaboration, with a value of 23.67. The last position in the table is occupied by the Brazilian institution UNESP-Universidade Estadual Paulista. This institution has nine articles and has the lowest number of citations (33), average citations in the table (3.67), and H index (4) in the table. Furthermore, this institution stands out for having a value of zero in the total of citations in articles with collaboration, which indicates that none of the articles that have been produced with the collaboration of other countries have received citations. Finally, it is highlighted that most of the institutions in the table have received more citations in articles made without collaboration compared to those made with the collaboration of other countries. Institutions have a collaboration index to know the percentage of articles that have been done internationally. In this way, the remaining percentage refers to articles that have been produced nationally. It is interesting to know how many articles from each institution have been produced with international collaboration and without collaboration. For this reason, Fig. 4 indicates in green the articles of each institution that have been done without collaboration and in blue the articles that have been done with other countries, that is to say, with collaboration. Universidade de Sao Poaulo-USP, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and UNESP-Universidade Estadual Paulista are the three Brazilian institutions with the fewest international articles. On the other hand, Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia, Universiteit Gent, and Università degli Studi di Brescia have a collaboration rate close to 50%. This means that these institutions have published a similar number of articles with international collaboration and without collaboration. Finally, Imperial College London has the largest number of articles made with other countries (10).
Characteristics of the Most Relevant Countries in the Research Table 5 shows the ten most prolific countries in the period of time analyzed (1993–2019). These countries cover a total of 766 articles from the total sample, which represent 70% of the scientific production carried out. The table is led by the United States with 140 articles, an average of 17.64 citations, and the
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Universidade de Sao Paulo - USP Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Imperial College London Università degli Studi di Brescia Universidad de Cantabria Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Tsinghua University Universiteit Gent Università degli Studi dell'Insubria UNESP-Universidade Estadual Paulista 0 Articles without other countries
5
10
15
20
25
Articles with other countries
Fig. 4 Comparison in the number of articles with international collaboration and without international collaboration
highest number of total citations with 2470. The United States and Canada are the only countries that began their research activity in the first period analyzed (1993–1995). The last period, 2017–2019, indicates the decrease that has been experienced in the number of articles since it is the first period analyzed in which it occupies the third position. Italy, the second country in the table, has 115 articles, 1958 total citations, and an average of 17.03 citations per article. It has the second best H index, after the United Kingdom. In addition, this country in the last period analyzed exceeds the United States for publishing ten more articles. Brazil is the third country with 108 articles, 729 total citations, and an average of 6.75 citations per article. This country began its research activity during the period 2002–2004, and in the last period analyzed it is in the first position, since it has 63 articles. The United Kingdom, which occupies the fourth position in the ranking of the most prolific countries, has the highest H index in the table (28). It is the second country with the highest values in total citations and in the average of citations per article. Moreover, the United Kingdom, during 1996–1998 published two articles on CE. Therefore, this country is the third with the longest research trajectory. On the other hand, although China began its research activity in the period 2008–2010, it is ranked number six for its high number of published research. Finally, Canada with 42 articles and 1385 total citations, is in eighth position. This country has the highest average number of citations per article with a value of 32.98. The increase in the publication of articles, in the last period analyzed (2017– 2019), causes a variation in the ranking of countries. Figure 5 shows the articles that the countries had in the period 1993–2016 (green) and the articles published in the last period analyzed (blue).
A 140 115 108 94 67 66 53 42 42 39
TC 2470 1958 729 2173 955 767 658 1385 324 456
TC/A 17.64 17.03 6.75 23.12 14.25 11.62 12.42 32.98 7.71 11.69
R (A) 1993– 1995 1(3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2(1) 0 0 1996– 1998 1(3) 0 0 2(2) 0 0 0 3(1) 0 0
1999– 2001 2(2) 6(1) 0 1(9) 0 0 0 4(1) 0 0
2002– 2004 17(1) 4(2) 2(2) 7(2) 0 3(2) 0 1(3) 12(1) 0
2005– 2007 2(6) 6(4) 8(3) 1(10) 0 5(4) 18(2) 3(5) 27(1) 7(3)
2008– 2010 1(22) 6(6) 8(5) 2(10) 9(5) 4(7) 40(1) 3(7) 17(2) 5(6)
2011– 2013 1(25) 6(10) 3(13) 2(16) 5(10) 7(9) 19(4) 4(10) 15(4) 12(4)
20142016 2(29) 1(33) 3(22) 6(16) 8(12) 9(11) 4(19) 19(4) 5(17) 24(3)
2017– 2019 3(49) 2(59) 1(63) 6(29) 4(40) 5(33) 7(27) 16(10) 9(17) 8(23)
A ¼ number of articles; TC ¼ total citations for all articles; TC/A ¼ number of citations by article; R ¼ rank position by the number of articles published
Country USA Italy Brazil UK China India Spain Canada Malaysia Australia
H index 26 27 17 28 20 16 15 17 10 14
Table 5 The most relevant countries in number of articles for the 1993–2019 period
2 Research Trends of the Management of Solid Waste in the Context of. . . 55
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160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
1993-2016
2017-2019
Fig. 5 Comparison of the articles growth between periods
This figure indicates the exponential growth that has occurred. All countries, with the exception of the United Kingdom, Canada, and Malaysia, have published more articles in the last 3 years analyzed than in the other 24 years (1993–2016). An example of this is Italy, which had 56 articles during the period of 1993–2016 and only during the period of 2017–2019 published 59 articles. If the percentage of variation of the last two periods analyzed is compared, that is, 2014–2016 and 2017– 2019, the highest percentage of variation is experienced by Australia because the articles increased from 3 to 23. This country is followed by China with a variation percentage of 244% which increased its number of articles from 12 to 40. This increase positions China in fourth position in the last period. Finally, India with a percentage of 200% variation in the number of articles is in fifth place in the last period studied (2017–2019). Table 6 shows the main characteristics of the most prolific countries. The countries with the largest number of collaborators are the United States and the United Kingdom with 40 and 38, respectively. On the contrary, Italy, Canada, and India are the countries with the lowest number of collaborators. However, it is interesting to highlight that the number of collaborators is not directly related to the collaboration index. An example of this is the United States, which being the country with the largest number of collaborators, does not have the highest collaboration index. The highest percentage of articles with international collaboration is represented by the United Kingdom and Australia, both with a value of 56.4%. These countries are followed by China with an international collaboration index of 53.7%. On the contrary, India and Brazil are the two countries with the lowest collaboration index,
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Table 6 The most relevant countries and the international collaboration from 1993 to 2019 Country United States Italy
NC 40
Brazil
15
United Kingdom China
38 20
India
13
Spain
21
Canada
12
Malaysia
15
Australia
20
12
Main collaborators United Kingdom, China, Australia, Portugal, and Brazil Romania, United Kingdom, Bolivia, China, and Greece Portugal, United Kingdom, United States, Austria, and Chile United States, Italy, Netherlands, China, and Germany Australia, United States, Italy, United Kingdom, and France United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Brazil United Kingdom, Chile, France, Italy, and Germany United Kingdom, United States, China, Iran, and Australia Brazil, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and United Kingdom China, United States, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, and Brazil
IC (%) 39.3
TC/A IC 18.80
NIC 16.89
27.8
10.78
19.43
15.7
9.65
6.21
56.4
25.09
20.56
53.7
12.78
15.97
19.7
12.00
11.53
35.8
18.11
9.24
35.7
17.87
41.37
31.0
11.00
6.24
56.4
8.36
16.00
NC ¼ number of collaborators; IC ¼ percentage of articles with international collaboration; TC/A ¼ total citations per article; IC ¼ international collaboration; NIC ¼ without international collaboration
19.7% and 15.7, respectively. Canada is the country with the highest number of citations for articles produced without collaboration, with an average of 41.37 citations per article. United Kingdom is the country with the highest number of citations in articles with international collaboration, with an average of 25.09 citations per article. Except India, all the countries in the table have the United Kingdom among the five main collaborators. Finally, note that, except Italy, China, Canada, and Australia, all countries get a higher total number of citations in articles that have been made in collaboration with other countries. Figure 6, which shows international cooperation between countries, is made using the VOSviewer tool (Van Eck and Waltman 2010). This network map is made up of nine clusters, and all of them are led by the most prolific countries except the yellow cluster. The first cluster (brown) is led by the United States and collaborates with Taiwan and Denmark. Between these 3 countries, they accumulate a total of 164 articles, which represent 15% of the total research activity. The second (orange cluster) is led by two of the most prolific countries, the United Kingdom and Spain, which are joined by the international collaboration of Ireland and Poland. The international collaboration between these countries brings together 169 articles and represents 15.4% of scientific production. The third cluster (light blue) accumulates 165 articles.
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Fig. 6 International cooperation based on coauthorship between countries
This cluster is led by Brazil and has the collaboration of Austria, Mexico, and Portugal. The fourth group (red), which is led by India and China, is the main one. This group, which includes countries such as Japan and Thailand, has 205 articles and represents 18.5% of the total sample. The fifth cluster is purple and is represented by Australia. This cluster that brings together a total of 83 articles includes countries such as Nigeria and Turkey. The green cluster has a total of 92 articles. It is led by Malaysia and collaborates internationally with countries such as Belgium, Pakistan, and Egypt. The pink cluster, with 146 articles, is led by Italy and has the participation of Greece and Romania. The eighth cluster, dark blue, is represented by Canada and collaborates with France, Iran, Colombia, Singapore, and Chile. This group includes 105 articles, which represents 9.6% of the total production analyzed. The last cluster, yellow, includes Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. This group has 138 articles and represents 12.5% of the total sample analyzed. The collaboration network includes countries from all continents. In this case, the analysis carried out shows that the European continent has the largest presence with a total of 16 countries, followed by Asia with 14 countries. This cooperation between countries can be represented through its activity over the years. Figure 7 shows a timeline map based on coauthorship between countries. This map shows in different colors which countries started collaborating at the beginning of the period analyzed and which countries have recently joined. In the figure, the United Kingdom and Canada stand out for being the first countries to collaborate internationally. In the following periods, countries such as the United States, India, and Japan were incorporated. Finally, Italy, Brazil, and Spain were the last countries to produce articles with international coauthorship.
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Fig. 7 Timeline map for the international cooperation based on coauthorship between countries
Analysis of the Keywords Used During 1993–2019 Figure 8 shows the 20 most used keywords in the research over the 27 years analyzed. On the one hand, the blue color shows the number of times each of the keywords has been used in the period of 1993–2016. On the other hand, the green color shows the same but for the entire period analyzed (1993–2019). The yellow line is the percentage of variation between the two periods analyzed. The concept of EC was used for the first time in 2011. During the period of 1993– 2016, this keyword was used 12 times, while in 2017–2019 it was used 91 times. This recent interest by the EC in this line of research causes a high percentage of variation that can be seen in the figure. The rest of the keywords have experienced a growth in the percentage of variation greater than 50% in the last period, with the exception of the keywords landfill and economics, both with a variation of 46.5%. The positions in the ranking for the two periods analyzed are maintained except for solid waste and waste management. In this case, the term solid waste was used in 400 articles during the first period (1993–2016), while in the complete period analyzed (1993–2019) it reached 651. Thus, the keyword waste management, which was used 396 times in the first period analyzed, was used 693 times for the entire period. The incorporation of the 2017–2019 period in the analysis allows us to know the percentage of variation in the use of keywords as well as to identify the new terms that are introduced as a consequence of the new interests in the research. In this sense, it is interesting to highlight that during the entire period analyzed, a total of 8818 keywords are obtained, of which 6086 belong to the period of 1993–2016 and 4589 to the last period 2017–2019.
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A. Batlles-de-la-Fuente et al. 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
800% 700% 600% 500% 400% 300% 200% 100% 0%
1993-2016
1993-2019
Percentage of variation
Fig. 8 Comparison of the growth trends and the percentage variation of the keywords between periods
Figure 9 represents a network with the main keywords. Four clusters are differentiated. The first cluster, red, is represented by the terms waste management, sustainability, and solid wastes. Terms such as economic development, solid waste management, urban planning, or waste collection are mentioned. Moreover, this group mentions the countries Brazil, Spain, India, and China in the investigations carried out. The blue cluster, which is led by the term sustainable development, investigates concepts related to energy efficiency, environmental impact, carbon footprint, and climate change. In this cluster, only the country Italy is mentioned. The third cluster, green, is led by waste treatment and landfill. Terms such as compost, biodegradation, organic waste, waste disposal, and waste water management are used in this third group. The last cluster, yellow, is represented by the keyword recycling. In this group, the EU and concepts such as electronic waste, electronic equipment, industries, waste products, and plastics are mentioned. This keyword map allows us to identify the different lines of research that have been carried out. Furthermore, it is interesting to analyze this figure in order to identify the topics that have not yet been studied for future research. Figure 10 is a timeline used to understand the maturity of each of the keywords. The terms waste reduction, methane, nitrogen, water supply, sewage, and water quality were the first terms used (2010–2013). These keywords are directly related to wastewater pollution concern. The following period, 2014–2016, introduces new concepts such as biogas, emissions, greenhouse gases, pollutant removal, or toxicity. In this case, the line of research was focused on the quality of emissions and GHG, as can be verified according to the occurrence of these terms. In this case, the terms with the most occurrences (municipal solid waste, waste disposal, landfill, and recycling) emerged during this period (2014–2016) and stand out for being the most referenced. Finally, some of the concepts that emerge from 2017 are environmental technology, waste to energy, electronic waste, cost analysis, or waste disposal analysis. These terms are directly related to the research of new technologies and the management of technological waste.
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Fig. 9 A network map with the main keywords from 1993 to 2019
Table 7 shows the main keywords from 1993 to 2019. The table is made up of nine periods, and each one covers 3 years of study. The 20 most prolific keywords are classified in each period by the number of times they have been used in publications and the ranking they occupy according to that value. In this case, the analysis of each period will identify the progress and decline of each of these keywords. The first term with the highest number of occurrences (693) is waste management and represents 63.2% of the total number of documents. During the period 1996–1998, this keyword was in sixth position with a total of three references. However, from 2011 to 2019, it has managed to be the most referenced keyword. Solid waste is the second-most used keyword during the 27 years analyzed. This term has been used a total of 651 times and represents 59.4% of the total sample. With the exception of the 1996–1998 period, which was in the 12th position with two references, during the rest of the years it has managed to be among the first 3 positions in the ranking. The term sustainability occupies the third position in the table. This keyword has a total of 537 occurrences throughout the period of analysis (1993–2019) and represents a total of 49% of the documents analyzed. Municipal
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Fig. 10 Timeline for the main keywords used
solid waste (435), sustainable development (387), and recycling (369) are the following keywords with the highest number of occurrences. These occupy fourth, fifth, and sixth position. These three keywords have been used in the investigations throughout all the years analyzed, with the exception of recycling in the period 1996–1998, which was not used in any article. Finally, 2014–2016 was the first period in which all the keywords in the table were used in the investigations carried out. This is because some terms such as circular economy and procedures stand out for their late incorporation into this line of research. In this case, circular economy was used for the first time during 2011– 2013, and procedures during 2014–2016.
Conclusion The objective of this study was to review global research on solid waste management in the CE context. A bibliometric analysis has been developed for a sample of 1096 articles published between 1993 and 2019. A productivity, impact, and structure study was carried out based on the number of articles, journals, subject categories, authors, affiliations, and countries.
265 24.2% 13(2)
187 17.1% 0
172 15.7% 86(1)
Solid waste management
Environmental sustainability
Refuse disposal
120 10.9% 8(2)
281 25.6% 10(2)
Landfill
Environmental management
324 29.6% 16(2)
Waste disposal
163 14.9% 7(2)
369 33.7% 6(3)
Recycling
Environmental impact
387 35.3% 3(4)
Sustainable development
171 15.6% 0
435 39.7% 11(2)
Municipal solid waste
171 15.6% 0
537 49.0% 101(1)
Sustainability
Waste treatment
651 59.4% 1(5)
Solid waste
Humans
693 63.2% 2(5)
1996–1998
16.7% 0
16.7% 3(3)
0.0% 0
0.0% 0
8.3% 0
0.0% 0
16.7% 1(5)
16.7% 2(4)
16.7% 5(3)
25.0% 0
33.3% 14(2)
16.7% 65(1)
8.3% 13(2)
41.7% 12(2)
1999–2001
0.0% 19(2)
33.3% 18(2)
0.0% 0
0.0% 91(1)
0.0% 0
0.0% 0
55.6% 5(5)
44.4% 21(2)
33.3% 6(5)
0.0% 4(5)
22.2% 26(2)
11.1% 12(3)
22.2% 1(9)
22.2% 3(8)
12.5% 137(1)
12.5% 40(2)
0.0% 23(3)
6.3% 11(4)
0.0% 14(4)
0.0% 13(4)
31.3% 3(11)
12.5% 10(5)
31.3% 7(6)
31.3% 5(8)
12.5% 6(8)
18.8% 22(3)
56.3% 4(9)
50.0% 2(17)
31.7% 4(44)
30.0% 8(35)
30.0% 5(39)
45.0% 3(65)
71.7% 1(87)
33.3% 6(38)
28.3% 13(19)
31.7% 9(33)
5.0% 28(9) 13.3% 16(13)
4.8% 59(3)
5.0% 18(12)
9.5% 12(14) 23.3% 14(18)
14.3% 17(8)
19.0% 61(3)
19.0% 10(17) 28.3% 10(22)
19.0% 9(17)
52.4% 6(19)
23.8% 4(20)
28.6% 14(11) 18.3% 7(37)
38.1% 5(19)
38.1% 8(18)
14.3% 7(18)
42.9% 3(27)
81.0% 1(43)
%
2011–2013 R (A)
9(56)
6(76)
7(72)
5(91)
8.0% 10(49)
11.4% 18(18) 11.0% 16(33)
17.1% 13(26) 16.0% 12(42)
12.4% 15(20) 12.3% 14(42)
8.6% 31(13)
21.0% 11(30) 18.4% 20(30)
8(94)
9(92)
10.4%
11.4%
18.0%
19.5%
14.4%
15.3%
19.9%
(continued)
13.9% 19(49)
17.6% 17(54)
17.6% 12(85)
20.6%
12.6% 14(68)
17.6% 13(72)
18.5%
19.3%
7(139) 29.4%
6(163) 34.5%
5(169) 35.8%
4(199) 42.2%
3(208) 44.1%
2(251) 53.2%
1(297) 62.9%
%
2017–2019 R (A)
23.5% 11(91)
31.9%
30.3%
38.2%
4(102) 42.9%
3(120) 50.4%
2(145) 60.9%
31.9% 11(44)
38.7%
27.6%
33.7%
35.6%
41.7%
58.9%
57.1%
1(155) 65.1%
%
2014–2016 R (A)
18.1% 10(33) 20.2% 13(42)
31.4% 8(52)
36.2% 5(63)
35.2% 9(45)
41.9% 7(55)
33.3% 6(58)
37.1% 4(68)
61.9% 2(96)
82.9% 3(93)
62.9% 1(103) 63.2%
%
2008–2010 R (A)
63.3% 2(66)
%
2005–2007 R (A)
85.7% 2(38)
%
2002–2004 R (A)
50.0% 1(18)
R (A) %
33.3% 2(8)
R (A) %
41.7% 6(3)
%
1993–1995
R (A)
Waste management
%
A
Keyword
1993–2019
Table 7 Main keywords from 1993 to 2019
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113 10.3% 0
106
103
102
Procedures
Incineration
Circular economy
Controlled study
9.3% 0
9.4% 0
9.7% 0
120 10.9% 55(1)
1996–1998
0.0% 0
0.0% 0
0.0% 45(1)
0.0% 0
1999–2001
0.0% 56(1)
0.0% 0
11.1% 92(1)
0.0% 0
6.3% 102(1)
0.0% 0
6.3% 47(2)
0.0% 0
4.8% 16(8)
0.0% 0
9.5% 20(6)
0.0% 0
13.3% 25(9)
0.0% 0
10.0% 85(4)
0.0% 1445(1)
%
2011–2013 R (A)
0.0%
8(57) 1.2% 78(10)
8.6% 17(18) 11.0% 23(23)
0.0% 336(2)
3.8% 20(17) 10.4% 18(32)
1.0% 0
9.7% 23(42)
4.2% 10(91)
13.4% 21(43)
23.9% 16(55)
8.9%
19.3%
9.1%
11.7%
12.1%
%
2017–2019 R (A) 13.9% 15(57)
%
2014–2016 R (A)
2.9% 16(19) 11.7% 17(33)
%
2008–2010 R (A)
6.7% 150(3)
%
2005–2007 R (A)
0.0% 38(4)
%
2002–2004 R (A)
18.8% 0
R (A) %
0.0% 11(3)
R (A) %
8.3% 0
%
1993–1995
R (A)
Life cycle
%
A
Keyword
1993–2019
Table 7 (continued)
64 A. Batlles-de-la-Fuente et al.
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The results obtained point out that research on solid waste management in the context of the CE achieved exponential growth in the number of articles published and has become a topic of global interest for study. The number of scientific articles per year during the period 1993–2019 has increased, especially in the last 6 years where 710 articles were published, representing 64.78% of those published in total. Environmental science is the most important area in terms of article grouping with 44.5% of them, followed by social sciences and engineering with 9.4% and 8.9%, respectively. Waste management was the most productive journal on the subject of solid waste management development in the CE context with 12.14% of the total articles published (133) during the study period, giving rise to 3837 citations. This journal also presents the highest H-index for articles published on this topic (36). This H-index is considerably lower than the one it has for all subject areas (127). International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management has the highest average of citations per article with 83.70%. The most productive institutions in this area have been the Brazilian Universidade de Sao Paulo – USP and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, with 21 and 14 articles each, followed by the British Imperial College London, with 13. Italians Torretta, V. (9), Ragazzi, M. (7), and Vaccari, M. (7) are the authors who have published the most articles. Torretta, V., has published seven articles which is the highest H index on this topic. The North American author Chang, N. has published the highest number of citations on this topic with 250 and the highest average number of citations per article with 50. The most productive countries were the United States and Italy with 140 and 115 articles, respectively. In addition, the United States published the highest number of citations (2470), while Italy has the highest H index with 27. Furthermore, the United Kingdom and Australia have carried out a great percentage of their work through international collaboration, followed by China and the United States. This work has some limitations, so these could be the basis for future research. In this sense, it stands out that bibliometric analysis is mainly a method of quantitative analysis. Certain authors publish few articles with great impact in a specific field. Likewise, this methodology could be extended with other quantitative or qualitative tools, in order to seek a different perspective of this research. Finally, it is necessary to conclude that based on the reviewed literature, future works should analyze the legislation on reuse and recycling incentives, study the productivity of resources, and examine how to disassociate economic growth from the use of resources and their environmental impact.
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Pretreatments of Solid Wastes for Anaerobic Digestion and Its Importance for the Circular Economy Sabrina Vieira, Jaíne Schneider, Walter Jose´ Martinez Burgos, Antoˆnio Magalha˜es, Adriane Bianchi Pedroni Medeiros, Julio Cesar de Carvalho, Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe, Carlos Ricardo Soccol, and Eduardo Bittencourt Sydney Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Wastes for Anaerobic Digestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organic Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Municipal Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Industrial Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Livestock Manure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lignocellulosic Biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agro-industrial Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forestry Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Production of Biogas by Anaerobic Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Production of Biohydrogen by Dark Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Production of Biogas and Biohydrogen from Solid Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pretreatments of Solid Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hydrogen Production by Biomethane Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steam Reforming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Partial Oxidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Role of the Anaerobic Digestion of Solid Wastes in the Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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S. Vieira · J. Schneider · E. B. Sydney (*) Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Technology of Paraná – Campus Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] W. J. Martinez Burgos · A. Magalhães · A. B. P. Medeiros · J. C. de Carvalho · L. P. de Souza Vandenberghe · C. R. Soccol Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_5
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Abstract
Anaerobic digestion is a biotechnological route for the transformation of solid biodegradable wastes to energy. Two main energetic biomolecules can be directly produced: methane and hydrogen. Biogas and biohydrogen processes share technological similarities: both demands pretreatment of solid substrates, occurs in the absence of oxygen, and results in the formation of a gas which contains mainly one molecule of high-energy content (CH4 or H2) and carbon dioxide. The use of solid biodegradable wastes for anaerobic biodigestion is limited due to the need of preprocessing technologies to optimize the bioconversion and reduce sedimentation (increase maintenance and equipment life span). The choice of the pretreatment(s) technology(ies) impacts greatly in the fermentation efficiency, economics, and sustainability. This chapter covers the strategic importance of incorporating solid wastes into anaerobic digestion systems to the global circular economy and the technologies available for the pretreatment of solid biomass for the production of biogas and biohydrogen. Keywords
Biogas · Biomethane · Biohydrogen · Dark fermentation · Energy · Bioeconomy
Introduction Anaerobic digestion is the process of converting organic matter in the absence of oxygen. It is a complex treatment approach, which is conducted by a population of microorganisms. Known for being an efficient alternative in waste stabilization, it has been widely applied in energy production, generating biomethane and biohydrogen, bioethanol, biobutanol, and bio-based chemicals, such as acids, bioplastics, succinic, citric, and lactic, among others. The anaerobic digestion technology has the advantages from the environmental point of view because it allows the reduction of greenhouse gases, leaching and evaporation of ammonia, and solving the problem of incorrect destination of solid waste. On the economic side, it associates the treatment of waste with the recovery of energy and nutrients through the generation of bioenergy and the use of digestate as a natural fertilizer, generating income directly from the sale of surplus energy and indirectly with the saving of energy and reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers (Anyaoku and Baroutian 2018). The two main energy biomolecules produced in anaerobic digestion are methane and hydrogen, but they cannot be generated concurrently. Biohydrogen is considered one of the most promising fuels in the future of renewables as it has high energy value and generates only water in its combustion. It is a product of the acidogenic phase of the process, requiring the inhibition of the methanogenesis step. Methane is the main component of biogas (40–75% of the total volume) when anaerobic digestion is conducted to the methanogenic phase. Biogas can be used directly for the production of heat, steam, and electricity, without the need for prior treatment.
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When the biogas is purified, the removal of the CO2 fraction results in a consequent increase in methane level. The purified biogas is then called biomethane and can be used as a vehicle fuel. Classically, it is the liquid residues that are used in anaerobic digestion, because unlike solids, they do not require pre-treatments and can be added directly to the system. Solid residues that can be used in anaerobic biodigestion are classified as agricultural, urban and industrial. Agricultural residues include vegetables such as leaves, straw, crop residues, and animal waste. Industrial waste is mainly related to the processing of food and beverages, such as peels, pies, bagasse, and whole foods, among others. The solid organic urban waste is mainly composed of food waste. Each type of waste has an extremely varied composition and should be studied on a case-by-case basis. In relation to generation, the decentralization of solid waste generation in urban centers requires policies for separation and garbage collection and subsequent sorting for use as a substrate for biodigestion. In the case of agricultural and agricultural waste, production is centralized and in large quantities so that biotransformation by anaerobic digestion in loco becomes feasible. Commonly, solid waste is disposed of in landfills, incinerated, or composted, and these processes generate environmental impacts, such as soil and groundwater contamination, emission of greenhouse gases, and changes in the soil (Six et al. 2016). However, the simple disposal of organic matter means loss and misuse of natural resources, which is unacceptable for a society in transition to a sustainable and circular production system. Although advances in the bioprocesses field have taken place in recent years, there are several technical and economic challenges in the treatment of solid materials for the production of bioenergy, especially lignocelluloses, which need a pretreatment for an efficient process of accessibility of microorganisms to fermentable sugars. The choice of pretreatment for these materials is a challenge for sustainability as the processes demand the application of high temperatures, chemicals, or water and the generation of residues harmful to the environment (Vieira et al. 2020). This chapter aims to discuss the biotransformation of organic solid waste (municipal solid waste, industrial solid waste, livestock manure) and lignocellulosic biomass (agro-industrial, forestry) into methane and biohydrogen through anaerobic digestion and the role of these technologies in building a more economic and environmental sustainable and integrated economic system where the preservation of the environment and the optimization of the use of the natural resources play a central role.
Solid Wastes for Anaerobic Digestion Solid wastes are inevitable produced from human activity that can be at different stages of the production chain, from the extraction and processing of raw materials to consumption. The amount and complexity of these residues depend on the stages and levels of transformation of the raw material to product. Every process generates some type of waste, whether in agriculture, mining, industry, or domestic activity. In
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Fig. 1 Main sources of solid waste for anaerobic digestion
most cases, solid waste has no commercial value, increasing the cost of processing, when disposal is performed in accordance with environmental laws. Many factories incinerate part of their solid waste for the energy and steam generation, reducing the volume of waste discarded. Excess steam is lost, and part of the energy can be sold to the local power companies. This decreases the treatment cost but does not solve the whole problem of solid waste. Anaerobic digestion can be fundamental in the treatment of several by-products, such as municipal, agricultural (harvesting and processing), forestry and industrial solid waste, and animal manure (Fig. 1). The characteristics of the waste will determine the best strategy for biogas and biohydrogen production, such as pretreatment, fermentation controls, and microorganisms used. Pretreatments are necessary before anaerobic digestion which varies according to the solid residue used. The materials need a selection stage; reduction in particle size by mechanical, physical, chemical, and/or biological action; suitability; and, preferably, optimization of the anaerobic digestion system. A well-established pretreatment is fundamental for an ideal fermentation, generating higher yields of biogas and biohydrogen. There are several types of physical (mechanical and thermal), chemical, and biological pretreatment methods used to increase the performance of anaerobic digestion (Sołowski et al. 2020). Table 1 shows the main methods used. The pretreatment of solid waste can be divided into two major groups: organic solid waste (municipal and industrial solid waste, and livestock manure) and lignocellulosic biomass (agro-industrial and forestry solid waste). Table 1 presents and describes the main groups of solid wastes, as well as the necessary pretreatments for organic matter solubilization in each case.
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Table 1 Different types of pretreatment methods used for various solid waste in anerobic digestion Pretreatment Physical
Method Solid-solid separation Milling
Ultrasonic
Homogenization Thermal
Microwave
Chemical
Oxidative
Ionic liquid Alkaline
Acidic Biological
Microbial Enzymatic
Description Organic waste separation from bulk materials, such as metals, plastics, and glasses Increases the surface area, bulk density, and porosity of the substrate Reduction of mixture viscosity and operational problems Substrate shearing by the hydromechanical force of cavitation Disintegration by the oxidizing effect of OH Decrease of the substrate particle size and cellulose crystallinity Solubilization of substrate by heat application Increases substrate biodegradability Reduction of pathogens Decomposition of the complex substrate structures into small and uniform components Increased accessibility and biodegradability Solubilization of lignin Detachment of hemicellulose from cellulose Diffusion of disseminated particles with soluble organic compounds Separation of cellulose from lignocellulose Separation of hemicellulose and lignin from cellulose Modification of the crystalline and amorphous structure of cellulose Decrease in cellulose density Solubilization of lignin Decomposition of hemicellulose Degradation of insoluble materials, such as cellulose and proteins Hydrolysis of complex substrates Increase in soluble carbohydrates
Organic Solid Waste Municipal Solid Waste Municipal solid waste has, in its composition, organic matter, plastics, paper/paperboard, glass, and metals and are generated by different activities, such as residences, community areas, and commercial buildings. With the population growth, it is estimated that the global municipal solid wastes can reach up to 2.2 billion tons until 2025 (Logan and Visvanathan 2019). Organic matter is the largest component of waste composition, which varies greatly depending on the region, income levels, and consumption patterns (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2018). More developed countries tend to generate less organic waste and more dry waste, which can be recycled. According to the World Bank, the composition of municipal solid waste is 44% food
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and green, 17% paper and cardboard, 12% plastic, 5% glass, 4% metal, 2% rubber and leather, 2% wood, and 14% others (Kaza et al. 2018). Because of the presence of leftovers of meat, vegetables, and fruits, the food waste is generally very moist, with low ash content and many volatile and protein components. Zhou et al. (2014) evaluated that Chinese organic waste has an average ash content of about 21% and volatile matter content of 67%, respectively. The elemental composition of food waste has a predominance of C (32.81–59.95%), followed by O (26.54–59.93%), H (3.10–18.45%), N (0.82–7.75%), Cl (0.12–2.50%), and S (0.13–1.10%) (Zhou et al. 2014). The separation of municipal solid waste allows the recycling of various materials and the appropriate treatment of the biodegradable fraction. The reduction of the amount of organic waste is fundamental for a viable waste management. Landfills need large areas that are increasingly expensive and scarce in urban areas. An anaerobic digestion station takes up less space than landfills, generating profit by producing bioenergy and biofuel, reducing bad odor, and avoiding soil and groundwater contamination (Laurent et al. 2014). When it is not separated before collection, municipal solid waste must go through a sorting of materials for the separation of nonbiodegradable waste such as metals, plastics, and glass. This can be done by manual sorting, magnetic separation of metals, sieves, and rotary drums. Fibrous materials should be size reduced by grinding to avoid clogging and agglomeration inside the digester and facilitate the microorganisms’ digestion. The use of mechanical pretreatment can increase the yield of biogas production between 20% and 40% (Jain et al. 2015). Another successful pretreatment for industrial scale application is heat treatment. The heating increases the solubilization of carbohydrates and proteins, besides reducing the viscosity of the medium and removing pathogens (Carlsson et al. 2012).
Industrial Solid Waste Industrial solid waste are materials discarded during the processing of a raw material. There is a very wide variety of solid waste, the main ones being paper, packaging, food, oils, solvents, resins, paint, sludge, glass, ceramics, stones, metals, plastics, rubber, leather, wood, clothes, and abrasives (Speight 2015). Although many wastes may contain a certain environmental toxicity, large amounts of industrial wastes may be treated and reusable for another purpose. Organic waste, especially those generated during feedstock processing, are those with the greatest potential for bioconversion to different energy sources. Food processing, such as fruit juices, coffee, and potato chips, generate lignocellulosic biomass, containing high BOD, COD, and other suspended solids. Oil extraction residues also contain high amounts of organic matter, such as fat, fatty acids, and suspended and dissolved solids. Oil cakes, such as canola, coconut, cottonseed, mustard, soybean, palm kernel, and sunflower, constitute 6.3–49.5% crude protein, 5.1–40.0% crude fiber, 4.2–11.8% ash, 0.05–2.45% calcium, and 0.11–1.30% phosphorus (Kolesárová et al. 2011). Industrial waste is usually highly biodegradable and does not need screening and separation steps since it is processed and has a defined production chain. Some solid
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waste, such as from slaughterhouses and the dairy industry, needs to be solubilized through thermal and chemical pretreatments. Keratin, one of the main components of slaughterhouse and poultry waste, is a protein that is insoluble in water and resistant to the proteolytic enzymes of microorganisms. Thus, thermal and alkaline pretreatments of keratin are necessary for anaerobic digestion (Salminen et al. 2003).
Livestock Manure The production of meat, milk, and eggs for human consumption generates a large amount of waste. Animal manure also includes feces, urine, washing water, and solid waste such as straw, sawdust, feed, and soil. The composition of farm animal manure from horse, cattle, swine, and sheep is from 0.3 to 0.8% N, 0.15 to 0.60% K, and 0.05 to 0.60% P (Jackson 2000). Livestock manure is used as organic soil fertilizer in agriculture. Although there is much discussion as to whether manure can still be considered a waste, it can cause environmental problems, such as groundwater contamination. Alkaline pretreatment is mainly performed to disturb the recalcitrant structure of lignocellulosic biomass, increasing the access of microorganisms to organic matter (Soltanian et al. 2020).
Lignocellulosic Biomass Agro-industrial Solid Waste Large-scale production of agricultural commodities generates a substantial amount of solid waste or lignocellulosic biomass. The feedstocks with the greatest potential in waste generation are sugarcane, soybean, corn, wheat, sorghum, oil palm, rice, cassava, barley, beans, bananas, and cotton (Magalhães et al. 2019). The main components of lignocellulosic biomass are cellulose (35–55%), hemicellulose (25–40%), and lignin (15–25%). Extractives, proteins, and ashes are also present in smaller quantities (Kumar et al. 2009). The elemental composition of agricultural solid waste varies between 40.92 and 61.89% C, 21.66 and 46.90% O, 5.08 and 8.99% H, 0.63 and 8.99% S, and 0.03 and 0.79% Cl (Praspaliauskas et al. 2019). The residues can be subdivided into harvest and processing. Harvest residues, such as straw, stover, leaves, stalks, empty fruit bunches, and branches, are usually left in the field. Industrial processing residues, such as sugarcane bagasse and oil palm empty fruit bunches, are burned for generation of energy and steam. Magalhães et al. (2019) estimated, in South America, that the biomass produced from harvesting and industrial processing correspond by about 86 and 14%, respectively. Although in lower production volume, industrial solid waste is the focus for reuse as it is usually stored in open areas near the plants and can cause serious environmental problems. The structural and chemical complexity of lignocellulosic biomass prevents the enzymatic attack of microorganisms involved in the anaerobic digestion of agro-
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industrial and forest solid residues. Lignocellulose biomass requires more rigorous pretreatment steps to improve the action of microorganisms during anaerobic digestion, which have access to sugar monomers. The first stage involves the reduction of crystallinity and the reduction of the surface area of the polymers through mechanical action, such as knife mill and hammer mill. The effective particle size may vary according to the type of residue, but sizes between 0.2 and 2 mm are reported as ideal for the hydrolysis phase (Bochmann and Montgomery 2013). Acid hydrolysis of hemicellulose is generally used in the second stage of agro-industrial waste pretreatment. The acid reaction is performed under mild conditions by combining diluted acids and heat treatment to avoid the formation of inhibitory compounds, such as furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural. During this stage, condensation and precipitation of lignin also occurs.
Forestry Solid Waste Solid forest residues, such as branches, leaves, bark, and residual wood, have composition like lignocellulosic biomass from agro-industrial. The wood industry, such as pulp, paper, and sawmills, produces a large amount of biomass that could serve as raw material in anaerobic digestion. The composition of different types of hardwood and softwood varies between 40% and 52% cellulose, 11 and 22% hemicellulose, and 15 and 35% lignin (Cao et al. 2017). Softwoods and hardwoods have differences in the composition of their structures. Xylose and mannose are, respectively, the main constituents of the hemicellulose fraction of hardwood and softwood. The lignin structure of hardwood is formed by mixed units of guaiacyl and syringyl, and softwood has mainly guaiacyl unit (Taherzadeh and Karimi 2007). The elemental composition of forest residues is about 50% C, 44% O, 6% H, and a small amount of N (Praspaliauskas et al. 2019). As well as the pretreatment of agro-industrial residues, the reduction of crystallinity, accessible surface area, and lignin and hemicellulose protection are necessary for an efficient bioconversion of the monomers contained in the biomass. Although mechanical, acid, and thermal pretreatments can also be used for softwood and hardwood, an additional alkaline pretreatment can be used on solid forest residues due to the high lignin content (Ge et al. 2016). Alkaline pretreatment is generally performed with sodium hydroxide at relatively low temperature and pressure in order not to cause degradation of sugars contained in hemicellulose and cellulose.
Production of Biogas by Anaerobic Fermentation The possibilities of using organic waste to produce bioenergy, whether in the form of electricity, heat, or fuel, replacing traditional nonrenewable sources and promoting better use of natural resources are the main factors that have made anaerobic biodigestion a promising technology for the circular bioeconomy.
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The process of transforming organic matter into biogas and digestate occurs in the face of a series of biochemical reactions carried out by anaerobic bacteria, and it is important to note that all phases are interconnected, with the preceding phase providing products for the subsequent one. The first phase of the conversion of waste into biogas and digestate occurs by breaking the complex molecular bonds into simpler compounds, such as amino acids and sugars. This breakdown is performed by hydrolytic bacteria (Clostridium, Micrococci, Bacteroides, Butyrivibrio, Fusobacterium, Selenomonas, Streptococcus, among others) (Li et al. 2013). The simplest compounds produced in the hydrolysis phase are converted into volatile fatty acids by fermentative bacteria (Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Bacillus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella) (Caruso et al. 2019). In this step, it should be noted that if there is a high concentration of hydrogen, the accumulation of organic acids can occur, causing a drop in the pH of the mixture, affecting the biodigestion process. As a result of acidogenesis, acetic acid, hydrogen, and other short-chain fatty acids, used in the next phase, are produced. Acetogenic bacteria then use acetic acid and hydrogen as an energy source and convert them to acetate, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. Syntrophobacter and Syntrophomonas represent the main acetogens (Shah et al. 2012). It is in the final stage of the process that methane is effectively generated. The generation of methane can occur in two ways: the first refers to the hydrogenotrophic one, where CO2 and H2 are transformed into methane, and the second via acetoclastic, where acetate is directly converted into methane. Methanogenic bacteria use the substrates formed in the previous phase, so it is relevant that all phases occur in balance for maximum biogas production in the last phase. Different factors can affect the anaerobic digestion process, such as the type of substrate, characteristics of the biodigester, and operational conditions. Among the operational parameters, the pH stands out, which must be kept in the range of 6.0 to 8.0 (Ros et al. 2013), the temperature that depends on the microorganisms involved in the biological process, which can be mesophilic (20 to 40 ° C) or thermophilic (40 to 60 ° C). The substrate affects productivity as there must be a balance of nutrients that meets the nutritional requirements of the bacterial community involved in the process. The main nutritional parameter quantified and monitored is the C:N ratio, whose ideal value is around 25 (Mane et al. 2015). If the value of the C:N ratio is greater than 25, acid formation can occur, reducing the pH and inhibiting methane production. On the other hand, a ratio less than 25 results in the conversion of nitrogen to ammonium more quickly than can be assimilated to methanogenic bacteria becoming toxic (Braguglia et al. 2018). Other inhibitory compounds that can affect the process are the presence of sulfides in the system, detergent, and chlorine, among others, which are relatively common in liquid effluents. Regarding the use of solid substrates, the presence of metals and toxic chemicals, such as pesticides, is the most impactful. Anaerobic biodigestion requires strict care in its operation because it is highly sensitive to disturbances in the process. And when it comes to organic waste, disturbances can occur due to the wide variation in the composition of the waste constantly. For this, we seek to establish ideal diets with nutrient dosages established
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to control the process in order to optimize the production of biogas. Although there are several types of biodigesters, the most used model is the CSTR, which allows a continuous process of feeding and production of biogas. Its prominence is given by the continuous agitation system that provides the best contact of the substrate with the microorganisms, mixing the entire system in an integral and uniform way. Thus, it allows the digestion of denser substrates, with a total solid amount of approximately 15%; however, according to CIBiogás analyses, it is recommended that the system operate with a maximum ST content of 12% (CIBIOGÁS 2020). However, it needs a longer retention time because it does not have any biomass retention mechanism, except for the digestate recirculation. The anaerobic biodigestion process can be carried out in one or two stages. For processes that involve the digestion of organic solid waste, the use of two stages accelerates production. Mao et al. (2015) reported that the ideal would be a reactor responsible for hydrolysis and acidogenesis, using a thermophilic system (temperature in the range of 55 °C) and the remaining phases (acetogenesis and methanogenesis) in another reactor in the mesophilic system (temperature in the range of 35 °C). However, due to costs, most biogas plants are composed of only one stage, where all phases take place in a single reaction tank. After the biodigestion process, two products are generated: biogas and digestate. Biogas is composed of a mixture of gases. Typically, 55–70% corresponds to methane (CH4), 30–45% corresponds to carbon dioxide (CO2), and the rest corresponds to traces of other gases such as hydrogen sulfides, ammonia (NH3), nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), and oxygen (O2) (Deublein and Steinhauser 2008). The actual content of the biogas composition depends on the substrate that was used in its production, as well as the biodigester and the operating conditions. Depending on the methane content, its calorific value may vary as can its final destination. For the production of electricity and thermal energy, biogas is usually partially purified, removing H2S, which is highly corrosive and consequently decreases the equipment’s useful life. In the case of application as a vehicle fuel replacing natural gas, carbon dioxide and other impurities must also be removed so that the calorific value of the resulting gas is compatible with that of natural gas. The digestate is a product of considerable added value generated at the end of biodigestion. It is composed of a mixture of microbial biomass and undigested compounds that can be used as an organic fertilizer or soil conditioner in agriculture, especially due to the high content of nitrogen and phosphorus, which are essential to plants. In general, a digestate with a C:N ratio between 15 and 20 is considered safe for application on agricultural land without additional treatment (Braguglia et al. 2018). However, due to the direct relationship between the quality, safety, and usefulness of the digestate and the characteristics of the raw material (organic residues), it is essential that preliminary tests are carried out on its use, especially in relation to its toxicity to plants or human health. In the case of the use of animal waste, for example, there is the presence of pathogens that require treatment of the digestate for its removal, under pain of limiting its application in the field.
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Production of Biohydrogen by Dark Fermentation Currently, approx. 1 billion m3 of hydrogen are being produced daily (Kumar et al. 2019). However, approximately 96% comes from nonrenewable hydrocarbons. According to Nikolaidis and Poullikkas (2017), 48% hydrogen comes from natural gas, 30% from oil, 18% from coal, and only 4% from renewable sources (water splitting). The biological process of hydrogen production by fermenting organic compounds using strict or facultative anaerobic bacteria is known as dark fermentation. In this process, different enzymatic complexes participate, among which the hydrogenases stand out. In dark fermentation, pyruvate is synthesized via glycolysis by bacteria, which subsequently enters in the acidogenic pathway for the production of biohydrogen. Fermentation can be carried both at mesophilic (25–40 °C), thermophilic (40–65 °C), extreme thermophilic (65–80 °C), or hyperthermophilic (>80 °C) conditions. To date the industrial production of hydrogen through biological process is yet not economically feasible. Major challenges are related to the cost of medium, reason why studies of biohydrogen production from industrial wastes have gained importance on the last decade. Traditionally, liquid wastes have received greater attention especially because they do not require pretreatment. However, the availability of solid wastes, especially the lignocellulosic biomass, has to be considered in the development of the technology. Similar to the production of biomethane, the biotransformation of nutrients through dark fermentation results in solid and liquid products. Because the organic matter is partially metabolized, the sugar fraction of the biomass is transformed into carbon dioxide and short-chain fatty acids, with cogeneration of hydrogen. The short-chain fatty acids have generally between 1 and 7 carbons and are present in the liquid fraction of the fermented broth. Among the main liquid metabolites, butyric acid and acetic acid stand out since, for each mole generated from mentioned compounds, 2 to 4 moles of hydrogen are generated, respectively (Martinez-Burgos et al. 2020; Sydney et al. 2020). Other metabolites include lactic, propionic, succinic, ethanol, and methanol. However, the generation of these metabolites is not desirable since the metabolic pathways for their generation do not result in the production of hydrogen or, in some cases, hydrogen is consumed (Martinez-Burgos et al. 2019). Some of the volatile organic acids produced in dark fermentation can be used as alternative sources of carbon in the production of hydrogen (Martinez-Burgos et al. 2020). However, the yields of hydrogen from organic acids, specifically lactic acid, are low, approximately 5% (Baghchehsaraee et al. 2009). The reduction of chemical and biological demand of oxygen (COD and BOD, respectively) achieved by dark fermentation is considerably lower than the one achieved with biomethane production. The reason is that in the first case, the original carbon source is transformed into short-chain fatty acids and carbon dioxide, while in the latter, only carbon dioxide is produced. Thus, considering the environmental advantages related to waste disposal, the production of methane is preferred. However, the possibility to reuse the short-chain fatty acids as platform
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molecules for the development of renewable materials to replace traditional fossilbased materials opens great opportunities in the circular economy. The valorization of the liquid products from the dark fermentation can be considered essential for the environmental and economic sustainability of the process. Beyond H2, other gaseous metabolites are also generated: CO2, CO, CH4, and H2S. The last two are not desirable because they negatively affect the hydrogen production because their synthesis requires hydrogen, and they are generally associated with contamination with metagenomic bacteria (Franke-whittle et al. 2009). The concentration of hydrogen in the produced gas is variable and commonly not higher than 60%, which is the lower content of methane achieved in biomethane production. Moreover, the volumetric energy density of methane gas is higher (12.7 MJ/m3H2 vs. 40 MJ/m3CH4). On the other hand, hydrogen is a more versatile molecule in terms of number of applications, feeding the energy and the chemical sector. The development of a hydrogen economy is subject of discussion, but it is clear that, if not in the mainstream, H2 will play an important role in a medium-term sustainable world.
Production of Biogas and Biohydrogen from Solid Wastes The anaerobic digestion of organic matter can be carried using liquid and solid substrates. While liquid wastes generally do not require sophisticated pretreatments, when needed, the carbohydrate fraction of solid wastes needs to be solubilized so the microbial community can access it more easily. One of the most promising renewable solid wastes for hydrogen production is the lignocellulosic biomass because it is the most abundant and available carbon source worldwide (Saldarriaga-Hernández et al. 2020). Indeed, according to Ying et al. (2016) 9, approx. 4400 million tons of lignocellulosic biomass is generated annually from agricultural waste from barley, corn, oat, rice, sorghum, wheat, sugarcane, and oil palm biomass. Lignocellulosic biomass consists mainly of three types of associated polymers: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. However, the biodegradation of lignocellulosic biomass is limited because of the crystallinity of the cellulose, the available surface area, and the lignin content. The number and kind of processes involved in solid wastes processing depend especially on the type of waste and its physical state. Pretreated methods include physical (size reduction, stream explosion, and gamma rays usage), chemical (acidic, alkaline, and ozone pretreatments), or biologically (enzymatic pretreatment) or mixed treatment, which have been subject of many reviews. Figure 2a presents a traditional process of pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Initially, the lignocellulosic material is dried to remove the water from the biomass and facilitate the grinding process. Generally, the drying is done by convective flow greenhouses, using temperatures between 50 °C and 70 °C (Lee and Park 2020). Subsequently, the material is grinded to reduce the size of the biomass particles, increasing the contact area and reducing the crystallinity of the cellulose.
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CO2
a
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PSA Grinding Milling
Bagasse
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Filtration
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Fig. 2 Hydrogen production via dark fermentation. (a) Solid waste. (b) Wastewater
Generally, the particle size used is in the range of 0.2 mm to 2 mm (Lopez-Hidalgo et al. 2017). Then, the biomass is pretreated to transform the complex polymers (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) into simpler and easily fermentable carbohydrates, such as glucose, mannose, arabinose, cellobiose, and xylose. This can be achieved using chemical or biological processes. According to Fangkum and Reungsang (2010), He et al. (2014), and Cavali et al. (2020), the proportion of biomass used varies between 6% and 20% w/v and needs to be optimized case by case. After hydrolysis, the solid material is removed from the supernatant, using filtration or centrifugation. The pH of the supernatant is then adjusted between 5 and 7 depending on the type of inoculum to be used. The liquid fraction is now the carbon source for the anaerobic digestion and should be added carefully to the reactor in order to keep the redox potential less to 100 mV, which indicates the existence of an anaerobic environment. In those cases where such low redox potential cannot be achieved with substrate feeding, the oxygen of the substrate needs to be removed, which is achieved by purging the medium with pure nitrogen, argon, or carbon dioxide (Martinez-Burgos et al. 2020). The production of biomethane is mostly carried with nonsterilized or pasteurized substrates, especially because the microbial community is generally well established (however, feeding must be accordingly carried in order to avoid the acidification of the reactor, which can cause the collapse of the system). The same is observed for dark fermentation processes that are carried using consortia. On the other hand, in
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those cases where the dark fermentation is carried using pure strains, substrate sterilization/pasteurization is important to avoid contamination. While more stable production and process control is achieved with pure strains, it is more susceptible to contamination, especially when working with waste materials as substrates. Consortia are less susceptible to microbial contamination and increases of redox potential. To date, no consensus on the better choice have been reached, if it will someday. Both biohydrogen and biomethane processes can be done using batch bioreactors and continuously. At industrial scale, however, continuous fermentation is preferred. Among the different bioreactors studied, the most used are continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactor (AFBR), Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor (UASBR), membrane bioreactor (MBR), and packed bed reactor (PBR) (Preethi et al. 2019). Biomethane production at large scale is mostly carried using CSTR and UASB. Fermentation duration or hydraulic retention times vary from hours to weeks. At the end, and depending on the final use, the target molecule should be purified. One of the technologies most used for H2 and CH4 purification is the Press Swing Absorption (PSA), which achieves purities of up to 99.9%. PSA is based on selective absorption of impurities, with none hydrogen absorption (Shokroo et al. 2014).
Pretreatments of Solid Wastes It is possible to produce biohydrogen and biomethane from lignocellulosic materials without pretreatment, going directly from the milling and sieving to the fermentation stage. Sheng et al. (2015) obtained a maximum yield of 2.17 mol H2/mol glucose using Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum as inoculum and five non-pretreated lignocellulosic substrates, such as wheat bran, rice straw, cornstalks, cob of corn, and poplar branches. This strategy generally explores the fact that complex microbial communities are formed within the reactor and work synergistically. In non-pretreatment digestion, the particle size plays an important role because it is directly related to the area available for the microbial activity. Tosuner et al. (2018) evaluated the effect of rice husk particle size on hydrogen production using Clostridium termitidis and achieved the highest yield (5.9 mL H2/g substrate) with particles 90% (Özdemir and Faruk Öksüzömer 2020). The process begins with the elimination of H2S moths. Subsequently, biomethane is partially oxidized with oxygen (Eq. 3), this being the main difference with the
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steam reforming method (Fig. 3b). The subsequent steps are similar to the steam reforming method. The fact that you need pure oxygen in one step of the process increases production costs and is a disadvantage of this technique concerning steam reforming (Nikolaidis and Poullikkas 2017). 1 CH4 þ O2 ! CO þ 2H2 2
ð3Þ
Finally, autothermal reforming uses partial exothermic oxidation to provide heat and steam endothermic reform to increase hydrogen production. Autothermal reforming is based on Eq. 4. Like partial oxidation, the fact that it requires pure oxygen in the process adds to the costs concerning steam reforming. 1 1 5 CH4 þ H2 O þ O2 ! CO þ H2 2 4 2
ð4Þ
The Role of the Anaerobic Digestion of Solid Wastes in the Circular Economy The most widespread economic system model is linear, and the practice of “extracting-producing-discarding” uses undefined resources and results in the production of large volumes of waste. These wastes represent a lot of energy, natural resources, and workforce used, directly resulting in social, environmental, and economic impacts. Recycling showed up as an important strategy for reducing waste generation, however, as it is limited to some types of nonorganic materials, and thus, it is not enough to solve many of the problems related to the need to optimize the use of natural resources. The circular economy emerged as a solution that seeks to minimize (or even eliminate) waste from systems through the maximum use of materials (Hussain et al. 2020). Thus, the waste generated is preferably reprocessed and included in production systems. In this context, technologies that associate the reduction of the polluting load with the generation of bioproducts with commercial value are of enormous importance. In view of the growing concerns about the excess generation of organic waste, scarcity of natural resources, increased global warming, and increasing demand of energy, the concept of circular economy and investment in Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technology has been discussed as a strategy to these problems. WtE includes a group of technologies to treat waste aiming at energy recovery in the form of heat, electricity, or alternative fuels (Mutz et al. 2017). Anaerobic digestion is one of the technologies that promote the reduction of waste and the recovery of organic waste through the production of energy molecules, renewable chemicals, and biofertilizer. Energy production is probably the wildest technology within the circular economy since virtually all human activities require some form of external energy supply. The transformation of traditional effluent treatment plants, which have very large operating costs (equipment, area, and labor) into a system for transforming
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waste into energy that can be used again in the production system, tends to be a standard strategy in a circular economy society. Biogas also has a great advantage in terms of versatility to be used for the production of thermal energy, electricity, and transportation fuel or converted into hydrogen. Still, it is a process that naturally requires control but is not technologically complex. The production of biogas results in the complete decomposition of organic matter into CO2 and CH4 so that the digestate generated is poor in organic matter but rich in nutrients and acts as a fertilizer. In this way, anaerobic digestion for the production of biomethane and digestate has great potential for integration in a circular economy in both urban and rural environments. While in the latter the application of the digestate is quite logical, in urban environments, it can be applied in urban gardens and public green spaces (parks, squares) and/or distributed to small producers. When solid wastes are to be digested, they most commonly passed through a pretreatment where the fermentable fractions are solubilized prior fermentation. The solids are removed or diluted to meet the maximum solid concentration to avoid their accumulation and the system collapse. For this reason, solid wastes are frequently co-digested with a liquid substrate. There is lack of information on the number of biogas plants processing solid wastes. Urban solid wastes processing plants, in 2020, represents approx. 8% in Brazil (https://mapbiogas.cibiogas.org/), 3% in the United States (American Biogas Council, https://americanbiogascouncil.org/), and 12% in the EU (https://www.europeanbiogas.eu/). In the EU, Italy and Finland are the countries where the biogas plants using urban solid wastes are most common. Fermentative hydrogen production is a process that requires more operational control when compared to biomethane because the acidogenic microorganisms are more sensible to oxygen and microbial contamination. H2 also has great versatility in applications such as biomethane. The great advantage of hydrogen is the fact that its burning results only in the production of water. This means that it is easier to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases, which occurs essentially during their production. The CO2 generated in hydrogen production facilities can be recovered by chemical or biological fixation, and also mitigated by underground storage. Also, the shortchain fatty acids produced as coproducts in the liquid fraction (acetic, butyric, propionic, lactic, valeric, and others) can be directed toward the production of renewable chemicals that may replace materials produced with raw materials from fossil sources. The technical development and execution of the concept of a multi-waste plant enables the reduction of costs related to waste treatment processes and improves its management from an ecological and financial point of view (Hidalgo et al. 2019). Due to budget constraints, the solid waste management infrastructure still suffers from improper treatment in most cases in developing countries, and even in developed countries. Therefore, a challenging factor is the implementation of an economically sustainable, socially and legally and technically feasible process (Wainaina et al. 2020). Waste biorefineries, especially for developing countries, are tools to achieve sustainable management of these materials, generating economic and environmental benefits. Benefits include energy recovery and value-added products, land savings, new opportunities and business development, cost savings from landfills,
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greenhouse gas emissions, and savings in natural resources from land, soil, and groundwater (Nizami et al. 2017). Anaerobic digestion can be integrated with gasification to provide more benefits. The digestate from anaerobic digestion would be used in gasification or the biochar coproduced in gasification used to stabilize anaerobic digestion and improve nutrient retention in the digestate (Pecchi and Baratieri 2019). Purification of crude biogas by removing CO2 is an opportunity to capture and use this chemical compound, but the necessary technology still has a higher cost than the penalty for carbon emissions, so there is no incentive to use it (Sherwood 2020). Still, the production of hydrogen from biomethane also appears as an interesting alternative since biological production via dark fermentation still has economic and technical challenges to be overcome.
Conclusion The versatility of biomethane and biohydrogen for the production of heat, electricity, and transportation fuel from wastes is the rising importance giving to them in the circular economy context. In addition to optimizing the use of natural resources, anaerobic digestion reduces water waste, generates bioproducts to replace nonrenewable sources, creates jobs, improves life quality of people, and protects the environment. The social-environment-economic advantages are enhanced as the technology to process solid wastes produced in the agriculture, industry, and cities advances. Because of their lignin content, solid wastes should be pretreated to facilitate the access to the carbohydrate fraction by the microorganisms. However, the pretreatment technologies greatly impact in the process of economics and sustainability. The anaerobic digestion is a mature technology for biogas and biomethane production but faces many technical and economic challenges for the production of hydrogen. Considering the thermodynamic limitation of the production of hydrogen through fermentation, its production from biomethane can be considered the most promising strategy for the near-future circular bioeconomy.
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Understanding Circular Economy in Solid Waste Management Monika Patel, Sweta Kumari, Neetu Kumari, and Arkendu Ghosh
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Types of Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Linear Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Principles of Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preservation and Strengthening of Natural Capital (Reduce) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resource Yields Optimization (Reuse) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Negative External Factors Identification (Recycle) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Characteristics of Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Designed Out of Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diversity as Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renewable Energy Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Systematic Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transparency in Real Expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy as a Development Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Development of the Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Entrepreneurship and CE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Practices of Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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M. Patel (*) Department of Floriculture Landscape Architecture (Floriculture), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India S. Kumari Department of Floriculture Landscape Architecture (Flower Breeding), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India N. Kumari Department of Social Science, Horticulture College, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India A. Ghosh Department of Fruit Science, Horticulture College, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_7
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The Case of China as a Single and Major CE Implementer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other Practiced Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Assessment of Circular Economy Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Challenges and Barriers to Implementation of a Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From a General Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From an Entrepreneurial Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From an Innovation Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As a Part of Entrepreneurial Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As an Innovative National Level Development Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General Policy Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Circular economy is gaining steady momentum from last few years. On the other hand it widely varies depending on the problems being addressed. Looking beyond the current exhaustive industrial model, it aims for sustainable growth focusing on positive society-wide benefits. This economy model is based on three principles, that is, designing out of the polluted waste material, keeping the materials in use, and regenerating natural sustainable ecosystem. Guided by these principles, novel technologies can create more opportunities for the society. This is a complex system where many real-world elements such as people, plants, business, and ecosystem are strongly linked to each other leading to some viable consequences. Circular systems encourage biodegradable elements or biological nutrients to reenter the biosphere safely for decomposition for a new cycle. Here designing of products are done with main attention to regenerate new resource value with reusable materials through restorative economy. The energy required to boost circular economy should be always renewable in nature requiring threshold energy level. The environmental impact includes reduction of negative consequences with attention to green emissions, consumption of waste materials, and improvement of land productivity. This chapter discusses about the origin, principles of circular economy, characteristics, development strategies, assessment, practices, challenges, and barriers of circular economy in detail. Keywords
Circular Economy · Principles · Characteristics · Assessment · Challenges
Introduction The circular economy is a regenerative economy that seeks to keep resources and goods at their greatest usefulness (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017). In other words, the idea of a circular economy is almost waste-free with the goal of reducing waste and pollution. The circular economy is referred to as an industrial economy that differentiates biological and technological cycles from each other. Biological nutrients are redesigned to enter the biosphere safely while technological nutrients are not returned
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to the biosphere because they are designed to circulate in the manufacturing process/ system with their maximum usefulness (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017). The circular economy is meant to generate waste free production and consumption. Such an economic model involves continuous cycle of production and use of products, which can constitute a closed-end turnover of substances returning to production without affecting the environment. Companies can develop goods in anticipated ways in which they are used or recycled (Perman et al. 2003). Our environment in the circular economy is handled respectfully. The use of a wastefree economy means taking care of our future politically, socially, financially, and environmentally. The urban population of world increased to more than 50% of the total population in 2015. It is further expected to rise to approximately 70% of the total world’s population by 2050. Maximum population growth will be in developing countries. The urban population in Africa was 470 million in 2015 (UNDEA 2014). It is expected to be 1.2 billion by 2050 (UNDEA 2008). With this urban population and further development, cities produce an ever-increasing amount of solid waste. The World Bank estimates that the amount of solid waste generated by urban areas is growing more faster than the rate of urban population. In 2002, 2.9 billion urban population generated about 0.64 kg of municipal solid waste per person per day (0.68 billion tons per year) (World Bank 2012). By 2012, 3 billion urban population generated 1.2 kg solid waste per person per day (1.3 billion tons per year). Further the urban population is expected to reach about 4.3 billion by 2025 and so the generation of solid waste of 1.42 kg each day (2.2 billion tons per year) (World Bank 2012). In many developing and low-income countries, solid waste disposal is the most neglected area. This creates subsequent environmental and health hazards. Disposal of waste is costly and beyond the financial capacities of these countries. Poor institutional capacity and low political will are another two major drawbacks for safe disposal of solid waste. Most common disposal practice includes uncontrolled dumping in the cities. Uncontrolled dumping of waste also has negative consequences like greenhouse gas emissions. The waste sector contributed third highest level of non-CO2 greenhouse gases in 2005, which is 13% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Landfilling of solid waste and wastewater are two major sources of emissions. Methane gas generation from landfills is an average of 58% of waste emissions. So increase in population and waste generation both are directly proportional to each other (US EPA 2012). Economics and environment are closely related with each other. Concept of circular economy was first introduced by Pearce and Turner in Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment (1990). They elaborate the importance of environment and described the theories of economics of natural resources and their interactions. They clearly mentioned that ignoring of surrounding environment means ignoring of economy. This is a linear economy based on open-ended system without an in-built system for recycling, that is, circular economy. Circular economy includes three principles of reducing, reusing, and recycling waste material and so creates strong linkages between the environment and economics.
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According to first law of thermodynamics the amount of resources used in production and cannot be destroyed and are equal to waste that ends up in the environmental system. The circular economy model proposed by Pearce and Turner (1990) is further extended by Boulding. The essay The Economics of Coming Spaceship Earth describes earth as a closed economic system. In this economy and the environment have a circular relationship where everything is input into everything else (Boulding 1996). Some countries developed policies laws for reducing the negative impacts of on the environment. Some countries have formulated acts and laws related to circular economy. In 1996, Germany became the forerunner country in implementing circular economy. This enactment of law “Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act” came into existence. The law provides a proper framework for environmentally compatible waste disposal and assimilative waste capacity. Japan also has started implementing circular economy. It has developed legal framework in year 2002 for recycling-based societies (Morioka et al. 2005). According to this law it gives quantitative targets for recycling solid waste and long-term dematerialization. China is the third country that is serious about implementing circular economy. Unlike Germany and Japan, the China first introduced the framework in a smaller scale which provided better basis for establishing large scale. Sweden has also successively introduced various incentive programs related to circular economy. They have done public awareness and education programs for effective recycling. Policymakers and environmentalists are satisfied by this policy. Germany, Sweden, and some other European countries have incorporated green political parties in their political systems and thus encouraged the processes of decision making toward a circular economy. A major step was taken by European Commission is European Resource Efficiency Platform (EREP) – Manifesto and Policy Recommendations and this supports the business, labor, and civil society leaders for moving toward circular economy. It provides framework for a resourceefficient Europe by preventing further environmental deterioration. It can be achieved by conserving scarce resources through effective use of renewable energy and managing production and consumption wastes, especially through integrated solid waste management. Reusing and recycling residual waste materials are main concept of circular economy which includes energy, water, and different byproducts (Park et al. 2010). Industrial symbiosis is an extended concept which states that the overall benefits come from integrated economic and environmental aspects. Economic benefits are attributed to firms’ agglomeration attracting pools of common production factors such as capital, labor, energy, materials, and infrastructure reducing unit costs and raising factor productivity. Other economic benefits resulting from firms’ proximity include gains from transportation and transaction costs and technology spillovers between firms. The environmental benefits arise from reduced discharged waste and reduced use of virgin materials (Andersen 2007). A third dimension, social is added to the economic and environmental aspects by Zhu and Huang (2005). According to him an ecological economy is required to bring about a fundamental change in the traditional way of open and linear
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development. The three aspects jointly promote competitiveness through efficient resource allocation and higher productivity by redesigning industrial structures reducing negative externalities and finally by improving the overall well-being in society. Circular economy (CE) in solid waste management has numerous positive benefits: • • • • • •
Affordable waste collection services to all income areas Increase in the amount of waste collected and recycled Improved health at household levels Reduction in GHG emissions Direct and indirect job creation Increase in the application of compost to improve agricultural soil fertility
Types of Economy There are two types of economy, circular economy (modern concept) and linear economy (traditional concept) (Fig. 1).
Circular Economy The origin of the circular economy is late 1970s and this credit cannot be referred to a single author. The concept of such a notion was born with the input of many scholars, businesspeople, and innovators. A few excellent scholars played major role in the growth of the circular economy. Pearce and Turner are the founders of environmental economics (Pearce and Turner 1989). They have researched and discussed the theory of circular economics, Fig. 1 Types of economy
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its concepts, benefits, and other significant aspects in their various books and papers. However, due to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation economic report, the real boost in promoting the concept was started in 2012 which included the idea of circular economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). The organization researched theories such as industrial ecology, biomimicry, and cradle to cradle, which provided the undeniable basis for the significance and necessity of the circular economy for the modern world. In addition, there are two other names to mention: Stahel and Parker. Stahel was an architect and economist from Switzerland and the father of industrial sustainability. He is one of the key drivers in the field of sustainability. The “service-life extension of goods – reuse, repair, remanufacture, upgrade technologically” manifests his popular ideology (Product-life Institute 2017). He is also the founder of the well-known term “Cradle to Cradle,” which demonstrates the modern way of consuming things, which is the reverse of the idea of “Cradle to Grave.” One of the first to propose restructuring of the existing economy and closing the material cycles was Stahel. As early as 1972, he acknowledged that the economic model developed was not sustainable, since the demand for raw materials and the consumption of raw materials were growing each year and the resources were only decreasing (Meadows and Behrens 1972). In the agricultural industry, Parker was a British scientist and researcher who studied waste as a resource. He also worked on closed loop systems, developing new ones that can be exploited in the agriculture in Great Britain. The works of Parker were more helpful in the advancement of the theory of circular economics (Wharton School 2017).
Linear Economy It is difficult to talk about the circular economy without understanding its contrastlinear economy. While the circular economy aims to remanufacture or reuse goods, the linear economy is what we have: manufacturing, using, disposing, or throwing away. The goods are produced from raw materials, and their product life can last at most from few minutes to a few years, and then return to landfills or incinerators. This way of using stuff has now been expanded and used all over the world, producing millions of tonnes of waste every year. The linear economy model is based on large amounts of cheap and easily available materials and resources (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015). About 2.8 billion tonnes of technical waste is produced every year. Two million tonnes of waste is highly toxic. As a result, eight million tonnes of plastics end up in the ocean by polluting fresh water. According to numerous reports, given usage and urban population growth rates, the amount of municipal waste generation can double by 2025 (World Bank 2017). Households have historically been leaders in the production of per capita waste in developing countries (in the USA, for example, 733.7 kg, while in Russia it is 340 kg per person per year). Again 65% of urban waste was recycled in Germany in 2013, 35% in the USA, and 3–10% in Russia (Kornilova 2016). The linear economy model
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generates a resource shortage and follows the idea of making profit in the nearest future only leading to cost increment. In comparison to the linear economy, the circular economy is looking for ways to respect natural boundaries by increasing the index of renewable resources and thereby reducing the use of raw materials. Emissions would be reduced as well and the commodity can be used to reduce waste at its maximum degree of utility (European Environment Agency 2016). For instance, clothing made by some brand is thrown away after using it. However, with the circular economy, we can recycle it and wear it in some other form again and again.
Principles of Circular Economy We should explore its core concepts in order to provide a better understanding of the model of the circular economy. The circular economy is based on three principles: preserving and strengthening natural resources (reduce), maximizing resource yields (reuse), and defining natural external factors (recycle). Such considerations separate the circular economy from the linear economy. It is also popularly called as 3R principles of circular economy (Fig. 2).
Preservation and Strengthening of Natural Capital (Reduce) Due to the fair management of limited stocks and renewable resource flows, conservation and strengthening of natural resources is possible. Firstly, it is important to reduce or dematerialize the utilities. In the case of required resources, the circular Fig. 2 3R Principles of circular economy
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system chooses them correctly by using smart technology for choosing renewable resources. Besides this, the circular system improves regeneration processes by improving the natural resources and providing the nutrients inside the system. For instance, because of the principles of the circular economy, the soil can be regenerated or businesses can achieve better profit by using recycled materials in their manufacturing (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015).
Resource Yields Optimization (Reuse) Optimization of the resource generation occurs at its highest utility through the circulation of resources, goods and components. Circulation happens in both biological and technological cycles. The system must be redesigned in order to support the components and resource circulation in the economy. In addition to this, the system increases the number of cycles by changing and prolonging the product life and reuse. Circular systems should also encourage nutrients to re-enter the biosphere to decompose and become new raw material for future cycles as safely as possible (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015). In case of biological materials, it is important to generate additional utility from products. Both the linear and circular economies require the defined structure to be built and improved, but the circular economy does not sacrifice performance (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015).
Negative External Factors Identification (Recycle) It is important to recognize the negative external factors that impact our system and cause harm in order to create change. Systems such as education, health, shelter, entertainment, and food may be influenced by negative variables. It is also essential to regulate such resources as air, water, land use, pollution protection, and the release of toxic substances. These behaviors would achieve the productivity of the system and point out the elements that need more effort and work. All these benefit can be achieved by recycling of used products (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015).
Characteristics of Circular Economy The circular economy also has its own features that differentiate the circular economy from the linear economy, making it the future economy (Fig. 3).
Designed Out of Waste A circular economy is structured to minimize waste to the maximum extent possible. Biological products that are nontoxic can be easily restored to the soil through composting. To save value and minimize the necessary energy for changing
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Fig. 3 Characteristics of circular economy
materials, unnatural materials (plastics, polymers, rubbers) should be redesigned and modernized, as their return to the soil would be very harmful to the environment (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015).
Diversity as Strength The primary point that brings resilience and versatility between different systems may be diversity. Economies should balance the various types of enterprises for long-term survival. Big companies carry the economy with productivity and higher production volumes. When there is a critical and crisis situation in the world, the goal of the smaller companies is to provide the solution (Lacy and Rutqvist 2015).
Renewable Energy Sources In order to minimize or remove the company’s capital and increase the stability of the system, the circular economy must make use of renewable energy sources like air, hydro, and solar energy. It would also allow the economy to circulate and to be balanced (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015). This can be accomplished by reducing the threshold energy demand and increasing the use of solar panels, tidal power, wind turbines, and other renewable energy sources.
Systematic Thinking All should act as a system in a circular economy and be focused on system-thinking. Individuals, suppliers, firms, and plants are part of various systems, but at the same time they all have integrated and tremendous effect on the other classes. Therefore, all the processes that exist and operate according to their interests are taken into account by an efficient circular economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015).
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Transparency in Real Expenses Negative external factors must be established for the transition to a circular economy and they must be open and consistent. Full costs should be reported and measured as the prices in the circular economy. This represents the real expenses. A shadow economy is not feasible in a circular economy. Otherwise, the linear economy is not the circular economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015).
Circular Economy as a Development Strategy In a review of CE as a development strategy in China which aims at improving efficiency of material and energy use, reducing CO2 emissions, promoting enterprises’ competitiveness and removing green barriers in international trade, Su et al. (2013) evaluate the implementation of the strategy in a number of pilot areas. The rich Chinese literature on CE’s practical implementation is seen as a way of tackling the urgent problems of environmental degradation and resource scarcity in the country. Evidence suggests that CE presents a unique policy strategy for avoiding resource depletion, energy conservation, waste reduction, land management, and integrated water resources management. It also considers low demand and consumption, low emissions and high materials, water and energy use efficiency in production, and maximizes uses of renewable resources as core characteristics. Reduction refers to minimizing inputs of primary energy and raw materials which can be achieved through improvements in production efficiency. Reuse suggests using byproducts and waste from one stage of the production in another stage. This includes the use of products to their maximum use capacity. Finally, recycling of used materials substitutes consumption of virgin materials (Zhu et al. 2010). In another related research Li et al. (2011) schematically illustrate the agricultural development of CE and compare it with traditional agriculture. The important theoretical models of China’s agricultural circulation economy practice are: multiindustry, ecological protection type, and agricultural waste recycling development models. The main differences in these are in the conservation of resources and recycling. The authors recommend implementing the agro-circular economy development models accounting for these modes in the context of the Erhai Lake Basin. The 12th five-year plan (2011–2015) for the nation’s economic and social development is evidence of the government’s determination to continuously implement and further develop CE. Motivation for this comes from a number of reasons attributed to the problems of land degradation, expansion of desertification, deforestation, water depletion, air pollution, loss of biodiversity, and waste generation. First, China is facing great environmental challenges due to large-scale and rapid industrialization and urbanization which combine with lack of strong environmental regulations and oversight. Chinese national statistics suggest a 7.5% annual growth rate in CO2 emissions (Guan et al. 2012). The second reason for continuously implementing and further developing CE is severe shortage of resources and energy to meet growing demands and high rate of
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economic growth so that a pathway to sustainable development can be found (Li et al. 2010). CE is an alternative way of reducing the large gap in resource requirements and supply shortages in relation to the population and industry structure. The boom in economic growth and surge in the output of heavy and energyintensive industries have implied a doubling of energy consumption over the last decade (Guan et al. 2012). The third strong argument for CE as a development strategy in general and for China in particular is the recent decade of strict production and environmental standards, regulations in international trade, and tendencies toward implementation of higher labor standards. These are called “green barriers” which are expected to hurt developing countries’ competiveness and export earnings. Implementation of these standards requires acquisition of advanced technologies and implementation of green reforms in production and transportation. In this regard Wang and Liu (2007) view CE as providing a fundamental solution for removing green barriers and for China to gain enhanced national competiveness in its international trade relations. The fourth reason for investing in a new development strategy is that CE strengthens national security because it promotes alternative primary energy resources and because of its saving and efficiency in the use of materials. The effects are reflected in sustainable energy and material supplies. In addition, positive environmental effects help improve the health and overall well-being in society and advance knowledge, technology, and modernization (Heck 2006). The positive effects spill over national borders and impact global well-being. This discussion indicates that urgent environmental problems, resource shortages and scarcity and potential strong competitiveness in international trade and overall well-being benefits of CE in the short and long-run for a country like China support the new national level development strategy. The strategy which aims at changing and saving materials and energy use induces radical changes in education, technology, and regulations.
Development of the Circular Economy The circular economy is in the process of being implemented by some industries, or some of its general or particular components. The results of such implementations are reviewed in this section. Industrial structures, iron and steel, papermaking, new technologies, service industries, process engineering, leather tanning, mining, chemicals, the construction industry, the printed circuit board industry, circular and eco-friendly agriculture, the extraction of oil and gas, energy, the green supply chain, and tourism management are linked to the industries. Iron and steel is an industry that is energy intensive and highly polluting. Ma et al. (2014) are researching the CE mode in this industry. Zhao et al. (2012) discuss the model of mining CE at different levels according to the mineral resource recycling situation. As an example they suggest constructing a CE system in coal mine enterprises and in the mineral value chain. As part of the CE framework in the construction industry, there is a tendency in the European Union (EU) to preserve the added value of goods so as to reduce waste. A shift is needed for the value chains of CE and again that needs adjustments.
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Energy efficiency is a double-dividend choice to reduce energy usage and tackle environmental issues. The processing industry examines energy conservation with a focus on energy efficiency, the mode of energy use and waste emissions (Li et al. 2010). Three cases of CE growth in the chemical, metallurgical, and electric power industries have been studied for CE compliance and energy conservation. The review of CE’s rate of growth in Chinese chemical companies shows that, from the conventional development model to the circular mode, the petrochemical industry is in a transitional stage (Li and Su 2012). The findings show that the industry has made notable progress in developing new processes for energy saving, resource management, and waste heat recovery. The relation of agriculture with natural ecosystem allows for a harmonious process in which material can circulate in the natural ecosystem. A circular flow between materials and resources is accomplished by the efficient implementation of eco-agriculture. Han and He (2011) proposed improving community understanding of environmental protection and resource management, environmental product certification, and the development of an overall strategy for CE and its implementation. Li et al. (2011) expressed the importance of introducing an agro-circular economy in the Erhai Lake Basin with a view of achieving comprehensive energy usage, ecological breeding, comprehensive use of agricultural waste, and trends of agricultural eco-tourism. Modern eco-agriculture is central to the sustainable growth of circular and low-carbon farming. Jiang and Zhou explained the difference between green and conventional supply chain management (Jiang and Zhou 2012). They find that the implementation of green supply chain management maximizes resource use, decreases resource consumption, and improves picture, organizational efficiency and usability, thereby helping to achieve sustainable growth. The information management system has been substantially developed. Appropriate infrastructures are in place in developed countries. Information can be used in the tourism supply chain to improve supply and consumer relations and to enhance CE-friendly satisfaction. For example, China has the ability to become a big node in the global supply chain of tourism management networks by bridging Europe and the USA (Hua 2011).
Entrepreneurship and CE Entrepreneurship is the process of starting a business, a start-up company, or an enterprise. An entrepreneur creates a business strategy in the process and acquires the capital needed and is entirely responsible for the results. It has facets such as social, political, and knowledge-based enterprises. The key drivers of economic growth, breakthrough technologies, and job development are known to be small companies and entrepreneurships. Governments finance various agencies and invest in setting up business incubators and science parks to help business-related activities and future entrepreneurs and their successful inventions, in order to encourage risktaking and entrepreneurship. Literature on the relationship between entrepreneurship and CE is in its infancy. As a large social objective, many studies concentrate on
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entrepreneurship and sustainable growth (Edler and James 2015; Hall et al. 2010; Iyigun 2015; Pacheco et al. 2010; Stefanescu and On 2012; Uslu et al. 2015). Parker (2012) presents a detailed survey of entrepreneurship, creativity, and business cycle theories, while Kohler (2012) describes Kondratiev waves’ neo-Schumpeterian theory and the multilevel perspective on environmental innovation and social transitions. As a result of technological advances, the expansion of knowledge, globalization, and the movement of capital and the evolution of new cultures, entrepreneurial practices have become an important source of social and ecological sustainability. Hall et al. (2010) reviewed emerging research relevant to sustainable development and entrepreneurship. They claim that entrepreneurship is a big channel for sustainable goods and processes and a potential solution to many social and environmental problems. They address uncertainties about the position of entrepreneurship and current ideas for future study. According to Brundtland’s report sustainable development is defined as a development that meets the needs of the present generation without jeopardizing the capacity of the future generations to meet their own needs (WCED 1987). This research is of great importance given the relationship between entrepreneurship and the circular economy. York and Venkataraman (2010) consider entrepreneurship as supplementary efforts made by states, NGOs, and established firms to provide solutions to the causes of environmental degradation. Entrepreneurs can help to solve environmental challenges by helping institutions to achieve their objectives and by developing environmentally friendly goods, services, processes, and institutions. The authors present a model that demonstrate how entrepreneurs can solve environmental uncertainties, provide solutions to innovation, and participate in resource allocations for addressing environmental degradation. The effectiveness of entrepreneurship in the process of transformation from a linear to a circular structure undoubtedly depends on the quality of the market incentives that are offered. Pacheco et al. (2010) term this constraint a “green prison” where entrepreneurs are forced to act in an environmentally damaging way because of a disparity between individual incentives and collective sustainable development objectives. The state plays a crucial role in promoting the transition of entrepreneurs from a green prison by establishing or modifying the conditions for competitive gambling. Pacheco et al. (2010) include evidence of these behaviors and address their consequences. The Manifesto and the Policy Recommendation of European Resource Efficiency Platform form the basis for a resource-efficient Europe with circular economy (EC 2012). The value of entrepreneurship and sustainable development for social and economic development is well known. The 2008 international economic crisis has impacted national economies in various ways with varying degrees of severity. Stefanescu and On (2012) described the connections between, before, and after the crisis in European countries, the indices of entrepreneurial activity, and sustainable growth. Awareness of the changes in the entrepreneurial and socioeconomic measures of sustainable development and the role of economies provide a useful information basis for national economic policies.
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Latest research on entrepreneurship and sustainability has applied a range of dimensions to existing awareness. Entrepreneurship is seen as an alternative to unemployment and poverty in many cases. It can serve as a source of renewal and also as an impact on the output and growth of market economy. Some researchers uncover the reasons for sustainable development using a corporate social responsibility approach and explore the potential underlying aspects of decision-making and entrepreneurship that lead to sustainable development (Iyigun 2015). A rise in entrepreneurship, environmental degradation, and corporate social responsibility offers an opportunity to improve the green eco-system of entrepreneurship. In this respect, numerous inventive projects have been launched to promote the application of green entrepreneurship in Turkey to green companies and local entrepreneurs. Uslu et al. (2015) suggest a range of policy recommendations, like support for environmentally sustainable goods, increased knowledge of green products through projects of social responsibility, cooperation between national and international businesses, universities, and industry, access by green entrepreneurs to low-cost technology, and desired regulatory levels. They stress the role of cooperation in the growth of entrepreneurship for the creation of new opportunities and entrepreneurship for a sustainable energy system in renewable energy field. Heshmati et al. (2015) discuss the growth and importance of renewable energy sources for the climate and outline the key support structures for funding the production of renewable energy.
Current Practices of Circular Economy The Case of China as a Single and Major CE Implementer China is the only country that has developed the concept of CE and has practiced it as a development strategy on a large scale. This explains the reason for the emphasis that is placed on the case of China in investigating current CE practices. Ideally, successful implementation of the CE policy must take place simultaneously at all three levels of aggregation: micro, meso, and macro. This is emphasized in a number of studies (Geng and Doberstein 2008; Su et al. 2013; Zhu and Huang 2005). Su et al. (2013) categorize ongoing CE practices into four areas of production, consumption, waste management, and other support. The authors maintain that the complexity of practices increases with the aggregation level suggesting that the micro and meso levels are vibrant as compared to the macro level.
Other Practiced Cases Besides China, many individual industrialized countries, newly industrialized, and emerging economies partially apply the 3R principles (reduce, reuse, and recycling of material). The reduce component is mostly practiced in production process as a result of competition and necessity of achieving high input use efficiency. Recycling of glass, plastic, paper, metal, and burnable solid waste is becoming more prevalent
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in households in developing nations. Municipalities are responsible for the disposal and reuse of household waste water, solid waste, recycling of cars, household appliances, etc. Industrial waste water treatment is regulated, but material reuse direction is less explored. Practically greater attention is paid to the consumption stage rather than the production stage. Regulations remain one step behind the development of environmentally hazardous technology and monitoring of the responsibilities of producers. Europe has developed concepts and mechanisms for a common environmental policy for its members and regions. These cover all aspects including production, consumption, waste management, and environmental policies. It is not necessarily called a circular economy but the patterns are closely in line with the circular economy’s principles. The European resource efficiency platform (EREP): Manifesto and policy recommendations (EC 2012) is a call on labor, business, and civil society leaders to support resource efficiency and to move to a circular economy. The document presents a manifesto for a resource-efficient Europe, lists actions for a resource-efficient Europe and suggests ways toward a resource-efficient and circular economy. This effort is a result of the growing pressure on resources and on the environment to embark on a transition to a resource-efficient and ultimately regenerative circular economy. It is anticipated that a circular resource-efficient and resilient economy can be accomplished in a socially equitable and responsible manner by fostering innovation, targeted investments, smart regulations, creating market conditions for CE-friendly goods, incorporating resource scarcity and vulnerability into broader policy areas. It is estimated that EU reduce its material requirements by 17–24% and generate 1.4–2.8 million jobs by using resource productivity as an economic strategy (EC 2012). The manifesto on the European Parliament was an attempt to deliver wise, sustainable, and inclusive economic development, to make resource conservation and the circular economy an important building block of the Europe 2020 agenda. As an efficient method for pushing society toward a resource-efficient economy, product service systems (PSS) have been heralded. In a study of product services for a resource-efficient and circular economy, Tukker (2015) sheds light on customer relations and PSS inflexibility as the explanation why the scheme has not yet been widely implemented. Kalmykova et al. (2016) investigated resource consumption drivers and pathways for resource efficiency and reduction. They analyzed the economic, political and lifestyle impacts on the dynamics of resource usage at the national (Sweden) and urban (Stockholm and Göteborg) levels between 1996 and 2011. Empirical resources (domestic material consumption, fossil fuels, metals, nonmetallic materials, biomass, and chemicals and fertilizers) consumption trends show that the policies implemented have not reduced resources and energy to the desired levels. The bias toward energy efficiency has reduced the consumption of fossil fuels, but the production of waste exceeds the increase in the recycling of materials that hinders the growth of a circular economy. Policies that have been introduced have tackled efficiency in usage but not the reduction of demand for energy, including non-fuel resources (Kalmykova et al. 2016).
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Assessment of Circular Economy Practices A system of indicators is required to assess the successful development and implementation of CE. The indicators are expected to be metric measures of CE’s development and outcomes to provide guidelines for decision makers to further develop and assess the effectiveness of various used policy instruments. Environmental and other government agencies and scholars in different countries have made efforts to develop and promote a unified set of indicators. However, in practice implementation approaches and the heterogeneity of enterprises, industries, and regions and their characteristics and operational environments have implied that different sets of assessment indicators need to be concurrently developed. As mentioned earlier developments have taken place at different levels of aggregation such as micro, meso, and macro and in different areas of activities including production, consumption, waste management, and policies. The set of indicators should account for heterogeneity in different dimensions. Depending on their characteristics and circumstances, various sets of firmspecific indicators are being established at the lowest level namely, micro level to introduce CE in different businesses. Ideally, a similar set of companies in an industry and another firm specific set should be strictly included in the set of indicators. For one iron and steel company, a set of indicators was developed by Chen et al. (2009). The collection contained four primary level indicators, 12 secondary-level indicators, and 66 tertiary-level indicators. Some other researchers have concentrated on indicator systems at the meso level or industry level (Du and Cheng 2009). With nine input-output metrics and the Malmquist productivity index, Du and Cheng (2009) used the DEA efficiency analysis tool to analyze cleaner production performance of steel and iron industry enterprises. The efficacy of the CE policy using DEA was analyzed by Wu et al. (2014). Other researchers (Shi et al. 2008) used 22 metrics to estimate cleaner barriers to development, including political and market barriers, financial and economic barriers, technological and knowledge barriers, and management and organizational barriers. To assess the overall eco-efficiency of one industrial park, Geng et al. (2010) developed an energybased indicator framework while Wang et al. (2008) looked at the interactions between energy-saving barriers. At the meso level, two sets of partially overlapping assessment indicator systems aimed at eco-industrial parks (EIPs) have been released by the Chinese government agencies NDRC and MEP (Li 2011). There are 13 indicators grouped into four main dimensions of the NDRC indicator system: resource production rate, resource consumption rate, integrated resource usage, and waste discharge reduction rate (Su et al. 2013). The output rate refers to the productivity of the resource whereas the input rate dimension refers to the intensity or efficiency of input usage. The third dimension explores the rate of reuse of industrial waste and ultimately the last dimension is based on the 3R theory of industrial waste reuse, reduction, and recycling. The MEP indicator system consists of 21 indicators grouped into the same four dimensions as the NDRC system with different forms. It includes economic growth, material reduction, recycling, pollution control, and pollution
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management and administration. The MEP framework has divided industrial parks into three sector-integrated classes and has established three sector-specific indicator sets (Geng et al. 2009). The biological principle was also applied to establish two eco-connectivity indices and by-products and waste recycling in an EIP and the use of a globally standardized environmental management framework. Improved data availability at the aggregate macro level allows further measurement studies. The NRDC meso level method is often used at the macro level, but there is an additional dimension to account the value of recycled materials at the regional level. This added dimension is directly in line with the CE principles. It demonstrates the government’s dedication to CE-compliant promotion of resource production and conservation. Scholars have proposed enhancing the structures of the indicators as they have a restricted emphasis on the values of 3R and cover only environmental aspects. Several scholars are proposing a more comprehensive assessment framework so that it can also integrate indices of economic, technical growth, and social growth aspects. Zhu and Zhu (2007) argued for an eco-efficiency indicator system. And they emphasize the sustainability in the use of materials and waste management. This can be used in the evaluation, preparation, and generation of pollutants for energy consumption.
Challenges and Barriers to Implementation of a Circular Economy From a General Perspective Su et al. (2013) emphasize the importance of lack of accurate data and knowledge, lack of innovative technology, inadequate or absent economic incentives, poor legislation implementation, poor leadership and growth plan management, lack of public understanding of CE’s necessity and promises, and lack of a robust standard framework for evaluating the success of CE. Let us take the example of four pilot cities and diverse industry studies of China for a promising future for CE implementation at wider commercial, regional, and national levels. Mega-cities are the largest of the pilot cities in China. CE, however, can be applied equally at the business, industry, and city levels in Sweden and elsewhere at the levels described earlier, but on a smaller scale. Literature has identified a variety of problems and obstacles that may discourage or slow down the introduction of CE. Su et al. (2013) emphasize importance of lack of accurate data and knowledge, lack of advanced technology, inadequate or absent economic incentives, poor law enforcement, poor leadership and growth plan management, lack of public understanding of CE’s need and promises, and lack of robust uniform framework for evaluating the success of CE. In its advanced phases, technology and technical skills are critical factors in the successful application of the concepts of CE at various levels and in various fields. To develop the CE strategy and to upgrade production facilities and equipment, a combination of advanced technology, expertise, management, finance, policy, and
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governance is required. Conditions in China are assessed as insufficiently designed to sustain multidimensional and simultaneous environmental development initiatives with regard to these variables and their interrelationships. There are currently a few incentive programs that encourage a large number of SMEs to participate in the CE implementation process. Shi et al. (2008) describe their lack of interest due to the high costs associated with such involvement and the few direct benefits associated with such transition for businesses. In the transition to CE, Xing et al. (2011) see importing technology as a response to the low speed at which indigenous technology is evolving. There is concern, however, that such a policy will lack impact as it will rely on international experts to function and fix technological failures. In order to be able to develop and introduce environmentally sustainable innovations and solutions, public incentive programs for finance, technology, regulatory and administrative support are required to support companies so that they can obtain financial and tax incentives and participate in creative activities. A low level of public intervention in the areas mentioned earlier acts as a constraint; initiatives with opposite effects reinforce this. For example, successful public initiatives to preserve low-level factor prices such as energy and water minimize the incentives of businesses and households to adopt CE policies to use energy, materials, and water supplies to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Overall, public policies have been skewed toward heavy industry, investment in infrastructure, and energy-intensive manufacturing sectors, thus limiting the general flexibility of the CE transition process. Moreover, in the absence of effective regulations, producers could pass the higher cost of resource-saving measures to consumers through pricing, thereby reducing their incentives for the adoption of expensive and advanced production and distribution technologies. Environmental policy and government pricing policies are supposed to be related to macroeconomic policies and aimed at the welfare of low-income communities. Germany and Japan are among the few active countries having successful case studies on the introduction and further growth of CE. Success of these two countries is attributed to the awareness and participation of the general public in the implementation of the strategy. The complex nature of the concept, the large and diverse populations, and the lack of human and institutional capabilities are identified by Geng and Doberstein (2008) as the main contributors to current deficiencies in Chinese environmental management programs, low public awareness rates, and poor understanding of participation in CE programs. In pilot cities with more homogeneous structures, limited progress is mainly attributed to the vision of leadership rather than institutional capabilities and public awareness. Liu (2012) proposes rewriting economics as long as any resource is important, including water, sunlight, and fresh air. In developing a modern circular economy, knowledge of the living system that is practiced by the traditional Hakka people in southern China should therefore be applied. Bilitewski (2012) shows with examples that CE exchange on a global scale is not acceptable without internationally accepted risk assessments for current and newly produced chemicals and products in order to reduce the risks of CE.
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From an Entrepreneurial Perspective As mentioned above, the process of starting a company or organization is entrepreneurship. Management, social, political, information, technology, legal, financial, manpower, and economics have several dimensions in the development process. Each of these can be seen as a challenge. Several challenges are faced by entrepreneurs as well. Many public initiatives are aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and its activities, sustainability and success, such as setting up business incubators and science parks. The relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development is discussed in numerous studies. A systematic overview of emerging research in the area, past achievements, and future directions is given by Hall et al. (2010). Entrepreneurship is a significant conduit for sustainable goods and processes and a panacea for social and environmental concerns. There remains, however, confusion as to the essence of entrepreneurship and its position. To understand entrepreneurship and further sustainable growth, Iyigun (2015) uses an approach focused on corporate social responsibility. Sustainable entrepreneurs are supposed to have a clear vision of direction of balancing social, economic, environmental impacts, and sustainable growth. These serve as catalysts for the transition from the current linear economy to a sustainable economy and face multiple types of threats, obstacles and barriers for entrepreneurs. Iyigun argues that sociocultural factors and institutional realities. The focus of Schaltegger and Wagner (2007) is on the types of sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation conditions. Their emphasis is on overcoming the technological difficulties involved in managing opportunities. Management is seen as a burden for them to comply with legislation and strict regulatory structures and business requirements. In developing industry innovations and in their promotion and execution, business leaders play a role. In an empirical study, Uslu et al. (2015) highlighted the benefits and drawbacks of the transition to a green economy and green entrepreneurship in Turkey. Low levels of operation, restricted support programs, lack of green ability, access to private capital, the educational system, cultural norms, shortcomings in implementation and control, novelty of green entrepreneurship, lack of public knowledge, and lack of buying green goods are the drawbacks that constitute the challenges and barriers. In a related report, Vaghefpour and Zabeh (2012) address the role cooperation plays in the growth of entrepreneurship in the field of renewable energy. The creation of fundamental developments in this field and the establishment and growth of a culture of entrepreneurship and the creation of the frameworks needed are seen as challenges. In the commercialization process of emerging technology, these are considered to be essential solutions. The European Resource Efficiency Platform called on leaders of business, labor, and society to support resource efficiency and move to CE in its December 2012 manifesto (EC 2012). In response to key policy challenges, it recommends generating growth and employment; providing incentives to overcome barriers and increase resource efficiency; valuing resources; providing information and progress; and
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promoting creative business models. Recommendations to be made by individual members include setting targets, measures and progress reporting; enhancing decision-making knowledge on the environment and resource impacts; phasing out environmentally damaging subsidies; moving toward a CE and encouraging highquality recycling; improving resource productivity in business-to-business relations; advancing to resource-efficient product policy framework; delivering stronger and more coherent implementation of green public procurement. The barriers emphasized in EC (2012) include those that stop entrepreneurs from innovating; legal, financial, and the obstacles outlined in EC include those that stop innovation by entrepreneurs; legal, financial, and structural barriers to new business models; private funding barriers; and investment guidance barriers to accounting systems. Edler and James (2015) argue for an awareness in the context of the European Framework Programme of the emergence of new science and technology policies. The trilemma of the global economy, the financial crisis, and ecological sustainability was explored by Altvater (2009). The trilemma involves a higher rise in labor productivity than GDP, a real interest rate that exceeds the real GDP growth rate, and an increase in real GDP growth that breaches environmental sustainability conditions. Stefanescu and On (2012) consider entrepreneurship and sustainable development as two key factors for social-economic development in an up-to-date assessment. They research the link between the two factors before and during the global economic crisis in European countries and compare efficiency-driven and innovation-driven economies. There are six papers on sustainable development and entrepreneurship in the special issue of JBV, edited by Hall et al. (2010). They are a mixture of theoretical, analytical research, case studies, and data econometric analysis concentrating on individuals and organizations. Drivers of sustainable entrepreneurship and their application to development policy are mutual interest. The first research by York and Venkataraman (2010) using canonical theories of entrepreneurship proposes a model outlining how entrepreneurial actions should approach environmental degradation, representing opportunities and new profitable projects to find solutions to environmental degradation as a complement to legislation, corporate social responsibility, and environmental advocacy of individuals. A game-theoretical methodology is used in the second study by Pacheco et al. (2010) to explore sustainability choices in which the cost of pursuing sustainability plays a key role before rivals and before defining criteria, regulations, and institutions. Third study models the entry of sustainable entrepreneurs that influence the sustainable practices of incumbents (called greening Goliaths) during the transformation of the industry (Hockerts and Wustenhagen 2010). The successful survival of industry and successful transition relies on the interplay between business entry and transformation of incumbent players. In the fourth report, Meek et al. (2010) explored how the effect of sustainable entrepreneurship is affected by the structural context, in particular the position of government incentives and social norms. In the US solar energy market, societal norms beneficial for sustainability targets have contributed to higher levels of entrepreneurial outcomes. In an effort to examine entrepreneurs’ incentive to pursue sustainable projects, the fifth study by
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Parrish (2010) illustrates the gap between opportunity-driven and sustainable-driven entrepreneurs. The primary goals of entrepreneurs here are to create successful projects and contribute to profitable sustainability. So, sustainability-driven entrepreneurs have sustainability in organizations that differ from conventional types of entrepreneurs by putting a greater weight on resource-efficiency. Finally, Kuckertz and Wagner’s (2010) sixth research examines the relationship between the sustainability focus of individuals and their entrepreneurial intentions. University student data suggest that sustainability orientation affects some groups’ entrepreneurial aspirations, but the optimistic interaction is cancelled by business experience.
From an Innovation Perspective Hall et al. (2010) outline emerging research related to sustainable development as a less controversial concept in business and policy in their executive summary of the JBV special issue on the relationship between sustainable development and entrepreneurship. They argue that it is now understood that a fundamental transformation of the economy is needed to reduce the harmful and social effects of unsustainable business practices. They draw a range of conclusions. First, entrepreneurship is seen in this sense as a conduit for transforming sustainable goods and processes to resolve social and environmental issues. It is a means of exploiting possibilities to meet social needs. Secondly, research is needed to resolve the very prescriptive relationship and gaps in information about the process of change. There are information gaps regarding the ability of entrepreneurs for building sustainable economies, their motivation, their promotion, the nature of systemic obstacles, capturing and exploring economic rents and public policies, and increasing their effect on sustainable entrepreneurship. Third, research is required to examine the conditions for entrepreneurial enterprises to provide sustainable goods and processes rather than incumbent firms and the consequences of welfare development and welfare destruction as well as unsustainable rent-seeking by entry into dirty businesses. Finally, research into circumstances of economic development, advance environmental goals, and strengthen social conditions for disadvantaged communities are the obstacles for environmental changes. Such findings consider creativity as a key to the phase of transformation. Sustainable development means the use of renewable resources and their use under conditions of reduction, reuse, and recycling of nonrenewable resources to extend their sustainability for future generations. Conflicts related to economic, social, and environmental considerations occur on circumstances such as trade-offs between economic development and resource depletion. Large-scale social and economic transformations could be accomplished by innovation in order to prevent the devolution of growth and achieve sustainability. This panacea theory assumes that renewable, clean, and low-carbon entrepreneurs are driving force behind creativity and the delivery of goods and services that are sustainable. Despite the premise of entrepreneurship to encourage sustainable growth, confusion remains as to the position of entrepreneurship and its potential effects. The presumption is based on
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the role played by entrepreneurship in the developmentally unsustainable changes of the society in past. There is little or no proof of how entrepreneurs can discover and grow possibilities for achieving sustainable goals. In entrepreneurship literature, sustainable development is not investigated. Therefore, information differences on how the mechanism unfolds remain; this is a significant constraint. The Journal of Business Venturing’s special issue (Hall et al. 2010) was aimed at solving this void. Literature was examined and the role of entrepreneurship in sustainable development was discussed. The review of the studies in the special issue helps to gain a deeper understanding of the gaps and to recommend further analysis on the sustainable development nexus of entrepreneurship. Business policy includes the corporate social responsibility and its connection with sustainable growth. Any type of corporate sustainability strategy is implemented by the majority of big corporations. Universities have also responded with new schools and services that are educationally green and sustainable. Wellknown publications have been regularly conducting articles on corporate and university sustainability in diverse research fields. Much of the published studies are connected to the efforts of existing corporations to reduce environmental impacts by going green and their effects on competitiveness. In comparison to Hall et al. (2010) report on the financial benefits of sustainable investments in becoming green including greater access to some markets, differentiated goods, green technology sales revenues, better risk management, lower resource costs, lower capital costs, and lower labor costs. Sustainable development from an entrepreneurship orientation side has not been much studied. At present, sustainability-driven entrepreneurial economics and management literatures are slowly evolving. It provides limited insights about how entrepreneurship is supposed to generate new profitable opportunities for correction of market failures related to social and environmental problems. More research and institutional development is required for supporting the efficient allocation of scarce resources, sustainable production activities, and viability of environmentally sustainable technologies. Zahra et al. (2009) summarize a similar source of social entrepreneurship literature that include practices to discover and leverage opportunities inherent in environmental market failures. The aim is to increase social wealth by developing new projects and existing organizations. It emphasizes that market imperfections are the outcome of producing opportunities for sustainable entrepreneurs. It is unclear how sustainability intentions impact entrepreneurial intentions in view of the two-way causal relationship between sustainable development entrepreneurs and environment (Kuckertz and Wagner 2010).
As a Part of Entrepreneurial Strategy This analysis shows that the sustainable development is not a route to reversal. Hall et al. (2010) provide a framework for possible future research directions in the field of sustainable and entrepreneurial growth. There have been more prescriptive and
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constructive current studies. Future research should provide information and answers to the degree to which it is possible for entrepreneurs to build sustainable economies that need insight into at least five related issues. First, the conditions under which entrepreneurial projects turn markets into competitive structures that provide sustainable goods and services rather than existing companies or their combinations. Second, incentivized circumstances lead entrepreneurs to seek sustainable projects. The main factors here are developing of the theory, removal of systemic obstacles to economic rent capture, differences between sustainability-oriented and conventional entrepreneurs, and differences in actions and risk preferences. Third, importance should be given to the conditions under which entrepreneurs can simultaneously generate economic growth while following social and environmental objectives. It should be noted that entrepreneurship dynamics for sustainable development can be a hindrance to environmental investment in deprived communities within developed and emerging economies. Fourth, factors that weigh all externalities in the welfare-creation versus welfare-destruction of entrepreneurship should be taken into account. Potential negative externalities, unanticipated problems, emerging social and environmental issues, and potential unsustainable rent pursuits by entrepreneurs are key factors. Finally, the conditions under which public policy can influence the sustainable entrepreneurship in a positive way. To all the questions raised here, the policy and practice should provide answers. It is important to establish an optimal combination of policies for the allocation of innovation support to incumbents or new ventures, the heterogeneity of sector support, the structure and dynamics of the industry, and the provision of demand-side tax and supply-side R&D subsidies. An optimal mix of sustainable entrepreneurship policies will be determined by the interplay and trade-offs between competing social, environmental, and economic objectives. The position of incumbents (greening Goliaths) and new entrants (emerging Davids) in sustainable entrepreneurship has been theorized by Hockerts and Wustenhagen (2010). Age, height, and goals define the two groups of players. In the process of creating market equilibrium, sustainable entrepreneurship is characterized as the discovery and exploitation of economic opportunities linked to market failures. The goal is to turn industries into states which are environmentally and socially sustainable. Sustainable entrepreneurship thus defines practices that reflect transformative innovations rather than incremental ones. Incremental advances in environmental or social processes such as the implementation of sustainable management systems, eco-efficiency, or corporate social responsibility programs are involved in current and large businesses (Schaltegger 2002). In the other hand, “sustainable entrepreneurs” or “socio-bricoleurs” or “bioneers” are the latest entrants. The dissemination of sustainable goods and services is a typical S-shape case and covers the phases of implementation, early development, take-off, and maturity. Two powers evolve over time and the co-evolution of start-ups in sustainability and business incumbents toward industry’s sustainability transition comes from various initial roles. Emerging Davids have high environmental and social performance but low market share by having a sustainability niche, whereas the greening Goliaths have low environmental and social performance but a high market
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share. As an outcome of the sustainability transition of the industry at the maturity stage, they both target high environmental output and market share. The pace and outcome of change and the distribution of market share will be affected by legislation, environmental and health awareness, and various sustainable innovation policy incentive programs. Examples of such sectors are the organic retailing of whole food markets, electric vehicles, smart cars, development of solar panels, production of renewable energy, etc. and these provide some basic details on transition process, interaction between companies in the industry, impact of different public policies, and possible negative externalities.
As an Innovative National Level Development Strategy A study released by the offices of the Swedish government entitled “Sweden’s National Sustainable Development Plan” describes sustainable development as the overall policy goal of the government. In a move toward more sustainable development in Sweden, the plan brings together social, cultural, economic, and environmental goals. The report outlines the efforts of the government in the form of goals, initiatives, and strategies implemented and expressed in sustainable development policies. The EU, OECD, the Nordic Council of Ministers, and numerous other organizations and countries have also formulated sustainable development policies. Wijkman and Skånberg (2015) examine the potential for a substantial improvement in resource utilization and analyze social benefits in the form of carbon emissions and job gains. Important emission reductions along with employment generation and trade balance effects from renewable, energy-efficient, and material efficiency sources are seen in the modeling exercise. Using the Swedish economy as a case, the authors propose lowering taxes on work and increasing taxes on use of natural resources and white certificates as policy steps to encourage the shift toward the CE and increasing its benefits for society. A positive net effect on employment is found after studying the relationship between the green economy and green jobs in power generation in China. Mehmet (1995) studied the creation of employment and the strategy for green development. He highlighted the employment versus environmental dilemma for densely populated developing countries. Mehmet suggests that the North should finance job creation in the South using funds raised through ecotaxes and international trade levies. The Swedish National Sustainable Development Strategy defines the long-term vision and values of a sustainable society. It also defines the policy instruments, tools, and processes necessary for implementation of the change process, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of its implementation. Various players are called upon to participate in a broad participation that is based on public consultations. The national development strategy is expected to encompass all three dimensions of sustainability, namely, ecological, social, and economic. It makes prudent use of natural resources, and conserves and invests in human and environmental resources. The sustainable development strategy is based on a democratic system of
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government institutions that promote resource-efficient patterns of production and consumption. It also includes the learning of public goods including knowledge, health, and the environment. Balanced combination of social welfare, economic development, and a sound environment are three major areas of the Swedish vision and sustainable development policy. The Swedish government has prioritized eight key strategic areas encompassing key elements of a sustainable society: the future environment, climate change limitation, population and public health, social cohesion, welfare and society; employment and learning in a knowledge-based society; economic growth and competitiveness; regional development and cohesion and community development (GOME, 2002). Environmental pollution is a global problem, not just a national problem. In order to promote the environment, human health, and well-being, the task of the twentyfirst century is to foster and enhance democratic collaboration on sustainability at the international level. Since 2001, the European Council has encouraged members to formulate their national sustainable development strategies in such a way that this can lead to the development of a sustainable development strategy worldwide in collaboration with the UN framework. In terms of combining ecological, economic, and social sustainability, Sweden is a significant contributor. This is accomplished by shared responsibility for the creation of sustainable sectors with special needs including manufacturing, working conditions, regional growth, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and a well-built environment. Natural resource security, effective resource management, and increased productive utilization of energy are the three facets of sustainability. These take social and economic sustainability into account and provide a clear image and scope for the national sustainability strategy. Sustainability of family and working life is one of the main social and economic problems of the future. As a technologically advanced country with a strong capacity for creativity in environmental legislation, green taxes and standards, Sweden should explore the entrepreneurial and business opportunities in which Swedish companies could take part in the transition of advanced waste management and technology. Waste management is an old but exacerbated problem that demands new strategies to create a sustainable and accelerated urbanization climate in the form of public investments in cleaner and more efficient waste-removal systems. The Swedish business Envac is an example of successful entrepreneurial companies seeking to exploit the possibilities of creating new technologies and methods focused on a circular economy, such as quantum system technology (Törnblom 2014). A number of tools and incentives are required for implementation of a sustainable development policy (GO-EM, 2002). These include environmental legislation to support efforts toward a sustainable society. Role of community spatial planning, synergies in mutually supportive economic, environmental, and social actions, and programs in an integrated product policy are important parts for life-cycle management of goods and services. Economic instruments are the driving force behind development. Evaluation of the impact of policies at different levels provides a better basis for decision-making. Progress in setting standards for regular monitoring and evaluation is generally slow. Development of a national system of sustainable
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development strategy Indicators, research, education, dissemination of information, and dialogue between actors are essential elements of a sustainable society. Lastly, institutional capacity is crucial for the integration of development issues in all policy areas and at all decision-making levels. Effective coordination and the complex task of combining short and long-term processes is a challenge that calls for active leadership in achieving the CE objective as an innovative national development strategy. Responsibility for sustainable development lies with individual states. Climate change, environmental degradation, and globalization have increased the mutual dependence. Sustainable development calls for action at the local, national, regional, and global levels. Key international organizations include the UN, EU, OECD, WTO, the Nordic Council of Ministers, and other environmental organizations, for example, the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI), and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). Ensuring environmental sustainability is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals. Developing environmentally sustainable energy systems and efficient transport systems that reduce emissions and greenhouse gases are important measures for sustainable consumption and production. Agreements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have been reached to support developing countries in their economic and technological transition. Key initiatives for global sustainable development are global water partnership, peace and security, EU and OECD sustainable development strategies as well as local and national activities. OECD Green Growth Studies (OECD 2014) have developed a green growth framework and an indicator for monitoring progress toward green growth. Green growth aims to foster economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources needed for improving our well-being. The set includes indicators that cover the socioeconomic context, growth characteristics, environmental productivity, economic resource productivity, nature of the asset base, environmental quality of life, economic opportunities, and policy responses. The indicators are useful for policy design and evaluation.
General Policy Recommendations Literature on CE assessment has not yet been well developed and the experience gained from the four Chinese pilot cities provides limited guidance on the implementation of CE at the macro level. Various index number methodologies are used to aggregate individual indicators into composite and multidimensional indices to measure CE performance in different recognized dimensions and levels. In areas of development research, the issue of optimal weighting in aggregation of indicators is far from being resolved. Other challenges include lack of reliable information, lack of advanced environmental technology, poor governance, weak economic incentives, enforcement of legislation, and lack of public awareness. This review defined the standardized quantitative measurements and targets in order to provide a clear
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picture of China and some European countries in CE adaptation process. Implementation of a range of policies is proposed to overcome these challenges and provide a guideline for designing of optimal future development strategy to prevent a reversal of old practices and standards. The assessment data of China’s 12th five-year plan can help shed light on the old and new challenges that may require a changed set of policies. The lack of reliable information and data is one of the key challenges identified above. The provinces of China have a relatively high degree of autonomy. In recent years, a number of comprehensive surveys and databases have been developed and generously made available to researchers without much restriction on their access. This openness applies to a wide range of areas including the collection and dissemination of statistics. However, data is generally collected by the National Statistical Agency. At the same time, provinces and major municipalities also collect and publish local statistics. The way in which data is collected, processed and made available for research is still managed and controlled in the old fashion. It has a strong influence on the content and the way in which it is presented and disseminated. Radical changes are needed to improve the public’s confidence in the accuracy and quality of the research data. New standardized databases covering all levels and provinces are need to be compiled and used for the evaluation of the implementation of CE. This applies to all countries with an enhanced focus on the environment. The OECD (2014) green growth studies proposed a measurement framework and provided a range of topics and indicators. China is industrializing at a very rapid pace. The technological capabilities have developed significantly, but not homogeneously across different sectors and locations. The lack of advanced technologies is a key limitation in the efficient management of the environment and coping with the rapidly deteriorating environmental conditions of the country. The development of such technologies is not feasible as the relatively low level of available indigenous technologies. Improved global environmental and climate change awareness has developed channels and mechanisms to facilitate related and advanced technology transfer for developing countries. China has been able to facilitate the transfer of the technology needed through such cooperative channels and its own joint venture regulations for corporations to gain access to the Chinese market. It is worth mentioning here that the current level of technology is below the optimum level and that investments in environmental technology innovations are needed to develop the technologies needed. This will further increase the production cost and in general, it is considered as harmful to the competitiveness of firms. However, it promotes energy and material savings as dividends in production and green trade. For central and regional governments and municipalities in China, new and advanced environmental technologies adapted to CE’s 3R principles should be a priority. Sweden is a technologically advanced nation with a strong capacity for creativity and is also a major donor of foreign aid for development. The Swedish state and municipalities with strong environmental, green tax, and standard-setting capabilities could promote entrepreneurs and business companies to engage in advanced waste management and growth technology in China or elsewhere. One of the
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possible exportable services that put Sweden and its companies at the forefront of environmental practitioners is Scandinavian and its expertise in data collection, grassroots participatory decision-making, cooperation in the exchange of welfare and transparency. The Green Wave and the Nordic view of environmental justice are in line with this (Lehtinen 2007). In view of their beneficial environmental and climate effects, there are no planned public constraints on the growth and implementation of production and consumption technologies. These approaches may be created, as in the case of medicines and their health and side effects. Legislations are being implemented regardless of their form and source for dealing with polluting technologies. Legislation is frequently implemented long after the technology has been developed and launched on the market. Their enforcement is thus more or less a problem of fixing losses that have already occurred and their origins may not be within the reach of the law. Even if laws are enacted to avoid damage to the environment, their effective compliance is a precondition for the efficient implementation of legislation on the use of environmental and advanced costly technology. Investment in infrastructure growth has been the key priority of central and regional governments in developing countries in general, and in China in particular. Expensive environmental issues and their adverse impacts on competition were not priorities. Therefore, limited resources have been allocated in the context of economic incentives for the promotion of CE production and implementation. International practices show that public economic benefits remain an efficient means of protecting the environment and wealth. Economic incentive policies encourage producers’ and consumers’ actions to bring them into line with CE’s 3R values. Examples include public support for R&D, innovation, renewable energy alternatives, material recycling, pricing, tax policies, environmental policy, health policy, insurance policies, cap-and-trade systems, support for energy-saving research, green and environmental labeling of products. Company and organizational and management approaches are globally developed. It is much simpler and easier to pass finance, management, expertise, and technology than to design and enforce environmental regulations. Soft knowledge is often developed indigenously and in response to market failures, with long lags. Combined with problems such as corruption, this phenomenon leads to weak governance of the public sector and its obligations. For reasons like creating job opportunities, there is a need to attract the establishment and activity of businesses. These restrict the regulatory impact. Improvements are required about the enforcement of laws and the management structure along with the system of government and corporate governance, auditing mechanisms, transparent monitoring, reform of judicial management systems, and transparency. The involvement of green political parties, civil society, and NGOs in inclusive decision-making processes and the rich political experience of conventional market economies in developed countries promote the adoption of a green growth and sustainable development strategy. Public awareness of the ability of business owners, workers, and customers is just as important as the components of production, consumption, and waste
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management. For enhancement of business awareness of the environment, it is essential to enforce the regulations. Countries vary according to the level of education and general environmental knowledge. A change from socialism to China’s market economy has provided space for experimentation. However, the uncontrolled desire to manufacture, export, and accommodate has been highly detrimental to the environment in an unsustainable manner and under minimum regulations. It needs tremendous resources to achieve an optimum level of public education and raise understanding for achieving the required level of knowledge that is conducive to the environment. Substantial investments at all levels and in all areas are necessary. Media channels can be used to facilitate close cooperation in the field of environment and materials management between producers, consumers, and regulators.
Conclusion CE concept is introduced in 1990, with its 3R principles of reducing, reusing, and recycling of energy, materials, and waste. In order to alleviate tensions between desired national economic growth and environmental issues, CE is seen as providing a viable alternative development strategy. It also helps to solve current issues of resource scarcity and pollution. It also encourages companies and industries to increase their competitiveness by eliminating green barriers to their foreign trade ties. Like the circular economy, a series of metrics is also being developed to measure the activities of the sustainable development policy in Europe and elsewhere. Again, the systems of assessment are extremely fragmented and far from standardization. Coordination efforts are needed to harmonize and standardize the micro-, meso-, and macro-level assessment systems accounting for industry heterogeneity and country specificity is needed. This promotes a comparison across businesses, sectors, regions, and countries for resource use and environmental performance. In collaboration with academia, the United Nations Environmental Protection Agency, EU Environment Agency, the Stockholm Environmental Institute, and the Global Green Growth Institute should coordinate efforts to establish general circular economy evaluation systems, sustainable development, and green growth strategies. These multidimensional composite indices and outcome-oriented metrics, such as indices of human development and environmental sustainability, can help to track CE components and advances in their implementation. This data can be of great benefit to politicians, environmental scientists, organizations, agencies, and general public. The long-term vision of a prosperous society and its core values are clearly outlined in the Swedish National Sustainable Development Plan. It sets out different policy instruments, tools, and processes needed to enforce the change process as well as to track and review its implementation. As a consequence, essential information has been established about the ecosystem and its preservation. Therefore, Sweden should explore entrepreneurial/business opportunities through Swedish companies and municipalities. As a technologically developed country, these can engage in implementation of advanced waste
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management and technology creation in China, India, and elsewhere with strong innovation capabilities in areas of environmental legislation, green taxes, and development of standards. This is consistent with the current orientation of development aid provision along with strong emphasis on local education, research capacity building, and promotion of entrepreneurship in recipient countries.
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Greenways for Solid Waste Management Amrita Kumari, Anita Roy Aich, Sweta Kumari, and Samanyita Mohanty
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Global Scenario of Solid Waste Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Projected Waste Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Different Categories of Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General Principles for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Life Cycle of a Waste Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resource Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polluter Pays Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Key Method for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Handling and Separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Processing and Transformation of Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disposable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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A. Kumari (*) Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidalaya Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India A. R. Aich Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, India S. Kumari Department of Floriculture Landscape Architecture (Flower Breeding), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India S. Mohanty Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_8
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Effects of Poor Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Litter Surroundings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hazardous Impact on Human Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pests and Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soil and Groundwater Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emission of Toxic Gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impact on Land and Aquatic Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Green Technology: A Novel Approach for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why Green Methods Are Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Best Practices Within Green Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Policies Responsibilities and Public Awareness to Support the Greenways for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Solid waste is defined as the useless solid materials generated from human activities in residential and industrial areas. In the developing world, there is a growing problem of managing solid waste and finding alternatives to landfill disposal particularly for food waste. Solid waste management reduces or eliminates the adverse impact on the environment and human health. Greenways are a good approach for solid waste management feasibly. Recycling is one of the best green approaches for solid waste management strategies. It is a safe method to utilization or disposal of electronic wastes. Bioremediation is a novel green technique that is used to treat polluted media including soil, subsurface material, and solid waste by modifying the environmental conditions to stimulate the growth of microorganisms and also degrade the target pollutants. It is the process where organic wastes are biologically degraded under controlled conditions. Composting is another option for the aerobic and anaerobic decomposition of organic materials by microorganisms under controlled conditions. To extract toxic heavy metals including cadmium and lead, from solid waste, earthworms can be used. Greening on dumping sites can be a major step toward the prevention of the accumulation of solid waste in the area by modifying the physical characteristics. Nowadays, genetic engineering techniques are mostly used for the development of a new organism with beneficial properties that apply to the bioremediation of pollutants. Novel strains with desirable properties of microbes are developed through genetic engineering. Keywords
Solid waste management · Greenways · Recycling · Bioremediation · Genetic engineering techniques
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Introduction With the rise of the global population, urbanization, and industrialization, the amount of solid waste is also increasing. Human activities generate waste materials that are mostly discarded. This type of waste is usually solid, and the word waste shows that the material is useless and unwanted for life. Nowadays, waste is used as a valuable resource. According to UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), waste is objects, which are disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law. In other words, solid waste can be defined as “organic or inorganic waste materials produced from household or commercial activities of human of any kind of life form, that have reduced their value in the first owner’s perspective but which may be of great worth to somebody else somewhere” (Robinson 1986). Mostly, definition of solid waste is not limited to physically solid wastes. Many solid wastes are liquid, solid, or semisolid and gaseous material. The quantity and characteristics of the solid waste generated in a region are not only a function of the living standard and economic development of that region’s inhabitants but also the occurrence and type of the region’s natural resources. Its effect on the environment and different life forms affects the pollution of air, water, and soil. Due to poverty and population explosion leading to rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, the waste situation reached such an unsustainable point around the world. The generation of solid waste along with the high organic residue may cause widespread ecological pollution, which is mainly based on the emission of gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect, such as methane and carbon dioxide. Also, the lead, mercury, and infectious agents from healthcare facilities as well as dioxins and other types of harmful emissions released from e-waste not only affect the health of waste pickers but contribute to air, land, and water contamination as well. Due to this type of environmental threat, different authorities are currently urged to implement the economic and political solutions of higher efficiency to manage the growing quantities of municipal solid waste. Solid waste management (SWM) includes a collective activity involving segregation, collection, sorting, processing, transportation, and disposing of various types of solid waste. Improper waste management is one of the major causes of environmental pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about a quarter of the diseases faced by human today occurs due to the prolonged exposure to environmental pollution and improper solid waste management. Greenways are a good approach for solid waste management feasibly. These approaches can be achieved through strategic planning, institutional capacity building, fiscal incentives, techno-economically viable technologies, public-private partnerships, community participation, and adopting eco-friendly methods for solid waste management. Many researchers projected that the solid wastes will reach over 2 BT per year by 2025. So this will create a high demand for new innovative technologies and processes for an effective solid waste management program.
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So the main objectives of this chapter are to: (a) Provide a clear picture of solid waste statistics globally. (b) Provide an overview of the best green practices in solid waste management and the foundation for the information on specific technologies like green technology and green management option for solid waste. (c) Propose policy measures to catalyze the shift to a green waste management sector.
Global Scenario of Solid Waste Statistics
Millions of tonnes per year
As the population increases and economies expanded, various countries around the world will keep generating large amounts of waste. In 2018, the World Bank estimated that around the world, 2.01 BT of solid waste are generated annually by a 7.7 billion population, in which 33% of waste is not managed environmentally safe. Based on the World Bank database, it is expected that global waste will rise to 3.40 BT from 2.01 BT, i.e., up to 70% by 2050. As per the worldwide report, waste generation per person per day ranges from 0.11 to 4.54 kg, and the average is 0.74 kg. In the 2019 Global Waste Index, Latvia, Turkey, and New Zealand have been named the top 3 largest producers of waste. This global index is created each year by Slovakian waste management firm Sensoneo. An index is based on total waste generation (per capita) and how the material is processed. It ranks the 36 countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) according to total waste generation (per capita) and how the material is processed. Among these countries, the United States (ranked 12th) is the biggest producer of waste per capita worldwide, with each citizen producing an average of 808 kg per year. In 2019, market data by Verisk Maplecroft indicated that the United States generates 12% (around 239 MT) of global municipal solid waste. Similarly, China and India generate 27% of global municipal waste. India generates 62 MT of solid waste each year. East Asia and the Pacific generate the highest amount of waste in absolute terms, with an estimate of 468 MT in 2016, and the Middle East and North Africa region generate the least, at around 129 MT (Fig. 1). Canada, Bermuda, and 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
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Fig. 1 Amount of solid waste generated by region (2016). (Source: World Bank Group (2018))
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Fig. 2 Projected global solid waste generation. (Source: World Bank Group (2018))
the United State in the North American region contribute to the production of the highest average quantity of waste per capita, at 2.21 kg per day. So as the world progresses toward its urban future, the rate of solid waste generation is getting even faster than the rate of urbanization.
Projected Waste Generation The global waste generation in 2016 was projected to have reached 2.01 BT according to the latest data available. The world is expected to generate 2.59 BT of waste annually by 2030. Moreover, waste generation across the world is estimated to reach 3.40 BT by 2050 (Fig. 2).
Different Categories of Solid Waste Solid wastes are categorized by the sector of the economy responsible for producing them, such as mining, agriculture, hospital, manufacturing, and municipalities. Solid waste may be classified by the source as residential, industrial sector, commercial sector, institutional, municipality, processing sector, and agriculture sector. Solid waste from residential sectors consists of paper, cardboard, food wastes, plastics, textile rags, leather, yard waste, glass, lignocelluloses metals, ashes, etc. This waste is generated from single and multifamily habitations. Solid waste of industrial sectors is generated from the light and heavy manufacturing companies, fabrication, power and chemical plants, and construction sites. These sectors consist of housekeeping waste, different packaging materials, food waste, construction, and demolition materials. Commercial and institutional sectors consist of the same type of solid waste which are paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, food wastes, glass, metals, special wastes, and hazardous waste. This waste is generated from the stores, markets, gastronomy, hotels, office buildings, schools, universities, kindergartens, hospitals, and other health and medical institutions. Biomedical waste comes under institutional waste which is produced in the course of the treatment, diagnosis, or immunization of humans/animals or research activities in these fields. It comprises wastes like disposables, syringes, sharps, stained waste, anatomical waste, cultures, chemical wastes, discarded medicines, and many more. Solid waste
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Kg/Capita/day
which is generated from municipalities is street sweepings; landscape; tree and bush trimmings; different waste accruing in parks, beaches, riversides, and other recreational areas; and sludge after flooding events. This waste is generated from street cleaning, parks, landscaping, beaches, groves, playgrounds, sports facilities, and other recreational areas, and wastewater treatment plants are the main source of these type of waste. Other than these municipalities waste, household waste, construction/demolition debris, and sanitation waste also contribute a major portion of waste. Waste generated from the agriculture sector consists of spoiled food wastes, plant waste, and animal residues (slaughterhouse waste). Other than this, fertilizer, pesticides, and chemicals used in agriculture and waste formed from this cause severe land and water pollution. Among the pesticides, chlorinated hydrocarbons, endrin, dieldrin, lindane, parathion, malathion, and endosulfan are absorbed by the soil and contaminate the crop. Other than this, solid waste is classified based on its biological, chemical, and physical properties. These are biodegradable, nonbiodegradable, and hazardous waste. Biodegradable waste or wet waste includes the kitchen, cooked and uncooked, flower and fruit waste, juice peels, houseplant waste, and garden sweeping or yard waste, i.e., green/dry. Nonbiodegradable or dry waste includes paper and plastic, all kinds of cardboard and carton packaging, glasses and metals, rubber, etc. Hazardous wastes are generated from the industries or institutes that cause damage to human health and the environment. Hazardous waste is chemical, biological, explosive, or radioactive wastes, which are highly reactive and toxic and cause severe danger to humans, plants, or animal life. Some examples of hazardous wastes are lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, many drugs leather, pesticides, dye, rubber, and effluents from different industries. Hazardous wastes could be highly toxic to animals, plants, and even humans. They are highly inflammable/explosive and react when exposed to certain substances, for example, gases. Hospital waste and industrial waste are considered harmful as they may contain toxic substances. Other than this, electronic waste or e-waste is one of the fastest-growing areas of the international market, and nowadays, these are increasing at a much higher rate than all other waste streams. Fast-growing industries and communication technologies play a major role in e-waste generation. Computer disks, cassettes, printed board assemblies, mercury switches, and other electronic items come under the electronics waste categories. Another category of 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
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Fig. 3 Global average waste generation. (Source: World Bank Group (2018))
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12%
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Fig. 4 Global waste composition in percentage. (Source: World Bank Group (2018))
waste is nanowaste. Nanowaste is the waste that is generated by nanodevices or during the nanomaterials manufacturing process. It can float easily in the air and easily penetrate animal and plant cells and produce unknown effects in living organisms. Figure 3 indicates that industrial waste contributes more to global waste generation than other common waste like agricultural waste, construction and demolition waste, hazardous waste, medical waste, and electronic waste or e-waste. Globally, food and green waste come under the largest waste category, contributing to 44% of global waste (Fig. 4). Dry recyclables (paper and cardboard, plastic, metal, and glass) amount to 38% of waste. The waste composition differs across income levels, i.e., it depends on the income level of countries that reflect varied patterns of consumption. High-income countries generate less amount of food and green waste at 32% of the total waste but generate more amount of dry waste (plastic, paper, cardboard, and metal) at 51% of total waste. Likewise, countries with low and middle income generate about 53% and 57% food and green waste, respectively. About 50% or more organic waste is generated by all regions around the world except for Europe, North America, and Central Asia which produce higher portions of dry waste. It shows that with the increase in the income level of a region, the share of organic waste generated tends to increase.
General Principles for Solid Waste Management There are four main principles for solid waste management:
Waste Hierarchy Waste hierarchy means 3 R’s, i.e., reduce, reuse, recycle, which classifies waste management strategies in terms of availability and reducibility. These are the cornerstone of waste minimization strategies. Among these, reduce means taking measures that help to cut down wastes. This is a primary step toward the lowering of wastage. Reuse means putting an item into use again and again. It implies when we
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can use an object again or in a different way compared to what it is envisioned to do. Recycling can be interpreted as transforming waste and non-useable objects into raw materials that can be used to make new objects. The waste hierarchy signifies the development of a product or material through the chronological stages of the pyramid of waste management.
Life Cycle of a Waste Product The life cycle of waste constitutes the manufacturing, distribution, and waste hierarchy’s stages like reduce, reuse, and recycle. Each step offers the opportunity for policymaking and intervention, rethink, and redesign to minimize waste production.
Resource Efficiency On a worldwide scale, we are extracting more resources to produce goods that the earth can replenish. Resource efficiency means the reduction of environmental impact from the consumption of these goods. These are useful to understand the global impact of waste material from raw material extraction to the last use and disposal.
Polluter Pays Principle This is a very good approach that mandates that the polluting party or country should pay for the impact on the global environment. This is generally referred to as the waste generators should pay for appropriate disposal of the unrecoverable material.
Key Method for Solid Waste Management Generation: Waste generation means those types of activities in which materials are identified as no longer being of value or gathered together for disposal. The identification step is important in this process.
Handling and Separation Various activities are involved in handling and separation like managing waste until they are placed in storage containers for collection. Handling of waste encompasses the movement of waste containers from the point of collection to the deposition site. Separation is an important step for the handling and storage of solid waste.
Collection The gathering of solid wastes and recyclable materials from the initiation point is called a collection.
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Processing
Disposal
Fig. 5 The value chain for solid waste management
Transportation Transport or transfer involves two steps like the transfer of waste materials from the initiation site to the dumping site through the vehicle. The transport vehicle mostly used in the transfer process are common rail, cars, trucks, and barges.
Processing and Transformation of Solid Waste Processing and transformation processes are used to reduce the weight and volume of waste materials. The organic fraction of solid waste can be usually transformed by the use of different chemicals and biological processes. Mostly, combustion is used for the chemical transformation process.
Disposable Mostly, solid waste is disposed of by conventional methods like landfilling or land spreading. But nowadays, different methods are evolved for solid waste disposal which is not hazardous to public health (Fig. 5).
Effects of Poor Solid Waste Management Poor waste management ranges from improper collection systems to ineffective disposal which leads to air, water, and soil pollution and contamination. Open dumping and unsanitary landfills contribute to the contamination of drinking water and can cause infection and transmit various types of infectious diseases. The dispersal of waste and debris pollutes ecosystems. Dangerous substances from electronic waste or industrial process waste put a strain on the health of urban dwellers and the environment. Here, some point is highlighting the consequences of poor solid waste management:
Litter Surroundings Due to improper waste disposal systems, wastes heap up and become a menace. While people clean their homes and workplace, they litter their surroundings, which affects the environment and the community.
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Hazardous Impact on Human Health Improper waste disposal can affect the health of the living population near the polluted area or landfills. Exposure to wastes that are handled improperly can cause different types of skin irritations, respiratory problems, blood infections, growth problems, and even reproductive issues.
Pests and Disease Throwing away waste materials forces biodegradable materials to decay and decompose under improper, unhygienic, and unrestrained conditions. After a few days of decomposition, a foul smell is produced from these dumped materials, and it becomes a breeding ground for different types of disease-causing insects as well as infectious organisms.
Environmental Problems Solid wastes from industries and factories are a major source of contaminated metals, hazardous wastes, and chemicals. When these are released to the environment, the solid wastes can cause biological and physicochemical problems to the environment that may affect or alter the productivity of the soils in that particular area.
Soil and Groundwater Pollution Toxic chemicals may leach into the soil and pollute the groundwater. During the process of gathering solid waste, toxic wastes blend with ordinary garbage and other combustible wastes, making the disposal process even tougher and risky.
Emission of Toxic Gases When hazardous wastes like pesticides; batteries containing lead, mercury, or zinc; cleaning solvents; radioactive materials; plastics; and e-waste mixed up with paper and other nontoxic scraps are burned, they produce dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, and other toxic gases. These types of toxic gases have the potential of causing various diseases, including cancer.
Impact on Land and Aquatic Animals Improper management of solid waste can also affect animals, and they suffer the effects of pollution. Animals are also at risk of poisoning while consuming grasses near contaminated areas or landfills as the toxins leach into the soil. Aquatic animals are also at great risk of exposure to hazardous waste.
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Green Technology: A Novel Approach for Solid Waste Management Globally, best practices have arisen through the development of novel concepts and technologies focused on pollution abatement and resource productivity. After considerations of the interaction between society and the environment, some different green concepts and technologies have been generated over the past few decades (Bass et al. 2009) that are briefly discussed below.
Concepts Green technology or sustainable technology is a combined approach to science and technology to protect the environment globally. Green practices consist of different process-oriented environmental practices that will use less energy and resources and which will reduce the production of waste products and their dangerous effects with toxic emissions. Energy efficiency, reprocessing, health and safety worries, renewable resources, and many more are required to make a green product or technology. Therefore, “greening” requires the enterprises or companies that will transform new production technology and create a positive green image. The main goal of green solid waste management is to meet public health and environmental concerns by conserving resources through reuse and recycling of the waste materials. So the greening of any sector means that organizing businesses and infrastructures to deliver better returns on natural, human, and economic capital investments while at the same time helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, extracting and using fewer natural resources, creating less waste, and reducing social dissimilarities.
Why Green Methods Are Required Many conventional methods are widely used for the treatment and management of solid waste including deposition in landfills and incineration. But these methods come with some disadvantages. Open dumping and burning of solid wastes are no longer standard practices from a health or environmental perspective. Landfills cause severe environmental issues such as the unrestrained release of methane gases into the atmosphere. Methane is a gas having 20–23 times higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Furthermore, pollution of soil and the groundwater leads to the production of leachate, gives unpleasant odors, and helps to spread pathogenic microorganisms. Another method is incineration which is generally used for solid waste management, which is the major cause of air pollution (as dioxins and similar persistent organic pollutants can be produced). So usually, landfill or incineration is the least attractive waste management option. But green technology is a somewhat sustainable approach for solid waste management. Green approaches can elucidate different eco-friendly methods for sustainable management and cleanup of the environment.
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Best Practices Within Green Technology Due to the increase in population and economic activity, solid waste management is turning into a severe issue. Hazardous gas emissions, air pollution, and particulate matter formation are the typical phenomena in urban and rural regions. Best practices have arisen through the development of novel concepts and technologies which are focused on pollution abatement and resource productivity. Considerations of the different types of interaction between society and the environment have generated several significant developments in green concepts and technologies over the past few decades (Bass et al. 2009). Solid waste management solutions must be financially sustainable, technically feasible, socially and legally acceptable, as well as environmentally friendly. So waste management requires the use of multidisciplinary methods from engineering, sociology, humanities, and biology. Here, some green methods for solid waste management are discussed.
Recycling Recycling is one of the best solid waste management strategies. The meaning of “recycling” refers to the widespread collection and reuse of everyday waste materials. Recycling is a noteworthy way to keep huge quantities of solid waste to save resources and save energy. Precycling is a good option that is gaining widespread recognition in this country. Precycling refers to the consumers making environmentally sound choices at the point of purchase. The precise technology of recycling includes collection, separation, preparing the material according to buyer’s requirements, sale to markets, processing, and reuse of materials. Recycling collection methods may vary, but the curbside collection is the most popular and has the highest participation rates. These are collected and arranged into common types so that the raw materials from which these items are made can be recycled into new products. Material for recycling may be gathered separately from overall waste using dedicated bins and collection vehicles or arranged straight from mixed waste streams. The common consumer products recycled comprise food in steel containers, aluminum, and aerosol cans, newspapers, magazines, glass bottles/jars, cartons, and corrugated fiber boxes. The recycling of complex products such as e-waste is tougher due to the additional disassembling and parting. For some wastes, recycling consists of difficult technical processes and requires specialized machinery, but others can be recycled easily and on a small scale. All kinds of organic waste are eligible for recycling by composting, which can be done at home or on a larger scale. Many types of programs have contributed to an increase in the rate of recycling. Some benefits of recycling are pollutant reduction, energy savings, job creation, resource conservation, and a reduced need for landfills and incinerators. However, there is a need for incentives to encourage people to participate in recycling programs. To improve the recycling rates, the local government must encourage the markets for the recycled materials and should help in the growth of the number of professionals in the recycling companies. So at a particular place, studying the composition and the categories of solid waste is important for integrating different technologies including recycling and resource regaining concerning solid waste management systems.
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Recycling Is a Good Option for Electronic Waste Management Reusing and recycling are good approaches for electronic wastes management. These are more preferable because they can increase the life span of the products and therefore imply less waste over time. Recycling is a safe method to utilize or dispose of electronic wastes. Since e-waste may contain many valuable and rare materials, recycling is a significant solution. But the reuse of secondhand electronic goods in the developing world including India falls in those types of categories, where the waste ends up locally and where there is no acceptable facility and competence to deal with them appropriately. Recycling of Electronic Waste Consists of the Following Two Steps Pretreatment: In this phase, different technological processes are used for separating the valuable content from the product so that different fractions of material can be directed to the recycling process. It consists of many key components like disassembly, size reduction, magnetic separation, electric current separation, density separation, and disposals (Table 1). Feedback to Market After recycling, materials that are separated by pretreatment have the potential to create a new product. So firstly, these materials fractions are sold to the same companies which are producing those materials from both primary raw material sources and secondary sources resulting from recycling. In some precious metals like copper, integrated copper smelters have high recovery yields of more than 95%. Organic materials are utilized as substitutes for coke as a reducing agent and as an energy source. Mostly, electronic components are diverse in composition and structure. So it is challenging to develop advanced recycling technologies that are suitable for all the different types of products. Green Concrete: A Recyclable Product of Solid Waste Cement manufacturing processes like crushing, transporting of limestone, heating of kilns, and crushing these all are polluting the environment. So there is an alternative Table 1 Different process during the pretreatment of e-waste. (Source: Kang and Schoenung 2005) Method Sorting and disassembly Size reduction Magnetic separation Electric current separation Density separation Disposal
Description For those complex electronic equipment, which contains the valuable parts and that will render profit when being separately recycled For example, printed wiring boards and mercury-containing lamps Mostly, shredders are used for the size reduction process. Ferrous metals are separated from the shredded material. Nonferrous metals like aluminum are separated. Plastics, copper, and precious metals are separated. Left material that has no use
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option in place of cement, i.e., green concrete which is cheaper than the raw material of cement. Green concrete is an eco-friendly material that is made from waste material. The waste products can be reused and recycle directly as a partial substitute for cement and save energy consumption during the production of cement. Plant-based agricultural wastes materials like rice husk ash, sawdust ash, rubber crumb, plastic waste, coconut husk and shell, textile waste (sludge and fiber), etc. can be used in cement manufacturing processes and green concrete structure. Green concrete can reduce the quantity of cement used and carbon dioxide emission and reduce global warming. It can reduce the environmental and ecological problems and also improves the microstructures and durability properties of concrete. Other than this, the nanoparticles can also be used in the concrete structures which act as a filler and activator to promote the hydration process, and thus, it can develop the microstructures of concrete. Nanosilica is a good option that can be added to concrete. It can improve the particle packing structure, reduces the permeability problems in concrete, and enhanced mechanical properties. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles can also be used in cement manufacturing processes. It can accelerate the rate of hydration of cement and thus enhance the strength of the concrete because of its filler effects. Thus, the uniform distribution of nanoparticles increased the compressive strength in cement mortar. Hence, the cement manufacturing industries should buy the waste materials from those vendors which they want to incorporate and substitute in their manufacturing process. There are some advantages of green concrete like: • It can reduce environmental pollution. • It has good thermal and acid resistance. • Mostly, compressive and split tensile strength are better with some materials compared to conventional concrete. • It can reduce the consumption of cement overall. So green concrete is economical compared to conventional concrete (Table 2).
Bioremediation Bioremediation is one of the novel methods which can destroy the various waste contaminants using natural biological activity. It is a process that is used to treat contaminated media, including soil, subsurface material, and solid waste, by altering environmental conditions to stimulate the growth of microorganisms and degrade the target pollutants. Microbes, energy sources, moisture, pH, nutrients, and temperature Table 2 Some replacement materials for green concrete are listed below Traditional ingredients Coarse aggregates Cement Fine aggregates
Solid waste as a replacement material for green concrete Waste ready-mix concrete, waste glasses, and recycled aggregates with crushed glasses Eco-cement, municipal solid waste fly ash, and sludge ash Demolished brick waste, quarry dust, waste glass powder, marble sludge powder, rock dust, pebbles, fly ash, and mica
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are required for the bioremediation process. Bioremediation is less expensive, more sustainable, eco-compatible, and eco-friendly than other remediation alternatives. The majority of the bioremediation systems are run under aerobic conditions. Running a system under anaerobic conditions, however, may allow microbial creatures to decompose the waste materials. Biodegradation of solid waste is often a result of the actions of multiple organisms. The bioremediation method can be broadly divided into two categories, i.e., in situ bioremediation and ex situ bioremediation. In situ bioremediation provides the treatment at contaminated sites and avoiding the excavation and transport of contaminants. Oxygen and nutrient are provided to the contaminated site in the form of an aqueous solution in which bacteria grow and help to degrade the organic matter. In Situ Bioremediation Are of Two Types Bioventing
Bioventing can be used to degrade any aerobically degradable compounds. In this, oxygen and nutrient like nitrogen and phosphorus are injected into the contaminated site. Biosparging
Biosparging is a method in which air is injected below the groundwater under a pressure to increase the concentration of oxygen. Enough oxygen is injected for microbial degradation of pollutants. Ex Situ Bioremediation In ex situ bioremediation, the contaminated soil excavates, and that can be treated at another place. This can be further subdivided into the following categories: Biopiling
This system comprises a treatment bed, an irrigation system, an aeration system, and a leachate collection system. Proper degradation depends on moisture, heat, nutrients, oxygen, and pH. Soil is covered with plastic which leads to a reduction of evaporation and volatilization, and it promotes solar heating. Land Forming
In this method, waste materials are placed as a layer on the ground surface. This waste is tilled and mixed with nutrients to increase the microbial biodegradation process. Oxygen, nutrition, moisture, and pH should also be maintained near pH 7 by the use of lime. Composting
Composting is the best and easiest method of green technology. Composting is a biochemical method which is based on an enzymatic decomposition of organic matter by microbial action to produce methane gas or alcohol. In composting, organic components are broken down by the naturally occurring bacteria (both
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aerobic and anaerobic microbial decomposition may be used). In composting, humus-converted compost is obtained by the consumption of organic matter and oxygen by microorganisms. The main purposes of composting are to convert the separable organic material into the biologically desired suitable material; destroy pathogens, insect eggs, other unwanted organisms, and weed seeds that may be found in solid wastes; and produce a product that can be used as soil remediation and to obtain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the maximum amount which is available for the use of plants (Tosun 2003) (Fig. 6). Composting is another form of recycling. So composting is a natural technique of recycling organic wastes into new soil used in flower and vegetable gardens, landscaping, and many other things. This is a controlled biological decomposition of organic matters, such as food and yard waste, human waste, and soil-like materials. Composting products are a very rich inorganic compound, which is used for soil improvement by adding nitrogen and phosphate. Nowadays, professional growers are discovering that compost-enriched soil can also help suppress diseases and ward off pests. This type of beneficial use of compost can help growers to save money, reduce their use of pesticides, and conserve natural resources. The composting process consists of the preparation of solid waste, decomposition, and product preparation for marketing. The first step of the composting activity is the decomposition of the wastes. However, decomposition should be carried out in a controlled environment. Production of compost by windrows or static piles can take from 6 months to 1 year depending on the environmental controls applied and also the composition of the organic fraction. In this process, mechanical digesters are used with forced aeration, moisture, seeding, and nutrient fine-tuning to quicken compost production within a week. The composting of organic fraction of wastes such as domestic waste and sewage sludge in a landfill produces a gas consisting mainly of methane which can be collected in a measured and planned way and can be used in an appropriate process to form energy. Composting takes place quickly when appropriate conditions are maintained for the growth of microorganisms. The most important conditions for composting are: Heat
Particle size Carbon dioxide Water Oxyzen
Compost pile
Organic materials Microbes
Fig. 6 Different components of the composting process
Time
Product compost
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(i) Proper mixing of organic materials to provide nutrients required for microbial activity and growth, including the appropriate carbon and nitrogen (C:N) ratio (ii) Presence of sufficient oxygen for aerobic microorganisms (iii) Sufficient moisture content should be present, which provides biological activity without inhibiting ventilation (iv) Suitable temperatures that provide strong microbial activity The physical properties of mixing ratios, organic materials, and processing characteristics are affected by the choice of the composting method. Biodegradation or composting can be done by using aerobic, anaerobic, and vermicomposting methods. All types of composting methods are described in Table 3. Other than this method, mechanical-biological composting is a novel approach for the composting process. Mechanical-biological composting consists of several different processes dealing with the biological treatment of waste. It is the combination of both biological and physical processes, which can be organized in many different ways. In many European countries such as Germany and Austria, MBT is a recognized waste treatment technology. These are mostly designed to process commercial and industrial wastes. Mainly, two steps are necessary for mechanicalbiological composting. Mechanical Sorting
Various mechanical types of equipment are used to remove recyclable elements from a mixed waste stream (metals, plastics, glass, and paper). The mechanical sorting system consists of the different types of industrial magnets, conveyors, eddy current separators, shredders, trommels, and other tailor-made systems, or the sorting is manually done at handpicking stations. Biological Processing
Biological methods are a more convenient method for solid waste management. It includes composting or biodegradation, anaerobic digestion, and biodrying. Composting is the usual biological management option (almost 95% of current biological treatment operations). It is best appropriate for green waste and wooden materials. Some Bioremediation Process Is Involved in Special Solid Waste Bioremediation of Heavy Metals
Among all other environmental problems, soil contamination through heavy metals becomes a major problem. Heavy metals like cadmium, copper, argon, silver, etc. can contaminate not only the soil but also groundwater through leaching. Removal of heavy metals is very important due to their capacity of entering into the food chain causing adverse effects to human beings that accumulate into the body. These types of metals can be removed by the use of various biological agents like yeast, fungi, bacteria, algae, etc. These can act as biosorbents for sequestering the metals. Biosorption is a reaction between positively charged heavy metals and negatively
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Table 3 Different types of composting processes Types Aerobic composting
Methods Composting is a passive stack.
Composting in the transitional stack
Passive ventilation system
Compressed ventilation system
Aerated static pile composting
Aerated (turned) windrow composting
Anaerobic composting (absence of oxygen)
Bokashi composting
Description This type of methods is very simple and is mostly suitable for the small- and medium-sized settlements. First organic materials are pelleted and waited for their conversion into a stable product. These are the most commonly used methods. Air is provided for homogeneous mixing of waste stacks which facilitate the heat movement and biologically active surface area. Time duration is 3–9 months for composting which is dependent on the composition of compounds. Perforated pipes are placed in the stacks to provide air inflow into the stack. The ends of these pipes are open. The height of the compost pile should be 0.9–1.2 m. In this method, ventilation is maintained regularly which reduces the composting time and odor. In proper intervals, perforated pipes are placed under stacks. The height of pressurized vents is stacked varying between 2 and 5 m. Composting piles are aerated by adding the loosely piled bulk agents like wood chips and shredded newspaper so that air can be passed from the bottom to the top of the pile. These methods are suitable for organic waste as well as compostable municipal waste. Time duration is 3–6 months for proper composting. In this method, waste is laid out in rows of long piles which is called windrows. It can be aerated by turning the pile periodically manually or mechanically. Ideal pile height should be between 4 and 8 ft with a width of 14–16 ft. This method is suitable for the large volume of diverse waste like yard trimmings, grease, liquids, and animal by-products. It is a special anaerobic technique that involves fermenting food waste in a closed container for a few weeks. In an anaerobic closed environment, microorganisms can break down the food materials. (continued)
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Table 3 (continued) Types
Methods Submerged composting
Composting in a closed container
Vermicomposting
In the presence of an earthworm
Description In this method, composting materials are submerged in water. This will prevent unwanted odors from fermentation. Higher moisture content, i.e., 80%, can trap offending gases and release them slowly. This method can be used with an open container and a closed system. A tightly closed container is used for composting purposes. Compost raw materials are subjected to an enclosed setting reactor for decomposition. Inside the reactor, organic materials first undergo rapid fermentation (active composting). Closed container composting or active composting can take 1–2 weeks depending on the selected reactor type. There are different types of composting in the closed reactor or container. These are: Piston stream vertical reactor Piston flow horizontal reactor Silo-type reactor Horizontal rotary drum reactor Vermicompost is an eco-biotechnology method in which various earthworms like red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms are used for the decomposition of various organic solid waste. Vermicompost contains a large number of nutrients, so it can be used as a commercial plant medium. The product of vermicomposting can be applied for the treatment of sewage.
charged microbial cell membranes. With the help of a transporter, protein metals are transported to the cell cytoplasm through the cell membrane and get bioaccumulated. It can sequester dissolved metal ions very quickly and which is more effective. Microbial species like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aspergillus niger remove almost every toxic heavy metal. Some microbes which are involved in heavy metal bioremediation are listed in Table 4.
Bioremediation of Xenobiotic Compounds
Xenobiotics are organic chemicals which are foreign to a biological system present at high concentration in nature and mostly pollute the environment due to the slow rate of degradation or nonbiodegradable nature. These leads to biomagnification or
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Table 4 Showing the name of microbial species and removal elements (application of bioremediation) Microbial group Protozoa
Name of the species Tetrahymena rostrata
Heavy metals Mercury
Bacteria
Bacillus species
Cadmium, copper, and zinc
Cellulosimicrobium cellulans, Micrococcus sp., and Stenotrophomonas sp. Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Chromium
Micrococcus roseus
Fungus
Escherichia coli Saccharomyces cerevisiae Trichoderma viride and Humicola insolens Aspergillus niger
Algae
Cadmium, lead, iron, copper, uranium, radium, nickel, and silver Cadmium Zinc and vanadium Uranium, lead, mercury, and nickel Mercury
Spirulina sp.
Cadmium, zinc, thorium, uranium, silver, and copper Uranium Chromium, nickel, zinc, iron, manganese, copper, lead, cadmium, and cobalt Chromium
Chlorella vulgaris Nostoc sp.
Cadmium, copper, and lead Nickel and iron
Aspergillus fumigates Oedogonium rivulare
References Muneer et al. 2013 Gunasekaran et al. 2003 Chatterjee et al. 2011 Jayashree et al. 2012 Motesharezadeh 2008 Grass et al. 2002 Chen and Wang 2007 Javed et al. 2007 Guibal et al. 1995 Wang et al. 2010 Chatterjee et al. 2011 Mane and Bhosle 2012 Goher et al. 2016 Kumaran et al. 2011
bioaccumulation of xenobiotic compounds. These compounds are divided into different groups like halocarbons, synthetic polymers, alkyl benzyl sulfonates, oil mixture, etc. The majority of xenobiotic compounds are of commercial importance and are used as solvents, insecticides, flame retardants, dielectrics, a paint-removing compound (dichloromethane), etc. In some cases, xenobiotics are not acted as a source of energy for microbes, so they are not degraded by microbes. Only the presence of a suitable substrate, i.e., co-metabolite, can induce its breakdown, and the process is called co-metabolism. Other than this, there is another process for xenobiotic metabolism, i.e., gratuitous metabolism present in nature. In this metabolism, xenobiotics only serve as a substrate. Sometimes, on continuous exposure of xenobiotic to the microbial population, it generates mutant condition or mutant allele in microbes. So some mutant conditions are important for the developing new enzymatic pathway for xenobiotic degradation. For an effective breakdown of the xenobiotic compound, different mixed populations of microbe can be used. It gives an effective result of xenobiotic
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degradation. Nowadays, certain genes of microbes are modified to break xenobiotic effectively. The algae proved to be effective in hyperaccumulation of heavy metals as well as degradation of xenobiotics. Some microbes which are involved in the bioremediation of xenobiotics are listed in Table 5. Bioremediation of Agricultural Waste: Vermiremediation
Agricultural waste is the undesirable waste created as a result of agricultural procedures (i.e., manure, fertilizer, silage plastics, pesticides and herbicides, poultry houses and slaughterhouses, wastes from farms, and veterinary medicines). Disposal and eco-friendly management of these wastes have become a global priority. Therefore, vermiremediation is an efficient technology that can convert such nutrient-rich organic wastes into value-added products for sustainable land and resource management. Vermiremediation is an earthworm-based bioremediation technology in which the earthworm or vermin-endophyte interacts intensively with the microorganism that accelerates the stabilization of organic matter and results in improved growth and yield of crop plants. Mostly, vermiremediation is carried out through vermicomposting or bio-oxidative process. This has been renowned as a potential method for solid waste management and has gained considerable interest in China, Italy, the Netherlands, Philippines, Nigeria, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India. Vermicomposting is a kind of composting technique in which specific species of earthworms and microorganisms are used to improve the Table 5 Some microorganism group involved in bioremediation of xenobiotics Microbial group Bacteria
Fungus
Name of species Arthrobacter sp.
Xenobiotic compounds Endosulfate compounds
Pseudomonas putida
Naphthalene
Mycobacterium PYR-1
Pyrene
Rhodococcus RHA1
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Echinodontium taxodii
Azo dyes: brilliant violet 5R and direct red 5B Endocrine disruptor: nonylphenol Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Polychlorinated biphenyl 2,4-dichlorophenol Benzene, toluene, and naphthalene Herbicide (prometryne) Phenanthrene
Clavariopsis aquatic Peniophora incarnata Phanerochaete chrysosporium Algae
Selenastrum capricornutum Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Chlorella sorokiniana and Pseudomonas migulae
References Weir et al. 2006 Habe and Omori 2003 Kanaly et al. 2000 Kimbara et al. 2005 Han et al. 2014 Junghanns et al. 2005 Lee et al. 2016 Chen et al. 2011 Gavrilescu 2010 Jin et al. 2012 Munoz et al. 2003
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process of organic waste conversion and produce a better end product. Earthworms that are used for vermiculture can extract toxic heavy metals, including cadmium and lead, from the agricultural solid waste. Here, microorganism helps in degradation of organic matter, and earthworms drive the process and conditioning to the substrate and altering the biological activity. Eisenia fetida, Eisenia tetraedra, L. terrestris, L. rubellus, and Allolobophora chlorotica are some species of earthworm that were reported to remove heavy metals, pesticides, and lipophilic organic micropollutants from the soil. During the process of rotting, the worm’s digestive system can separate heavy metal ions from the complex aggregates between the ions and humic substances in the waste. By the action of various enzyme-driven processes, metal ions are assimilated in worm’s tissue rather than released back in the compost and worm cast. Due to the various types of enzyme processes, metal ions are assimilated and locked up in worm’s tissue rather than being released back into the compost as worm casts. So a huge amount of agricultural waste can be converted to biofertilizer by the vermicomposting process. A high level of humus with reduced phytotoxicity is produced through the vermicomposting processes. These compost products can be used in growing human food without the risk of accumulating heavy metals in crops. Vermicompost can also act as a buffering material by the biostabilization of waste and work as a biofilter by the removal of heavy metals from the solid waste. Moreover, vermicompost can act as a buffering material by limiting the acid phase and enhancing waste biostabilization. Vermicompost can also be a biofilter by removing heavy metals from the leachate by adsorption (Table 6). Bioremediation of Plastic and Rubber
In solid waste, rubber and plastic both constitute a major amount. Due to the physical composition of rubber, it cannot be degraded or recycle fast as compare to another constituent of solid waste. On the burning of rubber and plastic, a large number of Table 6 Some studies concerning vermiremediation of some pollutants in earthworms Species Lumbricus terrestris Lumbricus terrestris and Eudrilus eugeniae Eisenia fetida
Active component Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
Contaminants Disposed of in dumps and landfills Insecticide
References Albro et al. 1993 Ahmed et al. 2020
Fenamiphos
Insecticide Dead organic matter
Eisenia fetida
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Diniconazole
Eisenia fetida
Perfluorooctanesulfonamide
Industrial and commercial products (synthetic organofluorine compound)
Caceres et al. 2011 Stroomberg et al. 2004 Wang et al. 2014 Wen et al. 2015
Eisenia andrei
Dichlorvos Chlorpyrifos
A systemic chiral fungicide
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toxic fumes along with carbon monoxide are produced which are the major environmental problem (Adhikari et al. 2000). A toxic chemical composition like zinc oxides of rubber mostly inhibits the growth of sulfur-oxidizing and other naturally occurring bacteria which slows down the natural degradation process of rubber. The degree of plastic and rubber biodegradation in natural ecosystems is affected by the nature of the substrate to be degraded and by environmental and microbiological factors. Several environmental pollutions by synthetic polymers, such as waste plastics and water-soluble synthetic polymers, are a large problem in soil and water bodies. So bioremediation is a great approach for plastic and rubber degradation and management. Bioremediation can give knowledge about the recycling of rubber and plastics, and we can reuse these high-quality compounds. There are so many microbes that are involved in the bioremediation process in rubber and plastics. Some are discussed below in Tables 7 and 8. Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation is a novel, attractive, emerging, and cost-effective technology in which specific plants are used to absorb and biomagnify various elements from a Table 7 Microbes involved in plastic degradation Bacteria Rhodococcus rube
Fungus Rhodococcus rube
Pseudomonas stutzeri and Alcaligenes faecalis Alcaligenes faecalis and Clostridium botulinum Bacillus brevis
Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp. Fusarium Fusarium moniliforme and Penicillium roqueforti
Types of plastic degraded Polyethylene (synthetic polymers) Polyhydroxyalkanoates (bacterial polyesters) Polycaprolactone (synthetic polyester) Polylactic acid
References Gilan et al. 2004 Ghosh et al. 2013 Oda et al. 1997 Kim and Rhee 2003
Table 8 Microbes and enzymes involved in rubber metabolism Microbes
Gordonia polyisoprenivorans and Gordonia westfalica Pyrococcus furiosus and Thiobacillus ferrooxidans Streptomyces coelicolor strain 1A natural rubber latex Xanthomonas sp. strain 35Y natural rubber Nocardia sp. (strain 835A), NR, SR, and cross-linked NR.
Enzyme
Lcp (latex-clearing protein) RoxA (rubber oxygenase A) Xanthomonas sp. both natural and synthetic polyisoprene material
Linos et al. 2002 Stevenson et al. 2008 Adhikari et al. 2000 Tsuchii and Takeda 1990 Tsuchii and Tokiwa 1999 Ibrahim et al. 2006 Rose and Steinbuchel 2005
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polluted environment and metabolize them into various biomolecules in their tissue. It is sustainable, compatible, and eco-friendly and constitutes one of the main components of green technology. It is a plant-based technology, which uses green plants to remediate contaminated and polluted sites (Sadowsky 1999). Some plants possess the natural ability to degrade numerous recalcitrant xenobiotics and are thus called green livers which act as an essential sink for environmentally obnoxious chemicals. Different processes like phytoextraction, phytostabilization, hemofiltration, and phytofiltration are used in phytoremediation processes which can help to reduce the pollutants from contaminated regions. Under a certain condition, this type of technique offers an excellent system for the development of plants with the potential for cleaning metal-contaminated soils and polluted areas by using adequate crop management systems. Other than this, certain plant roots and their exudates increase microbial numbers and activity in the soil. So plants and bacteria are known to form mutual associations in which the plants provide the bacteria with a specific carbon source that induces the bacteria to reduce the phytotoxicity of the contaminated soil. So to develop a new crop, species which have capabilities of metal extraction from a polluted environment, different breeding techniques like hybrid generation through protoplast fusions, and the production of mutagens through radiation and chemicals are all in progress (Table 9).
Microbial-Assisted Phytoremediation System
Only decontaminating properties of the plant are not sufficient to remediate the polluted site. So mutually endophytic bacteria play a major role in enhancing bioremediation process. Endophytic bacteria also protect plants from the toxic effects of pollutants accumulated in them. Endophytic bacteria have metal resistance and sequestering system through which it lessens the metal toxicity in host plants and enhances the metal translocation to aerial parts, hence minimizing the stress in the niche. Some examples of endophytic bacteria and their corresponding plants are enlisted in Table 10.
Greening on Dumping Site
Greening on dumping sites can prevent the accumulation of solid waste in the area by modifying the physical characters of that dumping site. Mostly, plants secrete cationic chelators, organic acids, or some enzyme-like phosphatase which will increase the nutrient availability in soil. Some degrading and non-degrading species compete for these nutrients, and it will influence contaminant degradation. Other than increasing nutrient availability, root exudates of plants can increase the bioavailability of contaminants by competing with the contaminant for binding sites on the soil matrix. The increasing bioavailability of contaminants by plants leads to a degradation process. For remediation and rehabilitation of dumpsite, endemic species of the plant should be selected for greater results. Species diversity also plays a major role in the remediation and rehabilitation of dumpsite. It depends on the nature of the waste origin, the local flora, and the conditions prevailing at the landfill.
Mostly, plants can immobilize contaminants in the soil and groundwater through absorption and accumulation by roots, adsorption onto roots, or precipitation within the root zone of plants. Refers to the degradation of complex organic molecules to simple molecules or the incorporation of these molecules into plant tissues
Phytostabilization
Phytodegradation
Phytotransformation
Phytovolatilization
Rhizofiltration
Definition Uptake and translocation of contaminants in the soil by plant roots into the aboveground biomass (shoots, leaves, etc.) Sorption of contaminants from aqueous solutions onto plant roots or absorption of contaminants in the solution surrounding the root zone Plants take up contaminants from the soil, transforming them into volatile forms and volatilize them from the foliage. Sorption, uptake, and transformation of contaminants
Mechanism Phytoextraction (phytoaccumulation)
Soil, sediment, or groundwater
Soil, groundwater, landfill leachates, and fuel spills Soil, sediment, and sludge
Soil, sediment, or water
Groundwater, surface water, and wastewater
Media Contaminated soils
Table 9 Types and processes involved in phytoremediation (Nagendran et al. 2006)
Organic contaminants, such as chlorinated solvents, herbicides, and munitions
Lead as well as cadmium, chromium, arsenic, copper, and zinc.
Mercury, volatile organic compounds, and (trichloroethene) inorganic chemicals in the volatile form Organics, including chlorinated aliphatics and nitroaromatics
Copper, lead cadmium, zinc, and nickel
Contaminants Metals such as nickel, zinc, and copper
Greenways for Solid Waste Management (continued)
Poplar trees (Populus spp.)
Metal-tolerant species and grasses
Grasses and trees
Trees for VOCs in groundwater; Brassica, grasses, and wetlands
Aquatic plants (e.g., duckweed, pennywort), also Brassica, and sunflower
Plants Hyperaccumulators, for example, Thlaspi, Alyssum, and Brassica
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Constructed wetlands Contaminated soils and surface water
Soil, sediments, and sludge
Soil and sediments
Refers to revegetation of barren areas by fast-growing resistant species that efficiently cover the soil Plants consume rainwater and decrease leaching and pollutant movement. Engineered systems that use natural functions, vegetation, soil, and organisms to treat wastewater. Removal of large volumes of groundwater by trees
Phytocapping
Soil, sediment, or groundwater
Removal of large volumes of water from aquifers by trees
Hydraulic control plume capture/ phytotrans Phytorestauration
Media Contaminated soil
Definition Breakdown of contaminants within the plant root or rhizosphere area
Mechanism Rhizodegradation (phytostimulation)
Table 9 (continued)
Metals, acid mine drainage, and industrial and municipal wastewater
Landfill sites
Fly ash and mine waste deposits
Contaminants Organics, for example, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, pesticides, and polychlorinated Inorganics, nutrients, and chlorinated solvents
Free-floating, emergent, or submergent vegetation; reeds, cattails, and bamboo
Trees like Acacia mangium and grasses
Grasses and legumes, shrubs, and trees
Phreatophytic trees and plants like Poplar and willow
Plants Grasses, alfalfa, and many other species including trees
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Table 10 Endophyte-assisted phytoremediation of different contaminants Plant species Brassica juncea
Microbes Rhizobium leguminosarum and in combination with Pseudomonas brassicacearum Enterobacter aerogenes
Contaminants Zinc
Bacillus subtilis strain SJ-101
Nickel and chromium Nickel
Salix alba
Pseudomonas putida PD1
Cadmium
Zea mays
Gordonia sp. strain S2RP-17
Diesel oil
Pseudomonas sp. strain UG14Lr and Pseudomonas putida strain MUB1 Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aureofaciens Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization
Phenanthrene/ pyrene Phenanthrene
Hordeum vulgare Thlaspi praecox
Cadmium and lead
References Adediran et al. 2015 Kumar et al. 2009 Zaidi et al. 2006 Khan et al. 2014 Hong et al. 2011 Chouychai et al. 2009 Anokhina et al. 2004 Vogel-Mikus et al. 2005
Landfill Capping (Clay and Photocopying)
Biodegradation of solid waste or organic matter in a landfill site happens more swiftly when water comes into contact with the dumped waste. Landfill capping is the most common and less expensive remediation process for the degradation of dumped waste than other technologies. Landfill caps can be used to minimize exposure on the surface which prevents the vertical infiltration of water into wastes that would create contaminated leachate, control gas emissions from underlying waste, and create a land surface that can support vegetation and is used for other purposes. Clay cap can reduce the infiltration of rainfall and the production of leachates. But according to most of the researchers, clay capping is an ineffective method for degradation. In arid regions, clay caps become dried that produce cracks, and these cracks allow the water to easily percolate into landfills. Hence, a new technique evolved which is known as phytocapping or vegetative capping. It is a long-term, self-sustaining cover of plants growing in or over materials that threaten the environment. In this technique, particular plant species are established on an unconsolidated soil located over the waste. Unconsolidated soil acts as “storage” and “sponge,” and the plants act as “bio-pumps” or “rainfall interceptors.” The vegetative cap can reduce that risk to an acceptable level and requires minimal maintenance. Vegetative caps are also called “alternative covers” and “evapotranspiration landfill covers.” The main purpose of this type of vegetative cap is to increase evapotranspiration from the landfill surface which enhances bioremediation. The vegetative cap can also stabilize waste rapidly and reduce the production of greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide. Some disadvantages are also related to vegetative capping like pests and tree-destroying capacity.
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Genetic Engineering Technique in Bioremediation Nowadays, genetic engineering techniques are mostly used for the development of a new organism with beneficial properties that apply to the bioremediation of pollutants. Due to the enhanced degradative capabilities of these modified genetically engineered organisms, they are used for bioremediation in soil and in activated sludge environments. Genetically engineered microorganism possesses an enzyme that degrades the contaminants which are present in pollutants. Microorganisms have the potential to reduce various pollutants like chloroaromatics, nitroaromatics, biphenyls, polycyclic aromatics, and polychlorinated biphenyls. To enhance the capabilities of bacteria for efficient biodegradation, several strategies are followed. There are different types of strategies that are present like designer biocatalysts, protein engineering, and pathway modification for the full degradation of a substrate. Designer biocatalysts mean artificially designed catabolic pathways. Through genetic modulation, several microorganisms are modified to make them a potent biocatalyst. These types of biocatalyst can generate novel, improved, and efficient degradation activities. For example, this technique has been used to alter the substrate specificity of a biphenyl dioxygenase enzyme which is involved in PCB degradation in Pseudomonas sp. LB400 and Pseudomonas alcaligenes KF707 19. Another approach, i.e., protein engineering, is exploited in microorganisms to improve an enzyme’s stability, substrate specificity, and kinetic properties. Sitedirected mutagenesis is used to understand the structural and functional relationship in a protein molecule. For the biodegradation process, various types of chimeric and protein variants are produced by DNA-shuffling methods. The third approach is pathway modification in which pathways for the substrate are modified for proper metabolism. A complete pathway for a particular substrate may not be present in a single organism. The partial or complementary pathway may be present in a different organism. So new organisms develop with a complete pathway for a substrate by combining complementary pathways segments from a different organism in a single organism. A complete pathway is needed because end metabolites produced by incomplete pathways may be toxic. Different categories of a genetically modified organism, which are applicable in bioremediation, are discussed below (Table 11). Genetically Engineered Fungi for Mycoremediation Genetic engineering can be a good approach to modify the enzyme activities and affinities of target compounds and for the development of new techniques in fungal adaptation. Cloning of fungal genes can be done to meet the objectives of mycoremediation. Designed a mutant gene and the mutant fungal gene can be used for the treatment of wastes and wastewaters. Recently, 30 fungal species have been screened for a gene that encodes lignin peroxidase. Genome sequencing also plays a pivotal role in the remediation process. So different approaches like the extraction of genetic material (RNA and DNA), gene cloning, and genetic engineering of fungi are used for mycoremediation. The growth of biotechnology for consuming white-rot fungi for environmental pollution control has been applied to treat various refractory wastes and to remediate polluted soils. By the use of biotechnological modification, white-rot fungi are used for environmental pollution control.
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Table 11 Genetically engineered bacteria involved in the remediation of some pollutants Gene Toluene dioxygenase
Source Pseudomonas putida F1
Bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans
Polyphosphate kinase Metallothionein gene Metallothionein I (MT) protein
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Neurospora crassa Mouse
merC
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Escherichia coli Ralstonia eutropha CH34 Escherichia coli
Target pollutant Toluene, chlorobenzene, and 3,4-dichloro-1butene Uranyl group Cadmium Cadmium
Mercury (radioactive waste sites from nuclear weapons)
References Lange et al. 1998
Renninger et al. 2004 Pazirandeh et al. 1995 Valls et al. 2000 Sasaki et al. 2005
Transgenic Plants for Remediation of Heavy Metals and Pollutants Bacteria can only transform metals from one oxidation state to another but not extract these metals from the polluted soil or degrade these pollutants. Plants are mostly hyperaccumulators. Nowadays, more than 400 hyperaccumulator plants like Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cyperaceae, Cunoniaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Poaceae, and Euphorbiaceae have been reported. Among these Brassicaceae family is a very important hyperaccumulator group. Plants consist of a family of metallothionein genes that encode cysteine-rich peptides. These are generally composed of 60–80 amino acids and 9–16 cysteine residues (1997). These metallothionein genes can protect plants from toxic metals like cadmium, cobalt, copper, mercury, and nickel. So these metallothionein genes have been introduced into several plant species. So the introduction of genes for the degradation of metals or pollutants from microorganisms or eukaryotes to the plant is a good option for waste management. Similarly, another group of metal-binding proteins like phytochelatins is involved in heavy metal sequestration. Phytochelatins group can store these metal complexes in vacuoles. Nowadays, genetic engineering is used for the synthesis of metal chelators, which will improve the plant metal uptake capacity. Transgenic Brassica juncea can express different enzymes which involve in phytochelatin synthesis. These transgenics can accumulate more cadmium and zinc from the polluted soil. Breeding or genetic modification is also another option for heavy metals remediation. Some transgenic plants with their target pollutants are discussed below (Table 12).
Role of Nanotechnology in Solid Waste Management: Nanobioremediation Nanotechnology is used to control and manipulate materials that are less toxic and renewable. This can be used to build up raw materials into products using only the material that is needed. The removal of pollutants by enhancing microbial activity (e.g., heavy metals, organic and inorganic toxins) using nanoparticles/nanomaterials shaped by plants, fungi, and microbes with the assistance of nanotechnology is
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Table 12 Genetically engineered plant involved in the remediation of some pollutants Gene Glutathione synthetase MT2 gene
Source Rice
Plant Indian mustard
Human
Tobacco and oilseed rape
Se-cys lyase
Mouse
Arabidopsis sp.
γ-ECS
Escherichia coli
CYP1A1, CYP2B6, and CYP2C19 NfsA
Homo sapiens
Poplar tree hybrid (Populus tremula P. alba) Oryza sativa
GstI-6His
Escherichia coli Zea mays
Target pollutant Cadmium tolerance Cadmium tolerance
Arabidopsis thaliana
Selenium tolerance and accumulation Higher accumulation of cadmium Herbicide (atrazine, metolachlor) Trinitrotoluene
Nicotiana tabaccum
Alachlor
References Zhu et al. 1999 Misra and Gedamu 1989 Pilon et al. 2003 He et al. 2015
Kawahigashi et al. 2006 Kurumata et al. 2005 Karavangeli et al. 2005
called nanobioremediation. These nanoparticles are produced either intracellular or by an extracellular method. Nanoparticles can utilize and degrade the heavy metals/ pesticides/insecticides (organic/inorganic pollutants) from the polluted environment. So combining the effect of nano-biotechnology along with bioremediation can be an efficient, effective, and sustainable solution for a clean environment. For example, the removal of organic pollutants like herbicides (i.e., atrazine, molinate) and pesticides (i.e., chlorpyrifos) is degraded directly using nZVI (zerovalent nano ions). Source Reduction Technique Nanotechnology is used to control and manipulate materials that are less toxic and renewable. Nanotechnology can be used to build up raw materials into products using only the material that is needed. For example, cathode ray tubes (CRT), which contain many toxic materials (primarily lead), have been replaced by newer liquid crystalline displays that are smaller and consume less power than CRT display monitors. One of the major features that nanotechnology offers is the ability to produce and manipulate substances at the nanoscale. Nanomaterials coatings for corrosion protection, antifouling agents, and self-cleaning surfaces are a few leads reported in limiting the solid waste in the complete environment cycle. Green and Renewable Energy With the increasing population, energy demand is increasing day by day globally. Most of the developing countries depend on natural fossil fuels like coal and nuclear energy to fulfill their energy demand. Scientists estimated that the
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exhaustion of oil and gas reserves is present on earth by near 50–60 years if consumed at current rates. So it generates the need for green and continuum energy sources. A biofuel is a good option for this. Biofuel is a total amount of energy that can be produced from living organisms or biomass. Biofuel production processes either use photosynthesis pathways by the use of microorganisms or some opting chemical oxidation/reduction reaction techniques. Chemical reactions based on oxidation and reduction are generally endothermic. It demands the need for an intermediate activator or catalyst. So nanotechnology plays a major role in a catalytic reaction. Nanomaterial which contains a high aspect ratio and more surface area and is highly active to thermal dissipation provides space for a chemical reaction. For example, iron and nickel nanoparticles as catalytic mixtures of iron carbonyl, and nickel carbonyl, are used in the oxidation of cyclohexane for the conversion of biomass to biofuel. It boosts up the process by 40% of previously reported works. Other than this, recently, scientists evolve a method to extracted algal biofuel by using nanocatalysts without rapturing the membranes of algae.
Waste Treatment and Recycling Using Nanotechnology Plastics are a major solid waste, and disposal of plastic products can damage the soil characteristics. To prevent such adverse effects, researchers have identified some nanocomposites to improve biodegradable plastic wrap for food materials. Polymer nanocomposites can add a small number of nanoparticles during polymerization. It enhances plasticity without increasing the plasticizing contents. Nowadays, cement-producing companies have been adopting nanofillers and nanocomposites to increase the strength and durability of cement products. By adding various types of nanomaterials to cement can enhance the ability to absorb air pollutants. Due to the reactivity and catalytic properties of nanoparticles, these are used to absorb air pollutants, for example, use of zerovalent iron (ZVI) in wastewater treatment. Other than this, scientists have been exploring and evolving various biological-inspired organic polymers and dendrimers for solid waste treatments. These dendrites are branched organic macromolecules with the free end, medical groups. These types of medical groups provide reactive sites and surfaces. Different studies show that the use of a nanomaterial as catalytic converters can remove heavy metal ions from the soil. In Table 13, some nanoparticles are discussed with their removal of contaminants.
Green Manufacturing Green manufacturing is mainly related to the producers. It is a producer’s responsibility to develop a product that will not be a threat to the environment after its end-oflife state. It is concerned over the development of sustainable products by enhancing the quality of the product and also restricting the use of hazardous components. The approach of green manufacturing follows the following aspects:
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Table 13 Application of different nanoparticles in environment remediation Nature of the contaminant Organic dyes
Metal/ nonmetal
Contaminant to be removed Malachite green
Nanoparticles Zinc
Methylene blue
Copper
Zn2+ and Cu2+ from aqueous solutions Fluoride
Gold coated with chitosan polymer Carbon nanotubes/Al2O3 nanocomposite Polyacrylic acid – stabilized zerovalent iron nanoparticles Hexachlorocyclohexanes
Lead
Microorganism
Zerovalent iron nanoparticles Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes Bacillus subtilis
MgO nanoparticles Mg-doped ZnO
References Kumar et al. 2014 Sinha and Ahmaruzzaman 2015 Sugunan et al. 2005 Li et al. 2001 Esfahani et al. 2013 Elliott et al. 2008 Samadi et al. 2016 Auger et al. 2019
(A) Lean design: The main approach of this method is the reduction of non-valueadded resources. Lean manufacturing can enhance an organization’s environmental performance. (B) Quality control: One of the quality control measures like six sigma gives a solution for sustainable product development with a longer product life cycle. It can remove the process variations. Reducing the level of process variation can lead to reduced waste, fewer inputs required, and lesser energy expenditure. (C) Restrictions on hazardous substances: Hazardous substances should be restricted or limited in the manufacturing process for proper eco-friendly management. (D) Multipurpose design: This type of strategy limits the manufacturing process of many devices, which leads to a decrease in solid waste generation up to a significant level. “Green Manual”: This is a user manual that is associated with the guidance to users about the handling of devices after its end-of-life. It contains the take-back policies, information of all types of constituents and materials used, a list of hazardous components contact details, and procedures for solid waste handling.
Green Conversion of Solid Wastes (Waste to Energy) Green conversion of solid waste into valuable fuel and chemicals is an alternative solution that has gained the interest of both scientific and public opinion. The green conversion methods include both biological (e.g., anaerobic digestion) and thermochemical conversion (e.g., gasification, pyrolysis, torrefaction) methods. The main
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Table 14 Different green conversion processes for solid waste with description, by-product, and their uses Green conversion process 1) Biotechnological process (enzymatic hydrolysis)
2) Thermochemical processes a) Gasification
b) Pyrolysis
c) Torrefaction
Description In the presence of microorganisms, an organic fraction of solid waste is converted into different molecules.
Elevated temperatures with fast conversion rates Reacting the solid waste at high temperatures (>700 C), without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen The thermochemical decomposition process is conducted under oxygendeficient conditions with temperatures ranging between 300 C and 650 C.
It is mild and slow pyrolysis, operated at ambient pressure with an inert atmosphere at temperatures ranging between 200 C and 350 C
By-product Ethanol (liquid biofuel)
Methane (biogas: anaerobic digestion) Hydrogen (gaseous and eco-friendly fuel)
Uses Mostly used as a vehicle fuel (blending with gasoline at different ratios) Used as a vehicle fuel
It is an alternative to traditional fuels. It can be directly used for the production of electricity through hydrogen fuel cells.
Syngas (carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane)
Used as a clean fuel gas in a conventional burner or coupled to a boiler or a steam turbine
Char and condensable gases
Used to produce charcoal and coke. Char may be used in energy production as a soil amendment and for long-term carbon sequestration. The pyrolytic liquid can be used as a fuel product (bio-oil). Used as a water purification adsorbent and for in situ soil remediation
Char
objective of these methods is to promote the recycling of solid waste and the conversion of waste to efficient energy and valuable chemicals. So many valuable by-products are produced that are ethanol, biogas, hydrogen, biopesticides, oils from microalgae, enzymes, char, and condensable gases from these green conversion methods (Table 14).
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Policies Responsibilities and Public Awareness to Support the Greenways for Solid Waste Management Economic sustainability and economic growth are two major objectives that should be incorporated in solid waste management. For profitable investment in the waste management sector, different policies and incentives should be developed. There are some constrains or barriers for proper solid waste management in this section like increasing quantities and changing composition of solid waste, rapid increasing of cost of waste management, limited and less developed waste management policy framework, lack of political priority in solid waste management, lack of proper planning for solid waste management, shortage of well-trained staff and technical expertise in solid waste management, and lack of public awareness for solid waste management. Different policies should be proposed to overcome these types of constraints in solid waste management. Some policies are: (a) Promotion and adoption of sustainable integrated solid waste management (ISWM) strategies with a special focus on the waste management hierarchy (b) There should be the development of policy and institutional frameworks to support the ISWM. (c) C. Financial framework should be proper, and it should reflect full-cost accounting. (d) For the recycling industry, there should be proper market incentives. (e) Promoting awareness regarding waste avoidance, reuse, and recycling (3Rs) by waste generators (f) Developing an effective capacity for the safe management of hazardous waste (g) Promoting the active participation of regional corporations in research and development related to solid waste management (h) For proper solid waste management, there should be development and implementation of sustainable public awareness campaigns like the promotion of clean week where public, service provider, and government officials should participate in solid waste management.
Future Research Waste, which is caused by public and industrial sectors, is harmful directly or indirectly to the standard of living and health of the public. Uncontrolled and uncollected waste may create various infectious diseases. Site selection should be done usually based on the understanding of potential effects on surface and underground water resources because dumping can affect both water and health quality of people and habitant animals. Mostly, rural and urban areas are at high risk where uncontrolled dumping occurs. The presence of drugs, chemicals, and poisonous spoiled food can create a hazardous situation for people. So these problems are not only related to the environment but also the public health sectors. To overcome these problems, precaution should be systematic, eco-friendly, and cost-effective.
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Accurate waste reporting methods should be implemented to get uniform knowledge about solid waste. These can help in recycling targets to be set and responses measured and also the diversion of different waste types from the disposal. If waste data is correct, it becomes easy to choose/implement the correct technology at the correct time. Different technology related to clean and eco-friendly should be developed to manage solid waste properly. Other than this, future studies should be a focus on the genetically engineered microorganisms for in situ and ex situ bioremediation strategies and also the applicability and adaptability of these genetically engineered microorganisms in all the possible adverse conditions. Bioremediation and phytoremediation can be good treatment strategies for solid waste, but other than this, more research information and techniques are required to prepare different methods for the treatment.
Conclusion With the increase in population, economy, and commercialization of the world, solid waste is increasing in an unstoppable way. So waste management is a challenging issue at the global platform. Traditional methods of waste management like combustion and landfills harm the environment and society. So the greenway is a novel approach for solid waste management that turns a waste product into a valuable form of energy resource. Three R’s, i.e., reuse, recycle, and reduce, are the backbone of green management technology. Many practices like recycling, bioremediation, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and green manufacturing are adopted to manage solid waste in a greenway. Recycling can transform the wastes into valuable resources and generates a host of environmental, financial, and social benefits. Other than this, recycling can reduce the demand for raw materials by extending their life and maximizing the value extracted for them. The bioremediation technique is an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach to manage solid waste effectively. So microorganisms play a crucial role in the bioremediation process. It can remove or detoxify solid waste from the environment. Other than these, green plants can also remove, inactivate, or degrade harmful environmental contaminants (generally termed phytoremediation) as an emerging technology. On the other hand, vermiremediation provides an instrumental solution for managing waste. Earthworms are used to convert solid organic materials and wastes into vermicompost which acts as a soil conditioner and nutrient-rich manure for plant growth. A combined approach of phytoremediation and vermiremediation can enhance the removal rate of contaminants. So this approach is a boon to waste management strategies. A biotechnological approach like genetically engineered organisms for bioremediation would be an eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative for the management and remediation of pollutants in contaminated sites. By the use of recombinant DNA and RNA technologies, various microorganisms have been developed and utilized for the removal of heavy metals and toxic substances from contaminated sites. Other than these, transgenic plants which are developed through genetic engineering can also mobilize or degrade chlorinated solvents, xenobiotic
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compounds, explosives, and phenolic substances which are major constituents of solid waste. Green manufacturing is also a good approach to reduce the product which contains plenty of waste directly with the help of producers. Other than this, green conversion is also a novel approach that can convert different solid wastes into a valuable product or energy. Sustainable integrated solid waste management (ISWM) strategies are also a good approach to waste management. From this, it is clear to understand that waste management is not only a technical issue but also a political and economic issue. So in the area of waste management, education and awareness play a pivotal role. So there is a need to reorganize the priorities and take necessary measures to manage solid waste in a greenway. The development and implementation of national and local waste management strategies, policies, legislation, and financial incentives focus on a life cycle (cradle to cradle) approach. Sound investment in waste management infrastructure, equipment, and services that support the local economy, utilize local expertise, and minimize environmental and social costs can be costly, but their absence can be equally as costly.
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Waste Management in the Changing Climate Chanathip Pharino and Nuchcha Phonphoton
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Climate Change Impact to Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disasters Impact from Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Situation Under the Flooding Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flood Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Challenges in Waste Management Under Flooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flood Waste Management in Different Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flood Waste Mitigation and Adaptation Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impact Evaluation to Mitigation and Adaptation Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Identifying Appropriate Alternative for Mitigation and Adaptation Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson Learned from Bangkok Major Flood 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guideline for Developing an Action Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Municipal solid waste management service system has been one of the most important functions in urban areas. Continuous and efficient operation of municipal solid waste management services indicates the sustainability of a city requires a well-designed plan. Flooding is a major natural disaster in many regions of the world and poses a challenge affecting any part of the waste management system. Flood mitigation plans are intensely important for mitigating impact during crisis situations for communities to have no disruption in waste management service. This book chapter aims to explain potential impact of flooding to waste management services in cities and relevant stakeholders. Practical approaches for impact mitigation and preparedness of MSWM services during floods are C. Pharino (*) · N. Phonphoton Department of Environmental Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_9
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presented. Appropriate impact mitigation alternatives from relevant case studies are provided. The decision support system for planning and operation for any municipality is suggested based on the principles of sustainable development, considering environment, society, and economic factors. This information can help increase understanding to develop an appropriate mitigation management plan for waste management systems during floods toward sustainable cities and communities’ development. Keywords
Municipal solid waste management · Urban flooding · Climate impact · Mitigation and adaptation Abbreviations
AHP BMA MCDA MSW MSWM SD SDGs
Analytic Hierarchy Process Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Multicriteria Decision Analysis Municipal Solid Waste MSW Management System Dynamics The Sustainable Development Goals
Introduction Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is a key public service in the city. It indicates the city’s sustainability level and is also one of the goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals #11 (SDGs#11) on building a comprehensive, safe, resilient, and sustainable city. However, achieving sustainability in MSWM is challenging due to the complex and dynamic characteristics of waste management in terms of stock and flow of waste amounts (Pharino 2017), particularly in case of a disaster. Flooding is a major natural disaster that directly impacts infrastructures and business inside the flooded area and indirectly disrupts public services outside the flooded area in a networked system. Each stage of the flood situation exhibits different characteristics of waste, which causes a different condition that must be managed. The during-flood period is an emergency phase where flooding begins, which causes immediate threats to public health and safety. There is a need to plan for managing and mitigating its impact. The process of evaluating strategies helps improve the understanding of flood impacts and better prepare for flood mitigation planning to move toward sustainable cities. Mitigation plans are necessary to prepare for action under the climate change crisis, especially waste management during flooding that may cause disruptions in the city. Therefore, this chapter explains dynamics analysis concept which is the key technique to characterize the dynamic impact of waste management under flooding. It is an important step in finding alternative approaches to dealing with the impact of flooding.
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Mitigation approaches for adopting local disaster risk reduction strategies are applied with specific guideline by local governments.
Climate Change Impact to Waste Management This section explains types and frequency of climate change impact in urban areas. Flooding in particular has been a central focus of this chapter that post high risk to municipal service. The chapter gathers and provides statistical review of current scale and frequency and distribution of floods worldwide. Together, urban areas have very vulnerability to be affected by flooding. Nevertheless, regular municipal services including waste management directly affect by flooding.
Disasters Impact from Climate Change Urban expansions are projected to increase urban areas accommodated to 68% of the world’s population by 2050 from 55% in 2018 (United Nations 2019). Besides rapid urbanization with unplanned processes intensify vulnerability to disaster impact (IPCC 2012), the impact management of intense climatic conditions such as heat stress, storm surges, and extreme rainfall are challenging problem to urban development (IPCC 2014). As is apparent from the goal#11 in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of sustainable cities and communities is defined sustainable development should be considered in normal and disaster situations. Decreasing the economic losses caused by disasters disruption of basic services is defined as an important target, including reducing the number of people who are affected by disasters in 2030 with a focus on people protecting in vulnerable situations. Moreover, it also indicates tangibly the number of cities and human settlements by adopting and implementing resilience measures to disasters with holistic disaster risk management at all levels by 2020. Flooding is a major natural disaster in many regions of the world. From 2001 to 2010, floods and other hydrological incidence have become more than 50% of all global natural disasters (Guha-Sapir et al. 2011); as found 53% of global natural disasters were floods in 2012. In particular, Asia is the most frequently suffered hydrological disasters, occurring 52.1% of total natural disasters in 2011 (GuhaSapir et al. 2012). Urban floods usually occur when rain overwhelms drainage systems and waterways flow into basements and streets (CNT 2014). A flood’s impact is defined as hazardous physical events interacting with vulnerable social conditions, leading to widespread adverse human, material, economic, and environmental effects. Typically, a framework for assessing a flood’s and other disasters’ impact consists of three factors: hazard, exposure, and vulnerability assessment. Flood impact is thus a function of the hazard and vulnerability (susceptibility) of the receptor exposed to the hazard (Foudi et al. 2015). The character and severity of impacts from climate extremes depend not only on the extremes themselves but also
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on exposure and vulnerability. Hazard is defined as the potential occurrence of a natural or human-induced physical event that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts as well as damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, and environmental resources. Exposure and vulnerability are dynamic, varying across temporal and spatial scales (IPCC 2012). Flooding directly impacts infrastructures and business inside the flooded area and indirectly disruption of public services outside the flooded area (Schumann 2011). The expansion of urban areas to floodplains and coastal strips has resulted in raise in exposure of populations to riverine and coastal flood impact (McGranahan et al. 2007). Indeed, it is difficult to prevent flooding entirely, and there is a need to plan for managing and mitigating the impacts of flooding. At least, it requires planning for managing and mitigating the impacts. Various implements have been used for flood management, such as flood risk mapping, flood hazard zoning, site selection of flood mitigation measures, prioritization of flood mitigation strategies, and integrated assessment of long-term flood management scenarios (Ahmadisharaf et al. 2016). According to the IPCC, impact management is a process for designing, implementing, and evaluating strategies, policies, and measures to improve the understanding of disaster impact, foster disaster impact reduction and transfer, and promote continuous improvement in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery practices, with the explicit purpose of increasing human security, well-being, quality of life, resilience, and sustainable development (IPCC 2012). The flood impact evaluation is an highlight process that possibly reflects the individual characteristics of all elements at risk of flood management (Scheuer et al. 2013). Improving flood resilience should span multiple techniques, including urban planning and design, urban drainage, building construction, and asset management of infrastructure networks (Escarameia 2016). Furthermore, it should be systematically considered by the principle that the city is composed by a different component, not only a set of a building (Lhomme et al. 2013) but formed a system by different sectors as urban services and infrastructures (i.e., waste, water, power, and telecommunication). Mitigation plans for MSW services from flooding impacts are incredibly important and urgent need to redesign the municipal service system to prepare and ready to operate under climate change crisis, especially during flooding that has the potential to city disruption (Phonphoton and Pharino 2019b).
Waste Situation Under the Flooding Risk Urban flooding impacts not only in flooded areas but also outside the flooded areas in a networked system, especially public utilities, and city services such as the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) services. The MSWM service system is an exposed system which is directly and indirectly affected by the flooding that interrupts service inside and outside flooded areas (Phonphoton and Pharino 2019b). MSWM is a critical service for any city (Hoornweg et al. 2013), in lowand middle-income countries comprise the largest portion of the city budget and hire the most employees, also occupies the main position in high-income countries’ expenditure on disposal (World Bank 2012). There were also trends to increase the
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Fig. 1 A global review of waste generation by income level and year. (Adapted from World Bank 2012)
waste generation rate higher than twofold in low-income and lower-middle income countries by 2020 compared to 2010 as shown in Fig. 1. Particularly, the process of waste collection and transportation are the main expenses and include complicated operations (Sukholthaman and Sharp 2016). Therefore, the efficiency and quality of MSWM services indicate whether cities and communities are sustainable as it is a key public service provided in cities. It is a major management challenge for many cities in developing and transitional countries (Habitat 2010). Asia has the fastest-growing amounts of waste, mostly organic waste, and paper in the waste stream. The East Asia and Pacific regions have the highest percentage of organic waste (62%) compared to OECD countries, while developed countries have the least (27%) (World Bank 2012). However, in the past, it has been a neglected problem in developed and developing countries (Sam 2002). There are many studies on sustainable MSWM, but most are conducted under normal circumstances, such as the cycling of solid residues, management of electronic waste, and investigations into forecasting, planning, and management of collection and transport routes in normal situation (Vitorino de Souza Melaré et al. 2017). In contrast, waste management in period of crisis is critical to sustainable development as well as normal situation.
Flood Waste Management This section explains the challenge of future waste management system needs to incorporate the concept of waste management under flood. This section addresses concerns happening during the disaster that may or may not happen during businessas-usual condition such as types of wastes that generate during disaster. Moreover,
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pros and cons and timeline for development and relevant issues of concerns are discussed for better understanding.
Challenges in Waste Management Under Flooding The MSW is considered as a serious cause of many problems in flood risk management (Lamond et al. 2012). Poor waste disposal can block the drainage which obstructs the flow of water and leads to flooding; flood debris damages property, increasing the negative impact on the economy; and the accumulation of waste after flooding causes toxic buildup and disease, and leaching toxins into underground water. However, further studies on the reverse side of climate change and flood impact on the solid waste sector are interesting (Martínez-Gomariz et al. 2019). It is critical to conduct an MSWM systematic impact evaluation under pressure of extreme external conditions to provide a better understanding of the interlinking of a sophisticated and dynamic waste management system. The MSWM service is a complex system in terms of stock and flow of MSW amounts that vary over time. Dynamics of the individual parts of the system, including waste collection, transportation, and disposal process, are all interconnected to spatial management. In general, complex and dynamic system characteristics of MSWM become quite a challenge in the path to achieving sustainable management. If any part of the waste management system is disturbed by a natural disaster, it can affect other parts of the system (such as emergency operations). For many developing cities and transitional countries, it becomes a major challenge to provide better waste management during and after flooding (Habitat 2010). The impact of floods on the waste management system is complex because it impacts the internal flooding and networked areas outside the flood, especially during the flood phase, which affects the livelihoods due to the collection and transportation service processes. Therefore, understanding and identifying the impacts of flooding on the municipal solid waste system is important to investigate approaches for the mitigation of the impact situation to the move toward sustainable cities.
Flood Waste Management in Different Phases Disaster loss is determined not only by the post-disaster relief but also by the pre-disaster mitigation plans and degree of preparedness (He and Zhuang 2016). However, developing countries set a low priority in response for waste management systems in case of crises only a temporary solution for an unexpected problem (Brown et al. 2011). Disaster management is usually divided into four phases: mitigation, preparedness, relief, and recovery (He and Zhuang 2016). Flood waste management follows a different set of interrelated phases during a disaster: mitigation, preparedness, during a flood, and after a flood (Kubota et al. 2015). During the mitigation and preparedness phases, municipal waste processes are carried on as in normal circumstances,
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Fig. 2 Waste management on flooding phase cycle. (Nuchcha, 2019b)
while free time is used to prepare for flood management. The during and after flood phases are when damage from a flood occurs. Each of the phases has different characteristics of waste and circumstances, which present management challenges on different conditions, as shown in the cycle of flood waste management in Fig. 2. The mitigation phase starts after complete recovery from a flood, when a resilient waste management system is developed that attempts to decrease societal impact from the next flood. The preparedness phase requires that measures be taken to prepare for and reduce the impact by developing a preparedness plan and strategy (He and Zhuang 2016). The during-flood phase is an emergency phase that begins with floods, the daily generation of municipal waste continues, which causes immediate threats to public health and safety (Brown et al. 2011). Finally, the after-flood phase is a period of demolition and management of construction waste generated by the flood.
Flood Waste Mitigation and Adaptation Plan This section provides options for mitigating (reducing future impacts) and adapting (redesign/adjust system lifestyle to cope with this incident as business-as-usual operation) to appropriately address various waste situations from flood impact.
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Impact Evaluation to Mitigation and Adaptation Plan Mitigation plans for MSW services from flooding impacts are incredibly important and urgent need to redesign the municipal service system to prepare and ready to operate under climate change crisis, especially during flooding that have the potential to city disruption (Phonphoton and Pharino 2019b). An integrated analysis of impacts, appropriate alternatives, and governance arrangements to be used to flood waste mitigation is shown in Fig. 3. The flood impact evaluation includes direct and indirect evaluations processes. Direct evaluation is focused on flooded areas such as building density and building structure (Foudi et al. 2015; Prawiranegara 2014; Tingsanchali 2012; Zhou et al. 2012), population density and characteristic (Camarasa-Belmonte and SorianoGarcía 2012; Foudi et al. 2015; Suroso et al. 2013; Tingsanchali 2012), and land usage (Camarasa-Belmonte and Soriano-García 2012; Canters et al. 2014; Foudi et al. 2015; Suroso et al. 2013), but some consider as network systems evaluated out of flooded areas, in which case the exposure is dynamic like a waste management system. The MSWM service is a complex system in terms of stock and flow or MSW amounts that vary over time. Therefore, in dealing with floods affecting waste management should evaluate impact dynamic to be aware of the situation before taking technology and alternative approach to deal with impacts. The system dynamics (SD) model is an effective technique used to characterize dynamic systems as MSWM (Phonphoton and Pharino 2019b). System dynamics (SD) was first theorized in America by Jay W. Forrester from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961. SD is used to observe the management systems behavior by using feedback information features in conjunction with a model of the system to improve the system management and to guide policy making (Forrester 1961). It is used for analyzing the structure and behavior of the system as well as for designing efficient policies for managing the system (Mirjana Perjic-Bach 2007). It is mostly used as a strategic than an operational tool but can be used to integrate policies across organizations where analysis of variations and behavioral feedback are important (Wolstenholme 2005). The SD model is constructed by using computer software where variables act as system elements. The variables are linked with mathematical mapping via relative equations, which are developed steadily. Most computer simulation applications of SD modeling rely on the Vensim and Stella software while the Powersim software is used for business applications (Kollikkathara et al. 2010). However, the choice of software should take into consideration the use of theoretical dynamics, user comprehension, and simplicity of use, checking whether there is a system to set the model, and whether the system facilitates the debugging of simulation, is simple to experiment with, easy to apply, and presents a model that can be amplified (Coyle 1996). Processes in SD are viewed in terms of “stock” and “flow.” Stock is the measurable accumulation of physical (and nonphysical) resources, while flow is the rate of change, which indicates the speed of change in the system. The process of SD modeling is presented by focusing on the problem-solving process with simulations.
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Fig. 3 Flood impact mitigation conceptual
The processes begin with problem identification and definition. While the final process is different in some conceptions, the real system is adjusted to be based on the model, which leads to improvement (Forrester 1961), new policy design to find the optimal policy (Coyle 1996) (Starr 1980), and policy implementation (Richardson and Pugh 1981). Moreover, it has supporting tools offering a useful modeling approach to simulate scenarios in a wide array of disciplines such as agricultural
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development (Saysel et al. 2002), sustainable coral reef management (Chang et al. 2008), business systems (Sterman 2000), desertification expansion of Ordos in China (Xu et al. 2016), and determination of the energy performance of buildings (Horvat and Dović 2016). In the area of waste management, system dynamics have been extensively applied in the forecasting of municipal solid waste (Dyson and Chang 2005), the optimization of solid waste scheduling and routing (Johansson 2006), the evaluation of municipal solid waste generation, landfill capacity and related cost management (Kollikkathara et al. 2010), the reduction of construction and demolition waste (Ding et al. 2016; Yuan et al. 2012), collection scheme for portable battery waste (Blumberga et al. 2015), evaluation of municipal solid waste source separation (Sukholthaman and Sharp 2016), and the prediction of waste generation (Johnson et al. 2017). Phonphoton and Pharino (2019b) studies evaluating the flooding impacts on municipal solid waste management service with SD to study the relationship systematically inside and outside floodplain in term of spatial and quantitative, it is apparent that the areas in the system can be the most vulnerable to the impact, although not in a flood zone. Therefore. Consequently, flood impact in MSWM requires systematic evaluation to prioritize impact according to scale of impacts and coverage areas for idenfiying appropriate solutions to mitigate the impacts for that situation, especially during floods that affect the daily life of people and businesses.
Identifying Appropriate Alternative for Mitigation and Adaptation Measure Establishing appropriate approaches to implementing flood mitigation plans should be prioritized for decision-making. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques have been applied to minimize the conflicts in reducing the number of alternatives to facilitate convergence and achieve an optimal alternative. It is the approach to decision-making by arranging the important components of a problem into a hierarchical structure like a family tree with mathematical techniques (Saaty 1980). The hierarchical structure is divided into three levels: the top level is objective, the second level is the criterion to determine the appropriate alternatives, and the third level represents the alternative options as shown in Fig. 4. The considered methodology involves five main steps: (1) goal setting, (2) alternative identification, (3) criteria identification, (4) decision alternative comparison, and (5) relative weight calculation. Therefore, the AHP has been widely used in MSWM planning to incorporate the preferences of different actors in the field of decision-making for an MSWM plan (Contreras et al. 2008), to manage the solid waste problems of a city, to present opportunities involved in approaching (Coban et al. 2018) community groups for waste paper management decision-making (Hanan et al. 2013), and to compare different waste management solutions in Sahrawi refugee camps (Garfì et al. 2009). It is also used to determine the most appropriate location for an MSW site in a waste management system so as to rank suitable MSW facility sites with
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Fig. 4 Priority setting of Analytic hierarchy Process (AHP)
stakeholders’ involvement (Feo and Gisi 2010) and to evaluate the suitability of the study region as an optimal site for a landfill for MSW Karaj using AHP and GIS techniques (Moeinaddini et al. 2010). Evaluation of the suitability of alternatives requires stakeholder directly involved with the problem or the experts to consider together to integrate their opinions. There is also a relative validation process for calculating its consistency ratio (CR) to indicate inconsistent judgment (Saaty and Vargas 2013).
Lesson Learned from Bangkok Major Flood 2011 Since 2011 flooding in Thailand was the national disaster of the century, the impacts of the disaster were invaluable. Lessons learned from the event can be significantly helpful to make a better future. This section describes the impacts of waste-related issues, scales, and how the country handles the incidents during various phases. The information was extracted from an extensive review of reports and relevant archives. The learned lessons are analyzed and discussed in this section. Bangkok is the capital of Thailand. The city features as a financial and residential center, with an administrative area of 1568.74 km2 and is comprised of 50 districts. Bangkok has 2,753,972 households and 5,696,409 people, excluding the non-registered population (BMA 2015c), generating waste of around 9940 tons/ day as of 2014 (BMA 2015b). This amount of waste generation is in a similar range to other Asian megacities such as Hong Kong and Beijing (Laohalidanond et al. 2015). The BMA’s MSWM service system is illustrated in Fig. 5. MSW is collected by local municipalities from containers in front of houses, buildings, or designated
Fig. 5 The service system of BMA’s MSWM
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locations on specific dates and times. Bangkok’s waste collection service is operated separately by local districts and divided into sub-service areas. After collection, the MSW is transported to three main transfer stations in Bangkok, OnNuch, Nongkhaem, and Sai-Mai. The OnNuch transfer station handles MSW from 16 districts, while the Nongkhaem and Sai-Mai transfer stations handle waste from 22 and 12 districts, respectively. In 2011, Thailand experienced exceptionally heavy rains, causing the worst flooding since 1942. Approximately 800 deaths and 9.5 million victims were reported, with widespread damage and losses to homes, factories, businesses, transport and energy infrastructure, social service facilities, and agricultural crops and livestock (ADB 2012). Bangkok’s floods are caused by both natural and physical factors. The natural factors are seasonal precipitation with peak frequency from mid-August through October, run-off water from the north and east caused by a slope, upstream run-off from the Chao Phraya basin, high tides during October to December, changes in natural phenomena such as higher rainfall than usual from La Nina, and heavy rainfall in some areas despite low total rainfall from El Nino. The physical factors are urban planning problems due to rapid urbanization, consequently decreased space to absorb water as open land is replaced by buildings, drainage problems because canals are encroached upon, and land subsidence problems (BMA 2015a). Presently, Bangkok analyzes its surrounding flood-prone areas by local rainfall and the area’s drainage system, determining that there are a total of 19 points of data. These data are used as baseline information for determining the area of Bangkok flood management (BMA 2016). Moreover, Bangkok’s Department of Drainage and Sewage produces an annual action plan for preventing and mitigating flooding, which determines measures and plans for flood management, including structural and nonstructural measures (BMA 2015a). However, some issues, such as a vulnerability assessment (Yuddhana 2012) and the linking of flood impact management plans into strategic plans of other services, such as the MSWM (BMA 2015b), are not covered in flood management strategies. Bangkok’s MSWM was affected by the massive flooding in Thailand in 2011; the flood impacts were widespread and affected areas both inside and outside the floodplain. Many areas that faced waste management at that time could not function. The waste collection truck cannot reach the area, resulting in a large amount of waste remaining. In addition, the problems of transporting through the flooded areas also take more time to collect waste than usual. The BMA provided many actions to mitigate the problem during and after the flood period. During the flood period, Bangkok approved the hiring of volunteers by 40% increase than normal to drag solid waste from alleyways including the used boats to collect solid waste and stored them and adjusted some waste collecting trucks’ exhausted. During after-flood period, Bangkok assigned the district office not affected by the flood to support the collection of waste in the flood-affected areas and also received cooperation from the Ministry of Interior to allow provinces to assist with vehicles and officials as well as coordinate with the community to set storage area and accelerate the implementation of solid waste collection with backhoe loader, tractors, and trucks which would not be used to collect solid waste in a normal situation. After the situation
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returned to normal, it was found that there was a large amount of waste from continuous generation during and after the flood. The management was difficult and exceeded the capabilities of the district office, especially in the sudden floodimpacted area (BMA 2012). From past experience, the emergency response from waste management systems in case of 2011 Bangkok flooding is only a temporary solution for an unexpected problem. This parallels other developing countries that give waste management low priority (Brown et al. 2011). Consequently, the management of MSW under floods should be systematically considered to successfully implement appropriate mitigation measures. The past situation can be used to improve flood waste impact as a guideline for impact evaluation to find appropriate options for establishing mitigation approaches that are consistent with different stages of flooding and impact level.
Guideline for Developing an Action Plan Since waste management and flooding happen and affect local communities, it requires local institutions to get ready and be in charge of this issue at the frontline. This section explains roles and responsibilities of the local government body as a team leader to set up the action plan with multi-stakeholder engagement. This section describes step by step how local government can prepare and develop their own action plan for waste management system service during flooding. The characteristics of impact is a key issue in the analysis of mitigation alternatives to develop a guideline for flood mitigation in the MSWM service system that is consistent with the authority and responsibility structure. The mitigation guidelines will be most useful in crisis when they have been tested for implementation and detailed into a local action plan; as a result the local governments are the target groups for adopting and implementing local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (Nations 2015). Hence, reducing the flood impact of MSWM is key to the development of sustainable cities at all levels, particularly at the local government level. For the proper implementation of the situation, flood mitigation on MSWM guideline approaches should integrate (1) the emergency management concept that must relieve a sudden incident and (2) concepts of disaster waste management that are specific and consistent with the situations. One of well-known emergency management guidelines for impact mitigation application of emergency situation is mitigation strategy development guidelines of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA 2013), where the disaster waste management guidelines of the Joint UNEP/OCHA environment unit (UNEP/OCHA 2013) is widely applied to manage disaster waste management in various disasters. The implementation of flood mitigation guideline should be applied specifically by local governments to ensure compliance with the regulatory authority structure. In this regard, the local government ought to experiment with the guidelines for developing action plans for vulnerable areas from impact evaluation results with the
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participation of local government organizations under the relevant authority and responsibility. Waste management during flooding in Bangkok has been studied by Phonphoton and Pharino (2019a, 2019b) to develop a tool to increase understanding about the impact of flooding on Bangkok’s MSWM systems with simulation and prediction of the situation. It helps to recommend an appropriate alternative for the impact of MSWM guideline improving during-flood events. Bangkok has a high increased generation rate of MSW (Laohalidanond et al. 2015). The process consists of three sessions: (1) analysis and evaluation of spatial impacts and residual waste, (2) a study of mitigation options appropriate to the situation and conditions of the city and (3) feasibility study in the context of authority and relationship of relevant agencies. 1. Analysis and evaluation of spatial impacts and residual waste: The concept of system dynamics (SD) was applied through a model to understand and evaluate flood impacts on waste management system. It has been designed to investigate management patterns of the system and evaluate the impacts of flooding on the waste management service in Bangkok, Thailand. The model illustrates waste generation trends and collection and transfer network patterns to predict potential flood-affected areas with 11 different flood-prone location scenarios. 2. A study of mitigation options appropriate to the situation and conditions of the city: The impact evaluation has been applied to provide the mitigation impact approaches with the multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) technique through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for multicriteria decision-making. The flood impacts on municipal solid waste management are classified into three situations with the problematic characteristics of flood impact including as follows: (1) cannot collect wastes from generating sources, (2) cannot transfer wastes to final disposal, and (3) cannot collect from sources and transfer wastes to final disposal. The decision support system based on the principles of sustainable development considers the impacting criteria, namely, environment, society, and economic factors. There is different weighing of environment, society, and economy criteria. The weight of each criterion influences the mitigating alternative approach in different problems and causes. The high priority score of alternatives for flood mitigation in all three situations is the modified truck, which is consistent with information gained from interviews about operations during the 2011 flooding. Transfer station changing, using boats to collect, and storing waste are alternatives that score close to the high priority. Therefore, appropriate mitigation measures should be differentiated according to the cause of the impact as shown in Fig. 6. 3. Feasibility study in the context of authority and relationship of relevant agencies: This process is critical to creating mitigation guides. It is related to the study of the mechanisms and authorities of the relevant agencies, both local government and central government, as well as the private sector in the system. The action of mitigation with various alternatives depends on the authorities and responsibilities; it is an important mechanism in mitigation actions. Example of Bangkok, the authority and responsibility structure of flood mitigation in Bangkok’s MSWM
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Fig. 6 Mitigation approach measure
system is outlined under the Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act, B.E. 2550. The BMA headquarters is responsible for carrying out tasks assigned by the central government director and preparing a prevention and mitigation plan with the Department of Defence and higher educational institutions as advisors. They must coordinate with various government agencies to report and receive support. They are responsible for the provision of vehicles, supplies, equipment, and MSWM facilities in the form of transfer stations and disposal sites during floods. Meanwhile, the district officer is responsible for prevention and mitigation operations such as collection, transportation, and temporary storage sites. The district government can use the facilities, equipment, and vehicles of both the public and private sectors in the district area as necessary for prevention and mitigation, as shown in Fig. 7. The information obtained from the integration of alternatives and the authority and responsibility structure has been applied to flood mitigation in the MSWM guideline. The flood mitigation in MSWM guidelines includes objectives, scope, definitions, responsibilities, and operating procedures. The operation starts at the time of the flood; the districts report the flood situation to the BMA for impact evaluation. Therefore, the mitigation guideline is based on applying the mitigation approach to the authority and responsibility structure as shown in Fig. 8. Moreover, the guidelines are used to develop the local administrative mitigation action plan for vulnerable areas from impact evaluation results. This process involves the participation of local government organizations under the relevant authority and responsibility according to the current management situation. Most
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Central government
Coordinate
Inform Support
- Prepare prevention and mitigation plans Chairman: Governor of Bangkok Vice Chairman: Permanent Secretary - Prepare vehicle equipment and supplies as prescribed in the preventive and mitigation plan. - Prepare waste management facilities (e.g., transfer station, disposal site)
Order
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Coordinate
Director: Governor of Bangkok Order
Other government
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
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Consultation Coordinate University Consultation Inform Support
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Bangkok District Officer
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- Prevention and mitigation operation
Support
Ministry of Defence
- MSW operation (e.g., collection,
transportation, separation, temporary storage site in district area, temporary truck parking in district area, and public relations.
Support/report
MSW operators and volunteers
Fig. 7 Authority and responsibility structure for MSWM under flooding of Bangkok. (Nuchcha, 2019b)
of the MSW trucks of Radburana District have to pass through the flood-prone area before reaching the service area MSW service in the Radburana District will have the most impact from flooding. However, even if collection is possible, it also affects the transfer process to the transfer station. Therefore, the mitigation approaches for this area should be divided into two step processes of collection and transfer as follows: A. Collection process Step 1) The MSW trucks park near Nongkhaem transfer station, when the transportation is completed in each round, and to be maintained until the next transportation cycle follows the designated route. In case of risky transportation, nearby routes should be used, i.e., Kanchanapisek Road and Taweewattana– Kanchanapisek Road. The total distance is 30 kilometers, increasing from the original distance of 5 kilometers. Step 2) In case the overall route cannot be reached by MSW truck, Bangkok should coordinate with truck charter companies to temporarily permit replacement truck parking. The district director should coordinate with private owners of land near the district office, located next to the Wilaiwan Mansion, Bangpakok, with an area of 26 rai, for a temporary parking request during the flood. B. Transfer process Step 1) Bangkok should make an agreement with truck charter companies to modify trucks for use in transportation through flooded areas. MSW in
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Fig. 8 Flow of flood mitigation in the MSWM of Bangkok
various areas should be collected by all types of trucks to full load to reduce the number of cycles per day in transit. Step 2) Transportation between 21.00 and 06.00 to deliver MSW to the OnNuch transfer station will reduce traffic problems. The Rama IV Road through Sukhumvit 77 Road is the appropriate route, and its total distance is 20 kilometers. It is the shortest route but has heavy traffic and goes through community areas; it must be avoided during rush hour. Step 3) Use temporary storage sites when the route to Nongkhaem and OnNuch transfer station is not transported by MSW truck. The district director should coordinate with the owner of the land under Rama 9 Bridge at Thonburi, beside Kasikorn Bank Head Office, Radburana, with an area of 5 rai (supported by approximately 2500 tons of MSW).
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Conclusion The challenges of MSWM during flooding depend on various factors, including the town planning and its topography, waste management process and logistics, and the flood conditions. Setting a risk management and mitigation plan is essential and different from that of normal situations. Therefore, mitigation approaches must consider the characteristics of the impact and supporting factors for appropriate mitigation management. A dynamic evaluation of the flood impact on the MSWM in terms of spatial and quantitative impact helps to identify a vulnerable area as “hotspots” of the situation to develop appropriate mitigation approaches. Alternatives in each flood impact situation on MSWM are also needed. Flood impact situation characteristics used to develop a guideline for flood mitigation in the MSWM service system should synergy with the management structure of responsible authority. The engagement of key stakeholders to demonstrate and practice the mitigation guidelines and details as local action plans for capacity building and preparedness in time of crisis. Acknowledgments This work was supported by Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund of Chulalongkorn University. The authors would like to thank the experts and the local authorities for their support.
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Future Perspective of Solid Waste Management Strategy in India Samanyita Mohanty, Sushanta Saha, Gour Hari Santra, and Amrita Kumari
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Generation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Categories of Solid Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Industrial Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agricultural Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Municipal Solid Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radioactive Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biomedical Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composition of Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evolution of Solid Waste Management Policy and Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Basic Principles of Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Integrated Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hierarchy of Waste Management Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Minimization/Reduction at Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recycling and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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S. Mohanty (*) Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, India S. Saha Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, West Bengal, India G. H. Santra Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Science, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan, deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India A. Kumari Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidalaya Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_10
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Waste Processing with Recovery of Useful Products and Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Factors Governing Choice of Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Green Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Need of Green Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Goals of Green Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Categories of Green Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Applications of Green Technology in SWM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future of Green Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Valorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impacts of Improper Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gaps for Sustainable Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Increased industrialization in the wake of green revolution coupled with population explosion has paved its way to enormous solid waste generation. Inadequate techniques and paucity of technical expertise have led to generation of heterogenous categories of waste. The per capita waste generation is escalating, continuously challenging the global sustainability. Most of the waste produced in India is directly disposed of to the landfills without any proper sorting and segregation, which later produces greenhouse gases, posing risk to human health and environment. Thus, there is a need to implement strict laws, increase awareness, and utilize innovative as well as latest techniques in order to cope up with the growing threat of solid waste. Integrated solid waste management is a critical aspect of environmental hygiene which can be incorporated into environmental planning. Environment friendliness, cost-effectiveness, and social acceptability are major attributes which sum up to achieve efficient waste management system. Moving toward “zero-waste production” and “waste prevention” aims at reduction of gaseous emissions, solid residues, and pollution, contributing to the protection of climate and environment. Green technology approach is the stepping stone to waste management that seeks solutions that are environmentally and ecologically benign. Recycling and composting are the easy to go techniques which are helpful in minimizing the volume of the waste generated and producing valuable products with multipurpose utility. Waste valorization is an attractive concept gaining increased popularity due to the rapid increase in waste residues generation.
Keywords
Solid waste · Valorization · Integrated solid waste management · Green technology · Recycling and recovery
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Introduction In the twenty-first century, one of the most concerning issues is protection of human civilization from the threatening effect of man-made wastes. Wastes are the residual part of raw materials, which are generally unwanted after primary utilization. Among different waste materials, solid wastes are generated in our society through various humans activities. With the trending economic growth and rapid industrialization, waste generation has enormously heightened globally. In a developing country like India, population explosion, standard of living, and literacy extent of the people play a vital role in contributing significantly to the total amount of solid waste generated (Joshi and Ahmed 2016). Additionally, as India is striving to attain an industrialized nation status in near future, it has further aggravated the waste quantity proportionally. Achieving sustainable development with such obstacles poses challenge to human race. Although India has made a tremendous drift in different social, economical, and environmental aspects, solid waste management (SWM) area still remains to be explored. It is among the most poorly rendered services, and the systems applied are unscientific, outdated, and inefficient to control the waste load. There is an urgent need to shift from improper disposal of solid waste to effective sustainable management strategy that aims to conquer the problems with holistic approaches. Managing waste in an environmentally sound, socially satisfactory, and techno-economically viable manner is sustainable waste management which can be achieved by strategic planning, institutional capacity building, fiscal incentives, public-private partnerships, and community participation. SWM is an important ecosystem service having direct linkage with environment and public health. It encompasses activities that tend to minimize health, environmental, and aesthetic effect of solid wastes. Generally, one- to two-thirds of the solid waste generated are not collected and are dumped indiscriminately in the streets and drains causing serious implications for public health, environment, and economy, resulting in emergence of different unforeseen adversities like outbreak of diseases, environmental degradation, emission of greenhouse gases, etc. Even the collected waste is often disposed of in uncontrolled dumpsites or burned, collapsing the natural resources. This alarming situation needs immediate action for improvement. Unfortunately, Indian administration has ignored one of the major public service, i.e., waste management, while paying much attention toward other services such as water, electricity, and food for the growing population. The amount of waste generation has increased exponentially with the advancement in human activities, inventions, and discoveries. Decomposing these waste materials through sustainable waste management strategy is a very tough task in India because of its complex composition and varying generation rates. Previously, only engineered and technical aspects of waste management were taken into consideration which at present are incapable to ensure environmentally sound and sustainable ways of dealing with waste generation, collection, transport, treatment, and disposal. A sustainable solid waste management system which is environmentally,
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economically, and socially sustainable is the need of the hour. Waste-to-energy (WtE) generation options seem to be an appealing alternative approach for sustainable management of these waste and will be beneficial in tackling such huge quantity of waste (Gupta et al. 2018). This chapter elaborates on the existing scenario of waste management in India, highlighting the major categories of solid wastes, prime challenges that people encounter, causes of deficient SWM for the handling of solid waste, alternative approaches for treatment and management of waste sustainably, current government’s policies, as well as gaps of existing SWM strategies. Furthermore, it recommends steps for accomplishment of pertinent SWM along with the future alternatives which would help to boost the present management approaches.
Solid Waste Generation Status With increasing population and changes in the living standard of people, the rate of waste generation is estimated to be increased by ~5% on yearly basis. Thus, the waste generation will get increased from 164 million tonnes/year to 735 million tonnes/year within the year 2001–2051 (Planning Commission Report 2014). India is getting buried under mounds of garbage as it has been generating around 1.52 lakh tonnes of solid waste every day. Approximately 98% (1.50 lakh tonnes per day) of this total amount is collected, and the remaining part of garbage is being exposed every day. Of the total collected waste, only 27% (55,000 tonnes per day) is processed, and the remaining 73% (1,08,000 tonnes per day) is dumped in landfill sites (CPCB Report 2018–19). The data issued by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) pertaining to waste generation, collection, and treatment in some selected Indian states is presented in Fig. 1.
Waste generated (T/day)
Waste collected (T/day)
Waste treated (T/day)
Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Uttarakhand Telangana Tamil Nadu Punjab Rajasthan Odisha Maharastra Madhya Pradesh Kerala Karnataka Haryana Delhi Andra Pradesh 0
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Fig. 1 Average waste generation, collection, and treatment (tonnes per day) of some selected Indian states (CPCB 2018–19)
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Categories of Solid Wastes Solid waste can be defined as nonliquid unwanted materials generated from human activities that is devoid of economic value after utilization. They cannot be reused directly for welfare of the society because of their adverse impacts on environment as well as human health. They may be classified into three broad categories based on their (a) origin (domestic, industrial, commercial, or institutional), (b) contents (organic items, glass, metal, plastic, paper, polythene, etc.), and (c) hazard potential (toxic, radioactive, infectious, etc.) In India, solid waste (SW) can be organic, nonorganic, or recyclable in nature. It includes industrial, agricultural, municipal, hospital, radioactive, and electronic solid wastes which affect mankind and environment at different magnitudes. Industrial solid wastes (ISW) mainly comprise of hazardous materials, whereas agricultural solid wastes (ASW) include toxic organic materials and metals which pose indirect effects on groundwater and soil quality. Municipal solid wastes (MSW) contain organic or nonorganic and hazardous or nonhazardous materials which hold the maximum share of total solid wastes. Biomedical solid wastes (BMW) are the most infectious and hazardous type of waste generated which are capable enough to cause various human and animal diseases. Radioactive solid wastes (RSW) are of nuclear origin which have severe detrimental effects on human health. Electronic waste (e-waste) is a type of solid waste generated due to the rapid developments in electronics sector at present. In short, different categories of solid wastes have varied levels of impact on human and environment; thus, improper management and disposal of these solid waste can cause serious threat to present as well as future generations. A proper management strategy is necessary to minimize the adverse effect of growing quantity of solid wastes.
Industrial Wastes Industrial operations lead to generation of considerable amount of hazardous waste, and in a rapidly industrializing country like India, the contribution to hazardous waste from industries is maximum. ISW can be categorized as hazardous and nonhazardous waste depending on the source and composition. The major contributors of hazardous ISW are the thermal power plants, the integrated iron and steel mills, sugar industries, pulp and paper industries, and allied industries. These industries generate major hazardous compounds like cyanides, complex aromatic compounds, heavy metals, pesticides, and high chemical reactivity products. Due to presence of several industrial units in the country, it becomes crucial to handle these wastes to safeguard the natural resources. About 10–15% of waste produced by industries are hazardous, and there is an increase in generation of hazardous wastes at the rate of 10–15% per year. Annually, around 7.46 million MT of hazardous waste is generated from various industries, of which approximately 3.41 million MT (46%) is landfilled, 0.69 million MT (9%) is incinerated, and 3.35 million MT (45%) is recycled (ASSOCHAM 2017). Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh contribute about 91% of the total hazardous waste generated in India
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Fig. 2 Contribution of different states to total hazardous waste generation in India (CPCB 2018–19)
(Fig. 2). Nonhazardous or ordinary ISW (recyclable and nonrecyclable), although generated by industrial or commercial activities, have composition similar to household waste such as fly ash, packaging waste, lime sludge, metal scrap, glass, etc. They are nontoxic in nature requiring no special handling technology.
Agricultural Wastes Waste materials derived from different agricultural operations are defined as agricultural wastes. Expansion of agricultural production has naturally resulted in increased quantities of livestock waste, agricultural crop residues, and agro-industrial by-products. Agricultural waste otherwise called agro-waste includes livestock waste (manure, animal carcasses), food processing waste, crop residues (cornstalks, sugarcane bagasse, drops and culls from fruits and vegetables, pruning), green manures (sun hemp, cowpea, dhaincha, etc.), and hazardous and toxic agricultural waste (pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, herbicides, etc.) (Pal et al. 2014). These wastes are mainly composed of cellulose (35–50%), lignin (25–30%), and hemicellulose (25–30%) (Behera and Ray 2016). Since major portion of the agricultural waste are organic in nature, it is used as fertilizer or for other soil enhancement activities. The residue materials are burned as a source of energy, so a very small portion of this waste is disposed in landfills. However, when excess agro-waste is produced in one place, there may not be enough land available to accept the agricultural waste, thereby causing problems of pollution and groundwater contamination.
Municipal Solid Wastes Rapid industrialization and population explosion in India have led to the migration of people from villages to cities, which generate thousands of tonnes of MSW daily.
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Population boom and ongoing industrialization are driving forces for the large amount of MSW generation in India. Of the total municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in urban areas of India, only 21% was processed in 2017 (MoHUA 2019). With the inadequate processing of waste and presence of a few sanitary landfills, almost 79% of MSW is estimated to be dumped unscientifically in open landfills or burned. According to the estimates, GHG emissions from disposal of MSW amounted for 11.67 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2015 (Kolsepatil et al. 2019). As per the reports released by government of India, it is projected that by the year 2031, the MSW generation shall increase to 165 million tonnes and to 436 million tonnes by 2050 (Planning Commission Report 2014). The major categories of waste generally found in Indian MSW are (Jha et al. 2003; Sharholy et al. 2008): • Biodegradable waste: food and kitchen waste, green waste (vegetables, flowers, leaves, fruits), and paper • Recyclable material: paper, glass, bottles, cans, metals, certain plastics, etc. • Inert waste matter: dirt, debris, etc. • Composite waste: waste clothing, Tetra packs, and waste plastics such as toys • Domestic/household hazardous waste and toxic waste: waste medicine, e-waste, paints and varnishes, chemicals, fluorescent tubes, spray cans, fertilizer and pesticide containers, batteries, shoe polish, etc.
Radioactive Solid Waste Radioactive waste is defined as by-product of different nuclear technology processes. It includes any material that either is intrinsically radioactive or has been contaminated by radioactivity and has no further utility. Industries generating radioactive waste include nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power, nuclear reactors, manufacturing, construction, coal and rare earth mining, and nuclear weapons reprocessing (Giusti 2009). The major contents in radioactive wastes are uranium and plutonium along with other heavy metals like cerium and strontium. These heavy metals emit radiation which has serious effect on human health and environment (Giusti 2009).
Biomedical Waste Biomedical waste is defined as waste that is generated during the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings/animals and research activities pertaining to the testing in health camps and hospitals (Himabindu et al. 2015). About 85% of this waste – called “general waste” – is noninfectious and can be managed, whereas the remaining 15% is infectious and hazardous and hence is required to be treated with considerable precautions. Presently, the total generation of biomedical waste is about 710 tonnes per day (consisting of 609 tonnes/day of regular biomedical waste and 101 tonnes/day of COVID-19-related biomedical waste) (Fig. 3). All COVID waste comes under the
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Odisha Punjab Haryana Karnataka Kerala Andhra Pradesh Rajasthan West Bengal Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Tamil Nadu Delhi Gujarat Maharashtra
COVID-19 BMW (in TPD)
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Fig. 3 Status of biomedical waste (tonnes/day) arising from COVID-19 treatment in some selected Indian states (CPCB status report 2020)
hazardous BMW category. Discarded PPE (personal protective equipment) kits, face mask, and gloves along with the waste that came in contact with blood or body fluids of patients including the persons suffering from COVID-19 are treated as biomedical waste.
E-Waste Electronic waste (e-waste) refers to the electrical and electronic equipment that have exhausted their utility value to the users or no longer satisfy their original purpose through obsolete, discarded, replacement, or breakage (Monika 2010; Bhutta et al. 2011). It broadly covers “white goods” such as refrigerators, washing machines, and microwaves as well as “brown goods” such as televisions, radios, computers, and cell phones. This waste contains elements like cadmium, lead, antimony, nickel, and mercury along with potentially harmful substances such as chlorofluorocarbon and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (CFCs/HCFC) gases which have high ozone depletion potential. The information technology industry in India has witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years, and upgradation of technical innovations in the electronics industry has led to huge increase in the amount of e-waste generated. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and KPMG study (2016) titled “Electronic Waste Management in India” stated that computer equipment accounts for almost 70% of e-wastes, followed by telecommunication equipment phones (12%), electrical equipment (8%), and medical equipment (7%) with remaining from household e-wastes. Dumping these items in open dumpsites gives rise to environmental and health hazards. According to the joint study conducted by ASSOCHAM-NEC in 2018 on “Electricals and Electronics Manufacturing in India,” among the different states, Maharashtra contributes the largest share of 19.8% to total e-waste generation,
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25 20 15 10 5 0 Maharastra Tamil Nadu
Andhra Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
West Bengal
Delhi
Karnataka
Gujarat
Madhya Pradesh
Fig. 4 Percentage share of e-waste generation in some selected Indian states (ASSOCHAM-NEC joint report 2018)
followed by Tamil Nadu (13%), Uttar Pradesh (10.1%), West Bengal (9.8%), Delhi (9.5%), Karnataka (8.9%), Gujarat (8.8%), and Madhya Pradesh (7.6%). Since 2019, India has generated more than three million tonnes of e-waste annually, and it is expected to increase to five million tonnes in 2021 (Fig. 4).
Composition of Solid Waste The waste composition has a significant impact on waste management practices. The SW generated in India possess a mixed composition. Around 40–50% of the SW in India is organic in composition, 30% is inert, and remaining is recyclable waste (Planning Commission Report 2014). The calorific value of Indian SW is low which varies from 1500 to 2200 Kcal/kg, whereas the moisture content is higher than other developing countries. High level of moisture and inerts makes it difficult to derive power from it.
Evolution of Solid Waste Management Policy and Programs Previously, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was in control for the issues related to solid waste management together with Central and State Pollution Control Boards. Various rules were framed under Environment Protection Act of 1986 for improving management of solid waste. Various umbrella rules framed for “environmental conservation” under the Environment Protection Act of 1986 are in Table 1. For adopting effective waste management practices, policies related to the environment, health, and solid waste management are the key elements (Table 2). With the passage of time, waste management practices are shifting from traditional methods to modern ones which are based on relevant technology adoption and
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Table 1 Progress of SWM rules in India Year 1989 1998 2000 2011
Rules Hazardous wastes (management and handling) rules (last amended in April 2016) Biomedical waste (management and handling) rules (last amended in March 2016) Municipal solid wastes (management and handling) rules (last amended in April 2016) Plastic waste (management and handling) rules (last amended in March 2018) E-waste (management and handling) rules (last amended in March 2018)
Table 2 Evolution of programs for promoting SWM in India Year 2012 2014 2015
Programs for promoting SWM Program on energy recovery from solid waste Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Smart Cities Mission Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
waste hierarchy concept. For achieving sustainable waste management, careful investigation of policies acts as a precursor. Existing waste disposal facilities in India are inadequate to deal with the quality and quantity of waste generated. The management of solid waste in India is a complex problem with multiple challenges. According to Article 48-A of the Indian Constitution, the state has the prime responsibility to manage the solid wastes properly to assure public health and natural resources. Presently, waste management falls under the purview of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). Generally, India follows a basic waste management system with collection, storage, transport, and disposal rule, i.e., waste generation, collection, storage, segregation, reuse, and recycling at the household and community level, transport to the waste disposal sites, and its disposal in landfills. Management of solid waste may be defined as the study that deals with the control of generation, processing, and disposal of solid waste in a specified manner which is in line with the principles of public health and environmental conservation. The MoEF&CC and GoI released the solid waste management (SWM) rules, 2016, in supersession of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Rules 2000 to improve the collection, segregation, recycling, treatment, and disposal of solid waste in an eco-friendly approach. The modern rules focus on source segregation of wet, dry, hazardous, plastic, e-waste, and biomedical waste with definite treatment options. These rules reflect modern frameworks, technology advancements, and ideas for integrated solid waste management.
Solid Waste Management It is the process of collecting, treating, and disposing of discarded solid materials that have already served their purpose or are no longer useful.
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Basic Principles of Solid Waste Management (a) 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (a) Reduce: This means to minimize the waste quantity being generated during production, distribution, and utilization by practicing rational consumption and sustainable use of resources. Use of green components as raw materials, diversification of product life cycle, and process designing, minimizing heat and energy losses, and replacing the raw materials by lighter material can help to tackle the amount of waste generation. (b) Reuse: This means enhancing the utility of objects that were previously considered as “garbage” by selecting multipurpose objects or products instead of single-use entities or by using them more than once creatively. It is a step up from recycling. (c) Recycle: Reusing an object means using it without modifying it or favoring multipurpose objects and products over single-use ones, whereas recycling means bringing an object back to a condition from where it can be purposed for other use. (d) Segregation at source: It refers to the waste-sorting concept in which various types of waste are separated with respect to their composition with minimum labor and cost, for example, storing of organic or biodegradable and inorganic or nonbiodegradable solid waste in different collection bins. (e) Distinct treatment approaches for different types of solid wastes: Application of divergent waste treatment technology for wastes with varied composition. The techniques should be suitable, feasible, and cost-effective for the given type of garbage. For example, the technology suitable for general market waste may not be adopted for slaughterhouse waste. (f) Treatment at origin or nearest possible point: The solid waste should be treated in a decentralized manner. The garbage generated should be treated preferably at the origin of generation, i.e., every household. (g) Transfer and transport: The principal element of transfer and transport involves two steps: (i) the transfer of wastes from smaller collecting vehicle to the larger transport system and (ii) the subsequent transfer of wastes, usually over long distances, to a processing or disposal location. (h) Disposal: The final segment in the solid waste management system is disposal. Today, landfilling or uncontrolled dumping are the ultimate fate of all solid wastes, whether they are household wastes collected and transported directly to a landfill site or residual materials and rejects from combustion/composting/other processing facilities. (i) Unfortunately, no city in India can claim 100% segregation of waste at dwelling unit, and an average 95% of waste produced is being collected (Fig. 5), while the remaining is again assorted up and lost to the environment. Out of total waste collected, only about 35% waste is scientifically processed, and rest is disposed in open dumps (CPCB Report 2018). Environment friendliness, budget effectiveness, and social acceptability by the local community are major attributes to achieve efficient solid waste management system.
Waste collection eff iciency (%)
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120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00
Fig. 5 Waste collection efficiency of some selected Indian states (CPCB 2018–19)
Solid waste management practices in India are still at nascent stage due to a lack of technical experience, financial constraints, and regulatory legal framework. In a broader sense, solid waste management is a very complicated task due to minimal social, economic, and cultural cooperation among households, communities, enterprises, and municipal authorities. In addition, lack of awareness on environmental concerns as well as poor resource base has led to heighten the situation. Although India has already developed legislations relating to municipal solid, hazardous, and biomedical waste, the acceptance of rules among citizens is lagging behind. Some of the deficiencies present in the current SWM system in India are: (a) Lack of waste storage at source – There is no facility for storing the waste at source in a scientifically segregated way. People are not enough educated to maintain domestic and institutional bins for waste storage purpose. (b) Lack of primary collection system from the doorstep – There is no public system for primary collection of waste from the source. The waste discharged inadequately is later collected by municipal sanitation workers through street sweeping, drain cleaning, etc. (c) Irregular street sweeping – Street sweeping is not carried out on a daily basis in most cities and towns of India. Generally, commercial roads are given more priority over rest of the streets that are swept occasionally. The tools being employed for street sweeping are inefficient and outdated which poses problem for collection and handling of the wastes. (d) Waste storage depots – As collection of waste is done by traditional and unscientific process, a very small volume of waste is being collected at a time. Provision for temporary bulk storage of waste is facilitated by using round cement concrete bins, masonry bins, or concrete structures, which results in inadequate handling of waste and creates both unsightly and unhygienic conditions. (e) Ineffective transportation of waste – Transportation of waste from the waste storage depots to the disposal site is facilitated through a variety of vehicles such
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as bullock carts, three-wheelers, tractors, and trucks. Most of the transport vehicles are usually open and loaded manually which does not synchronize with the waste collection and storage facilities and results in inefficient waste handling. (f) Partial segregation of recyclable waste – There is no organized and scientifically planned segregation of solid waste. Sorting of waste is mostly carried out under unsafe conditions, and the effectiveness of segregation is reasonably low as unorganized sector segregates only valuable discarded products from waste stream that guarantees them higher economic return in the recycling market. (g) Inadequate processing of waste – Processing of solid waste is at initial phase with limited scale implementation of decentralized or centralized composting in few cities. In some large cities, aerobic or anaerobic composting plants as well as vermicomposting is in function. (h) Inappropriate disposal of waste – Disposal of waste is the most ignored area of SWM services, and the current practices are unscientific in nature. Almost all the solid waste is discharged at dump-yard sites situated within or outside the city haphazardly, and there is no provision to spread and cover the waste with inert materials. These sites release gases with different composition which aggravates the global warming situation.
Integrated Solid Waste Management No single process can handle all of the solid waste; therefore, a number of integrated methods for effective waste management should be taken into consideration. In reality, the current circumstances need sustainable, cost-effective, as well as integrated approaches for better risk management and resource recovery from waste. Therefore, proper integrated solid waste management (ISWM) is essential for ensuring healthy and clean environment rather than conventional SWM which only involves waste collection, treatment, and disposal processes. Unlike SWM, the ISWM approach is economically feasible and environmentally sustainable and involves community participation. ISWM is a complex multidimensional waste prevention, recycling, and disposal strategy which encompasses techniques of how to inhibit, recover, and manage solid wastes that are most effective in combating this ever-growing solid waste problem (Sharma and Chandel 2017). ISWM is driven by transparent objectives where waste minimization is given the highest priority. The hierarchy of waste management continues with 3R, i.e., reduce, reuse, recycle, along with addition of a fourth “R” representing recovery, composting, and waste to energy or recovering energy before disposal. Waste diversion options are then followed by different biological and mechanical processes such as composting, incineration, landfill, or other disposal alternatives, and last on the list is dumping waste into sanitary landfills. Institutional, legal, financial, and public participation are other important elements of the ISWM (Fig. 6).
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Fig. 6 Components of integrated solid waste management (ISWM) includes technical, institutional, legal, social, and financial framework along with inclusion of various advanced waste diversion technologies which ensure environmental protection
Hierarchy of Waste Management Options The methods to deal with waste management is broadly accepted and delineated by a “hierarchy of waste management” (arrangement on the basis of ranking) which presents a priority listing of different waste management options available (Fig. 7). The hierarchy provides general guidelines on the relative desirability and suitability of the different management options (CPHEEO 2016). The hierarchy commonly adopted is (a) waste minimization or reduction at source, (b) recycling, (c) waste processing with recovery of resources (composting, digestion), (d) waste processing without recovery of resources, and (e) controlled dumping/disposal on land (landfilling). • The highest rank of the ISWM hierarchy corresponds to on-site services, i.e., waste minimization or reduction at source, which involves reducing the amount of the wastes produced. It is the most effective and reasonable way to reduce the quantity of waste, the expense associated with its handling, and its environmental consequences. • The second rank in the hierarchy is recycling and recovery, which involve (a) the segregation of waste materials, (b) the arrangement of these materials for reprocessing or reuse purpose, and (c) the reuse and reprocessing of these materials. Recycling is an important element which helps to reduce the burden on existing resources and the amount of waste that require disposal by landfilling.
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Fig. 7 ISWM adopts a hierarchy of waste management options, initiating with waste minimization as the most preferred option of waste management and waste disposal as the least preferred. Recycling and material recovery, waste processing (composting, vermicomposting), and resource recovery options form the intermediate steps of the hierarchy
• The third rank in the ISWM hierarchy is waste processing (composting, vermicomposting) to retrieve useful products (e.g., compost). The processing of waste materials usually results in reduced utility of landfill capacity. • The fourth rank in the ISWM hierarchy is waste processing with recovery of products or energy. This includes different waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies like bio-methanation, incineration, pyrolysis, etc., which involve recovering energy in different forms before final disposal of waste. • The fifth rank in the ISWM hierarchy is waste disposal, i.e., landfilling, which involves the controlled disposal of wastes on or in the earth’s surface. It is the most common method of ultimate disposal for waste residuals because of its economical nature. This technique is used for (a) the solid waste that can neither be recycled nor be used in future, (b) the residual materials remaining after solid wastes have been presorted at materials recovery facility, and (c) the residual matter remaining after the recovery of conversion/transformation products or energy. Landfilling is the lowest rank in the ISWM hierarchy because it represents the least desirable means of dealing with society’s wastes.
Waste Minimization/Reduction at Source The ISWM hierarchy concentrates on waste minimization as it is the most effective way to reduce the waste quantity, the cost associated with its handling,
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and its environmental effects. Waste minimization strategies require policy interventions at the national, state, and local level, depending on the type and scale of the intervention, for example, minimizing the use of packaging material, promoting use of refill containers, repurchase of reusable or recyclable packing material, etc. Some waste minimization initiatives that need be implemented and followed are: (a) Developing and encouraging at-source reduction programs: The promotion of different programs stating the importance and advantages of waste minimization at source in the community. For example, household/backyard composting programs can reduce the volume of food waste, domestic waste, leaves, and garden trimmings entering the city-level collection system. (b) Prohibition of product at community/city level: Replacing the use of a nonrecyclable product with recyclable and reusable material, for example, banning the use of polythene bags. (c) Awareness and education programs: Programs that address the importance of waste management should be implemented to increase public awareness and participation in at-source waste reduction programs. Campaigns relating to promotion of material substitution (e.g., promoting the use of rechargeable batteries instead of single-use batteries, repurchasing of products, etc.) should be organized. (d) Supermarkets and retail stores: These are the most effective partners for a waste minimization program. They provide the basis for consumer knowledge on how to avoid overpackaging and collect recyclable waste. (e) Promoting product exchange and reuse programs: These help in diverting material from the waste stream before going to the landfill. It is the program that link sellers of used products with potential secondhand buyers. (f) “Pay as you throw” principle: This principle can be established at city/town level with the support of urban local bodies (ULBs) and municipalities. ULBs can specify variable charges based on the quantities of waste being disposed per household. Variable tariff rates can be fixed for predefined amount of waste quantities and then progressively increasing with increased waste generation rates. (g) Development of voluntary action: Business groups should be encouraged to reduce volumes of packaging. The business groups can ensure that the packaging of the supplied product is taken back by the supplier and is reused.
Recycling and Recovery It is defined as the reprocessing of waste materials which can gainfully be retrieved for making new useful products. Recycling of SW is considered as the “most environmentally sound” strategy for dealing with the huge density of waste being generated. It should be adopted before planning for any waste processing or treatment facilities.
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In recent years, India’s abrupt economic growth has established a larger consumer base, leading to increased demand for both natural resources and material goods. Consumption need is expected to increase threefold by 2025, and recycling ensures a viable and sustainable option for catering the growing material demand of the country. India has made a huge progress in the recycling market, but it is not utilized as per the prescribed marks (Bhattacharya et al. 2018). Waste from industrial, municipal, agricultural, biomedical, and other sectors normally contain materials like ferrous metal, nonferrous metals, plastics, and glass. In India, recycling rates are very low, for example, for packaging paper (27%), plastics (60%), and metals (20–25%) which need significant attention (Samaddar and Bandyopadhyay 2018). But the system is practically incapable to manage such wastes due to various organizational, infrastructural, financial, and legislative constraints. Indian recycling rates are low for a variety of reasons: (a) Lack of social awareness and political will to promote recycling (b) Unorganized waste collection and segregation mechanism leading to environmental resource contamination (c) Outdated infrastructure facilities and inadequate collection and transportation processes (d) Inappropriate technologies to maximize recovery from recycling Community-based approaches, social awareness, and adoption of 4R policy for SWM can promote more sustainable development. Materials recovery facility (MRF) refers to a facility where non-compostable solid waste is stored temporarily to facilitate segregation, screening, sorting, and recovery of recyclables from mixed waste (MRFT Review 2009). This is done before the waste processing or disposal stage. Material recovery starts at the primary level by households that segregate recyclables like newspapers, cardboard, plastics, bottles, etc. from discarded waste and sell such material to local recyclers. The item that cannot be sold to them is discarded and becomes part of the MSW. Well-segregated recyclables can directly be transported to processing site or to the recyclable market.
Waste Processing with Recovery of Useful Products and Energy Due to rapid development in infrastructural facilities, the land availability is diminishing progressively. On the contrary, due to proliferation in waste generation rates, the land requirement needs to get increased in coming years in urban areas. Therefore, before undergoing ultimate disposal of waste through landfilling, volume and toxicity of solid waste must be reduced by different treatment alternatives (Mor et al. 2006). SWM through suitable waste management technologies greatly depends upon the composition of the solid wastes. A sustainable waste management scenario is difficult to be accomplished in India because of the varying waste composition as well as their generation rates. Indian solid waste mostly comprises of large proportions of organic
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matter (~50%) as well as inert materials. The energy stored in this organic fraction can be gainfully recovered through the adoption of suitable waste processing and treatment technologies. The technology followed for recovery of energy from solid waste in the form of heat, power, or fuel is called waste-to-energy (WtE) technology. There are different WtE technologies available depending on the basis of type, quantity, and characteristics of raw material, required method of the energy, economic conditions, environmental standards, and specific factors (Kalyani and Pandey 2014). It includes mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) methods like composting, vermicomposting, bio-methanation, and thermal treatment (TT) methods like incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, and production of refuse-derived fuel (Gupta et al. 2018). In India, different treatment methods are practiced depending on the type of waste, amount of residues generated, cost, and other environmental aspects.
Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) It involves technology which combines biological treatment with mechanical treatment (sorting). Organic solid waste materials such as plant material, food scraps, and paper products can be recycled using biological composting and digestion processes to decompose the organic matter present in them. The resulting organic material is then recycled as mulch/compost for agricultural or landscaping purposes. Furthermore, waste gas liberated from the process (such as methane gas) can be captured and used for generating electricity. The objective of MBT is to regulate and facilitate the natural process of organic matter decomposition. Composting and bio-methanation methods are generally adopted in India (Chinwan and Pant 2014). (i) Composting – Composting is defined as the biological process of degradation and stabilization of organic contents present in the solid waste by microbes under carefully controlled conditions. Microbes metabolize the organic waste materials and reduce its volume. The stabilized end product is called compost or humus which has high nutrient value (Banwari et al. 2011). It can be either labor-intensive (generally carried out in smaller towns and villages) or mechanical/power driven (in metropolitan cities). There are many composting plants operating in India (Table 3). Advantages • It supplements for micronutrient deficiencies and improves soil texture. • It maintains the soil health by increasing moisture-holding capacity and recycling nutrients into soil. Table 3 Number of composting plants in some selected states of India State Andhra Pradesh Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Source: CPCB (2018–19)
Number of plants 23 11 489 9 39
State Haryana Karnataka Maharashtra Telangana Uttar Pradesh
Number of plants 14 143 302 63 12
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• It is a simple as well as cost-effective technology. • It reduces the dependency on expensive chemical fertilizer in agriculture. Limitations • It is not applicable for all types of waste. • It requires huge, open land. • It emits methane gas and bad odor and harbors flies. • It can contaminate soil by release of toxic materials. • Lack of awareness and proper marketing of compost material (ii) Vermicomposting – Vermicomposting is a safe and cost-effective technique carried out by using earthworms to feed on organic contents of solid waste and convert them into cast, rich in plant nutrients (Manyuchi and Phiri 2013). Some widely used earthworm species for vermicomposting are Pheretima sp., Eisenia sp., Perionyx excavatus sp. In small towns, vermicomposting is more preferred to composting as it requires less mechanization and is easy to operate. India’s largest vermin-composting plant with a capacity of 100 million tonnes/day is located in Bengaluru (Asnani 2006), while there are small-scale plants in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Faridabad (Table 4). Advantages • It provides essential nutrients for plant growth and improves soil properties. Limitations • It requires large area for operation. • Introduction of toxic materials in waste can kill the earthworms. (iii) Bio-methanation – It is the process of transformation of organic waste matter into stable residue by microbes in an oxygen-free environment. The waste mass undergoes decomposition due to microbial activity, thereby generating biogas comprising mainly of 50–60% methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and also digested sludge, which is almost stabilized but may contain some pathogen. Due to the anaerobic environment, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is generated with varying percentage depending on the sulfur content in the system (in the form of protein, sulfate, etc.). The methane-rich biogas can be used for heat and energy generation as well as cooking purpose, and the inert residues rich in nutrients can be used as manure (Joshi and Ahmed 2016; Kalyani and Pandey 2014). Bio-methanation plant requires a consistent source of degradable organic matter free from inert material as well as a sustainable demand for the generated biogas at appropriate economic conditions. The overall performance of it is greatly influenced by the input feed specification, and the plant requires segregated Table 4 Number of vermicomposting plants in some selected states of India State Andhra Pradesh Bihar Delhi Gujarat Haryana Source: CPCB (2018–19)
Number of plants 29 1 3 48 10
State Karnataka Kerala Maharashtra Tamil Nadu Telangana
Number of plants 38 16 75 261 31
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Table 5 Number of energy recovery plants (RDF and BG) in some Indian states State/UT Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Chandigarh Delhi Gujarat Haryana
No. of RDF plants/biogas (BG) 7 BG 1 BG, 1 RDF 2 BG, 1 RDF 1 BG, 3 RDF 6 BG, 5 RDF 3 RDF
State/UT Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Puducherry Punjab Tamil Nadu
No. of RDF plants/biogas (BG) 5 BG, 2 RDF 1 BG, 1 RDF 52 BG, 13 RDF 2 BG 2 RDF 104 BG, 6 RDF
Source: CPCB (2018–19)
biodegradable MSW for optimal performance. Government of India imparts more focus on bio-methanation technology for optimal utilization of industrial, agricultural, and municipal wastes (Table 5). In India, several cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Nagpur, Pune, Lucknow, and Indore have adopted this technology for harnessing methane (renewable energy) from MSW (Swachh Survekshan 2019). Advantages • Efficiency and energy recovery of bio-methanation are better than composting. • The plant requires need less land area. • As the process occurs in a closed system, it is free from bad odor, rodent menace, and visible pollution. Limitations • It is suitable only for biodegradable organic waste. • It is more capital intensive than aerobic composting. • Biogas leakage can cause fire hazard.
Thermal Treatment (TT) The main objective of this treatment is to reduce the waste toxicity and treat residual part for different energy generation and resource recovery techniques (Gupta et al. 2017). It can be accomplished by incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification. (i) Incineration – Incineration is a process of combustion of waste in presence of excess oxygen, at higher temperature ranging from 980 C to 2000 C (Sharholy et al. 2007), liberating heat energy, CO2, and H2O in vapor form and ash (Zaman 2010). It can reduce the mass and volume of the waste by up to 70% and 90%, respectively, and can recover energy from waste for electricity generation (Tan et al. 2015). It is suitable for waste having high calorific value like paper, plastic, packaging material, pathological wastes, etc. Delhi was the first city to install a large-scale MSW incineration plant in 1987 at Timarpur, bearing a capacity of 300 t/day by Miljotecknik volunteer, Denmark. But due to its poor performance, the plant was shut down after 6 months of operation (Sharholy et al. 2007). Advantages • It reduces waste volume by over 90% and converts them to energy. • It is a hygienic, noiseless, and odorless technology. • The plant requires less land.
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Limitations • It liberates potential pollutant like dioxins, furans, and PAHs. • It requires high-operation and high-maintenance cost requiring skilled personnel. (ii) Pyrolysis – Pyrolysis is a thermal degradation process in which destructive distillation of the solid waste is done to recover its constituents and energy. It is a form of incineration that chemically decomposes organic materials at high temperature (600–1000 C) in the absence of oxygen to yield three products (Rajput et al. 2009): (i) A gas phase (H2, CH4, CO, CO2, etc.) (ii) A liquid/oil phase (methanol, acetone, acetic acid, etc.) (iii) A solid residue (carbon char and inert materials) It is mainly performed for wastes having less moisture content such as paper, cloth, plastic, yard wastes, etc. It yields different products depending on the final temperature. It produces solid residues at low temperatures (less than 450 C) when the rate of heating is slow and yields gases at high temperatures (greater than 800 C) with rapid heating rates. At an intermediate temperature with high heating rates, the main product obtained is a liquid fuel known as bio-oil. Pyrolysis of wastes begins with mechanical separation of glass, metals, and inert materials prior to processing the remaining waste in a pyrolysis reactor. The process requires an external heat source to maintain the required high temperature. Advantages • Reduction in volume of the waste • Production of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels from waste • Transportable fuel or chemical feedstock is obtained. • Least environmental problem • Capital cost is comparatively less than incineration process. Limitations • Product stream is complex compared to other alternatives. • Product gas produced contains significant amount of carbon monoxide. (iii) Gasification – It refers to partial combustion of organic- or fossil-based carbonaceous material, plastics, etc. into carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. This is achieved at high temperature (650 C and above) with a controlled amount of air, oxygen, or steam. The process is largely exothermic, but some heat may be required to initialize and sustain the gasification process. The main product is syngas, which contains carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane. The other main product produced by gasification is a solid residue of noncombustible material (ash), which contains a relatively low level of carbon. After gasification, the solid noncombustible residual part needs proper handling and disposal. In India, few gasifiers were installed which was mostly used to burn agrobiomass. Two different designs of gasifiers are present in India. The first one (NERIFIER gasification unit) has been installed at Nohar, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan by Navreet Energy Research and Information (NERI) for burning
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of agro-wastes, sawmill dust, and forest wastes. It operates with an efficiency of about 70–80%, and the waste treatment rate is nearly 50–150 kg per hour. The other one is the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) gasifier installed at Gaul Pahari campus, New Delhi (Sharholy 2007). Advantages • By-products of the process are nonhazardous and marketable and can be used for production of methanol and chemicals like ammonia and urea, which form the prerequisite for many fertilizers. • Operating cost is lower than conventional coal-fired plants and requires less pollution control equipment. • It can potentially process both mixed waste and plastic-only fraction of waste. • The total process uses a smaller amount of air, resulting in higher energy recovery efficiency and limited formation of pollutants like nitrogen oxides. Limitations • The process needs high amount of financial support and power source. • Production of high viscosity product may cause transportation problem. (iv) Refuse-Derived Fuel – Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is defined as the fuel derived from combustible waste fraction of solid waste like plastic, wood, pulp, or organic waste, other than chlorinated materials, in the form of pellets produced by drying, shredding, dehydrating, and compacting of solid waste. It is an upcoming alternative technology, which can be effectively used to produce thermal energy from solid wastes (especially MSW), thereby minimizing the load on landfilling. RDF plants are in emerging stage in India. It is basically a processing method for mixed MSW (nonrecyclable and nonhazardous possessing high calorific value), which can be very effective in preparation of enriched fuel feed for thermal processes like incineration or industrial furnaces. Although it is an expensive technology which requires well-trained expertise for maintenance and operation, its efficiency in energy recovery process has paved its way to many developing countries in large number (Jha et al. 2003; Asnani 2006). The government of India has made a rule for industries to utilize at least 5–15% replacement fuel from the RDF. In India, few operational RDF plants are present and many are under planning process (Table 5). Advantages • It is capable of reducing pollution and recovering more energy by producing power. • It acts as prominent fuel when mixed with coal or other conventional fuel. Limitations • It is an energy-intensive process and is not desirable for processing of wet MSW during rainy season. • If RDF pellets are contaminated by toxic/hazardous materials, the pellets are not suitable for burning in the open environment or for domestic purposes. • It is an expensive technology requiring well-trained expertise for maintenance and operation.
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Waste Disposal Globally, landfilling forms an integral part of waste disposal process in a planned SWM system. It is economical and does not require any skilled workers. But unsanitary landfilling poses immense risk to public health and environment by emitting carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas which accounts for 14% of the global GHG emissions and is 21 times more powerful than CO2 in causing global warming. Hence, it is necessary to execute more eco-friendly SWM techniques to attenuate the hindrances caused by mere landfilling. The sizes of landfills in India is constantly increasing which is a major concern. Landfilling usually advances from open dumping, controlled dumping, controlled landfilling to sanitary landfilling. In India, waste is disposed in an open area without any precautions. More than 90% of MSW in cities and towns are directly disposed of in the outskirts of the city area without any prior treatment in an unsatisfactory manner which leads to environmental degradation. Open dumping of solid waste leads to percolation of leachate to underground water resulting into excessive water pollution. These waste disposal sites rarely follow compaction, levelling of waste, and covering by soil or other earth materials (Talyan et al. 2008; Mor et al. 2006; Tan et al. 2015). In addition, they are devoid of leachate collection system or landfill gas monitoring and collection equipment, which multiplies the problem being faced. Thus, secure and sanitary landfills must be included as a necessary component of the ISWM to overcome this barrier. Sanitary landfilling is an acceptable and recommended technique for final disposal of SW. “Secure landfill” refers to the specific sites allocated for management of hazardous wastes, whereas “sanitary landfill” refers to the sites allocated for management of municipal solid wastes (Masters and Ela 2008). According to SWM rules 2016, sanitary landfilling is defined as “the safe disposal of residual solid and inert waste on land designed with protective measures against water pollution, air dust, windblown litter, bad odor, fire hazard, animal and bird threat, pests/rodents, greenhouse gas emissions, persistent organic pollutants slope instability, and erosion.” There are many landfill sites operating in India (Table 6), but their efficiency toward pollution mitigation is still unknown. To achieve favorable waste disposal system, landfills should be provided with composite liners for restricting leachate percolation to underground water. It must be well equipped with proper collection and ventilation system to recover the gas produced. Under the MSW rules, government of India has made it mandatory to install landfill gas (LFG) control system, which can be used for either energy generation or direct recovery of heat to avoid air quality degradation (Talyan et al. 2008). Due to certain improvements that have been made to ensure proper sanitary landfilling, it appears that landfilling would continue to be the most widely adopted practice in India in the coming few years (Dayal 1994).
214 Table 6 Number of operating and capped landfill plants in some selected states of India
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State/UTs Chhattisgarh Chandigarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Puducherry Tamil Nadu Telangana West Bengal
Landfill in operation 1 1 1 4 3 91 4 18 3 3 1 2
Landfill capped 0 1 0 – 1 2 0 1 – 1 1 0
Source: CPCB (2018–19)
Advantages • No requirement of highly skilled personnel • It is an economical waste disposal system • It holds the potential to recover landfill gas, which can be uses as alternative source of energy. Limitations • Huge transportation cost to dumping land sites • Chokes the drainage system and can contaminate both surface and groundwater • Major source of greenhouse gases • Need a large area of land for dumping • Source for insect and origin of various diseases
Factors Governing Choice of Technology The selection for implementation of any particular technology for solid waste treatment needs to be based on its economic viability, sustainability, and technological and environmental implications, keeping in view the local conditions and the available physical as well as financial resources (Asnani 2006). The key factors include: • • • • • • •
The genesis and composition of the waste Presence of hazardous or toxic constituents in the waste Availability of infrastructural outlets for the energy produced Marketing facility and utility of the compost produced Cost of substitute technologies Land, labor, and capital expenses Capabilities and experience of the technology-handling personnel
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It needs to be ensured that the proposed facility fully complies with the environmental regulations as laid down in the SWMR 2016 issued by the MoEF&CC.
Green Technology In the past, traditional waste management strategies were focused only on the disposal of toxic by-products, whereas at present, efforts have been shifted to eliminate waste from the source itself. It is an environment-friendly innovative technology developed to protect and conserve the natural resources by reversing the negative impacts of human activity on environment. It utilizes renewable natural resources in addition to new and innovative energy generation techniques (Anastas et al. 2000). Green technology covers the broad aspect of production and consumption technologies. Its adoption includes application of technologies for environmental monitoring and assessment, pollution control, prevention, remediation, and restoration. Monitoring and assessment technologies are used to monitor the condition of the environment, including the release of any harmful natural/anthropogenic materials. Prevention technologies avoid the production of environmentally hazardous substances as well as alter the human activities that cause damage to the environment. Green technology can effectively change waste generation pattern in a way that does not harm the environment. Among the broad areas which contribute to safe disposal of waste are green energy, organic agriculture, green building constructions, eco-friendly textiles, and manufacturing of related products. Green nanotechnology that uses green engineering and chemistry is one among the newest in green technologies. Green chemistry, also termed as sustainable chemistry, focuses on the reduction, recycling, and/or elimination of the use of toxic and hazardous chemicals in production processes by searching innovative, alternative routes for preparing the desired products that curtail the impact on the environment by minimizing the generation of hazardous pollutants. Thus, it can be described as a combination of important elements, i.e., environmental enhancement, economic performance, and social responsibility to address environmental problems.
Need of Green Technology The world has a definite amount of natural resources, with certain amount of it being already depleted. For example, industrial waste dominantly contains dangerous chemicals that pollute the groundwater after disposal, contaminating the soil and water with chemicals. Additionally, the crops grown on such contaminated sites pose serious risks to human health, thereby causing severe hindrance to biodiversity and ecosystems. Green technology refers to the system which reduces environmental degradation, minimizes greenhouse gas emission, conserves energy and natural resources, and produces alternative fuels, thereby reducing dependency on the conventional fossil fuels.
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Goals of Green Technology The important goals involve (Banerjee and Akuli 2014): • Conservative use of renewable and natural resources • Development of reusable or recyclable product • Reducing environmental waste and pollution by modifying the production patterns • Adopting alternative practices which minimize risk for environment and human
Categories of Green Technology Green technologies have two main categories as follows: (a) The technology which is intended to monitor global warming either by reducing greenhouse gas emissions or by utilizing alternative techniques to lessen its potential harmful effects on ecosystem (b) The technology which is associated with establishment of an “economic sustainable growth” system which includes recycling and resource reduction.
Applications of Green Technology in SWM (a) Environment-friendly process: Government research and innovations search for products whose contents and methods of productions have the slightest possible impact on the environment and public health. (b) Green chemistry: It includes the invention, design, and application of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous waste and substances. (c) Green nanotechnology: It is the study of the system in which nanotechnology can benefit the environment by its ability to recycle waste products after use. It aids to provide proper waste management and environmental remediation technology, etc.
Future of Green Technology In the coming years, the use of green technology will extend into vast areas of waste management. The future economic activities will focus on developing new recycled products from the waste that are safer and beneficial to the environment. The governments of various countries have recognized the need of using green technology and thus are promoting use and purchase of items produced by using it. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2011 declared India has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world by making a huge progress toward
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greener economy. With such development in this field, there will be creation of awareness among people about the use of green energy and environment-friendly products that will improve the scope of this technology further. From producing “green energy” to enhancing “recycle and recover” technology, it has a great potential to help our communities become environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. The greener practices not only fulfill the demands of the society but also preserve the resources for future use. So green technology focuses on environmental sustainability on one hand allowing the fulfillment of current necessities on the other.
Waste Valorization Waste valorization is a new technique which has received significant recognition for managing waste in the most sustainable way. This concept had already been prevailed for a long time in relation to waste management. But recently, it has been reintroduced into the society to alleviate the pressure caused due to rapid depletion of natural and primary resources, increased waste generation rates, and large-scale landfilling practice. Valorization is the solution for sustainable and cost-efficient waste management protocols. Although it is an attractive approach for long-term sustainability, the purification, processing, and degradation of stable natural waste material polymers into simple usable chemicals still remains a significant challenge. The waste-towealth concept targets to promote a sustainable lifestyle in a long run where waste valorization is not only used for its integral benefits to the environment but also to develop further new technologies, livelihoods, and employment opportunities. The concept of waste valorization and recycling or reuse technologies go hand in hand. Defining the term, valorization is a process of modifying waste materials/ residues into products that have greater significance. The products include quality chemicals, materials, fuels, and energy along with many other intermediate products beneficial for local economy and industrial demands (Abdel-Shafy 1999). The basic valorization strategies include composting, recycling, and burning (for energy recovery) which are well known and largely accepted worldwide; however, they are not satisfactory for treatment of organic waste as they are capable of recovering/ converting only 50 wt.% or less of the waste into valuable products (Lin et al. 2013; Arancon et al. 2013). The disadvantages include high energy consumption, liberation of toxic methane gas, and bad odor, as well as slow reaction kinetics. Researchers are making efforts to initiate a novel technology for standardized decomposition of organic waste. Till now, no such technology has been recognized that will yield valuable product from such decomposition process. Thus, the recent research has laid focus for production of energy from the solid organic waste instead of disposal and decomposition techniques (e.g., bioethanol and biodiesel production). Advanced valorization strategies based on green chemical technologies are more desirable from practical, economic, and sustainability perspective as they can
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Fig. 8 The process of waste valorization involves different processing technologies such as pyrolysis, solid-state fermentation, incineration, etc. for recycling and reusing of waste materials and converting them to high-value chemicals (bioplastics, organic acids, etc.) and fuels (bio-alcohols, biogas, biofuel, etc.) that ensures environmental sustainability in a long run
generate multiple products from a single feedstock combining bio-/chemo-technological protocols. These include microwave-assisted extraction of useful components, biological (e.g., fermentation) and combined chemo-enzymatic approaches for the production of useful bio-derived products and flow technologies that are able to separate/isolate valuable chemicals, etc. (Fig. 8). However, they are yet to be employed and explored to maximum capacity in India. Beneficial organic chemicals/products can be created from organic waste via biorefinery or white biotechnology (e.g., bioplastics) as well as by developing sustainable green production strategies (Arancon et al. 2013). Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) is an effective alternative technique that helps in recovering bioactive compounds from agro-industrial wastes. It has an advantage of shorter extraction time, higher extraction rate, less requirement of solvent, and lower cost over traditional method of extraction of compounds (Delazar et al. 2012). Another promising waste valorization strategy is to include flow chemical technology for processing waste into valuable products. Further, valorization also employs pyrolysis process for the synthesis of energy or fuels. Although pyrolysis of solid waste is a traditional process for char generation, it is recently involved to produce useful smaller molecules from larger stable biopolymers. This process has been used
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extensively for the production of bio-oil, which is a complex mixture of short-chain ketones, aldehydes, and carboxylic acids. Organic solid-state fermentation (SSF) is indicated as a promising technology for organic waste. The utilization of household organic wastes to produce high yield of ethanol by SSF valorization is achieved via bioconversion. Microorganisms play an important role in degrading the organic wastes into their respective constituents and convert them into high value-added products (Holker and Lenz 2005). Valorization of organic constituents of solid waste can also be achieved from composting and anaerobic digestion. Despite these early promising techniques, much work needs to be done for establishing a combined effort from different partners of legislative and other government agencies. Particular emphasis should be provided for promoting social awareness campaigns to challenge the traditional understanding of waste as something that needs to be disposed of without any value. In India, the industrial waste being discarded is enormous which creates serious waste disposal problem. Organic wastes generated from industries are hazardous to the environment and can be used as a potential bioresource for extraction of different bioactive components.
Impacts of Improper Solid Waste Management Negative effects of improper waste management affect the overall growth and economy of a country. In India, inadequate treatment of waste is a serious issue due to the limited financial resources. The adverse consequences of improper SWM are significant. Unfortunately, there is no clear linkage between a cause (improper SWM) and an effect (problems faced due to improper SWM). In addition, people don’t have a clear understanding of the risks associated with random dumping or burning of SW. The creation of public awareness and development of suitable linkage between current SWM and undesirable health problems are necessary for implementation of an effective SWM program. Health risks from mismanagement of solid waste are caused due to: (a) The nature and composition of solid waste material, which may contain different toxic and infectious substances (b) The nature of waste during and after decomposition (such as the generation of gas and leachate at disposal sites) and the change in its ability to cause negative health effects in receptors (c) The nature of handling of waste (such as the danger faced by solid waste workers and waste pickers due to exposure and improper handling of solid waste materials) (d) The nature of waste disposal process (which can cause odor, noise, instability of waste piles, air and water emissions, groundwater and surface water contamination, fires, etc.) Dumping on open land and direct exposure to hazardous waste cause all types of environmental pollution as well as affect human health (Rathi 2006; Sharholy et al.
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2005). Waste from agricultural and industrial sectors can also cause serious health risks. Co-disposal of industrial hazardous waste with municipal waste can manifest chemical and radioactive hazards. Disposal of hospital and other biomedical waste requires special attention since this can cause severe health hazards. The infectious waste generated from hospitals, health-care units, and medical laboratories such as discarded syringe needles, bandages, swabs, plasters are often disposed with the regular noninfectious waste which multiplies the contamination scenario. Uncollected SW can interrupt water runoff, resulting in the formation of stagnant water bodies that serve as the breeding ground of pests/insects. Waste dumped near water sources also cause contamination of the groundwater resources. Direct dumping of untreated waste into rivers, seas, and lakes results in the accumulation of toxic substances in the food chain which poses risk to plants and animals that feed on it. Improperly constructed and operated incineration plants cause air pollution, and improperly designed landfills attract all types of insects and rodents. Ideally, these sites should be planned and constructed at a safe distance from all human settlements. Landfill sites should be well lined and covered to ensure that there is no leakage into the nearby groundwater sources. Recycling too, if not properly undertaken, can carry severe health risks. Workers dealing with waste containing chemicals and metals may experience toxic exposure (Arafat et al. 2013; Fan et al. 2018). Certain chemicals if released untreated, for example, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, cyanides, mercury, arsenic, and polychlorinated biphenyls, are highly toxic, and exposure to it can lead to serious health implications or death (Ahamed et al. 2020). Open burning of organic fraction of MSW leads to biogas emissions and cause atmospheric pollution by contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming (Sridevi et al. 2012). Greenhouse gases are emitted not only while the waste is managed (as during transportation) but also when it is left to decay in dumpsites (Bogner et al. 2017). Methane and hydrogen emitted during anaerobic digestion are highly flammable and, if not collected and valorized to a renewable energy form, will led to a potential risk of fire or explosion (Slagstad and Bratteb 2013).
Gaps for Sustainable Solid Waste Management (a) Awareness to improve segregation: In India, composition of solid waste is largely dominated by organic waste fraction (45–50%) which creates a barrier for technology adoption. There is no separate collection and segregation system for different categories of SW, and this results to the development of huge amount of garbage in the states. Such a scenario indicates huge gaps in planning and policies programs. Segregation of waste into organic and nonorganic components helps in easy processing and operation, as well as it creates employment opportunity for the urban poor. Moreover, segregation helps in yielding good quality standard compost. Community awareness and citizen participation to segregate waste at source, door-to-door collection, and disposal in appropriate
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collecting bin play a crucial role in SWM and thus intensify its efficiency. It is the most critical phase in the whole process of SWM. Therefore, segregation of SW should be a compulsory step to be undertaken at every level of waste collection (comprising both organic and nonorganic waste) for further treatment and processing technology. (b) Unsystematic and erroneous data collection: The data on generation, processing, and disposal of solid waste produced by different agencies are inconsistent. The absence of systematic and periodic data collection regarding quantity and composition of waste leads to an ineffective waste management system. These data are useful in development of infrastructure investment and help in making effective planning by each municipality. Therefore, reliable and accurate data relating to waste generation is important to properly plan the facilities to be undertaken. (c) Urbanization and insufficient funding: With the population explosion, challenge to provide adequate infrastructural facilities in urban areas and selecting new landfill site is important. Presently, most of the landfills are running above their desirable capacity in metropolitan cities. Inadequate financial support to cater to waste management problem further aggravates it. Due to financial crunch, adequate infrastructure facilities are not available to provide suitable solutions. (d) Implementation of rules at grassroot level: Inability of the ULBs to furnish appropriate government reports (as per MSWR) makes it difficult to manage the SW properly. There is a need to form a specialized group of officers and skilled staffs for ULBs. Adequate training sessions would enable them to identify bottlenecks at implementation level and take suitable action (Gupta et al. 2015). (e) Lack of coordination among center and state: There is communication gap between the central and state government. Delay in submission of reports from state to center delays the appropriate level of implementation at ground level. Poor performance at implementation level by ULBs is the main obstacle. (f) Appropriate technological solution and public private partnership (PPP): Eco-friendly practices are the need of the hour to cope with the exponential growth of SW. Appropriate technological solutions through PPP are required to handle it. Capacity building, availability of skilled labor, familiarity with new and best practices available for SWM, financial incentives for identifying new techno-feasible solutions, and appropriate and quick decision at local level for smooth implementation of SWM are real challenges. (g) Failure of waste-to-energy projects: India is still striving to make waste-toenergy project a success story because of the improper handling of waste (Kumar et al. 2017). There is a need to import economically feasible and proven technical know-how. Apart from this, appropriately characterized and segregated waste needs to be supplied to waste-to-energy plants as per its requirement. (h) Involvement of organized sector: Organized sectors should be engaged for improving SW collection efficiency and source segregation. However, due to absence of recycling industries, this vast potential has been neglected.
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Some recommendations that should be implemented for improving SWM status in India are: (a) SW should be segregated at the source to reduce the waste quantity for disposal and to increase the recycling rate. Waste possessing high calorific value needs to be dissociated from organic waste having high moisture content. (b) Recycling and recovering of waste for making useful products through suitable treatment options will provide new employment opportunities. (c) Recycling industries in India should be upgraded. Color-coded containers provided with named waste varieties should be publicized to encourage segregation and recycling behaviors of the citizens. (d) At present, there is no restriction on the quantity of SW generation, and the waste disposal techniques are responsible for the production of more waste. Increasing waste collection and disposal charges can recover the costs and raise capital for investment into new facilities. (e) The present SWM crisis in India needs to be addressed with PPP as a whole by preparing long-term solutions and focusing on rectifying the existing problems in it. (f) The community should increase their knowledge about the impacts of SW on human health and environment and thereby raise awareness about it by practicing community participation. (g) The branch of waste valorization and green technology should be properly explored and executed to obtain better management options.
Conclusion Management of solid waste is one of the important challenges to the environment. Population increase, rapid urbanization, booming economy, and the rise in the living standard have greatly accelerated the quantity and quality of the solid waste generation. The inadequate waste management causes alteration of the ecosystem including air, water, and soil pollution; thus, it renders a real threat to human health. SW generated in India are highly heterogeneous in composition. The improper bin collection practices, segregation, transfer, and disposal systems greatly affect characteristics of the solid wastes and indirectly have severe environmental and public implications. The elevating generation of solid waste poses huge burden on the costs of government budget. Policies regarding solid waste management is already present in India but has still not achieved any great success. They have remained dormant because of poor implementation of social, technical, institutional, and financial factors. But with the recent amendment in SWMR (2016) and its integration with Swachh Bharat Mission, the government has seriously considered the policies to overcome this challenge. Therefore, appropriate planning and implementation of SWMR are crucial for achieving and maintaining sustainable development. India needs to innovate and evolve an efficient management system with enough incentives and provisions for which would be viable as well as socially acceptable. Since
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the main concern is heterogeneity of mixed solid waste, effective separate collection should be seen as an alternative route in India. It helps in improving the recycling rate and can be seen as a resource for economic, social, and environmental benefit. Awareness, political will, and public participation are prerequisites for successful implementation of policies/rules, by which a balanced sustainable solid waste management can be achieved. There is a need of a paradigm shift from the depletive “produce-consume-dispose”-based economy to a “reduce-recover-reuse-recycle-redesign-remanufacture”-led circular economy which is more regenerative and restorative in nature. Waste-to-energy concept along with waste valorization has gained popularity with different mechanical, biological, and thermal technologies like composting, bio-methanation, incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, and production of refuse-derived fuel which aids to recover energy from waste materials. Green technology, an environment-friendly innovative technology which focuses to eliminate waste from the source, is an attractive alternative option which ensures sustainability of the environment by reducing pollution. These technologies are still in initial stage of implementation because of lack of financial and economic stability. To achieve financial security, socioeconomic feasibility, and environmental sustainability goals, there is a need to systematically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the community as well as the municipal corporations along with participation of various stakeholders. The public interest can be altered by building awareness campaigns and educational measures. Lastly, involvement of private and government agencies is important to tackle the waste management challenges and convert them to potential opportunities in India.
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Assessment of Quality of Compost Derived from Municipal Solid Waste M. Chandra Sekhar and G. Venkatesam
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Materials for Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Microbiology of Composting Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Variables Controlling Compost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Types of Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quality of Compost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Compost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
In general, MSW in Indian cities contains about 40–50% biodegradable matter permitting gainful composting after segregation. However, the end product of compost needs to be put to use in horticulture or arboriculture to make the MSW cycle meaningful. This requires due process of certification of the compost before releasing into the consumer market. In this respect, the available test protocols rely on parameters such as C/N ration, clean index (CI), and fertility index (FI). Assessment of these parameters requires an elaborate testing procedure with highend instruments like flame photometer, CHNS, ICP MS, and equipment like digester fume cupboards, etc. which are just not popularly available at all municipalities. This chapter attempts to provide an alternative to arrive at the quality of the compost for use as soil conditioner or otherwise. The commonly followed methods of windrow/aerobic composting, vermicomposting, and M. Chandra Sekhar (*) Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India G. Venkatesam Municipal Administration, Hyderabad, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_13
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inoculated microbial composting were used to compost the MSW from GMR Township, Shamshabad. The quality of compost was calculated using quality control indices such as FI and CI. The probability percentage of getting best quality and very good quality compost through windrow/aerobic composting method in the small-scale setup is 66.6%. The probability percentage of getting best quality and very good quality compost through vermicomposting method in small-scale setup is 100%. The probability percentage of getting best quality and very good quality compost through inoculated microbial composting method in the small-scale setup is zero percentage. Assessment of quality of compost is of great importance especially in planning composting facilities as part of municipal solid waste management in urban areas. In addition, monitoring quality of compost is of great significance in deciding the use of compost and its marketing especially while large-scale composting with MSW. Keywords
Compost · Municipal solid waste · Fertility index · Clean index · Soil nutrients
Introduction Solid waste, in general, refers to nonliquid wastes that arise from a community. Excreta is not a component of solid wastes. In terms of layman’s words, solid wastes are those used/unused materials that are discarded into the dustbin. The amount of solid wastes generated in urban areas are dependent on living standards, habits, and public awareness. Municipal solid wastes generation rates vary from 0.2 kg/c/day to about 4.5 kg/c/day, and the indications are that the rates of generation are increasing over the years. High-income countries generate higher quantities of wastes while the average waste generated is 0.74 kg/c/day. Positive correlation is reported between waste generation rates and per capita income. Estimates indicate that the global waste generated will increase to 3.4 million tons by 2020, which is greater than double the population growth over the same time (Fig. 1). Municipal solid wastes include several components which can be recovered and recycled. In the USA, proper segregation of materials can result in 35.2% of wastes being recycled and composted, 12.7% of wastes being incinerated, and about 52% of wastes being landfilled (EPA Report 2017). Similar observations are possible in other countries too with variations in percentages, if municipal waste management is properly regulated. Waste composition also differs across the globe, with highincome countries generating more dry waste that can be recycled and less food and green waste. The middle- and low-income countries generate 53–57% food and green wastes, and there is not much change in these generation rates among nations with similar income levels. Waste collection is a service offered by local bodies in number of countries, and the efficiency of collection is highly variable across the countries. Waste collection and segregation go together, and in many of the middle- and low-income groups, waste management becomes complicated as segregation waste at the source is not
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Fig. 1 Projected waste generation across the globe (in million tons/year). (Source: https:// datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html)
very effective. Also, waste collection is substantially greater in urban areas when compared with rural areas. Waste disposal depends mostly on collection and segregation, and hence, most countries face difficulties in achieving the higher efficiencies of collection and proper segregation. Sustainable waste management is one of the tasks for several countries to prosper economically. Open dumping is still a prevalent method in low- and middle-income countries. Landfills are better options when compared with open dumps. However, with the current trends in solid waste generation rates, even landfills cannot be recommended without considering the other options of composting, recycling, and recovery. Use of landfills in conjunction with recycle and recovery is recommended in several developed countries as it reduces the space required for landfills in urban areas, and revenue is generated by recycling and recovery options. If recyclable wastes like paper, glass, metal, plastic, etc. are removed and the food and green wastes are composted, the amount of wastes to be landfilled drastically reduces. Also, the recovery of energy from wastes with good heating value is another option used in several countries. The above also complies with solid waste hierarchy principle given in Fig. 2. Source reduction is also referred to as waste minimization advocates reducing wastes at the point of generation, and it is most preferred option in solid waste management. Source reduction generally happens by reuse of materials for similar or associated purpose. Waste can be minimized by changes in design, manufacturing process, reducing packaging, etc., and popular business strategies are being experimented. The popular benefits of source reduction include conservation of natural resources and energy, reduction in pollution, and economy for both manufacturer and consumers. Recycling refers to identification of waste materials that can be used as raw materials for making new products. It includes a sequence of activities like collection of items which otherwise are considered as waste and sorting and processing the
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Waste Management Hierarchy st Mo
Fig. 2 Waste hierarchy (Source: www.epa.gov)
M. Chandra Sekhar and G. Venkatesam
d rre efe Pr
Source Reduction & Reuse
Recycling / Composting
Energy Recovery
as
Le
Treatment & Disposal
err
ref
tP ed
materials for conversion into new products that are marketable. Success of recycling embraces identification of wastes that are recyclable and marketable economically. Recyclable materials in municipal solid wastes mostly include paper, metal, glass, and food and green wastes (organic). The proportion of food and green wastes is considerable in municipal solid waste making composting a viable option for many cities. Advantages of recycling include reduction of GHGs, energy savings, supply of raw materials to industry, employment, resource conservation, and reduction of wastes to be landfilled. Energy recovery is generally referred to as waste to energy (WTE) wherein conversion of nonrecyclable wastes is converted into usable heat and electricity. Wastes are converted to heat, electricity, or fuel by processes like combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery. Ash derived from energy recovery process is generally inert and send to landfill. This is a renewable energy option, and it also reduces the carbon emission by reducing the use of fossil fuels. Treatment of disposal is the least preferred option in municipal solid waste management. Treatment includes shredding, incineration, and anaerobic digestion. Landfills are considered to be the popular option for waste disposal and are essential components of integrated waste management. Properly designed and operated landfills comply with the prescribed regulations and are accepted engineered solutions for waste management. Landfills satisfying stringent design, operation, and closure requirements are reclaimed for parks, playgrounds, and parking lots after closure.
Composting Composting refers to natural process of biological decomposition of organic component of solid wastes by living organisms under controlled conditions. Food and green wastes which comprise about 40–50% of municipal solid wastes are suitable
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for composting. Compost is rich source of organic matter and is a popular soil conditioner for use in agriculture. Compost is combination of stable end products of biological decomposition, biomass of both dead and living microorganisms, and leftover, nondegraded organic matter. Compost enhances the physicochemical and biological properties of soil in addition to improving soil fertility. Composting is possible by both aerobic and anaerobic processes. Aerobic Process: Composting occurs in abundant oxygen conditions wherein organic matter undergoes degradation to produce carbon dioxide, ammonia, water, and heat in addition to compost. The end products are stable though the compost is slightly unstable due to the presence of cellulose and hemicellulose. The process is much quicker and destroys pathogens due to higher temperature (70–800 C). As the compost is more efficient in agricultural production, aerobic process is more popular than anaerobic process for composting. The process requires macro- and micronutrients, oxygen, water, C/N ratio, and suitable temperature and pH. Composting occurs in two phases: (1) active composting and (2) curing. During the first phase, microbial reactions break up the readily degradable organic material and small portion of complex organic matter. In the curing stage, microbial activity is low, and decomposition of products from active phase occurs. When curing stage is complete, the compost is mostly stabilized. During composting, significant changes in temperature occur as indicated in Fig. 3. In active phase, both mesophilic (24–40 C) and thermophilic (above 40 C) organisms transform the bulk of the nutrient and energy containing materials, and the process continues for several weeks depending on the properties of solid wastes. In the active thermophilic stage, temperatures rise, pathogens are killed, and weed seeds are destroyed. At high temperatures, the phytotoxic compounds are also broken down. Remaining materials decompose during curing stage, where mesophilic organisms are active and the compost matures at low temperatures. Compost reaches maturity during curing phase. Time required for curing mostly depends on type of waste, composting
Fig. 3 Temperature changes in a compost pile
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process, climate, and use of the final product. Studies have reported the importance of achieving maturity to ensure fertilizing capacity and control of pathogens that can affect the plant (Fuchs 2002; Noble and Coventry 2005). Anaerobic Process: Anaerobic process occurs in an environment with less or no oxygen by anaerobic microorganisms. During the process, products like methane, organic acids, hydrogen sulfide, and others accumulate which results in objectionable odor. Anaerobic composting is a low-temperature process and takes longer time than the aerobic process.
Materials for Composting Traditionally, raw materials for composting are manure and agricultural residues or wastes. Materials that are difficult to handle and manage economically and those that pose environmental issues are used along with manure. The materials generally include crop residue, peanut shells, rice hulls, hay, and other kinds of straw. Nonfarm sources of material for composting are generally from municipal solid wastes and commercial establishments (hotels, groceries, restaurants, food processing industries, etc.). In this context, composting municipal solid wastes is practiced for the organic wastes segregated in several places successfully. In broad sense, the components for composting are substrate, amendments, and bulking agent. Substrate is the waste material, while amendment is the material to maintain C/N ratio, pH, and moisture content. More than one amendment can be used for better compost. Bulking agent maintains structure and porosity in the pile, and it is a decay-resistant material. Bulking agents are later screened from the finished compost. High rate of microbial activity is possible when C/N ratio, moisture content, and aeration are maintained. Though natural decomposition is possible even otherwise, but the rate is too slow, and it is highly odorous. Composing materials and the conditions are designed to result in higher rate of decomposition, reduce odor problems, and destroy pathogens, weed seeds, and fly larvae. The favorable conditions for composting include C/N ratio, oxygen supply, moisture content, mixing, and suitable pH and temperature.
Microbiology of Composting Wastes Microorganisms: Bacteria and fungi are the two major groups that play an important role in composting process. Bacteria though smaller than fungi, the bacterial population is very effective in decomposing organic matter such as sugars during the first stage. Actinomycetes is the specific filamentous bacteria that decompose complex substances like starch, hemicellulose, and lignin. Their population increases after the initial stage of composting where the easily degradable organic matter is exhausted. Fungi is active at the later stages of composting when the resistant substances like hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin are degraded. Microorganisms are present in the substrate, but the species and numbers present vary depending on the waste material that is being composted. Many times, specific wastes are mixed with substrate to
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populate the material used for composting. These microorganisms decompose wastes to derive energy and nutrients for their survival and growth. Organic substances in municipal solid wastes are hence decomposed by microorganisms as they need organic carbon compounds for their growth. During the process of respiration, microorganisms release significant amount of heat as the use of energy is not that efficient like the bigger organisms/animals. As a result, there is significant increase in temperature of the compost as dissipation of heat is limited in piles/drums/ windrows. The increase in temperature depends on the complexity of and energy content in the wastes along with oxygen and moisture content. Literature reports the findings of research on microbiology of composting process (Cahyani et al. 2003; Schloss et al. 2003; Ryckeboer et al. 2003). Schloss et al. (2003) identified two types of microorganisms: one active during the initial hours up to 1 day and the other active during 3–4 days of active phase. Thermophilic stage is dominated by bacterial population, while the others, fungi, Streptomycetes, and yeasts, were not significantly in action. Bacilli was dominant during the thermophilic phase during the composting of fresh wastes. The gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial population increased during the later stage of composting (Ryckeboer et al. 2003). Cahyani et al. (2003) identified Alphaproteobacteria in fresh wastes, bacillus, and Actinomycetes during thermophilic stage and Cytophaga and clostridial during the later phase of curing. Chen et al. (1989) reported that microorganisms use hemicellulose and cellulose as substrate during the maturation process as the less complex organic material is consumed during the active phase of composting. However, subsequently, it is reported that decomposition of organic matter in curing phase resulted in reduction of C/N ratio, diversity of microorganisms, and their activity (Tang et al. 2006). The phytotoxicity decreases as the activity of Actinobacteria increases during the curation phase.
Variables Controlling Compost Composting is influenced by several parameters, and these generally depend on the raw materials mix (C/N ratio, pH, particle size, porosity, and moisture content) and process variables (aeration, temperature, water content, and compaction). The process variables of composting are indicated in Fig. 4. In addition to the above, composting also depends on waste degradability, chemical constituents of the waste, microbial population, and prevailing climatic conditions. Aeration: Aeration is a critical aspect of composting that provides oxygen required for decomposition of organic matter. Aeration is also instrumental in heat dissipation and removal of water vapor and other gases like carbon dioxide from the pile. Adequate aeration results in complete conversion of carbon to carbon dioxide and reduced methane emissions, hence reducing odor nuisance. However, excessive aeration adversely affects the rate of decomposition rate and maturity of compost (Zhang and Sun 2016). Typically, adequate oxygen supply for composting should be in the range of 15–20%. Aeration is achieved by controlling the particle size and moisture content of waste, pile size, ventilation, and frequency of mixing.
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Fig. 4 Process variables of composting
Moisture Content: Metabolic activity of the microorganisms in composting process is influenced by moisture content. Ideal moisture content for composting is in the range of 40–65%, and moisture content above 65% results in anaerobic conditions (Bernal et al. 2009). Moisture content reduces as the temperature rises during the composting process as higher temperatures lead to higher rate of evaporation (Varma and Kalamdhad 2015). Hence, it is essential to monitor the moisture content of the pile and add water as and when the moisture content drops. Nutrients: Microorganisms responsible for composting require nutrients (N, P, K) and carbon for effective growth and, hence, decomposition of organic matter. In particular, C/N ratio is a critical parameter that governs the amount of carbon conversion to CO2 during the composting process. Microorganisms require 30 parts of C for utilization of one part of N, while typical C/N ratio of 25–35 is ideal for composting (Kutsanedzie et al. 2015). Higher C/N ratio limits the growth of microorganisms, and hence, longer duration is required for composting. Lower C/N ratio results in underutilization of N, and the excess is lost as ammonia and other undesirable salts and odors (Mohee et al. 2015; Onwosi et al. 2017). Bulking agents (sawdust, rice husk, peanut shells, wood chips, etc.) are generally used as additives to maintain optimum C/N ratio. Ranges of C/N ratio of different components in MSW are given in Table 1. Temperature: Composting process is accomplished by mesophilic and thermophilic temperature ranges. During the initial stage, temperature in the range of 20–450 C and in the later stage temperature in the range of 50–700 C are ideal for the composting process. Temperature of 550 C is effective in destruction of pathogens, while temperature of 620 C can result in elimination of weed seeds. Temperatures higher than 700 C for longer time are detrimental to growth of microorganisms (fungi, actinomycetes, and bacteria) (Varma and Kalamdhad
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Table 1 C/N ratio of different organic material in MSW
Organic material type Food waste Grass clippings Kitchen organic waste Garden waste Coffee grounds Fruit waste Nutshells Tree leaves Straw Sawdust
235 C/N 14–17 9–25 15–25 20–35 20–30 25–40 35 40–70 50–100 200–500
2015). Temperature in the pile is regulated by aeration and turning operations (Chowdhury et al. 2013). pH: Composting process exhibits natural buffering, and raw materials with wide range of pH are acceptable. However, ideal pH range for effective composting is 5.5–8 (Zhang and Sun 2016). Higher pH, above 8, leads to release of ammonia gas and hence odor problems. Also, higher pH values significantly affect the survival of pH-sensitive microorganisms (Hachicha et al. 2009). Temperature and pH collectively can influence the coexistence of several microbial communities and hence the composting process. Particle Size: Particle size influences the surface area, and higher surface area results in quicker microbial decomposition and hence effective composting. Shredding and chipping is adopted to modify the particle size of wastes. Particle size also improves porosity and aeration in the pile. Smaller size particles than the normal can lead to compaction and anaerobic conditions, while larger size particles can lead to slower decomposition of wastes (Verma and Marschner 2013). Optimum range of particles for composting of MSW is usually between 1.2 and 5 cm diameter.
Types of Composting Windrow/Aerobic Composting (WC): Windrow/aerobic composting is a process in which the biodegradable material/municipal solid waste is used as raw material, and it undergoes composting in the presence of oxygen. Raw materials are thoroughly mixed, and the piles are made. Windrow shape depends on the materials to be composted and climate and equipment used. Typically, windrows are 2–3 m height and 5–7 m wide, and length can vary to serial meters depending on the space available at the composting site. The process generally is done in windrows or in vessels and aerated through forced aeration, or it is kept in the open and aerated naturally. Windrow/aerobic composting utilizes oxygen biologically decompose waste materials in a controlled condition until it stabilizes. Within a fortnight, the composting process can be completed without unpleasant odor. Windrow/aerobic composting generally generates a lot of heat which in turn kills human and plant pathogens which might be harmful. The heat generated also breaks
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down the proteins, fats, cellulose, and hemicellulose content of the organic material. The organic material gets converted to oxides of nitrogen and CO2. The nitrogen gets recycled, and carbon becomes an energy source for microbial activity. Windrow composting, also referred as mechanical biological treatment (MBT), is a popular method of composting in developing countries including India. Vermicomposting (VC): Vermicomposting is a process in which earthworms are used to decompose biodegradable matter/municipal solid waste into compost rich in nutrients. Earthworms are capable of consuming organic matter five times the weight of their body weight every day and excrete in the form of vermicast that is rich in macro- and micronutrients. After initial decomposition of biodegradable organic matter in enzymatic extracellular activity known as primary decomposition, earthworms are released on the partially decomposed matter. Stabilization of organic matter happens through joint action of earthworms and aerobic microorganisms. Enzymatic degradation of organic matter takes place while its matter passes through the digestive system of earthworms. Vermicomposting is generally suitable for composing municipal solid wastes up to 100 TPD, while larger quantities of wastes are handled in windrow composting units. Also, decentralized composting facilities are recommended for vermicomposting in large cities for economic reasons. Inoculated Microbial Composting (IMC): Composting is a natural process that can be catalyzed by use of microbial inoculants. Enzymes produced by different types of microbial inoculants result in higher rate of waste decomposition. Inoculants are generally microbes that are proved to be efficient in degradation of specific wastes. These microbes are either isolated microbial communities or developed through culture mixtures such as soil, cow dung, straw, etc. (Liu et al. 2011). Major portion of organic matter in municipal solid waste is plant biomass rejected from the kitchen. These rejects are typically decomposed by hydrolysis microorganisms that produce cellulase enzyme (Gautam et al. 2012). Bacteria and fungi that produce cellulase enzyme are Cellulomonas, Pseudomonas, Bacillus spp., Thermoactionmycetes, Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Sclerotium, and white-rot fungi (Awasthi et al. 2015). With controlled inoculation and proper control of the composting process, good-quality compost is produced within a reasonably short time than traditional composting methods. However, microbial composting works under controlled conditions; therefore, close monitoring of the process is essential.
Quality of Compost Quality of compost refers to the overall productivity of the end product after decomposition of the waste in the process. In general, maturity and stability are the parameters that describe the compost quality. Maturity refers to the suitability of the compost as a soil conditioner for agricultural practices and its biological and chemical impacts. Stability describes the organic fraction and its effects on biological activity while compost is applied to soil. Studies indicate compost quality depends on physiochemical properties, C/N ratio, microbial activities, biomass,
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phytotoxicity, cation exchange capacity, etc. (Santos et al. 2016; Tiquia et al. 1997; Tiquia and Tam 1998). Improper solid waste management can significantly affect the quality of compost. Heavy metals in compost are result of improper segregation of municipal solid wastes. Heavy metals in compost derived from mixed wastes can contaminate agricultural soils with heavy metals. Contaminated soil is prone to incorporate heavy metals in the food chain and leading to biomagnification. Fertility Index: Compost is known to be a good soil conditioner since historic time with good quantities of macro- and micronutrients (N, P, K, Zn, Fe, Cu, etc.) and organic matter required for plant growth (Ingelmo et al. 2012). Nutrient content in the compost depends on the type of waste used for the process and the additives. Nitrogen in compost is mostly in organic form (amino acids) and small portion as inorganic form (ammonium and ammonia). Organic N is easily available for plant uptake through roots, but soil microorganisms convert organic nitrogen to inorganic forms (nitrite N and nitrate N) (Ge et al. 2009; Owen and Jones 2001). Ammonium N is also readily available for plant uptake while the quantities of other inorganic forms (nitrite N and nitrate N) present in more mature compost are low. As nitrite N exhibits phytotoxicity, its concentration should be minimized. When compost is applied to soil, plant available N is released during microbial reactions with organic matter in compost. Some amount of N is also lost from soil due to denitrification, volatilization, and leaching. Along with elemental composition of compost, respiration activity (mg CO2-C/g VS d) is also used in assessment of fertility index. Compost respiration decreases as composting progresses toward maturity. Hence, compost respiration indicates biological activity and the rate of weight loss in compost over time. Compost respiration and C/N ratio are not correlated as C/N depends on composition of wastes used for composting and not biological activity (Sullivan and Miller 2001). Fertility value of compost used for improving the soil productivity is influenced by total C, N, P, and K content and also C/N ratio and respiration activity of compost. For determination of fertility index, the above parameters are assigned a score value as indicated in Table 2. Fertilizing parameters of source-separated biogenous composts are considered for assigning the score values. Higher values of the fertilizing parameters were assigned higher score value, while smaller values were assigned
Table 2 Criteria for weighing factor to fertility parameters and score value to compost Score value (Si) Total organic carbon (TOC) (% dm) Total N (% dm) Total P (% dm) Total K (% dm) C/N Respiration activity (mg CO2-C/g VS d)
5 >20.0
4 15.1–20.0
3 12.1–15.0
2 9.1–12.0
1 1.25 >0.60 >1.00 3.5
CI >4.0
B
3.1– 3.5
>4.0
C
>3.5
3.1– 4.0
D
3.1– 3.5
3.1– 4.0
Quality control compliance Complying for all heavy metal parameters Complying for all heavy metal parameters Complying for all heavy metal parameters Complying for all heavy metal parameters
(Restricted use category) RU< – Complying for all 1 3.1 heavy metal parameters RU>3.5 >4.0 Not complying for all 2 heavy metal parameters RU>3.5 – Not complying for all 3 heavy metal parameters Source: Saha et al. (2009)
Remarks Best quality High manure value potential and low heavy metal content and can be used for high-value crops, like in organic farming Very good quality Medium fertilizing potential and low heavy metal content Good quality High fertilizing potential and medium heavy metal content Medium quality Medium fertilizing potential and medium heavy metal content Should not be allowed to market due to low fertilizing potential. However, these can be used as soil conditioner. Should not be allowed to market. Can be used for growing nonfood crops. Requires periodic monitoring of soil quality if used repeatedly Restricted use. Should not be allowed to market. Can be used only for developing lawns/gardens (with single application) and rehabilitation of degraded land
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RU-1 class MSW composts comply with heavy metal concentrations but with low fertility index; hence, it cannot be allowed in market but can be used as soil conditioner. RU-2 class composts do not comply regulation in terms of heavy metal concentration though their clean index is high. Likely possible if one or two heavy metals concentrations are higher than the regulatory standards. These are also in restricted use category even though their fertility index is high; however, these can be used for growing nonfood crops with regular soil monitoring. RU-3 class composts also do not comply with heavy metal concentrations but have higher fertility index; hence, it can be recommended for one-time application for developing lawns/gardens, afforestation, wasteland reclamation, etc.
Case Study Compost was prepared with municipal solid waste collected from GMR Township, Hyderabad, in small-scale setup using a plastic container (50 cm diameter and 40 cm deep). Compost was prepared using windrow/aerobic, vermi, and inoculated microbial composting. As it was difficult to simulate windrow pile with 3 kg solid waste, plastic containers were used. Three containers were used for each method with appropriate labels: windrow compost (WS1, WS2, and WS3), vermicompost (VS1, VS2, and VS3), and inoculated microbial compost (MS1, MS2, and MS3). For preparation of the compost, 3 kg of MSW was used with different proportions of 1-week-old cow dung. In first sample, 1 kg of cow dung is used; in the second sample, 2 kg; and in the third, no cow dung. Cow dung is used to initiate to speed up the composting process. Moisture content (50–60%) was maintained by sprinkling water at least twice a day depending on ambient temperature. To drain excess water and leachate, small holes (2.5 mm) are made at the bottom of the container. For ventilation, holes are made in the sides of the plastic container. The waste was manually mixed periodically to maintain aerobic conditions all through the pile. After 60 days, compost was removed from containers, air-dried and sieved with 4 mm sieve, and sealed in plastic cover for subsequent laboratory analysis. All the nine samples of compost were analyzed for fertility and heavy metal parameters to assess the fertility and clean indices. The scores and weights assigned to compost samples prepared using different methods based on the physical and chemical parameters of compost are presented in Table 6. Scores and weights assigned to compost samples prepared by using MSW from GMR Township are used to find the fertility and clean index. Equations 1 and 2 are used to find the indices of the compost samples and are presented in Table 7. Based on the indices obtained, compost samples are classified and presented in Table 7. Compost samples are graded indicating the quality and suggesting appropriate use of the compost based on their fertility and toxicity in terms of heavy metal concentrations.
Parameter TOC Total N Total P Total K C/N Ratio C – Respiration Zn2+ Cu2+ Cd2+ Pb2+ Ni+ Cr3+
Windrow compost Score values WS1 WS2 4 5 5 4 1 1 4 4 5 2 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
WS3 5 3 1 3 1 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Weight Wi 5 3 3 1 3 4 1 2 5 3 1 3
Table 6 Scores and weights assigned to compost samples Vermicompost Score values VS1 VS2 3 3 5 5 1 1 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 VS3 3 5 1 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Weight Wi 5 3 3 1 3 4 1 2 5 3 1 3
Inoculated microbial compost Score values MS1 MS2 MS3 1 1 1 3 3 5 1 1 1 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Weight Wi 5 3 3 1 3 4 1 2 5 3 1 3
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Table 7 Classification of compost samples based on fertility and clean indices S. no 1
Sample WS1
FI 4
CI 5
Class A
Quality Best quality
2
WS2
3.4
5
B
3
WS3
3
5
RU1
4
VS1
3.8
4.3
A
5
VS2
3.8
4.3
A
6
VS3
3.7
5
A
7
MS1
2.3
5
RU1
8
MS2
2.3
5
RU1
9
MS3
2.6
5
RU1
Very good quality Low fertilizing potential Best quality Best quality Best quality Low fertilizing potential Low fertilizing potential Low fertilizing potential
Remarks High manure value potential and low heavy metal content and can be used for high-value crops, like in organic farming Medium fertilizing potential and low heavy metal content Should not be allowed to market due to low fertilizing potential. However, these can be used as soil conditioner. High manure value potential and low heavy metal content and can be used for high-value crops, like in organic farming
Should not be allowed to market due to low fertilizing potential. However, compost can be used as soil conditioner.
Windrow compost samples (WS1 and WS2) were of best quality with medium to high fertilizing content and acceptable heavy metal concentrations; however, with the compost sample (WS3) wherein no cow dung was added, the fertilizing elements were less, and the fertility index was 3. Hence, WS3 was classified as RU-1, while WS1 and WS2 composts were classified as A and B class, respectively. Compost samples obtained from vermicomposting process were of best quality and classified as A class compost, with high fertility and low heavy metal content. Compost obtained using inoculate microbial composting was classified under restricted use 1 (RU-1) category due to low fertilizing potential (FI < 3.1). However, in terms of heavy metal concentrations (CI ¼ 5), the compost is not objectionable, so it can be used as soil conditioner. The results of the small-scale studies indicate that vermicomposting samples give good grade compost than windrow composting, while inoculated microbial composting gives compost with low fertility content. However, in terms of clean index, all the samples are good with low metal concentrations as the MSW is collected from a township where the wastes are thoroughly segregated at the source which may not be possible in municipalities. There is likely possibility of clean index going little down while handling large quantities of solid wastes in urban areas as segregation is not that perfect. Also, though vermicomposting gives better results, it is difficult to operate these facilities when compared with windrow composting. In decentralized facilities, vermicomposting gives better results as relatively small quantities of wastes are handled.
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Conclusion Compost is considered to be safe in agricultural applications when compared with the use of inorganic fertilizers and the impacts on the environment. Organic manure using farming wastes in rural areas is a component of integrated nutrient management as it is rich in nutrients (Acharya and Saha 2003). In reality, across the globe, there is not enough organic manure to meet the ever-increasing agricultural demands for nutrients and soil conditioner. In this context, compost from municipal solid waste is considered to have tremendous potential as source of organic manure for agricultural practices. In several countries, increasing urban population and wastes generated demand for sustainable solutions in municipal solid waste management. Composting organic wastes in MSW is considered as one of the sustainable practices in several countries. For example, considering the present urban population in India, per capita waste generation, and the existing collection efficiency, it is estimated that 4.3 million tons of compost can be produced per year which contains about 45,000 t of N, 11000 t of P, and 23,000 t of K (Sharholy et al. 2008). However, the success of composting MSW depends on the quality of the compost and its impact on the soil and crops. The challenges in composting MSW include proper source segregation, collection, and composting methods while aiming at large-scale composting. In addition, the marketing of compost is a critical issue, and it solely depends on the quality of compost and its acceptability by the farming community. Poor quality of composts was the main reason for failure of composting facilities in several cities, and this was mainly attributed to presence of several components such as glass, metal, plastic, etc., in compost due to improper segregation. All these had influence on the farming practices, and the farmers rejected these composts even when they were given free or at subsidized cost. In this regard, the present study emphasizes the need for assessment of quality of compost and creating market by ensuring regulatory standards. Mixed wastes are certain to influence the heavy metal concentrations and hence the clean index. Even if the fertility contents are less, the compost can be used as soil conditioner, while heavy metal concentrations are detrimental to crops and soil microorganisms. Hence, there is an urgent need to monitor and assess the waste collection practices, composting process, and quality of the compost before it is made available in the market for agricultural use. Suitable classification and certification will promote the use of compost prepared from municipal solid waste management facilities.
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Internet Resources https://www.coursehero.com/file/46450731/9781464813290pdf/ http://www.fao.org/3/y5104e/y5104e05.htm https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html https://edepot.wur.nl/375218 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40093-014-0075-x https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40093-018-0233-7#:~:text¼The%20Fertility%20Index %20(FI)%20of,as%20category%20A%20of%20high https://www.cleanindiajournal.com/composting-in-swm-a-report/ https://www.kompost.de/fileadmin/docs/shop/Grundlagen_GS/Methods_Book_2002.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7033521/ https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs143_022229.pdf https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/wntsc/AWM/neh637c2.pdf
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Current Waste Management Status and Trends in Russian Federation: Case Study on Industrial Symbiosis Amani Maalouf, Vladimir A. Maryev, Tatiana S. Smirnova, and Antonis Mavropoulos
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Materials and Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Status and Trends of Waste Management in Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Background of CE in Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study on Eco-industrial Park in Novokuznetsk District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
In the last decade, waste management problems show a continuously growing trend in the Russian Federation. The country generated a total of 7.8 billion tonnes of waste in 2019, which is expected to reach up to 54.9 tonnes per capita in A. Maalouf (*) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon Research Department, D-Waste, Athens, Greece e-mail: [email protected] V. A. Maryev R&D Center for Waste and Secondary Resources Management, Ecological Industrial Policy Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Moscow, Russian Federation T. S. Smirnova R&D Center for Waste and Secondary Resources Management, Ecological Industrial Policy Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Moscow, Russian Federation Department of Industrial Ecology, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University), Moscow, Russian Federation A. Mavropoulos Research Department, D-Waste, Athens, Greece © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_15
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2024. The extraction of fuel and energy minerals (mainly mining and coal enterprises) constitutes the largest contributor (93.6%) to the total amount of waste generated. To date, disposal on land remains the main method of waste management in the Russian Federation, which is affecting the quality of the environment, public health, and sustainable development. Evidently, the Russian Federation continues to face a serious challenge toward the implementation of its national 2030 targets. Noteworthy, that municipal solid waste (61 million tonnes) only accounted for 0.8% of the total amount of waste generated. Therefore, the development of an efficient national waste management focusing on the industrial sector (including mining enterprises) becomes a prerequisite toward circular economy (CE). This chapter provides a general understanding of the CE approach in the Russian Federation. We present a case study of Novokuznetsk industrial district, located in Siberia, Russia, on the development of an eco-industrial park (EIP) as an example of industrial symbiosis. The total amount of accumulated waste (including industrial and municipal) in the Novokuznetsk district is ~258 million tonnes (prior to 2019). This amount includes industrial waste, mainly from coal mining, metallurgical industries, and other polluting industries. This project is expected to produce more than three million tonnes of various types of products annually from industrial waste-recovered materials contributing to a total revenue of 63 million USD. The main objective of this EIP Project is the reduction of resource consumption and environmental impact by providing an industrial symbiosis between different enterprises. The results from this study can be used to guide decision-makers toward the viability of implementing new EIPs projects in other Russian Federation’s industrial district. Keywords
Waste management · Industrial waste · Industrial symbiosis · Eco-industrial park · Circular economy
Introduction One of the main trends in the sustainable development of modern society is a change of the economic paradigm. The traditional model of economy based on linear supply chains and often described as “take, make, and dispose,” which includes activities for exploration, processing, and production, as well as waste management, including disposal, has become obsolete. It has been replaced by a circular economy model aimed at creating a closed system of resource consumption in which resources go through this cycle anytime. The idea of creating closed loops with resources is not new. Circularity is a fundamental aspect of industrial ecology (Meadows et al. 1972). However, aspects of current research and action in the circular economy could reveal new perspectives for ensuring the sustainability of industrial systems.
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The circular economy concept was developed in the late 1970s (Murray et al. 2017). A prerequisite for the formation of the concept of a circular economy is the description of the economic system as a closed-loop system with limited assimilation capacity, organized according to the principles of ecosystems. The authors in “The potential for substituting manpower for energy. Report to the Commission of the European Communities” (Stahel and Reday 1976) developed a circular economy concept to describe industrial strategies for waste prevention, regional job creation, and resource efficiency and decoupling the dependence of economic growth on resource consumption. In another work, the same author (Stahel 1982) emphasizes the use of a leasing mechanism instead of ownership of goods as the most relevant sustainable business model for a circular economy, allowing industries to profit without externalizing the costs and risks associated with waste management, which subsequently transformed into the way of development of “sharing technologies.” The modern understanding of circular economy and its practical application to economic systems and industrial processes has evolved, and through the years, it included various features and contributions from other concepts. Some of the most significant conceptual approaches include “life cycle assessment,” “environmental laws,” “greening the economy,” “ecodesign,” “industrial ecology,” “biomimicry,” “eco-industrial parks,” (Gibbs and Deutzba 2007; Chertow and Ehrenfeld 2012; Bilsen et al. 2015) “industrial symbiosis,” (Changhao et al. 2015; Chertow 2000, 2007; Smirnova et al. 2018), and others. One tool for limiting waste generation is the concept of extended producer responsibility (Webster and Mitra 2007). The authors (Geng and Doberstein 2008), focusing on the practice of implementing the concept in China, describe the CE as “the implementation of a closed cycle of material flows throughout the economic system.” Webster (2015), in his study, defines a circular economy as an economy that is restorative in nature and aims to ensure that products, components, and materials always have maximum utility and value. Accordingly, Yuan et al. (2008) argue that “the core [of a circular economy] is a circular (closed) flow of materials and the use of raw materials and energy in several cycles.” Bocken et al. (2016) characterize the circular economy, defining it as “a strategy for designing and creating a business model in which material flows are used cyclically.” This can be achieved through a longer product life cycle (“design for circularity”), repair, reuse, refurbishment, upgrade, and recycling. The authors Pearce and Turner (1990) attempted to model economics based on material balances and the first and second laws of thermodynamics. In a general, circular economy is a solution that harmonizes economic growth with environmental protection (Lieder and Rashid 2016). The term “circular economy” has increased significantly in use in policy and business since being advocated in a 2011 joint study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) and McKinsey and Company (Ellen MacArthur Foundation [EMF] 2012). The most famous definition of circular economy has been formulated by the EMF, which describes CE as “an industrial economy that is regenerative on a planned basis” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation [EMF] 2012). Circular economy is the subject of increased attention in academic research, with a number of reviews on this topic (Andersen 2007; Ghisellini et al. 2016; Lieder and
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Rashid 2016; Su et al. 2013; Kalmykova et al. 2018; Dorokhina and Kharchenko 2017; Geissdoerfer et al. 2017; Gaustada et al. 2018). Research focuses on closed value and supply chains (Guide and Van Wassenhove 2009; Wells and Seitz 2005; Govindan et al. 2015), circular business models (Bocken et al. 2016), and design for circularity (Bakker et al. 2017). In this context, a number of studies carried out by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation should be mentioned again. The concept of a circular economy, formulated by the EMF, was adopted as the basis for the formation of policies of governments and intergovernmental agencies at the local, regional, national, and international levels. In this context, definitions of CE have been extensively reviewed by academics and scholars. Leading CEPS scholars (Rizos et al. 2017) have found that there is a wide range of interpretations and definitions of CE that represent the diverse goals and opinions of the various stakeholders concerned. Definitions start by relying entirely on material flows and resources, heading to a massive restructuring of the economic system that extends well beyond waste and resource management. They concluded that “the circular economy is a complex concept and it is unlikely that in the short term there can be an international consensus on its meaning.” Homrich et al. (2018) analyzed 327 academic papers and concluded that there is a lack of agreement on the use of various definitions and terms for the CE among academics, policymakers and practitioners examining the patterns, trends, differences, gaps, and convergence of the CE literature. Two different clusters are also shown in the literature analyzed. One cluster focuses on eco-parks and industrial symbiosis, mostly in China. The second class includes supply chains, material closed loops, and business models. Similarly, Kirchherr et al. (2017) reviewed 114 circular economy definitions which were coded on 17 dimensions. In this chapter, within addition to acknowledging the conceptual blurriness, the writers have established a unifying and synthesized definition that aims to resolve the differences they have found. It should be noted that the above list of definitions is not exhaustive; however, some commonality of approaches can be established. The idea behind the circular economy is to create a so-called cyclic metabolism that allows materials to maintain their resource status for as long as possible. And effective waste management plays a significant role in this matter (Maalouf and El-Fadel 2020). To conclude, there is no generally agreed definition of the term “circular economy,” but various interpretations reflect the general principle of decoupling natural resource extraction and utilization from economic output, with improved resource productivity as a primary outcome. We recognize that we potentially exclude possible meanings by including only one CE definition. Nevertheless, in order to identify the indicators, we need to specify the boundaries of the various CE approaches (Moraga et al. 2019). In 2008, the People’s Republic of China was the first to enact a particular law: “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Development of the Circular Economy” (Lieder and Rashid 2016; CIRAIG 2015). This country contributes to a significant part of CE-related literature (Ghisellini et al. 2016; Homrich et al. 2018). In addition, the shift to a circular economy, which is the official Chinese policy for almost 15 years, requires more clean cycles and thus more final sinks to depollute material cycles (Mavropoulos and Nielsen 2020). In concrete policies, Germany and Japan were also pioneers in the promotion of CE.
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Germany integrated the circular economy into national legislation as early as 1996. German Resource Efficiency Programme II, a program for the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources, was later adopted. Japan passed on the Basic Law on the Establishment of a Resource Conservation Society (METI 2004). The European Commission has also adopted circularity as a new economic paradigm for Europe, starting with the launch of its first EU Circular Economy Action Plan in 2015 and its revision in 2020 (European Commission 2020). In Russia, although many laws and regulations were adopted in the early 1970s for particular waste streams during the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) period, the collapse of post-Soviet Russia created a major void in the legal and institutional aspects, leading to a substantial fall in the waste management industry. However, in accordance with the circular economy strategy, the Russian Government has introduced a range of “green” initiatives aimed at controlling and eliminating waste, primarily from large-scale state-owned companies, and adopting best practices in the EU wherever possible. Moreover, a serious reform of municipal solid waste infrastructure, recycling and institutional development is on the way (Fedotkina et al. 2019). This highlights the importance of the waste sector toward the shift to circular economy globally (Maalouf et al. 2020). The beating heart of human society is the cities. They are the world drivers’ economic activity, vibrant centers of innovation, and home to much of the population of the world. Cities are an engine of growth and production but also of consumption. People in cities have a higher average income and higher per capita consumption than their rural counterparts. The economic activity of cities is substantial. They generate approximately 80% of the global GDP. Cities cover just 3% of the total global land area but house more than half of the world’s population, consume about 60–80% of energy and available raw materials, and generate about 75% of humaninduced greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations 2020). In 2018, 55% of the world’s population lived in cities (4.2 billion people). It is expected that by 2050, these percentages will further increase to reach 6.5 billion people (about 70% of the world’s population will live in cities) (UNDP 2020). This increase in urbanization enhances expansion of the city limits, an increase in infrastructure development, as well as an increasing need for products and services within cities. This provides both the opportunity and the obligation of cities, regions, and districts to play a leading role in the transition to a sustainable circular economy. The industrial sector plays the most important role of the Russian economy. The share of industry in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is approximately 40%. Industrial production employs about 32% of the population. The most developed fields of the Russian industry are the oil and gas sector, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, general and transport engineering, and food production. Currently, more than 349,527 industries and enterprises are developing in Russia, generating about 7,690 million tonnes of industrial waste, which constitutes about 99.22% of the total waste generated in the country. This chapter presents an analysis of the current status and trends in waste management in the Russian Federation. The ultimate purpose of this chapter is to evaluate to what degree the waste management, as a part of the CE, is implemented in Russian Federation and if it can solve the issue of reducing the environmental
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impact of the industrial sector through the implementation of the network of eco-industrial parks. The functioning of eco-industrial clusters is called industrial symbiosis, currently defined as the collaboration of different business entities that establish a cooperative network to achieve competitive advantages through the physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and/or by-products and services and infrastructures (Baldassarre et al. 2019). For this purpose, the development of the eco-industrial park in Novokuznetsk district is taken as a case study. This district is one of the ten most environmentally neglected industrial districts in Russia and generating the highest amount of industrial waste. A set of indicators were developed to assess the CE performance and develop an action agenda to move itself toward increased circularity. The study highlights some limitations and presents recommendations for future research, as well as policy implications toward guiding decision-makers for future improvement of the CE in the Russian Federation and potential collaboration among the different districts.
Materials and Methods This chapter used a qualitative method of analysis that was implemented in three steps. Step 1: A literature review of the principles, effective factors, and challenges associated with the implementation of the CE in the Russian Federation was conducted. Step 2 was based on Step 1 and offered a conceptual basis for implementing and assessing the development between 2010 and 2019 of the regulation and control of the waste management systems. This step was focused on a review of state legislation and state development strategies and policies focusing on waste reduction priorities. The main purpose of this step was to assess the current status and trends of waste management in Russia in order to identify the most significant waste stream. We used different sources such as Federal Statistic Service, the state report “On the Condition and Environmental Protection of the Russian Federation in 2019,” the electronic database “Consultant” in Russia, and the database “Joint information resource” provided by the ecological industrial policy center (EIPC) for searching, selecting, and analyzing regulatory documents and design documents of the eco-industrial park project in Novokuznetsk as well as published state reports, official public documents, and interviews with consultants in the industrial sector. Step 3 was based on a case study of best available techniques in Novokuznetsk industrial district. The rationale behind the case study was to select a case that is likely to be replicated or extended as it contains the best practices of waste management performed by a specific district toward closing the loops of specific waste streams. Table 1 presents the amount of generated and characteristics of the ten most polluting industrial districts in Russian Federation. Moreover, a successful implementation of the eco-industrial park in Novokuznetsk district will allow to replicate it in other industrial districts with similar characteristics and environmental
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problems. It should be noted that all these districts do not have any existing eco-industrial park project. The ten most environmentally neglected industrial districts listed in Table 1 generated about 368 million tonnes of industrial waste in 2019. Novokuznetsk district generated the highest amount of industrial waste (about 203 million tonnes) in comparison to other districts in 2019 and thus contributed to about 55% of the total waste generated from all 10 listed districts.
Results and Discussion Current Status and Trends of Waste Management in Russia According to the latest state report “On the Condition and Environmental Protection of the Russian Federation in 2019” published by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Russian Federation (2020), about 7.8 billion tonnes of waste is generated in the country in 2019, equivalent to 52.8 tonnes per capita per year. Figure 1 shows an overall increasing trend of total waste generated between 2010 and 2019, whereby the total waste generated has increased by twofold during this period from 3.7 to 7.8 billion tonnes. At the beginning of the period under review (till 2012), there was an increase in total waste generated by about 15–16% a year; further till 2015, a relative stability was observed, with minor changes ranging from 4% to 3%; in the period of 2017–2019, waste generation increased by 14% and 7%, respectively. Moreover, the results show that the degree of waste generation depends substantially on the economic growth (Fig. 2). This result supports the observations of other scholars that the growing standard of living subsequently increases consumption and increases waste generation (Minelgaitė and Liobikienė 2019; Malinauskaite et al. 2017). Forecasting of waste generated per capita to the year 2024 was carried out using the regression model (presented in Fig. 2) that correlates the GDP per capita with the waste generation, based on GDP per capita forecasting retrieved from the official “Forecast of the socioeconomic development of the Russian to 2024” report. The forecasting results are presented in Fig. 1, which shows that the total waste generation per capita will reach up to 54.9 tonnes in 2024, equivalent to 8.02 billion tonnes per year. It is worth noting that the GDP growth per capita and the total waste generated per capita follow a similar trend. Figure 3 presents the amount of waste generated in the Russian Federation by type of economic activities from the different sectors. In 2019, a major part (93.6%) of total waste generated was attributed to the extraction of fuel and energy minerals (mainly coal enterprises), and this is due to the fact that during the extraction and enrichment of the mineral deposits, the largest amount of waste, mainly overburden grounds, are generated. This sector includes mining of coal that contributed to 67% of the total waste generated, mining of metal ores (21.1%), as well as waste generated from mining of other natural resources that contribute to 10.7% of the total
Population 549,103
182,496
413,261
314,834
1,094,548
351,565
District Novokuznetsk
Norilsk
Magnitogorsk
Cherepovets
Krasnoyarsk
Nizhiy Tagil
Main polluting industries Ferrous metallurgy, machinery construction, and metalworking industry Ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy and chemical industry Ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, engineering and machinery construction, metalworking, and metal construction Ferrous metallurgy and chemical industry Nonferrous metallurgy, engineering and machinery construction, and wood processing Ferrous metallurgy, machinery construction, and metalworking industry 6,250
45,472
11,885
8,575
2,108
Number of industries and enterprises 10,580
79.9
91.6
103.5
428.2
522.8
Total accumulated waste prior to 2019 (million tonnes) 974.8
3.4
110.6
13.3
16.7
13.0
Total waste generated in 2019 (million tonnes) 203.2
10
101
42
40
71
Total waste generated per capita in 2019 (million tonnes per capita) 370
Table 1 Total waste generated and characteristics of the selected case study in comparison to other regions
3.277
110.217
13.190
16.555
12.936
Total industrial waste generated in 2019 (million tonnes) 203.008
123,047.8
383,091.8
110,191.9
144,641.4
63,873.6
Total municipal solid waste (tonnes) 192,186.1
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1,191,994
226,269
508,573
5,987,150
Chelyabinsk
Bratsk
Lipetsk
Total
Petrochemical and oil refining industry, chemical industry, and machinery construction Ferrous metallurgy, machinery construction, and metalworking industry Nonferrous metallurgy, engineering and machinery construction, and wood processing Ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, machinery construction, and chemical industry 180,974
12,799
3,598
47,375
32,332
2,335
5.7
9.9
42.4
76.4
370
3.9
2.2
1.4
2.2
655
8
10
1
2
368
3.722
2.121
0.983
1.796
2,095,502.5
178,000.6
79,194.15
417,197.9
404,077.5
Note that the total waste generated in each region includes industrial waste, municipal solid waste, and other by-products of economic activities and sectors. The total number of industries and enterprises include manufacturing companies, fuel industries, electric power generating industries, food industries, agriculture, forestry, woodworking, pulp and paper industry, mining industries, mining and processing of minerals, and all kinds of SME, among others Source: Data on the number of enterprises in districts is taken from the database of the International Information Group Interfax for 2019. Available at: https:// www.sparkinterfax.ru/ru/statistics/region/32000000000
1,154,507
Omsk
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60 50
54.8 54.9 53.0 54.7
42.4
7 37.1 35.0 35.9 36.1 34.6
6
Waste generated (tonnes per capita per year)
8
Waste generated (billion tonnes per year)
54.9
52.8 49.5
40
30.1
5
26.0
30
4 3
20
2 10 1
3.7
4.3
5.0
5.2
5.3
5.1
5.4
6.2
7.3
7.8
0
0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Total waste generated (billion tonnes per year) Total waste generated (tonnes per capita per year), historic Total waste generated (tonnes per capita per year), forecast
Fig. 1 Historical (2010–2018) waste generated and forecast (2019–2024) amounts of yearly waste generated per capita as predicted by the regression model presented in Fig. 2 (based on GDP per capita forecasting) 60 Total waste generated (tonnes per capita per year)
2018 2017
50 2016 40 30
2015 2014
2013 2012
2011
y = 0.0033x - 45.333 R² = 0.8554
20 10 0 23500
24500
25500
26500
27500
28500
29500
GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)
Fig. 2 Annual relationship between waste generation and GDP per capita between 2011 and 2018 (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Russian Federation 2020; World Bank’s World Development Indicators 2020; Forecast of the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation 2019)
waste generated in 2019. The share of the other sectors to the total amount of waste generated was not significant, 2% was attributed to metallurgy production, 0.6% was attributed to the agriculture sector (including forestry, hunting, fishing, and fish farming), 0.5% was attributed to the chemical industry, and 3.2% was attributed to other sectors, including other industries, housing, communal services, and energy production. Municipal solid waste (MSW) contributed to about 0.8% of total amount of waste generated (61 million tonnes) in 2019, or at an average of 1.14 kilogram per capita each day. In 2019, nonhazardous waste amounted to 7.63 billion tonnes, or 98.45% of all waste generated in Russia. It is important to note that nonhazardous waste constitute the major share of total waste recovered. Wastes are categorized into five hazard
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Other sectors (industrial and food production and services) Energy production (power generation, electric energy, gas and steam supply)
257
167.9 20
MSW (housing, and communal services)
61
Metallurgical production
155
Chemical industry
42
Agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing and fish farming
48 7,257
Extraction of fuel and energy minerals (mainly coal enterprises) -
2,000 4,000 6,000 Total waste generated (million tonnes)
8,000
Fig. 3 The amount of waste generated in the Russian Federation distributed by the type of economic activity in 2019, million tonnes (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Russian Federation 2020)
classes, according to the attachment to Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Order No. of 30 July 2003, “Amendment to the Federal Waste Classification Catalogue.” The total amount of the hazardous industrial wastes generated in 2019 was about 108 million tonnes (1.4% of total waste generated in the Russian Federation). Russian classification of wastes differs from the European classification. The environmental legislations in the Russian Federation require that all types of waste generated during production or industrial activities must be taken into account and reported in the waste statistics. This explains the relatively high amount of total waste reported in comparison to other countries. In reality, the nonhazardous wastes generated during the mining could be utilized as a product during the backfilling or reclamation of quarries and landfills processes. Moreover, the enterprises must pay penalties for the wastes generated or to find the solution for recycling and recovering in order to avoid the penalties. Table 2 displays the current waste management practices including disposal, recovery, and neutralization in Russian Federation in accordance with Article 1 of the Federal Law of 24.06.1998 No. 89-FZ “On production and consumption waste.” The total waste generated includes municipal solid waste, industrial waste, and by-products of other economic activities and sectors. In 2018, 93 new facilities for the recovery and neutralization of waste materials operating with a total capacity of 475.69 thousand tonnes per year were put into operation. This number of enterprises is devoted to the waste recovery, neutralization, and special landfilling (especially for the extremely and high hazardous wastes of the I and II class of hazard) operating facilities and their capacity in the Russian Federation. The country has a total of 1,000 MSW landfills, 15,000 authorized and 17,000 illegal landfills, and 13,000 illegal waste disposal sites with a total area of four million hectares. This amount is increased by 300,000–400,000 hectares each year. Moreover, 50–70%t of the existing infrastructure is ineffective, and many formal collection systems do not exist in rural villages in Russia.
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Table 2 Current waste management practices including disposal, recovery, and neutralization in Russian Federation in 2019 Waste management method Total waste recovereda Total waste neutralized Total waste disposed or landfilled Total
Amount of total waste (million tonnes) 3,927 23.9 3,800
Share of total waste generated (% by weight) 50.7 0.31 49
7,750
Source: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Russian Federation (2020) a Mainly constitute of overburden material
The amount of the recovered waste in the Russian Federation made up 3.93 billion tonnes in 2019, which is 50.7% of the total amount of waste generated during this year (Table 2). Waste recovery (mainly of overburden) was carried out mainly for the purpose of land reclamation (e.g., quarries and landfills), considered as recycling, which constitutes about 70.2% of the total amount of recovered waste. The types of waste recovered mainly include drilling fluids during oil wells drilling (low-hazard waste), drilling slurry of cuttings associated with base oil extraction (low hazard), base non-granulated blast furnace slag, converter slag, and steelmaking slags. The total amount of waste neutralized (such as mercury, mercury quartz, luminescent lamps, and other materials that lost their consumer properties) was about 23.9 million tonnes in 2019, which is 0.31% of the total waste generated (Table 2). The largest amount of waste neutralized was attributed to the agriculture sector (19.6%), followed by the extraction of fuel and energy minerals (mainly coal enterprises) sector (18.2%). The remaining amount of waste after recovery and neutralization is sent for the disposal and landfilling. The total amount was about 3,800 million tonnes, which constitutes 49% of the total waste generated (Table 2), and it was mainly attributed to the extraction of fuel and energy minerals (mainly coal enterprises and mining of metal ores sector). In 2019, about 18.2 million tonnes of mixed MSW (30% of total MSW generated in the Russian Federation) was transported to sorting facilities, 8% after sorting are recycled as secondary materials, and 2% are sent to the incinerating plants. The remaining 70% are transported directly to landfills. The amount of MSW collected and transferred to recycling plants in 2019 has been increased by 12% between 2010 and 2019. The main problem for the recycling enterprises is that MSW collected is mostly without any presorting at sources, which reduces the quality and quantity of waste fractions that can be extracted for the further recovery of secondary resources (such as textiles, paper, plastic bottles, and polymer waste), and this ultimately increases the load on landfills. Waste disposal remains the most commonly adopted waste management method in the Russian Federation whereby more than 90% of MSW is sent to landfills.
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Background of CE in Russia The transition to the circular economy principles implies a complete systemic change and development of innovative solutions not only in technological processes but also in the manufacturing organization, institutional structures, and culture of waste management in societies. Under such conditions, timely government support becomes a key one, whether for providing general guarantees to reduce the risks for investors; cofinancing research and development works; reducing debt burden during the creation or acquisition of fixed assets, including the creation of environmental engineering facilities; as well as providing benefits to customers of such equipment, organizing a system of state procurement of the manufactured products with the use of secondary resources. Starting in 2010, the Russian Federation has been consistently implementing a policy aimed at resolving the accumulated and annually arising environmental issues. This is reflected in the formation of environmental policy papers and legislative and regulatory acts that determine the movement vector aimed at the sustainable development of the Russian Federation. By order of the Government of the Russian Federation No 84-P of January 25, 2018, a “Strategy for the development of industry for sorting, recycling, and treatment of waste for the period until 2030” (hereinafter referred to as the Strategy) was adopted (Russian Strategy 2018). The Strategy implementation is the most important step in the strategic course development toward the revival of the waste recycling branch in Russia, which will make it possible to implement the principles of resource saving in terms of returning secondary resources to production and back to the economy. The main Strategy objectives are the formation and prospective development of the domestic recycling, recovery, and neutralization, ensuring the maximum involvement of the industrial and consumption waste into production and the systematic minimization of waste amounts that are not subject to recycling with the use of the “3R” framework. At the same time, the Strategy considers the circular economy principles, the main of which is resource saving, as a priority development guideline. Considering the international experience in this field, the Strategy focuses on the maximum reduction of landfill waste disposal through the formation of an integrated management system and encouraging the recovery of industrial waste. According to the main instructions of the Russian Government (Russian Strategy 2018), the new waste management concept must include the following: – – – – –
MSW management based on a closed-cycle economy Stimulate production from secondary material resources Implement a separate collection of MSW Develop eco-industrial parks Create a unified state information system for waste accounting
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In the process of fulfilling the Strategy’s objectives, it is planned to achieve different targets between 2018 and 2030 including core indicators of sustainable waste management as presented in Table 3. However, for some measures, the target dates have already passed, and for others, the timelines are unachievable. Moreover, based on the 2019 figures of the different waste management indicators presented in detail in section “Current Status and Trends of Waste Management in Russia,” we can deduce that the 2018 target was not achieved except for the amount of MSW sorted in total amount of MSW generated that reached up to 30% in 2019 (Table 3). These target indicators correlate with the target indicators laid down in the National Project “Ecology,” the road map of which was approved on September 24, 2019, by the Presidium of the Presidential Council for Strategic Development and National Projects of the Russian Federation. However, in the middle of 2020, the key indicators of the National Project “Ecology” were revised. Today, the main target in accordance with the National Project “Ecology” is to create a sustainable system for the management of municipal solid waste, ensuring the sorting of waste in the amount of 100% and reducing the volume of disposal in landfills waste by half by 2030, adopted by Presidential Order in July 2020 (National Development Targets 2020). The Strategy and National Project “Ecology” provide the investment mechanisms for the creation and development of a waste recycling infrastructure, construction of new high-tech waste sorting plants with a share of the secondary resources extraction of 60–70%, waste recovery and neutralization capacities, and infrastructure for the safe collection and neutralization of hazardous waste. In addition, financing will be Table 3 Current status (2019) of sustainable waste management indicators in comparison to the national targets set by the waste management Strategy of the Russian Federation by 2030 Waste management indicators The amount of the recycled materials in a total amount of waste (including industrial) The amount of MSW sorted in a total amount of MSW
The reduction of waste generation
WM industry share in GDP of Russia Number of eco-industrial parks Source: Russian Strategy (2018)
Current status
Targets
2019 51% (3,927 million tonnes out of 7,750 generated)
2018 60%
2020 65%
2025 75%
2030 86%
30% (18.2 million tonnes sorted out of 61 million tonnes generated) +6.7% (from 7,266 million tonnes in 2018 to 7,751 million tonnes in 2019) –
10%
15%
50%
80%
1.9%
1.8%
1.8%
3.7%
0.08%
0.09%
0.10%
0.11%
0
4
12
30
70
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directed to the modernization of the existing manufacturers in all industries to achieve other target indicators of the Strategy. The circular economy principle that formed the basis for the development of the above policy papers is a reflection of the principles of the natural systems existence in which one generated waste becomes a resource for another process. It is important to note that the circular economy concept includes not only the (material) waste recycling but also the reuse, repair, and refurbishment of products. Thus, the products should be initially designed in such a way as to correspond to material cycles in which they retain their additional value as long as possible and designed so that raw materials can ultimately return to the biosphere as a safe object. For example, in a circular economy model, the industrial products can be repaired for further use, modernized, restored, or, ultimately, recycled, and industrial processes may be oriented more toward the reuse of products and raw materials and the use of the restoration capabilities of the natural resources, while innovative business models can create new relationships between companies and consumers in product design sphere with planned life cycle. It is important to note that although the benefits of a circular economy are difficult to question, there is a number of risks that limit its development, including a lack of practice of implementation and investment in the development and production of the “circular economy products”; the level of current prices for resources, which does not encourage the efficient use of the resources and the limited use by consumers and businesses of the potentially more efficient service-oriented business models; problems in obtaining the necessary financing for such projects; and lack of special state support measures for investment projects in the field of waste management. The most important factor that impedes the introduction of the circular economy principles in the Russian Federation is the conflict between environmental and industrial policies, which, in fact, have different aims. Therefore, one of the main tasks in creating the conditions for implementing the circular economy principles in the Russian Federation is the harmonization of industrial (stimulating) and environmental (conservation) policies, interdepartmental collaboration formation, creation, coordination, and monitoring of the environmental industrial policies implementation. The implementation of the environmental policy paper provisions of the Russian Federation during the next 1–2 years is expected to ensure a mutual coordination of priority projects in the field of industrial development and green production, and to give an opportunity to make additional efforts to introduce the best available techniques (BAT). This will also offer industry additional incentives for sustainable development, from supporting “green bonds” to concluding special agreements and contracts with pilot companies in the most important regions of the Russian Federation. The Strategy determines that the priority attention of interdepartmental and interregional collaboration should be aimed at creating the conditions necessary to achieve national goals: – Secondary resources should be enshrined in legislation as a factor in sustainable economic growth and transition to a closed-loop economy; the replacement of newly mined natural resources with secondary ones should become mandatory
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in the cases where such secondary resources are available and, moreover, accumulated by industry (as so-called technogenic deposits). – The industrial resource efficiency should be the subject of accounting, an indicator of the enterprise efficiency; the procedure for calculating resource and energy efficiency indicators should be clearly defined. – Support for the development and implementation of technologies, technical solutions, and equipment offered by domestic companies and aimed at ensuring sustainable economic growth should be of systematic nature. Among several approaches to implementing the circular economy concept and achieving sustainable green economic growth, the projects for the industrial symbiosis networks development should be highlighted. The industrial symbiosis provides a significant contribution to the circular economy development by facilitating the efficient cooperation of companies through the organization of mutually beneficial relations with the goal of: – Maximum use of natural raw materials – minimize the amount of waste generated during the industrial process – Maximum use of secondary material (and energy) resources – their repeated involvement in the economic turnover – Creation of final production products – the properties of which imply their harmless assimilation by ecological systems – Reducing the amount of consumption waste, suggesting the possibility of their complete disposal before entering the environment. The industrial symbiosis center may associate between the industrial and consumption waste management formed outside of its own industrial or consumer process. The mechanism for industrial symbiosis implementing is the exchange of resources between companies. There are three main types of exchanges that may be specified: – Reuse of secondary resources (exchange of materials specific to a particular production between two or more parties to replace the use of commercial products or primary raw materials) – Joint use of utilities/infrastructure facilities (sharing and management of resources such as energy, water, electricity, and heat, as well as joint treatment of gas emissions, wastewater) – Joint services provision (meeting the general needs of companies within the association (technology park, cluster) in relation to auxiliary types of activities, such as ensuring fire safety and utilities, transportation) The state and government participation and support for the development of industrial symbiosis and legislative initiatives that promote the development of eco-innovative projects in the industrial zones are also of great importance. The financial incentives, economic instruments, and provision of the access to finance
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help overcome economic barriers and support the measures on eco-innovation planning and implementation. Other initiatives supporting the implementation of circular economy principles in Russian Federation include the ban on the disposal of waste containing useful components (Government Order № 1589, 2017) and the introduction of extended producer responsibility for certain types of goods and packaging (Federal Law №458-FZ, 25.12.2014). It is important to add that in September 2020, an analytical report about the “Actual situation with waste management for 3rd class hazard waste” made by the Control Department of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation was published, following that the President of the Russian Federation signed the Orders (№ 1489, by 16.09.2020). These orders stressed that circular economy, eco-industrial parks, resource efficiency in the industrial sector, and secondary resources turnover are the main accents for Russia toward achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG) 2030 and circular economy principles.
Case Study on Eco-industrial Park in Novokuznetsk District The development of eco-industrial parks is one of the main goals of the Russian Federation Strategy whereby it is planned that by 2030, 70 eco-industrial parks must be developed within all districts of the country (see Table 3). These parks will be specialized in processing municipal solid waste recycling in addition to industrial waste. The latter constitute a major concern particularly for the ten most polluting districts within the Russian Federation (see Table 1). Novokuznetsk district is located in Kemerovo region in Siberia, Russia, is identified as one of the most polluting industrial districts in the country, and is the first to plan for the implantation of an eco-industrial park project within its region as requested under the Federal Project “Clean Air” and the complex plan of action for Novokuznetsk city (adopted by the Government of Russia in December 2018.) The eco-industrial park will consist of several modules including a complex for processing waste of iron ore and coal, a complex for processing metallurgical slags, a complex for processing waste of electronic and electrical equipment, and a complex for processing waste from a coke-chemical production connected by energy flows. Figure 4 presents the organizational structure of the Novokuznetsk Eco-industrial Park and interaction with external stakeholders as well as the exchange of generated energy and recycled waste from ore dressing and metallurgical production and municipal solid waste generated from Novokuznetsk district. The eco-industrial park project consists of creating technological interaction between the production facilities through the resources exchange (interchange) and waste-recovered materials. The main benefits of the eco-industrial park are the reduction of the resources consumption and decrease in the environmental impact by organizing exchange links between the industrial symbiosis participants, obtaining economic benefits from such cooperation, and sustainable development of the districts. In addition, the creation of these complexes will lead to the
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Material recovery facility
Municipal solid waste recyclers Iron and steel works /Sludge dump /Dumping site
Coal preparation plant /Dumping site Industrial was waste recyclers Ferroalloy plant Thermal power station and boilers
/Sludge dump
/Ash-disposal area Aluminum plant /Dumping site /Sludge dump
Concentration plant
Municipal solid waste Products from municipal solid waste
/Tailing dump
Products from industrial waste Industrial waste
Fig. 4 The organizational structure of the Novokuznetsk Eco-industrial Park showing the exchange of energy generated and recycled waste (source compiled by authors)
generation of new job opportunities of different skill levels, energy savings, and reduction of environmental impacts. It also induces the generation of heating and electric power and production of a wide range of chemical, construction, metallurgical, and other types of products. Novokuznetsk district’s economy is based for more than 80 years on the primary coal and ore processing, which pollute the urban environment with toxic gases and industrial waste. This district has all characteristics for creating and testing the model of implementing an innovative eco-industrial park (hereinafter referred to as eco-industrial park), including: – The presence of pollution-prone production – ore dressing and metallurgical ones (metallurgical complex JSC “EVRAZ ZSMK,” OJSC JSC “EVRAZRuda”), aluminum plant OJSC “RUSAL Novokuznetsk,” ferroalloy plant OJSC “Kuznetsk ferroalloys,” four coal preparation plants (three heat treatment plants), three heat and power plants (three heat-generating plants), and heat power engineering facilities (three central heating and power plants and many coal boiler stations) – A significant raw material base of accumulated technogenic resources (waste) – Operating waste recycling enterprises engaged in the processing of accumulated waste – Commercial organizations engaged in the field of waste recycling are merged into Kuzbass Waste Recycling Association. – A complex of administrative support measures at the regional and local levels has been developed. – Waste recycling is one of the key positions in the Strategy for socioeconomic development of Novokuznetsk district by 2035.
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– The presence in the district territory of the developed industrial and transport infrastructure – High crowding with the metallurgical enterprises – potential consumers of the technogenic resources and products based on them – The engineering base development, which will ensure the production of equipment for the waste recycling industry – The existence of a scholarly tradition as a center for generating innovations in the field of waste recycling (Smirnova et al. 2019) The increased concentrations of pollutants such as dust, benzopyrene, and other carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as well as industrial waste, pose adverse health impacts on Novokuznetsk residents and surrounding. The industrial wastewater generated as by-product from coke processes is disposed into “pitch lake” and ultimately evaporates back into the atmospheric air, causing enormous damage to the environment and health of Novokuznetsk residents. The total amount of waste accumulated prior to 2019 was about 257.5 million tonnes, which consists of various waste having been accumulated in industrial waste and sludge storage areas in the district territory (Table 4).
Circular Economy Benefits At present, the construction of the eco-industrial park in the Russian Federation is at the introductory stage. The amendments to the Federal Legislation Act 488-FZ (about the industrial policy) have been prepared by the ministry of industry and trade and are undergoing approval by the government, and the following findings can be attributed to the planned results of its implementation in the industrial district of Novokuznetsk. The implementation of eco-industrial park project in Novokuznetsk district will allow the processing (for recycling) of more than five million tonnes of waste annually into various types of products (such as iron ore concentrate, pyritic concentrate, garnet concentrate, construction sands, fuel briquettes, coal concentrate, metal slag scrap, reclamation feedstock, zinc concentrate, crushed stone, ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, precious metals, plastic, sleeper impregnation oil, briquettes binders, heating oil, technical carbon, sorbents). The eco-industrial park products are in demand by the enterprises of the district and beyond. The estimated economic and environmental benefits when using these cooperation principles within the framework of the eco-industrial park are 1.5–2.0 times higher in comparison with the situation when every enterprise works as an autonomous producer due to the following most significant combined effects: – A high degree of the potential use of raw material and fuel in obtaining the final product
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Table 4 The amount of accumulated waste by 2019 from different industries in Novokuznetsk district Type of industrial waste Finely divided slag of iron ore beneficiation Slag of steelmaking
Finely divided blast furnace sludge Finely divided waste of metallurgical production Liquid waste of coke production Ash and slag waste Finely divided waste of coal beneficiation Total
Industrial waste storage area (hectares) 100
Total amount of accumulated waste prior to 2019 (million tonnes) 90
Dumps of the Novokuznetsk Metallurgical Complex (NKMK OJSC) Dumps of the Novokuznetsk Metallurgical Complex (NKMK OJSC) Slag storage of JSC “EVRAZ ZSMK”
176
20
20
1
300
140
Dump of coke and by-product process Dumps of thermal power station and boilers Tailing dump of JSC TSOF “Abashevskaya”
10
0.5
50
1
15
5
683
257.5
Source of waste generation Tailing dump №1 of Abagur sintering plant
Source: Smirnova et al. (2019)
– A significant reduction in the costs of using the external energy sources and certain types of raw materials – High added value due to the implementation of deep recycling of the raw materials – High environmental performance of production due to the elimination of intermediate stages, a significant reduction in emissions of solid and gaseous substances, and recycling the secondary resources In this context, the implementation of eco-industrial parks in the industrial districts of the Russian Federation might enhance the economic development through the development of complex recycling processes of the natural raw materials and technogenic wastes. Table 5 displays the estimated economic benefits from the development of innovative technologies within the framework of implementing the experimental innovative eco-industrial park project in Novokuznetsk district. The estimated total amount of industrial waste recovered materials is about three million tonnes contributing to a total revenue of about 63 USD million from selling products produced from waste-recovered materials. It is worth noting that the price of material
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Table 5 Estimated economic benefits from the development of innovative technologies in the experimental innovative eco-industrial park “Novokuznetsk” at its first stage of implementation
Technology name/process Waste recycling and iron ore and coal dressing
Recycling fine powder fractions of metallurgical slag
Recycling metallurgical productions sludge
Complex of recycling sludge collector waste JSC “EVRAZ ZSMK”
Recycling of electronic and electrical equipment waste
Type of wasteprocessing facility Factories for iron ore and coal dressing
Slag dumps of metallurgical complexes
Metallurgical productions JSC “EVRAZ ZSMK”
Sludge collector of metallurgical complexes JSC “EVRAZ ZSMK”
Population and industrial enterprises of Novokuznetsk city
Type of generated products Iron ore concentrate Pyritic concentrate Garnet concentrate Construction sands Fuel briquette Coal concentrate Iron ore concentrate Metal scrap Technical soil for remediation Construction sands Iron ore concentrate Zinc concentrate Reclamation feedstock Iron ore concentrate Crushed stone Construction sands Reclamation feedstock Ferrous metals Nonferrous metals Precious metals Plastic
Estimated quantities (million tonnes) 0.02
Price of products/ recovered materials (USD/tonne) 44
0.01
81
0.73
0.03
108
3.23
0.07
7
0.46
0.11 0.02
23 70
2.36 1.05
0.20
44
8.53
0.18 0.23
65 3
11.70 0.56
0.66
7
4.54
0.10
44
4.38
0.01
108
1.34
0.08
3
0.19
0.24
44
10.50
0.42
8
3.41
0.24
7
1.65
0.12
3
0.30
0.00
150
0.45
0.00
250
0.75
0.00
625
0.19
0.00
125
Total revenue (million USD) 0.66
0.56 (continued)
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Table 5 (continued)
Technology name/process Recycling ashes of the central heating and power plant and boiler stations Recycling ashes of the central heating and power plant and boiler stations
Type of wasteprocessing facility Ash and dust disposal plants of the central heating and power plant and boiler stations Ash and dust disposal plants of the central heating and power plant and boiler stations
Total
Type of generated products Sleeper impregnation oil Briquettes binders Ferrous and nonferrous metals concentrates Construction materials
Estimated quantities (million tonnes) 0.03
Price of products/ recovered materials (USD/tonne) 106
0.01
10
0.08
0.03
44
1.09
0.15
7
1.00
2.93
21.5
Total revenue (million USD) 3.19
62.9
Source: Smirnova et al. (2019)
produced has varied between 3 and 625 USD per tonne, depending on the type of industrial waste recovered material and the type of the technological process whereby the higher the level and the more advanced the technology, the higher the price. Moreover, the price can be affected by the market demand to the total amount of material produced from recovered industrial waste. Involving technogenic waste in the recycling will allow liquidating the objects of their placement as the sources of atmospheric air pollution and will reduce the extraction volumes of the natural resources, replacing them with technogenic resources, while the social tension in the region will be reduced, which is caused by the negative environmental situation. Thus, the practical implementation of the circular economy principles in a particular region will lead to positive results in both environmental and industrial policies. Moreover, the solutions obtained may be used not only in the Russian Federation but also abroad. Due to the industrial symbiosis organization of the waste recycling enterprises with the companies in which waste is generated, new waste recycling enterprises may be created, the capacities of the existing enterprises may be increased, and new types of products based on waste may be produced for the use as technogenic resources of the city industrial enterprises, primarily for metallurgical enterprises. The partial natural resources replacement by technogenic ones will contribute not only to saving natural resources, reducing the energy consumption of the technological processes and the amount of the buried waste, but also solving a set of environmental problems. At its core, an eco-industrial symbiosis will be organized by analogy with the natural one – mutually beneficial cooperation of the waste recycling enterprises,
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operating industrial enterprises, consumers of the waste-based products, equipment manufacturers, scientific and engineering companies, educational institutions and public organizations, service companies, and testing laboratories, the activities of which will be aimed at ensuring the creation and development of new environmentally friendly branches of the economy, gradual reduction of the consumed natural resources, and amount of and the emission’s amount into the environment.
Conclusion The analysis of waste management generation in Russia Federation for the past decade showed a continuously growing trend from 2010 to 2020. In recent years, minor changes have been achieved in the waste management system whereby disposal on land remains the main (49%) method of waste management in the Russian Federation despite the small increase in the share of waste recovered and neutralized (51% of total waste generated in 2019). In 2019, the country generated a total of 7.8 billion tonnes of waste, at an average of 52.8 tonnes per capita each year, which is expected to reach up to 54.9 tonnes per capita in 2024. The extraction of fuel and energy minerals (mainly mining and coal enterprises) constitutes the largest contributor (93.6%) to the total amount of waste generated. It is worst noting that the municipal solid waste (MSW) contributed to about 0.8% of total amount of waste generated (61 million tonnes) in 2019, or at an average of 1.14 kilogram per capita each day. From the above analysis, it is clear that the main goals of the Russian Federation “Strategy for the development of industry for sorting, recycling, and treatment of waste for the period until 2030” were not met in 2018, and 2030 target is not on track. This shows the importance of studies on the project approach to the creation of eco-industrial parks aimed at decreasing waste flows to landfills and increasing the recycle and reuse of secondary materials/resources. In this context, the development of an efficient national waste management focusing on the industrial sector (including mining enterprises) becomes a prerequisite toward circular economy (CE). Industrial symbiosis (IS), implemented in the form of eco-industrial parks, is a cooperative strategy to competitive advantage through which a cooperative network to share resources, energy, water, and/or by-products is generated by different industries. Eco-industrial parks play an important role in the circular economy, which is known as the most resource-efficient and energy-efficient form of economy. Despite many recent initiatives in the political, legal, and institutional frameworks of the Russian Federation toward encouraging the industrial symbiosis through the development of 70 eco-industrial parks by 2030, the introduction of best available techniques (BAT), and the organization of separate waste collection systems, many of these effective tools toward a circular economy are currently not widely adopted. At present, the construction of the eco-industrial park in the Russian Federation is at its first stage of planning and development. Subsequently, the aim of this chapter is to facilitate potential research and practice aimed at developing new IS clusters and amplifying eco-industrial parks in the
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Russian Federation’s industrial district. The findings presented in this chapter are attributed to the famous example of the innovative eco-industrial park project of Novokuznetsk industrial district (at its first phase of development). The project implementation reduces air pollution in Novokuznetsk district by eliminating areal sources of pollution with dust, benzopyrene, and other carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mainly due to avoiding the extraction of natural raw materials, which are substituted with the technogenic material or products from the industrial enterprises. Moreover, it is estimated that about three million tonnes of waste-recovered materials (mainly metallurgical slags which are recovered from industrial landfills) will be processed into different kinds of products. Therefore, the total economic benefit or revenue from implementing this project is estimated about 62 million USD. It is worth noting that the price of material produced has varied between 3 and 625 USD per tonne, depending on the market demand, the type of industrial waste-recovered material, and the type of the technological process whereby the higher the level and the more advanced the technology, the higher the price. The findings of the study are of practical interest to the public authorities, current and future partners in eco-industrial parks, waste management professionals, environmental scientists, and economics scholars.
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A Transition Toward a Circular Economy: Insights from Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste
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Luís Paes, Barbara Bezerra, Rafael Deus, Daniel Jugend, and Rosane Battistelle
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brazilian Waste Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brazilian Socioeconomic Context Faced with the Worldwide Solid Waste Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Classification According to the National Policy on Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barriers for the Adoption of an Efficient Solid Waste Management in Brazil from the CE Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SWOT Analysis: Brazil’s National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weakness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
This chapter discusses how the actual Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste (BNPSW) – Law n. 12.305/2010 – aligns with the circular economy (CE) principles considering, especially, its potential to close the loop in solid waste production. This study’s emphasis is to recognize the main points to L. Paes · B. Bezerra (*) · D. Jugend · R. Battistelle São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Bauru, SP, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] R. Deus São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Bauru, SP, Brazil Faculdades Integradas de Jahu (FIJ), Jaú, SP, Brazil © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_16
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enable the CE with the aid of already existing Brazilian environmental policies, using tools as the waste hierarchy, reverse logistics, and shared postconsumer responsibility for a more efficient waste management. To contribute to this discussion, this chapter has set on four-part contributions: Part 1 begins by laying out a theoretical systematic understanding of how BNPSW contributes to the CE thinking implementation in Brazil. Part 2 presents and discusses all potential barriers to the adoption of solid waste management from a CE perspective. Part 3 develops a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis from BNPSW under a CE perspective. Finally, Part 4 presents a conclusion with the main findings and recommendations to assist the transition to CE in waste management legislation. Keywords
Municipal solid waste · Developing countries · Public policies · Reverse logistics · Solid waste legislation
Introduction The unbridled consumerism boosts the pressure on natural resources resulting in countless negative impacts on the environment. According to the World Bank, humanity produces about 2.1 billion tons of waste per year and estimates that this number will approach 3.4 billion tons in 2050, reflecting a 62% rise in current waste production. This increase is closely linked to population growth and the urbanization process (Kaza et al. 2018). Nowadays, 55% of the global population lives in urban areas, and the projections expect estimates to overtake 68% in the next 30 years, representing an addition of 2.5 billion people to the urban surroundings areas (United Nations 2019). The average amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated per capita in developing countries is comparatively low to more developed nations. However, some challenges such as lack of technical knowledge on part of those responsible for the management, reactive policies, budget constraints, and corruption become systemic obstacles for these countries (Calderón Márquez and Rutkowski 2020; Cetrulo et al. 2018). In some low-income nations, recent environmental studies reveal that approximately 90% of waste is often disposed of irregularly or burnt in the open air (Kaza et al. 2018) (The World Bank classifies low-income economies as those with gross national income (GNI) per capita of $1,025 or less; low-income economies range from $1,026 to $3,995 per capita; high-middle-income economies range from $3,996 to $12,375 and high-income economies are those with GNI per capita of $12,376 or more). Inadequate disposal of solid waste is a risk to health and increases environmental degradation, which affects the citizen’s quality of life. Therefore, regulation and the adequate construction of landfills are essential (Deus et al. 2019).
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Furthermore, in general, countries build up their solid waste management frameworks based on the guidelines established in their national policies that are connected to their institutional, legal, political, and economic settings (United Nations 2013). Thus, the waste management governance emerges among several sectors and levels of government with different political alignments. This way, the coordinating across those sectors and various levels of government becomes a multifaceted issue through fragmented policies in waste management. The current linear economic model (extract-produce-use-discard) does not have the capacity to simultaneously provide sustainable development that encourages economic prosperity, without degrading the environment and/or reducing social equity (Büchs and Koch 2017). This issue raises the pressure for improvements, pushing waste management and resources from a linear economy to an alternative and more sustainable economic model. A promising alternative model is the CE. The CE caught the policy maker’s attention in view of the fact the core idea is to step away from linear processes and substitute them with cycling and “cascading,” which is the residue of a process becomes input from another (Blomsma 2018). According to Kirchherr et al. (2017, p. 229) “circular economy” is defined as “an economic system that replaces the concept of ‘end of life’ by reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering materials in the processes of production/distribution and consumption. It aims to achieve sustainable development, while simultaneously creating environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity for the benefit of current and future generations.” Despite the presence of viewpoints on improving social welfare and environmental integrity through CE, only a limited number of countries have taken tentative steps to enforce it (Ghisellini et al. 2016). This confirms the need to identify barriers and drivers as well as to strengthen actions in developing countries. The main purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the socioeconomic scenario and to describe how the BNPSW links to the CE ideas, as well as the country’s potential to overcome the linear production model. The study also details the major barriers and drivers for the solid waste management in Brazil, which aid to understand how to promote more efficiently through circularity principles. Furthermore, Brazil does not yet have a specific law for the CE, and the BNPSW presents aspects that may contribute to the adoption of the CE in this country. This chapter has set on four-part contributions: Section “Brazilian Waste Solid Waste Management” begins by laying out a theoretical systematic understanding of how BNPSW contributes to the CE thinking implemented in Brazil. Section “Barriers for the Adoption of an Efficient Solid Waste Management in Brazil from the CE Perspective” presents and discusses all potential barriers to the adoption of solid waste management from a CE perspective. Section “SWOT Analysis: Brazil’s National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective” develops a SWOT analysis from BNPSW under a CE perspective. Finally, Section “Conclusions” presents the conclusions of this chapter.
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Brazilian Waste Solid Waste Management This section will describe the Brazilian socioeconomic context, the main aspects of solid waste management, and the national policy background.
Brazilian Socioeconomic Context Faced with the Worldwide Solid Waste Generation The global average of MSW produced is 0.74 kg per capita/per day and ranges from 0.11 kg to 4.54 kg. High-income nations represent only 16% of the world’s population; however, they account for more than a third of all urban waste generated worldwide (Kaza et al. 2018) – in a projection, the numbers for 2020, that amount would be close to 714 million tons. The United States is the main producer of MSW per capita (2.5 kg per capita per day) with 12% of global MSW – more than three times the global average – representing just 4% of the world’s population (Maplecroft 2019). In contrast, China and India together make up over 36% of the global population, but generate 25% of global municipal waste (Kaza et al. 2018). The average production of MSW in Europe is 1.38 kg per capita per day, with some countries such as Denmark (2.14 kg per capita per day), Switzerland (1.79 per capita per day), and Iceland (1.45 kg per capita per day) which stand out and raise this average for production of MSW in the continent (Eurostat 2020). Table 1 shares the global population, municipal solid waste, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capital, and status for G20 countries. Brazil has 5570 cities and roughly 211 million inhabitants. Brazilian MSW is the fourth biggest amount in the world. Its average per capita of MSW production differs from most emerging countries, and it is quite similar to some developed countries (Cetrulo et al. 2018). Nevertheless, the MSW production and management are unequal along its territory, mainly due to its significant complexity of cultural and socioeconomic contexts. Brazil, in average, produced 1,039 kg per capita per day (ABRELPE 2019). Among five Brazilian regions, the Brazilian’s southeast is the second smallest geographic region (only bigger than the south); however, Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (mostly known in Portuguese by the acronym IBGE) estimates that 42.2% of the total 211 million people in the country live in the southeast region. It is composed of four states: Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, being the most developed region, responsible for 55.2% of the Brazilian GDP and the region that has the highest rate of urbanization – 92.1% (IBGE 2020). These numbers reflect directly on the production of municipal solid waste. The southeast and northeast regions were those that produced the most MSW, corresponding, respectively, to 50% and 25% of the country’s total MSW generation. Figure 1 represents the generation per capita of MSW (kg per capita per day) in the different regions of Brazil (ABRELPE 2019).
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Table 1 Municipal solid waste produced by G20 countries Country China India Unites States Brazil Indonesia Russia Mexico Japan Germany France Canada United Kingdom Italy Turkey South Korea South Africa Australia Saudi Arabia Argentina
Population 1.397,715,00 1.366,417,75 328.239,52
GDP per capita (US$) 10.261,70 2.104,10 65.118,40
Municipal waste generation (million tones/year) 330.7 256.2 252
Country status Developing Developing Developed
211.049,53 270.625,57 144.373,54 127.575,53 126.264,93 83.132,80 67.059,89 37.589,262 66.834,405
8.717,20 4.135,60 11.585,00 9.863,10 40.246,90 46.258,90 40.493,90 46.194,70 42.300,30
84 78.7 46.2 45.1 44.1 42 37.8 36.7 36.1
Developing Developing Developing Developing Developed Developed Developed Developed Developed
60.297,40 83.429,62 51.709,10 58.558,27 25.364,31 34.268,53
33.189,60 9.042,50 31.762,00 6.001,40 54.907,10 23.139,80
35.9 35.7 21.2 18.9 18 17.9
Developed Developed Developed Developing Developed Developing
44.938,71
10.006,10
15.7
Developing
a
This table was compiled using indicators from the World Bank database, OECD Report, Global Waste Index 2019, and Maplecroft Report for the year 2019
The country is experiencing two distinct issues regarding the correct final disposal of solid waste. The first issue has to do with the high amount of MSW produced in large cities. More than half of the Brazilian population (120.2 million inhabitants) lives in only 5.7% of the municipalities (317), and municipalities with more than 500,000 inhabitants (46) concentrate 31.2% of the country’s population (65.8 million inhabitants). And the second issue is attributable to most Brazilian municipalities (about 68.4%) having up to 20,000 inhabitants and constituted only 15.4% of the country’s population (32.5 million inhabitants) (IBGE 2020). Despite, they face several challenges with waste production, budget constraints, and landfill construction and operation (Deus et al. 2017). The first issue has to do with the amount of MSW produced in large cities and with urban development. The rise in population and the deficient housing policy in some regions have forced many people to occupy the urban land in a disorganized manner (Azevedo et al. 2019). The household access to waste collection is precarious in some regions and especially in the poorest neighborhoods. The second issue is attributable to the fact that 90% of Brazilian municipalities have less than 50,000
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Fig. 1 Generation of MSW per capita according to each Brazilian region. (Source: Adapted from ABRELPE (2019))
inhabitants (IBGE 2020). Despite their less waste production, these cities usually suffer from budget constraints that hinder the landfill construction and management. The smaller the landfill, the more expensive the operating costs become. The cost per ton of a small landfill can often be more than double that of a large landfill (SELURB 2019).
Solid Waste Classification According to the National Policy on Solid Waste The term “solid waste” is generic and used to describe low-value materials, where the disposal becomes more viable than recycling. However, the definition of the term “solid waste” is important because it is the basis for developing environmental management policies that can differ from country to country (Periathamby 2011). The BNPSW defines solid waste as “all material, substance, object or discarded good resulting from human activities in society, whose destination final whether it proceeds, proposes to proceed or is obliged to proceed, in solid or semi-solid states, as well as gases contained in containers and liquids whose particularities make its release into the public sewer network or into bodies of water unviable, or require this technically or economically unviable solutions in view of the best technology available” (Brasil 2010, article 3, subsection
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XVI). In other words, solid waste is a by-product of a solid or semisolid material process that can be treated or recovered. The BNPSW also classifies the solid waste by its sources. Figure 2 illustrates the sources and types of waste through a diagram. Table 2 describes and exemplifies the main types of waste according to BNPSW. In addition to the classification according to the origin, the Brazilian Technical Standard (NBR 10.004) conceptualizes hazardousness of a waste as a “characteristic presented by a waste, which, depending on its physical, chemical or infectious properties” (ABNT 2004). The hazardousness of waste depends, in general, on
Fig. 2 Waste source diagram
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Table 2 Sources and types of waste according to BNPSW Source Household waste
Typical waste generators Domestic activities in urban residences
Urban cleaning waste
Street cleaning, landscaping, parks, beaches, and other recreational areas
Commercial establishments
Markets, stores, hotels, restaurants, office buildings, shopping, etc.
Basic sanitation waste Industrial
Water and wastewater treatment plants
Health service waste
In Brazil, regulated by National Environmental System (SISNAMA) and the National Health Surveillance System (SNVS)
Construction and demolition
New construction sites, road repair, renovation sites, and demolition of buildings including resulting from the preparation and excavation of the land Crops, orchards, vineyards, dairies, feedlots, and farms
Agroindustrial waste Mining waste
a
Production processes and industrial facilities
Waste generated during the extraction, beneficiation, and processing of minerals
Types of solid wastes Food wastes, paper, cardboard, plastics, textiles, leather, yard wastes, wood, glass, metals, ashes, and special wastes (electronics, batteries, oil, tires, etc.) Street sweepings; landscape and tree trimmings; general wastes from parks, beaches, and other recreational areas Paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, food wastes, glass, metals, and special wastes Liquid waste/wastewater sewage and human and animals’ activities manure Light and heavy manufacturing, fabrication, construction sites, and power and chemical plants Hospitals and other health facilities, laboratories and research centers, mortuary and autopsy centers, animal research and testing, laboratories, blood banks, and collection services Wood, steel, concrete, dirt, etc.
Rest of agricultural crops and agricultural wastes including hazardous inputs used in these activities (e.g., pesticides) Coagulants/flocculants; sulfide-free flotation reagents; viscosity modifiers; grinding aids flotation concentration dumping of ferrous and nonferrous metal ores, sulfur ores, etc.
MSW includes residential, institutional, commercial, and municipal waste
some factors, nature, concentration, mobility, degradation, persistence, and bioaccumulation, and classified as: (I) Dangerous: flammable, corrosive, reactive, toxic, and/or pathogenic (II) Not dangerous (II-a) Nonhazardous and non-inert (can be combustible, biodegradable, and/or soluble in water) (II-b) Not dangerous and inert, not soluble in water (with bricks and glass)
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Waste Origin Known? NO
YES
It appears in Annexes A and B of NBR 10004?
Is it flammable, corrosive, reactive, toxic or pathogenic?
YES
NO
YES
Non-Hazardous Waste - Class II
Hazardous Waste - Class I
Does it have constituents that are solubilized in concentrations higher than those of Annex G?
YES Non-Inert Waste - Class IIa
NO Inert Waste - Class IIb
Fig. 3 Flowchart for waste hazardousness classification
Figure 3 illustrates the flowchart for the waste classification according to its hazardousness. The discussion about a national solid waste policy dates back from the middle of the last century. The discussions continued for more than 20 years (since 1990) before a plan for a national waste program was put forward, 29 years since the start of the National Environment Policy (Law No. 6938/1981) and the creation of the National Environment System (SISNAMA) and the National Environment Council (CONAMA). Figure 4 provides a timeline of main steps of BNPSW implementation. Nowadays, the discussion is concentrated to the proper disposal of solid waste and reverse logistics. However, yet 10 years after the BNPSW publication, the end of Brazil’s dumps is still far from happening. Comparing the years 2018 with 2017, there were an increase of 2.4% of total waste disposed in landfills, representing 59.5% of MSW collected (43.3 million tons) (ABRELPE 2019). Nevertheless, inadequate units such as open dumps and uncontrolled landfills represented 23% and 17.5%, respectively, of disposed waste. In addition, 17.8 million Brazilians do not have waste collection in their homes, and only 3.7% of waste is recycled (SELURB 2019). New deadlines were set through a law from the public ministry of sanitation to close the open dumps. The new legislative mechanism for sanitation (Law No. 14.026 of 15 July 2020) set the final environmentally sustainable waste disposal deadlines: (I) Until August 2, 2021, for capitals of states and municipalities that are part of the Metropolitan Region or of the Integrated Development Region of capitals
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Fig. 4 Timeline for the Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste consolidation
(II) Until August 2, 2022, for cities with population over 100,000 inhabitants in the 2010 Brazilian Census, as well as for municipalities whose urban area of the municipal headquarters is located less than 20 km from the border with neighboring countries (III) Until August 2, 2023, cities with a population between 50,000 and 100,000 inhabitants in the 10 Brazilian Census (IV) Until August 2, 2024, cities with a population of less than 50,000 inhabitants in the 2010 Brazilian Census The proposals of the federal government, states, and municipalities must have to set down the terms under which the policy’s main goals can be accomplished, according to statute and legislative order. The plans have a structuring aspect that incorporates analysis, priorities, guidance, strategies, and, most importantly, measures to integrate and improve performance for the better management of solid waste (Campos et al. 2015).
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The Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective The principles of CE applied to supply chains in order to reduce waste generation and its attempts to reuse, repair, and recycle waste that cannot be avoided has been widely accepted theoretically (e.g., Govindan and Hasanagic 2018; Bressanelli et al. 2019). Nevertheless, it needs to be supported by empirical evidences to make a real contribution to sustainable development. The general basis of the CE begun with the articulation of the umbrella concept (Homrich et al. 2018), in which preexisting definitions were grouped, and a new framework presenting standard definitions was provided as CE (Blomsma and Brennan 2017). Brazil does not yet have any specific legislation that relies strictly on the ideals of the CE (Jabbour et al. 2020b). However, some fundamental elements of CE concept may be identified in the BNPSW that establishes five key points: (i) Evaluate the life cycle assessment that considers all production stages from its design, raw materials, production, storage, recycling, and final disposal. (ii) Reverse logistics, with companies’ obligation to establish postconsumer return systems, independent of public waste collection services (iii) Packaging must facilitate reuse and recycling, restricting volume and weight. (iv) Shared postconsumer responsibility between manufacturers, importers, distributors, traders, and consumers (v) Creation and development of cooperatives and workers’ associations in recyclable materials as part of the processes of reverse logistics and social inclusion
Waste Hierarchy The waste hierarchy is an important step in shifting the “end-of-pipe” production economic culture toward the principle of resource management, with a desire to close the loop (Wilson 2007) (“End-of-pipe” methods are used to remove contaminants from a stream of air, water, waste, product, etc. These techniques are normally implemented as a last stage of a process before the stream is disposed.). The principle of the waste hierarchy establishes choices that reflect the successive management actions that a material must follow before reaching the end of its life cycle. In 2008, the concept of waste hierarchy was introduced in the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) by the Council of the European Parliament and subsequently transposed into the national legislation of the Member States of the European Union. The European WFD describes the waste hierarchy as the order of priority for waste management activities to be followed: prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, other recovery (including energy recovery), and disposal. In 2015, the Europe Union CE Strategy defended the position of the waste hierarchy as a means of obtaining the best overall environmental result and returning useful resources to the economy (European Commission 2015). The BNPSW considers the hierarchy to be followed in the solid waste management, which gives priority to the following order: the non-generation, reduction,
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reuse, recycling, solid waste treatment, and the environmentally sustainable final disposal of residues (Brasil 2010, article 9). Figure 5 compares the priority hierarchy for a sustainable solid waste management, according to the principles of CE zero waste and the hierarchy established in BNPSW (The zero-waste hierarchy framework aligned with the circular economy principles differs from the European Union waste hierarchy at the upper (refuse, rethink, redesign) and lower (unacceptable) levels, thus maintaining the intermediate level of reuse and recycling planning.).
Reverse Logistics Logistics is a key factor for all segments of society and play a special role to promote CE values (Govindan and Hasanagic 2018). Logistics has the ability to monitor circular flows of goods, link markets, and make supply chain’s clearness. As a result, logistics companies, especially those with a global network, infrastructure, and reverse logistics expertise, are the major enablers to accelerate CE development. Reverse logistics is a significant step toward capturing the end-oflife products value and allows the reuse and recycle basis on circular model foundations. This includes different types of value-added activities like improve transparency on demand for returning goods and associated secondary markets, establish integrated logistics, increasing the resilience of the supply chain, and strengthening and scaling up the circular approach of the business to optimize economic opportunities. The BNPSW defines reverse logistics as an “instrument of economic and social development characterized by a set of actions, procedures and means designed to enable the collection and return of solid waste to the business sector, for reuse, in its cycle or in other cycles. Productive or other environmentally appropriate final destination” (Brasil 2010, article 3, subsection XII). It is important to point out that the BNPSW also established the obligation to implement reverse logistics for several types of wastes: pesticides and their residues and packaging; batteries; tires; lubricating oils and their residues and packaging; fluorescent, sodium, and mercury vapor and mixed light bulbs; and electronics products and their components. In addition, reverse logistics systems must be incorporated and operated by terms of sector agreements (contracts agreed between government and manufacturers, importers, dealers, or traders) regulations issued by the government or terms of commitment (Brasil 2010, article 15). The BNPSW also points out well that suppliers, importers, dealers, and retailers are responsible for structuring and applying the reverse logistics schemes for such wastes. Merchants must install specific locations for the collection (returned). Those goods must be withdrawn, recycled, or reused by companies through a logistics system (Brasil 2010, article 33). After analyzing the BNPSW definitions and responsibilities, Fig. 6 provides an original framework to summarize the main elements of combining reverse logistics and the CE principles for solid waste management in a more holistic manner.
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Fig. 5 Comparison between BNPSW and CE zero-waste hierarchy
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Fig. 6 Framework for convergence reverse logistics and CE principles
Shared Responsibility The collectivist responsibility presupposes that the stakeholders are situated in particular contexts, in which their individualistic responsibilities, attributed by formal and informal norms and behaviors, shape their positions among themselves. At the same time, it indicates that these stakeholders spontaneously engage in relation to various shared contextual issues and obligations (Machin 2012). Shared responsibilities, especially on environmental issues, are essential to public policy. Nevertheless, the environmental responsibility is usually mandatory due to cultural upsets, and the society is unwilling to exercise this shared responsibility and fulfill their role as citizens (Azevedo et al. 2019; Savini and Giezen 2020). In addition to common responsibilities, the CE also suggests a shared economy of products and services (Jabbour et al. 2020a), reducing primary raw materials extraction and waste outputs and dividing aggregate costs. Sharing activities can inspire long-term consumer behavior changes, change personal choices, and promote sustainable development.
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BNPSW promotes the principle of shared responsibility for the product (or service) life cycle (Brasil 2010, article 33) according to which stakeholders (manufacturers, importers, distributors and traders, and consumers) are responsible for gathering and supporting the appropriate destination of post-consumption products. It is also important that public authorities and consumers are also responsible for the effective use and disposal of solid waste. In this sense, through specific and interrelated tasks, consumers are responsible for the conscious purchase and proper disposal of waste, while the private sector is responsible for incorporating waste into the production chain and innovating in products in order to have socioenvironmental benefits. The BNPSW also delimits the attributions, specifying the responsibilities for its implementation and operation, including the phases of the Waste Management Plan carried out by the government, outlining the ways and limitations of local government participation in selective collection and reverse logistics while upholding the requirements of shared responsibility for the product life cycle (Brasil 2010, article 20).
Barriers for the Adoption of an Efficient Solid Waste Management in Brazil from the CE Perspective The historical background of inadequate solid waste management in Brazil suggests an environmental passive, which causes effects on human well-being due to the pollution of the land, air, and groundwater, among others (Lima et al. 2018). Even after establishing a specific policy for solid waste, there might be political barriers through institutional gaps and resistance among stakeholders (dos Muchangos et al. 2015). The barriers can be classified as internal and external (Abdulrahman et al. 2014). Considering the barriers for efficient solid waste management based on CE principles, it can be hard to decide the distinction between what is an internal and an external barrier. When the object of analysis is a country, the macroenvironmental components that would be an external barrier for an organization become an entire barrier for a nation (Helms and Nixon 2010). The study classifies the main internal and external barriers for an efficient solid waste managing according to the Brazilian socioeconomic context and the CE principles. Table 3 presents the internal barriers dimension. Proper and favorable conditions in working environments are relevant to improve performance and productivity, advance the well-being and health of laborers, and advance a model of sustainable development (Moreira et al. 2019). Technology updates to assist on identify, screening, decontaminate, and supply processes are vital to the efficiency of recycling a great hurdle. The lack of technology that assists in the reuse of materials is a main barrier to low recycling rates of solid waste in the country, especially those of low-added value. As in most developing countries, in Brazil, the correct final destination and recycling are directly related to the handcraft workmanship capacity (Fuss et al.
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Table 3 Internal barriers dimension according to the stipulated categories Category Technology
Infrastructure
Financial
Organizational
Barrier Lack of data and information for the supply chain Lack of an efficient indicator system that assists performance measurement Lack of technical knowledge to support reverse logistics practices Lack of recent technology in equipment and tools Lack of waste collection points Lack of cooperatives for waste pickers and recycling industries Irregularity in waste collection Insufficient reverse channels Insufficiency of screening centers High initial and operational cost for the implementation of reverse logistics There is a burden between taxes and service quality. Insufficient investment by the public and private sector Economic uncertainty (market risks and return on investment) Lack of an economy of scale Lack of financial support for investments in new technologies, research, and training Informality in waste pickers’ remuneration Low involvement of top management in strategic planning There is no sharing of responsibilities between stakeholders. Lack of knowledge and qualification of employees in CE principles and practices Top management’s resistance to change Little communication skills Lack of coordination, support, and sharing of practices
References de Fuss et al. (2020); Guarnieri et al. (2020); Jugend et al. (2020); Moreira et al. (2019); Rossi et al. (2020)
Alfaia et al. (2017); Azevedo et al. (2019); Conke (2018)
Alfaia et al. (2017); Guarnieri et al. (2020); Jabbour et al. (2014, 2020b); Lima et al. (2018)
de Oliveira et al. (2018, 2019); Jabbour et al. (2020b); Jugend et al. (2020); Rossi et al. 2020
2020). The recurrent lack of technical resources for the solid waste sorting infrastructures is the main cause of this problem. This is due to that legislation made mandatory that sorting facilities for recycling must be managed and operated by the cooperatives (organization of waste pickers) and not by entrepreneurs. Another technological barrier that deserves highlight is the lack of data and/or incompatibility of information and efficient metrics to evaluate the present status of
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solid waste management in Brazil and the establishment of CE goals for all stakeholders in the value chain (Rossi et al. 2020). The main infrastructure barriers related to the lack of implementation of solid waste collection points, as well as the establishment of recycling industries, sorting facilities, and business model arrangements, are in regions far from industrial centers (Guarnieri et al. 2020) that correspond to the less developed regions in the country. As indicated by ABRELPE (2019), there is still a great deal of work to do, and 1.500 urban areas of the 5.570 municipalities in the country still did not have any selective collection initiatives. Moreover, it is important to consider financial barriers in order to create an efficient solid waste management framework. In numerous cities and regions in Brazil, the collection of recyclable waste is almost exclusively carried out by waste pickers that work in various stages of the solid waste recycling cycle. The national movement of recyclable material waste pickers projects that there are about 800,000 waste pickers active in Brazil, and the majority live in informality and have emphasized the great desire of waste pickers to be paid by companies and/or the state and to leave informality (Guarnieri et al. 2020). Even though the company’s coalition invested in waste picker cooperatives infrastructure, the efforts do not seem to be sufficient to repay crafted work made by the waste pickers. Another financial barrier is that the government and local authorities often try to emulate successful waste management systems from developed countries. The significant high costs of these systems contrast to the available budgets in developing countries, often more restricted (Alfaia et al. 2017). In many cases, lack of consideration for the local socioeconomic aspects generates disappointments in the implantation. There is also no significant involvement of supply chain stakeholders (de Oliveira et al. 2019). The absence of influence and participation of the stakeholders forestalls successful adoption for CE improvement (Ritzén and Sandström 2017). Top management of an organization comprises the stakeholders and partners that can implement and pressure the government for adoption of responsible waste management in a local context that it has not created legal structures yet. However, organizations face many challenges to adopt CE, such as communication issues between the public and private sectors, shared interests and lack of trust that delays the development of mutually beneficial connections, as well as unclear duties and responsibilities (Jabbour et al. 2020b). Table 4 characterizes the external barrier dimension in as well as the main categories and their references for solid waste management in accordance with CE principles in Brazil. Among political and legislative barriers in Brazil, it is essential to comprehend that the sector agreement or the Implementation of the Reverse Logistics System does not expressly incorporate guidelines and targets in the BPSW. The difficulty of integration between different political and administrative spheres for the formulation and implementation of policies has always been present, especially with regard to the relations between federal government that formulate public policies at national level and the municipal policies at local level (Maiello et al. 2018).
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Table 4 External barriers dimension according to the stipulated categories Category Political and legislative
Sociocultural
Market competition
Process and supply chain
Barrier Lack of specific laws that promote circularity through ecological design to facilitate the recovery of end-of-life products Need for a systematization of all laws, regulations, and guidelines that may be applicable in practice Presence of loopholes in legislation (responsibilities, costs, environmental liabilities) Reactive policies Lack of economic policies to support the state for the informal sector Lack of intersectoral agreements Lack of state monitoring for reverse logistics and recycling practices Willingness and ability to take on long-term strategies Challenges related with populace awareness in making the right separation and disposal of waste Consumer market prejudices regarding remanufactured and recycled products Lack of knowledge of the environmental impacts created by the incorrect disposal of solid waste Lack of knowledge on the part of organizations regarding reverse logistics practices Lack of knowledge on the part of organizations about taxation on returned products The difficulty in finding dumps influences the likelihood of choosing to collect the waste correctly. Little recognition of competitive advantage The lack of intersector agreements preclude the utilization of secondary raw materials and the section of recycled products to certain markets Lack of networks for remanufactured products sale Difficulty entering as recycled material supplier for industries Lack of support for the development of industrial symbiosis Poor coordination between supply chain partners Lack of structuring of cooperatives Supply chain uncertainties regarding the quality and quantity of waste
References da Silva and Bolson (2018); Ferri et al. (2015); Guarnieri et al. (2020); Jabbour et al. (2014, 2020b)
Alfaia et al. (2017); Conke (2018); da Silva and Bolson (2018); da Silva et al. (2019); Fuss et al. (2018); Jabbour et al. (2020b)
de Andrade Junior et al. (2017); Florencio de Souza et al. (2020); Guarnieri et al. (2020); Vieira et al. (2020)
Azevedo et al. (2019); de Oliveira et al. (2019); Guarnieri et al. (2020); Jabbour et al. (2014, 2020b); Singhal et al. (2020)
The BNPSW poses various gaps for its successful execution, among which the low availability of the budget and the poor administrative and institutional capability, particularly in the small municipalities. The latest regulatory milestone for waste
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management (Law 14.026/2020) may further increase the number of dumps in the country even more. This initiative would encourage each mayor to determine what to do about the dumps in their city. The commitment of Brazilian customers to the separation and environmentally friendly disposal of solid waste is a cultural barrier and a significant obstacle to the adoption of the principles of the CE since this requires a shift in the behavior of millions of individuals. In Brazil, 30% of all solid waste generated has potential for recycling, but only 3% is directly recycled or reused in some form (ABRELPE 2019). These statistics indicate that there is a significant wastage from an environmental, economic, and/or social viewpoint. In the same line as international studies (Jesus and Mendonça 2018; Kirchherr et al. 2018; Ritzén and Sandström 2017), many companies in Brazil also do not seem to have competitive advantages through product design that reduces the environmental impact (or circular product design), sustainable production, and efficient solid waste management, which are barriers that stand out. Waste management requires a new vision and drastic improvements for a transition to a zero-waste economy model, and the weak alignment between supply chain partners can be highlighted as a process and as a supply chain barrier. Waste management strategies affect organizational decisions, with an emphasis on product design and recovery processes at multiple levels of the supply chain. As a result, the system handles and adapts to a complex environment by processing knowledge that promotes environmental quality, societal acceptability, and efficiency (Zhang et al. 2019).
SWOT Analysis: Brazil’s National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective The SWOT acronym derives from strengths (internal and positive attributes environment), weakness (internal and negative attributes environment), opportunities (external and positive factors that could help to develop the environment), and threats (external and negative factors that could disable development in the environment). SWOT analysis is a tool associated with the activities of competitive intelligence and strategic planning and can be used for companies, governments, and in the industrial sectors. Its central purpose is to show the strengths and weaknesses of the internal environment and opportunities and threats from the external environment (e.g., macroenvironment and specific economic sectors). The benefit of this approach is its ability to integrate internal and external factors to promote the planning and implementation of strategies. Therefore, planned focus on competencies and resources may enrich the SWOT analysis and establish an internal perspective while preserving an external perspective at the same time (Dyson 2004). SWOT aims to present this information visually through matrices, which have the potential to facilitate the diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Based on these diagnoses, the tool is usefully applied to indicate the needs for improvement and the market opportunities that the company or sector can follow to achieve its objectives. The search for the information needed to perform the SWOT analysis can be done through different practices, e.g., meetings with
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specialists from various departments/multifunctional team, brainstorming and/or brain writing sections, and virtual discussions, among others. Following this line of thought, Paes et al. (2019) elaborate and analyze a SWOT matrix on organic waste management from the CE approach. Although the BNPSW does not have a specific focus on the CE, there are several points of this law applicable, considering this concept as previously described (section “The Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste from the Circular Economy Perspective”). Based on the BNPSW and CE concepts and approaches, it was raised and interpreted possible strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of this law that are related to the CE approach.
Strengths • BNPSW incorporates and aligns important current concepts for solid waste management such as the principles of sustainable development, eco-efficiency, shared responsibility for the product life cycle, and the idea of reverse logistics. • BNPSW became a legal regulatory structure, which established solid waste as an economic resource of social value that generates income and promotes citizenship. The idea revolves around the prospect of partnerships with different sectors of society aiming at a new culture of sustainable development, where waste needs to be recycled and reused and that its incorrect disposal in landfills and dumps approaches zero. • BNPSW establishes a link between different public administration levels and encourages technical and financial cooperation between public and private sectors for research into new products, processes, recycling technologies, reuse, treatment, and final disposal of waste. • BNPSW establishes a hierarchy of priority for solid waste management in which preventing the generation is a priority. Specifically, the sequence identified is non-generation, reduction, reuse, recycling, and treatment of solid waste, as well as the environmentally appropriate final disposal of waste. • BNPSW stimulates the assessment of the life cycle of products, as well as sustainable consumption. In the enforcement of public policies and sustainable consumption practices, the use of life cycle assessments provides opportunities for advising, selecting areas of action, and defining trends of use, amount of waste generation, and the most sustainable approaches, offering recommendations to consumers and evaluating the efficacy of the steps taken. • BNPSW aims and encourages the adoption, development, and improvement of clean technologies. Clean technology represents any process, product, or service, which reduces impacts on environment. These technologies can be produced by a wide variety of businesses and implemented by all sectors of the economy. Through designing and implementing cleaner technology, businesses and business controls coasts manage prices, satisfy current regulatory internal and global standards, increase global competitiveness, and reduce the impact on the climate, water usage, land, and CO2 emissions.
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• BNPSW proposes investments in environmental education and environmental science and technology research, which will favor the rise of education and the average increase in community knowledge and skills. • It relies on the cooperation of different institutions, such as the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development, the National Basic Sanitation Information System, the National Environmental Information System, among others. • Establishes shared responsibility for the life cycle of products among manufacturers, importers, distributors and traders, consumers, and agents of public services for urban cleaning and solid waste management • BNPSW promotes the incorporation of waste pickers and recyclable materials into activities that require shared responsibility for the products’ life cycle that promotes the establishment and advancement of cooperatives or other types of partnership for the recyclable waste pickers or reused materials and prioritizes federal funding for municipalities adopting selective waste collection. • Establishes that the public administration may institute inductive measures and financing lines to attend the prevention and reduction of solid waste generation in the production process; development of products with less impact on human health and environmental quality in new product development; assistance in infrastructure and acquisition of equipment to cooperatives, collectors, and low-income individuals; and structuring of selective collection systems and reverse logistics and development of research focused on clean technologies applicable to solid waste.
Opportunities • Through the principle of shared responsibility, enhancing public and private sector partnerships to develop plans for efficient collection of solid waste in difficult to access places (e.g., peripheral areas and slums) to boost the services quality in these locations • Through the principle of shared responsibility, establishing local partnerships between municipalities and academic institutions to implement processes of recycling and recovery of materials • Increase formal jobs for recyclable waste pickers, which would be a key factor in increasing the potential for reuse and recycling in the country. • With some fundamental principles of CE, such as virtualization, it is possible to consolidate the dematerialization of materials directly (e.g., digital books, use the cloud for data storage) and dematerializing indirectly (e.g., online shopping, Internet uses) and exchange to new technologies (e.g., 3D printing, additive manufacturing) that replace old materials with advanced nonrenewable materials. These alternatives have the potential to reduce solid waste generation throughout the products’ life cycle. • Implement clean energy projects using solid organic waste treatment (e.g., anaerobic digestion, biowaste plants) and soil nutrient recovery for degraded areas (e.g., composting).
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• Develop, in partnership with a higher-education institution, low-cost and safe technologies for the energy reuse of organic waste through the production of biogas and domestic compost. • Use of advanced technologies in equipment for the recovery of materials associated with data transfer (e.g., big data, machine learning) that would facilitate all processes in the solid waste management chain, in addition to increasing transparency for both society and stakeholders, generate frequently updated gravimetric data, as well as monitoring the truck fleet and the regularity of the waste final destination • Structuring projects that involve the society and the industry in a hybrid “topdown and bottom-up” approach that accelerates the end of the irregular destination of solid waste in dumps and seeks to completely deactivate it (Public institutions from top-down and through industry from bottom-up. The motive for proposing a concurrent top-down and bottom-up approach contains the assumption that inverse motivations exist among the stakeholders of CE, which need to be aligned and converged.) • Create projects, process flows, strategies, and municipal strategies that can be replicated by specific local or regional adjustments in order to speed up the accomplishment of BNPSW objectives.
Weakness • From the point of view of CE, the lack of skills for integration among supply chain stakeholders makes the complexities during the implementation of reverse logistics practices hamper the recovery and reuse of end-of-life materials. • Specific targets to be achieved are vague (Jabbour et al. 2014). The BNPSW does not explicitly incorporate guidelines and targets for municipalities, where most of the objectives of the BNPSW not only are disregarded but also do not have instruments at the local level to develop efficient models for solid waste management. • The unclear targets set out in the BNPSW and the lack of integration between municipal plans encourage actions on the part of municipalities such as straying of the infrastructure and environment budget for other purposes. • The lack of BNPSW-specific targets is aggravating factors for inefficient management of solid waste that companies take advantage of, to avoid liability, which goes against the concept of shared responsibility for the product life cycle. • Despite BNPSW establishing the principles of shared responsibility among manufacturers, importers, distributors and traders, consumers, and agents of public services, it is not clear what the mechanisms should be for the implementation of this shared responsibility. • There is a lack of cooperation between manufacturers, distributors, and traders for an effective process of storage, collection, and recycling. The distribution of costs through the supply chain and stakeholders is an important step so that public policies can be applied in practice.
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• There are conflicting interests between government and society. The state considers that legislation is the most important factor for an efficient management of solid waste, mainly valuing the reactive behavior of companies. However, in countries where solid waste management is highly efficient, the first essential step was to change the behavior of citizens through awareness projects and proactive measures.
Threats • The social isolation measures due to the quarantine of the COVID-19 outbreak increased the generation of biomedical waste such as surgical masks, nitrile gloves, and test kits and are the main responsible for this increase in the volume of waste (Ilyas et al. 2020). Combined with poor basic sanitation and cultural issues in Brazil, it has become a major aggravating factor for the increase in the irregular final disposal of solid waste. • Dependence on different levels of government (national, state, and municipal) with different political, economic, and environmental approaches and views • The high level of socioeconomic inequality contributes to poor schooling and low environmental education among many Brazilian families. These socioeconomic issues make it difficult to adopt a waste hierarchy and selective collection for the final destination of domestic waste with capacity for reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. • Socioeconomic and cultural issues, mainly related to low purchasing power and lack of knowledge, mean that the majority of the Brazilian consumer market does not choose to purchase products that are reused, recycled, or remanufactured (Cosenza et al. 2020). • The large extension of Brazil’s territory, combined with some precarious road and low investments in alternative transport modes, makes the logistic and reverse logistics chains and the symbiosis between industry and skilled suppliers difficult to cope with for reuse, recycle, refuelling, or secondary raw material. Table 5 presents a summary of the SWOT analysis.
Conclusions One of the main areas of study of the CE has been waste management (Kirchherr et al. 2017; Petit-Boix and Leipold 2018) and strategies for designing public policies in the solid waste management field (Cainelli et al. 2020). However, it should be noted that despite the emphasis on “waste management,” the theme in isolation does not represent all the possibilities and potential behind the CE concept. The CE needs to be a holistic economic model that embraces sustainability and a systemic approach, resulting in a new way of designing and using products/services, and needs the collaboration of all sectors of society.
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Table 5 Summary of the Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste SWOT analysis Strengths Alignment of waste management concepts Legal regulatory structures Link between different stakeholders Establish hierarchy of priority of solid waste management Stimulus to life cycle assessment of products and sustainable consumption Establish shared responsibility for production, consumption, and reverse logistic Inclusion of waste pickers in the shared responsibility Public administration finance for WM, product design, and reverse logistic studies Opportunities Shared responsibility can enhance public and private partnership for: Efficient collection of solid waste Recycling and recovery materials and organic waste for energy recovery researches Use of advance technology for material recovery (e.g., big data, machine learning) Implementation of clean energy projects Formal jobs for waste pickers can raise the amount of recycling materials.
Weakness Lack of skills for integration among supply chain stakeholders (for circular economy) The unclear targets set out in the Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste and the lack of integration between municipal plans It is not yet clear which mechanisms should be used for shared responsibility implementation. Lack of cooperation between manufacturers, distributors, and traders for an effective reverse logistic Reactive behavior of the companies due to the focus of the government be legal and not educational Threats Generation of biomedical waste due to COVID19 Dependence of different levels of government Socioeconomic problems to raise the population awareness and education about selective collection Road infrastructure problem for reverse logistic chains and industrial symbiosis
Ponte and Sturgeon (2014) define value chains as a complex arrangement of multidimensional issues composed of unknown factors that must be optimized. In organizations, solid waste management and supply chain management through narrower, slow, and closed cycles are two different tasks but dependent and complementary (Lüdeke-Freund et al. 2019). The project stage of the product design in the CE model is an essential stage for waste management since products and services are created for the purpose to reduce waste generation during their life cycles and to consider material and sustainable energy use while planning (Geisendorf and Pietrulla 2018). It is important to understand that circularity is only recognized if resources and value are recovered from products/services at the end of their life cycle and end of use through recycling, repair, reuse, renovation, and/or remanufacturing (Reike et al. 2018). The linear economy model presses the environment for the depletion of nonrenewable resources, and while there are several public entities and companies that are seriously concerned with this sustainable development, the current global context still allows some companies to benefit from the unrestrained use of raw materials, without consideration for the scarcity of future resources. Furthermore, organizations generally exploit loopholes in legislation and judicial impartiality and/or passivity on environmental issues to refrain from being held accountable, which conflicts with the idea of shared responsibility and the product life cycle, one of the
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principles of BNPSW. The CE does not have the capacity to solve all environmental, social, and economic problems without the commitment of all sectors of society, mainly through legal channels. Brazil, thus far, has an “institutional void” in respect to CE development policies (Jabbour et al. 2020b). Despite this institutional void, this chapter shows that BNPSW has several aspects that already incorporate the CE and, therefore, can serve as base legislation for the advancement of future laws focused on CE in Brazil. In public policies, the main government entities that develop national norms and guidelines as well as the executive authorities are geographically and functionally distanced. Expanded by the problem of efficient cooperation between separate departments of government, this gap transforms into problems of political alignment, both vertically intermediately between the various levels of government and horizontally at the same governmental level, between sectors of public policy that are inherently complementary, like sanitary and environmental policy. Solid waste is a constant theme issue in the academic environment, in the industry, and in the government schedules. However, the current efforts, in practice, are insufficient. Despite the legal obligation to ensure the final environmentally appropriate disposal of tailings, Brazil already has more than 3,000 open dumps and controlled landfills that receive waste and tailings every day (ABRELPE 2019). In this perspective, a top-down and bottom-up hybrid approach is necessary for sustainable development to be the focus. Society defends (should defend) a common conscience on environmental and social issues via government entities and public policy makers. On the other hand, manufacturing companies are theoretically aware of the effects that their industrial practices have on the environment. However, environmental impacts are quite likely to stay disregarded due to competitive pressure as the main emphasis is put, in many cases, on economic gains. This will result in hesitation when it comes to implementing CE strategies, provided the situation in which industrial companies do not see the CE’s economic advantages. In order to avoid prioritizing economic growth to the detriment of and environmental benefits and vice versa, this situation makes a conflicting cycle mandatory to converge and compromise the interests of public institutions (top) and multiple industrial stakeholders (bottom) (Lieder and Rashid 2016). Despite the BNPSW having made mandatory that municipalities carry out the priorities of the Municipal Strategies on Integrated Solid Waste Management for reduction, reuse, selective collection, and recycling with a view to reduction of waste disposal for final disposal (BRASIL 2010, art. 36, subsection II), in most Brazilian municipalities, the sorting of MSW is typically not formal (Zolnikov et al. 2018). The waste composition is complex, and it is important to implement in-depth inspection and technologies that are normally not found at Brazilian sorting facilities. Limited waste separation is one of the main barriers to effective solid waste management in all developing countries (Yukalang et al. 2017), and although some cities in Brazil have selective collection services for recycling, many cities do not provide this service, and selective collection is almost exclusively carried out by waste pickers. According to SNIS data, 96.65% of the reporting municipalities, with
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more than 1,000,000 inhabitants, had selective collection programs, while among the municipalities with less than 30,000 inhabitants (that represents most cities in the country), only 31.5% reported having initiatives in this regard (SNIS 2018). In this complex solid waste management scenario, structures of cooperation, and collaboration among industries, public and private sectors must be encouraged so that the objectives proposed by the BNPSW are met. Therefore, the tools derived from the concept of “shared responsibility,” such as sector agreements, regulations, and commitment terms, are the foundation for the establishment of an effective waste management program with less “bureaucracy” among sectors (Sectoral agreements are contractual acts that aim to ensure that waste returns to the linked manufacturer through and product life cycle assessment and reverse logistics.; Terms of commitment are instruments for encouraging the adoption of consortia or other forms of cooperation between federated entities, with a view to increasing the scales of use and reducing the costs involved.). However, the sector agreements or the Implementation of the Reverse Logistics System proposed in BNPSW does not expressly incorporate realistic guidelines and goals (de Oliveira et al. 2019). Thus, there is generally no significant involvement of actors in the supply chain, including the community. Related issues, such as negative behavioral attitudes on the part of the population, are one of the main barriers in Brazil. The individual choice to recycle is the result of a complex decision behind many motivations and is the consequence of a set of factors that change from individual, educational, and distinct socioeconomic contexts (Crociata et al. 2015). Changes in individual perceptions and behaviors are the root of transformation processes – like the transition to a CE model. Therefore, it is important to create a perception and reflect on how organizational and society actors, by means of their acts, become part of collective practices. Practice transforms structural forms (e.g., production systems, institutions, communities, patterns, markets, and power structures) and is constantly subject to challenges as “disruption” becomes an instrument for the evolution of customs (Jones and Murphy 2011), although transitions toward sustainability are long-term transformation processes (Markard et al. 2012). The actors/network can provide the basis for stipulating the best practices in relation to their social dimensions and time space, being an important factor, as much as the pressure on public agencies and awareness of the population.
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Analysis of the Implantation of a System for the Sustainable Management of Solid Urban Waste in Brazil
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Antonio Marco-Ferreira and Reginaldo Fidelis
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Systems for the Management of Recyclable Urban Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Description of the Londrina Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Constitution and Composition of the Portfolio of Products from Selective Collection . . . . . . . Critical Successful Factors for the Effectuation of Management Programs for Solid Waste with the Participation of Collectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Synthesis of the Program’s Main Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
The issue of the management of recyclable urban solid waste in developing countries goes beyond the economic and environmental domains because it involves the figure of the collector. Improving the management of solid waste, reintegrating them to the supply chain without the exclusion of the collector, is a challenge faced by developing countries. Therefore, this study aims at prospecting a set of actions for the effective implementation of municipal waste collection programs with recyclable potential, given the implementation of the National Policy for Solid Waste, through a case study. The main results obtained were description of aspects relevant in the constitution of recycling cooperatives, among which the key role of the public sector in its federal, state, A. Marco-Ferreira (*) Department of Production Engineering, Federal University of Technology of Paraná, Campus Londrina, Londrina, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] R. Fidelis Department of Mathematics, Federal University of Technology of Paraná, Campus Londrina, Londrina, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_17
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and municipal levels stands out; the constitution and composition of the “recycling” product; and a synthesis of the system’s main benefits divided into (a) economic, the closing of the supply chain cycle, valuation of raw materials, and reduction of management costs of landfills; (b) environmental, reducing the consumption of virgin raw materials and increased service life of landfills; and (c) social, reintegrating people into society, reducing of extreme poverty, and increasing self-esteem. Keywords
Municipal solid waste systems · Selective waste pickers · Pickers · Brazil
Introduction The themes environmental management and sustainability are gaining space in academia (Jabbour et al. 2013), in companies (Özkir and Iigil 2013), and in society (Fergutz et al. 2011; Marco-Ferreira and Jabbour 2019); however, one link in the productive chain might be threatened, and this is the link with the lowest economic power, generated by social exclusion, and that, to this day, has been a fundamental axis for the collection system of post-consumption solid waste with the potential for recycling in developing countries (Paul et al. 2012). This link is the collector who, for years and years, has done the collection of urban post-consumption waste with the potential for recycling in Brazil even though informally (Fidelis et al. 2020; Bringhenti et al. 2011). These people are directly responsible for the high index of recycling in some productive chains such as aluminum, where 98.6% of the cans produced are recycled (BRASIL 2010). However, the increase in economic opportunities originating from recycling and from the implantation of law number 12.305/2010 regarding the National Policy for Solid Waste (PNRS) (Jabbour et al. 2013) may cause this individual to be once again excluded from the system even with their inclusion as a central figure in the management of municipal plans for the management of solid municipal waste, an action foreseen in the PNRS (BRASIL 2014a). Given that, under the logic of the market, it should be efficient to guarantee its competition with companies. This way, there’s a need to (1) establish parameters of excellency for the activity of collection of urban post-consumption waste with the potential for recycling done with the effective participation of cooperatives formed by collectors and (2) find alternatives for the inclusion of collectors in the recyclable urban post-consumption waste system, aiming at meeting the requirement from law number 12.305/2010 that foresees it and, consequently, is consolidated as an alternative for the reduction of social inequality. This is due to the fact that in the big cities of Brazil, more than 800,000 people make a living from the collection and selling of solid waste (IPEA 2015), facing terrible work conditions, which results in the extremely low income, making them an
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economic class that, in its majority, lives below the line of poverty, excluded from society (Fergutz et al. 2011). The collection activity (characterized by the retrieving of recyclable solid waste, like paper, aluminum, glass, and so on) can be formalized due to its contribution for public cleaning and the subsequent reduction in the volume of waste dropped in landfills and, mainly, so that the public administration to pay for this service, making it economically viable (Bringhenti et al. 2011; Fergutz et al. 2011). Given this context, the integration of the collector in the formal management of solid urban waste is a challenged offered to many developing countries (Imam et al. 2008; Paul et al. 2012), including Brazil (De Oliveira et al. 2012). Therefore, this study aims at prospecting a set of actions for the effective implementation of municipal waste collection programs with recyclable potential, given the implementation of the National Policy for Solid Waste (PNRS), through a case study. The study is subdivided into methodological procedures, a brief referential concerning municipal post-consumption waste collection programs with potential for recycling, a description of the management system for urban post-consumption waste of Londrina (PARANÁ), an analysis of the results, and a conclusion.
Systems for the Management of Recyclable Urban Solid Waste The characteristics found in the collector’s activity are similar in developing countries (Tirati-Soto and Zamberlan 2013). These characteristics include thousands of informal workers, including women, children, and the elderly, who rely on the collection of waste as a means of subsistence (Paul et al. 2012). Even though Brazilian law forbids the collection in landfills and dump sites, the absence of other means of subsistence and access to formal employment forces individuals to turn to collecting (Bringhenti et al. 2011). Informal work is not regulated under the law, a fact that prevents the access of workers to their legal rights. The workers, in some cases, constitute cooperatives as a means of formalizing their work; however, they said cooperatives have financial difficulties to subsist (De Oliveira et al. 2012). Besides, they do not have enough physical space or adequate facilities where they can work in healthy safety conditions (Tirati-Soto and Zamberlan 2013). They are vulnerable to health risks, resulting from extended exposition to waste, from working with toxic, dangerous, and infectious materials, among others (Paul et al. 2012). Other points to be approached are related to the fact that municipalities, in general, do not encourage this economic activity, not directing efforts and financial resources to the collection and elimination of residues with recyclable potential, in addition to the absence of qualified operators, of separation in the generating source of waste and the high transport costs (Ferreira et al. 2017; Suttibak and Nitivattananon 2008). Thus, it becomes important to recognize that the efficient management of cooperatives in operational activities such as the selection of trucks with a low level of fuel consumption, the adoption of routing systems, and the separation, at
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the source, by the population are essential elements for the efficacy of the selective collection system (Lino et al. 2010; Tirati-Soto and Zamberlan 2013; Fidelis et al. 2015). It is equally important to report that the results indicate the urgent need for intensive and continuous campaigns of public awareness and environmental education, as well as an adequate preparation of a set of public integrated actions for the efficient control of the operation. Even though the current quantity of collected recyclable materials is relatively small (BRASIL 2014b), an intense campaign directed toward the population, in conjunction with a small incentive in tax collection, may benefit the state, the population, and the environment (Lino et al. 2010). Given this scenario and adding to the fact that Brazil is implementing law number 12.305/2010 that regulates the National Policy on Solid Waste (BRASIL 2014b), a law that foresaw, among other aspects, the end of the work of collection in “dump sites” in 2014 (BRASIL 2014a, b), an aspect of the law that still hasn’t been completely fulfilled by approximately 59.70% of Brazilian municipalities. As evidenced in Fig. 1.
Destination Reading Sanitary
Number of municipalities
Score
2243
40,3
815
14,6
2507
45,1
Landfill Controlled Landfill Dump
Fig. 1 Data on the disposal of solid waste in Brazil. (Source: Based on Brasil 2015, Comitê Interministerial de Inclusão Econômica e Social dos Catadores de materiais recicláveis – CIISC)
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Table 1 Reduction of waste to be disposed in landfills sanitary Goal Reduction of dry recyclable waste disposed of in landfills sanitary, based on national characteristics in 2012
Region Brazil North region Northeastern region South region Southeast region Midwest region
Plan goals 2015 2019 22 26 10 13 12 16
2023 29 15 19
2027 32 17 22
2031 36 20 25
43 30
50 37
53 42
58 45
60 50
13
15
18
21
25
Source: Brazil (2014b)
In this sense, the municipal, state, and federal governments have made several investments in the organization of these activities. Among them, we can mention the federal programs CATAFORTE I, CATAFORTE II, and CATAFORTE III. These programs foresee the capacitation and funding of infrastructure for the collectors, where it will be invested, in the CATAFORTE III program alone, which began in 2013, 62 million dollars (FBB 2011) (3,324 is considered real exchange rate to the dollar.). Considering the following reservation, of the almost 600,000 existing collectors in Brazil, 16,000 have participated in the programs (IPEA 2015). Another point to be highlighted is the reduction targets of dry recyclable waste contained in the National Plan of Solid Waste for Brazilian to be disposed of in landfills. Table 1, reduction of waste to be disposed in landfills sanitary, presents this scenario. IPEA (2010) states that if all the recyclable waste that is currently sent to landfills and dumps in Brazilian cities were recycled, it is estimated that the amount recovered could be two billion, five hundred million dollars per year, and of this total, only 2.4% is recovered. The goal of the Brazilian government for 2015 was to recover 22% of recyclable dry waste. It can be said that this target was not met, and to meet it, the socio-organizational pickers and scavengers are fundamental since this is one of the goals is National Policy on Solid Waste, the integration of pickers of reusable and recyclable materials in actions involving shared responsibility for the life cycle of products. Another aspect to be highlighted concerns the strengthening of enterprises targets containing pickers (Table 2). The productive social inclusion of waste pickers goals predicts that by 2015, 280,000 pickers were formalized in solidarity economy enterprises. These would be the basis for municipalities had deployed its separate collection of recyclable waste programs. For these goals of socioeconomic inclusion of collectors are met, approximately 150 million US dollars of funds for investment in strengthening programs ventures formed by pickers were involved, and approximately 200,000 pickers have benefited. Investment in each collector is approximately $ 800. This number can be considered small since there are still 400,000 collectors to be included in training
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Table 2 Inclusion and strengthening of organizational pickers Goal Inclusion and strengthening of 600,000 pickers organization
Region Brazil North region Northeastern region South region Southeast region Midwest region
Plan goals 2015 2019 280.000 390.000 7.745 10.764 63.160 87.984
2023 440.000 12.144 99.264
2027 500.000 13.800 112.800
2031 600.000 16.560 135.360
68.602 109.564
95.550 152.607
107.800 172.172
122.500 195.650
147.000 234.780
30.929
43.095
48.620
55.250
66.300
Source: Brazil (2014b)
and strengthening programs. So the investment of the Brazilian government may reach 500 million dollars.
Description of the Londrina Case The municipality to be studied presents significant results, as reported by Fergutz, Dias, and Mitlin (2011), where they state that there is, in Londrina, a partnership between the municipal authorities and the waste collectors, with national recognition, reaching the highest levels of recycling in the country. Another factor that justifies the choice of the municipality of Londrina is the fact that the municipality received several accolades, among them the prize “Del Água, América Latina Y El Caribe” in 2009, promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and by the Mexican company of economic funding, FEMSA, held in Mexico, with the presentation of the project “proposta de reestruturação da coleta de lixo: Londrina Recicla,” in which an innovative way of selective collection of recyclable materials was presented, involving the municipality and the collectors of recyclable materials. In 2014, the municipality received the award “CIDADE PRÓ-CATADOR,” which is awarded by the General Secretary of the Republic of Brazil to cities that privilege the social inclusion of collectors and their selective collection programs. The accolade follows the following aspects and criteria of evaluation and judgement: (a) social and economic inclusion of collectors; (b) sustainability; (c) innovative character; (d) replicability; (e) impact on the target audience; (f) integration with other policies; (g) community participation; (h) existence of partnerships; (i) range; (j) formalization of partnerships; and (k) scope of the project, with Londrina’s program being a national reference in the collection of solid urban waste with potential for recycling, with the collector’s participation. This partnership between the municipality of Londrina and the collectors began in 2001, with the initial function of removing the collectors from the city’s landfill. To do so, 29 triage centers where 500 collectors were installed worked in a group, who should perform the classification activities and the selling of the recyclable material.
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The creation of these centers was fundamental for the success of this partnership. The centers were utilized for the temporary storage of the collected materials which, then, were sent to trucks that carried out the transportation for unities responsible for pressing and selling. The success of this initiative can also be measured by the increase on the number of industries for the pressing of recyclable materials in the metropolitan region of Londrina. One of the challenges the organizers face right now is to guarantee services to the population, given the increase on the demand for selective collection (Fergutz et al. 2011).
Constitution and Composition of the Portfolio of Products from Selective Collection The product of the collection of solid recyclable waste is defined, in this study, by the established description of product coined by Kotler et al. (2013), who define it as the portfolio of businesses of a company is constituted in the set of businesses and products that constitute it. The cooperative presents, in its set of businesses, some processes like the logistics of supplies, internal logistics, distribution logistics, commercialization, capitation of federal resources, and social management, environmental management, among others. These processes are synthesized on Fig. 2. Thus, the portfolio of products of the collection of recyclable solid waste for collector’s cooperatives is constituted by: • The basic product: It includes the collection activities for solid post-consumption waste with the potential for recycling. • The real product: It includes the activities of environmental education, collection, triage, pressing, and reverse logistics. Problems in these activities cause a direct impact in the municipal selective collection system, indicating that the cooperatives are service providers, both downstream the supply chain and upstream. The activity of environmental education and collection must be paid by the public administration, whereas the triage and pressing activities are activities linked to commercialization. Failures in these activities may result in fines for nonfulfillment of the collection or in lower prices for commercialization. • The enlarged product: It brings environmental benefits for (1) decrease in the quantity of residues in landfills, extending their service life, and (2) activity of selective collection post-consumption being an integrant part of the closing of the supply chain, including, in this stage, the economic benefit, for providing an aggregate value to what before its implementation would be garbage and would culminate only in costs. The economic benefit is represented by the generation of income to the collectors, a factor that makes these individuals to become resocialized, finding in this point the main benefit generated by the effective implantation of the system. The social benefit represents the fact that these
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Real Product
Enlarged Product
Environmental Benefit
environmental education Triage
Collection activities for solid postconsumption waste with the potential for recycling
Pressing
Economic Benefit
Reverse logistics
collection
Social Benefit Basic Product
Fig. 2 Portfolio of products of the collection of recyclable solid waste for collector’s cooperatives. (Source: The authors themselves (2015))
individuals are brought from the margins of society into the formal society, beginning to enjoy the rights and obligations of the state. Based on this portfolio of the product of the selective collection of recyclable solid waste, one can state that this is one possible example of an economically sustainable activity since it has economic, environmental, and social benefits at its core.
Critical Successful Factors for the Effectuation of Management Programs for Solid Waste with the Participation of Collectors The formation of networks for collectors of material with recycling potential is a social process that requires the support of other actors, and there must be an economically viable project. To do so, the economic efficiency and the development of a social politic structure are indispensable for the network’s operation (Tirati-Soto and Zamberlan 2013; Pinhel 2013). The Londrina case demonstrates (Fig. 3) that for the effectuation of management programs for solid urban waste involving collectors to happen, it is necessary to follow some procedures, with them being:
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Time
Continued education and identification of leaderships
Sources of funding
Self-management of collector's cooperatives and mitigation of environmental, economic and social impacts
Trust
Legislation
Technological adaptation
Fig. 3 Critical successful factors for the effectuation of management programs for recyclable solid urban waste with the participation of collectors. (Source: The authors themselves (2015))
• Time: The collectors, due to a life of exploration (the collectors suffered years of economic exploration by their middlemen, who processed the material and resold it to the transformation industries, a fact that is still recurrent in many Brazilian municipalities, due to the fact that they do not possess an organized category), tend to take a relatively high amount of time to assimilate and implement the proposed technologic procedures. • Trust: It is necessary to establish a relationship of trust with the members of the cooperatives for the analysis, implementation of technologic processes, and the self-management, given that the cooperatives tend to not possess efficient controls over their operational procedures.
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• Technology adaptation: There is a great deal of accumulated knowledge on selfmanagement, cooperatives, logistics, reverse logistics, operational management, and so on; however, these must be adequate to the specific realities of the recycling cooperatives. • Legislation: The making of laws that favor this sector is paramount during the first years of the system implementation because the activity must be protected from the oligopolistic competition once its individuals are still being capacitated to work. Competition during the initial period can cause the public initiatives for the formalization of collectors to fail. • Continued education and identification of leaderships: For self-management to happen, it is necessary to identify, among the collectors, informal leaders, and there also needs to be a continued education for the leadership and other collectors. The education ranges from basic educational processes, like literacy, to the technologic formation in management processes. • Sources of funding: In order to make all previous stages happen, it is necessary to invest in research, continued education, equipment, facilities, forms of commercialization, environmental education for the separation at the source, and so on.
Synthesis of the Program’s Main Results With the implementation of the municipal system for the management of solid waste in Londrina with the effective participation of collectors through the formation and self-management of cooperatives, the results synthesized in Fig. 4 were obtained: • Economic Closing of the supply chain: Because with the collection and the triage, the waste is returned to the productive chain. Valuation of raw materials previously discarded: Considering that the waste would be discarded and that they are now commercialized, discounting the cost to operate the system, one can consider that there has been an increase in the value of the waste. A decrease in the management costs of landfills: Considering that the waste stopped going to the landfill, it increases its service life. • Environmental A decrease in the consumption of virgin raw materials: Considering that the materials are reintegrated to the productive chain, one can state that there is a reduction in virgin raw materials. An increase in the service life of landfills: One can consider that there is an increase in the service life of the landfills. • Social Reintegration into society: People who live from and in the waste are marginalized by the Brazilian society, not having work routines, not having rights, and not fulfilling basic duties as citizens. The implementation of the municipal system for the management of solid urban waste with the participation of collectors in the
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• Closing of the cycle of supply chains • Valuation of raw materials that used to be discarded Economic
• Reduction in the management costs for landfills
• Reduction in the consumption of virgin raw materials Environmental
• Increase in the service life of landfills
• Reintegration of people into society • Reduction of extreme poverty Social
• Increased self-esteem
Fig. 4 Results generated by the implementation of the program of recyclable solid urban waste with the participation of the collectors. (Source: The authors themselves (2015))
selective collection of materials with the potential for recycling allows these people to be reintegrated into society. Reduction of extreme poverty: These people, before the system, who lived from the collection of waste, collection, and triage were not valued. With the implementation of the system by the municipal administration, these stages of the work process are valued, the workers’ income rises because they are in cooperatives, and to work for the municipality, these people must pay their INSS (National Institute for Social Security, which means the formalization of work in Brazil). This way, these people can have access to basic rights, like retirement. Increase in self-esteem: Over the three years involvement in researches, one can state that the collectors had their self-esteem recovered.
Conclusion The results here obtained involve the constitution and composition of the portfolio of products from the collection of recyclable solid urban waste, the description of the critical successful factors for the effectuation of management programs for solid waste with the participation of collectors, and the synthesis of the main results obtained. Thus, in the constitution and composition of the portfolio of products from selective collection, the results point that the activity of selective collection of
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recyclable urban waste has as a basic product, the selective collection; however, its enlarged product brings social, economic, and environmental benefits. Another significant result is that these benefits are detailed in closing of the cycle of supply chains, valuation of raw materials that used to be discarded, reduction in the costs for the management of landfills, reduction in the consumption of virgin raw materials, increase in the service life of landfills, reintegration of people into society, reduction of extreme poverty, and and increase in self-esteem. For the effectuation of the programs of selective collection with the participation of collectors, the main aspects to be considered are time (the collectors tend to need a relatively high amount of time to assimilate and implement the proposed technologic procedures), trust (it is necessary to establish a relationship of trust with the members of the cooperatives), technological adaptation (technology must be adapted to the specific realities of the recycling cooperatives), legislation (the making of laws that favor this sector), continued education and identification of leaderships (for the selfmanagement to happen, it is necessary to identify informal leaders among the collectors, and also there must be a continued education for the leaderships and for the other collectors), and sources of funding (to make all previous stages happen, funding is needed). Overall, there is a latent gap in literature regarding the proposed topic since it is a topic that takes the sustainable tripod in its essence.
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Thermal Utilization of Municipal Solid Waste in the Central Region of Mexico
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Francisco Gutierrez-Galicia, Ana Lilia Coria-Pa´ez, Ricardo Tejeida-Padilla, and Víctor Ramo´n Oliva-Aguilar
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coprocessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
The Latin American and Caribbean region are the most urbanized of the developing countries, with around 80% of its population living in urban areas. Mexico City, with 19 million inhabitants, is the most populated agglomeration in Latin America, concentrating 30% of the national population, and more than 60% of municipal solid waste (MSW) is sent to landfills. In 2014, to reduce the MSW sent to landfills, the city government set a goal to increase the inorganic waste sent to cement kilns. As a result of an agreement with a national cement company, during 2018, 4% (280,736 t per year) of the MSW of Mexico City was sent for cogeneration in cement kilns. Besides that, one of the main strategies for mitigating climate change in Mexico is increasing the production of Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) from waste in cement kilns from 10% in 2017 up to 30%. The F. Gutierrez-Galicia (*) Instituto Politécnico Nacional, UPIIH, Pachuca, Mexico e-mail: [email protected] A. L. Coria-Páez Instituto Politécnico Nacional, ESCA-Tepepan, Mexico City, Mexico e-mail: [email protected] R. Tejeida-Padilla · V. R. Oliva-Aguilar Instituto Politécnico Nacional, EST, Mexico City, Mexico e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_18
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purpose of this work is to show the benefits, in terms of reduced greenhouse gases, of using cement kilns to process the MSW that cannot be recycled or composted in the principal urban centers in the central region of the country instead of sending it to landfills. The method to be used considers making a comparison between the average values of greenhouse gas emissions in sanitary landfills and cogeneration in cement kilns, including transport, and that the cement industry is one of the most important in the country. Keywords
México · MSW · Treatment · Circular economy · Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF)
Introduction Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is a major issue in countries worldwide. The world generates 2.01 BT of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually, with at least 33% of that not managed in an environmentally safe manner. Worldwide, waste generated per person per day averages 0.74 kg but ranges widely from 0.11 to 4.54 kg (Kaza et al. 2018). This problem is more sensitive in developing countries because the total amount of MSW has increased dramatically due to rapid urbanization and industrialization in the cities of these countries (Manaf et al. 2009). Economic power and global production are shifting from the traditionally industrialized countries to new global hubs in developing and transition countries. In 2050, it is expected that the global population will have grown by more than 50% compared to 2007 and that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas (Mavropoulos and Velis 2014). As countries develop from low-income to middle- and high-income levels, their waste management situations will also evolve. Growth in prosperity and movement to urban areas are linked to increases in per capita generation of MSW (Kaza et al. 2018). Furthermore, rapid urbanization and population growth create larger population centers, making the collection of all waste and the procurement of land for treatment and disposal more and more difficult; in developing countries, the aim is to increase the coverage of the waste collection service and to minimize uncontrolled or illegal dumping (upgrading to sanitary landfilling) (Wilson et al. 2012). Currently, trends in the waste management sector are being aimed at attaining what is known as a circular economy, especially in the European Union with its circular economy package and in China with its circular economy promotion. Circular economy focuses on boosting reuse and reducing landfilling, in order to make the most out of previously exploited resources and expand their life span (Margallo et al. 2019). In contrast, the situation in developing and emerging economies is substantially different. While developed countries seek more integrated and sustainable waste management systems, emerging nations are still basically struggling to switch from the disposal of residues, including those of urban origin, in open dumpsites to disposing of them in controlled landfills (Abarca Guerrero et al. 2013).
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This is of particular interest considering that these countries are currently experiencing high urban population growth and sustained economic expansion, leading to higher rates of MSW generation (Bhada-Tata and Hoornweg 2012). Even though landfilling has a higher overall environmental impact than other MSW treatment alternatives, such as recycling or incineration, it is still the backbone of MSW management in developing countries. This is due to the fact that landfilling is a cheap and well-known technology, with lower environmental, economic, and social impacts when compared to uncontrolled dumpsters (Manfredi and Christensen 2009). With this in mind, it is fundamental that stakeholders in the waste management sector are aware of the implications of landfilling, as well as the associated benefits linked to implementing good practices in the sector, in order to improve the sector’s efficiency and its environmental profile. In fact, Margallo et al. (2019) identified the challenges that more 30 cities are addressing in 22 developing countries throughout four continents and concluded that municipal action must be coordinated with stakeholders, national governments, and educational institutions in order to improve the existing precarious situation of waste disposal. The regions of Latin America and the Caribbean are the most urbanized of the developing countries, with around 80% of its population living in urban areas, in which waste management represents the most important municipal service concerning the people and the one with the biggest budget. The World Bank estimated in 2012 that worldwide, 205.4 billion dollars is allocated to waste management and that this amount will increase to 375.5 billion dollars in 2025, having the highest growth rates in low- and medium-income countries (Bhada-Tata and Hoornweg 2012). Management of MSW is a great challenge in Latin America, where its generation is continuously increasing in diversity and quantity. Although collection of waste can be considered better than the global average (Hettiarachchi et al. 2018), there is inadequate waste disposal, financial insufficiency in urban systems, and the presence of an informal recycling sector (Calderón Márquez and Rutkowski 2020), and the situation appears to be relatively homogeneous, with most countries struggling to eradicate dumpsters while shifting to landfilling technologies. A considerable percentage of residues is disposed of in “sanitary landfills” or “controlled landfills.” However, waste disposal in open dumpsites remains high throughout the region. Regardless of the environmental issues related to inadequate disposal, this sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and therefore critical in complying with the related climate change commitments of Latin America and Caribbean (LA&C) countries (Kahhat et al. 2018). It appears evident that if these compromises are met, this will have been accomplished with a formalization of the waste management sector and an improvement of final disposal technologies. Taking into consideration demographic sprawl, improving living standards, and environmental concerns, it seems clear that waste management is a critical sector to focus on in developing countries. Hence, regardless of the economic and social pillars intrinsic to waste management, it is imperative for the waste management sector to be studied and improved from an environmental perspective with adequate and
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holistic proposals (Cámara-Creixell and Scheel-Mayenberger 2019; Margallo et al. 2019). In LA&C, the main final waste disposal option is landfilling: 36% of waste is disposed of in sanitary landfills and 25% in controlled landfills. Overall, 33% of waste is still disposed of in uncontrolled dumpsters. Although the number of sanitary landfills has increased significantly in the region over the past decade, many of these face significant operational and environmental issues. The operation of these landfills in most cases lacks leachate treatment and landfill gases treatment and recovery. Leachate recirculation is a common practice in well-managed landfills in the region. Best available technologies for landfills are being implemented in the region, such as in Brazil (Costa et al. 2019). Other treatments such as incineration, anaerobic digestion, and composting but also formal recycling are emerging techniques for waste treatment, presenting relatively low rates as compared with other regions of the world. For instance, in the case of anaerobic digestion, the development of this technology is considerable in countries such as Chile, Brazil, and, to a lesser extent, Colombia. Although a significant potential to foster anaerobic digestion in the region exists, only timid efforts have arisen in other countries such Nicaragua, Peru, and Costa Rica (Margallo et al. 2019). Incineration provides several advantages such as a reduction in waste mass and energy recovery; however, this technique has a poor reputation related to environmental impacts because of its emissions of GHG, acidifying gases, dioxins, and furans. Environmental experts agree that the goals set for the waste utilization rate would never be achieved without energy recovery; the implementation of an MSW incineration facility or a Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plant in a developing or poorly developed waste management system without proper planning can lead to environmental and economic failure. Therefore, a complete evaluation of the technical and economic aspects of the incineration site is required. In fact, the key risks and limitations of incineration are the minimum requirements in terms of lower calorific value, the need for skilled operation and maintenance staff, financial support, and appropriate choice of technology (Kahhat et al. 2018). Recycling presents a variety of environmental, sanitary, social, economic, and educational benefits. This approach reduces the use of raw materials and amount of waste landfilled, creating new job opportunities and income. However, recycling has not yet been fully spread in LA&C (Conke 2018), and only a few countries have sorting plants. Therefore, most recyclable materials end up in landfills and dumpsites, creating a window of opportunity for the informal sector (Hettiarachchi et al. 2018), which reduces waste inflow into the landfill, providing a service to the community. Only 2.2% of MSW is formally recovered and recycled in LA&C. Therefore, most efforts currently focus on improving recycling to reduce informal waste picking and to upgrade pickers into community-based organizations (BhadaTata and Hoornweg 2012). Nonetheless, some countries such as Mexico have reached a recycling rate of 10%, whereas in Santiago de Chile’s metropolitan area, the recycling rate increased to 12% in one decade. The best recycling rates are observed for paper and cardboard,
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steel and aluminum cans, glass bottles, and PET packaging. The main barriers to waste recycling development are a lack of knowledge about recycling programs, competition between the formal and informal sectors, deficient infrastructure, and a shortfall of professional management. Regarding organic matter, the high content of this type of waste in LA&C MSW, around 50%, is ideal for composting. However, waste separation at the source is not common in the region. Hence, MSW streams contain increasing quantities of glass, plastics, metals, and hazardous materials, contaminating the finished compost and diminishing its quality (Bhada-Tata and Hoornweg 2012). Mexico is facing waste management problems. According to the National Institute of Statistical Geography (INEGI), the agency in charge of all statistical and geographic information that characterizes Mexico’s territory, from 1992 to 2012, total Mexican waste generation doubled from 21.9 MT per year to 42.1 MT per year, with 65% disposed of in sanitary landfills, 30% disposed of in uncontrolled and open dumps (sites where solid waste accumulates illegally without technical control), and 5% recycled (INEGI 2014). In Mexico, the General Law for the Prevention and Integral Management of Solid Waste published in 2003 outlined a uniform regulation for MSWM, defining the services necessary to handle the MSW in an appropriate form, from its generation to its final disposal or treatment so that, throughout, this process causes no harm to health or the environment, and including the principles of prevention, protection, and shared responsibility (SEMARNAT 2003). In order to carry out MSWM in an appropriate way, the General Law for the Prevention and Integral Management of Waste (GLPIMW) establishes that each municipal government must implement a Municipal Program for the Prevention and Integral Management of Municipal Solids Waste (PMPGIMSW). This includes a basic diagnosis of the capacity and effectiveness of the available infrastructure, the policy on MSW, the definition of objectives and goals, the means of financing, and the mechanisms to promote the link between corresponding municipal programs, in order to create synergies. Of the 2350 municipalities in the country that have MSW and final disposal services, only 74 have a PMPGIMSW where the policies are established regarding MSWM. They are mainly those municipalities where the main economic activity is tourism, which is why the protection and preservation of the environment are among their priorities. This makes it evident that at the municipal level, there are no well-defined public policies for proper MSWM (Gutiérrez-Galicia et al. 2019). Also, the insufficiency of the existing infrastructure and inadequate monitoring of compliance with waste treatment regulations are part of the problem. There are no robust policy instruments that encourage waste reduction and recycling at the metropolitan level. Besides that, the lack of planning puts conservation land in Mexico at risk due to the spread of irregular settlements, uncontrolled landfills, and deforestation. Less than 20% of MSW is recycled or treated, and the rest is buried in landfills or garbage dumps (OECD 2015). According to the waste management hierarchy, landfilling is the least preferable option and should be limited to the necessary minimum. Unfortunately, it is the
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dominant method in developing countries and is one of the major obstacles to sustainable development (Shumal et al. 2020). Nevertheless, in Mexico, incineration is not used, and municipal waste management remains behind due to the lack of integral waste management systems, including waste utilization according to its characteristics, appropriate treatment and final disposal methods, correct sorting, and selective collection. Therefore, environmental, economic, and socially viable waste management strategies must be analyzed (Güereca et al. 2015). As shown in the following, Fig. 1, in Mexico, most of the MSW is sent for final disposal in sanitary landfills or garbage dumps; less than 20% of the waste receives some treatment or is recycled. In contrast, in the European Union, most MSW is treated or recycled. Up to 20% of MSW is sent for thermal use; in Switzerland, more than 40% of MSW is sent for thermal use. Because of that, MSW treatment in Mexico is an area that still has excellent development potential, including thermal use. The Valle de México Metropolitan Area (ZMVM) is the third largest metropolitan area of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the largest in the world outside Asia. According to Mexican delimitations, the ZMVM covers around 7866 km2 (almost five times the size of Greater London and three times that of Luxembourg), comprising 76 municipalities of Mexico City, the state of Mexico, and Hidalgo (OECD 2015). Although the ZMVM only 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% France
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Fig. 1 Management and use of MSW in Mexico compared to some countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and European Union (INECC 2012; OECD 2019)
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Fig. 2 Analyzed region
represents 0.4% of the national territory, Mexico’s economic, financial, political, and cultural center concentrates 17.48% of the inhabitants of the country. Figure 2 shows Mexico City and the states of Hidalgo, Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, and Tlaxcala that form the Megalopolis, the region created to coordinate and address the environmental problems of the ZMVM and its neighboring states. According to the OECD, the ZMVM represents 18% of Mexico’s employees who produce 23% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Other metropolitan areas with a similar population to that of ZMVM, such as London and Paris, produce around 30% of national GDP. Likewise, the economic growth of the ZMVM has not met expectations. The GDP of the Valley of Mexico increased by 1.7% annually between 2003 and 2010, mainly driven by population growth. However, the average annual per capita economic growth was only 0.5%, an intermediate level among OECD metropolitan areas but well below the potential economic growth of a similar agglomeration in an emerging economy. Among 275 metropolitan areas of the OECD, the ZMVM remains in the 10% with the lowest GDP per capita. In 2010, the average GDP per capita in the ZMVM was USD 16,060, a figure that does not reflect the marked variations between the levels of Mexico City (USD 26,550) and the municipalities of the state of Mexico (USD 7140) (OECD 2015). The ZMVM has a very fragmented governance structure, which negatively affects its productivity levels. Many administrative actors increase the degree of complexity of designing and implementing public policies that require coordination; this can hinder urban agglomerations’ productivity. The problem is aggravated by a
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lack of strategic regional planning frameworks that apply at the metropolitan scale and have sufficient financial support due to the ambiguity of the constitutional definitions of “metropolitan areas” and the weak coordination and collaboration between governments at state and municipal levels for urban development (OECD 2015). Despite the physical conurbation between the municipalities of the ZMVM, attention to the problems generated by the collection, transportation, and final disposal of MSW is not metropolitan, so there is no corresponding program. Currently, the ZMVM does not have an urban solid waste management program. In 1991, the Metropolitan Program for Solid Waste Control was jointly defined by Mexico City and Mexico State as a precedent. With the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit’s contribution of extraordinary resources, open dumps, sanitary landfills, and transfer stations were constructed. This program ended in 1993, with only site closures taking place and infrastructure construction suspended. In many municipalities of the ZMVM, there is a shortage of professional and technical personnel for cleaning services, and there are no operational personnel assigned to the final disposal of waste. In those municipalities where some personnel have been assigned, they do not have the necessary training. Most of the operating personnel hired by the ZMVM for waste management have low levels of education. In town councils, in many cases, educational deficiencies are also present at the managerial level. In general, the salaries and incentives of personnel working in the solid waste sector at the operational level are insufficient. This situation becomes critical in cleaning service workers; the salary problem is more significant, and low salaries encourage staff to accept tips when carrying out activities outside of their function, an aspect that affects the quality and efficiency of the service. In summary, the environmental problems of the ZMVM have not received sufficient attention from the coincident governments (Comisión Ambiental Metropolitana 2010). The ZMVM is one of the cities that generate the most MSW in the world, which represents an enormous sanitary danger for the population that materializes in sanitary landfills both within the metropolitan area and outside it. The largest sanitary landfill in Latin America, Bordo Poniente, with 70 MT of MSW buried in 375 hectares, was closed in 2012 due to its saturation and poor management. The metropolitan area continues using 12 sanitary landfills to bury MSW, which still represents one of the largest environmental liabilities in this city since they generate methane gas and leachate lagoons that are potential pollutants, among others. The main danger posed by leachates is the contamination of the soil and subsoil into the aquifers which are the principal source of drinking water. Methane gas represents an explosion hazard if not treated properly, in addition to being a precursor gas for global warming (Padilla-Pérez 2019). The Ministry of the Environment of Mexico City (SEDEMA), which is responsible for environmental protection and policies, annually evaluates MSW management in the city. It calculates that Mexico City generates 4745 MT per year, 500 kg per capita (SEDEMA 2019). On the other hand, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the government agency responsible for environmental protection and environmental policies at the national level, considers that the
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annual generation of MSW in the ZMVM reaches 7.9 MT per year (378 kg per capita per year), representing 18.03% of the national total (Consejo Nacional de Población 2018; SEMARNAT 2020). Of the areas in the ZMVM, Mexico City has made the most remarkable progress in the treatment of MSW. In 2017, the Mexico City environmental standard NADF024-AMBT-2013 established new criteria for selective separation and waste recovery at source. The efficiency of organic waste separation increased by 13%. Separating organic waste from the rest is essential to improve MSW management and increase reuse, thus reducing leachate and methane gas generation. Mexico City has an organic waste separation efficiency of 46%, that is, the rest is collected mixed. The infrastructure that Mexico City has for the separation and treatment of inorganic MSW is two separation plants where MSW is separated both manually and automatically to recover and revalue on average 4% of MSW materials (SEDEMA 2018). In the San Juan de Aragón separation plant, there are two lines for forming compact bales from the waste not recovered in the previous phases for its energy use. For organic MSW, there are eight plants for the adequate transformation of organic MSW into nutritious compost usable in soils of green areas, including the Bordo Poniente plant which receives 506,916 t per year (SEDEMA 2019). Finally, MSW that cannot be used in the selection and compaction plants is sent to sanitary landfills so that its confinement has the least possible environmental impact, under the official Mexican standard NOM-083-SEMARNAT-2003. Currently, the city has its MSW in five sanitary landfills, four in the state of Mexico and one in Morelos; these five in 2018 confined 3,046,145 t of MSW per year (SEDEMA 2019). In the state of Mexico, the General Directorate of Integral Waste Management is in charge of managing MSW through environmental standards such as NTEA-013SMA-RS-2011, which establishes the criteria for separation and collection of waste at source. However, unlike Mexico City, which has centralized management, the municipalities have responsibility for collection and separation infrastructure and staff. Besides that, of those landfills used by Mexico City, at least six receive municipal waste from the rest of the metropolitan area, located in the east and north (Padilla-Pérez 2019). As shown in Fig. 3, in the entire metropolitan area, only 64% of households separate their organic waste (INEGI 2015). Figure 3 shows that in the states in the ZMVM, 80% of the MSW is not treated. Only Mexico City treats part of its MSW, 16.9% of the organic MSW, the majority in a large-scale compost plant in Bordo Poniente, and 21.4% of the inorganic waste. In the other two states, practically all MSW is sent for final disposal in sanitary landfills or dumps (INEGI 2014). There are no areas available to construct a new landfill in Mexico City or its surroundings. In fact, the Mexico City government has interest in eliminating the use of landfills and implementing new facilities to separate, treat, and dispose of waste and recover energy (Durán et al. 2013); because of that, the Mexico City government and the cement company Cemex agreed to incinerate waste daily at the cement plants in Huichapan, Hidalgo, and Tepeaca Puebla. The cost of incinerating the waste is 140 pesos for each ton received for incineration, plus 160 pesos for transporting the
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Fig. 3 Treatment of MSW in the ZMVM (INEGI 2014)
garbage to the cement plants (Gallegos and Vargas 2015). The project to coincinerate waste at the Tepeaca cement plant was approved as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in January 2011, after Cemex decided to double cement production at the plant; in the case of Huichapan, the project is pending approval as a CDM (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 2012, 2014).
Circular Economy Currently, world leaders are focusing on an increase in the production of renewable energy and adoption of the circular economy (CE). The concept of CE was first presented in 1966 by the economist Kenneth Boulding in his essay The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth. It was further discussed by the environmental economists Pearce and Turner in their book Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment (Jensen 1998). As per the European Union (EU), the CE is supposed to “enhance global competitiveness, substitute sustainable economic growth and create new jobs” (European Commission 2015). CE applies the Resource, Recovery, and Reuse (RRR) system which involves a flow loop of resources for the sustainable utilization of resources while enhancing the economy. Simultaneously, it also reduces the environmental pollution and cost of a production system while increasing waste recycling (Rathore and Sarmah 2020). The vision focused on moving toward a CE aims to replace the currently linear economy of “take, use, and discard” with another in which resources circulate at high value, avoiding or reducing the need for primary resources and minimizing waste,
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pollutants, and emissions. The CE’s main drivers are increasing price volatility and restricting the supply of primary resources; environmental policies, such as regulations on producer responsibilities; and possibly a new consumer culture (Mutz et al. 2017). Conventional waste management approaches (such as landfilling) have been linked to penetration and evaporation of leachates, ecological damage, infections, nuisance odors, the presence of UV quenching substances in leachate, and contaminated streams. Alternatively, resource recovery from waste streams is a more promising approach than conventional waste management practices to facilitate cities’ transition into a CE (Bagheri et al. 2020). One of the best methods for MSW management and closing the loop in the CE is to use the high calorific value components of MSW as a fuel (Shumal et al. 2020). Rather than burning waste as it comes, one can convert it into storable fuel, following a suitable sequence of operations to convert MSW into more manageable and storable Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF). RDF is produced from MSW through a number of processes to meet requirements for particle size, moisture content, and noncombustible content dictated by the thermal unit that will receive the RDF. At its simplest, MSW is shredded to a maximum particle size to produce RDF. More often, additional steps are taken to remove noncombustible materials and control the particle size (Buekens 2013). A more precise definition indicates that RFDs can be solid, liquid, pasty, or gaseous fuels obtained from hazardous, nonhazardous, or inert waste for energy use in incineration or cogeneration plants and that usually meet specifications established between the fuel producer and user (Costa Posada et al. 2017). RDF production starts with the separation of noncombustible waste such as metal and glass from combustibles. Larger items must be broken into smaller pieces. The next stage is the collection of unsegregated municipal waste, including organic waste (primarily food waste) and materials like paper, cloth, plastic, and wood that provide the calorific value required to burn. Ideally, during the separation stages, hazardous materials are removed completely, but unfortunately, this is rarely possible. Another serious challenge in making RDF, particularly in less developed or tropical countries, is moisture. Since organic materials are not separated out at the source, MSW has a very high moisture content. Many RDF plants separate out some of the organic matter and sell it as compost. Production of RDF includes a series of steps, the sequence of which may differ depending on the waste characteristics, climatic conditions, technologies available, and final treatments planned in a given location. The separation of waste mostly happens based on its physical properties such as size, weight, moisture content, and electromagnetic properties. The preparation of RDF may proceed according to very simple schemes or more complex ones promising higher quality and requiring more investment and operating costs. Figure 4 explains some of the processes used in the processing of MSW. The inclusion and sequence of the stages described depend on the waste characteristics and final product quality or application. Manual separation. Bulky items such as large pieces of wood, rocks, and long pieces of cloth are removed by hand before mechanical processing begins.
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Fig. 4 Generic process for RDF generation
Equipment involved in manual separation usually includes a sorting belt or table. Handpicking of refuse is perhaps the most prevalent MSW handling technique; it is also the only technique for the removal of PVC plastics. Air separation. In this step, fans are used to create a column of air moving upward. Low-density materials are flipped upward, and dense materials fall. The air carrying light materials like paper and plastic bags enters a separator where these items fall out of the air stream. Air separation quality depends on the strength of the air currents and how materials are introduced into the column. Moisture content is also critical as water may weigh down some materials or cause them to stick together. Ferrous metal separation. Electromagnets are used in this step to allow the removal of collected metal. However, not all metals can be removed by magnets. Nonferrous metals do not have iron and do not respond to the magnetic field. Stainless steel, copper, and aluminum, for example, are only weakly magnetic or are not magnetic at all. A further limitation of this technique is that small magnetic items will not pick up if buried in nonmagnetic materials. Larger magnetic items can drag unwanted items like paper, plastic, and food waste along with them. Nonferrous metal separation. Eddy current separators, or nonferrous separators, use the current induced in little swirls (“eddies”) on a large conductor and separate nonmagnetic metals. An eddy current is a swirling current set up in a conductor in response to a changing magnetic field. If a sizeable conductive metal plate moves through a magnetic field that intersects perpendicularly to the sheet, the magnetic field will induce small “rings” of current, which will create internal magnetic fields opposing the change. Eddy current separators have high handling capacity because the conveyor belt separates and carries away nonferrous metals continuously and fully automatically. An important factor for good separation is an even flow of material supplied by a vibrating feeder or conveyor belt, for example, to provide a uniform monolayer of materials across the belt. It is especially important with smaller fraction sizes. Size reduction. Two types of device are commonly used for this process: hammer mills and shear shredders. Hammer mills consist of rotating sets of swinging steel hammers through which the waste is passed, and shear shredders are used for
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materials that are difficult to break apart, such as tires, mattresses, and plastics. Both are energy- and maintenance-intensive. Hammer mills shatter items such as fluorescent light bulbs, compact fluorescent lamps, and batteries. Size separation. A trommel screen, also known as a rotary screen, is a mechanical screening machine used to separate materials. It consists of a perforated cylindrical drum generally elevated at an angle at the feed end. In an inclined drum, objects are lifted and then dropped with the help of lifter bars to move them further down the drum; otherwise, the objects roll down slower. Furthermore, the lifter bars shake the objects to segregate them. Lifter bars are not considered in the presence of heavy objects as they may break the screen. Physical size separation is achieved as the feed material spirals down the rotating drum. Undersized material, smaller than the screen apertures, passes through the screen, while oversized material exits at the other end of the drum. Trommel screens classify sizes of solid waste. By removing inorganic materials such as moisture and ash from the air-classified light fraction segregated from shredded solid waste, trommel screening improves the fuel derived from solid waste. Another trommel screen design available is concentric screens, with the coarsest screen located at the innermost section. Trommel screens can also be placed in parallel, where objects exit one stream and enter the following one. A trommel in series is a single drum whereby each section has a different aperture size, arranged from the finest to the coarsest. One of the competitors in the screening process is vibrating screens. Trommel screens are vibration-free, which causes less noise than vibrating screens. Trommel screens are also cheaper to produce than vibrating screens. Trommel screens are more mechanically robust than vibrating screens, allowing them to last longer under mechanical stress. However, trommel screens have a lower capacity for processing material than vibrating screens because only part of the trommel is utilized during the screening process whereas the whole vibrating screen is used. The drying process reduces the moisture content of the waste and prevents leachate production. Dried materials are biologically inactive and easier to store. The result is a homogeneous RDF. Partially decayed waste should be dried, either under the sun or by hot air or both. This critical step in the process differs in each facility, depending on the investment or land availability. Solar drying is not possible during rainy seasons, and most facilities run at a fraction of their capacity during the rains, sending most of the waste to landfills. On the other hand, mechanical drying requires significant amounts of energy that could easily render RDF plants unprofitable without huge government subsidies. Once all of the separating and size reduction steps are complete, the final RDF product can be formed into bricks or pellets or left as fluff. Each form is derived from material separated at a particular stage in the process. Large pieces that escape the trommel screening stage and lighter materials like plastic bags that get blown off during air separation are baled together as RDF bricks. The shredded material from the hammer/flail mill and medium-size rejects from the trommel screens are used for RDF fluff. Finally, the residual waste is mixed with binders like agricultural husks and passed through a pelletizing machine that converts the waste into pellets (Rezaei 2018).
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Coprocessing Coprocessing is the use of waste-derived materials (RDF) to replace natural mineral resources (material recycling) or traditional fossil fuels such as coal, fuel oil, and natural gas (energy recovery) in industrial processes (Mutz et al. 2017). Coprocessing is applied worldwide, mainly in the cement industry, thermoelectric plants, and the steel and lime industry. In thermoelectric plants where only energy recovery takes place, it is known as coincineration. In the European cement industry, the thermal replacement rate of fossil fuels by waste is around 39% and can reach up to 80% in certain facilities (average over a year) (Mutz et al. 2017). It should be mentioned that it has been paid more attention in recent years, and RDF production has grown more rapidly. The reason for this extent of using RDF is its higher heating value, higher physical and chemical uniformity compared to solid waste, and lower pollution. Considering the merits of RDF, its use has also been growing in developing countries. A great number of RDF production plants have been established in countries such as Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan, and many studies have been carried out to evaluate the potential of RDF resources in other developing countries (Shumal et al. 2020). As an alternative to landfilling, energy recovery (WtE) is being paid more attention throughout the world. Today, more than 130 million metric tons of wastes is incinerated in more than 600 WtE plants. Thus, approaches to sustainable development and energy production using modern technologies for waste management, such as anaerobic digestion, thermal processing, and RDF production, have been paid growing attention (Shumal et al. 2020). It could be said that cement kilns are one the best places for RDF energy recovery, so the main features of the RDF quality standard are based on the demands of the cement industry. RDF, as an alternative to fossil fuels in the cement industry, reduces energy consumption and CO2 emissions (Shumal et al. 2020). The RDF is typically added to the combustion process through a separate dosing system as shown in Fig. 5. Coprocessing in cement kilns offers the advantage that clinker reactions at 1450 C allow the total incorporation of ash and the chemical union of metals with the clinker material. Toxic organic compounds are destroyed completely in the flame at temperatures above 2000 C. The direct substitution of primary fuel in the production process represents much more efficient energy recovery than that of other technologies using energy from waste, generally reaching 85–95% depending on the properties of the waste (Mutz et al. 2017). Cement kilns are more efficient than other common incinerators. The combustion conditions in cement kilns are perfect for the use of alternative fuels made from waste. The most important conditions are the high temperatures; long residence time; surplus oxygen concentrations during and after combustion; good turbulence and mixing conditions; thermal inertia; dry scrubbing of the exit gas by alkaline raw materials; fixation of the trace heavy metals in the clinker structure; lack of generation of by-products such as slag, ashes, or liquid residues; and complete recovery of energy and raw material components in the waste. To foster complete combustion, especially of high molecular weight hydrocarbons, high kiln temperatures and
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Fig. 5 Clinker process (Fyffe et al. 2016)
adequate residence times are required. Therefore, the clinkering zone temperature is higher than 1427 C, and the flame temperatures are approximately 1627–1827 C, while gas flow velocities from 12.1 to 13.5 m/s result in residence times of approximately 2.7 s when the temperature is above 1397 C. Lower temperatures are associated with an increase in the residence time up to 5.0 s at 1197 C. The temperature and residence time are especially important in the case of dioxin and furan (PCDD/Fs) emissions, especially those from animal waste. While the maximum quantities of these substances are detected at 700 and 800 C, cement combustion conditions produce minimal emissions from these compounds. Presently, cement kilns can achieve an emission level of 0.1 ng I-TEQ/m3. Hence, the proper replacement of fossil fuels by waste, even hazardous materials, is not a significant problem in terms of the formation of PCDD/Fs. Another advantage of cement production is that fuel combustion in rotary cement furnaces is a non-waste process because no residues are generated as the ashes can be incorporated into the clinker (Aranda Usón et al. 2013). Cement is the second most consumed material in the world after water. It is a finely ground, inorganic, and nonmetallic powder and the most important ingredient of concrete. It is necessary for the construction industry and essential for the development in any country so that that cement plants are not uniformly distributed
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worldwide, and cement production depends on several social, economic, and geographical factors. According to the data of the European Cement Association, a total of 3.6 billion metric tons of cement was manufactured in the world in 2011; in the case of developing countries in Asia and South America, production has increased slightly (Aranda Usón et al. 2013). Cement manufacture is a resource- and energy-intensive industry. Producing a metric ton of cement needs 1.5–1.7 t of raw materials and 60–130 kg of fuel oil as well as around 105 kWh of electricity. About 5% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions originate from the cement industry (Karagiannidis 2012). Thus, using cheap alternative fuels (like RDF) in the cement industry in developing countries has an important role in terms of economic and environmental issues (Shumal et al. 2020). In the last 20 years, the cement industry has reduced its energy consumption by around 30%, which is equivalent to saving approximately 11 million metric tons of coal per year. The substitution of fossil fuel and virgin raw materials for waste (alternative fuels and raw materials) will reduce total CO2 emissions more than if the raw materials used had been burned or disposed of without energy recovery (GTZ-Holcim 2006). The cement industry has a key role in alternative waste management treatment, offering a waste treatment option while avoiding the use of fossil fuels. Furthermore, using alternative fuels and raw materials should help reduce the consumption of natural resources and energy without compromising the quality of the cement produced or increasing the environmental impact (Güereca et al. 2015). The availability of adequate infrastructure for waste management in Latin American countries is one of the leading environmental challenges that governments face today. A culture based on the final disposal of waste in open dumps or poorly controlled landfills is still the main route to removing waste materials. Coprocessing offers the advantage of using basic infrastructure existing in practically all countries, such as cement kilns, often managed by companies that already have experience and knowledge of this type of development, thanks to their international presence (Jensen-Velasco 2016). Mexico is the second largest cement market in Latin America and the thirteenth largest in the world. Six cement groups are present in the country with 34 cement plants, among which is the only non-European cement company that is part of the group of the five largest companies in the world: Cemex. The National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), commissioned to carry out studies and research projects on climate change and environmental protection, estimates that the cement industry consumes around 6.5% of the coal used in the country and an equivalent of 2.3% of the oil used at the end-user level. The sector is responsible for around 2.1% (14 million metric tons of CO2/year) of the country’s total CO2 emissions (683 million metric tons of CO2/year) (INECC 2018). The Mexican cement industry has been a pioneer in Latin America in the coprocessing of waste as an alternative source of fuels and raw materials for the cement production process. Since the late 1990s, relevant capacity has been developed for the pre- and coprocessing of different types of waste, highlighting industrial waste,
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used tires, and some liquid waste such as used oils and solvents (in the early stages of development). Currently, the Mexican cement industry presents coprocessing levels close to 13% in terms of average thermal substitution, with the companies Cemex and Holcim (now Lafarge-Holcim) as the clear leaders (Jensen-Velasco 2016). The companies concentrate most of their operations in the center of the country, specifically in the states of Mexico, Hidalgo, and Puebla (Gallegos and Vargas 2015). One aspect to highlight in favor of energy substitution projections of around 30% is that the Mexican cement industry generally has BAT (Best Available Technology) furnaces which allow adequate coprocessing of classified MSW. This is reinforced by extensive experience in coprocessing. Mexico is the most advanced country in Latin America in this field, with a current average energy substitution rate of 12–13% at the national level (Jensen-Velasco 2016). In Mexico, around 42.1 million metric tons of MSW is generated annually, and there is the potential for up to 30% replacement of thermal energy in the cement industry, that is, the use of 3.1 million metric tons of MSW annually, equivalent to 8.2% of the total of this type of waste generated in the country (Equipo técnico EnRes 2018). The pioneer in this field in Latin America, Cemex has coprocessed the inorganic materials from urban solid waste since 2012. Paper, plastics, and textiles that cannot be recycled are sorted, shredded, and then used as an alternative fuel in Cemex’s cement kilns. In 2013, 84,000 metric tons of inorganic MSW were coprocessed in eight cement plants, and they aim to roll out the system to the other seven Mexican cement plants by 2016 (Stafford et al. 2015). Besides this enhancement by the private sector, the Camara Nacional del Cemento (National Cement Chamber, CANACEM) has signed individual accords with the environmental ministry (SEMARNAT) and the national oil company (PEMEX) in respect of using waste from the petroleum industry in cement production (Coordinación General de Mitigación del Cambio Climatico 2018). In the ZMVM, two plants produce RDF for cogeneration in cement kilns. The first one is the San Juan de Aragón plant that began operating in 2012 and receives MSW from the municipalities of Benito Juárez, Azcapotzalco, Venustiano Carranza, and Gustavo A. Madero. The second is the Iztapalapa plant, which started operations in July 2014 and receives MSW from the Iztacalco, Gustavo A. Madero, and Iztapalapa municipalities and the central market. These plants were installed within transfer stations to reduce land acquisition costs and MSW transportation costs. The plants have a weighing area, reception yard, discharge pit, two selection lines, magnetic separators, organic matter separator, and a compactor and packer. The production process, shown in Fig. 6, consists of depositing the waste in a pit and then using an initial conveyor belt along which the waste is led to a magnetic separator, followed by two manual selection lines on which is spread the recyclable waste that is bulky and unsuitable for cogeneration, such as PVC, glass, rubble, leather, diapers, and metal (Fig. 7). The remainder is sent to the compacting plant where the MSW is processed for use as an alternative fuel in the cement kilns. In this plant, the MSW goes through a magnetic separator. Later, the organic fraction is separated by a splitter separator.
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Fig. 6 Process for RDF generation in Mexico City Fig. 7 MSW separation and classification (SEDEMA 2018)
Finally, the volume of the MSW is reduced by employing a closed press compactor, and it is bagged to be transported to the cement kilns, forming bales of between 1400 and 1520 kg (Fig. 8). Through this agreement, the two compacting plants produced 280,736 metric tons during 2018; 4% of Mexico City’s MSW was sent for cogeneration in cement kilns in Tepeaca Puebla and Huichapan, 172 km and 161 km, respectively, from the separation plant in San Juan de Aragón (SEDEMA 2019). Through the recovery of material and energy, coprocessing contributes to reducing the environmental impacts of cement production, an intensive process in terms of resource consumption, and generates various air emissions that must be monitored and further decreased according to legally prescribed limits using appropriate techniques. Potential emissions from cement kilns include dust, nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxides (SO2), dioxins and furans, carbon oxides (CO, CO2), volatile organic compounds, hydrochloric acid (HCI), hydrofluoric acid (HF), and heavy metals (Equipo técnico EnRes 2018). Climate change is one of the main challenges facing humanity. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the principal contribution to
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Fig. 8 MSW compaction (SEDEMA 2018)
this climate phenomenon comes from the increment in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes accounted for 78% of total GHG emissions from 1970 to 2010 (IPCC 2014). The cement industry is a polluting industry in addition to being costly. About 5% of all CO2 generation worldwide is generated by the cement industry. Thus, using cheap alternative fuels in the cement industry in developing countries has an important role in terms of economics (Shumal et al. 2020). Net GHG emissions can be reduced drastically by replacing traditional fuels with other materials such as agricultural biomass, MSW, or meat and bone animal meal. The main reason is that the carbon contained in alternative fuels is considered carbon-neutral. However, some alternative fuels, such as plastics, oils, or used tires, are not entirely approved as carbon-neutral by the IPCC although the impacts of these fuels are lower than those of traditional fuels (Aranda Usón et al. 2013). However, the degree of alternative fuel use differs depending on the country. Replacement ratios of fossil fuels by alternative fuels between 2010 and 2011 in the European cement industry consumed 9.8 million metric tons alternative fuels, which is equivalent to an average substitution rate of 36%. However, it is estimated that technically, the cement industry in Europe could reach a replacement rate of 60% by making investments and adaptations to its processes. While in 2003 in the United States, on average, plants met 25% of their energy requirements with alternative fuels (GTZ-Holcim 2006). Mexico is highly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change, particularly those related to rising sea levels, as well as increases in average temperatures and the increased frequency of severe weather events such as hurricanes and droughts. Mexico’s CO2 emissions profile is heavily slanted toward transport, which accounted for 32% of the energy-related emissions in 2013. Further, 25% of energy-related emissions are from the power sector and 21% from the industrial sector, mainly cement, chemical, and petrochemical industries accounting for 10% of total emissions (Castrejón et al. 2018).
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The Mexican government has launched a voluntary commitment to reduce its GHG emissions in the long term. The General Law of Climate Change sets the following indicative targets to reduce national emissions: 30% by 2020 compared to the baseline and 50% by the 2050 compared to those issued in 2000 (about 600 Mt CO2e); this goal will be reached with the contribution of all economic sectors (SEMARNAT 2012). The cement sector is considered one of the most important within the framework of the CO2 emission reduction strategies undertaken by Mexico and is the objective of the recent carbon tax and the design of an Appropriate National Mitigation Action (NAMA), promoted by CANACEM (Jensen-Velasco 2016). One of the main strategies to mitigate climate change in Mexico is to increase the production of RDF for use in cement kilns. Reflecting the complexity implicit in implementing the measure, execution deadlines have set alternative fuel substitution targets of 20% for the period 2018–2025, 25% for 2025–2030, and 35% for 2030–2050 (Coordinación General de Mitigación del Cambio Climatico 2018). When using RDF, the emissions should be equal to or less than those without the use of RDF. To this end, use of state-of-the-art technologies and procedures such as direct feeding of the RDF to the high-temperature zones in the furnace is mandatory. Modern cement plant design often already meets international standards. When this is already assured, there are fewer requirements to improve emission control for coprocessing (Equipo técnico EnRes 2018). The Mexican cement industry has modern facilities that offer the best available technologies. It is estimated that the potential volume of urban solid waste managed through its coprocessing is 3.1 million metric tons per year, corresponding to 8.2% of the total generated. This amount of waste is based on replacing thermal energy in the cement industry (substitution of fossil fuels such as petroleum coke or coal), equivalent to 30% of the total (Jensen-Velasco 2016). A relevant impact of replacing 30% of fossil fuels in cement clinks is GHG emissions, with a total theoretical reduction of 3.2 million metric tons of CO2 annually. However, it is necessary to ensure that this power is not the same throughout the country as it exists. A limiting factor is the transport of waste from municipalities to the cement plant. Distances greater than 200 km take away all the operation’s attractiveness in the financial and ecological sense (Mutz et al. 2017).
Results One of the biggest environmental problems faced by local governments in the ZMVM is reducing the amount of MSW sent to landfills for final disposal without any treatment, thereby reducing the environmental pollution caused by MSW. A viable option due to the region’s characteristics is to increase RDF production and take advantage of the calorific value of inorganic waste that cannot be recycled and use it as an alternative fuel in cement plants to facilitate the transition into a CE. Within the ZMVM and its neighboring states, there are 13 cement plants, as shown in Fig. 9. Together, they have an installed capacity of 16,633,000 metric tons
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Fig. 9 Cement plants in the central region of Mexico
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per year, all at a distance of less than 200 km, considered attractive from environmental and economic aspects. Of these 13 plants, 11 have experience in treating MSW or industrial waste. Only the three Cementos Fortaleza plants in Vito Atotonilco, Atotonilco de Tula, and Santiago de Anaya do not use any waste as an alternative fuel. With an installed capacity of 16,633,000 metric tons of cement per year (Vásquez and Corrales 2017), corresponding to a total of just over 12,474,750 metric tons of clinker per year (assuming an average clinker factor of 75%), which demands an average thermal consumption of 830 kcal/kg clinker (as established in the NAMA CANACEM), the nine plants in the central region at their maximum capacity have an energy requirement of 10,354 million Mcal as shown in Table 1. The General Law of Climate Change sets the following indicative targets to reduce national emissions: 30% by 2020 compared to the baseline and 50% by 2050 compared to those issued in 2000. Given that the cement industry is considered the most important within the framework of the CO2 emission reduction strategies undertaken by Mexico, it considers that these 13 plants can replace 30% of fossil fuels with alternatives such as RDF. Table 2 shows that this requires the substitution of 3,106,212,750 Mcal/year from alternative fuels such as RDF. It assumes a calorific value of 3500 kcal/kg (which corresponds to a characteristic amount for treated MSW) (Jensen-Velasco 2016). The potential volume of urban waste selected as alternative fuel is 887,489 metric tons per year, three times more than what is Table 1 Energy requirements
Plant CemexTlalnepantla Holcim-Apaxco Cemex-Atotonilco de Tula Cemex-Huichapan Cementos FortalezaAtotonilco de Tula Cementos Fortaleza-Vito Atotonilco de Tula Cementos Fortaleza-Santiago de Anaya Cruz Azul-Tula de Allende CemexCuautinchán Total
Installed capacity Ton/year 883,000
Cement/ clinker % 0.75
Clinker Ton/year 662,250
Energy requirement Mcal/ton 830
Energy Mcal/year 549,667,500
1,000,000 1,500,000
0.75 0.75
750,000 1,125,000
830 830
622,500,000 933,750,000
3,250,000 600,000
0.75 0.75
2,437,500 450,000
830 830
2,023,125,000 373,500,000
400,000
0.75
300,000
830
249,000,000
1,000,000
0.75
750,000
830
622,500,000
3,500,000
0.75
2,625,000
830
2,178,750,000
4,500,000
0.75
3,375,000
830
2,801,250,000
16,633,000
12,474,750
10,354,042,500
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Table 2 Capacity for MSW coprocessing
Cement plant Cemex-Tlalnepantla Holcim-Apaxco Cemex-Atotonilco de Tula Cemex-Huichapan Cementos FortalezaAtotonilco de Tula Cementos FortalezaVito Atotonilco de Tula Cementos FortalezaSantiago de Anaya Cruz Azul-Tula de Allende Cemex-Tepeaca ZMVM
Replacement of fossil fuels % 30.0 30.0 30.0
Alternative fuel Mcal/year 164,900,250 186,750,000 280,125,000
MSW heat capacity Mcal/ton 3500 3500 3500
MSW Tons/year 47,114 53,357 80,036
MSW Tons/day 129 146 219
30.0 30.0
606,937,500 112,050,000
3500 3500
173,411 32,014
475 88
30.0
74,700,000
3500
21,343
58
30.0
186,750,000
3500
53,357
146
30.0
653,625,000
3500
186,750
512
30.0
840,375,000 3,106,212,750
3500
240,107 887,489
658 2431
currently sent for cogeneration, equivalent to 11.2% of the total MSW generated in the ZMVM (Consejo Nacional de Población 2018; SEMARNAT 2020). Considering that the coprocessable fraction of the MSW (after separation activities for recycling) corresponds on average to 11.2% of the total volume, equivalent to 887,489 metric tons per year (Consejo Nacional de Población 2018; SEMARNAT 2020), it can be concluded that the generation of MSW in the ZMVM will not be, in any case, a limitation to satisfy the potential demand of coprocessing. As shown in Table 3, a reduction of 0.59 million metric tons CO2e/year would be achieved by substituting 30% of the fossil fuels with MSW in cement kilns in ZMVM and its neighboring states instead of depositing it in sanitary landfills. Considering that the final disposal of waste generates 3.2% (22 million metric tons of CO2e/year) of the total emissions in Mexico, this strategy would mean a reduction of 4% of GHG due to MSW disposal (INECC 2018).
Conclusion The mandatory separation of waste into organic (including only food and garden waste) and inorganic fractions in Mexico City has allowed the formulation of RDF coprocessing in cement kilns at the Iztapalapa and San Juan de Aragón transfer stations. The inorganic fraction of waste received in transfer stations contains a minimum amount of recyclables, food, and garden waste.
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Table 3 Reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) (Johnke 2001; Ministry for the Environment 2019) Cement clink emission rate Tons CO2e/tons MSW 0.415 0.415 0.415
Reduction of emission rate Tons CO2e/tons MSW 0.715 0.715 0.715
Total reduction of GHG
(Tons/year) 43,973 49,800 74,700
Landfill emission rate Tons CO2e/tons MSW 1.13 1.13 1.13
161,850 29,880
1.13 1.13
0.415 0.415
0.715 0.715
115,723 21,364
19,920
1.13
0.415
0.715
14,243
49,800
1.13
0.415
0.715
35,607
174,300
1.13
0.415
0.715
124,625
224,100 828,323.400
1.13
0.415
0.715
160,232 592,251
Installed capacity
Cement plant Cemex-Tlalnepantla Holcim-Apaxco Cemex-Atotonilco de Tula Cemex-Huichapan Cruz Azul-Tula de Allende Cementos FortalezaAtotonilco de Tula Cementos Fortaleza-Vito Atotonilco de Tula Cementos Fortaleza-Santiago de Anaya Cemex-Tepeaca ZMVM
Tons CO2e/year 31,441 35,607 53,411
Given the similarity in waste management in the ZMVM, these experiences can apply in the other states that make up the region, and simple separation can be implemented without affecting the other elements of waste management such as replacing collection vehicles or affecting the informal sector. With the separation of waste into two fractions, the nonrecyclable inorganic fraction can be converted to an alternative fuel for use in cement kilns. After recycling, incineration with energy recovery is the most used treatment in the EU countries. The main challenges for using MSW as an alternative fuel in cement kilns correspond to ensuring the supply chain of materials determined by adequate management of waste from its generation, transport, storage, and treatment to its use in cement kilns, complying with the technical and economic conditions that make this activity a sustainable management model for all stakeholders (GTZ-Holcim 2006). The ZMVM is considered viable in terms of the volume of MSW and good communication routes from urban areas to cement kilns at distances less than 200 km, which is an economically and environmentally attractive distance in terms of polluting emissions and transportation costs. Besides that, the use of MSW as alternative fuel in cement clinks has the advantage that the cement industry is one of Mexico’s most important. Cemex is one of the five largest cement companies worldwide and continuously invests in
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upgrading its cement plants to maximize alternative fuels; its alternative fuel substitution rate was 28% worldwide in 2018. The cement industry in Mexico has committed to replacing 30% of fossil fuels with waste. This commitment to replace fuels with MSW in the ZMVM would have the benefits of reducing the total volume of MSW that is sent for final disposal by 11.2%, equivalent to 887,489 metric tons per year, and reducing GHG by 4% due to MSW disposal. This type of treatment would help reduce the amount of MSW sent for final disposal without any previous treatment. In the states of Mexico and Hidalgo, all waste is collected and buried in sanitary landfills or controlled dumps (see Fig. 3). The lack of treatment is due to cultural, social, and economic factors. Among the cultural factors, it stands out that in the ZMVM, the population does not have the habit of separating their waste at source; only in Mexico City is the separation of waste mandatory. However, according to the CDMx waste inventory, separation efficiency is 42%. Therefore, much of the waste that can be recovered is contaminated when mixed with other types of waste, such as organic waste, making its possible treatment difficult. Recyclable waste of higher value is separated manually in containers or collection vehicles by cleaning staff or the informal sector. The commercialization of recyclables such as aluminum, metals, glass, bond paper, cardboard, and some plastics is an essential income source. Therefore, the waste that enters the final disposal sites is a heterogeneous mixture of waste from which the higher-value recyclables have already been removed.
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Developing “Zero Waste Model” for Solid Waste Management to Shift the Paradigm Toward Sustainability
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Sudipti Arora, Jasmine Sethi, Jayana Rajvanshi, Devanshi Sutaria, and Sonika Saxena
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste: Composition, Sources, and Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Practices of Solid Waste Management and Its Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Legal Framework for Solid Waste Management in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Governance for Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Management Rule, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Role of Economy in the Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From Eco-effectiveness to Eco-efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zero Waste Model: A Visionary Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thiruvananthapuram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
The current consumption-driven society produces an enormous volume of waste every day. Continuous depletion of natural finite resources is leading the globe to an uncertain future. Therefore, to prevent further depletion of global resources, sustainable consumption and a strategic waste management system would be required. Human activities generate tremendous amounts of solid waste, and the amounts tend to increase as the demand for quality of life increases. Today’s waste generation rate in the country is alarming, posing a challenge to governments regarding environmental pollution. The expectation is that eventually S. Arora (*) · J. Sethi · J. Rajvanshi · D. Sutaria · S. Saxena Department of Biotechnology, Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_20
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waste treatment and waste prevention approaches will develop toward sustainable waste management solutions. Zero waste model is a visionary concept for confronting waste problems in our society. The zero waste models for solid waste management have been embraced by policymakers because they stimulate sustainable production and consumption, optimum recycling, and resource recovery. For building and paving operations, a nonbiodegradable fraction of solid waste could be used. Overall, the analysis highlights the paradigm change following the “zero waste” idea in solid waste management principles from linear to circular economies. The circular economy (CE) is a conceptual model used in a closed-loop approach to better resource use and waste minimization that could be suitable for waste management. The study also describes the policies of the circular economy for solid waste management, which boosts the country’s economy and identifies ways of optimizing local resources. Keywords
Solid waste management · Zero waste management · Sustainable development · Circular economy
Introduction Background Continued population growth, a booming economy, rapid urbanization, and increasing community living standards have greatly accelerated the worldwide generation of solid waste, particularly from developing countries (Guerrero et al. 2013). Residues after consumption are often perceived as waste, generally solid in nature, resulting from human and animal activities. Solid waste generation ranges from sludge produced during wastewater treatment to perhaps other abandoned material resulting from manufacturing, commercial activities, mining, agricultural activities, and community activities (RCRA EPA 2020). Solid waste management is a multidisciplinary pursuit of urbanization, which refers to the controlled generation, on-site segregation, collection, transport, storage, and final disposal of the solid waste in accordance with the fundamentals of public health, financial aspects, and conservation of natural resources. The waste production at the consumer end is limited as compared to the tremendous amount of waste generated during the mining of natural resources and industrial processing for production. Around the world, waste generation rates are rising. In 2016, the worlds’ cities generated 2.01 billion tonnes of solid waste, amounting to a footprint of 0.74 kg/person/day (World Bank 2019). With rapid population growth and urbanization, annual waste generation is expected to increase by 70% from 2016 levels to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050. Rapidly growing economies like India, with escalated levels of population supported by industrialization and urbanization, are getting buried under the heaps of garbage due to the improper
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waste management practices. India annually produces 1.50 million metric tonnes of solid waste. Only 20% (27,000 MT total daily) of the collected waste receives treatment, while the rest 80% (1,08,000 MT total daily) is discarded in landfills, leading to severe environmental and human health problems (India Today 2019). Initially, waste production declines at the developing economies and then rises at a higher rate than at developed economies for gradual revenue adjustments at low-income levels (World Bank 2020a). The depletion of global finite resources also requires us to take into account resource and inventory management. Therefore, one solution to zero waste (ZW) was suggested to resolve these concerns. Due to the great environmental stresses, a state of zero waste may eventually become a requirement in the world with limited resources. Some strong zero waste practices have currently been proposed and implemented in cities, industries, individuals, and waste recycling sectors (GAIA 2013). This can be achieved in two ways: one is the circular model, a “cradle-to-cradle” approach, by recycling and refining the entire waste so that there is no release of waste into the environment, and, two, by retrieving essential resources from the waste and using them for further development. Sustainability “kicks in” because there is no waste carried on to the next generation. Not only does each generation take care of all the waste they generate, but they also reduce the use of resources by recycling waste resources for further development. This leads to transfer of linear to circular economy.
Solid Waste: Composition, Sources, and Types Solid waste can also be defined as the useless and unwanted products in the solid state, that is, garbage, derived from the activities of and discarded by society; thus, it is one of the important challenges to the environment. Anthropogenic activities in different sectors contribute to solid waste generation in enormous amounts. Insights on the composition and characterization of the solid wastes aid in accessing the requirement of sustainable practices like essential alternative equipment, systems, regulatory programs, and plans, which reduce the burden on the landfills. As types and composition of the solid waste are described in Fig. 1, this variance depends primarily on the lifestyle, economic condition, legislation on waste management, and industrial structure. For the determination of the proper handling and management of these wastes, the quantity and composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) are important. The physical composition of the solid waste is indicative of the resource and energy that can be recovered from the solid waste. The elements of the municipal solid waste vary with the many factors like socioeconomic status, seasons, location, etc. For evaluating alternate processing and recovery actions, knowledge on the chemical composition of the solid waste plays an important role. The solid waste can be classified into two different categories based on its source of generation as shown in Fig. 2. The broad categories of solid waste are mainly defined as hazardous and nonhazardous. Different types of solid waste are
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Fig. 1 (a) Types of waste and its weightage. (b) Composition of solid waste and its percentage
Fig. 2 Categories of solid waste
categorized into food waste, rubbish, ashes and residues, demolition and construction, treatment plant waste, agricultural waste, hazardous waste, and special waste that includes street sweeping, road litters, etc.
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Current Practices of Solid Waste Management and Its Consequences Basically, waste management involves collecting, storing, disposing, handling, and tracking waste materials. Waste management considers all materials, be they solid, liquid, gaseous, or hazardous compounds, as a single class. It also aims to reduce the adverse environmental impacts of each of the most suitable approaches. The measure of waste management to be implemented would rely on the sources, as waste characteristics and composition vary from source to source (Tchobanoglous et al. 1993). It is not necessary to overemphasize the issue of solid waste management in developing nations. Solid waste management is an important public health facility, but it is not delivered to the full satisfaction of people in many developing countries (Addo-Yobo and Ali 2003). This is because waste management schemes have not been completely taken into account by the consumers of the management systems. The composition of activities ranging from collection, transportation, recycling, and disposal of the waste products are all an integral part of the waste management system. Waste management system is designed with the aim to ensure efficient removal of solid waste from the source of generation to the point of treatment through proper handling. Marginal attention paid to the proper treatment of the municipal solid waste in developing countries like India has created serious threat to the environment causing contamination of natural resources, which is causing climate change, global warming, and severe impact on the existing life forms causing diseases like typhoid, malaria, cholera, lung infections, and vascular infections. As per the World Bank report 2020, about 5% of the greenhouse gases were emitted through the solid waste management activities apart from the automobile emissions in 2016. Rapid industrialization supported by urbanization in developed and developing countries like India is creating ample opportunities for the rural residents to shift from the low-paid rural opportunities to better-paid urban areas (Vij 2012), which has increased per capita generation of MSW to billions of metric tonnes to maintain the social status (Devi et al. 2016). According to CPCB reports 2016, the annual production of municipal solid waste in India is approximately 52 MT, on an average producing 0.144 MT of waste per day. Out of the total waste generated, 23% of the waste is treated in landfills and through other technologies. The major fraction of the waste generated in Indian cities includes the organic waste. Depletion of available resources induced due to improper management of the municipal solid waste using conventional methods of waste management is a major issue to be considered during formulations of policies. Moreover, the linear economy model focusing on take-make-use-dispose approach has a unidirectional flow of material and energy hence creating an imbalance between the ecosystem and human economic subsystems, making it unsustainable in terms of economy, ecology, and social attributes.
Current Treatment Strategies Solid waste management encompasses all bureaucratic, monetary, regulatory, planning, and technological roles engaged in the entire spectrum of solutions to solid waste challenges placed on the society by its occupants. In the beginning of the
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century, the conventional methods employed for the treatment of solid waste included open dumping on land, dumping in water bodies, reduction, incineration, and plowing into the soil. Though these methods were utilized for specific types of wastes, like the food waste was either fed to animals or plowed into the soil. Open dumping of the waste was soon realized as an inefficient method of waste disposal and was banned in several countries because of its ill-effects on nature. This haphazard disposal of waste in the open dumps deteriorates the soil quality and groundwater quality while serving as a breeding ground for vector-borne diseases. Dumping in streams was commonly practiced in coastal areas, which was later prohibited due to its detrimental impact on the local ecosystems. The dumping of waste in water bodies results in bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals in the ecosystems which has hazardous effects on all the life forms involved in the process. Incineration method became prominent in the later part of the century due to its advantages of volume reduction or energy conversion. This method also had the limitations due to the gaseous emissions released during the process. Open Dumping Open dumping was an age-old method employed for the disposal of municipal solid waste, which is now banned by several countries due to its adverse effects on the environment. The dumping sites served as a breeding ground for the microbes and rodents that led to serious health complications in humans. The open dumpsites often faced rainfalls, which led to the leaching of toxic materials down through the soil to the groundwater contaminating the soil and groundwater both. The groundwater contamination along with the release of gases like carbon dioxide and methane led to global warming (Sharma et al. 2018; Srigirisetty et al. 2017). The open dumpsites were replaced with landfills, which are properly lined to prevent the leaching of toxic chemicals through the soil to the groundwater. Open Burning Open burning requires the combustion of solid waste, with the destruction of hazardous contaminants, in a controlled atmosphere that contributes to energy recovery. Waste burning is a major source of toxic carcinogens, such as dioxins and furans, and black carbon, a short-lived climate pollutant that contributes to climate change, increased soot and black carbon melting in polar regions on snow and ice, and numerous human health problems (Raghav and Kumar 2020). Waste may be intentionally burned in communities with insufficient waste management systems to free up space at dumpsites and to encourage the scavenging of non-combustible materials such as metals for benefit or for use as a source of fuel. Waste can also spontaneously combust in unregulated landfills and dumpsites as a result of a variety of factors, including emissions of flammable methane gas from biodegrading waste (Mohamed et al. 2009; Williams 2005). The conventional waste management system, which relies predominantly on sites, greatly pollutes our environment and therefore needs, with a small exception in developing countries, an enhanced and effective waste management system. Via sustainable design, consumption practices, and efficient waste recovery, zero waste
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is also concerned with waste prevention (Zaman 2015). ZW advocates the reduction and elimination of waste rather than the treatment and disposal of waste. Thus, using industrial symbiosis, recycling, or upcycling, the zero waste goal is to use and use energy in a circular economic model with minimal environmental destruction, based on the concept of “no waste” from nature.
Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan With the advancements in the societies and standards of living, solid waste management has evolved as a massive problem due to the diverse nature and complexity of the waste generated in the developing countries. In order to solve this, integrated solid waste management plan is implemented as follows:
Minimum Waste Generation The products with no or minimal utilization are either discarded or collected for disposal. This action results in generation of solid waste. The most important step in waste generation is the correct identification of the resources which leads to controlled waste generation and recovery of materials which can be recycled and reused into other high-value products. On-Site Storage Minimal generation of the waste should necessarily be accompanied by source segregation. Heterogeneous waste storage is commonly observed in developing countries due to the lack of awareness among the population. Source segregation involves identification of the waste based on the physical and chemical nature of the waste. These actions reduce the complexity of waste collected by the municipality and lead to appropriate treatment, hence reducing burden on the environment. Waste Collection Waste collection deals with the accumulation of waste from various sources and the transfer of waste from the point of generation to the site (transfer station/processing station/disposal site) where the collection van is emptied. Usually collection of waste includes different management frameworks, ranging from municipal services to franchised services performed under diverse categories of contracts. There are numerous waste collection services for industrial wastes. Some industrial waste receives the same treatment as residential waste, while some industries have their specific treatment facilities, including mineral waste conveyor belts and agricultural wastewater slurry transportation. Relocation and Transportation The waste collected from various sources is transferred to the processing site through the collection van. Eventually, the waste reaching the processing site is transported through vehicles to the disposal site, usually away from the cities.
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Processing and Recovery All the techniques, facilities, and equipment used to somehow improve the efficiency of other functional elements and to recover valuable products, conversion products, or solid waste resources are included in the specific components of processing and recovery. For the recovery of valuable resources from the waste, separation operations are performed over the mixed solid waste. The excluded waste is transferred for the final disposal to the transfer station or the disposal site. Separations based on size and density, generally performed by air classifiers, are the primary separation operations. Further separations are based on the nature of the metals to be separated, for example, separation of iron from the waste is done by magnetic devices, eddy currents that aid in aluminum separation, and screening for glass separation. Disposal Disposal of the solid waste in the engineered landfill sites, after processing and recovery, is the final step in the hierarchy of solid waste management. It is crucial to monitor the engineering principles of constraining the waste to the smallest possible area, reducing it to the lowest practical volume by on-site compaction, and covering it after daily operation in order to minimize exposure to vermin. Depending on the source of activity, the waste collected from the landfills can be solid or semi-solid in nature. Disposal in landfills being commonly practiced in developing countries like India, with mixed waste dumped in the landfills, is causing serious environmental and human health issues. Unsanitary landfilling is the biggest source of environmental pollution as it releases carbon dioxide, methane, and many other gases into the atmosphere, majorly constituting 50% of the gases released from the landfill sites (Cointreau-Levine 1995), which cause global warming; the leachate formed pollutes the groundwater. All these activities pollute the environment and ultimately lead to climate change (Wanichpongpan and Gheewala 2007).
Legal Framework for Solid Waste Management in India With India being one of the first countries in the world in the formulation of constitutional amendments for environmental protection and preservation, Indian Constitution offers a broad framework of powers and functions in relation to ensuring the safety and security of environment for people and other life forms. The list of articles governing environmental protection is specified in Table 1. The two relevant criminal laws dealing with solid waste management are the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The Indian Penal Code, 1860, for solid waste management offenses affecting public health, protection, comfort, decency, and morality, Chapter XIV. Solid waste is equated with “public nuisance” under this code, enforced during the British era. It was viewed and prosecuted as “public nuisance” because solid waste causes different kinds of diseases and is dangerous to public health. The regulations deal with the “removal of nuisance” under Section 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, and empower
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Table 1 Legal framework for solid waste management in India Constitutional provisions Article 243W.
Article 38 Article 47 Article 21 Article 48-A Article 51-A (g)
Designated law within the nation This article defines the power, jurisdiction, and liability of municipal governments to carry out operations relevant to the management of solid waste, the public health, the conservation of sanitation and the protection of the environment, the protection of the interests of weaker sectors, and the alleviation of urban poverty The article emphasizes on the government to ensure social order for the promotion of people’s welfare This article lays down the mandate on the state to improve the standard of living and public health This article states that “A person shall not be deprived of his life or personal liberty except in accordance with the procedure provided for by law” The article seeks to protect and improve the environment and the preservation of the country’s forests and wildlife The article states that “'It is the responsibility of India to conserve and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures”
the Sub-Divisional Magistrate or any Executive Magistrate to obtain data to order the removal of public nuisance and to refrain from carrying on any business that causes public nuisance.
Governance for Solid Waste Management India’s history of solid waste management goes back to the 1960s, when the government’s main emphasis was on public health and sanitation. As shown in Table 2, the solid waste legislation in India is divided into three separate stages, emphasizing public health and sanitation, the conservation of the environment, and climate change due to Municipal solid waste management (MSWM).
Solid Waste Management Rule, 2016 This act was developed in the context of lessons learned in 2000 from 14 years of experience gained after notification of the MSW rules. Consequently, the rules explicitly state the need for the planning mechanism to be followed by the urban local bodies (ULBs) for the preparation, revision, and implementation of the MSWM plans. In order to ensure effective implementation, CPHEEO (2015) established a seven-step MSWM planning process for ULBs with a special emphasis on community or stakeholder contribution and interdepartmental cooperation at the level of local authorities. However, it should be noted that such an approach requires effective coordination among different stakeholders to achieve the desired outcome.
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Table 2 Stages of solid waste legislation in India Phase I: public health and sanitation 1960 To promote composting of the urban solid waste, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture offered concessional funding to the local authorities 1969– The MSW composting grant was issued to the state governments in the fourth five1974 year plan 1974 In cities with more than 0.3 million population, an amendment was introduced by the Government of India to urban waste composting 1975 The first high-power committee was appointed in the fifth five-year plan who identified 8 areas of waste management and made 76 recommendations Phase II: environmental protection 1986 The Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 drew the attention of the government toward the casualties and environmental damage caused due to the abrupt discharge of toxic chemicals into the environment. This led to the formulation of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) 1989 Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989 1995 Spasmodic spread of plague in Surat in the 1990s due to the inefficient management of solid waste that led to the appointment of the high-power committee under the chairmanship of Prof. J.S. Bajaj (Bajaj Committee 1995) The national environmental health and sanitation mission was undertaken by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Under the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) has drawn up a policy paper outlining SWM problems and financial criteria in India 1999 In 1999, the Committee submitted a report The Technology Advisory Group was set up by the Ministry of Urban Development MoEF published a provisional Municipal Waste (Management and Handling) Law 2000 Implementation of Municipal Waste (Management and Handling) Rule 2000 Phase III: climate change due to MSWM 2005 The Technology Advisory Group on Solid Waste Management 2005 2006 The National Environment Policy: The National Environment Policy aims to preserve vital environmental resources and transform them into social and economic development policies, programs, and projects for the nation. It also emphasizes recycling and waste reduction techniques, but these have still not been structured into a cohesive waste management strategy with a multidisciplinary mandate for the waste hierarchy 2008 The National Urban Sanitation Policy: A policy document encouraging the integrated availability of water, sanitation, solid waste management, and drainage facilities in India was prepared by MoUD’s CPHEEO. This policy primarily encompasses aspects of urban sanitation, with a special emphasis on the reduction of open urban defecation 2009 The National Action Plan for Climate Change: The policy to resolve the impacts of climate change was introduced across eight missions at the center of the National Action Plan. Among the eight national action plans, the Sustainable Habitat National Mission highlighted the importance of improving energy efficiency of buildings, improving public transport, and managing solid waste in the region. Other components of the action plan were the development of technologies for electricity generation, sewage usage, and optimal recycling (continued)
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Table 2 (continued) 2013 2014
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Formulation of MSW rule Swachh Bharat Mission: With the mission to clean India, the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in 2014. The reduction of open defecation, the eradication of manual scavenging, the modern and scientific management of urban solid waste, and the impact of behavioral improvement in healthy sanitation practices were the objectives of the project Solid Waste Management Rule
Role of Economy in the Solid Waste Management In the way our economies and industries are organized, sustainable development needs disruptive changes. The model of a circular economy (CE) provides new possibilities for creativity and convergence between natural environments, companies, our everyday lives, and the management of waste. Ninety billion tonnes of primary materials were collected and used worldwide last year with just nine percent recycled (United Nations Environment Programme 2019). It is economically unsustainable and has substantial adverse effects on human health and the environment. The creation of new industries and employment, reducing pollution, and increasing the productive use of natural resources could be enabled by a “circular economy” model that utilizes not only waste management but also reuse, recycling, and responsible production (including energy, water, and materials). Since the circular economy concept has gained attraction since the late 1970s (EMF 2013b). Multiple authors, such as Andersen (2007), Ghisellini et al. (2016), and Su et al. (2013), attribute Pearce’s implementation of the notion to Turner and Turner (1989). By explaining how natural resources affect the economy, by supplying both output and consumption inputs and acting as a drain. They analyze linear and open-ended outputs in the form of waste. A circular economy is an industrial system that by nature and design, is restorative or regenerative. It replaces the idea of end-of-life with regeneration, moves towards the use of renewable energy, removes the use of hazardous chemicals that hinder the biosphere’s reuse and return, and seeks to reduce waste through the superior nature of materials, goods, processes and business models.
As described in Fig. 3, the circular economy varies fundamentally from a linear economy. In a linear economy, to put it simply, we produce raw materials that we refine into a commodity that is thrown away after use. We shut down the processes of all these raw materials in a circular economy. It takes much more to close these loops than just recycling. It alters the way value is produced and sustained and how output is made more sustainable and the business models are used.
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Fig. 3 Linear versus circular economy
From Eco-effectiveness to Eco-efficiency In a circular economy, the outlook on sustainability is different than in a linear economy. The emphasis is on eco-efficiency when working on sustainability inside a linear economy. This is to mitigate the effect of the same production on the environment. The time in which the machine becomes overwhelmed will therefore be extended (Di Maio, Rem, Baldï, and Polder 2017). Sustainability is pursued within a circular economy in order to improve the eco-effectiveness of the system. This implies that the ecological effect is not only reduced but that the cultural, economic, and social impact is also positive (Kjaer, Pigosso et al. 2019). The 3R strategy is followed by a circular economy: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Usage of resources is reduced (reduce). Maximizing the reuse of goods and components is (reuse). And last but not the least, to a high standard, raw materials are reused (recycled). This can be accomplished by using items, such as shared cars, with more people. Items may also be turned into utilities, such as listening licenses that Spotify sells instead of CDs. Value is generated in this method by concentrating on the preservation of value.
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In the manner in which value is generated or retained, the circular system and the linear system vary from each other. A linear economy historically follows the step-by-step plan of “take-make-dispose.” This implies the processing of raw materials and then the transformation into goods that are used before they are eventually discarded as waste. Through making and selling as many goods as possible, profit is produced in this economic system. At its heart, a circular economy model has the goal of designing out waste. In reality, a circular economy is based on the principle that there is no such thing as waste. Things are made to last (good-quality materials are used) to achieve this and are optimized for a disassembly and reuse cycle that will make it easier to manage and turn or renew them as described in Fig. 4. The role of the economy in solid waste management leads to sustainable development.
Fig. 4 The role of economy in solid waste management
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Zero Waste Model: A Visionary Concept One of the approaches for the transition toward a low-carbon and less polluting economy is the implementation of evolving paradigms such as circular economy (CE) concepts within environmental sustainability. Although the concept of CE is relatively new, the CE theory is closely related to various other approaches to economic sustainability, such as industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis, which ultimately seek to circularize linear value chains. The idea of CE is near to nature, imitating the principle of sustainability of nutrient recycling by cyclic uptake, digestion, and release. It is possible to classify the materials in CE either as biological materials or as technological materials. Biological materials, such as food, soap or shampoo, or wear-off during use such as clothes or shoes, are used to produce the so-called consumption items that are consumed during use. They are intended to be healthy for human and environmental health and can safely return to the natural biological cycle as such. Technical components, such as computers, telephones, washing machines, automobiles, etc., are used to produce service goods. Since they are non-renewable and therefore detrimental to human health and the environment, they are retained within the industrial technological cycle, where they are used for the production of new goods. The CE approach encompasses ecological consumerism and focuses on the zero waste concepts. The 5R theory used in the circular economy allows business to redesign its operations for sustainability. It ensures sustainable integration of biological nutrients into the biosphere and is designed to re-circulate technical nutrients into the production system without touching the biosphere (Yaduvanshi et al. 2016). The concepts of the circular economy thus broaden the boundaries of the management of the green supply chain by designing methodologies to support the circulation of capital within a quasi-closed structure on an ongoing basis. The latter consequently decreases the need for industrial production for virgin materials (Andersen 2006; Genovese et al. 2015). The present linear take-make-dispose resource model that generates substantial waste is opposed to this economic paradigm (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015). As per the hierarchy of solid waste management outlined in Fig. 4, the most critical steps are to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost, with the desired order to handle waste to minimize the environmental impacts. The next step, which refers to recovery, is to recover. The CE definition prioritizes the reuse, remanufacture, and refurbishment of goods that require less energy and material, making them more economical. Compared to traditional cycling activities down there. Correspondingly, the second last alternative to disposal is the conversion to electricity. In the product supply chain and life cycle thus maintain the highest value and quality possible for as long as possible and are therefore energyefficient (Korhonen et al. 2018) (Fig. 5).
Refuse Sustainability characterizes refuse as denial to purchase or support products which are hazardous to the environment. Refusing the use of certain products like singleuse plastics and disposable utensils like coffee cups, plates, straws, spoons, forks,
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Fig. 5 Representation of paradigm shift of traditional technologies to zero waste
etc. which can be recyclable or non-recyclable and switching to cloth bags and steel and glass utensils aid in reducing the burden on landfills.
Reduce Being realistic about the needs and mindful purchasing of products reduce the amount of waste produced. Purchasing high-quality products rather than cheap products also help reduce the waste as they last longer. Another option to reduce the amount of waste generated from the household is to swap the products which generated maximum waste with environmentally friendly products. Reuse Before replacing a damaged electronic good or any other product at home, it is important to think about the reuse or repair options. The products which are no longer used can be sold through auctions where they can be reused by other people rather than ending in the landfills. Before replacing the mobile phones, laptops, or desktops, one should consider the repairing option as it might fix the problem while reducing the financial burden, hence conserving nature. Plastic soil paver blocks made by reuse of plastic along with timber products are used in construction of nonload-bearing structures. Reusing the glass material provides products such as tiles, bricks, and paver blocks. Concrete, commonly identified waste material from the construction and demolition sites can be reused for temporary structures. Frameworks prepared by reuse of ferrous and non-ferrous metals are quite stable structures and used several times. Recycle Recycling of waste materials denotes reprocessing further so that they can be used for manufacturing new products. However, the reprocessing of the waste has an
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impact on the environment and public health, but these repercussions are significantly lower as compared to the ones involved with manufacturing of goods from raw materials. Recycling of the waste provides a new approach in which waste is considered as a valuable resource. The upcyling an dhigh grade crecylcing can transform the products of the circular economy into equally valued products, while recycling of the products is important to ensure the cleaning and sorting of the waste as per the local recycling guidelines.
Repot or Compost The organic fraction of the waste generated from the households, hotels, and restaurants are often dumped in the waste collection van. The waste which reaches the landfills often rots and smells which disturb the local aesthetics and serve as a breeding ground for many diseases. Instead of disposal to the landfill sites, the organic fraction of the waste can be converted into resources by composting. Aerobic decomposition of the organic waste generated manure or organic fertilizer which can be fed in the gardens and farms making the soil healthy and in turn supports the plant growth. The anaerobic decomposition of the organic fraction not only provides the manure but also generated biogas which acts as a biofuel to meet the energy demands, thus reducing the dependence on natural resources. Final Disposal The aim of circular economy is to design the products in a way that they can be utilized to their maximum limits through repurposing, recycling, and reusing so that minimum amount of raw materials are required and minimum waste enters the sanitary landfills, thus focusing on the concept of zero waste.
Case Studies For the period from 2014 to 2019, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) or Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is a nationwide campaign in India aimed at cleaning the streets, roads, and infrastructure of the cities, towns, and urban and rural areas of India. Swachh Bharat’s goals include eliminating defecation by building household-owned and community-owned toilets and creating an accountable toilet-use monitoring system. The mission, run by the Government of India, seeks to achieve “open defecation free” (ODF) in India by 2 October 2019, Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birthday, by building 100 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of 1.96 lakh crore. The mission will also contribute to the achievement by India of the Sustainable Development Goal, set by the UN in 2015. The campaign was officially launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Raj Ghat, New Delhi, on 2 October 2014. With 3 million government employees and students from all parts of India participating in 4043 cities, towns, and rural areas, it is India’s largest cleanliness campaign to date. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s main goal was to eradicate or decrease open defecation. One of the major causes of death for thousands of children each year is open defecation. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has
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also taken an initiative to create an accountable system for monitoring the use of latrines, not just latrine construction. It was developed to speed up the coverage of sanitation in rural areas. The job was to clean and remove the dirt and dust from them. In India, it is vital to show high standards of hygiene and cleanliness in order to change the overall global perception that people have of our country. The Swachh Bharat Mission led to the conclusion that people recognized the value of cleanliness. India is undergoing rapid urbanization and must use the benefits of agglomeration economies with extensive urban planning. Urban India generates approximately 1.4 lakh tonnes of waste every day and manages about 65% of it. Before the Swachh Bharat Mission, waste management potential was just about 14%, and India has made progress in this sector like never before in the past 6 years. This was possible because of the government’s call, and particularly the Prime Minister’s, to make cleanliness a mass movement. Recent data also shows that waste generation in the country is on a decreasing trend. India positively adopts the 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) concept, which positions reduce at the top of the waste management pyramid. Several cities, such as Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Ambikapur, and Mysuru, have successfully adopted circular economy principles and demonstrated excellent models for effective waste management.
Indore The Indore Municipal Corporation has pioneered the art of social innovation and behavioral transformation by exploiting technical innovations and diligently engaging NGOs and private companies. Daily morning inspection visits by officials and the municipal commissioner, careful planning for every project, and extensive stakeholder consultation also dominated the process. The foundation of the planning process was a systematic gap assessment to determine the needs for infrastructure and human resources. A comprehensive route plan was created to achieve 100% door-to-door waste collection. Because of this, the company was able to provide timely service to all households with a standard deviation of just about 5–10 min. The requirement of vehicles for each ward was determined on the basis of the number of households, and knowledge of the vehicles and the time for waste collection were widely disseminated to all. “This removed the need for collection bins at secondary or community level and helped Indore become a ‘Bin-Free City’.” Several garbage transfer stations have been installed at various locations where garbage vehicles can unload waste and return to their predefined route for optimum output in minimal time. Geotagged vehicles and route plans are tracked from the central control and command center. In case of any deviation, the command center, ward member, and liable ULB officer receive immediate notification to investigate the matter. Even the general public can now track their region’s vehicles through a smartphone application. A successful waste management system imparts greater resistance to the area’s emissions. Even in times of disasters such as the Covid-19 pandemic, when firefights were fought by several other cities to deal with hazardous waste and new regulations came into force by the
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Central Pollution Control Board, hazardous waste was already segregated by people in Indore.
Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (also Trivandrum), the capital of the state of Kerala, India, is a swanky metropolis renowned for its cultural elegance, holy temples, and mesmerizing beaches. The city was in the eye of a storm in 2011, when Vilappilsala’s only municipal dump yard was forced to shut down following local protests over the mismanagement of the waste at the site. In the face of public criticism, Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation (TMC) introduced a decentralized waste management scheme, which later led to a sustainable model where waste is neither burned nor buried. Thiruvananthapuram decentralization offers an excellent lens for understanding the implementation challenges, the policy of goals, and the different stakeholders’ positions on the road to zero waste. As far as possible, the decentralized source waste management model of Thiruvananthapuram is also a lesson for other parts of the world and the globe, where waste-to-energy plants are failing due to lack of segregation. It is also clear that any management attempt will be reduced to mere displacement if segregation is not achieved, ultimately leading to burning or burying. In this situation, segregation at source is the imperative of successful solid waste management strategies. This is where, at or near its source, Thiruvananthapuram became a pioneer in waste management. This waste management model, which encourages source isolation and in situ management to mitigate the negative impacts of waste on the environment, the human health, and the economy, is the only way forward for developing countries.
Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur At the Educational Institution, Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Jaipur, the zero waste model was launched, which contributed to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Shri Narendra Modi’s smart city idea, the zero waste model. The study indicated that waste management is an effective method for mitigating the issue of waste produced in our climate, which is a problem of concern. The same technique is used for waste management at the Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology in order to recover the waste generated at the Institute. Waste, such as plastic, paper, glass, metal, and organic waste, was classified based on content. Threat risk, like nuclear, flammable, contagious, hazardous, or non-toxic waste, was also dependent on categorization. In order to tie up with them and manage the waste produced, surveys of different industries were done. The tour included the Kalpana Handmade Paper industries, the Royal Paper Board Industries, and the Poonam Recycling Industry. There was a tie-up with the Royal Paper Board industry that recycled and turned the paper waste into a handmade mat. Paper is taken from the bin and stored along with paper from other recycling bins in a big
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recycling tub. The paper is taken to a recycling facility where it is divided into kinds and grades. To extract ink, plastic film, staples, and glue, the separated paper is then washed with soapy water. In a large holder, the paper is placed where it is mixed with water to produce “slurry.” Different paper items may be produced by adding different materials to the slurry, such as cardboard, newspaper, or office paper. The slurry is distributed into large, thin sheets using large rollers. The paper is left to dry, ready to be cut, and sent back to the stores, and then it is rolled up. The color-coded binding and incinerator were established to ensure proper waste disposal. In the institute, green bin, yellow bin, and blue bin were set up that will be further taken to the industry to recycle them. An effort to recycle paper, plastic, and e-waste to promote the quality and protection of the environment was planned during the report. It will serve as a model for other educational institutions to facilitate a zero waste chain after the successful implementation of this initiative.
Conclusion Rapid population growth and urbanization are increasing both the production of solid waste and the demand for natural resources. Furthermore, the more complicated and daunting issue is induced by increasing demand and fixed quantities of natural resources available. We certainly should not leave behind waste and a linear economic paradigm “cradle to grave” where resources are depleting at a pace that will not leave anything for them and the generations to come. The current practice is landfilling and open burning, which leads to many environmental and health issues. In all forms of economies, the only approach that can function is a “zero waste” and circular model economy that eliminates the burden on scarce resources, follows the “cradle-to-cradle” model of the circular economy, and leaves “zero landfills” for future generations. Overall, in solid waste management concepts from linear to circular economies, the study illustrates the paradigm shift following the “zero waste” concept.
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K. Devi, A.V.V. Swamy, S. Nailofer, Municipal solid waste management in India: An overview. Asia Pacific J. Res 1(XXXIX), 118–126 (2016) Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C. and Ulgiati, S., 2016. A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of Cleaner production, 114, pp.11-32 L.A. Guerrero, G. Maas, W. Hogland, Solid waste management challenges for cities in developing countries. Waste Manag. 33(1), 220–232 (2013) Kjaer, L.L., Pigosso, D.C., Niero, M., Bech, N.M. and McAloone, T.C., 2019. Product/service systems for a circular economy: The route to decoupling economic growth from resource consumption?. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23(1), pp.22-35. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2018/09/20/what-a-waste-an-updated-lookinto-the-future-of-solid-waste-management L.F. Mohamed, S.A. Ebrahim, A.A. Al-Thukair, Hazardous healthcare waste management in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Waste Manag. 29, 2404–2409 (2009) S. Raghav, D. Kumar, Review environmental implications of incineration of municipal solid waste and ash disposal, in Handbook of Research on Environmental and Human Health Impacts of Plastic Pollution, (IGI Global, 2020), pp. 59–79 A. Sharma, A.K. Gupta, R. Ganguly, Impact of open dumping of municipal solid waste on soil properties in the mountainous region. J. Rock Mech. Geotech. Eng. 10(4), 725–739 (2018) S. Srigirisetty, T. Jayasri, C. Netaji, Open dumping of municipal solid waste-impact on groundwater and soil. Tech. Res. Organ. India 4(6), 26–33 (2017) G. Tchobanoglous, H. Theisen, S. Vigil, Integrated Solid Waste Management: Engineering Principles and Management Issues (McGraw-Hill, 1993) D. Vij, Urbanization and solid waste management in India: Present practices and future challenges. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 37, 437–447 (2012) W. Wanichpongpan, S.H. Gheewala, Life cycle assessment as a decision support tool for landfill gas-to energy projects. J. Clean. Prod. 15(18), 1819–1826 (2007) P.T. Williams, Waste Treatment and Disposal, 2nd edn. (Wiley, 2005) N.R. Yaduvanshi, R. Myana, S. Krishnamurthy, Circular economy for sustainable development in India. Indian J. Sci. Technol. 9(46), 1–9 (2016) Su, B., Heshmati, A., Geng, Y. and Yu, X., 2013. A review of the circular economy in China: moving from rhetoric to implementation. Journal of cleaner production, 42, pp.215-227 Zaman, A.U., 2015. A comprehensive review of the development of zero waste management: lessons learned and guidelines. Journal of Cleaner Production, 91, pp.12-25
Food Waste Management Practice in Malaysia and Its Potential Contribution to the Circular Economy
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Leong Siew Yoong, Mohammed J. K. Bashir, and Lim Jun Wei
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Generation and Management in Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Scenario on Food Waste Management in Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Landfilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Macroorganism-Based Bioconversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anaerobic Digestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Food Waste Transformation Through Circular Economy Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . Efforts in Managing Food Waste for Sustainable Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities and Challenges in Food Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Food wastages are mainly contributed from overpurchasing of food and food stores’ and outlets’ overstocking. The amount of food waste generated in Malaysia is at the alarming rate. Over 17,000 tonnes of food wastes are generated on a daily basis. The generated food waste is causing serious problems to the L. S. Yoong (*) Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] M. J. K. Bashir Department of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] L. J. Wei Fundamental and Applied Science Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_23
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socioeconomic and environmental aspect. Encouraging industries, businesses, and consumers to implement the 3R (reduce, reuse, and recycle) concepts is an important target to achieve “Goal 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns.” Nevertheless, the application of circular economy principles to food waste management could represent a valuable impact to Malaysia economy performance optimization. This chapter draws a closer look on the current scenarios on food waste management, opportunities, challenges, and efforts of achieving the sustainable development goal. In addition, we aim to investigate the potential contribution of resource recovery from food waste to circular economy which can support sustainable economic growth and reduce environmental burdens. Keywords
Food waste · Circular economy · Bioconversion · H. illucens · Composting
Introduction In all businesses and the economy as a whole, globalization, industrialization, modernization, and urbanization have an important role to play. These concepts are the cornerstones of business development and are interrelated in order to create an economic surplus and better management (https://www.urbangateway.org). As a result, employment is rising enormously, raising people’s living standards, increasing the population, and utilizing the best possible natural resources, to mention just a few. But it is no longer sustainable to leverage on these developments. There is an increase in environmental issues related to energy and pollution, such as waste management, public hygiene, natural resource exploitation, and massive greenhouse gas emissions, which are the major obstacles to sustainable development. In Malaysia, organic waste is the most abundant municipal solid waste (MSW) disposed to landfill. Out of the total waste fraction, 45% is contributed by food waste. Food waste refers to food from uneaten leftovers to spoiled produce and food scraps from processing operations. Food waste is one of Malaysia’s main waste sources, and the amount of food that Malaysians waste each day is enough to feed 12 million people. Traditionally, food waste is discarded by landfilling, incineration, anaerobic digestion, and composting (Trivedi et al. 2020). According to a recently published study by Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp), it was reported that 38,000 tonnes of wastes were generated, and out of this, 16,688 tonnes of foods were discarded on a daily basis in 2018 (New Straits Times 2019). In addition, during festive seasons, the amount increases by about 15–20%. Malaysia’s record has reached a critical level of food being the highest waste disposed of at landfill. The average Malaysian throws away 1.64 kg of waste daily, compared to the worldwide average of 1.2 kg (Ravindran 2015). In order to manage waste more effectively and efficiently, the Malaysian government has invited a few parties to participate in waste management, such as
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Federalization of Solid Waste Management, Privatization of Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Services, Enhancement on Awareness Program, and Waste Technology Utilization for Effective Services and Recovery. Recycling is the best option for effectively avoiding and managing food waste. Resource recycling and regeneration has been an alternative approach to some of the issues of organic waste (Nayak and Bhushan 2019). Recycling provides a viable and feasible economic activity that minimizes the use of landfill spaces and recovery of valuable resources. Bioconversion is a natural way of transforming waste into valuable resources using a biological agent such as insect larvae. Hence, this book chapter draws a closer look on the current scenarios on food waste management, opportunities, challenges, and efforts of achieving the sustainable development goal. In addition, we aim to review the potential contribution of resource recovery from food waste to circular economy, which can support sustainable economic growth and reduce environmental burdens.
Solid Waste Generation and Management in Malaysia Solid wastes are comprised of garbage, refuse, and sludge that are discarded as useless or unwanted materials. Wastes are produced and abandoned as a few categories including municipal, hazardous, industrial, medical, universal, radioactivity, as well as construction and demolition wastes. Basically, all of the human and animal activities do leave some wastes but vary in quantity. As compared to several decades ago where disposal of human and other wastes did not pose a significant problem, the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) today has increased due to global urbanization and growth of human population. Meanwhile, the area of land available to assimilate the wastes has reduced due to rapid land developments, making the solid waste management to be more challenging. Indeed, MSW is one of the by-products of the human urban lifestyle due to the high economic activity level and higher purchase income where the accumulation of wastes became a consequence of life. According to Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata (2012), there were 2.9 million urban residents in 2002 who produced about 0.64 kg of MSW per capita per day which is equivalent to 0.68 billion tonnes per year; in 2012, the number of urban residents has increased to about 3 billion who generated about 1.2 kg per capita per day which is equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes of MSW per year. Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata (2012) predicted a 70% global rise in MSW quantity by 2025, with 4.3 billion urban residents producing around 1.42 kg per capita per day, equivalent to 2.2 billion tonnes of MSW per year, resulting in an increase in annual global MSW management costs from US 205 billion in 2012 to US 375 billion in 2025. In fact, the quantity of global solid wastes was resulted by collecting the current available data throughout the countries worldwide, which are categorized by country income level into high-, upper middle-, lower middle-, and low-income country groups. Malaysia, with the gross national income (GNI) per capita of around US$ 8906 or RM 39, 656 (based on the exchange rate of US$ 1 to RM 4.45 by March, 2017), is categorized as upper middle-income country and contributed a part of the
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Fig. 1 The Malaysian solid waste generation from 2015 to 2020 (MHLG 2015)
19% of waste in the world according to the Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata (2012). Figure 1 shows the Malaysian solid waste generation from 2015 to 2020. The typical municipal solid waste (MSW) composition in Malaysia is summarized in Fig. 2. Since Malaysia is not only a developing country, but also a multiracial country with people from different cultures and lifestyles, various waste types or categories were discovered in the composition. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most critical issues in Malaysia with an enormous quantity in the present and projected incremental quantity in the future due to increasing urban residents with higher level of purchase income and consumer-based lifestyle (Agamuthu and Fauziah 2011). The huge amount of MSW is either uncollected, abandoned in open dumping site, or delivered to landfills. Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata (2012) stated that uncollected waste can be homes for disease-carrying vectors such as insects and rodents by providing breeding areas and foods to them, leading to health and nuisance issues. In addition, the practice of open dumping of MSW triggered the problems of odor, vermin, and flies at sites. Locally, waste collection vehicles are large sources of air pollutant emissions which lead to air pollution issue. Solid waste management (SWM) is concerned with the discipline associated with the control of generation, on-site storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and recovery, as well as ultimate disposal of solid wastes, in accordance with
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Fig. 2 Composition of municipal solid waste in Malaysia (MHLG 2015)
the best principles of public health, economics, engineering, conservation, aesthetics, and other environmental considerations. Failure in practicing of efficient SWM is usually due to inability to reuse the materials as well as the use of improper method of disposal of solid waste, which leads to depletion of natural resources as well as serious hazards to public health and the environment, respectively. In order to fully utilize the technology and management program to excel the current waste management, the EPA Agenda for Action of 1989 has developed a system known as integrated solid waste management (ISWM) with a hierarchy, in the order of preference, including reducing the quantity and toxicity of waste, reusing materials, recycling materials, waste transformation (including composting, incineration with energy recovery, and incineration without energy recovery), and, lastly, sanitary landfilling. In fact, Malaysia is very dependent on landfills where most of wastes collected are delivered and disposed at landfills, regardless if it is a less preferred method of waste management option which is usually meant for final disposal place for unrecovered wastes (Bashir et al. 2018). Figure 3 illustrates the chain of five stages of municipal solid waste management in Malaysia and in other Asian countries which are generation, collection, transport, recycling, and disposal. As mentioned above, the disposal of MSW in Malaysia is rather dependent on the least preferred method, landfilling, where source reduction, recycling, and waste transformation are seldom practiced (Yong et al. 2019). According to Manaf et al. (2009), since 1996 and until today, SWM in Malaysia was privatized and taken care by Southern Waste Management for southern regions, Idaman Bersih Sdn. Bhd. for northern regions, and Alam Flora Sdn. Bhd. for central
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Municipal Solid Waste Generation Household
Municipal Solid Waste Collection
Commercial Institutional Industrial
Municipal Solid Waste Transportation
Municipal SolidWaste Recycling
Municipal Solid Waste Disposal (Landfills)
Fig. 3 Chain of municipal solid waste management in Malaysia and Asian countries
regions. However, local authorities of Malaysian government are still responsible to manage the wastes generated as stipulated in Section 72 of the Local Government Act 1976. Different forms of waste are managed by various local governments. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government, for example, is in charge of MSW, the Department of Environment (DOE) is in charge of hazardous waste, and the Ministry of Health (MOH) is in charge of clinical waste (Manaf et al. 2009).
Current Scenario on Food Waste Management in Malaysia Landfilling There are many MSW disposal methods in Malaysia; however, landfill and open dumpsite are the most frequent ways among the methods. Figure 4 shows the actual site condition at Sahom landfill where MSW is being disposed directly on the ground by incoming dump trucks and scavengers are ready to scavenge valuable items. Landfill is the most preferable method applied for management of disposing wastes in Malaysia due to availability of large territorial areas for landfill capacity and low operation cost for landfill, although in recent year, Malaysian government is considering to explore other methods for waste disposal. Open dumpsites without engineering design and sanitary considerations are traditionally applied to manage disposal waste in Malaysia, and these non-sanitary landfills are considered as threats of our environment (Azmi et al. 2016). Therefore, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG) had created four targeted levels of landfill site improvements in Action Plan 1988 as summarized in Table 1 (Noor et al. 2013). Table 2 summarises the quantity and distribution of different levels of landfill in each Malaysian state in 2001. There are a total of 17 level 3 and 4 sanitary landfills. Four of the sanitary landfills, however, had been closed (Noor et al. 2013).
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Fig. 4 Overview of the current operating site of Sahom landfill, Kampar
Disposal by sanitary landfilling, in fact, is the lowest rank in ISWM but a dominant way of waste disposal in Malaysia. However, there are only 10 sanitary landfills in Malaysia, out of the total of 157 non-sanitary landfills as shown in Table 2. This indicates that landfills in Malaysia are only at infant level as most of the landfills in Malaysia are not even sanitary but only at level 0: open dumpsites. Open dumping is a dangerous method of waste disposal for both living organisms and environment due to the absence of proper daily soil cover, landfill liner, biogas collection system, leachate collection system, as well as leachate treatment system. Table 3 shows that the second most common disposal method in Malaysia is controlled tipping, followed by controlled landfill with bund and daily cover soil and lastly sanitary landfill without and with leachate treatment system. Besides, the table shows that the state of Sarawak has the most open dumpsites, followed by Johor, Sabah, and Kelantan. Different from open dumpsites and control landfills, sanitary landfills are constructed with gas monitoring probe, landfill liner system,
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Table 1 Target levels of landfill site Level 0 1 2 3
4
Condition (Noor et al. 2013) Open dumpsite Controlled dumping Sanitary landfill with daily cover Sanitary landfill with leachate circulation Sanitary landfill with leachate treatment
Description (MHLG 2015) – Primitive level required for basic landfill sanitation Minimum level that should be maintained for landfill Elementary-level semi-aerobic landfill equipped with leachate collection and circulation systems to reduce environmental impact Advance level equipped with leachate treatment and seepage control construction to protect groundwater and control pollutions
Table 2 The latest update of the number of all landfills in Malaysia (MHLG 2015) State Johor Kedah Kelantan Melaka Negeri Sembilan Pahang Perak Perlis Pulau Pinang Sabah Sarawak Selangor Terengganu WP Kuala Lumpur WP Labuan Total
Landfill in operation Sanitary Non-sanitary 1 13 1 7 – 13 1 2 – 7
Landfills not in operation 23 7 6 5 11
Total number of disposal sites 37 15 19 8 18
– – – 1 – 3 3 – –
16 17 1 2 19 46 5 8 0
16 12 1 1 2 14 14 12 7
32 29 2 4 21 63 22 20 7
– 10
1 157
0 131
1 298
groundwater monitoring well, biogas capturing system, daily cover operations, as well as leachate collection and treatment system. Without proper management of waste disposal and presence of huge amount of open dumping sites as in Malaysia, problems will be arising including leachate contamination to surface water and groundwater and emissions of environmentally toxic gases into the atmosphere (Yong et al. 2018; Azmi et al. 2016). Therefore, landfills must be managed
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Table 3 Factors that influence landfill leachate characteristics Factor Quantity of leachate
Sources Climate and hydrocycle activities
Quality of leachate
1. Parameter
2. Landfill age
Descriptions The local climate and weather determine the amount and speed of precipitation, surface runoff, and groundwater infiltration (Miao et al. 2019); the hydrocycle activities may affect the quantity of leachate Generally characterized by basic parameters such as pH, suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), color, biological oxygen demand (BOD), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3–N), and so on (Miao et al. 2019) Generally classified into three phases: young, intermediate, and stabilized; parameters vary at different landfill age, and their classifications are summarized in Table 4 (Liu 2013)
properly and sustainably to hinder the potential risks imposed to both the public and environment. In Malaysia, landfilling with wastes under the cover soil without air circulation is not only causing the emission of methane gas, one of the greenhouse gases (GHG), but produces another detrimental waste known as landfill leachate due to the lack of leachate collection and treatment systems. Landfill leachate is a type of dangerous liquid which can be formed as stormwater drains and precipitates and percolates through layers of wastes in landfills. It is usually dark in color which contains dissolved or suspended organic and inorganic chemicals as well as pathogens (Azmi et al. 2016). Without the leachate treatment system in landfills except several sanitary landfills in Malaysia, the leachate formed is directly in contact with the surface water as well as groundwater as it filtrates through soils underneath, causing pollution to the water, groundwater, and soil (Azmi et al. 2016). This allows the organic and inorganic pollutants as well as heavy metals to be introduced into the food chain and poses severe health problem to all of the living organisms. Landfill leachate usually implies as liquid produced from landfill wastes due to rainwater percolation (Yong et al. 2018). The landfill leachate characteristics are mainly influenced by two main factors, quantity and quality of leachate, as summarized in Table 3. The quantity of landfill leachate is affected by climate and hydrocycle activities, whereas the quality of landfill leachate is determined by various parameters and landfill age: the leachate parameters and landfill age are interrelated as shown in Table 4. Sustainable solid waste management aims to manage and treat anthropogenic waste with minimal adverse environmental and social impacts while at the same time ensuring economically sound practices. Figure 5 illustrates the hierarchy of the sustainable solid waste management framework where ideally world government and society should be following. As shown in Fig. 5, the most preferable waste management is to first avoid, prevent, or reduce the generation of waste as much as possible. The sustainable solid waste management hierarchy encourages world countries to practice source
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Table 4 Landfill leachate classification according to landfill age (Liu 2013) Leachate parameter Age of landfill (years) pH BOD5/COD COD (g/L) NH3–N (mg/L) TOC/COD Kjeldahl nitrogen (g/L) Heavy metals (mg/L)
Young 15 7.5 0.5 Not specified 1200 Kcal/kg High biodegradable √ M M matter, >50% Fixed carbon, 25% 3 3 C/N ratio, 20–30:1 √ N/A M Mixed with all types 3 M M of waste Climate Hot climate, >35 C √ √ √ Moderate climate, M √ √ 15–25 C High moisture √ 3 M content, >55% High rainfall area √ 3 M Plant size Up to 25 TPD √ 3 3 25–50 TPD √ 3 3 50–100 TPD √ 3 3 100–500 TPD √ √ M >500 TPD √ √ √ Economic condition Capital cost Low to High High moderate Resource √ √ √ conservation Carbon credit √ M M advantages
Plasma gasification
Landfill gas extraction (LFG)
√
3
√
√
√ √ √ √
√ M N/A M
√ √
√ √
√
3
√
3
3 3 3 √ √
3 3 3 3 √
Very high
Very high
√
√
√
M
Managing Food Waste Transformation Through Circular Economy Framework The acceleration of growth in the economy and transformation, globalization, rapid urbanization, and climate change, relying on scarce and yet non-renewable natural resources, has forced society to venture and practice circular economics. The principle of circular economy has given waste a value where waste is again used
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Table 6 The detail biogas (landfill/agricultural waste) feed-in tariff rates as of 30 March 2019 (SEDA 2019) Biogas (landfill/agricultural waste) (a) Basic FiT rates of installed capacity of: (i) Up to and including 5 MW b) Bonus FiT rates having the following criteria (one or more): (i) Use of gas engine technology with electrical efficiency of above 40% (ii) Use of locally manufactured or assembled gas engine technology (iii) Use of landfill, sewage gas, or agricultural waste including animal waste as fuel source
FiT rates (RM/ kWh) 0.2210–0.2814 +0.0199 +0.0500 +0.0786
for further production as the raw materials (input). The conversion of waste or the reuse of discarded materials has provided a twist to the society’s mentality over the idea that waste is deemed worthless, no benefit, filthy, as well as polluting to the environment. Practicing circular economy as a core model has paved the way by helping manufacturers minimize production costs, increase profitability, decrease energy usage, and alleviate contamination of the environment. One must bear in mind, however, that there is no single model that can fit all size. Circular economy has been an ancient activity of scavengers, peasants, and poverty-stricken and low middle-income communities. The word “circular economy” implies the reinvention, rebirth, and/or transformation of discarded goods by the upcycling or recycling of used materials and items into new materials or products. However, much of the economic structure still follows a linear process which means that the stimulus of economic growth is harvesting-manufacturingconsumption-disposal. Moreover, most industrial sectors still consider the catalyst for economic growth based on the abundance of natural resources and waste disposal (Jurgilevich et al. 2016). Food wastages occurred at the very beginning from the incoming raw materials, preparations of raw materials, in-process, packaging, quality control, finished goods, retails, and all the way to consumers. Consequently, the approach to the circular economy model can be incorporated at all these stages by creating a closed-loop system and ensuring sustainable production. The food system’s circular economy means reducing the amount of waste created in the food system, the reuse of food, the use of by-products and food waste, the recycling of nutrients, and shifts in dietary habits toward a more balanced and productive diet (Jurgilevich et al. 2016). In Malaysia, a greater understanding of what the circular economy means and how companies are effectively implementing circular models is required. For example, as an alternative source of protein, food waste resulting from poultry processing such as animal offal, feathers, and blood can be transformed into aqua feed. In the management and upcycling of waste into a higher-value commodity, the application of the circular economy model to poultry processing will have a special advantage for this sector. In addition, the nutrient content remaining in the waste of poultry can be retained. In addition, upcycling of poultry wastes resulted in better environmental and public health performance than other forms of disposal such as composting and
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anaerobic digestion. By transforming food waste through a circular economy model, there are numerous advantages to be gained for business, communities, and the ecosystem.
Efforts in Managing Food Waste for Sustainable Development In an effort to reduce poverty and inequality, encourage economic growth, and recognize environmental impacts, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals include a target of halving food waste by 2030. With respect to the 11th Malaysia Plan, green growth will be the game changer in bringing Malaysia toward a sustainable socioeconomic development path, where improvements in quality of life are in harmony with the sustainability of the environment and natural resources (11th Malaysia Plan). To achieve these, the government will introduce a transformative green growth strategy framework. Under this framework, there are four key areas; one of the key areas in pursuing green growth for sustainability and resilience is to shift the management of waste toward a comprehensive reuse, reduce, and recycle (3R) approach that will reduce development of new landfills. Additionally, the Petaling Jaya City Council or Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) has pioneered the home composting program through funding given by the Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) Solid Waste Management (SWM) Community Initiatives Project. The program was designed to voluntarily conduct home composting for 50 households from different regional and demographic backgrounds to generate compost that can be used as a soil conditioner while reducing the amount of waste to be disposed of (Department of National Solid Waste Management 2010). Along with this, academia has also embarked on recycling projects by reaching out to school and university students, aiming to instill a shared responsibility to protect the environment through sustainable consumption and production practices and impart the right behavior and mindset. To support the elimination of food loss and food waste in Malaysia, the MYSave Food Programme has been initiated. The Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MOA) have made an effort to reduce the accumulation of food waste through this initiative. Along with this line, the Government of Malaysia has taken the initiative to reduce waste generation and has concentrated on businesses, manufacturing, and educational institutions engaged in environmental protection activities, especially the recycling of these food wastes. In addition, the Government issued green technology tax incentives through Budget 2014. The incentive aims at achieving more integrated waste management approaches, encouraging businesses to rethink their approach by integrating a variety of waste management strategies like collection, storage, composting, and disposal with other core recycling, recovery, or waste treatment activities. Such initiatives will improve Malaysia’s green technology ecosystem and enhance the operations of companies to provide a more comprehensive waste management approach (MIDA 2019).
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Some private businesses, apart from government programs, have embarked on zero waste management as a move toward a sustainable environment. For instance, Mentari Alam EKO (M) Sdn Bhd, or MAEKO, is the company that focuses on solving food waste by composting (Mentari Alam EKO (M) Sdn Bhd 2020). The aim of the company is to help “close the sustainability loop,” allowing the food waste from the farms to return to the farms as fertilizer for future food. Promise Earth (M) Sdn Bhd is a biotechnology firm specializing in the treatment of organic waste by fermentation and composting processes. This company has successfully developed Bio-Mate ON-SITE, an innovative, highly efficient high-speed on-site recycling process, through technological collaboration with its Japanese business partner, which transforms organic waste within 24–48 h using aerobic high-temperature microbial enzymes (Inozyme) technology (https://www. biomate.com.my/about-us). ShenceGreenTech is an organic waste management company implementing environmentally sustainable organic waste recycling service, recovering valuable organic waste. The end product of composting process will be targeted toward fertilizer manufacturers, nurseries, landscapers, and farmers (https://www. shencegreentech.com/index.html).
Opportunities and Challenges in Food Waste Management Malaysia is facing numerous opportunities as well as challenges in sustainably managing waste. With limited land space for landfilling and raising cost of waste disposal, there is an increase in pressure to tackle some of the challenges. There is an urgent need to tackle the waste management issue and reduce the impact on the environment and general well-being of the population. Imparting good virtues such as civic consciousness and right mindset on recycling requires great effort from various parties to join hand in making this participation a success. Besides that, changing the consumer buying behavior or food consumption behavior is a challenging task to achieve. At buyer’s level, it is important to identify the needs and wants when purchasing food. Buying foods that are essential along with the adequate quantity is important to minimize overpurchasing that leads to food wastages if the food is not consumed. Adopting the circular economic model for waste management requires the change in the linear processing such as take, make and dispose. The shift of linear to circular process is challenging due to the revamp in the equipment design and process, and it’s not costeffective. Nonetheless, with the advancement of science and technology taking place, new opportunities have arisen to mitigate waste generation as indicated below: 1. Bioconverting the waste into high-value products. This will pave way for waste reduction to landfill and provide closed-loop waste management.
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2. Producing biofuel and biochemical that derives from waste which can replace fossil-based products such as mineral fertilizers, peat, and fossil fuels. This will help to reduce the dependency of fossil fuel and other finite resources. 3. Providing alternative income to the middle-class society by establishing bioconversion infrastructure. 4. Malaysian government has taken initiative to enhance solid waste management by privatizing and centralizing its solid waste management. 5. Public awareness: Real on-site effort in collaborating with public and enhancing their awareness is needed. Impose strict law and regulation with strong enforcement on household food and non-food waste segregation with incentives and rewards given to those who fully comply. 6. The Malaysian government has taken steps in its 11th Malaysia Plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by pursuing green growth for sustainability and resilience. 7. Along with this work, the government has granted an incentive scheme in the form of the Green Investment Tax Allowance (ITA) for the purchase of green technology assets and the Income Tax Exemption (ITE) for the use of green technology services and systems to investors who have set up services, including integrated waste management, renewable energy system integration, energy services, etc. (MIDA Investment Performance Report 2019).
Conclusion Every one of us has an important key role to play in making Malaysia a better nation. A nation’s advancement does not depend in particular on economic growth and development, country’s GDP, foreign direct investment, human resources, physical capital, natural resources, and technology. Maintaining sustainable growth, however, is the main factor for progress in the country. It is essential for all living things that the natural ecosystem is preserved sustainably. Science and technology advancement that enhances living standards, while not jeopardizing the environment, should be introduced. Promoting the use of organic compost over chemical fertilizer for plants would help the agricultural sector to reduce the harmful effect of chemical fertilizer on the waterway contamination, acidification of the soil, and mineral depletion of the soil. Adopting waste management in a circular way through recycling and upcycling can extend the product’s life cycle. The purpose of this economic system is to increase the productivity of these resources through the use of durable materials and the creation of long-lasting goods that can be repaired and reused at the end of their life cycle. Furthermore, the implementation of resource recovery from food waste can contribute directly/indirectly to ten United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, namely, No. 1, No Poverty; No. 3, Good Health and Well-Being; No. 6, Clean Water and Sanitation; No. 7, Affordable and Clean Energy; No. 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth; No. 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities; No. 12, Responsible Consumption and Production; No. 13, Climate Action; No. 14, Life Below Water; and No. 15, Life on Land.
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Life Cycle Assessment to Support Waste Management Strategies in a Circular Economy Context
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Lineker Max Goulart Coelho and Rafaella de Souza Henriques
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy and Life Cycle Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eco-Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Industrial Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Industrial Symbiosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reverse Logistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zero Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LCA and Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Life Cycle Assessment and Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy and Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perspectives and Topics for Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Waste management is a complex activity which involves several environmental, economic, and social issues. In the context of a circular economy approach, life cycle assessment (LCA) could be an interesting approach to support decisionmaking in waste management strategies. Actually, LCA is a largely used tool to evaluate environmental impacts of systems, activities, and processes considering the whole chain of materials and energy involved in the case analyzed. Indeed, LCA allows considering effects related to the full life cycle of a process from raw material extraction and production to final disposal of waste. So, in the field of waste management, LCA could provide a robust instrument to support decisionmaking related to the investigation and selection of waste management (WM) L. M. Goulart Coelho (*) · R. de Souza Henriques Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais – CEFET-MG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_87
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strategies allowing the comparison of different scenarios using a holistic and quantitative tool. By the way, in a circular economy, a pragmatic and systemic overview is required to fulfil the requirements of this approach. So, in this chapter, applications involving LCA applied to waste management in the light of circular economy are provided. Firstly, an overview of practices and methods normally used in LCA studies in WM context is presented. After, perspectives for future works and applications involving circular economy and waste management focusing on life cycle thinking are discussed. Moreover, areas of research in this topic in which further development is required are highlighted. Finally, a practical application is performed, and results from a case study of LCA used to support WM strategies for a Brazilian city are presented. Keywords
Waste management · Life cycle assessment · Circular economy · Environmental impact
Introduction In a world where a linear chain formed by extraction, production, usage, and disposal still predominates, in which environmental degradation was by decades neglected, new perspectives focusing in a more sustainable way of living and interacting with nature arise in an attempt to find an equilibrium among economic growth and social and environmental issues. Nowadays, sustainability, sustainable development, and circular economy are concepts that have gained more and more attention all over the world, and in this chapter, the link of these approaches and waste management was presented using life cycle assessment as a supporting tool to the discussion provided. Indeed, a society that wants to move toward a circular economy thinking needs to perform a radical mind shift in population as a whole, changing from a shortterm consumption and discard behavior to a long-term closing the loop approach, in which natural resources are explored and reused as much as possible to maximize raw materials usage, minimizing extraction of virgin materials. In this context, waste management presents a remarkable and crucial role, as strategies and practices adopted in planning and operation of waste are decisive into the transition to a society based on a circular economy perspective. Indeed, according to Paes et al. (2019), the incorporation of circular economy concept in waste management strategies provides positive impacts to the environment, economy, and society. Among several existing approaches, life cycle assessment presents several characteristics that make it an excellent tool to be used in circular economy studies involving waste management scenarios. So, in this chapter, discussions on this topic are provided, which include potential themes for further research, and one application involving LCA applied to waste management in the light of circular economy is presented.
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Circular Economy and Life Cycle Assessment The circular economy is basically a new way of thinking of waste as a resource rather than a burden, i.e., to consider residues from an activity as a resource for another, reinserting the material in a new value chain and constructing a society in which resource is optimized to provide social, environmental, and economic benefits. So, the main idea behind CE is thinking in all human activities, working as a fully systemic society, interconnecting resources among process, and closing the loop on materials management. It is important to note that there is a high range of circular economy definitions. According to Kirchherr et al. (2017), which revised 114 papers to investigate the differences and similarities of the circular economy concepts, papers published before 2012 in general adopted a CE definition more related to environmental quality and economic prosperity, whereas after 2012, the CE concept became strongly related to a systems perspective. From the aforementioned research, Kirchherr et al. (2017) formulate the following definition: Circular economy is as an economic system that replaces the “end-of-life” concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering materials in production/distribution and consumption processes. It operates at the micro level (products, companies, consumers), meso level (eco-industrial parks) and macro level (city, region, nation and beyond), with the aim to accomplish sustainable development, thus simultaneously creating environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity, to the benefit of current and future generations. It is enabled by novel business models and responsible consumers (Kirchherr et al. 2017).
Since this concept for CE was defined based on a large review of terms adopted from several studies, this definition will be adopted in this chapter as a reference for the discussions and information provided. Indeed, this definition aligns with the concept proposed by Morseletto (2020), which considers a CE as an economic model focused on optimizing resource use, by waste minimization, life cycle product increase, reduction in the demand for virgin materials, and closed loops of materials taking into account environmental and socioeconomic issues. Based on this concept, Morseletto (2020) recommended the adoption of the ten comprehensive strategies (10R) proposed by Potting et al. (2017), which presented a framework that could be synthetized by the following actions: refuse, rethink, reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose, recycle, and recovery. However, it is important to note that even in terms of the so-called R-strategies, there is no consensus in literature. Actually, Reike et al. (2018) carried out a literature review and reported 38 different R-imperative words used by previous studies in waste management and circular economy papers, evidencing the variability of terminology involving this theme. From this analysis, Reike et al. (2018) selected 10R words, which are in good agreement with Potting et al. (2017) and Morseletto’s (2020) suggested framework, the only difference being one R-strategy: the former included re-mine in the list instead of rethinking adopted by the latter. Despite differences in structure and even in nomenclature, globally, the conceptualization
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of circular economy involves a set of common practices dedicated to give directions to a new way to deal with raw materials and products from a short-term to a longterm perspective to achieve a more efficient resource management and find a good compromise among economic, environmental, and social aspects. By the way, these aspects are acknowledged as the pillars of sustainability, forming the so-called triple bottom line, and means that achieving sustainable development is necessary to find ways to promote an equilibrium among economic, environmental, and social issues. In this context, circular economy approach will present a crucial role in providing a path to guarantee a new perspective in terms of resource management, engaged in environmental preservation, economic growth, and social benefits. In addition, when the subject of sustainable development arises, it is always important to remember one of the most largely used definitions for this complex idea, which could be summarized as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development – WCED 1991). From this concept, the importance of CE becomes even more evident, providing an alternative to the current development model, by increasing concerns on resource consumption and improving the efficiency of raw materials usage. After the relation of these concepts was pointed out, it is important to note that beyond the link between circular economy and sustainability, it is also possible to highlight several approaches normally required for the implementation of circular economy initiatives, such as eco-efficiency, industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis, reverse logistic, value retention, and zero waste. For Zhang et al. (2019), the main purpose of circular economy is the incorporation of the aforementioned approaches to support societies toward sustainability.
Eco-Efficiency The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) describes ecoefficiency as follows: Being achieved by the delivery of competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life cycle, to a level at least in line with the Earth’s estimated carrying capacity (Madden et al. 2005).
Eco-efficiency also can be addressed as a way to create additional value by better meeting customer’s needs while maintaining or reducing environmental impacts (De Simone and Popoff 2000). In one hand, the first part of the expression “eco” relies on the sustainable and economic references. On the other hand, the second one refers to make more with less. The concept of eco-efficiency is used to measure a comparative environmental performance, rather than applies absolute approaches as pollution levels. Then, the index can be obtained by the ratio of the added value
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and the generated waste from the creation of that value (Derwall et al. 2005). The Ehrenfeld (2005) alerts about the difficulty of quantification of this index, since the choice of the aspects that should be included, the simplification of the methods, and the availability of data can be barriers to this. However, this study points out that this approach can be preferred over poorer ones, helping in making decisions. Then, in order to mitigate its shortcomings, it must be coupled with other indicators and tools.
Industrial Ecology According to Britannica Academic (2020), the industrial ecology is a “discipline that traces the flow of energy and materials from their natural resources through manufacture, the use of products, and their final recycling or disposal.” In this field, the industrial system can be an ecosystem which has distribution of materials, energy, and information flows. There are three key elements of the industrial ecology (ERKMAN 1997): 1. The systemic, comprehensive, integrated approaches of the industrial economy components and their relationships. 2. The consideration of the complexity of the flows in both directions, within and outside the industrial systems. 3. The consideration of the long-term technological evolution. Here, the industrial systems can be seen as a set of agents that interact with the natural systems. With the aim to evaluate these activities, it approaches the product design and manufacturing processes due to the industrial environmental impacts, which are significant (Ayres and Ayres 2002). So, the industrial systems can be in line with the other systems; the industrial ecology is the way to approach and maintain sustainability, given the continued economic, cultural, and technological evolution (Graedel and Allenby 2010).
Industrial Symbiosis In symbiosis, two living beings associate and at least one of them benefits from this relationship. In industrial systems, this approach can also be applied, as two or more organizations can establish a relationship that benefits all. Often, one enterprise’s waste can be other enterprise’s raw material. This approach can give waste final destination for the first one and minimize raw material costs for the second one. In industrial environment, there are several symbiotic relationships, e.g., utilities, infrastructure, and service sharing (Graedel and Allenby 2010). According to Chertow (2000), industrial symbiosis is a relationship between industries which involves physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and byproducts. This study also emphasizes that geographical proximity is the main
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promoter of collaboration between companies. In this context, three approaches are considered (Chertow 2007): 1. Material reuse – using materials from some company instead of a new material. 2. Utility or infrastructure sharing – the common use of inputs or facilities. 3. Services sharing - the common use of ancillary activities. The main motivation for doing industrial symbiosis is the cost reduction or revenue increase, guaranteed long-term supply of resources, and the obligation to be more efficient and reduce environmental impacts (Chertow 2007).
Reverse Logistics For many years, goods flowed from suppliers to the final consumer in a supply chain. However, due to issues such as product support services and product recovery, the reverse flow in the supply chain has increased significantly in recent decades. The reverse logistics is defined by the European Working Group on Reverse Logistics as follows (Dekker et al. 2013): The process of planning, implementing and controlling backward flows of raw materials, in process inventory, packaging and finished goods, from a manufacturing, distribution or use point, to a point of recovery or point of proper disposal.
The products return in the supply chain for reasons such as sales rights, warranty, quality problems, product recalls, end of use, and end of life (De Brito et al. 2005). This same study also highlights that the growth of e-commerce significantly influenced the increase in the flow of product returns in the supply chains. In the modern supply chain, the boundary between direct flow and reverse flow is not always well established due to the difficulty of defining who the final consumer is and who has the raw material. Thus, a more holistic approach is suggested, such as the closed-loop supply chain concept (Dekker et al. 2013). In this sense, the research and development and logistics management areas must prioritize product cycleoriented approach, regarding supply, recycling, and disposal in a sustainable view, which can be called as closed-loop management (CLM) (Dyckhoff et al. 2013).
Zero Waste Nowadays, society faces the problem of minimizing its generated waste. One of the alternatives is to convert waste into resource, which is the principle of zero waste (Worrell and Vesilind 2011). Zero waste aims to eliminate all wastes using material restoration and biological cycles. To this end, it requires the identification of the waste origins, material reuse or recycle, and new ways to reduce the waste (Murray 2002).
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For the systems which operate in “zero waste mode,” the product from one process must be consumed by another one to return and become an input for the first process. This is a behavior of the natural processes, and then, to emulate nature is essential for this approach (Khan and Islam 2016). So, on the one hand, the 10R and similar frameworks give some general strategies for implementing circular economy. On the other hand, eco-efficiency, industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis, reverse logistics, value retention, and zero waste are specific approaches, each one more directed to one or more of the R-imperatives that could be embedded in a broader system to support the circular economy development. All of the aforementioned CE-related practices and approaches are closely involved with the way the material resources are handled, particularly in terms of waste management, as will be further described in the next section. Indeed, all the socalled R-imperatives previously cited are related to material flows and waste management practices. Velenturf and Jopson (2019) and Leder et al. (2020) argue that further studies dedicated to assess the contribution of waste valorization to sustainability are recommended and desired, as they will support the transition to a circular economy. Dawson (2019) also endorses the importance of waste management to circular economy and suggests that the conception of products must be concerned by their end of life, striving to provide appliances that facilitate deconstruction to optimize material recovery. It is important to point out that one of the keys of circular economy is to face waste as a resource rather than a burden (Veleva et al. 2017), which means that WM presents a central role in CE.
LCA and Circular Economy Another important issue involving CE refers to assessment tools, since to evaluate the suitability of any process or approach it is essential to develop new instruments or to adapt existing tools aiming to determine the success of a CE initiative. In this respect, Kalmykova et al. (2018) developed a study dedicated to investigating adequate tools to support CE implementation and assessment, recommending material flow analysis (MFA), as an important approach to be included in circular economy-related studies, particularly MFA-LCA hybrid method. MFA briefly takes into account all mass flows involved in the process or system, whereas LCA offers a robust way to perform an environmental impact assessment of the system analyzed. Actually, LCA is a largely used tool to evaluate environmental impacts of systems, activities, and processes considering the whole chain of materials and energy involved in the case analyzed. According to the International Organization for Standardization – ISO 14040 (2006), life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method applied to the evaluation of environmental impacts from an assessment of the potential impacts associated with the inputs and outputs of the system analyzed. Indeed, LCA allows considering effects related to the full life cycle of a process from raw material extraction and production to final disposal of waste. So, LCA offers a
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robust tool to assess environmental impacts based on a systemic point of view, a characteristic that perfectly meets the requirements of circular economy studies. According to Haupt and Zschokke (2017), LCA could be used to verify the achievements of a circular economy initiative concerning the targets established in terms of environmental performance not only for product designs but also to largescale systems. Another important point indicated by the aforementioned study refers to the fact that LCA could even determine if a circularity proposal could lead to less or more environmental impacts. Indeed, if a process required to implement circular economy results in a high demand for materials or energy, at the end, the conclusion obtained from an LCA study could indicate that the implementation of this circular approach could not be less impacting than the conventional processes. On the other hand, LCA could also reinforce how the adoption of circular economy could lead to a reduction in environmental impacts. Briefly, LCA is a robust tool to evaluate systems in terms of environmental impacts and could be an important instrument to support decision-making in the context of circular economy planning and policies. In addition, variations of LCA adopt a similar approach to study social and economic impacts. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) uses life cycle thinking to assess a system in terms social aspects, whereas life cycle costing (LCC) incorporates life cycle reasoning in an economic analysis. So, life cycle thinking could support circular economy planning, performing assessments aligned to the triple bottom line premises of sustainability. In other words, LCA enables a systemic analysis that, depending on the objectives of the assessment, could incorporate economic, environmental, and social aspects. So, that’s why this chapter was dedicated to better explore LCA approach and how to use this powerful assessment tool in the context of circular economy and waste management.
Life Cycle Assessment and Waste Management Waste management is a complex activity which involves several environmental, economic, and social issues. In the context of a circular economy approach, life cycle assessment (LCA) could be an interesting approach to support decision-making in waste management strategies. According to Allesch and Brunner (2014), life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology largely used to evaluate environmental impact of waste management alternatives. Indeed, LCA could provide a robust instrument to support decision-making related to the investigation and selection of waste management (WM) strategies allowing the comparison of different scenarios using a holistic and quantitative tool. As already discussed, in a circular economy, a pragmatic and systemic overview is required to fulfil the requirements of this approach. These characteristics are perfectly met by LCA methodology, which was mainly developed to perform a broad analysis of all impacts involved in an activity incorporating effects from the whole life cycle of the materials involved. In addition to fulfil the premises of circular economy, special importance must be given to waste management. As stated by Rigamonti et al. (2017), environmental assessments must consider a multicriteria analysis, because it is not possible to characterize nature
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degradation based only on one aspect, such as energy demand or greenhouse gas emissions. This issue is addressed by LCA approach which adopts several impact categories aimed to evaluate environmental burdens in terms of different perspectives. To support LCA studies in waste management, several LCA tools dedicated to this subject have been developed; among them, the following models could be highlighted: IWM-1 (White et al. 1995), ORWARE (Dalemo et al. 1997), MSWDST (Weitz et al. 1999), IWM-2 (McDougall et al. 2001), WASTED (Diaz and Warith 2006), EASEWASTE (Kirkeby et al. 2006), WISARD (Buttol et al. 2007), LCA-IWM (Den Boer et al. 2007), FENIX (Margallo et al. 2012), SWOLF (Levis et al. 2014), and EASETECH (Clavreul et al. 2014). Details about insights and shortcomings of the aforementioned tools and several others were presented by Gentil et al. (2010) and Blikra Vea et al. (2018), which presented interesting reviews of LCA tools specifically developed for the field of waste management. Concerning previous works, the huge majority of LCA applications in the field of waste management involve the system planning, i.e., the assessment of several scenarios with different waste management strategies using LCA to identify the least impacting alternative in terms of environmental burdens. The main features offered by this LCA models specifically focused on WM sector refer to their ability to facilitate the realization of waste management scenarios, providing a user-friendly tool that contributes to the dissemination of this methodology in waste management. Several authors already provided interesting reviews about LCA studies in waste management. Table 1 presents some information of these reviews. Table 1 Description of existing review studies on LCA applications on waste management
Review paper Cleary (2009) Laurent et al. (2014a) Laurent et al. (2014b) Yadav and Samadder (2018) Khandelwal et al. (2019)
Number of papers analyzed 20 222 222 91
153
Istrate et al. (2020)
27
Iqbal et al. (2020)
79
Scope of the studies recorded LCA studies in WM at a global level LCA studies in WM at a global level LCA studies in WM at a global level LCA studies in WM for Asian countries
Main contribution Overview of LCA studies in WM Overview of LCA studies in WM Suggestions of practices for LCA studies in WM Challenges for LCA studies in Asian countries
LCA studies in WM published after 2013 at a global level LCA applied to waste-toenergy studies
Overview of LCA studies in WM
LCA studies in WM at a global level
Overview of LCA conclusions of waste to energy Overview about the best practices of LCA studies in WM
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Yadav and Samadder (2018) investigated 91 studies involving LCA applications in WM in Asian countries and highlighted that the main challenges for the dissemination of LCA studies are probably mainly related to a lack of awareness of LCA in the scientific community, the scarcity or lack of reliable inventory data, and socioeconomic issues. Iqbal et al. (2020) performed the most recent review study, including 79 articles of LCA applications in WM, and also highlighted that despite the importance of sensitivity analysis to give reliability to studies, less than 40% of the paper they reported presented such procedure. Furthermore, they concluded that an integration of recycling, treatment, and disposal technologies globally resulted in the most appropriate strategy for waste management and highlighted the importance of adopting a systemic approach in waste management. Another important conclusion of Iqbal et al. (2020) is the necessity to provide local solutions aligned and compatible with technological and socioeconomic contexts. Khandelwal et al. (2019) carried out a review comprising 153 papers published after 2013 on the subject of LCA in WM, focusing on analyzing the geographical distribution of LCA works around the world, as well as the scope of the studies. This study also reported a concentration of publications on this field from European and Asian countries. The absence of sensitivity analysis for the most part of studies compiled was also a concern indicated by this review. Another important observation of this chapter is the scarcity of life cycle-based studies using LCA variants as LCC and S-LCA. This chapter also argues that the promotion of initiatives aiming to develop the awareness about waste management issues of society as a whole, encompassing the population, public organizations, and private and nongovernment institutions, is an important way to improve LCA studies in WM. Indeed, lack of information about inventory of technologies and process involved in an LCA study could limit the applicability of results and its robustness. So, the engagement of people in WM-related trends is a good approach to mobilize the society to the importance of creating datasets on this subject. Concerning circular economy-specific studies, this is also an important concern; the availability of data and their accuracy could be a barrier to the development of LCA studies. So, the development of inventories involving CE initiatives is extremely important to support future works on this theme. As indicated by Yadav and Samadder (2018) and Iqbal et al. (2020), a common conclusion in several studies is that the worst scenario involves the predominance of waste landfilling. This was expected, as a system based only to send waste in landfills follows the conventional linear model of product, consume, and discard, which is the opposite way of a circular economy perspective that advocates for resource use optimization. On the other hand, considering less impacting strategies, Laurent et al.’s (2014a) study pointed out that there is no agreement in the findings of previous works, i.e., there is not a general best strategy that fits to all situations, due to regional specificities such as electricity mix and waste composition. Indeed, Laurent et al. (2014a), which carried out a review which included 222 papers, recommend LCA as a way to avoid generalizations on waste destination hierarchies, providing a tool to identify
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what was named by them as “context-specific waste hierarchies” adapted to local characteristics, that is, the definition of waste management priorities established according to regional issues. Similar affirmations were made by Belboom et al. (2013) and Vossberg et al. (2014), which consider LCA as an alternative to the direct use of the classical waste destination hierarchy, highlighting the influence of local conditions over general frameworks. Istrate et al. (2020) presented a recent study involving LCA applications focusing on waste-to-energy studies. The main findings of the aforementioned paper indicate that according to previous studies, incineration as a substitute for landfilling offers an overall reduction in environmental burdens, but human health consequences of this strategy are all still controversial. Cleary (2009) performed a review reporting 20 studies from 2005 to 2008 and indicated a lack of transparency in LCA assumptions and suggest the convergence of premises used in LCA studies in WM to provide comparability among them. From the information provided by the reviewed studies, Cleary (2009) concluded that it is not possible to endorse or reject the classical waste management destination priorities. The discussions presented above reinforce the features of LCA as a methodology to carry out a detailed environmental performance analysis of waste management systems, detaching decision-making from a linear perspective to a more broad analysis, essential to the implementation of circular economy practices. Laurent et al. (2014b), in turn, based on the reviewed papers, presented suggestions for best practices in performing LCA studies in waste management. Their study reveals a lack of procedures to assess sensitivity and uncertainty of results in previous papers recorded, which could lead to a loss in reliability of conclusions. In addition, the same study also recommends a better description of objective and scope of the study to improve the transparency of the investigation and clearly state the aim of the research as well as the system boundaries of the LCA application. Another important finding of Laurent et al. (2014b) is the lack of detailed description about destination of secondary materials from recycling and reuse strategies. So, the correct definition of flow materials adapted to local context is a recommendation particularly useful for future studies in the context of circular economy. It is important to note that none of the previous reviews were particularly dedicated to circular economy applications in waste management. Actually, for the most part, the term circular economy does not even appear at these review studies. So, in the next section, a short review of LCA studies in waste management with a focus on circular economy was provided.
Circular Economy and Waste Management Waste management is acknowledged as major challenge for societies aiming to move from linear system to a circular economy approach. The implementation of circular economy thinking in waste management strategies generates positive effect in the triple bottom line, that is, in the environment,
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economy, and society (Paes et al. 2019). According to Jacobsen et al. (2018), one of the most serious trends faced by waste management planners is the increasing amount of waste to handle as well as the inefficiency of current WM systems. So, LCA could help decision-makers to find more effective strategies to deal with the challenges faced by authorities from this sector. So, this section presents a short review encompassing studies linking LCA, circular economy, and waste management. The review process consisted of three steps: articles selection, data classification, and critical analysis. The papers compiled in this research were obtained from three electronic databases: SAGE Journals, ScienceDirect, and SpringerLink. The papers were selected based on a keyword research in which the following keywords were used: “waste,” “LCA,” and “circular economy.” For each article selected, the year of publication and data related to LCA model were recorded. The information obtained from each study was classified considering their main aspects in terms of the main steps of an LCA. The classification process for each paper was based on a double independent analysis carried out by two researchers. The results of both were compared, and in case of disagreement, discussions were performed to achieve a consensus. Table 2 presents a list of studies involving LCA, circular economy, and waste management. First of all, it was found that only seven papers meet the research criteria, which indicates a scarcity in publications on this topic. Concerning LCA model, a predominance of Recipe approach in the studies compiled was noted. The preference by this method is probably related to the fact that it is a largely used model that was updated recently and that meets the requirements of the analysis by providing a large range of impact categories and covering midpoint and endpoint point of views. In terms of functional unit, the adoption of a mass of waste as reference to determine environmental impacts was the most common functional unit used. This behavior only changes in specific cases, e. g., Colangelo et al. (2020) that preferred to use 1 m3 of concrete. Indeed, this makes sense as they were studying the effect of use of recycled aggregates in the overall environmental impact of concrete. Geographically, almost all papers recorded were from European countries, an exception was Monsiváis-Alonso et al. (2020) from Mexico. This concentration of publications from Europe was expected; as already discussed in the previous section, LCA studies in waste management mostly come from this continent, and this tendency was also noted in papers dedicated to circular economy involving waste management and LCA. A diversity in the type of waste involved in the studies recorded was noted, which includes e-waste, CDW, food waste, oil waste, and plastics. An important observation is the lack of a study encompassing the whole waste fractions from municipal solid waste. The consideration of glass, metals, plastic, paper, and organic and other fractions in the same study could give an important contribution to this field of research, showing the complexity to define different strategies of circularity considering a large range of options for each material from MSW.
Italy
Rigamonti et al. (2017) Meys et al. (2020) Laso et al. (2016)
MonsiváisAlonso et al. (2020) Slorach et al. (2020)
Italy
Colangelo et al. (2020)
Oil waste
Food waste
United Kingdom
Ewaste Plastic waste Food waste
CDW
Mexico
Spain
Germany
Country Czech Republic
Study Fort and Cerny (2020)
Type of waste CDW
Destination strategies
Destination strategies
Destination strategies Destination strategies Destination strategies
Recycled aggregates
Research scope Destination strategies
1 ton of waste
Year
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
1 m3 of concrete 1 ton of waste 1 kg of waste 1 ton of waste
ISO standards No
Functional unit 1 ton of waste
Midpoint
Endpoint
Midpoint
Midpoint
LCA approach Midpoint and endpoint Midpoint and endpoint Midpoint
Recipe
Environmental sustainability assessment Recipe
AADP, CML, EPS, EDIP, ILCD, recipe Recipe
Impact 2002+
LCA model Impact 2002+
Table 2 Description of existing studies involving LCA applications on waste management in the context of circular economy
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Normalization Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Sensitivity analysis Yes
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Normalization followed by aggregation of results was used for the most part of the studies reviewed; the authors adopted this approach arguing that this procedure offers a simple way to have a global result of the environmental performance of each scenario accessed and facilitates scenarios comparison, simplifying decisionmaking (Laso et al. 2016). Indeed, normalization is a good approach to obtain a fast overview of a system studied. Iqbal et al. (2020) also consider normalization and aggregation of results an important way to facilitate results interpretation and to present the LCA findings to stakeholders. However, this practice needs to be used with parsimony, since there is still no consensus about normalization factors, which could increase the uncertainty of the interpretations, as different sets of normalization factors can completely change results and consequently the conclusions. Complementing this aspect, sensitivity analysis could support and improve the reliability of the study and conclusions, by accessing the uncertainty involved in results. In this sense, it was noted that several papers investigated carried out some type of sensitivity analysis, which differs from previous reviews that assessed LCA applications not only to circular economy context but also to WM in general, as reported in the previous section. This is likely due to the fact that the reviewed studies are very more recent and they were developed probably addressing the gaps of previous studies indicated in the reviews previously discussed. Rigamonti et al. (2017), particularly, presented the results of a study dedicated to highlight the importance of sensitivity analysis to the interpretation of LCA results involving circular economy studies in the field of electronic waste management. According to Rigamonti et al. (2017), LCA results must be critically analyzed, to ensure consistency and robustness. In fact, ideally, a sensitivity analysis must be carried out for inputs, LCA models, and any other aspect of the study involving uncertainties, to provide a better understanding about the stability of results depending on changes in the assumptions made or in the models used. It is important to note that for the most part, studies are turned to assess scenarios of classical waste management practices, such as incineration, landfilling, composting, recycling, and reuse. There was no study involving other circular economy strategies such as improvements in durability of materials instead of recycling. So, a lack of studies involving more complex scenarios is observed that consider ways to reinsert waste from a process to another value chain, changing the way of viewing the residues of an activity as resource rather than a reject.
Perspectives and Topics for Further Research This section will discuss some topics that need to be further explored in future research. Actually, there is still several aspects involving circular economy and waste management focusing on life cycle thinking that must be better investigated, such as the following:
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• Comparison for recycling solutions with improve product durability, i.e., included in the scenarios focusing on environmental performance of long-term value retention practices. • Development of life cycle inventories (LCI) dedicated to key process involved in circular economy. • Investigations with case studies dedicated to countries outside Europe, particularly developing countries. • Incorporation of economic and social aspects in the life cycle assessments, i.e., LCC and S-LCA studies, involving waste management in circular economy perspective. • Inclusion of sensitivity analysis in all the future studies to provide reliability of the results and conclusions. As described in this chapter, circular economy involves several resource management practices that have been addressed in different levels in earlier research. Recycling and reuse are the most common subjects, involving circular economy and waste management. However, there are several other strategies that could be even more efficient to optimize materials management and minimize waste generation, such as long-term products value retention, i.e., how to increase durability of products and consequently prolong their life cycle. The inclusion of this scenarios allows to analyze the contribution of this practice to reduce waste generation and the demand for new products from primary resources. In this context, LCA studies compare environmental impact generated from conventional alternatives for waste management as recycling and value retention solutions to improve durability of the same product. According to Bocken et al. (2016), the implementation of service cycles will enable to increase life cycle of products by means of a combination of several R-initiatives, such as reuse, repair, and reconditioning. New studies involving applications dedicated to such practices could provide a valuable contribution to open new frontiers in circular economy strategies. Alongside the aforementioned topic, it is necessary to create new LCI data involving process required to support this new approaches that will be considered in waste management; otherwise, the lack of inventories available could limit the different types of circular economy options considered. Actually, the lack of LCI data is not a specific problem of circular economy-related problems; LCI that reflects local conditions for waste management process in general is still a challenge that offers numerous opportunities for new studies. Indeed, LCI is a key aspect of LCA and could directly influence the results obtained as input and output flows have a central role in this methodology. In terms of circular economy, studies are dedicated to the current gaps for process involving items from 10R frameworks. Moreover, LCI for process required to better characterize common CE approaches, such as reverse logistics and value retention, is an interesting subject for new LCI studies. Concerning geographical coverage, the huge majority of LCA studies in waste management involves European countries followed by Asian countries. So, to promote the dissemination of this practice around the world, case studies involve other regions of the world like the United States, Africa, and Oceania. LCA studies
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in this continents could give interesting information, showing that these regions could present different conclusions observed in studies from Europe and Asia. Another aspect to be further explored involves the adoption of variants of LCA to consider economic (LCC) and social aspects (S-LCA). This recommendation does not mean to prioritize LCC and S-LCA and to abandon environmental aspects. On the contrary, environmental issues need to be included in future works, but it is important to incorporate the other aspects that compose the triple bottom line. After all, to implement circular economy initiatives that really will contribute to a sustainable development, it is necessary to assess the equilibrium among environmental, social, and economic aspects to provide a complete evaluation of the scenarios considered. Sensitivity analysis inclusion in LCA studies was recommended in almost all review papers presented in this chapter, which reinforce that the incorporation of uncertainty analysis in future papers is a common concern of scientific community in this field. So, the analysis of sensitivity of results due to inputs, methods, assumptions, and premises of the study is strongly suggested and must be seem as a crucial step in upcoming research. So, these suggestions presented above comprise only a short list of numerous opportunities for future research. It is important to keep in mind that circular economy implementation is still under development and several challenges will arise in the next years. So, methodology adaptation and technology development are to fill the requirements that will be faced by society’s transition to CE, which will probably open new fronts for further studies in the field of LCA applied to support waste management.
Case Study This section describes a practical application from a case study of LCA used to support WM strategies for a Brazilian city incorporating circular economy concepts. The main purpose of this case study is to show an example on how to use LCA to support the analysis of circular economy options in the field of waste management. This case study is addressed to Juiz de Fora, a city located in the southeast of Brazil in the state of Minas Gerais. This city presents an urban area of 446.5 km2 and a population of 573,285 inhabitants (IBGE 2020). The climate is humid subtropical, characterized by a dry winter and hot summer; the average temperature is 19.5 C; and the average rainfall rate is 1360 mm/year (INMET 2020). In terms of waste characteristics, Juiz de Fora presents a daily per capita waste generation rate of 0.7 kg/inhabitant/day (Prefeitura de Juiz de Fora 2018). Concerning municipal solid waste composition, according to the same source, this city presents the following waste fraction distribution: 3.1% glass, 1.2% metal, 12.9% paper, 16.3% plastic, 43.1% organics, and 23.4% others. Waste management in Juiz de Fora basically involves landfilling, which is the destination of 99.2% of all MSW generated; only 0.8% of recyclables are sent to sorting plants (Prefeitura de Juiz de Fora 2018).
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LCA was carried out in four steps: goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory (LCI), life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and results interpretation. The main goal of this LCA case study is to assess waste management strategies to Juiz de Fora. The scope of this study comprises the impacts related to the treatment and disposal facilities, as well as collection and transport of waste. LCI involving raw materials and emissions for waste treatment technologies and collection and transport of materials was performed using the LCA-IWM methodology developed by Den Boer et al. (2007). It is important to note that this study considers the extraction of virgin materials avoided by material recovery from waste and by reverse logistics practice. Impacts related to electricity consumption were determined considering the Brazilian electricity mix, using the LCI presented by Goulart Coelho and Lange (2018). In this study, different waste management scenarios were evaluated and compared using LCA approach. A total of six scenarios were investigated. Scenario 1 represents the current waste management adopted in Juiz de Fora, with 99.2% of MSW landfilled and 0.8% recycled. Scenario 2 consists of a strategy based on waste to energy as an alternative to landfilling, with 99.2% of MSW sent to incineration and 0.8% recycled. Rejects generated by incineration were sent to landfill. Scenarios 3 and 4 comprise conventional strategies to support material recovery from waste. Scenario 3 focuses on sorting plants, considering that 30% of recyclables (glass, plastic, metal, and paper) are source separated collected by public system and sent to recycling; the rest of waste are assumed to be landfilled. A recovery rate of 70% of waste sent to sorting was adopted. Scenario 4 is similar to the previous one but includes composting of 30% of organic waste fraction. Scenario 5 involves the adoption of reverse logistics for packing materials (glass and plastic). This scenario assumes that packing is source separated and voluntary delivered at collecting points. So, it was assumed that materials managed by reverse logistics do not require public collection. On the other hand, a distance of 250 km was adopted for transportation of materials from collecting points of the industrial plant that reinserts the product in the production line. In scenario 5, it was considered that 30% of packing materials are managed by reverse logistics and the rest of waste are landfilled. Materials managed by reverse logistics are assumed to be fully used in the same function. Scenario 6 is similar to scenario 5 but considers a lower percentage of packing materials being managed by reverse logistics; instead of 30%, a value of 15% was considered in this scenario. It is important to note that the current percentage of materials sent to recycling (0.8%) was kept in scenarios 5 and 6. Table 3 presents waste material flow destination for each scenario. Referring to LCIA, it was performed using LCA-IWM methodology (Den Boer et al. 2007), which is based on the CML 2001 method (Guinée et al. 2002). Characterization factors were updated according to Oers (2016). Six CML 2001 impact categories were included in this study as preconized by LCA-IWM model. The following LCA impact categories were considered: abiotic depletion (kgSbeq), acidification (kgSO2eq), eutrophication (kgPO4eq), global warming (kgCO2eq),
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Table 3 Waste material flows for each scenario Scenario 1 2 3 4 5 6
Material flows(ton/year) Composting Incineration – – – 145,808 – – 18,939 – – – – –
Landfill 145,808 – 136,170 122,912 137,557 141,819
Recycling 393 393 14,721 14,721 393 393
Reverse logistics – – – – 8525 4262
Table 4 Normalization factors related to world emissions in 2000 (adapted from Guinée et al. 2001; Sleeswijk et al. 2008; Oers 2016) Impact category Abiotic depletion Global warming Human toxicity Photochemical oxidation Acidification Eutrophication
Normalization factor 2.63E+01 6.94E+03 1.46E+03 6.05E+00 3.93E+01 3.37E+01
Unit kgSbeq/yr./capita kgCO2eq/yr./capita kg1.4-C6H4Cl2eq/yr./capita kgC2H4eq/yr./capita kgSO2eq/yr./capita KgPO4eq/yr./capita
human toxicity (kg 1.4-dichlorobenzeneeq), and photochemical oxidation (kgC2H4eq). In terms of results interpretation, scenarios were compared considering the results of each impact categories. In addition, normalization of results and aggregation were used to provide a global performance analysis. Scenarios were classified considering each impact category and in terms of aggregated results. Normalization was based on factors related to the world emissions in 2000 presented in Table 4. Table 5 presents LCIA results for each scenario, in which positive values represent an environmental burden and negative values indicate an environmental credit (impact avoided). To facilitate results interpretation, each impact category was firstly separately analyzed. First of all, an analysis about abiotic depletion was carried out, the impact category related to resource consumption. Results for this impact category are presented in Fig. 1. As expected, scenarios with the higher amounts of material recovery presented the best results. Indeed, scenarios 3 and 4, with higher recycling rates, presented the major quantities of environmental impact avoided (negative results). Scenarios 5 and 6 focused on reverse logistics and presented very good results. By the way, scenario 5 showed results practically as good as scenarios 3 and 4, with much less rates of recycling recovery. This behavior is associated with the fact that reverse logistics does not increase demand by fossil fuels, since the collection of waste is supposed to be made in recycling points instead of door to door. On the contrary, scenarios 3 and 4, despite promoting high material recovery from waste, also cause increase in fossil fuel consumption, as it requires the implementation of source separated collection that occurs in parallel to conventional collection (mix
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Table 5 LCIA impact category results for each scenario: abiotic depletion (AB), acidification (AC), eutrophication (EU), global warming (GW), human toxicity (HT), and photochemical oxidation (PO)
Scenario 1 2 3 4 5 6
Environmental impact category results AC EU AB (kgSO2eq) (kgPO4eq) (kgSbeq) 1.64E+03 1.09E+06 1.73E+05 5.63E+04 1.08E+06 1.53E+05 1.43E+05 1.00E+06 1.60E+05 1.43E+05 9.16E+05 1.64E+05 1.39E+05 9.27E+05 1.50E+05 7.05E+04 1.01E+06 1.62E+05
GW (kgCO2eq) 2.39E+10 2.39E+10 2.47E+10 2.18E+10 2.24E+10 2.31E+10
HT (kg1.4C6H4Cl2eq) 3.79E+08 3.79E+08 3.92E+08 3.46E+08 3.56E+08 3.68E+08
PO (kgC2H4eq) 1.27E+04 4.93E+03 7.29E+03 5.97E+03 8.66E+03 1.07E+04
Fig. 1 LCIA results for abiotic depletion impact category
collection). So, from these results, it is noted that fuel consumption from collection could be highly impacting in source separation options, limiting the benefits of material recovery. However, it is clearly noted that scenarios based on circular economy premises looking for increase in material reuse or recycling were less impacting alternatives, since these avoid the demand of new primary materials. Concerning the worst scenarios, 1 and 2, the latter presents better results for this impact category as it allows at least energy recovery from waste, instead of scenario 1, in which landfilling predominates. For acidification impact category, results are presented in Fig. 2. Landfill and incineration emissions are important sources of impact for this category. Organic fraction treatment also generates emissions that directly increase burdens related to acidification. Indeed, in scenario 4, composting increases the impacts from the
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Fig. 2 LCIA results for acidification potential impact category
release of ammonia, NOx, and SO2, but this scenario also presents important waste recycling quantities. So, the increases in impacts related to organic fraction treatment were compensated by material recovery, which prevents impacts in this category, principally by avoiding emissions of SO2 and NOx from the production of paper and plastics by virgin materials. Concerning eutrophication impact category, results are provided in Fig. 3. Landfilling and composting technologies are the main technologies responsible by the impacts related to this category due to leachate emissions from landfill and micronutrient release from compost applied as fertilizer; for this reason, scenarios 1 and 4 achieved the higher impacts in this category. Figure 4 shows the results for global warming; an interesting observation refers to the comparison between scenarios 3 and 4, and both presented the same amount of waste send to recycling. However, while the former obtained the worst results in this category, the latter produced the lowest environmental burden. This occurs because scenario 4 beyond recyclables also considers composting of organic waste, which was decisive in this difference, as waste composted prevents greenhouse gas emissions from waste landfilled. Comparing scenarios 1 and 3, the latter presents higher impacts for this category because it requires an increase in fossil fuel consumption due to source separated collection occurring alongside to mixed collection, resulting in a worst result compared with the reference scenario, which is based only on mixed collection. Referring to human toxicity, as presented in Table 5 and in Fig. 5, globally, scenarios achieved very similar results, with a slightly difference for scenario 4, mainly due to composting and avoiding organic wastes to be landfilled. So, in terms of this impact category, all scenarios are almost at the same level, indicating that human toxicity was not a decisive category, as all scenarios resulted in high emission
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Fig. 3 LCIA results for eutrophication potential impact category
Fig. 4 LCIA results for global warming impact category
levels impacting this indicator. However, this consideration is limited to this case study and could not to be generalized. Concerning photochemical oxidation, air emissions from landfill were the main source of environmental impact. Indeed, scenarios 1, 5, and 6, which have the large amounts of waste sent to landfill, presented the worst results for this impact category. On the other hand, scenario 1, focused on landfilling minimization by incineration of
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Fig. 5 LCIA results for human toxicity impact category
residues, was the one that achieves the lowest environmental impact for this category, followed by scenario 4, the second one with lower landfilling quantities. Scenarios 3 and 4 also presented low levels of impacts due to the prevention of landfilling thanks to the high material recovery quantities (Fig. 6). Figure 7 shows the global aggregated results obtained by the summation of the normalized impact category values. The high global impact observed in scenario 3 is mainly linked to the increase in fossil fuel demand for waste separated collection. Furthermore, the good performance of scenario 4 highlights the importance to pay attention to organic fraction destination. Scenarios 5 and 6, dedicated to reverse logistics, provide good examples of different ways to consider other circular economy initiatives beyond the classic ones as recycling and organic valorization. Table 6 shows a classification of scenarios according to results of each impact category and considering aggregation of the normalized results. It is important to highlight that scenario 1, based on landfilling, was classified in the last position in four impact categories. It is important to highlight that the aforementioned scenario corresponds to the existing waste management strategy in Juiz de Fora, which means that it is highly recommended to rethink the way the authorities are conducting MSW planning in this city. On the other hand, scenario 4 reached the first position in three impact categories and also the top position, considering aggregated results. It is important to note that the good results obtained by this scenario are likely related to the fact that material recovery involves both recyclables and organic waste. Scenario 5, also based on reverse logistics, presented an overall good position for the most part of impact categories. An important concern refers to the fact that even after normalization, the magnitude of results for global warming is much higher than for other impact
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Fig. 6 LCIA results for photochemical oxidation impact category
Fig. 7 Normalized results aggregated for each scenario, presented in terms of inhabitants equivalent (IE)
categories, masking the results that in fact represent basically the same graphic showed in Fig. 4, and was here presented to emphasize that, despite facilitating the interpretation by condensing results, normalization could also provide an overview that hyper-estimates burdens from scenarios for what normalization factors are higher.
416 Table 6 Classification of scenarios according to impact category results: abiotic depletion (AB), acidification (AC), eutrophication (EU), global warming (GW), human toxicity (HT), and photochemical oxidation (PO)
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Scenario 1 2 3 4 5 6
Scenarios classification AB AC EU GW 6 6 6 4 5 5 2 5 1 3 3 6 2 1 5 1 3 2 1 2 4 4 4 3
HT 5 4 6 1 2 3
PO 6 1 3 2 4 5
Global 5 4 6 1 2 3
Conclusion Concerning the case study, interesting features about LCA applications in waste management were observed from the results and discussion, clarifying the use of the method by means of a practical example. It is important to note that the conclusions presented in this case study could not be generalized to other cases, because LCA is highly influenced for local characteristics, as already discussed throughout this chapter. The information provided in this chapter aims to present an overview of circular economy perspective applied to waste management using a life cycle assessment approach. However, the background presented here must be considered an introduction to the theme, showing the main trends involved and highlighting the complexity of the subject and requiring further studies to obtain more information and details about LCA steps and procedures and about circular economy initiatives. Finally, closing the loop could not be viewed as a panacea that will solve all environmental problems without any exception; rather, it is an alternative to the current production system that needs to be considered as a potential way to contribute to sustainable development.
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Circular Economy Approach to Address the Industrial Solid Waste Management
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Salman Raza Naqvi, Bilal Beig, and Muhammad Naqvi
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Industrial Waste in the Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities, Challenges, and Trade-Offs of Industrial Waste Recovery and Recycling Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composting and Anaerobic Digestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Energy Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy Tools and Framework for Industrial Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Level(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental Technology Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Product Environmental Footprint and Organization Environmental Footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ecolabel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eco-management and Audit Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nomenclature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Industrial activities continuously generate diverse characteristics of various types of wastes. Industrial wastes varied from various process residues, wastes from pollution, or decontamination from operations and materials resulting from activities for contaminated soil remediation, ashes, oil, acidic wastes, plastic, paper, wood, fiber, rubber, metals, and glass. S. R. Naqvi (*) · B. Beig School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan e-mail: [email protected] M. Naqvi Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_62
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The circular tools indicate a restorative and regenerative system in which the streams of materials and products take place in a circular way. Considering social pressures, major industrial enterprises perceived the need for readjusting their production chains according to circular chains, which are more sustainable and consider the generated waste. This study aims to present the factors for sustainable waste management in major industrial enterprises based on the circular economy approach. The available data of a waste company is considered, and the model of circular economy such as fault tree analysis is applied to figure out the implementation of a circular process to industrial waste, especially those of lower value that have greater difficulties in being processed. The last section will propose a framework, opportunities, challenges, and trade-offs promoting circulatory industrial waste management. Keywords
Waste management · Recycling · Industrial waste · Circular economy
Introduction The main theme behind circular economy (CE) is to follow the alternative approach of the traditional linear economy. The traditional linear economy comprises three major steps, i.e., make, use, and dispose as shown in Fig. 1. On the other hand, in CE the materials are kept in use for a long period of time, with the extraction of maximum usable material content as shown in Fig. 2. At the end of their life span, the materials are reused by recycling and converting them into some other useful products (Bonviu 2014). CE helps to maintain a balance between the industry and the ecosystem by recognizing the effectiveness of recycling the materials in the natural environment (Andersen 2007). CE creates a lot of new opportunities for jobs and businesses along with the reduction in waste by saving materials and costs associated with it. CE also helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to Fig. 1 Process scheme of traditional linear economy
Resource Make Use Dispose Waste
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Fig. 2 Process scheme of circular economy
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Manufacture
Reproduce
Recycle
Use
Dispose
continuous recycling of used materials. Furthermore, CE will enhance the resource productivity by 30% till 2030 which helps to improve the gross domestic product by 1%. This increase in GDP creates nearly two million new jobs (Ghisellini et al. 2016). The CE moves many nations from the conventional approach of “take-makedispose” process. Recent studies show that the conventional system reduces the profits while environmental hazards and material costs increase (Preston 2012). The CE is directly linked with sustainable development. Sustainable development is generally expressed as the improvement and development which fulfill the present needs of humans without affecting the natural resources for future generation (Sviluppo et al. 1987). The strong sustainability focused on the natural capital without its replacement with human resources. On the other hand, weak sustainability states that natural resources can be substituted with the human capital (Andersen 2007). The CE under sustainable development goals aimed for the reduction of input resources along with energy by using the recycling principle and follows the renewable materials and cascade-type energy patterns within the conventional system. Furthermore, many authors called CE as a tool for sustainable development. Geissdoerfer et al. (2017) presented three connections which linked CE with sustainable development. These connections include (i) CE is essential for sustainable development, (ii) CE is helpful for sustainability, and (iii) both CE and sustainability are mandatory for each other. Sustainable development defines the goals and objectives for the improvement in any system due to problems, while CE acted as a tool which addresses those problems and removes the hurdles that arise due to it (Bonviu 2014). The thermodynamic parameters limit the adaptation of CE to a conventional system. The cost of transformation from a linear system to a circular pattern is another major constraint (Korhonen et al. 2018). The goals of sustainable development will evaluate the advantages and cost associated with CE for its practice for any conventional system. The CE goals are originated from sustainable development targets which clearly segregate the two input materials to any cycle which are renewable and nonrenewable resources. The sustainable development emphasized more on the regeneration of renewable resources in comparison with its extraction and utilization (Daly 2008). Nonrenewable resources are consuming very fast within the past few decades. So, to achieve sustainability, the consumption
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rate of conventional resources must be lower than that of the establishment of its renewable counterparts (Daly 1990). The other disadvantage of nonrenewable resources is their contribution towards greenhouse gas emission and environmental pollution as waste, whereas the waste generated by renewable resources is very less or negligible (Deng et al. 2020). In this perspective, there is a need to differentiate between two types of waste, i.e., biological and technical waste (MacArthur 2015). The biological waste is biodegradable in nature coming from biogeochemical sources which are transformed into natural resources after degradation. According to the operational scheme of (Daly 1990), the emissions from biological waste must be cut down within the limits of ecosystems so that nature will take it easily without any harm. On the other hand, technological waste is categorized as nonbiodegradable material. This waste material required some unit operation and process for its conversion into some reusable product. Therefore, this waste must be reduced to make the environment cleaner and greener (Riechmann et al. 1995). The CE concept includes the processes which generate zero waste and promote the utilization of resources for a longer period of time within the circular path. It also gives special importance on water and energy inputs coming from renewable sources (Scotland 2013). This chapter aims to elaborate the classification of industrial waste in the economy. Also different opportunities, challenges, and trade-offs of industrial waste recovery and recycling processes are discussed. The major contribution of this chapter is to determine the circular economy concept to address industrial solid waste management.
Classification of Industrial Waste in the Economy The beginning of industrialization around the world creates lots of jobs and started new businesses but also left some negative impacts on the environment as well. These drawbacks include greenhouse gas emissions along with lots of waste generated during the operation of industrial plants. Every production plant needs some basic raw materials which after processing are converted into finished products. Along with products, waste is also generated during these industrial activities. This industrial waste materials include waste paint, metallic chips, ash, fiber, spent catalyst, slag, and radioactive materials (El-Fadel et al. 2001). The word “industrial waste” is defined as any material in the form of liquid, solid, or gas coming out from any manufacturing facility which is not treated as a product. Without any proper arrangement of disposal plan, the wastes can create a severe hazard to the surrounding humans and environment (Demirbas 2011). Due to this reason, a proper classification of industrial waste is required. Industrial wastes are generally classified into two major types which are nonhazardous and hazardous. Nonhazardous waste is the waste generated which poses no threats to the near ecosystem. This includes wooden cartons, plastics, metallic chips, broken glass pieces, rocks, and organic waste. On the other hand, hazardous waste, as the name suggests, is the resultant product of industrial processes which may be harmful for the near environment and humans. Examples of hazardous waste are flammable
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Fig. 3 Classification of industrial waste
Industiral Waste
Hazardous
Flammable liquids, corrosive fluids,spent catalyst and toxic substances
Non-Hazardous
Wooden cartons, Plastics Metallic shavings ,Broken glass, Rocks & organic waste
liquids, corrosive spent catalysts, and toxic substances (Millati et al. 2019). The classification of industrial waste is shown in Fig. 3. Generally, the amount of nonhazardous waste produced per year is very large in comparison with hazardous waste (Allen and Behmanesh 1992). Only 3.8% of industrial waste was categorized as hazardous according to Europe (EU-28) (Baldé et al. 2017). Additionally, the industrial waste can either be in different forms like solid, liquid, or gas depending upon the nature of the industry. Industrial solid wastes normally comprise a variety of materials including used papers, plastics, wooden chips, cardboards, packaging materials, scrap metal, and many others which are unable to fulfill further needs. But one thing is important which came from CE that the waste of one industry can be adopted as a raw material for other industry to convert it into some useful product. Liquid waste is also produced by many industries which is the most harmful and threatens the life of humans and surrounding environment. A large amount of water is used for cooling, heating, and cleaning purposes in industries. This water acted as a carrier for a lot of harmful chemicals like radioactive metals, acids, alkalis, organic compounds, detergents, waste oils, etc. Due to improper treatment and waste effluent system, this liquid waste mixed with nearby water bodies like oceans, rivers, or lakes and created several health risks. Gaseous waste is also generated due to combustion activities within industries for power generation and heating purposes. Coal and hydrocarbons are normally used to generate power and heat within the industry. All these activities generate lots of waste in the form of smoke, toxic fumes, soot, and ash. All these wastes must be handled in a proper way since it generally contains dangerous chemicals which directly affect human, animal, and plant life (Sell 1992). The characteristics of industrial waste produced by different industries are shown in Table 1. The composition of industrial waste can vary greatly and is totally dependent upon the nature of the industry. Also the quantity of waste and type of waste are highly influenced by the nature of raw materials and process technology. The latest
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Table 1 The characteristics of industrial waste by different industries Name of industry Mining and metallurgy
Energy and power generation
Explanation Blasting Extraction Crushing, grinding Roasting, smelting Chemical leaching Electricity Heating and cooling Steam generation
Chemical and manufacturing plant
Petrochemical Fertilizer Food Textile Paper and pulp Paint
Construction and building
Construction Destruction
Water filtration and purification
Water treatment plants Industrial waste treatment plants
Type of waste Waste rocks Blast furnace slag Wash slimes Coal refuse Mill tailing Ash, soot, carbon black, particulate matter Boiler slag Waste oils Steam condensate Exhaust catalyst Solvents Reactive substances Acids and alkalis Oils, ashes, soot, carbon black Plastics, packaging material Pigments, thinners, peroxides, organic liquid Wooden pulp, wooden chips Particulate matter, dust Used concrete and bricks Asphalt Metallic rods Glass and plaster Tree stumps Electric wiring Rubble, dirt, and rocks Exhausted resin Sludge Sediments Microplastics Oils Organic and inorganic chemicals Membrane filters, etc.
plants are designed in such a way that favors to lower the waste and yield better products without any loss of raw materials (El-Halwagi 2017). Since there is a wide range of waste industries can generate, it is very important to categorize them on the basis of their source and origin, i.e., raw materials. Some countries are following the practice of mixing construction waste with municipal solid waste. Each waste stream has its own composition, so it is very important to separate it handled it. This strategy will help to recognize the nature of waste whether either it is under a hazardous or nonhazardous category. Also it facilitates in better understanding of whether by-products can be reused or recycled. Such information can also help in deciding how to best manage and reduce facility waste (Pipatti et al. 2006). The waste from the construction industry mainly contains nonhazardous materials like concrete and bricks, asphalt, metallic rods, glass and plaster, tree stumps,
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electric wiring, rubble, dirt, and rocks. But among these, degradable organic carbon (DOC) is also present in wood and some fossil carbon in plastics. So, proper data is required for recycling and reducing waste into useful products prior to final disposal in landfills or incineration. The nature and composition of nonhazardous waste are very much similar to those of the daily household waste. The toxicity level of nonhazardous waste is very less, and it can be easily recycled and even disposed of very safely without any treatment. On the other hand, the hazardous waste needs excessive treatment prior to disposal, and it harms the surrounding vicinity. The hazardous waste also pollutes the other waste if it gets in contact with it. Hazardous waste once produced needed a proper mechanism during its transportation, storage, and final disposal or recycling. The physical and chemical properties of hazardous waste play a vital role related to fire, corrosion, toxicity, and reactivity during all these abovementioned activities. These properties will also help to evaluate the hazard potential of each waste generated through industrial processes. Also it helps the government in regulating agencies to prepare laws which restrict the production of waste at a minimal level (Gupta and Babu 1999). Various methods are available to evaluate the hazard potential associated with different industrial wastes. In most cases, industrial wastes are a mixture of chemicals. Generally, the hazardous waste comprises multiple compounds in which the property of individual species is suppressed due to mixture. The overall property of waste is thus evaluated by checking its composition and the properties of each component. All the final properties will help to choose and finalize the storage, transport, recycling, and dumping procedures for hazardous waste. A research study proposed a hazardous waste index (HWI) to evaluate the hazard potential associated with the waste mixture. This index will help to make procedures and guidelines while dealing with any kind of hazardous waste. The HWI consists of five parameters including flammability, reactivity, toxicity, corrosion, and pH value. This index will help to identify the potential hazard of each waste (Gupta and Babu 1999).
Opportunities, Challenges, and Trade-Offs of Industrial Waste Recovery and Recycling Processes In most developing countries, the quantity of industrial waste especially solid waste is tremendously increasing in line with population growth, industrialization, and economic expansion. Very few countries are managing their waste generation by recycling or converting them into useful products and contributing them towards socioeconomic developments. The amount and composition of industrial waste produced greatly vary depending upon the country, but overall solid industrial waste is mostly produced worldwide. Suitable industrial waste recovery and management have become a hot topic for the past few decades. This is because of achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) for making the big cities cleaner, safer, flexible, and sustainable (Lenkiewicz 2018).
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Waste Collection
Transportation • To Useful products • Raw Materials for other processes • Packaging
• Size Reduction • To Energy Recovery • For Composting • Anerobic Digestion • For Landfills
Recycling
Separation and Processing
Fig. 4 Different steps of waste management
Solid industrial waste is considered as a resource and has a significant economic value under CE concept. The issue of industrial solid waste management is that there are no stringent policies of government which force the industries to find a proper solution to their waste generated during manufacturing. Asian countries like China, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh generate a lot of industrial solid waste, but they process a little fraction of it (Guerrero et al. 2013). Waste management comprises the following major steps as shown in Fig. 4 (Jassim 2017). Table 2 briefly explains the advantages, disadvantages, and barriers of various methods used to handle industrial solid waste. Different processes and options are available for the treatment of industrial solid waste as shown in Fig. 5. Among all, recovery, reuse, and recycling are the most suitable and desirable options. These methods are used to recover the valued material from solid waste. Additionally, these conserve the resources which are considered to be finite. In this way, lots of waste from landfills and incinerators are reused and come back again in the economy by following the CE concept. Other methods of waste recovery and recycling include biophysical pretreatment, composting, incineration, and anaerobic digestion. And the most discouraging method nowadays according to the CE concept is landfilling. The selection criteria for reuse, recovery, and recycling of waste material are totally dependent upon two important factors, i.e., cost of recovery and processing, and the other one is technology. The cost is the foremost aspect that minimizes the hazardous solid waste using recovery, reuse, and recycling. The higher expenditure behind the recovery of low-value resources restricts the industrialists to adopt the process for conversion. The term reuse can be expressed as the reutilization of waste as a product again without any additional change and transformation in its shape, size, and composition. Various types of industrial waste can be reused, i.e., plastic bottles, old furniture, clothes, used books, papers, wooden blocks, bricks,
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Table 2 The advantages, disadvantages, and barriers of various methods used to handle industrial solid waste (Goyal et al. 2008) Name of method Reuse
Recycle
Composting
Anaerobic digestion
Incineration
Gasification
Pyrolysis
Advantages Reduction in cost and resources Minimizes waste and disposal sites No greenhouse gas emission Greener and Cleaner Cost saver Reduces and conserves resources Reduces pollution
Disadvantages Transportation cost Cost of purification and treatment of waste
Barriers Improper classification of waste Collection and separation of waste
Few greenhouse gas emissions Transportation and reprocessing cost
Minimizes organic waste Cheaper process No external heating required Composting product acted as fertilizer Reduces organic waste Generates methane Small area required Not a time-consuming process
Time taken process Land requirement Release of CO2
Improper classification of waste Collection and separation of waste Improper classification of waste Collection and separation of waste Collection and separation of waste Technology issues
Reduces mass and volume of waste Uses little land Developed technology Generates heat for heating and power generation Generates syngas for power and chemicals synthesis Reduces waste Less space is required
Reduces waste from disposal sites Simple process Low-cost equipment Generates gas and liquid fuels Higher energy recovery
Safety issues due to methane generation Higher capital cost Greenhouse gas emissions due to methane and CO2 generation Digestate handling Higher capital cost Release of toxic gases, ash, and particulate matter Skilled man power
Capital cost External heat is required Purification required CO2 emissions due to external heating Handling of ash and leftover of gasifier External heating is required Greenhouse gas emissions Low yield of liquid products Char contains hazardous metals and compounds
Separation of solid waste All materials are not incinerable Heat recovery technology Technology limitations
Technology issues
(continued)
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Table 2 (continued) Name of method Landfills
Advantages Low investment Simple process Higher processing capacity Generates methane as biogas
Disadvantages Lots of land required Causes pollution due to methane emission Safety issues Affects the environment due to leaching through landfills Transportation cost
Barriers Safety issues Collection of methane Handling of waste
Industrial Solid Waste
Reuse
Recycle
Thermochemical Processes
Incineration
Gasification
Thermochemical processes
Pyrolysis
Composting
Landfills
Anaerobic Digestion
Fig. 5 Processes and options are available for the treatment of industrial solid waste: waste recovery, reuse, and recycle
metallic pieces, and many others, which can be used for the same functions that it can formerly perform. In this manner, the resources are kept within the cycle for a longer period of time, thus reducing the resource input and waste generation. Also it helps to control the cost and environmental constraints associated with it. All large human resource is also associated with this reuse business all around the world. They normally picked up reusable materials from different places and sell them in the market (Noll et al. 1986). In Kenya’s capital Addis Ababa, nearly 5000 workers collect the reused material daily and earn their livelihood from it (Bjerkli 2005). As stated earlier, industrial waste is becoming a big challenge and creates a lot of problems within the society. By adopting the reusing and recycling practice, the problem can be reduced. Additionally, reuse and recycle practice facilitates the nation and its people in short- and long-term perspectives in many ways. The reuse products are cheaper and sometimes even in a good condition, so it helped the disadvantaged community to buy them and fulfill their needs who cannot afford new ones. Many people can earn their daily wage from collecting and selling reusable items similar in Kenya. This community benefit helps people to get engaged in some sort of job and also facilitates in longer term the unemployed, disabled, and uneducated personnel. The economic benefits associated with the reuse of old products are very large. New products required fresh raw materials with processing cost, which can be reduced altogether by utilizing already used products classified as waste.
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According to an environmental perspective, the reuse of old industrial waste is a greener and cleaner way of reducing waste. The method of reusing any waste item requires no water, energy, and any other material which creates zero pollution. Also it reduces waste which is an additional advantage of this technique. On the other hand, transformation of any new material from solid waste requires external resources like water, heat, and electricity which generate pollution and extra waste.
Waste Recycling Recycling of waste is defined as a process in which the waste material is reprocessed and converted into new products after some unit processes and unit operations. The recycling processes also affect the surrounding ecosystem, but the intensity of effects is very much less in comparison to that of the new synthesis of material from scratch. Recycling is a difficult step for the processing of solid industrial waste as all the industrial wastes mostly are mixed together when they reached the recycling site. The initial step of the recycling process starts with waste segregation into different classes. Normally, this can be done by viewing the source of waste or the final application of recycled material. The separation efficiency is totally dependent on the nature of material, its source, and the cost applied for separation. If the industrial solid waste is not separated properly, it will create problems at the recycling site, and the quality and efficiency of recycled resources reduce. Proper schemes are needed for the separation of industrial waste which provide individual collectors for recyclable and nonrecyclable materials. Additionally, labor and operational cost and specialized equipment discourage the application of waste separation. After the separation of different industrial solid wastes, they are sent to the processing plant via some means of transport. The nonrecyclable material is used for energy recovery, whereas the recycled material is processed again for some other applications. The paper and pulp industry processes its waste paper by breaking it into small fibers using pulping process. The converted pulp is bleached and converted into new paper or packaging material depending upon the requirement and quality of the product. The waste produced in the mining and extraction plants is recycled using melting and then converted into raw materials. Metallic pieces, blast furnace slag, and leftover metallic ores are also converted into pure metal sheets. These metallic sheets are used as a raw material for many applications. The plastic waste and glass from the construction industry are also processed in the same manner. All materials are melted down in a big furnace where they can be converted into required raw material for different applications. In this way, the cost and quantity of new input resources are reduced as the recycled waste acted as a makeup material. Some waste materials require specialized equipment and machinery for transformation and recycling which added extra cost. But mostly, the recyclable material is easily processed with a simple equipment on a smaller scale. Generally, two options are present and followed during the recycling of waste material, i.e., direct recycle and recycle to some secondary industry. The most effective and viable option during recycling process is recycle to some second industry. Under this scheme, the recycled waste
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may be supplied to a particular industry which received it with or without in-between refining and/or purification. In this way, the waste recycled resources from one site are moved to another process as raw material (Noll et al. 1986).
Composting and Anaerobic Digestion Composting is the process in which all types of industrial organic waste can be recycled in an oxygen-rich environment in the presence of microorganisms. Normally, biodegradable waste of the food industry, paper and pulp industry, and sugar and fertilizer industry is processed. The advantages of composting include reduction of waste along with the production of compost which acted as a fertilizer. This compost is used for soil remediation as it contains a lot of nitrogenous compounds and biological carbon content (Taiwo 2011). After the addition of compost, the soil gets replenished with the minerals. It also acted as a substitute for synthetic fertilizers. The increase in soil’s organic matter content helps to enhance the ability of soil to retain nutrients and water. Compost will also act as a soil stabilizer and maintain soil pH. On the other hand, anaerobic digestion is the series of processes in which biodegradable solid waste is broken down in the presence of microorganisms in an oxygen-deficient environment. It also processed waste to produce a wide range of products, e.g., normal fuel, which can be used as a substitute for conventional fuel. Both of these methods are energy savers and yield clean fuels which are sustainable as well. In composting, the microorganisms decompose the organic content, nitrogen content turns to nitrate, sulfur is converted into sulfate, and phosphorus compounds change into phosphate. The only drawback of composting is the release of carbon dioxide due to the addition of oxygen within the system. Overall, the process is cleaner and greener which proves to be a clean source of recycling. In anaerobic digestion, the absence of oxygen yields no carbon dioxide. The process is fast in comparison to composting and takes normally 20–30 days to process the waste into a useful product. It normally generates methane as a key component as microorganisms anaerobically decay the biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen (Ahring 2003). Both the processes need some basic requirement of feed materials. The first process started with the separation of biodegradable material from industrial solid waste. More focus is given to waste which contains organic content. After collection and separation of feed material, the size reduction operation started. To increase the reaction time of both processes, the size of the feed material must be as small as possible so that the microorganisms attack the waste material. Shredding is usually carried out if the major quantity of the waste has particles greater than 50 mm. After particle size reduction, blending is done to make an appropriate mixture for the conversion of waste into compost and useful material. The moisture content of feed material is a very important parameter and affects the process yield. The composting process occurred in a big pile. Normally the piles are in the shape of a triangular cross section with a width of 1.5–2 m and 1.5 m in height. The waste pile needs to be moved up and down during the composting process to make a
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sufficient supply of oxygen in the system. The frequency of moving the pile for oxygen will be 2–3 weeks after waste addition. After that the frequency will be reduced to every 3 weeks or so. The composting process is exothermic which can be seen by the emission of steam from the waste pile. Once the process of composting is completed, the steam production within the pile reduces and finally stops. The anaerobic digestion is also slight exothermic which yields biogas that comprises methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapors. The leftover waste in the digester is nutrient-rich slurry which acted as fertilizer (Kadir et al. 2016; Kiyasudeen et al. 2016).
Energy Recovery The thermal technologies applied for the handling of industrial solid waste are also popular, but due to environmental regulations, few processes are restricted for commercial success. Among all thermal technologies, incineration is one of the oldest methods of transformation of industrial solid waste into energy. This process is also known as direct combustion as it was adopted to decrease the mass of solid waste with the help of combustion. After some time, technology enhancement converted this method for energy recovery of heat, steam, and electricity generation. Incineration proved itself a promising technology in reducing a huge amount of waste, but the issue in this technology is its greenhouse emission. Incineration generated a huge quantity of methane and possesses global warming potential 28 times higher than that of carbon dioxide. Incineration converted solid waste into ash, heat, and flue gases after high-temperature combustion at 1000 C in the furnace. The resultant ash consists of inorganic compounds and some metallic content in it. The flue gas contains particle matter and carbon soot which need to be cleaned in a gas cleaning section. The high temperature of furnace is used to generate steam in steam generators which are then coupled with some turbines to generate power. Some countries show high concerns over this technology due to high gas emissions during incineration operation. The incineration plants increase the steam temperature up to 500 C which enhances the efficiency of power plants; thus, they are a proven and emerging technology for power production using waste without direct combustion. Also the dependence on conventional fossil fuels also reduces as waste replaces the fuels in the furnace. One example of the new incineration plants with Keppel Seghers technology which processed around three million tons of waste per year. Gasification also emerges as a new technique for the reduction of industrial solid waste. In this process, the carbon and hydrogen content of the material is converted into syngas in different mediums, i.e., partial oxygen, steam, or without oxygen. The synthesis gas is a mixture of mainly carbon monoxide and hydrogen. But few traces of water vapors, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide are also present in it. The gasification technology is not advanced as compared to incineration for solid industrial waste but shows potential in the past decade. The syngas after the gasifier passed through the gas purification section and can be used as a fuel to power some boiler. Prior to
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burning as a fuel, the high temperature of syngas is used to generate steam as well in the steam generator. Plasma arc gasification is also a thermochemical process for the conversion of industrial waste into useful products with the help of plasma arc using carbon electrodes, copper, tungsten, hafnium, or zirconium to reach gasification temperatures. The reaction temperatures are very high ranging from 2200 C to 11,000 C. This process gives high-quality syngas. This method completely reduces waste and generates energy. The drawback of all these thermochemical processes is greenhouse emission mostly CO2 as external heating is required to start the reaction. But the NOx, SOx, and CO2 emissions due to higher temperatures are lower in comparison to those of the combustion process. Pyrolysis is also a thermochemical process in which the waste resources are converted into a wide range of products in the absence of oxygen at high temperature. The process yields syngas along with bio-oil depending upon the parameters of the reaction, i.e., speed of pyrolysis. The quality of fuel produced from this process is not that high but can be used as a substitute for low heating applications. All these processes in industrial waste possess some bottlenecks as well as include low-quality products. Additionally, they used the waste which has the potential of being recycled. At the same time, due to its organic content, waste can be utilized alternatively for other highly sustainable processes such as composting. And the most important factor which resists their commercialization is external heating to maintain the reaction temperatures. Thus, if the external thermal energy required for the process is extracted from some sustainable resource, and then only it may be considered as a green technology for energy recovery. The issue that arises for gasification for energy recovery is low carbon sequestration efficiency as carbon dioxide may be released. Another challenge using this technology is the release of harmful metals and halogens due to improper separation of industrial waste (Zafar 2009). Combustion is the most developed technique for the conversion of waste into energy. But the combustion process releases a lot of gases in the environment and has a serious threat to the atmosphere. First of all, the gas emission of industrial solid waste is similar to that of conventional fuel combustion. Also it generates fly ash along with particulate matter which pollutes the environment (Brown et al. 1988; Liu et al. 2019). As previously mentioned, all the industrial waste must be applied to biological less heat-intensive and sustainable processes for energy recovery. The anaerobic digestion is reasonably a simple, common, and old process. However, it has many technical issues which need to be addressed and resolved to make this technology viable for efficient energy recovery. Also the safety concerns associated with the production of gaseous fuel are at risk of fire and explosion. The cost is also a big factor associated with separation, collection, transportation, and preprocessing of the waste materials which may restrict these processes for commercialization. Furthermore, the efficiency of these processes is totally dependent on the composition of the waste, and industrial waste with low organic content is not desirable for the process. Landfill is also a method used for energy recovery from industrial solid waste. But the biggest disadvantage of this process is the generation of methane which is a lethal pollutant in the environment. Energy recovery using landfills is very common
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in developing countries. This is a popular technique after anaerobic digestion and thermal methods. The gas is commonly composed of a mixture of methane and CO2. And due to methane and carbon dioxide emission, landfills are listed as three major sources (16% of total methane emission) of methane emission in the United States (Weitz et al. 2002; Lee et al. 2017). The problem of global warming associated with landfill gas as a source of renewable energy is considered to have an additional advantage of greenhouse gas reduction. On the other hand, due to higher capital cost, landfill gas recovery may not be economically viable for small landfill sites. Therefore, there are serious concerns linked with techno-economic viability of energy recovery from industrial solid wastes; they have few environmental problems as well which need to be addressed before its long-term application. The release and buildup of methane gas can also cause fire hazard. Hence, the gases should be collected in a controlled manner to maintain safety. The gas can either be used to generate electricity on-site, or it might be converted into a liquid fuel after cleaning.
Circular Economy Tools and Framework for Industrial Waste Management Various tools and frameworks are developed for industrial waste management to assist in a smooth and quick transition from linear conventional economy to CE (Roos Lindgreen et al. 2020). The overview of these tools of circular economy is given below (Lieder and Rashid 2016; Alhola et al. 2019; Domenech and Bahn-Walkowiak 2019; Marrucci et al. 2019).
Level(s) Level(s) is a circular economy framework to work on a volunteer basis with lots of surveys to enhance the sustainability of constructions and buildings. With the present standards of level(s), it gives a broad guideline to assess the environmental outcome within the construction industry. Life cycle assessment also assists this tool to encourage life cycle thinking for the construction industry. The construction sector all around the world utilized lots of resources which possess the ability to be recycled. It almost used about half of resources and half of total energy generated within the earth. It also consumed one third of all water present in the earth but resulted in one third of all industrial solid waste. From this perspective, the construction sector offers a lot of potential to apply CE with sustainable building design, construction, repair, maintenance. Also in addition to design, emphasis will be given to use recycled resources in the end of a building’s lifespan. The European Commission gives lots of stress on the implementation of CE to the construction sector and provides some action plan. The action plan contains an assessment system for the evaluation of environmental concerns associated with building construction. For technical support, the CE provides a tool with indicators known as level(s).
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Environmental Technology Verification Environmental technology verification tool by the European Commission provides a third verification under CE to evaluate the performance of different industrial systems. With the help of this tool, the potential risk associated with any system reduces using third-party verification bodies. The verification bodies review the procedures by an independent evaluation and confirmation of the manufacturer’s claims on the performance and environmental advantages and benefits of their technology. The EU CE action plan promotes the enhancement of efficiency using ETV suggestions after especially in supporting innovations by small- and mediumsize enterprises.
Product Environmental Footprint and Organization Environmental Footprint Product environmental footprint (PEF) and organization environmental footprint (OEF) are also exclusive tools which are used to evaluate the environmental hazard associated with the product and organization. Their assessment scheme comes in line with life cycle analysis which reflects the fundamentals of CE. Due to strict environmental regulations, customers are willing to purchase green and cleaner products. On the other hand, the products in the market are segregated using a variety of environmental labels and markings which create misunderstandings among customers. As a result, CE formed a method to evaluate and categorize the product basis on the two parameters, i.e., environmental footprint of product and organization. The basis of this tool is life cycle assessment which addresses the environmental impact throughout the manufacturing till its complete life cycle in an integrated manner. The life cycle view of the PEF and OEF reflects the fundamentals of the CE. In this way, it helps the manufacturers to concentrate on improved design of products, reduction of raw material usage and waste, and recycling.
Ecolabel Ecolabel is also a tool developed by CE to identify the products and their associated services using labels to minimize the environmental impact throughout their life cycle. This tool was established in 1992 by the EU which helps companies to move from a conventional linear system towards a circular economy, with the support of sustainable production and consumption.
Eco-management and Audit Scheme Eco-management and audit scheme are the standardized European environmental management tool used to facilitate companies to enhance the environmental
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performance and display their efforts towards the implementation of circular economy principles, i.e., “reduce, reuse, and recycle.” With the help of this tool, industries can calculate their resource usage, build plans and systems for the improvement of their environmental performance, and achieve their goals towards sustainable development. EMAS offers companies to save resources of all types by the implementation of safety measures, including waste reduction and raw material usage, increasing water and energy efficiency by adopting “reduce”, “reuse,” and “recycle” practices.
GPP Green public procurement is a circular economy tool used to promote the demand of green products and associated services by encouraging green markets. GPP is a voluntary tool which helps companies to move from conventional scheme towards a circular economy. This tool encourages industries for efficient resource management with durable, recyclable, and repairable products.
Conclusion This chapter examines the circular economy and its linkage with industrial solid waste management. In the initial section of the chapter, different classifications of industrial solid waste are discussed. Later detailed technologies of handling industrial solid waste are explained along with their limitations and advantages. The core idea of the circular economy revolves around three main terms, i.e., reduce, reuse, and recycle (Memon 2010). The concept of CE offers large tools and frameworks for the handling of industrial solid waste management which must be shared and explained properly before complete execution. The main points of this principle include the policy and tools which need the involvement of all the stakeholders for efficient and high-quality industrial solid waste disposal techniques. Additionally, the identification of formal and informal actions needs to be well planned for obtaining in order to higher yield with good results. As stated earlier in the section, for the challenges and barriers for the complete and successful implementation of CE in industrial solid waste management, a number of recommendations are suggested. First of all, the different industrial waste must need proper segregation and separation to enhance the efficiency of recycling and reuse. Each industry defined the proper composition of its waste so that it helps different stakeholders to buy that according to their needs. First of all, every industrial waste stream has a proven marketable and reusable ability that gives some sort of profit for the recyclers and the user. All around the world, the CE is not completely applicable in the industries, but people are trying to apply it for making the process greener and cleaner due to environmental regulations. It is highly recommended and suggested that the present waste generated in industries must be classified properly for achieving the objective of sustainable development through recycling. This would be done by making an
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authority or governing body that does proper legislation for the industrial sector. They also facilitate industries to strengthen their functions and objectives towards industrial solid waste management. Therefore, the policies should be implemented according to the CE principles. Furthermore, this CE can help industries to sell their recycled materials in order to make funds to reduce their overall cost. The CE will help industries to save lots of raw materials by processing the already used material. Proper legislation and implementation of industrial waste management policy must be made in each country. For proper waste management, recycle and reuse are the most essential steps with fewer emissions. All these activities need combined efforts for the simultaneous collection of recyclable waste with proper technology development along with training of man power.
Nomenclature CE GDP EC SME PEF OEF EMAS GPP
Circular Economy Gross Domestic Product European Commission Small- and Medium- Size Enterprises Product Environmental Footprint Organization Environmental Footprint Eco-Management and Audit Scheme Green Public Procurement
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Sources and Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Factors Influencing the Composition of Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impacts of Unmanaged/Poorly Managed Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Management (SWM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Informal Sector Involved in Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Health and Safety Risks Associated with Informal Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Economics of Solid Waste Management (SWM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Role of Circular Economy in Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental and Economic Benefits of Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recent Developments and Perspectives of “From Waste to Wealth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future Perspective and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
The industrial revolution and rapid population growth have put immense pressure on natural resources, leading to waste accumulation and contamination of the environment. Nature presents a well-defined notion of cycling as in an ecosystem nothing is waste. The concept of waste is actually introduced by inducing anthropogenic activities to the natural environment through the principles of the linear economy. In human perception, waste is anything that is unwanted and/or unusable. This leads the World Bank to predict an increase (about 70%) in the global waste generation by 2050, if not managed. The circular economy can provide a revolutionary opportunity to manage the production, consumption, and utilization of goods, products, natural resources, and assets in a sustainable manner. The circular economy includes recycling, thereby eliminating the waste R. Paliwal (*) Institute of Environmental Studies, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_82
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and introducing the generation of “wealth from waste.” Different strategies can be applied to achieve the successful application of a circular economy in solid waste management. These include most commonly 3R (reduce-reuse-recycle) to innovative business models, eco-design, and energy-efficient products. Therefore, the concept of a circular economy provides a dynamic sector, which continuously develops in a way to achieve the zero-waste generation economy. The present chapter aims to map the idea of circular economy in waste management and also seeks to explore the complexities and problems associated with the multiple cycling and material downcycling. Keywords
Circular economy · Waste · Natural resources · Sustainability · Waste management
Introduction The world population is expanding and so does the solid waste. With rapid global population increase and changing lifestyle, people are generating more waste. Problem of solid waste management is an important issue affecting the global population severely. “Waste” is well defined by several workers as anything that is being discarded after its use, but the real meaning of waste varies for people. One thing can be waste for one person; at the same time, it could be useful for the other person up to a certain extent. Worldwide, cities reported to generate 2.01 billion tonnes of solid waste in the year 2016, accounting to an average of 0.74 kg per person per day (SWMWB 2019), which ranges from 0.11 to 4.54 kg (Kaza et al. 2018). According to the World Bank report (2018), the estimated production of solid waste in 2016 was 2.01 billion tonnes globally, and under the poorly managed conditions, this could rise up to 2.59 billion tonnes by 2030 and 3.40 billion tonnes by 2050. This expected increase in waste generation is also depending upon the income level. The amount of daily per capita waste generation is expected to increase by 19% in high-income nations and approx. 40% in low-income nations by the year 2050 (Kaza et al. 2018). Hanrahan et al. (2006) reported the annual generation of municipal solid waste in India ranges from 35 to 45 million tonnes, which would be 150 million tonnes per year by 2025. Waste accumulations in the environment that cause severe diseases contaminate the ecosphere, affecting animals and economic development as well. Sustainable economic development cannot be achieved by the principles of traditional “linear economy.” In the linear economy, the resources are being extracted, consumed, and discarded after use. This use and throw concept of linear economy has been described as “take-make-dispose,” a one-directional model by many workers (Jawahir and Bradley 2016; Dumlao-Tan and Halog 2017; Esposito et al. 2018). The one-directional model of production, consumption, and waste generation is unsustainable and threatening the needs of our future generation. Therefore, it is important to develop a new model that sustainably leads the world economy toward
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sustainability without compromising the needs of future generation. Although the concept of “circular economy” has gained attention and is discussed by worldrenowned companies and organizations such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), McKinsey & Company, and World Economic Forum in the recent years, the idea of “circular economy” is rather an old concept and discussed since the 1970s. It is difficult to confirm a single originator of the idea of circular economy, but the credit for promotion of the circular economy concept to the world goes to Prof. John Lyle, William McDonough, Michael Braungart, and Walter R. Stahel (MacArthur 2013; Winans et al. 2017). Walter R. Stahel (founder and director of the Product-Life Institute, Geneva) redefines the concept of circular economy in his recent work The Circular Economy as follows: A circular economy would turn goods that are at the end of their service life into resources for others, closing loops in industrial ecosystems and minimizing waste. It would change economic logic because it replaces production with sufficiency: reuse what you can, recycle what cannot be reused, repair what is broken, remanufacture what cannot be repaired. (Stahel 2016, p. 435)
Earlier, the principles of the circular economy defined as including the 3R, i.e., reduce, reuse, and recycle, but recently, the idea of circular economy has included the 6R, i.e., reduce, reuse, recycle, redesign, remanufacture, and recover (Winans et al. 2017). Jawahir and Bradley (2016) have also discussed the 6R-based technological elements of circular economy principles for sustainable industrial manufacturing. Sustainable manufacturing holds new opportunities for developing new methods of managing the resources in integrated and holistic manner. Ghosh (2020) discussed the circular consumption as an important part of circular economy, which includes the conversion of waste into valuable products. Circular consumption thus promotes the 3R principles and closed the loop of material use. The principles of circular economy represent a systemic transition that generates economic opportunities and strengthens the business without compromising the environmental benefits. This chapter is an attempt to feature the problem of solid waste, management strategies for the waste generated from industries, and the role of circular economy in solid waste management along with the future perspective.
Solid Waste Unwanted/useless/garbage materials are considered as solid waste generated from household, industrial, and other commercial activities. These materials are usually discarded as of no use and ultimately end up at landfills, demolition sites, or industrial waste sites. The unmanaged or careless disposal of solid waste has been reported to cause serious environmental and health effects. Composition of solid waste is changing with the urbanization and technology advancement. Dumlao-Tan and Halog (2017) suggested that in the modern world, research should cover the issues related to emerging contaminants present in the waste streams as well as in the open waste dumping sites. The new world’s technologies have increased the volume
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of electronic waste (e-waste) and end-of-life products; transboundary movements of hazardous waste, urban mining, and various other human activities have changed the composition of solid waste with the presence of nanomaterials/nanoparticles. New and special classes of waste streams such as electronic waste, hazardous waste, radioactive waste, and biomedical waste have become common these days (DumlaoTan and Halog 2017).
Solid Waste Sources and Classification The understanding and information of sources and composition of waste is inevitable for the effective solid waste management. The socioeconomic status of a nation, and its degree of industrial/urbanization influences the rate and composition of waste generation, and therefore vary from one country to another. Generally, economically prosperous and highly urban populous region produces large amount of solid waste (Hoornweg and Thomas 1999). It has been reported by various studies that in a developing country, households generate large fractions i.e. 55-80 percent of municipal solid waste followed by market or commercial areas, to say, 10-30 percent (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2018). Solid waste is generated from various human activities and therefore can be classified into domestic or residential, industrial, commercial and institutional, construction and demolition (C&D), municipal services, agriculture, and mining sources (Speight 2015; Hoornweg and Thomas 1999). Therefore, solid waste can be classified on the basis of their sources discussed below: • Residential: It includes waste generated from household activities and mainly comprises paper, food waste, yard waste, wood, glass, ashes, metal, consumer electronics, and some household hazardous waste. • Industrial: Industrial activities of different kinds produced waste such as housekeeping, packaging, construction and demolition waste, and some hazardous and electronic waste. • Commercial: This category includes waste (paper, cardboard, woods, plastics, food, metal, and electronic waste) produced from stores, restaurants, market, hotels, etc. • Institutional: Waste generated from institutes, medical facilities, schools, etc. Waste generated from medical facilities may include soiled waste, disposables, sharps, anatomical waste, discarded cultures, medicines, and chemical waste. Such waste needs to be managed in the most scientific manner. • Construction and demolition: Construction and demolition sector produced waste like woods, steel and other metal waste, debris, dirt, and concrete. • Municipal services: Municipal services like street cleaning, recreational areas, and wastewater treatment facilities produce general waste such as wood, leaves from tree trimmings, and sludge. • Process (manufacturing, etc.): Industrial process waste, scraps, slay, tailings, etc. generated from heavy and light manufacturing units, refineries, power plants, chemical plants, and mining activities.
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• Agriculture: This category includes the agricultural waste and spoiled food waste from agricultural activities, crops, dairies, farms, etc.
Factors Influencing the Composition of Solid Waste Composition of solid waste differs across the world and reflect the different patterns of material consumption. Solid waste generated from different sources varies in physico-chemical characteristics depending upon their source of origin. Fraction of wet or organic waste has been observed as less in developed nations compared to underdeveloped and developing nations in a study conducted by the World Bank (Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata 2012). The high-income nations are reported to generate more dry waste such as paper, plastics, cardboards, metal, and glass and less organic waste in their waste stream (Laohalidanond et al. 2015). Thus, composition of generated solid waste also depends upon economic development, living standard, geographical location, and energy sources (Jin et al. 2006).
Impacts of Unmanaged/Poorly Managed Solid Waste Open dumping of solid waste is a common practice in most developing countries. Open dumping sites are often susceptible to serious health issues due to bad/toxic odor generation, gases, and leachate release from these sites. Unmanaged or poorly managed solid waste dumping sites not only are known to produce the greenhouse gases and toxic leachate but also have been reported to cause geo-hazardous events (Yadav et al. 2018). Some of the hazardous events caused by the slope failure of the landfills/open dumping sites of waste also known as “garbage landslides,” “waste avalanches,” or “waste slides” are documented in history (Yadav et al. 2018). Some of the events are discussed (Kocasoy and Curi 1995; Lavigne et al. 2014; Yadav et al. 2018) below: • Open dump accident of Ümraniye-Hekimbaşi in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1993. Methane explosion at a landfill triggered the landslide that killed 39 people. • Payatas dumpsite tragedy in Quezon City, Philippines, in 2000 causes the death of 330 persons. • Waste slide in Leuwigajah dumpsite, Bandung City, Indonesia, in 2005 buried 71 houses and killed 143 people. • Slope failure of Koshe landfill in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2017 killed 130 people. • Slope failure in Ghazipur dumpsite in Delhi, India, in 2017 killed two persons. Poor management, such as the continued deposition of solid waste, lack of compaction of waste, poor site conditions, lack of gas and leachate collection systems, and lack of cover, causes such hazardous events. Municipal solid waste
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consists of organic matter (50%–70%), which degrades through anaerobic digestion and releases combustible gases such as methane in the environment. Construction near the dumping sites, overburden pressure, meteorological conditions, steep exterior slope, and soil erosion make landfills more susceptible to landslide events (Yadav et al. 2018). Other impacts of unmanaged dumping sites include soil and groundwater contamination (nitrates, chlorides, sulfates, ammonia, heavy metals) due to leachate, spontaneous fire and explosion due to the presence of combustible gases, and odor (causing discomfort, respiratory problems, headaches to the people living near or around landfills). Anilkumar et al. (2015) assessed the groundwater quality around the solid waste dumping site in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The water quality index around the dumping site was reported as 101.9 (more polluted) compared to the control site 10 kilometers away from the dumping site. Thus, these events and problems justify the need of establishing proper solid waste management system.
Solid Waste Management (SWM) Solid waste has a global impact and represents a large source of air, water, and soil pollutants. Poorly managed or unmanaged solid waste of organic stream is the source of pernicious pollutants and invites disease-causing agents such as pathogens, insects, and rodents. Solid waste management practices include controlling, collecting, processing, utilizing, and disposing solid waste to avoid any health impact on human and natural environment (Nandan et al. 2017). Globally, the waste is dumped to landfills. While in developed countries they have controlled landfills with advanced operating facilities, the low-income nations mostly dump their waste in open landfills lacking managed infrastructure. Solid waste also produces greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as methane (CH4) and is reported to contribute GHG equivalent to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2016, which is again 5% of the global emission (Kaza et al. 2018). The global solid waste generation is expected to increase by 70% by 2050, and under unmanaged conditions, the emission of GHGs from solid waste is likely to increase by 2.38 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year by 2050 (Kaza et al. 2018). Emission of GHG like CO2 is well known to cause the rise in global mean temperature, which is expected to increase by 1.8–4.0 C by 2100 (IPCC 2007). Similarly, the global production of plastic in the years 2015 and 2016 was 322 and 335 million tonnes, respectively (Plastics Europe 2017). Global plastic production is expected to grow continuously by ≈ 4% annually in the near future. Although plastic provides many benefits to the society, it cause potential harm to the environment and living organisms (OECD 2018). According to the World Economic Forum (2016), plastic manufacturing and processing are expected to consume 20% of petroleum and produce 15% of annual carbon emission budget globally by year 2050 (Lebreton and Andrady 2019). According to Lebreton and Andrady (2019), the global production of mismanaged plastic waste was 60–99 million metric tonnes (Mt) in the year 2015. The study also estimated that the
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global production of mismanaged plastic waste could increase to 155–265 MT per year by 2060. The projection of plastic waste generation will be high in Africa and Asia in the absence of waste management practices. Currently, among the other major environmental issues, waste management and limitations in availability of waste disposal sites are troubling the world economies (Chung and Poon 2001). The reason behind this limitation is the availability of market for material recycling. Sadowski (2010) discussed the interaction of two markets, i.e., market for original (new) material and the recycled materials. The market for original products dominates and limits the growth of recycled material market due to price policies, which again cause the market dispersion. For instance, the prices of recycled material are unpredictable (generally high compared to original material) and reduce the effectiveness of the market. Platt and Hyde (1997) reported that every year, 60 million new computer systems are introduced in the US market and 12 million leave the market, of which only 10% is recycled and the rest are disposed in the disposal sites. Solid waste management is a challenging task for global economies. Although most countries have established regulatory bodies, institutions, legislation, and regulations for supervising the waste management sector, their implementation differs considerably. In order to follow the principles of circular economy, most developed nations have been working on development of waste management strategies to close the loop of materials by recycling waste as a resource. In most countries, public authorities and in some cases public-private partnership collectively manage the solid waste sector. However, the public-private partnership effectively performs only under suitable incentives, structures, and execution of instruments (Kaza et al. 2018). In developed countries, the collected waste is managed through sanitary landfill, composting, material recovery, and separate handling of hazardous waste and incineration facilities concerning the environmental standards, whereas the low-income countries mostly dump their waste in open dump areas under unmanaged or less managed conditions (Wilson et al. 2006). The solid waste in low-income countries is managed by informal sectors equipped with no or less facilities. In contrast to the developing nations, the developed nations are institutionally advance; therefore, they monitor and characterize the generated solid waste for effective waste management and at the same time maintain a proper record (Hristovski et al. 2007; Aleluia and Ferrão 2016; Marshall and Farahbakhsh 2013). For proper planning of waste management system, it is important to have a reliable data of composition and quantity of generated solid waste from different sectors (Idris et al. 2004).
Informal Sector Involved in Waste Management The informal sector as described by Linzner and Lange (2013) and Scheinberg et al. (2010) is the individuals, family, cooperatives, enterprises, or microenterprises involved in private sector recycling and waste management activities. These workers get paid for removal of waste and valuable materials from the waste stream and
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worked under highly adverse conditions. Thus, the informal sector consists of two distinct sub-sectors, viz., informal service sector and informal valorization sector: • Informal service sector: This includes the informal service providers and individuals that earn their fees for removing waste, excreta, litter, and dirt from the waste stream. • Informal valorization sector: This includes individuals, cooperatives, families, and microenterprises, which work as resource extractive industry. The primary activity of informal valorization sector is to identify and remove the valuable materials from the waste stream.
Health and Safety Risks Associated with Informal Recycling Wilson et al. (2006) and Cointreau (2006) discussed the health and safety risks related to the informal recycling system of solid waste that includes the following: • Occupational health risks: Solid waste that comes from different sectors may contain fecal matter; toxic, infectious, and allergic components; hazardous chemicals; metals; sharps; glass materials; etc. Therefore, the waste pickers manually handle the waste with no protective gears and worked under high risks to their health. • Community health risks: The communities that work and live in the areas near the open dumps are reported to have adverse health issues. To address the issues related to solid waste, global economies favor the concept of integrated solid waste management approach. Integrated solid waste management is a comprehensive approach involving waste prevention, recycling, composting, and disposal activities. The burden over managing the waste disposal sites can be overcome by following the integrated solid waste management practices. Reducing the waste in the initial phases before final disposal through the 3R approach, i.e., reduce, reuse, and recovery, can make the process sustainable (Heimlich et al. 2007). The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) developed and adopted the hierarchy for management of nonhazardous and hazardous waste materials (US EPA 2019a) (Fig. 1). The hierarchy structure promotes the sustainable waste management processes which include reduction, reuse, and recycling approach: • Source reduction: Waste generation can be prevented or reduced by reusing the material, thereby lowering the impact on the environment. Source reduction could conserve natural resources and energy, reduce the pollution, and benefit the economy. • Recycling of materials: It includes collection, sorting, and processing of recyclable products and reconstructing them into new products. For organic materials, recycling includes the process of composting.
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Fig. 1 Solid waste management hierarchy
• Energy recovery: The process is often known as waste to energy. Energy recovery is the conversion of nonrecyclable waste into energy (i.e., heat, electricity, and fuel). The process includes conversion of waste into energy through combustion, gasification, pyrolization, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas (LFG) recovery (US EPA 2019b). • Treatment and disposal: Treatment of waste through the process of shredding, incineration, and anaerobic digestion before final disposal can reduce the volume as well as toxicity of waste. Over the past few years, a new concept for waste management has been introduced, which also includes sustainable management. Wilson et al. (2013) discussed the concept of integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM), which includes the physical component (waste management system) and the governance component (stakeholders and financial sustainability) working together. An effective solid waste management system should take into consideration both physical elements (such as collection, disposal, and recycling) and the governance components of the framework (Wilson et al. 2013). Therefore, a successful management strategy for waste
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can reduce the excessive burden on natural resources and also provide financial benefits to the companies associated. In the recent years, the market for recycled products has grown globally, especially in European nations. Sadowski (2010) discussed the factors influencing the functioning of market for recycled materials in European countries; these include environmental laws implementation; technological development for waste recycling; companies’ increasing interest in recycled materials and building economy from waste recycling, manufacturing system flexibility; and, most importantly, initiatives taken by the government in recycling policies development, introduction of product charges, and taxes levied on the waste disposal sites that help to internalize the external costs. All these factors decide and help to recognize the recycling material’s market range in a region.
Economics of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Economics of SWM is a crucial aspect for effective waste management practices. Waste management is a labor-intensive job, and an effective system requires large expenditure. Many factors have influenced the economics of SWM including geographical, regional, political, habitual, and policy level (Rajendran et al. 2018). However, the great challenge faced by the waste management systems/municipalities of urban areas is to achieve maximum with limited funds (Parthan et al. 2012). Financing SWM systems includes the operational cost of all the processes such as collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal. According to estimation, cities around the world spend approximately US$205.4 billion in efficient solid waste management system, which are projected to double by 2025. As a result, the lowerand middle-income nations are likely to be affected (Rajendran et al. 2018). For an effective solid waste management practice, the development of robust infrastructure on waste management is needed in Asian countries. The operational cost again varies with different world economy. According to the World Bank report “What a Waste 2.0,” the low-income nations’ expenditure on SWM operational system is $35 per tonnes; the developed countries spend $100 per tonnes or more (Kaza et al. 2018). The amount of solid waste produced will increase with global population and industrial growth, making it a difficult task for municipalities to manage the solid waste. An efficient system of solid waste management includes development of a sustainable and clean city considering the issues related to climate change, health, and other social aspects. Financial and institutional issues can affect the improvements of solid waste management practices in developing countries (Hanrahan et al. 2006). Thus, cost estimation is important for an effective solid waste management process, and it is also an essential tool for decision- and policy-making related to SWM strategies (Milke 2006). The World Bank also supported 329 solid waste management projects worldwide by spending $4.5 billion (Rajendran et al. 2018). Several workers have discussed the economic evaluation for effective SWM practices. Porter (2002) discussed the role and importance of solid waste economy and improving the SWM services. Introduction of correct policy assessment measures has a direct
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impact on environmental externalities associated with the generated waste. As a result, each measure that indicates the external effects of solid waste management on the natural environment must be adjusted; for example, material recycling can be encouraged through applying the unit charges on waste generated and disposal site policies (Porter 2002). Kinnaman and Fullerton (2001) also studied the residential SWM economics covering the external costs of waste collection and disposal activities formulating the theoretical frameworks of models governing the policymakers to choose the efficient policies to regulate municipal solid waste and recycling activities.
Role of Circular Economy in Solid Waste Management Circular economy is emerging as an effective tool for managing the waste stream, thereby reducing the burden on existing natural resources. According to Ying and Li-Jun (2012), the concept of circular economy works in “resource-product-wasterenewable resource” mode and confirms the sustainable development by minimum resource utilization and environmental cost. Furthermore, the circular economy concept could strengthen the idea of resource conservation and environmental protection by implementing the approach of green supply chain management (Ying and Li-jun 2012). The concept of circular economy includes utilizing waste streams as resource for recovery of other valuable materials. The aim of applying the circular economy concept is to achieve sustainable economic growth without harming nature (Halkos and Petrou 2016). Using the circular economy model, we can extend the natural life of materials which we thought as waste. The business models of circular economy cover two groups: (a) one who encourages “reuse” and increases the service life of products by repairing, remanufacturing, and upgrading the material and (b) the other who encourages “recycling” and converts old material into new resources (Stahel 2016). Solid waste, if properly managed, can be considered as resource. Recently, industrial sector around the world is working in the field of recycling waste generated from electronic products. E-waste has gained attention recently as secondary source of metals such as gold (Au), silver (Ag), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), indium (In), selenium (Se), tantalum (Ta), tellurium (Te), bismuth (Bi), and antimony (Sb). The high demand of technology metals is owing to their recent wide application, their limited supply, and their uneven geographical distribution (Işıldar et al. 2018). Thus, e-waste as secondary sources for these metals is becoming increasingly important. Işıldar et al. (2018) outlined the state of e-wastes globally, their management strategies, and the technological development of metal recovery from the e-waste stream. Metals from e-waste can be recovered using various metallurgical processes such as pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, biohydrometallurgy, and their combinations: • Pyrometallurgy: The e-waste is heated at very high temperature (>1000 C) to separate the material. The process includes smelting and pyrolysis.
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• Hydrometallurgy: This includes leaching process for the extraction of metals in aqueous solutions using strong acids and bases together with oxidants and complexing agents. • Electrometallurgy: Use electrical energy for electrolysis to recover or purify metals. • Biohydrometallurgy: The process includes application of microorganisms to recover metals. Biohydrometallurgy is considered as cost-effective and environmental-friendly process over the other. • Hybrid method: The process uses combinations of chemical and biological methods of metal extractions, thus reducing the release of harmful chemicals in the environment. In 2014, e-waste generation was reported to reach 42 million tonnes globally. The rapid production of electronic products depends on the availability of raw materials, e.g., metals. Supply of the raw materials is critical due to limited availability and uneven distribution of resources around the world. The supply of such raw materials is also affected by the political decisions. Therefore, the recycling policies for the recovery of metals as raw material from the secondary source (e-waste) are essentially important in order to avoid the pressure of natural resources and also to solve the supply problem of raw materials (Işıldar et al. 2018). Navazo et al. (2014) reported the recovery rate of 80–90% of metals like Au, Ag, Pd, Ni, Sb, Cu, and Sn from mobiles using the pyrometallurgical and combined pyro-hydrometallurgical recovery processes. Thus, the recovery of raw materials from secondary sources represents great opportunities to manage the e-waste and also to generate the wealth from it. Dumlao-Tan and Halog (2017) enlisted some potentially recoverable materials from different solid waste (Fig. 2). It has been estimated that by 2025, cost savings amounting $1 trillion could be generated by the holistic approach of circular economy (Esposito et al. 2015). Application of circular economy models could reduce the consumption of raw resources by up to 50% in the coming years by 2050 as suggested by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment (Esposito et al. 2018). With the understanding of circular economy concept, Accenture (2014) identified five circular business models that can be applied by the companies and/or industries for sustainable management of waste. These five circular business models are as follows: • Circular supply model: This model includes the cradle-to-cradle (C2C) concept, which works on a loop of renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable resource, thus producing the products having positive environmental footprint. • Resource recovery model: This model promotes the transformation of waste into inputs. • Product life extension model: The product life extension model works on the principles of repairing, upgrading, refurbishing, and reselling the products to preserve their value.
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Fig. 2 Potentially recoverable materials from different solid waste
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• Sharing platforms model: The model incorporates the concept of sharing economy, where the product or services are efficiently shared to enhance their value through a high utilization rate. • Product as a service: It involves the use of products by one or more clients through payment or rental agreements. The model would be appealing to the companies with a high share of the operating cost of the product and which have advantage over their customers in managing the product maintenance. In Europe, many countries such as Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have taken initiatives for developing and implementing the policies and programs for circular economy strategies (EUKN 2015). European countries have applied the concept of circular economy in formulating the policies along with urban planning integrated with heat, energy, and waste management (Savini 2019). In Denmark, the government promotes national resource strategy by recycling for effective waste management and creating a zero-waste society (Rosendal 2014). European countries’ policies have also prioritized the repair and reuse of products over waste prevention methods. According to Webster (2017), product repairing extends the life of a product, thus reducing the new product purchases and also the waste generation. In the market-oriented government interventions, which are usually supported by companies (e.g., tax incentives for repair), “repair” is considered as a tool for “green growth” (Savini 2019). Product repairing is one among the different tools of circularity or the concept of circular economy. Savini (2019) discussed how a circular economy concept represents an eco-accumulation regime, where waste is considered as a resource of production and consumption. The repair cafés started in Amsterdam and has grown quickly in various parts of the world such as the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The activities like repair café, redesign studios, refurbishing shops, and secondhand market are playing an important role in mainstream market for city residents as prosumers.
Environmental and Economic Benefits of Recycling Sustainable utilization of natural resources decides the economic growth and environmental conditions of a country. According to waste reduction model (WARM) of EPA, the waste management practices such as source reduction, recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery, and land filling could reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As per the study, 44.2 million tonnes of paper and paperboard recycling resulted in the reduction of 148 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2E) in 2017 (US EPA 2019a). The use of solid waste as valuable source or raw materials for any manufacturing process could not only reduce the existing pressure on natural resources overexploitation but also create jobs. According to the Recycling Economic Information (REI) study conducted by EPA in 2016, reuse and recycling of waste material create new jobs and generate local and state tax revenues. The data from the study showed that in 2007, recycling and reuse activities generate 757,000 jobs; $36.6 billion wages; and $6.7 billion tax revenues in the United States (US EPA 2019a). Some studies also approve the
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conversion of municipal solid waste containing the high portion of lignocelluloses to ethanol (Kalogo et al. 2007; Vergara and Tchobanoglous 2012). Some important advantages of solid waste reuse and recycling are listed below: • Reduces the amount of waste finally disposed in landfills. • The process of energy extraction from waste could also improve the quality of waste disposed of. • Reduce the pollution levels, e.g., carbon emissions. Also reduce the methane generation from landfills. • Considering the solid waste as energy source could help in meeting the energy demand. • Reduce the burden on fossil fuel sources. • After energy recovery, ≈ 10% of the volume remains as ash, which can transfer to landfills (US EPA 2019b). Researches on recovery of high-valued chemicals of industrial importance and production drop-in alternative fuels, e.g., butanol, are in pipelines (Srivastava et al. 2015). Therefore, solid waste can be a good source of raw material for manufacturing industries. In high-energy-intensive sectors also, the recycling of materials could bring the pollutant gases emission levels down. For example, recycling of metal like aluminum and steel could reduce the per-unit emissions by more than one-third from the manufacture of these metals (MacArthur 2016).
Recent Developments and Perspectives of “From Waste to Wealth” The debate on the application of circular economy (CE) models for waste management has increased in the past few years through a vast array of researches. However, research providing a holistic and broad view of circular economy is still lacking behind. The concept of waste to wealth includes shifting of waste from used-up utility platform to other precious or valuable level. Recycling of waste into some new products could solve the problem associated with generated waste. Ikechukwu (2015) studied the relationship between the waste and wealth relative to scrap metal scavenge in Obio/Akpor local government river state, Nigeria. According to the study, scavenging the scrap metal can generate economy/wealth. However, the study also recommended that the scavengers can enhance their efforts and resources through cooperative movements. And government and nongovernment bodies should encourage the scavenging activities in an environmentally safe manner and also train the workers through workshops and seminar (Ikechukwu 2015). The concept of waste to wealth or wealth from waste along with circular economy is getting favor all around the world by local and national governments. Studies suggested that the concept of circular economy promotes social reciprocity, product/ service sharing, environmentally sound consumption, and manufacturing in regions (Savini 2019). Policies on urban development based on the principles of circularity are being developed and also applied in European nations. The circularity projects
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are designed to redevelop the cities and manage the waste through waste valorization and energy and heat recovery. Savini and Habdank (2018) studied and prepared a database of different projects and policies of European countries working in successful implementation of concept of circularity. Some of the examples including the Paris Circular Economy Plan, ECO3 business Park (Tampere), Old Oak and Park Royal (London), and Copenhagen circularity model (Savini 2019). Esposito et al. (2015) discussed the example of Veolia Company working in the field of management of the urban waste in about forty countries around the world. Veolia works with industrial customers and municipalities to manage the generated waste by collecting and processing for the treatment (Box 1). The waste after treatment can be reintroduced into the production system of industries for reuse. The World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders have recognized some best companies performing in the sector of circular economy, some of which are discussed in Box 2 (Thornton 2019). In developing countries like India also, studies on effective management of municipal solid waste through projects like wealth from waste and waste to energy are going on. According to an estimation of MNRE (2011) report, the existing potential of India for energy generation from MSW is about 1460 MW. However, only 24 MW of existing potential have been capitalized as per the report (MNRE 2011). This large amount of energy generated from waste can fulfil the large portion of energy demand of the country and can also be a substitute of million tonnes of coal every year. Moreover, this can reduce the existing pressure on fossil fuels (Ministry of Power, GoI 2013). Box 1 Companies Working in the Field of Waste Management and Circular Economy
• The companies like Veolia are working effectively for managing the urban wastes and providing solutions to the problems of limited resources. Veolia works in waste management sectors such as plastic waste management, hazardous and nonhazardous waste recoveries, remediation of soil, dismantle of sensitive facilities, water recycling, and energy management. In 2017, 47 million metric tonnes of waste was recovered by the company group. The company has also set goals of increasing its revenue from €200 million to €1 billion by 2025 by utilizing CE principles (Veolia Institute 2019). • As a member of the Circular Economy 100 (CE100) program of Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Dell has fashioned an emergent closed-loop plastic network and became the first company to propose a computer made with UL Environment-certified closed-loop recycled plastics. They used postconsumer recycled plastics costing more than ten million pounds in their products and began incorporating plastics sourced from gathering of used electronics (approximately four million pounds per year) since 2014. The process reduces costs by offering such plastics an extended life having a lesser life cycle carbon footprint. (continued)
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Box 1 (continued)
• Levi Strauss & Co. is working on their clothing, shoes, and textiles including unsold materials that find way into US landfills each year costing around 24 billion pounds as initiated aim at taking a chunk out of this statistic concerning short- and long-term circular economy. Each and every store accepts old clothes and shoes of any brand, which the company collects and repurposes or recycles with its partner, I:Co, to transform it into insulation for buildings, cushioning material, and new fibers for clothing.
Box 2 Leading Companies/Start-up Working in the Field of Waste Management and Generating Revenues, Recognized by World Economic Forum (Thornton 2019)
• Winnow is a British start-up that analyzes the trash using smart meter. They measured the waste generated in commercial kitchens and identify the solution to reduce the waste generation. This way, they managed to reduce the waste generation in half in around 100 of kitchens across the 40 countries, saving its customers over $25 million each year in the process. • DyeCoo, a Dutch company, worked in the field of textile industries and developed the technique for dyeing the cloths with no water and chemicals. They use highly pressurized “supercritical” carbon dioxide, halfway between a liquid and a gas, which dissolves the dye and colors the fabric with 98% absorption rate. The process takes much less time, cost, and energy as the fabric does not need to dry. This way, the company provides the textile industries an opportunity to generate zero wastes of toxic nature. • An Australian-based company, Close the Loop facilitates the recovery of cartridges and soft plastics from old printer and varied the stuffs with asphalt and recycled glass to create a superior class road surface that lasts up to 65% longer than conventional ones. • A Canadian firm, Enerkem extracts the carbon by converting it into gas in order to make biofuels such as methanol and ethanol from the trashes that can’t be recycled. • French-based Schneider Electric has specialized in energy management and automation by using recycled content and recyclable materials in its products, thereby prolonging product life span through renting and pay-per-use, and has introduced take-back schemes into its supply chain. • The US firm Cambrian Innovation uses EcoVolt technology to treat wastewater contamination by industrial processes to not only turn it into clean water but also produce biogas that could be used to generate clean energy.
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Future Perspective and Challenges The amount of solid waste is continuously increasing with the urbanization. Many researchers and economist have considered the municipal solid waste as treasure if managed properly. This urban waste can be managed using the concept and tools of circular economy, the impact of which could be enormous, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2016) stated in their report that India could apply the circular economy principle in three main sectors of economy generation; these are cities and construction, food and agriculture, and mobility and vehicle manufacturing. However, the potential of India for using circular economy principles is not restricted to these stated areas only (MacArthur 2016). Like every other strategy, circular economy principles also have certain limitations, but these can be overcome by correct measures. The transition from linear economy to circular economy may require the implementation of new business models, which could limit the adoption of circular economy strategies by the industries. Sousa-Zomer et al. (2018) discussed the problems and challenges in implementation of circular business model. According to the literature, implementation of circular economy principles follows either of the two approaches, i.e., top-down or bottom-up (Lieder and Rashid 2016; Ruggieri et al. 2016; Sousa-Zomer et al. 2018). The top-down approach requires the policy-makers to take the lead in implementing the circular economy principles, whereas the bottom-up approach includes the organizational innovations (Ruggieri et al. 2016; Sousa-Zomer et al. 2018). The bottom-up approach includes the radical changes in organizations that again require new thinking and performing mechanism of companies (Bocken et al. 2016). Bianchini et al. (2019) discussed the internal as well as external challenges and factors observed in literature influencing the practical implementation of circular economy principles. These challenges are classified under different barriers limiting the circular economy model adoption (Sousa-Zomer et al. 2018; Bianchini et al. 2019) and discussed below: • Internal process: Companies and organizational capabilities to make the changes according to circular economy principles across the different levels of an organization’s functions and structure. • Technical: Technical and technological knowledge and expertise toward the new technologies (e.g., recycling technologies) without compromising the quality levels of production system. • Market-stakeholder relationship: Compatibility with the partnership business models, lack of supply network, geographical dispersion, poor framework and services, conflict of interest within the parties, uneven profit share along the supply chain, and the customer behaviors. • Economic and financial: Complex practice of circular economy principles may cause expensive management and planning processes and thus may require a high long-term investment.
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• Institutional, regulatory, and social: Uneven incentives, regulations’ complexity, absence of favorable legal system, and poor framework at institutional level. Therefore, a chain of information and feedback is essential for an effective implementation of circular economy strategy. A deep and extensive understanding of development and implementation concerning various types of circular business models would influence future research in this area through internal-external collaborations by engaging organizational functions of the circular economy business model. For developing and implementing different circular business strategies, capability analysis is required, thus becoming prospective fruitful possibilities for future research.
Conclusion For a sustainable environment, it is important to manage and utilize our natural resources in a sustainable manner. The poor management of solid waste and dumping sites causes disastrous events. The slope failure in the dumping sites is triggered by various factors, which could aggravate the situation. Application of circular economy concept in the present scenario can provide promising avenue for economic growth as well as management of generated solid waste. Circular economy strategies in business or industries include the reuse and recycling of waste or discarded products in successive production cycles. The reutilization of waste produced as raw material for the industrial production makes the process environmentally and economically regenerative. Thus, the circular economy business strategies could assist in lowering down the burden on natural resources and the nonrenewable energy resources like fossil fuels. Based on canons of waste minimization, recycling is a key component of sustainable solid waste management, reprocessing scrapped resources into valuable products. Often, in poor or developing economies, circular economy principles are there but sacrificed at the altar of economy and growths. Tenets of circularity are deeply embedded in Indian habits such as higher rates of vehicle repairs and recycled stuffs for post use providing source or alternative livelihoods to some of the poorest populations. The developing nations can create substantial economic savings and heavily cut down carbon emissions by turning these trends into principal developmental strategies. The developing countries have opportunity to make more circular paradigm by reorienting the “take-make-dispose” economic model. In the industrial sector, a wide gap is present between circular economy and its sensible implementation in the form of lack of reliable and specific information about resources, products, and processes. It is impossible to quantify circular initiatives allowing assessment of economic, environmental, and social benefits if there is no proper and effective information flow. The preventive identification of potential barriers and relative solutions monitors the risk associated with circular investments and supports the decision-making in the whole process.
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Part II Agricultural Solid Waste Management
Recovery of Agricultural Waste Biomass: A Sustainability Strategy for Moving Towards a Circular Bioeconomy
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Mo´nica Duque-Acevedo, Luis Jesu´s Belmonte-Uren˜a, Francisco J. Corte´s-García, and Francisco Camacho-Ferre
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agriculture as a Strategic Sector for Economic Growth and Global Development . . . . . . . . The Transition from Traditional Intensive Agriculture to a Sustainable Agriculture . . . . . . Agricultural Biomass as the Main Resource in the Bioeconomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Agriculture has played a strategic role in the process of economic growth and development in numerous countries, especially over the last five decades. However, the rapid growth of agricultural productivity has created a greater strain on natural resources, which has harmed the environment. One of the main problems with this intensive agriculture model is the huge amount of waste it produces. Most of this waste is waste biomass. This type of residue becomes a resource with great potential for the extraction of by-products with high added value under the approach of the circular economic production models (CEPMs) like the circular economy and the bioeconomy. The bioeconomy, as a renewable part of the circular economy, promotes the use and sustainable recovery of agricultural M. Duque-Acevedo · F. Camacho-Ferre (*) Department of Agronomy, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] L. J. Belmonte-Ureña Department of Economy and Business, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain e-mail: [email protected] F. J. Cortés-García Faculty of Business and Communication, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, Logroño, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_25
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waste biomass (AWB) as an essential supply. This bio-based economic model has become one of the main tools for drawing up new development policies based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is why this chapter analyzes the process of transition from conventional intensive agriculture to a sustainable version. The circular economy and the bioeconomy are presented as the key CEPMs for the transformation of the current food production system. Additionally, a special emphasis is placed in the management of the AWB and the alternatives for its valorization, which are promoted by the bioeconomy as circular and sustainable practices that contribute to the three pillars of the SDGs. Keywords
Sustainable agriculture · Agricultural waste biomass · Circular economy · Circular bioeconomy · Sustainable development
Introduction About 40% of the land in the world is used for agriculture and roughly 26% of the world population gets its sustenance from the agricultural sector (OCDE-FAO 2019). The expansion of agriculture has slowed down by 1% and the rate of deforestation has declined over the last 20 years. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the progress in this sector has taken place at the expense of the environment while causing negative consequences for the planet. During the same time frame, the food production linear model has contributed to the degradation of 20% of the Earth’s surface (Hollins et al. 2017; United Nations 2019) and the acceleration of the loss of natural ecosystems and biodiversity. Agricultural activities have been responsible for one-fourth of all Greenhouse Gas emissions. The world population, which has tripled since 1945, and the significant change in its consumption habits are the main factors that influence the growing demand for agricultural products, which is expected to grow by 15% over the next decade (OCDE-FAO 2019). This unsustainable growth of agricultural production results in a debt with the environment. Despite some steps being taken towards the sustainable agricultural model, the European Union (EU) acknowledges that the environmental challenges are greater and require more urgent action. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 emphasize the need for a carbon footprint reduction and for the preservation of natural resources, among other basic principles, to achieve more sustainable development. The circular economy has become one of the main strategies to achieve the SDGs as it focuses on the reuse, repair, renovation, and recycling of materials and products to generate greater added value. Thus, these products remain in the productive system for as long as possible while generating economic, social, and environmental benefits (Molina-Moreno et al. 2017). The current theories on the principles of the circular economy agree on the essential bullet points: (1) systemic and holistic thought focused on local resources, (2) aimed at the multi-benefit, (3) resource efficiency and sustainability.
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These are the recurring ideas in the structure of the different definitions of the circular economy. Other principles can be derived depending on the level of concreteness and the area in which the focus is placed. For example, it is important to consider the life cycle of a product, the importance of its functionality and its reparation, recycling, and valorization. The bioeconomy is a key element in the transition towards a sustainable economy. It considers production processes and the utilization of renewable biological resources, such as biomass, for its transformation into bioproducts and bioenergy (Scarlat et al. 2015). In this theory, residual biomass is no longer a waste product and it becomes a resource with significant potential for the production of materials and energy products (Kretschmer et al. 2013). The result is an agricultural system with lower requirements for agrochemical components and energy supply. The principles of the bioeconomy establish waste prevention and recycling as the main option. This is why AWB will continue to grow in importance as input for sustainable supply (European Union 2018).
Agriculture as a Strategic Sector for Economic Growth and Global Development Since 1960, the social and economic progress that has been achieved due to the increase in global food production is undeniable. The contribution of agriculture is expressed in the provision of food for hunger-reduction. The dynamics of this sector, which have diversified in recent years, have created jobs in the poorest rural populations (The World Bank 2008) and an improvement in the quality of life in many regions of the world (OCDE-FAO 2019). Industrial revolutions that took place between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were inspired by the increase of agricultural productivity. In countries such as China, India, England, Japan, and Vietnam, industrial development was financed by an agricultural surplus (The World Bank 2008). The significant increase in crop production enabled many countries to be self-sufficient regarding food production and they contributed to the achievement of the principal goal: to solve the problem of poverty and famine the world was facing in the 1960s. China increased its agricultural production by 60% between 1978 and 1984, which allowed for a 51% reduction in rural poverty. This reduction was four times higher than that generated by GDP growth in the industry or the service sector in the same time frame. The contribution of agriculture to poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa was 4.25 times greater than the contribution of the service sector (The World Bank 2008). In 2004, more than 70% of the world population depended on agriculture for its sustenance. This reality accelerated agricultural progress even more, but the increase in production per hectare did not imply an increase in cultivated land. This approach reduced global hunger between 2005 and 2015. In 1995, arable land was the most important asset behind the labor force in many countries, specifically in southern Asia and Africa. In those years, agriculture represented 7.6% of the world gross domestic product (GDP) (Bank 2019). In 2008, the activity of the agriculture sector
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represented 29% of the GDP and it employed 65% of the workforce in predominantly agricultural countries (The World Bank 2008). In 2014, the agricultural sector represented one-third of the world GDP and currently generates between 25% and 30% of the GDP in the least developed countries (World Bank Group 2019). In 2015, agriculture occupied about half of the land area of the European Union (EU) and employed 4.2% of the EU workforce (European Commission 2018a). Until 2017, the total production of the main cereal crops had increased by 240% and the proportion of agriculture in the global GDP was 3.4% in the same year. The agricultural sector currently employs over one billion people around the world (Independent Group of Scientists 2019). Agricultural growth remains a priority as a means of reducing world poverty and ensuring food security as growth in other sectors has not been as effective in achieving this purpose (The World Bank 2008; World Bank Group 2019).
The Transition from Traditional Intensive Agriculture to a Sustainable Agriculture Principles and Problems of the Conventional Intensive Agricultural System The first agricultural practices adopted thousands of years ago significantly changed the lifestyle of populations around the world. Changes in ways of interacting with the environment arose from the settlement of humans in specific areas and the establishment of social structures. These facts boosted the development of agriculture, although a primitive form of it, and caused a transformation in the characteristics of plants, animals, and natural environments. Since then, agriculture has constantly been evolving and generating large-scale impacts, most notably on the environment. The most significant progress in the agricultural sector took place during the Green Revolution, which arose after World War II to transform global agriculture and implement the linear production model still prevalent to this day. Crop improvement through plant biotechnology, the increased use of agricultural input via nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and the implementation of innovative irrigation techniques have enabled small farmers to significantly improve their practices while boosting crop production. In Asia, the net cultivated area only increased by 4% in 25 years, but food production doubled. More food continues to be produced worldwide without an increase in the area of cultivated crops, which confirms the continuous improvement in the efficiency of the agricultural system (World Bioenergy Association 2019) and the importance of the contributions of innovation and technology (Valera et al. 2017). The agricultural model as we know it today is linked to the capitalist system of production and consumption and it is clearly incoherent and irresponsible. It could be said that this linear productive system to which we are accustomed works as if natural resources and raw materials are unlimited. It is a system strictly governed by internal or economic elements and it does not
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Fig. 1 Outline of the conventional agricultural model and main the consequences. (Source: Prepared by the authors based on Independent Group of Scientists (2019))
take into account the negative impacts and externalities that are generated (Fig. 1). All of these impacts result in the deterioration of different capitals that society has at its disposal, primarily financial, social, and natural. The situation worsens if we take into consideration that globalization is affecting the transfer of residue. Thus, greater risk on the environment and on human health is being transferred from the most prosperous countries to the least developed ones. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that underdeveloped countries tend to have more permissive environmental practices and less technology for treating such waste. Transitioning from a linear economy to a circular one requires a process that calls for organizational change and a new direction in the design process of products and services. This transition also requires a major cultural change which brings about a profound transformation of the incentive system as we know it. It also requires reviews in consumer satisfaction to bring production and consumption closer together locally and to go deeper into a more collaborative and open-source economy. The linear economy is sending out signals that point to its unsustainability and the need for disruptive change.
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New Foundations of Agriculture in the Context of Sustainable Development The intensification and acceleration of agriculture have had high costs in all three pillars of development for several decades and this was obvious early on. In environmental terms, the damage caused to natural ecosystems could even trigger irreversible consequences for human life (Independent Group of Scientists 2019). Global changes in the form of weather variations and other phenomena (extreme rain and/or droughts) are affecting crops and could increase soil degradation processes that could put food production at risk (United Nations 2019; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2020). A decline in the reduction of poverty has been noticed primarily in developing countries. In recent years, there has been a certain lack of uniformity in the rate of poverty reduction in all regions of the world. This makes it even more important for governments to reach two primary goals in continuing development: ending hunger and reducing poverty throughout the world. Sustainable agriculture is a priority (Gennari and Navarro 2019) and environmental protection is a must in the United Nations’ current agenda for global development (2015–2030). As shown in Fig. 2, the issue of environmental management has been considered an international priority since 1972 (Leach et al. 2012). The Stockholm Declaration of 1972 broadly recognizes global environmental issues and listed 109 measures for environmental action. These measures included the development and application of control and recycling technology in agriculture. The FAO adopted the concept of sustainable agriculture in 1988 and this approach has appeared on the agenda of primary global summits since 1992 (Gennari and Navarro 2019). In the United Nations Earth Summit of 1992, specific action plans to achieve sustainable development (economic, social, and environmental) were defined as the ruling principle for global development. The use of crop residue as soil fertilizer and as a source of renewable energy was also promoted. Eight key objectives for achieving human development were set in the Millennium Development Goals in the year 2000. One of these goals aimed to “Ensure environmental sustainability.” The role of agricultural and rural development in food security and production was highlighted during the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. Between 2000 and 2002, the sustainable use of biomass was promoted, along with access to modern technology for AWB recovery. In 2012, one of the main focuses of the Rio + 20 Conference was the green economy in the context of sustainable development. The need to strengthen the three dimensions of sustainable development was stressed at the event, along with the intergovernmental mechanisms necessary to achieve it. Increasing sustainable agricultural production through research and the application of new technology and environmentally friendly practices were relevant subjects during this United Nations Conference (FAO 2019a, b; Gennari and Navarro 2019). Unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000, which were aimed at developing countries, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are universal, but not legally binding. Some of the SDGs establish the need to change the focus in the
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Fig. 2 Evolution of the current sustainable development model. (Source: Prepared by the authors based on FAO (2019a, b) and Gennari and Navarro (2019))
system of food production while stressing the importance of sustainable management and the efficient use of natural resources (FAO 2019b). For example, SDG number 2, “Zero Hunger,” aims to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.” According to the United Nations last report about the SDGs, the number of people who experience hunger in the world has increased in recent years. This remains a considerable problem for sustainable development given that extreme hunger and malnutrition are among the main obstacles for its achievement (United Nations 2020). This is why it is indispensable to focus on agricultural sustainability problems of different regions of the world to implement specific measures based on local needs (Leach et al. 2012). The main challenge for sustainable agriculture, currently promoted by the FAO, is to produce more food with fewer resources, as stated in the SDG 12 “Sustainable Consumption and Production.” Regarding the sustainability principles linked to this production model, the most remarkable are the efficiency in the use of resources, the
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increased productivity, and the reduction of polluting emissions and waste. The improvement of livelihoods, the promotion of employment, and the generation of added value from the use and recovery of materials and waste generated during all stages of food production and processing are also highlighted. In terms of food security, sustainable agriculture must guarantee the availability, access, use, and stability, which are the main pillars of this social-economic component (FAO 2020). SDG 9, “Industry, innovation, and infrastructure,” is key to improving and driving the investment in research, technological innovation, and the implementation of sustainable industries that provide solutions to the current social and environmental challenges. Large-scale projects that promote the implementation of hightech solutions to improve crop yield must guarantee opportunities for small farmers not to get excluded (Leach et al. 2012). This is how the growth of regions must be driven by an inclusive and participative approach. Many countries have renewed their policies and development programs to align them with the SDGs. Agriculture, due to its importance in the primary sector, is one of the prioritized activities in these new guidelines. However, its focus is more on circular and sustainable production processes. This is why circular economic and bioeconomic models have become key tools for drawing up these sustainable development policies (Fund et al. 2018). Some studies reveal that the practices promoted by these CEPMs could directly contribute to the achievement of most of the SDGs. Among the practices promoted by these CEPMs is the reduction and efficient management of AWB as a key sustainability indicator (Duque-Acevedo et al. 2020b, c).
Family Farmers as Key Agents in the New Model of Sustainable Development Chayanov Theory of Peasant Economy was recognized early in the twentieth century as the integration and coordination of families for the development of small-scale agricultural work. This concept evolved and family farming appeared in 1944. This was the name given because of its dependence on family labor and the size of the farms, which did not exceed two hectares on average. Historically, this sector made up of small farmers has survived inequality and poverty as a result of the globalized economic model that has encouraged and prioritized modernization and the promotion of large-scale corporate agriculture. Despite this, these small farmers have developed local food systems that can produce 80% of the food worldwide. Today, 90% of more than 600 million farms around the world are managed by a single person or a family. Seventy percentage of all these farms are smaller than one hectare. These small farmers have achieved high productivity in small farms that employ a family-workforce, which is comparatively higher than that achieved in bigger farms with hired labor. They are also able to create more jobs than those generated by big companies in the food industry. In countries with fewer resources, small-scale farming dominates the agricultural (FAO and IFAD 2019). In spite of their importance, these small or very small family farms had seen their surfaces reduced to between 70% and 80% of the agricultural land around the world
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by 2014. In 2017, the United Nations proclaimed the Decade of Family Farming 2019–2028 with the goal of making family farming visible and consolidating this important and necessary production model on the global political agenda. This task must be approached from a holistic perspective to achieve essential transformations that will make it possible to create and maintain sustainable food systems in accordance with the proposals of the SDGs. In the Global Action Plan 2019–2028 issued by the United Nations, the need of small governments to contribute to the resilience and adaptation of small producers was highlighted, as well as the sustainable management of natural resources and the adaptation to climate change (FAO and IFAD 2019). Family farmers are critical in the development and strengthening of rural economic structure. They are natural leaders with enormous capacity to respond to change, and since their livelihoods depend on the direct use of natural resources (production and consumption), they are an important link between the economy and the environment. For this reason, the circular economy and the bioeconomy strategies acknowledge small farmers as allies for sustainability. The Sustainable Bioeconomy, as a strategy focused on systems that depend on natural resources (European Commission 2018a), prioritizes the spread of good practices in local food production systems. Among these practices, it is the production and sustainable use of agricultural biomass using traditional knowledge and innovation, as well as the use and valorization of agricultural materials and residues to obtain other high added-value products (Schüch et al. 2020). These new approaches represent more job opportunities and greater economic benefits for small farmers, which could improve their living conditions. However, these industrial innovation processes and the adoption of high technology (biotechnology) to improve production and management in small farms must be adapted to local ecological and social conditions (Leach et al. 2012). Government support for small farmers is indispensable so that under the guidelines of the bioeconomy they can continue supporting the improvement of food security and the conservation of natural resources, which are two of the main challenges of the SDGs (FAO 2018).
The Circular Economy and the Bioeconomy as Transformation Strategies Towards a Sustainable Agriculture The concept of circular economy has been present in public and academic debate since the 1970s, but its utilization was introduced in the late 1980s. The circular economy was presented as a responsible interrelationship between economic and ecological cycles that could preserve natural capital by improving production efficiency and decreasing the negative externalities generated by the current economic system. This responsible interrelation meant a reduction of the usage of materials and resources, but also the recovery of residue or its transformation into new input for similar or different industries (Schoenmakere et al. 2018; Muizniece et al. 2019). The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has played a very important role in the promotion of the circular economy. The idea entails the rethinking, redesigning, and creation of a positive economy for the future. The McKinsey Company published a report after the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that assessed
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the potential benefits in growth and employment after the transition to a circular economy. Right now, the concept of circular economy is being strategically promoted by the European Union and by other countries, such as China and Japan. China is a pioneer in issuing regulations on this CEPM. The first regulatory framework issued by this country in 2009 already prioritized the support of agricultural producers through the adoption of advanced techniques and the efficient use of water, fertilizers, and phytosanitary products. It also promoted the development of ecological agriculture, the use of crop residue, and the production of energy from agricultural biomass. In addition, China has promoted extensive research on the circular economy in recent years and its policies and strategies on this topic have been the subject of considerable analysis (Cui and Zhang 2018; Türkeli et al. 2018). The EU adopted its first Action Plan for the circular economy in 2015, which included more than 50 specific actions related to the cycle of materials from production to consumption, as well as policies about waste management. These measures highlighted the cascade use of renewable resources, which includes several cycles of recycling, reutilization, and remanufacturing to improve the efficiency of resources during their life cycle (European Environment Agency 2017). On the other hand, this plan emphasized the contribution of the bioeconomy to the approaches of this model by offering alternatives to fossil fuel by-products (European Union 2015; Fund et al. 2018). The EU updated this action plan in March of 2020. This new plan relies on a cleaner and more competitive Europe and it stresses the importance of the implementation of measures in the whole life cycle of the products. The manufacturing of sustainable products, i.e., incorporating recycled materials instead of primary raw materials, is one of the main measures for this plan. This is a way to ensure the reduction of waste and to increase its potential for the production of secondary raw materials (European Union 2020). Agriculture is a sector that utilizes a considerable amount of resources while having a noticeable potential for circularity. That is why, according to the possibilities of this renewed and ambitious plan, governments are called on to adopt circular measures within this important primary sector. In this regard, the circular bioeconomy plays an essential role because it contributes to the production, use, and sustainable conservation of biological resources. In doing so, the circular bioeconomy also provides alternatives focused on the integral and circular management, reutilization and recycling of materials and products through the implementation of scientific progress and the development of innovative technology (Kretschmer et al. 2013; San Juan et al. 2019). The circular economy and the bioeconomy are conceptually linked. They both agree on several fields of intervention, such as the analysis of bio-based resources, the development of new value chains, and the concept of biorefinery. Both models consider the economy and the environment as a priority and they focus on social transitions to sustainability through research and innovation. Horizon 2020 – The EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation has been instrumental in financing research and innovation programs that have contributed to the implementation of the measures defined on the action plans of the European strategies for bioeconomy and circular economy. Under the approach of the circular economy, and
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more importantly the framework of the circular bioeconomy, a wide range of opportunities for the recovery and valorization of the AWB and the agricultural by-products are opened (Scarlat et al. 2019). The Circular Bioeconomy: An Opportunity for the Recovery and Conservation of Biological Resources in Agriculture The German Bioeconomy Council was established in 2009 as an independent advisory body to the German Federal Government. It is responsible for the promotion and development of a sustainable bioeconomy and it is established by several members who cover a broad spectrum of the bioeconomy with their expertise on industry, society, and science. In 2012, this advisory body of the German Government defined bioeconomy as: “The production and utilization of biological resources (including knowledge) to provide products, processes and services in all sectors of trade and industry within the framework of a sustainable economy” (Dieckhoff et al. 2015). Several relevant reports on national bioeconomy policies and strategies have been published, the most recent in 2018 (Fund et al. 2018). Germany is one of the leaders in bioeconomic policy. In 2010, it published the “National Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030” and in 2013, the “National Policy Strategy in Bioeconomy” (Fund et al. 2018). Recently, in 2020, the German government presented its new National BioEconomy Strategy, which continues the pillars of the previous strategies. This renewed strategy, which is much more ambitious, updates the goals and defines specific measures for the implementation of its bioeconomy policy. It also emphasizes that a sustainable bioeconomy is an essential platform for the future of society. The German government is also promoting and providing support for the strategies of other Länder, such as the “State Strategy for a Sustainable Bio-Economy in Baden-Württemberg” of 2019 and the “Sustainable Bio-Economy in Brandenburg” strategy of 2020. Moreover, since 2012, the European Union and the United States have promoted strategies in the field of the bioeconomy (Aguilar et al. 2019). In 2012, the European Union drove the bioeconomy strategy, “Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe,” as a key element for intelligent and environmentally friendly growth in Europe. This strategy, along with its action plan, sought to address important issues, such as the reduction of pollutant emissions and the efficient use of resources (Dieckhoff et al. 2015). Its primary goals were to promote food security and to guarantee environmental protection. The main contributions of this management plan were economic growth, the increase of employment in rural areas, the reduction of fossil fuel dependence, improvements in production and processing industries, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. In 2015, the European Center for Biotechnology and Bioeconomy (CEBB) was founded (Fund et al. 2018; Schoenmakere et al. 2018). The European Commission adopted the document, “A Sustainable Bioeconomy for Europe – Strengthening the Connection Between Economy, Society and the Environment,” as the new bioeconomy strategy in 2018 to reinforce and improve political priorities regarding the bioeconomy in Europe. This renewed management framework highlights the fact that the bioeconomy is circular by definition and that
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sustainability is the central axis of this CEPM. That is why the research addressing the circular bioeconomy as a CEPM has increased in the last 2 years (Carus and Dammer 2018) while providing important guidelines for the use and valorization of AWB. A large part of this research highlights different alternatives for the transformation of AWB, according to consultations made in the Scopus database. These studies mainly describe modern methods to obtain bioenergy and/or biofuel, but they also cover methods to get bioproducts, such as chemical compounds, food product, and biomaterials. In the same fashion, some regulatory framework and development strategies are being adopted under the approach of the circular bioeconomy (Junta de Andalucía 2018). The EU strategy for a sustainable and circular economy included three main scopes of action: strengthen and expand the bioproducts sector, rapidly implement local bioeconomies all around Europe, and evaluate the ecological limits of the bioeconomy. The measures defined in the action plan aimed to highlight the potential of the bioeconomy in the development of rural and urban areas. One of the first actions of this plan was to boost inclusive bioeconomy in rural areas and to improve the link between national bioeconomy strategies and national strategic plans under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (European Commission 2018a). Another pilot project of this plan intended to increase carbon sequestration in soil and biomass and to reduce emissions from fertilizer use. The plan also aimed to develop local innovation (living laboratories) to implement agricultural and food production systems based on circularity and sustainable bioproduction. This general bioeconomy framework has encouraged the increase of knowledge, research, and innovation about the valorization and recovery of biological waste. That is why this project has become the main pillar in the creation and implementation of policy strategies in many European countries in recent years. In the framework of the Horizon 2020 Program, several Member States have received support to develop their potential in this area and to achieve a sustainable circular bioeconomy (European Commission 2018a). Since the first Global Bioeconomy Summit took place in Berlin, Germany, in 2015, policy initiatives on the bioeconomy in the public and private sectors have become more important on a global scale. During the same year, the Seventh Global Forum on Food and Agriculture (GFFA) was celebrated to identify the benefits and opportunities that bioeconomy offers to agriculture, especially to small farmers and rural development. The importance of food security as the most important dynamic of the bioeconomy was also highlighted (Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) 2015). The Ministers of Agriculture met at this international conference to express the need for tangible action and cooperation to: • Consolidate food security as a priority: increase sustainable food production through the improved efficiency in the use of resources and the application of value chains. • Extend and improve sustainable agricultural production methods and management of renewable natural resources.
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• Maximize the potential of the bioeconomy: diversify the agricultural sector by promoting integrated food and nonfood production systems. • Establish bioeconomy value chains to develop and strengthen sustainable markets for bio-based products. • Promote the education, research, knowledge transfer, and adoption of new technology necessary for the development of the bioeconomy in developing countries. • Implement innovative procedures and the use of cascade biomass to activate the untapped potential of raw materials and residue. • Conduct international exchanges on best practices and bio-based value chains to transfer knowledge and technology and to strengthen bioeconomy networks. • Improve consumer awareness about bio-based sustainable products. All these objectives have become critical for bioeconomy strategies and action plans adopted in recent years. The goal of the International Agriculture Ministers Conference was to implement a legal framework consistent with the bioeconomy to favor the agricultural sector. The adequate supply of food and the production of renewable resources for the manufacturing of biomaterials and energy were primary goals. This important inter-ministerial meeting paid particular attention to the global concern about major challenges in the field of food security and environmental protection. It was a call for international dialogue and joint action to recognize the importance of sustainable agriculture in the process of consolidating the United Nations ODS, which were adopted in 2015 (Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) 2015). Since then, the bioeconomy has been an important link between agriculture and global sustainability policies. The FAO, as a specialized institution, has been in charge of coordinating international actions regarding the bioeconomy in the agricultural sector. In 2016, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 22), the “Biofuture Platform - kickstarting a global, advance bioeconomy” was presented. This is an initiative of the Brazilian government to group countries from the five continents with common purposes in the area of bioeconomy. This international cooperation platform currently includes 20 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Mozambique, The Netherlands, Paraguay, Philippines, Sweden, The United Kingdom, The United States, and Uruguay). Its main aim is to develop a global bioeconomy policy, through mutual learning and the articulation of actions between countries, organizations, academic and private sectors. One of the main challenges is the definition and implementation of sustainable alternatives, within the framework of the bioeconomy, that contribute to the reduction of contaminating gas emissions and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The first conference of the Biofuture Platform (I Biofuture Summit) was organized in 2017 (Fund et al. 2018; Global Bioeconomy Summit 2020 2020). The bioeconomy has different approaches at present. Its definition is not unified and it remains at different stages of development in many countries (Carus 2017;
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OECD 2018). Since the second Global Bioeconomy Summit in 2018, the bioeconomy has been defined as, “The production, utilization, and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, to provide information, products, processes and services across all economic sectors aiming toward a sustainable economy.” This global perspective maintains the spirit of the 2012 German Bioeconomy Council (International Advisory Council (IAC) GBS2018 2018). The report from this important international forum highlights 14 subjects of global relevance to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy. In 2019, the First Latin American Symposium on Bioeconomics was celebrated. At this meeting, special emphasis was placed on the importance of adopting the bioeconomy as an indispensable tool for more sustainable economic development in Latin American countries. In the same year, the Summit on the Bioeconomy of the United States was celebrated. A meeting between public authorities, bioeconomy experts, and leaders of the industrial sector, at which the opportunities and challenges of the bioeconomy for that country were examined. Most policies, strategies, and research in this field, as well as the reports of the main international meetings organized on bioeconomics in recent years are linked to the concept of the circular economy. Both fields require a complex and dynamic transformation process that lays out many challenges, but they are necessary to move forward in the field of sustainability (Fund et al. 2018; International Advisory Council (IAC) GBS2018 2018; Aguilar et al. 2019). Emphasis is placed on the transversal, multi-sector, and multidisciplinary nature of the bioeconomy, which allows it to contribute in an integrated manner to the achievement of the five main global socioeconomic and environmental challenges of the Agenda 2030 (Kretschmer et al. 2013; Scarlat et al. 2015; Wesseler and von Braun 2017). Figure 3 presents in an articulated way the main aspects and elements that characterize and drive this important economic-productive model. The bioeconomy employed over 18 million people in the EU in 2015, mainly in agriculture and food manufacturing. It also generated significant economic resources that accounted for 4.2% of the EU GDP (Ronzon and M’Barek 2018). It is important to note that in countries such as Japan, the regulatory or strategic framework for sustainable growth does not specifically refer to the bioeconomy. This framework incorporates laws, strategies, and specific programs about the production and promotion of the industrial use of biomass under the same principles and approaches as those of the bioeconomy (Dieckhoff et al. 2015; OECD 2018).
The Bioeconomy: A Priority for the Post-2020 CAP Since its creation in 1962, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been a relevant tool for the growth, consolidation, and transformation of the agricultural sector in the European Union. This policy establishes the common goals, competencies, and applications between the state members and the EU. It has competence in all matters related to increasing agricultural productivity and farmer income, the
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Fig. 3 Integrated definition of the bioeconomy. (Source: Prepared by the authors based on German Bioeconomy Council (2010), European Commission (2012), Keegan et al. (2013), Scarlat et al. (2015), Carus (2017), Hollins et al. (2017), Schoenmakere et al. (2018), European Commission (2018a), Fund et al. (2018), International Advisory Council (IAC) GBS2018 (2018), Carus and Dammer (2018), Dietz et al. (2018), S. Bracco et al. (2019) and Heimann (2019))
workforce, security of food supply, market stabilization, and consumer protection. The CAP has specific regulations about economic, social, and territorial cohesion, the development of rural communities, environmental protection, and sustainable development. The European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) have been the main economic pillars for the funding of all actions and measures included in the common policy (European Commission 2018b).
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Since 1992, the CAP has been updated to face new challenges in the matters of food security, economic weakness in the rural sector, and the need for greater economic dynamics and social networks in rural areas. The environmental priorities related to the sustainable usage of natural resources and the mitigation of climate change are additional challenges. However, a major reform of the CAP took place in 2013 and it placed particular emphasis on environmental topics. The top goals of this renewed CAP were viable food production, balanced territorial development, and sustainable management of natural resources and climate action (European Commission 2018b). EU Regulation No.1305/2013 of the European Parliament and Council related to the aid for rural development through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) establishes: “Promoting resource efficiency and supporting the shift towards a low carbon and climate resilient economy in the agriculture, food and forestry sectors” as a priority for the rural development in the EU (Article 5). This goal emphasizes the implementation of actions to promote the development of the bioeconomy. These include the improvement in the supply and use of renewable energy sources, by-products, waste, among other nonfood raw materials. A new proposal for CAP reform for the period 2021–2027 was introduced in 2018. This was intended to continue the consolidation of the role of sustainable agriculture in the growth and development of Europe. This proposal also aimed to maintain coherence and to achieve synergy with other European Union policies, such as the strategy of the circular economy, the bioeconomy, and other international policies, including the SDGs. Modernizing the CAP prioritizes the transition towards a more sustainable agricultural sector and the development of dynamic rural areas with a solid social and economic network able to contribute to food security. One of the nine goals of the CAP 2021–2027 is “Promoting employment, growth, social inclusion, and local development in rural areas, including bio-economy and sustainable forestry.” This goal highlights the capacity of the bioeconomy to significantly contribute to the social and economic dynamism of rural areas through the diversification of activities and the creation of businesses and new value chains, which will help to increase employment and the profitability of agricultural producers. The European Union is committed to agriculture as a strategic sector with great potential to promote a sustainable bioeconomy in European countries (European Commission 2018b). The goal of the European Union is that all the tools necessary to keep strengthening research and innovation as central elements in the bioeconomy can be established through the CAP. In addition, the CAP aims to guarantee the coherence and synergy of all policies related to this economic-productive model and better targeting of investments. It is understood that, under this new global framework, all state members of the EU must develop national strategic plans aligned with these new specific goals. They focus on the environment and the strategies that support the sustainable use of biomass and the development of innovative sectors related to the bioeconomy (European Commission 2018b).
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Agricultural Biomass as the Main Resource in the Bioeconomy Characterization of the Agricultural Waste Biomass (AWB) Historically, agriculture has been one of the main producers of biomass (Bracco et al. 2018). Agricultural biomass is the biodegradable fraction of products and waste of biological origin that result from land cultivation (European Union 2018). It is a renewable energy resource with great potential as a fuel for transportation and industry. The richness of this biological material in lignocellulosic compounds has even led to the use of bioenergy crops (herbaceous and woody) for the production of secondary products, such as biofuel (Hazell 2006), although to a lesser extent concerning food crops (European Union 2018; World Bioenergy Association 2019). Primary crops residue, which is produced during harvest and maintenance work in the form of stubble, straw, seeds, remains of pruning and crop cuts (stems, leaves, roots), and seed and fruit husks is the main component of the residual agricultural biomass (Camacho-Ferre 2003; Sommer et al. 2016). Its potential for utilization is huge (Sommer et al. 2016) because it is an important source of cellulose and hemicellulose, which gives it multiple uses. Traditionally, AWB has been used as food for animals, construction material, domestic or industrial fuel (International Energy Agency 2017; Duque-Acevedo et al. 2020a), improvement of the soil structure (fertilizer), and production of bioethanol. More than half of the dry mass harvested in the world is agricultural waste and inedible biomass (Schoenmakere et al. 2018). On average, 50% of residue is left on the land to provide nutrients for the soil and to improve its quality (World Bioenergy Association 2019). Regarding the generation of energy, it is estimated that the main crops could create between 4.3 and 9.4 billion tons of waste per year and this could have an energy potential ranging from 17.8 EJ to 82.3 EJ (World Bioenergy Association 2019). Cereals such as wheat, barley, corn, rice, and sugarcane produce the most crop residue. Since the mid-1990s, Asia has been one of the main producers of cereal and it has contributed to nearly 50% of the residue in these crops (Sommer et al. 2016). It is estimated that a total of 3.7 billion tons of dry matter is produced annually (International Energy Agency 2017). Over 2 billion tons of urban solid waste is currently produced every year in the world and the global production of agricultural waste is four and a half times higher (Kaza et al. 2018). Approximately 121 million tons of crop residue is generated in the European Union and it is mainly used to produce fodder (60%), energy (19%), and biomaterials (19%) (Gurria et al. 2017; Schoenmakere et al. 2018). Intensive agriculture generates higher amounts of crop residue, which is a problem for farmers, who consider it a low added-value subproduct (Duque-Acevedo et al. 2020c). For this reason, high amounts of CO2 are created when this residue is burnt. In other cases, the AWB is abandoned in fields or sent to landfills (Hazell 2006; Romero et al. 2019). Approaches to the Use of AWB in the Framework of the Bioeconomy AWB is one of the most significant strategies for the growth of bioenergy production (Hazell 2006; World Bioenergy Association 2019; Romero et al. 2019). It is estimated that the energy generated from this source could help increase the world’s
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total energy supply by 14% (World Bioenergy Association 2019). Between 2000 and 2015, the increased demand for renewable biofuel for bioenergy production boosted the growth of the crops needed for its generation (Hazell 2006; Duque-Acevedo et al. 2020a). In 2006, bioenergy represented 33% of the energy used in developing countries, but only 3–4% of the energy used in industrialized countries (Hazell 2006). Germany devoted 30% of its agricultural production to the subsequent production of materials and bioenergy in 2009 (German Bioeconomy Council 2010). In 2017, less than 10% of the global biomass supply for bioenergy came from the agricultural sector (World Bioenergy Association 2019). In this scenario, bioenergy is essential for the substitution of fossil fuels and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, only 3% of the total production of bioenergy was obtained from crop residue in 2017 (World Bioenergy Association 2019). In other words, despite the large amount of AWB produced and its high potential for circularity, the percentage of its use remains low (Hollins et al. 2017; Kaza et al. 2018; Duque-Acevedo et al. 2020b). The biomass from intensive traditional crops could increase as a consequence of the adaptation to new subtropical varieties in the southern parts of Europe (Honoré et al. 2019). One of the global goals of the European Union is to increase the percentage of energy from renewable sources, such as agricultural biomass, to 32% of gross final energy consumption by 2030 (European Union 2018). AWB is one of the main raw materials of the bioeconomy. Its role is essential and both its processing and the products obtained from it are vital in this model. That is why all possible uses of this type of biomass should be prioritized and optimized (German Bioeconomy Council 2010). Main Approaches of Some Bioeconomy Strategies on the Use of AWB In 2018, the number of countries that had defined and adopted policies and/or strategies related to the development of the bioeconomy amounted to 50 (Fund et al. 2018; Aguilar et al. 2019). The “National Strategy of Bioeconomy Costa Rica 2020-2030” is one of the most recent (year 2020). Most of these instruments of management, which are complemented in some cases by action plans, establish different objectives, actions, and specific measures aimed mainly at sectors that produce and/or use biological resources, such as the agri-food sector (agriculture, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, exploitation of marine resources, and processing and marketing of food), forestry, industry, and bioenergy, among others. The agricultural and forestry sectors are considered the main producers and/or primary suppliers of biomass, so these strategies highlight their great potential in the context of the bio-based economy. Many of these are consolidated productive sectors, but some strategies take into account other developing sectors, including those that could arise from the implementation of the bioeconomy. In Table 1, some approaches about the use and exploitation of agricultural residue are identified, including specific examples about AWB. The totality of the strategies that have been analyzed, most of them issued between 2018 and 2019, prioritize agriculture as a focal sector for the bioeconomy and establish strategic lines and/or specific actions, including the reuse and recovery of AWB, as a need and opportunity
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Table 1 Approaches of some bioeconomy policies and strategies on AWB Country/ Year Spain (2015)
Name of the strategy or policy Spanish Bioeconomy Strategy: Horizon 2030
European Union (2018)
A sustainable Bioeconomy for Europe: Strengthening the connection between economy, society, and the environment and Action Plan
Agriculture Forestry Fisheries, aquaculture, food Bio-based industry
Ireland (2018)
National Policy Statement on the Bioeconomy
France (2018)
A Bioeconomy Strategy for France 2018–2020 Action Plan
Agriculture Forestry The marine Bio-based processing, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals Agriculture Forestry Aquaculture and fisheries
Prioritized areas/sectors Food and agriculture Forestry and wood products Chemical industry (industrial bioproducts) Bioenergy (obtained from biomass) Services associated with rural environments
Goals/strategic guidelines and/or specific measures linked to agricultural biomass Residue and subproducts recovery as a raw material for other production processes to improve efficiency Emphasis on technologies that facilitate recycling and recovery of raw materials Encourage the sustainable use of the biomass resources produced on the agro-industry and food sector to create new business areas in the rural sector Reduce the dependence on nonrenewable and unsustainable resources Exploit the potential of bio-based innovations in the agricultural sector Develop new products, processes, and value chains for biological product markets, including high added-value chemicals and bio-based materials Transform agricultural waste into valuable bio-based products Valorization of marine and agricultural waste. Production of bioenergy and bio-based materials and chemicals from this biomass Evaluate the effect of the bioeconomy on the creation of added value in the agricultural sector Develop plans under the common agricultural policy – CAP that promote greater sustainable use of biomass and the development of innovative sectors of the bioeconomy (continued)
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Table 1 (continued) Country/ Year The United Kingdom (2018)
Italy (2019)
Canada (2019)
Austria (2019)
The USA (2019)
Japan (2019)
Name of the strategy or policy Growing the Bioeconomy. Improving lives and strengthening our economy: A national bioeconomy strategy to 2030 BIT II Bioeconomy in Italy. A new bioeconomy strategy for a sustainable Italy
Prioritized areas/sectors Agri-food technology Chemistry Industrial biotechnology Medicines Manufacturing and synthetic biology
Agriculture Forestry Fisheries and aquaculture Bio-based industry
Canada’s Bioeconomy Strategy. Leveraging our Strengths for a Sustainable Future Bioeconomy – A Strategy for Austria
Agriculture Forestry Fisheries Aquaculture Industrial sectors
The Bioeconomy Initiative: Implementing Framework USA Bioeconomy Initiative Bio-Strategy 2019
Agricultural Forestry Energy Manufacturing sectors
Agriculture Forestry Water and waste management
Agriculture Industry
Goals/strategic guidelines and/or specific measures linked to agricultural biomass Increase productivity, sustainability, and resilience of agriculture and forestry
Adopt innovative processes to exploit agro-industry subproducts and commercialize them as new products Valorize and reuse agricultural and forest residue for the production of bioproducts, bioenergy, and bio-fertilizers Encourage the transformation of resource management and the practice of biomass development, biomass, and residue conversion. Commercialize the field crop subproducts Increase the added value in agriculture through the cascading uses Develop new concepts of value creation and production to optimize agriculture New preprocessing technology for more efficient transport, storage, and other logistical operations of agricultural and forest biomass Sustainable agricultural production system Usage of biotechnology to produce substances and materials with high added value, such as compost and chemical products (continued)
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Table 1 (continued) Country/ Year Costa Rica (2020)
Name of the strategy or policy National Bioeconomic Strategy Costa Rica 2020–2030
Prioritized areas/sectors Agriculture Fishing Forestry
Goals/strategic guidelines and/or specific measures linked to agricultural biomass Strategic Area 3: Biorefinery of residual biomass: “Promote the development of new productive activities based on the full use and recovery of residual biomass from agricultural, agro-industrial, forestry and fishing processes” Specification lines: Knowledge of residual biomass Production of bioenergy Production of biomaterials Production of advanced high-value biomolecules and bioproducts
Source: Prepared by the authors based on each strategy published in Global Bioeconomy Summit 2020 (2020)
for obtaining new and valuable bioproducts. Likewise, they emphasize the need to develop innovative processes and to implement new technology that eases the recycling, recuperation, and transformation of this waste. They also highlight that the use of this waste allows to reduce the dependence on nonrenewable resources and to create new business areas in the rural sector. Main Alternatives for the Valorization of AWB The valorization of AWB involves two major benefits that are compatible. On one hand, it generates added value for the system by considering elements of the production process that were not valued before. On the other hand, it enables the reduction of the perverse and entropic effects of the linear economic system on the natural environment. This is why, in recent years, several studies and projects have focused on the analysis and estimation of the potential of crop residue as a sustainable raw material in biorefinery processes (Elbersen et al. 2012; Kretschmer et al. 2013; International Energy Agency 2017). Therefore, there are more and more alternatives for its use and valorization. In addition to the production of energy and biofuel, there is the possibility of using this waste to manufacture chemical products, which can be even more profitable than energy production (Tuck et al. 2012; Kretschmer et al. 2013; Hollins et al. 2017; Wesseler and von Braun 2017). In conclusion, the use of this type of biomass will depend on the characteristics of the resource, the type of crop, and the conversion technology involved in its
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Table 2 Main technologies, processes, and programs for the transformation of AWB Conversion technology
Processes
Products
Main uses
Relevant programs and/or projects 1.Towards second-generation biofuels (India - 2016): Crop waste as a raw material for the production of bioethanol and chemicals.
Biochemistry
Energy – Biogas Ethanol Fermentation Transesterification Composting Anaerobic digestion
2.From biomass towns to industrial areas (Japan -2012): Use of waste or unused biomass for second generation processing and production of animal feed, fertilizers, biofuel, electricity and other bioproducts. Systems for recycling and reusing biomass, with active community participation.
Food products and fodder Fertilizers Glycerin - Lactic acid and other chemicals and biomaterials
-For animal feed and the agricultural sector - As chemical inputs for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries.
Hydrogenation Gasification Combustion Pyrolysis
Thermochemical
Biorefineries and biotechnological processes (Pre-treatment and transformation)
-In the industry for direct combustion in boilers. -As motor fuel (land or air transport)
Bioliquids Biofuel Polymers Pellets Bio coal, and other bio-based chemicals, fuels and forms of energy.
3.Promoting bioproduct use – “BioPreferred Program” (United States of America - 2002): National public procurement programs for bioproducts from agriculture. 4.Biochar production and use (Ghana 2014):Use of crop residue for pellet and biocoal production. 5.Biofibre for clothing - Piñatex™, (Philippines -2013):Use of pineapple crop residue. Local cooperatives produce fibers from the leaves by decortication to obtain textile material to replace leather, as well as biogas and organic fertilizer. 6.Alternatives to burning straw (China 2016): Use of crop residue (rice, corn, and wheat straw) for the production of biofertilizers, fodder, crop substrate, artificial boards, composite material, paper, biochemicals, solid biofuel and biogas 7. Bio-based plastics from agave residues (Mexico - 2016): Use and exploitation of the by-products of Agave cultivation for: - Production of liquor - as compost in the plantations (bagasse from the pineapple root and agave, resulting after the extraction of sugar) - Manufacture of handicrafts, paper, clothing and other products from the remains of the plant's fiber. 8. Solidus Solutions (Holland - 2017). Use of tomato crop residue, mixed with recycled paper, for the production of packaging board. 9. AgriMax project (Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking - H2020BBIPPP-2015-2-1) (2016 2020):Recovery of residue and byproducts from the food and agricultural industry (crop residue) through cooperative processing technologies for obtaining biocomposites, packaging and agricultural materials.
Source: Prepared by the authors based on(German Bioeconomy Council 2010; Cherubini and Ulgiati 2010; Kretschmer et al. 2013; Carus 2017; Gurria et al. 2017; Hollins et al. 2017; IEA Bioenergy and (IETS) 2017; International Energy Agency 2017; Schoenmakere et al. 2018; OECD 2018; Bio-based Industries Consortium 2019; San Juan et al. 2019).
transformation (Hazell 2006). Currently, there are different technologies that can be used for the transformation of AWB on products of higher added value (Kretschmer et al. 2013). In Table 2, the main technologies for converting AWB are presented.
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Also included are the processes and products obtained and their main uses. The table also outlines some research programs and projects developed in recent years, which focus on the recovery of crop residue and its use as raw material. Most of these initiatives are part of national government programs. Some of them encourage and promote the implementation of bioeconomy strategies. For example, the “BioPreferred Program,” which is managed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), was created by the 2002 Agriculture Act and extended in the 2014 Agriculture Act to stimulate the use of bio-based products and to create new jobs and markets for agricultural products. This program establishes a mandatory purchase requirement for public entities and contractors through the voluntary labeling of bioproducts (Kretschmer et al. 2013; San Juan et al. 2019). In countries such as Denmark, heat and electricity have been produced from cereal straw and from second-generation ethanol since 2009 (International Energy Agency 2017).
The Role of Biotechnology and Bio-Industries in the Sustainable Processing of AWB Industries based on biorefinery are an essential sub-sector for the bioeconomy since they integrate equipment and biotechnological systems needed for the sustainable and large-scale processing of residual biomass that allows for its reuse to obtain products with greater added value. These include energy, heating, biofuel, chemicals, and a wide variety of other recycled materials (Carus 2017; OECD 2018; Ree 2019). These industries have rapidly grown and advanced in the improvement of industrial techniques and operations while incorporating sustainability criteria mainly for the generation of bioenergy products. However, greater progress in biotechnological innovation is needed (lignocellulosic conversion technology) to consolidate integrated or multipurpose refineries with more flexible systems while incorporating all dimensions of sustainability and a more complete value chain (Bio-based Industries Consortium 2019). In addition, they should diversify and make intelligent use of renewable and locally sourced and sustainable biological raw materials (European Commission 2018a) and increase the production of new no-energy products such as biochemicals, biopolymers, enzymes, fibers, and new materials (Olsson et al. 2016; IEA Bioenergy and (IETS) 2017). The cascade approach to the use of AWB, including its reuse and recycling, should be prioritized in this type of industry to maintain its value for as long as possible. That’s why these industries have to maximize the efficiency of obtained resources, minimize the use of fossil raw materials, preserve the natural capital, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Keegan et al. 2013; Schoenmakere et al. 2018). Biotechnology also has a significant impact on the bioeconomy as it is essential for the growth of sustainable primary production. By the year 2030, its use is expected to represent 35% of industrial production and 80% of pharmaceutical production (Scarlat et al. 2015). Given the importance of biorefineries, one of the 14 measures of the 2018 Bioeconomy Strategy and Action Plan of the European Commission was to facilitate the development of new sustainable biorefineries and to encourage actions to promote private investment in the expansion of biorefineries and the development
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of the bioproducts market. This action takes into consideration all biomass sources and it emphasizes the sustainable management of resources and the deployment of innovative technology (European Commission 2018a). Therefore, public-private associations with Bio-Based Industries (BBI) have been promoted to consolidate sustainable and competitive industries in Europe. The aim is to achieve an advanced biorefinery sector facilitating the transition to an innovation-driven and knowledgebased bioeconomy (Bio-based Industries Consortium 2019). Likewise, the “From Biomass Towns to Industrial Areas” program (Table 2) enabled the consolidation of an integrated system of agro- and bio-industries (industries focused on the circularity of biomass) for processing the residual biomass. This program is part of the Japanese government’s Biomass Industrialization Strategy for 2012 (San Juan et al. 2019). Finally, it is estimated that bio-industries will be able to generate more than one million new green jobs (European Commission 2018a) by 2030.
The Importance of AWB Recovery in the Bioeconomy Framework There has been a recent increase in policy agreements, regulatory instruments and incentives that encourage the use of energy from renewable sources, such as AWB (International Energy Agency 2017; European Union 2018). For example, economic incentives are granted in Denmark for the production of electricity from solid residual biomass. Additionally, biofuel used for heat production is exempt from taxes. This type of strategy has undoubtedly boosted the transition towards a zero fossil fuel system (International Energy Agency 2017; Klima-Energi- og Forsyningsministeriet 2018). The efficient management of AWB in the context of the bioeconomy generates a greater socioeconomic dynamism due to the consolidation of a new business structure and the strengthening of the existing one. This fact contributes to the creation of green employment, the activation of rural areas, and the improvement of life conditions (Golden and Handfield 2014; Dieckhoff et al. 2015; European Commission 2018a). AWB is generated in large amounts and this guarantees plentiful supply and better logistics when compared to other waste materials (Hollins et al. 2017). Prioritizing the use of AWB promotes economic growth in poor rural communities that depend on agriculture (Hazell 2006; Wesseler and von Braun 2017). This is also one of the best alternatives to guarantee food security and the production of bioenergy, biofuel, and bioproducts in a sustainable way (International Energy Agency 2017). In this regard, one of the consequences linked to the increase of biofuel from crops specifically intended for that purpose is the change in the use of the land as its aim is no longer the production of food, but rather to provide input for the industries that produce biofuel. At the same time, the emergence of new uses for certain agricultural products leads to an imbalance in the prices of raw materials, which also affects food prices. The use of AWB contributes to solving current environmental challenges, mitigating pollution caused by emissions and combating climate change and its negative effects on the world population (Bugge et al. 2016; Carus 2017; International Energy Agency 2017; United Nations 2019). The contributions of the valorization of AWB on the three pillars of sustainability are summarized below:
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• Economic benefits – Income diversification and increased profitability for agricultural producers. – New value chains, businesses, and jobs related to transport storage and waste processing. – Improved income for communities and the growth of the rural economy. • Social benefits – Revitalization of rural areas and reduction of human migration to urban centers. – Improvement of local management processes and technological innovation through traditional knowledge. – Diversification of energy supply sources and cost reduction. – Improved land and crop management practices. – Contribution to food security. • Environmental benefits – Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by avoiding the burning and disposal of waste in landfills. – Optimization of the use and value of crop residues, which are produced in large quantities and are sometimes difficult to eliminate. – Reduction of water footprint and fossil fuel use. – Improvement of sustainable production chains based on local sources. – Expansion of forest areas by reducing land exclusively used for bioenergy crops. – Increasing biomass supply without increasing land demand. By 2023, methane emissions from agriculture are expected to be reduced by 24% compared to 2010. The bioeconomy plays a key role in achieving this goal (Independent Group of Scientists 2019). Between 2009 and 2015, the production of biological chemicals and pharmaceuticals increased the number of jobs (European Commission 2018a). The supply chains of AWB for the production of biomaterials are long and complex. They contribute to the generation of greater added value and up to ten times the number of jobs created by the bioenergy production process (European Commission 2018a). Significant Aspects of the Processes of Recovery of AWB AWB in the bioeconomy sector is a valuable resource in the generation of greater added value. An increasing number of developments, experiences, and case studies demonstrate this. However, its use is still limited because of certain situations and conditions that negatively impact the recovery and use of this resource (DuqueAcevedo et al. 2020b). Some many far-reaching challenges and barriers must be overcome to achieve optimal and large-scale utilization of AWB for the conversion to bioproducts, bioenergy, or biofuel to achieve further growth of the bioeconomy. There are different bioeconomy studies and strategies that suggest some key aspects that should be considered to use crop residue more efficiently as raw material and to make possible the implementation of systems that enable its transformation (Cherubini and Ulgiati 2010; Kretschmer et al. 2013; International Energy Agency
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2017; Schoenmakere et al. 2018; S. Bracco et al. 2019; San Juan et al. 2019). These include: • To promote the use of local AWB to avoid polluting emissions due to transportation and to reduce processing costs. • To locally analyze the current use of AWB and its availability in each region to determine more specifics regarding valorization opportunities of the residue. • To carry on an integrated evaluation through sustainability indicators to determine the viability of crop residue use. • To evaluate and determine sustainable levels of local AWB extraction to prevent the decrease of carbon stocks and other nutrients in the soil while ensuring its productivity and guaranteeing ecosystem services and sustainability in the long term. • To identify the production systems from which AWB comes and to implement suitable measures to guarantee the quality of the ecosystems. • To promote synergies in the main players (farmers – industrial sector) for the integration and establishment of viable and sustainable systems or supply chains. • To develop an infrastructure for regional and local integrated biorefinery systems (public-private associations) according to waste supply and material demand, calculating distances to processing facilities to reduce treatment costs and to create fair bioeconomic value chains. • To promote legal instruments and strategies to create new markets and to offer a competitive advantage for the new products obtained from AWB. • To design small-scale integrated management systems focused on recycling for the use of AWB primarily in rural areas where the consolidation of bio-industrial zones is complex. • To prevent the mixture of AWB in order to guarantee its homogeneity, ease its processing, and reduce treatment costs.
Conclusions The growth in demand for agricultural products has allowed for the consolidation of an intensive and unsustainable food production system, which has generated significant environmental impacts over the last 20 years. One of the main problems associated with this linear agricultural system is the enormous volume of waste produced and its inappropriate management. Agricultural waste is the second most abundant type of waste produced in the world, and waste biomass is one of its main components. Under the approach of the circular economy and the bioeconomy, agricultural waste biomass (AWB) is transformed into resources and raw materials that can be used to obtaining products of high added value. At present, the bioeconomy plays a key role in the transition towards sustainable agriculture, as a circular economic production model. Some of the sustainable practices promoted by this bio-based model include the integrated management and recovery of AWB. To do this, it integrates knowledge, innovation, and new
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technology in the search for better alternatives to obtain secondary raw materials and bioproducts. In recent years, numerous research projects have shown the potential of AWB for its use as a sustainable raw material under the perspective of the circular bioeconomy. The production of bioenergy and biofuels remains the main focus of this research. However, new technologies for conversion and transformation of this AWB have emerged, which expand the range of by-products and bioproducts that can be obtained. Some of these studies highlight other benefits and advantages of using the AWB, including a greater local socioeconomic dynamism, reduction of environmental impact, and improvement of rural livelihoods. Biorefineries have contributed to the sustainable processing of AWB, as a subsector of the circular bioeconomy. However, we need to keep moving forward to advance in biotechnological innovation and to incorporate more flexible systems, which consider all the dimensions of sustainability and a more complete value chain, with a greater diversification and cascade use of AWB, while prioritizing local and sustainable sources.
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Rachana Jain and Satya Narayan Naik
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Agricultural Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Field Residue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Process Residue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Livestock Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fruit and Vegetable Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composition of Agricultural Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agricultural Waste Management Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thermochemical Conversion (Incineration, Pyrolysis, and Gasification) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aerobic Composting and Vermicomposting of Agricultural Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bioethanol Production by Hydrolysis and Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biogas Production by Anaerobic Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biobutanol Production by ABE Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biohydrogen Production by Dark Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pretreatment Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chemical Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physiochemical Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biological Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
498 499 499 500 500 501 501 504 505 505 508 511 514 516 516 516 517 517 518 518 519
Abstract
With the advancement in agriculture, a massive amount of agricultural waste has been produced worldwide. It includes cereal straws, husks of different crops, livestock manure, and so on. Previously, edible agricultural waste was used as livestock feed and the remaining one either rotten in the field or burned. According to the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), India produced 500 million tons of agricultural waste, out of which 92 metric R. Jain (*) · S. N. Naik Centre for Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_26
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tons were burned each year that causes severe environmental pollution by producing a large amount of greenhouse gases (viz., N2O, SO2, CH4) and smoke. There is a need to utilize these wastes in an eco-friendly and sustainable manner. This chapter reviews the possible way of re-utilization, which includes composting and biofuel production. Keywords
Agricultural waste · Biogas · Lignocellulosic · Pretreatment · Sustainable
Introduction With the green revolution and increase in food processing, a high volume of organic waste is produced yearly worldwide. If this waste is decomposed in an uncontrolled manner, it creates soil, air, and water pollution. We can estimate the severity by that one metric ton of organic waste that releases 50–110 m3 of carbon dioxide and 90– 140 m3 of methane (Yu et al. 2002). India has 2.97 M km2 land area, out of which 60.5% is agricultural land. Worldwide, India is in the first position in jute production and second in wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, and groundnut production. High agricultural production also indicates the massive production of waste in the form of field residue, process residue, and produce unfit due to inadequate storage. Rice, wheat, and maize produce 3.2–4.5 T of residue per hectare, and maize alone is grown on 5% and rice and wheat together are cultivated on 40% of the gross cultivated area (Cardoen et al. 2015). Hiloidhari et al. (2014) reported that India produces 686 MT of crop residue annually, and 34% is considered surplus residue. Cereal crops come in the first position in surplus residue contribution by 38%, followed by sugarcane (24%), others (20%), horticulture (10%), oilseeds (6%), and pulses (2%) (Fig. 1). At the different crop levels, a maximum surplus residue comes from sugarcane (56 MT), cotton (47 MT), and rice (43 MT). Although rice produces the highest gross residue than sugarcane, its % surplus residue production is less than sugarcane due to its conventional uses as cattle feed, domestic fuel, and packing materials. Surplus residue potential from banana and coconut (horticultural crops) is also significant in India and is estimated as 12 MT and 10 MT, respectively. Other cereal crops, wheat and maize, generate 131 and 35.8 MT year1 residue, respectively. Out of this gross production, surplus residue for wheat is 28.4 MT and maize 9 MT year1. However, the waste distribution and availability are not uniform due to variations in agroclimatic conditions and cropping practice (Hiloidhari et al. 2014). The conventional use of residues is livestock feed, domestic fuel, roof covering, fencing, and packaging. Residue with good taste is majorly used as animal feed like rice and wheat straw, while other residues are used as fuel, burned in the field, or decomposed in an uncontrolled way. Burning in the open area or burner increased greenhouse gas emissions, while unregulated decomposition causes water, air, and
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2% 6%
10% 38%
cereal sugarcane
20%
other horticulture 24%
oilseed pulse
Fig. 1 Agricultural surplus residue percent
soil pollution. Hence, there is a need for sustainable agricultural waste management (AWM) system that mitigates waste in a more eco-friendly and economically feasible manner, with profit. This book chapter discusses these sustainable waste management strategies.
Classification of Agricultural Waste Waste produced from various agricultural activities (harvesting, processing, etc.) is called agricultural waste. It is organic and broadly classified into four types: field residues, process residue, livestock waste, and fruit and vegetable wastes (FVWs) (Fig. 2).
Field Residue Waste left in the field after harvesting the crop (cereal, fruit, vegetable, etc.) is called field residue. It consists of leaves, stalks, seed pods, roots, stems, etc. It is mainly lignocellulosic. Globally crop residue production is 5 billion metric ton (Ensia 2019). The primary crop residue is rice, wheat straw, and corn stover. The wheat straw’s annual production is 1–3 tons per acre, corn stover 4 tons per acre, and rice straw 2 tons per acre. It is the most abundant and cheapest waste, which is majorly used as fodder and burned in the burner to produce heat. The other crop residues are barley, sorghum, oat stover, mustard straw, etc. (Saini et al. 2015).
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Crop residue (Straw and Stover)
Livestock waste (Manure)
Agricultural waste
Processing waste (Bagasse, bran, pomace, deoiled cake, husk and peel)
Food waste (Peel and pomace)
Fig. 2 Types of agricultural waste
Process Residue Process residue is the waste generated during the processing of agricultural products to a valuable resource. It includes molasses, husks, bagasse, seeds, shell, pulp, stubble, peel, etc. A massive amount of process residues are produced every year by the oil industry (oil cakes), sugar industry (bagasse), flour industry (bran), beverage industry (pulp, peel, and seed), dairy industry, etc., and most of them are underutilized. These wastes are rich in carbohydrate (starch, lignocellulose), fats, and proteins. These residues are traditionally used either as livestock or burned directly to have the energy or composted.
Livestock Waste Livestock industries provide meat, milk, and egg and, in reverse, also produce large volumes of wastes. The primary waste product includes livestock excreta, feed losses, and organic materials in the slaughterhouse and wastewater (urine and wastewater of bathing and cleaning). The manure production is dependent on diet, animal size, and performance, and the average volume of manure per animal per day is 5.4–45.3, 5.1–11.3, 0.08–0.14, 0.13–0.34, 0.71, 2.8, and 28 for cattle, swine, chickens, turkey, rabbit, ewe sheep, and horses, respectively. Livestock waste is a significant source of greenhouse gas, pollution, pathogens, and odor. According to the Times of India 2018 report, India has 300 million cattle populations, producing 3.0 MT of cattle dung per day. Conventionally cattle dung is used for cooking, wall and floor plastering, and cow dung is used as a mosquito repellent, ash is used to clean utensils, manure and compost preparation, etc., in India (Gupta et al. 2016).
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Fruit and Vegetable Waste Fruit and vegetable wastes (FVWs) contain fruit and vegetable wasted during the supply chain, processing, and final consumption. The primary processing waste is peel, pomace, and seeds. FVW has carbohydrates (starch, cellulose, and hemicellulose), protein, lipid, lignin, and high moisture and is more biodegradable due to the presence of low lignin content. Conventionally, FVW is either incinerated or dumped in an open area that causes serious health and environmental issues. According to the Indian Horticulture Annual Report, 2018, India produces 81.5 MT and 163 MT of fruit and vegetable, respectively. Out of this, 30% (5.6 MT) get wasted every year due to improper storage, transportation, and physical deformation (Indian Horticulture Annual Report 2018). In the USA, fruit and vegetable waste production was estimated to be 7.8 MT and 18.9 MT, respectively, in year 2009 (Esparza et al. 2020).
Composition of Agricultural Waste Agricultural waste characterization with respect to physiochemical property is a necessary step that helps in deciding the most optimal utilization of agricultural waste. It includes proximate, ultimate, and compositional analysis. Tables 1 and 2 have different agricultural waste characterizations. In the proximate analysis, we determine moisture, fixed carbon, volatile solids, and ash. Biomass with low moisture content (10–15%) is suitable for thermochemical conversion. Volatile solids and fixed carbon percent help in deciding the anaerobic digestion. Biomass with high volatile solid produces more biogas in anaerobic digestion and more bio-oil and syngas during pyrolysis (Yadav et al. 2016). Ash represents the mineral content of biomass. Biomass with high ash content (5–6%) is generally good for composting because of the presence of a sufficient amount of nutrients (Yadav et al. 2017). The ultimate analysis gives the idea about elemental (C, H, N, O, and S) composition that helps in determining the calorific value, the product’s composition, and the environmental impact (Telmo et al. 2010). The carbon to nitrogen ratio for biomass should be 20–30 for microbial growth during composting and anaerobic digestion. The ultimate analysis showed C/N ratio of wheat straw is 109 that is very high compared to the appropriate ratio. By adding biomass that is rich in nitrogen, we can make its anaerobic digestion possible (Chandra et al. 2012). The ultimate analysis gives the H/C and O/C ratios of biomass, which help determine lower heating value and high heating value (Aristizábal-Marulanda et al. 2020) which has significant importance in biofuel preparation. The compositional analysis includes lignocellulosic (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) composition and biochemical (carbohydrate, lipid, protein, etc.) content. Agricultural waste is majorly lignocellulosic. It has cellulose (40–50%), hemicellulose (20–30%), and lignin (10–25%) and little amount of protein (3–4%) and fat (1– 2%). A high percent of lignin has an inhibitory effect on the biochemical process and needs an intensive pretreatment process for biofuel conversion. The same plant’s
16.23
60.26 2.46
Cattle manure
3.23
0.82
5.50
–
Karanj de-oiled 47.8 6.5 cake Fruit and vegetable waste and livestock Orange peel 16.23 17.1
29.0
–
6.40
–
47.50
Coffee husk
0.15
0.2– 0.8 0.4– 0.5 0.3– 0.8 0.7
O
0.21
5.40
45.21
32.8– 41.2 34.1– 51.4 43.4– 45.7 43.6
N
0.67
38.69
Rice bran
5.96
4.6– 6.7 5.1– 6.3 5.4– 6.3 6.2
34.0– 41.5 41.7– 46.7 35.2– 45.6 49.4
45.48
H
C
Process residue Sugarcane bagasse
Barley straw
Corn Stover
Wheat straw
Crop Field residue Rice straw
Ultimate analysis (% w/w)
Table 1 Ultimate and proximate composition of agricultural waste
19.30
17.1
–
43.7
38.6
60.26
17.20
–
7.70
–
2.99 45.1
–
–
2.4
3.20– 4.34 18.8
5.3–9.8
4.2–6.3
7.3–12.8
8.2–16
0.76
–
19.1
9.20
–
19.79
–
16.07
16.9
17.3
14.5
5.3–7.4
4.4–8.4
4.2
–
0.1– 0.2 0.1– 0.3 0.1– 0.3 0.13
S
Proximate analysis (% w/w) Fixed Moisture carbon Ash
Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019)
– 50–72
81–85.3
78.50
64.30
Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019)
Pattanaik et al. (2019)
Kumar et al. (2018)
Kumar et al. (2018)
Kumar et al. (2018)
References
79–83.6
76.2
86.5–96.8
74.4–92.7
71.6–92.8
Volatile solid
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Lignocellulosic analysis (% w/w) Crop Cellulose Hemicellulose Field residue Rice straw 30.3–52.3 19.8–31.6 Wheat straw 32.9–44.5 22.2–34.0 Corn stover 31.3–49.4 21.1–26.2 Barley straw 29.2–48.6 26.7–35.8 Process residue Sugarcane bagasse 43.6–45.8 31.3–33.5 Rice bran 39 31 Coffee husk 24.5–43 7–29.7 Karanj de-oiled cake – – Fruit and vegetable waste and livestock Orange peel – – Cattle manure 32.7 24.5 – 14.6–15.4 8–11 –
– 23.58 58–85 – 38–40 62.46
18.1 4 9–23.7 – – 42.8
6.95 15.09
5.9 5.34 0.7–1.3 1.91
– 3.48 3.6–8.7 3.62
– – 7.9 –
7.2–12.8 8.5–22.3 3.1–8.8 6.7–21.7
– 6.85
– 16.1–23.8 0.5–3 –
Lipid
Biochemical analysis (% w/w) Carbohydrate Protein
Lignin
Table 2 Lignocellulosic and biochemical analysis of agricultural waste
Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019)
Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019) Pattanaik et al. (2019)
Kumar et al. (2018) Kumar et al. (2018) Kumar et al. (2018) Pattanaik et al. (2019)
References
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lignocellulosic content varies with age and environmental and geographical conditions (Kumar et al. 2018). Wheat and rice straw and sugarcane bagasse are commonly used agricultural waste of biofuel production due to their high availability and low lignin percent (Kaparaju et al. 2009).
Agricultural Waste Management Strategies The main aim of agricultural waste management is to lessen the impact and outcome of wastes on the environment and human health. There is a need to move from the current linear model “take, make, and dispose of” to the systemic circular model “reduce, reuse, recycle, and regenerate.” The systemic circular model used waste as a resource instead of a waste in a sustainable way. In agricultural waste management, waste is transformed into compost, biofuel, and value-added product using different technologies/processes. This technology broadly can be divided into two types, viz., thermochemical and biochemical. Thermochemical methods are combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification, while aerobic fermentation, anaerobic fermentation, dark fermentation, and Acetone- ButanolEthanol (ABE) fermentation are examples of biochemical processes. Combustion and pyrolysis are commonly used in thermochemical technology. Table 3 gives a brief description of these processes. In this chapter, we will discuss biochemical technology in detail due to its sustainability and eco-friendly nature. Table 3 Comparison of major agricultural waste management technology Technology Bioethanol
Process Hydrolysis and fermentation
Advantage Remove competition with food crop Mitigate climate change. Reduction in GHGs
Biomethane
Anaerobic digestion
Biohydrogen
Dark fermentation
Reduction in waste volume End product is high-quality fertilizer and gaseous fuel GHG emission bypassed due to enclosed system Mitigate climate change Reduction in GHGs
Biobutanol
ABE fermentation
Mitigate climate change Reduction in GHGs
Composting and vermincomposting
Aerobic fermentation
Helps in the generation of high-quality organic fertilizers Appreciable volumetric reduction of waste
Disadvantage High cost Tedious process Low net yield Need special processing step Large space requirement Regular operational and maintenance cost
Budding technology Conversion efficiency low Budding technology Conversion efficiency low Large space requirement Regular operational and maintenance cost Generation of odor creating public inconvenience
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Thermochemical Conversion (Incineration, Pyrolysis, and Gasification) Incineration is the combustion of agricultural waste at high temperature (750– 1000 C). This process reduces the waste volume up to 90%, and the end products are bottom and fly ash, heat, flue gases, and slag. The fly ash and flue gases have a high content of dioxins, furan, minerals (e.g., SiO2, Al2O3, CaO, and asbestos), and metals (Ar, Be, B, Ca, Cr, Co, Pb, Mg, Hg, Se, Sr, Tl, and V) that are harmful to human and animal. It is a costly method with less return, and a regular supply of waste is needed. Pyrolysis is the thermal disintegration of waste at 250–600 C in the absence of oxygen that produces three end products, namely, biochar (solid), bio-oil (liquid), and syngas (gas). In contrast, the thermal disintegration of waste in gasification is partial oxidation at 650–1000 C temperature. It gives two end products, syngas (gaseous) and biochar (solid). The percent yield of products depends on the physiochemical property of feedstock and reactor condition in both processes. Biochar is a carbon-rich porous material with a high calorific value. The solid product biochar is porous with a high calorific value. It is used in wastewater treatment, as a soil improver, solid fuel in the boiler, etc., while syngas and bio-oil are used to prepare valuable chemicals and fuels. Pyrolysis and gasification are superior to incineration because of less production of toxic gases and ashes but are costly and vary from waste to waste, making them less feasible. Table 4 shows the pyrolysis of a few agricultural wastes and yield of different end products (Fermanelli et al. 2020; Katsaros et al. 2020).
Aerobic Composting and Vermicomposting of Agricultural Waste Composting is a natural aerobic decomposition of the organic matter by the resident microbial community. The final product compost is a nutrient-rich, pathogen-free, stabilized organic matter, also called humus. This process takes place in three steps: mesophilic step, thermophilic step, and cooling/maturing step. This process is an entirely microbe-driven exothermic process with a massive amount of energy discharged as heat and increases the piles’ temperature (50– 77 C) and hastens the composting process. Here, high temperature kills the pathogenic microbes and sanitizes the compost, while microbial activity mineralizes the organic matter and reduces C/N ratio. The final product has many benefits in farming and gardening, viz., increases organic matter; sequesters carbon; improves plant growth; conserves water; decreases soil erosion, soil acidity, and pathogen attack; and reduces dependency on chemical pesticides and fertilizers (Sharma et al. 2020b). Commonly involved bacteria in composting are Alcaligenes faecalis, Arthrobacter, Brevibacillus brevis, Bacillus circulans, B. licheniformis, B. megaterium, B. pumilus, B. sphaericus, Bacillus subtilis, Clostridium thermocellum, Flavobacterium sp., Pseudomonas sp., Thermus sp., and Vibrio sp. At the same time, the fungi are Aspergillus fumigatus, Basidiomycetes sp., Humicola
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Table 4 Thermochemical conversion of agricultural waste Waste Rice husk
Technique Fixed-bed pyrolysis
Wheat straw
Fixed-bed pyrolysis
Peanut shells
Fixed-bed pyrolysis
Pine needles
Catalytic pyrolysis
Poultry litter
Gasification
Unripe coconut husk
Gasification
Reactor condition Tubular glass fixed-bed reactor Temperature ¼ 550 C N2 flow rate ¼ 60 ml min1 Time ¼ 10 min Time ¼ 10 min Temperature ¼ 500 C N2 flow rate ¼ 60 ml min1 Time ¼ 10 min Semi-batch reactor Temperature ¼ 550 C Time ¼ 45 min N2 flow rate ¼ 100 ml min1 Catalyst HZSM-5 biomass Ratio ¼ 1:2 Bubbling fluidized bed reactor Ratio ¼ 0.17 Time ¼ 10 min Fuel flow rate ¼ 0.548 kg h1 Air flow rate ¼ 7.6 l min1 N2 flow rate ¼ 4.4 l min1 Gasifier temperature ¼ 750 C Fluidization medium Temperature ¼ 160 C Equivalence ratio ¼ 0.21 Bubbling fluidized bed reactor N2 purging gas Humidified air Equivalence ratio ¼ 0.1 Temperature ¼ 850 C Duration ¼ 30 min
Yield (wt%) Bio-oil ~45 Biogas ~13 Biochar ~42
References Fermanelli et al. (2020)
Bio-oil ~58 Biogas ~14 Biochar ~28 Bio-oil ~51 Biogas ~21 Biochar ~29
Fermanelli et al. (2020) Fermanelli et al. (2020)
Bio-oil ¼ 35.2 Biogas ¼ 38.7 Biochar ¼ 26.1
Kumari and Mohanty (2020)
Syngas N2 ¼ 62.8; CO ¼11.39; CO2 ¼ 11.59; H2 ¼ 10.15; CH4 ¼ 2.12 vol %, dry Biochar ¼ 4.25 g tar Kg1 feedstock daf
Katsaros et al. (2020)
Syngas CO ¼31.74; CO2 ¼ 6.78; H2 ¼ 27.5; CH4 ¼ 34.43 vol% dry
Ram and Mondal (2019)
grisea, H. insolens, H. lanuginosa, Malbranchea pulchella, Myriococcum thermophilum, Paecilomyces variotii, Papulaspora thermophilia, Penicillium sp., Scytalidium thermophilum, Termitomyces sp., Trichoderma sp., and Actinomyces sp. Actinomycetes are Streptomyces sp., Frankia sp., and Micromonospora
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sp. One gram of compost contains approximately 109 bacterial, 108 actinomycetes, and 106 fungal cells. This process reduces waste volume up to 70–85% (Carry on Composting 2020). Vermicomposting is the decomposition of organic waste by aerobes and earthworm. This process takes place in two steps: the first step is the primary degradation of waste through aerobic microorganisms and the second step is secondary degradation through earthworm gut. The final product is called vermicompost. It is granular, odorless, and rich in essential nutrients and microbes and low in contaminants. The microbial population in vermicompost is different from those present in the material before ingestion. There are reports where the gut of earthworm added beneficial microbes viz., Rhizobium japonicum and Pseudomonas putida, Azospirillum, Azobacter, Nitrobacters, Nitrosomonas, Ammonifying bacteria, and phosphate solubilizers in vermicopost (Pathma and Sakthivel 2012). The only drawback with vermicomposting is that temperature does not rise; as a result, sanitization of compost did not occur. AWM through aerobic composting and vermicomposting is the most preferred method in developing countries. Table 5 represents the composting of different agricultural wastes. The aerobic composting process depends on two factors – one is feedstock nature and the second is microbial population – while vermicomposting is also affected by earthworm species. C/N ratio of feedstock is very crucial during both composting. It should lie in the 25–30:1 range. If it is high, then the process gets slow down, and if it is low, then the loss of nitrogen occurs as ammonia and leachate. Out of the four types of agricultural waste, livestock manure is most compatible with both kinds of composting. The C/N ratio for swine manure is 12:1, cow manure 20:1, horse manure 25:1, and poultry litter 13–18:1 that is optimal for composting, but animal manure has high moisture content and low porosity, so for a successful composting, bulking agent is used. There is ample literature where stabilized nutrient-rich aerobic compost and vermicompost are prepared either solely by cattle dung or in the combination of bulking agents (Bhat et al. 2016; Yuvaraj et al. 2020). C/N ratio of fruit (19–53.1-1) and vegetable waste (10–21:1) also lies in the 25–30:1 range and favor composting more than high lignocellulosic containing field residue and process residue. Crop residue and process residue have a high C/N ratio, which is generally more than 50–150:1. As a result, their decomposition alone is very hard and slow. So generally, field residue and process residue are co-composted with another nitrogen-rich feedstock. Here co-composting main aims are to balance the C/N ratio and nutrients and dilute inhibitors. Co-composting livestock manure with crop residue balances the C/N ratio of straw. On the other hand, straw works as a bulking agent, improves aeration, and reduces N removal from livestock manure. The composting rate also depends on aeration and water absorption capacity. Various lignocellulosic biomass, such as sawdust and rice husks, straw, etc., have high free air space (90–100%) and high water absorption capacity (300–400%) and have been commonly used as a bulking agent. Generally most commonly used co-substrate is manure, de-oiled cake, fruit waste, etc. There are also reports where artificial microbes or microbial consortium and
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Table 5 Compost production from different agricultural wastes Agricultural waste Rice straw + chicken manure (1:1)
Composting method Aerobic composting
Rice straw + oilseed rape cake +poultry manure Coir pith + green manure + cow dung
Aerobic composting
Press mud + green manure + cow dung Poultry droppings, food industry sludge, cow dung Milk processing industry, sugarcane trash, cow dung
Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting
Duration 6 weeks (Trichoderma viride F26 and A. niger F44) 90 days
Pre-composting time ¼ 28 days (inoculated with Pleurotus sajorcaju spawn) Vermicomposting time ¼ 50 days (E. eugeniae; E. fetida) Pre-composting time ¼ NA Vermicomposting time ¼ 50 days Pre-composting time ¼ 28 Vermicomposting time ¼ 91 days (E. fetida) Pre-composting time ¼ 21 Vermicomposting time ¼ 90 days (E. fetida)
Increase in nutrient content –
References Kausar et al. (2010)
–
Abdelhamid et al. (2004)
TKN, TP, TK, and TCa
Karmegam et al. (2021)
TKN, TP, and TK
Balachandar et al. (2020)
TKN, TK, TP, Na, Ca
Yadav et al. (2013)
TKN, Exc K (exchangeble potassium), Av. P (available Phosphorus)
Suthar and Gairola (2014)
TKN total Kjeldahl nitrogen, TP total phosphorus, TK total potassium, TMg total magnesium, TCa total calcium, TNa total sodium, Fe iron, Av. available, Exc. exchangeable, NA not available
nutrient supplement (Rock phosphate) are also added to fasten the process or to make more nutrient-rich compost (Lin et al. 2018).
Bioethanol Production by Hydrolysis and Fermentation Excessive research on bioethanol formation by agricultural waste is going on worldwide. There are two ways for bioethanol production from agricultural waste: biochemical and thermochemical process. The biochemical conversion is the most widely used sustainable process for ethanol production, which has four steps, viz.,
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Mechanical milling Ultrasonic Microwave Physical
Pre-treatment or liquefication Chemical Hydrolysis or saccharification
Physiochemical
Biological
Detoxification
Acid pre-treatment Alkali pre-treatment Ozonolysis Organosolv process Steam explosion Wet oxidation, Ammonia fiber explosion
Microbial Treatment Enzymatic Treatment
Fermentation
Distillation
Solid
Ethanol
Fig. 3 Systematic representation of ethanol production
pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and distillation (Fig. 3), while the thermochemical process is the less used process with two main steps, viz., gasification of agricultural residue and ethanol production by Fischer-Tropsch conversion (Sarkar et al. 2012). In biochemical conversion pathway of field residue that is rich in lignocellulose, the first step is pretreatment. It is a very crucial step that helps in increasing the accessibility of cellulose for further steps. If we perform hydrolysis without pretreatment, the yield was Pb > Cd, whereas, in roots, Cu > Zn > Ni > Pb > Cd. The bioconcentration factor was always greater in roots than the shoots. Translocation capability (dividing the concentration of a trace element accumulated in the root tissues by that accumulated in shoot tissues) of these five heavy metals was in the order of Cu > Pb > Cd > Ni > Zn (Cristóbal Carrión et al. 2012).
Hydraulic Control Hydraulic control is the use of plants to remove groundwater through uptake and consumption in order to contain or control the migration of contaminants (Fig. 4). It is also known as hydraulic plume or phytohydraulics control. This is used in the treatment of groundwater, surface water, and soil water. It has several advantages. • Costs will be lower. • An engineered pump-and-treat system does not need to be installed. • Roots will penetrate into and be in contact with a much greater volume of soil than if a pumping well is used. Different organics and inorganics which are water soluble and leachable are used below their phytotoxic concentration levels. A barrier can be formed for the groundwater movement at a site contaminated with gasoline and diesel by using poplar trees. Hydraulic control by plants occurs within a depth affects by roots. The effective
Fig. 4 Hydraulic control of contaminated plume
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rooting depth of most crops is in between 1 and 4 ft. To remediate groundwater in water table depths of 30 ft, several trees and other plantation can be used. By interfacing through the capillary fringe, plant roots present above the water table can influence the groundwater contaminants. Fe, Tc, U, and P diffused upward from the water table and were absorbed by barley roots that were 10 cm above the water table interface (Adams et al. 2000).
Phytoscreening It is more economically viable, less disruptive to the environment, and more likely to be accepted by the public as it is more aesthetically pleasing than traditional methods. Plants can be used as biosensors of subsurface contamination due to their ability to consume particular types of soil contaminants. Different types of chlorinated solvents, such as TCL (trichloroethylene), have been found within tree trunk at different concentrations depending on its concentrations in groundwater. New standard methods are developed to extract a portion of the tree trunk for laboratory analysis for better field utilization. Phytoscreening also deals with sitespecific experiments and reduces the cost of site purification.
Benefits • It is more economically viable using the same tools and less disruptive to the environment. • An ecofriendly and potential technique to clean up environmental pollutants and treat wastes. • Less expensive with least environmental perturbation. • Enables reuse of contaminated soil and water through removal of heavy metals and metalloids. • Threat due to RDX and these sites can be decontaminated. • Health hazards to human beings and animals can be avoided. • Metals can be extracted from hyperaccumulators for reuse in industries.
Limitations • Slower than traditional mechanical methods. • Suitable plants have to be selected to remove specific contaminants, as all plants are not hyperaccumulators. • It is effective only with annuals and biennials. • Limited to shallow soils, streams, and groundwater. • Plants used for phytoremediation may provide an entry for the biomagnification of contaminants in food cycle.
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Forensic Phytoremediation Areas having contaminated groundwater or contaminated soil can become revegetated through the planting of plants which are naturally occurring. Forensic phytoremediation refers to the investigation of naturally revegetated contaminated areas to determine which plants have become established, the reason behind their establishment, and to find out the effect of these plants on the contamination. This investigation can identify plants that are capable of surviving in contaminated areas, some of them also have the ability of contributing to the deterioration of the contaminants. Because the vegetation has often been present at the area for a longer period compared to the time interval for field planned for phytoremediation studies, a researcher does not need to wait many more years to study the impacts of the revegetation. Natural revegetation of an area is essentially a form of inherent bioremediation (Adams et al. 2000). Phytoremediation intrinsic bioremediation and forensic phytoremediation have been repeatedly examined at a petroleum refinery sludge impoundment that was naturally revegetated.
Phytoremediation Through Genetically Engineered Plants Agati (vegetable humming bird tree) and Thale cress were genetically engineered to increase their activity towards removal of DDT and TCE. Production of these two plants was verified using p450 2E1 specific PCR and western blot analysis. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis revealed that F3 generation of Thale cress and small cuttings of Agati transgenic plants when exposed to TCE and DDT accumulated more TCE and DDT compared to plants transformed with the empty vector. Further, both the transgenic plants were more effective in breaking down TCE and DDT with a twofold increase in TCE metabolism. Two independent lines of Thale cress showed that DDT was metabolized about fourfold higher than that detected in non-transformed plants. Similarly, agati cuttings removed 51–90% of the added DDT compared with only 3% removal in controls plants which are transformed through the null vector. Notably, stability of rabbit cytochrome p450 2E1 was confirmed using third generation Thale cress plants that displayed higher potential for the removal of two important pollutants, TCE and DDT compared with the control (Mouhamad et al. 2012).
Phytoremediation of Arsenic-Contaminated Soil Arsenic is an odorless and tasteless semimetal, and naturally found in soil and rocks. It can be easily combined with other elements to make chemicals which are used as insect killers on cotton crops or to preserve wood. Organic form of arsenic is harmless to the human body which is mostly found in seafood whereas its inorganic form is the main concern of the scientists which mainly pollutes the groundwater. Inorganic arsenic is reported as carcinogen in its purest form and
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causes cancer of skin, lung, liver, bladder, kidney, and prostate. Besides, it also results in decreased production of red and white blood cells, cause infertility, and can even damage DNA. Though arsenic is introduced into the water through the dissolution of minerals and ores, it is widely distributed throughout the earth’s crust. Industrial waste also leads to arsenic pollution when run-off from orchards mixes with the groundwater. Through atmospheric deposition (when water from rains brings the arsenic to the ground), the combustion of fossil fuels also pollutes the environment with arsenic. Releasing of arsenic from iron oxide mixes with the upflow of geothermal water resulting in widespread high concentrations of arsenic. Arsenic poisoning differs from acute poisoning for producing symptoms like stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, numbness in hands and feet, thickening and discoloration of the skin, partial paralysis, and blindness over time. Several countries like Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Peru, Thailand, and the USA reported higher concentrations than the safe value of 10 ug L-1 according to the WHO. Hazardous health effects due to exposure of higher Arsenic concentration also have been reported in China, Bangladesh, India (West Bengal), and the USA. In the USA, high concentrations of arsenic in groundwater are found in the West, Midwest, and Northeast part of the country. Recently, the critical situation happens in Bangladesh and West Bengal (India) where most of the persons are exposed to toxic concentrations of arsenic through drinking water. That is the reason for which arsenic contamination in groundwater in the GangaBrahmaputra fluvial plains in India and Padma-Meghna fluvial plains in Bangladesh and its consequences and damages to the human health have been reported as one of the world’s biggest natural hazardous problem to the mankind. Though there are conventional techniques like adsorption, ion exchange, catalytic precipitation, electron exchange, oxidation + coagulation + flocculation or precipitation and filtration for reducing arsenic problems, their performance is not satisfactory. Hence phytoremediation, an innovative and cost-effective technique, solves the problem of arsenic in ground water. Ma et al. (2001) found the Chinese Ladder fern Pteris vittata, also known as the brake fern, as an efficient accumulator of arsenic; it grows rapidly and can absorb arsenic up to 2% of its weight and extract arsenic from soil even at low concentration, e.g., 6 ppm, which is common for many soils. When it is grown on soil with 100 ppm, not only it absorbed more arsenic but also it grew by 40% larger than normal. A greenhouse experiment was conducted for evaluating the effectiveness of diammonium phosphate (DAP), single superphosphate (SSP), and two growing cycles on arsenic removal by Chinese brake fern (Pteris vittata L.) from an arsenic-contaminated Typic Haplustept in West Bengal. After harvesting Pteris vittata, the total, Olsen’s extractable, and other five soil arsenic fractions were calculated. It has been found that the total biomass yield of P. vittata was 10.7–16.2 g/pot in the first growing cycle and 7.53–11.57 g/pot in the second growing cycle. The frond arsenic concentrations were 990–1374 mg/kg in the first growing cycle and 875–1371 mg/kg in the second growing cycle. DAP was found to be most fruitful in increasing the arsenic removal from soil. After the
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first growing cycle, P. vittata reduced soil arsenic by 10–20%, while after two growing cycles, P. vittata it by 18–34%. Two consecutive harvests with DAP as the phosphate fertilizer found as the best management strategy for restoration of arsenic-contaminated soil in West Bengal through phyotoextraction by P. vittata (Mandal et al. 2012).
Role of Plant-Associated Microbes in Heavy Metal Phytoremediation Implication of “phytoremediation” is extending rapidly and is being commercialized by harnessing the phyto-microbial diversity; phytoremediation employs biodiversity to remove pollutants from the soil, air, and water. In recent researches, a considerable knowledge explosion in understanding plantmicrobes-heavy metals interactions have been explored. Novel applications of plant-associated microbes reported a new vision in phytoremediation technology. Various metabolites, i.e., indole-3-acetic acid, siderophores, organic acids, etc., produced by plant-associated microbes, i.e., plant growth-promoting bacteria, mycorrhizae, have been applied to be involved in many biogeochemical processes operating in the rhizosphere with their important properties like nutrient acquisition, cell elongation, metal detoxification, and alleviation of biotic or abiotic stress in plants. Mostly rhizosphere microbes increase metal mobility or immobilization. Plants and associated microbes mainly release inorganic and organic compounds possessing acidifying, chelating, and/or reductive power which play an essential role in plant metal uptake. In this way, the plant-associated beneficial microbes improves the efficacy of phytoremediation mechanism directly by altering the metal accumulation in plant tissues and indirectly by increasing the shoot and root biomass production (Rajkumar et al. 2012). Bioremediation includes biostimulation in which organic or inorganic compounds are used to enhance indigenous microbial growth that directly disseminates the contaminants. Agamuthu et al. (2013) tested the performance of two organics, viz., cow dung and sewage sludge for biodegradation of used lubricantcontaminated soil. From this experiment, it has been observed that the biodegradation rate of the two organic matters varied due to the variation in the nutrient concentration particularly of available N and P. Apart from that, cow dungamended soil was found to have better soil physiochemical characteristics that enabled speedy adaption by the microbes to the contaminated soil. Based on the first-order kinetics model, cow dung-amended soil recorded highest biodegradation rate of 0.2086/day with used-lubricant half-life of 3.32 days, whereas sewage sludge-amended soil has a biodegradation rate of 0.149/day with used-lubricant half-life of 4.65 days. These biodegradation rates were significantly higher than that of the autoclaved soil and control soil. As for the microbial counts, cow dungamended soil recorded (69–122) 107 CFU/g while sewage sludge-amended soil recorded (63–96) 107 CFU/g though the control soil recorded (52–73) 107 CFU/g. Again, the concentration of available nutrients demanded by the microbes
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might be the contributing factor to the high concentration of microbes in the organic matter-ameliorated soil than the control soil. It can be observed that, cow dung and sewage sludge can be an effective organic amendment for the biodegradation of used-lubricant-contaminated soil.
Phytoremediation of Polluted Water by Trees Plantation and vegetation can filter and immobilize sediment and other water contaminants such as fertilizers and pesticides thus decreasing run-off and water pollution (Schnnor 2002). Crompton (2008) has revealed that natural lands like forests, parks, and wetlands can help to filter the water before it mixes with rivers, reservoirs, or aquifers, thereby enabling cleaner drinking water sources and making water treatment cheaper. Some woody species have been found to have the capacity to accumulate heavy metals as pollutants that exist in the ground water (Unterbrunner et al. 2007). A study of 27 water suppliers found that water treatment costs for utilities using primarily surface water supplies varied depending on the amount of forest cover in the watershed. For every 10% increase in forest cover in the source area (up to about 60% forest cover), treatment and chemical costs decreased by approximately 20%. Approximately 50–55% of the variation in operating treatment costs could be explained by the percentage (%) of forest cover in the source area (Ernst et al. 2007). Plants, especially woody plants, are found very effective at extracting nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) and contaminates (such as metals, pesticides, solvents, oils, and hydrocarbons) from soil and water. These pollutants are either stored in wood or used for growth. In an experiment, a single sugar maple growing roadside extracted a remarkable quantity of cadmium, chromium, nickel, and lead in a single growing season. Studies conducted in Maryland resulted reductions of up to 88% of nitrate and 76% of phosphorus after agricultural run-off passed through a forest buffer. Natural forests and planted trees play a vital role in protecting water quality as reported by many engineers, planners, and community leaders that forests are the most helpful land use for maintaining water quality due to their property to capture, filter, and retain water (Singh et al. 2010). It is universally accepted that trees as a suitable vegetation cover increase the quality of life as they absorb dangerous pollutants from the environment; hence healthy and well managed forest can give many ecological benefits (Yang et al. 2005). If water flows rapidly over the land surface, the run-off carries most of the pollutants that exist on the surface to the main water body, but if the water flows more slowly due to the presence of vegetation on land, most of the pollutants will be filtered out either by adhering to plants and soil or by being absorbed through the root systems of plants. Trees are functioned as water filters and increase water quality. They use wastewater and absorb heavy metals due to their extensive root system (Bose et al. 2008). Thus, trees have been suggested as a cheap, sustainable, and ecological sound solution to the reclamation of heavy metalscontaminated water as trees absorb these metals and dangerous pollutants from soil and water. The main property that trees are to make them suitable for
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phytoremediation is because of their large biomass both below and above ground (Ghosh and Singh 2005).
Buffer Strips/Riparian Corridors Application of riparian corridors or buffer strips along streams and river banks are done to reduce and remediate surface run-off and groundwater contamination moving into the river. These systems can also be applied to stop downgradient movement of the contaminated groundwater plume and to degrade contaminants in the plume. The mechanisms involved in this type of remediation involve water uptake, contaminant uptake, and plant metabolism. The idea used in these corridors are similar to physical and chemical permeable barriers such as trenches filled with iron filings, in which they treat groundwater without extraction containment. Riparian corridors and buffer strips may include some properties of hydraulic control, phytodegradation, rhizodegradation, phytovolatilization, and might be phytoextraction.
Advantages The stabilization of stream banks and blockage of soil erosion provides the secondary advantage. Aquatic and terrestrial habitats are mostly increased by riparian forest corridors.
Disadvantages The application of buffer strips might be limited for easy accumulation and metabolization of compounds. Land use problems may limit application.
Role of Genetics Genetic engineering and breeding programs are powerful methods for introducing new capabilities into plants or enhancing natural phytoremediation capabilities. Genes for phytoremediation may produce from a microorganism or transferred from one variety to another variety better adapted to the environmental conditions at the remediation site. For example, when genes encoding a nitroreductase from a bacterium were inserted into tobacco, showed enhanced resistance to the toxic effects of TNT and faster removal of it. Researchers have also discovered a mechanism within plant system that permits them to grow even when the pollution concentration in the soil is very harmful for non-treated plants. Some biodegradable compounds (exogenous polyamines) allow the plants to tolerate and absorb higher concentrations of pollutants than untreated plants.
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Limits of Phytoremediation at Hazardous Waste Sites Phytoremediation is highly favored by site owners and citizen groups as possibly due to cheapest technology that may be employed in the remediation of selected hazardous sites based on the early information provided by some research and reported by the media. Although modern research continues to investigate and push the boundaries of phytoremediation applications, there are some drawbacks to plant-based remediation systems.
Root System On phytoremediation applicability, root contact is a primary constraint. Contact of contaminants with the root zone of the plants is the basic need of remediation with plants. Either the contaminated media must be moved to within range of the plants, or the plants must be able to extend roots to the contaminants. This movement can be accomplished with standard agricultural equipment and practices, such as deep plowing to bring the soil from 2 or 3 ft deep to within 8–10 in. of the surface for grasses and shallow-rooted crops, or by irrigating grasses and trees with contaminated wastewater. Because these activities can generate volatile compound emissions and fugitive dust, potential risks may need to be evaluated. As shown in Fig. 5, the effective root depth of plants depends on soil and climate condition and varies by different species.
Growth Rate Remediation with plants is also limited by its growth rates. Unlike other more traditional cleanup technologies, it may be required higher time to phytoremediate an area. Incineration and excavation take weeks to months to accomplish, while phytoextraction may need several years. Therefore, phytoremediation may not be the best technique of choice for area that pose acute risks for human and other ecological receptors.
Contaminant Concentration For phytoremediative processes, sites with low to medium level contamination within the root zone are the best candidates. High concentrations of contaminants may inhibit plant growth and thus may limit application on some sites or some parts of sites. This phytotoxicity could lead to a tiered remedial approach in which high concentration waste is handled with expensive ex situ techniques that quickly reduce acute risk, while in situ phytoremediation is used over a longer period of time to clean the high volumes of lower contaminant concentrations.
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Fig. 5 Examples of root depth
Impacts of Contaminated Vegetation Some ecological exposure may occur whenever plants are used to interact with contaminants from the soil. The fate of the metals in the biomass is a concern. At one site, sunflower plants that extracted cesium (Cs) and strontium (Sr) from surface water were disposed of as radioactive waste (Adler 1996). Although some forms of phytoremediation involve accumulation of metals and require handling of plant material embedded with metals, most plants do not accumulate significant levels of organic contaminants. While metal accumulating plants will need to be harvested and either recycled or disposed of in compliance with applicable regulations, most phytoremediative plants do not require further treatment or disposal. Often overlooked, however, is the possibility that natural vegetation on the site is already creating very similar (but often unrecognized) food chain exposures. In addition, even on currently unvegetated sites, contaminants will be entering the food chain through soil organisms. The remediation plan should identify and, if possible, quantify potential avenues of ecological exposure, and determine if and where any accumulation of toxics in the selected plants will occur. Accumulation in fruits, seeds, and leaves typically creates more exposure than accumulation in stems and roots. Most organic contaminants do not accumulate in significant amounts in plant tissue. Research being done on the bioavailability of contaminants and on human health and environmental risk assessment is directly related to phytoremediation. Studies are underway to determine if contaminants that are not available to plants for uptake or those are not vulnerable to plant remediation are less of a risk to human health and the environment.
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Conclusion Phytoremediation is an ecofriendly technology for purification of polluted natural resources. It is becoming popular due to its low cost and versatility. Though the technology was initiated 20 years back across the world, molecular and physiological basis of metal hyperaccumulation in plants is still at infancy stage in research and development. Characterization of germplasm of every country is the need of the hour as it will be easy for agriculturists or researchers to select suitable hyperaccumulators for the purpose of phytoremediation. Identification of novel genes with higher biomass yield characteristics and subsequent development of transgenic plants with superior remediation capacities is to be done. Phytoremediation of problematic soils must be paid attention in order to convert these low productive patches into high productive ones. Therefore, to ensure sustainable agriculture on soils having high contamination, priority should be given to create a new set of cropping systems while avoiding entry of hazardous elements to the food chain.
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental Issues of Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concept of Bioremediation and Current Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Technologies: Kinds of Bioremediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodology for the Implementation of Bioremediation Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feasibility Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Treatable Contaminants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In Situ Bioremediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phytoremediation Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Precautions for Implantation of Bioremediation Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Underground Water Remediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sewage Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drinking Water Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rainwater Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soil Remediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indoor Air Purification and Atmospheric Pollution Remediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merits and Demerits of Bioremedition Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merits of Bioremediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Demerits of Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
The crisis of waste management has created an increase in public awareness. The awareness of the impact of solid waste on the environment is very limited. Although there are several technologies practiced in solid waste management, N. G. Shrivastava (*) Pollution Control Research Institute, BHEL, Ranipur, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_48
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many of them create other types of pollution. This chapter has summarized the current technologies available in solid waste management and the potential uses of a newer method called bioremediation. With increasing research, this method can provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution to the waste management crisis if it is used in conjunction with current methods. Bioremediation is also an important method of land and water reclamation. Sites previously thought to be unpurifiable have the potential for reuse once they are treated with microbes. Bioremediation is an effective method of decontamination without leaving any toxic residues. Microbes used in this process die off as the pollutant is degraded and return to their normal population size. The continuous monitoring is necessary to ensure that all traces of the contaminant have been eradicated from the bioremediated site. The recycling has been proven to be the most effective method of waste reduction and the least damaging to the environment of the available techniques. Landfilling and incineration are the most damaging and have not created a solution to the waste management crisis. This chapter has also attempted to explain waste management planning and the necessity of each method in such a plan. One method alone will not solve our solid waste disposal problems. The key to the management plan is waste reduction, recycling, and incineration. New methods such as bioremediation are also important in the waste management plan since they will provide future alternatives to landfilling and incineration. As new treatments are proposed, tested, and proved reliable, they can be integrated with the overall management scheme. Keywords
Bioremediation · Solid waste · Microbial decomposition · Phytoremediation · Landfill
Introduction The rapid growth of the world population, rising living standards, and technological advancements are are all contributing to an increase in the variety and amount of solid waste. Generation of municipal solid waste, with the high organic share present in solid waste and its often unplanned disposing of, results in extensive ecological pollution, due to the emission of gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect, such as methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Higher-efficiency methods have to be used to manage the increasing quantity of municipal solid waste for reducing environmental threats through implementing techno-economic and political solution. Municipal solid wastes are generated by residential industrial sources, commercial sources, institutional sources such as schools and hospitals, construction sources, municipal services, and agriculture such as orchards, crops, dairies, chicken farms, pig farms, etc. These solid wastes could be biodegradable, recyclable, inert, composite, domestic, and hazardous. These solid wastes have environmental impacts on groundwater and surface water, causing bad odors, methane generation,
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bird menace, frequent firs, epidemic diseases, soil acidity, and greenhouse gas emissions. The main problem with urban solid waste management in India is that it is estimated that 38 million tons of the solid waste are generated in urban India each year. And the collection efficiency ranges from 75% to 95% in major metro cities, while it lies below 50% in several small cities (GK Today 2015). Out of this, hardly any attention is paid to scientific and safe disposal of waste. The landfill sites have not been identified in many municipalities, and in others, landfill sites have been exhausted. Apart from this, very few urban local bodies have prepared effective long-term plans. As per directives of the Supreme Court of India, the Government of India has framed a policy on municipal solid waste management in 2000. The policy indicates that the best way to keep the street clean is to collect wet waste at the doorstep for composting, which is a cost-effective process in view of the need for manures to enhance soil fertility. Municipalities have developed landfill sites for the complete disposal of urban waste. Therefore, it is required to ensure the strict implementation of solid waste rules on a case-by-case basis, along with civil society and public participation.
Environmental Issues of Solid Waste Solid waste management issue is the biggest challenging problem for the concerned authorities in developing countries. Due to the gradual increasing generation rate of such solid waste, it has impacted the municipal budget. In handling the entire system, there is a lack of understanding of the different factors other than the high costs and solid waste management, with only a few articles giving information on quantitative analysis of municipal solid waste. Most of the studies show the actions and behaviors of stakeholders and their roles in solid waste management, as well as the analysis of different factors that affect the system. Most of the studies were conducted across 4 continents, in 22 developing countries, and in over 30 urban areas. A combination of various methods that were used in this study was mentioned in detail in order to encourage the stakeholders and to assess the factors influencing the performance of the solid waste management in the studied cities (Guerrero et al. 2013). The rapid increase in urban population booting economy and the high rise in the standard of living in developing countries have greatly accelerated, increasing the quantity and quality of the municipal solid waste generation (Minghua et al. 2009). It is an important challenge to the environment. Municipalities, generally, are responsible for waste management. They have to provide an effective and efficient system for the inhabitants. Nevertheless, they are often facing many problems beyond the ability of the municipal authority to handle the MSW (Sujauddin et al. 2008). This is essentially due to financial resources, lack of organization, and complexity (Burntley 2007). The generation of MSW in India has an obvious relation to the population of the area or city, due to bigger cities generating more wastes. Annepu Ranjith (2012) reported that the metropolitan area of Kolkata generates the largest amount of MSW (11,520 TPD or 4.2 million TPY) among Indian cities.
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Maharahstra 17.1%
Others 15.6%
Madhya Pradesh 3.5% Rajasthan 3.8%
West Bengal 12.0%
Gujarat 5.4% Karnataka 6.0%
Uttar Pradesh 10.0%
Andhra Pradesh 8.8% Delhi 8.9%
Tamil Nadu 9.0%
Fig. 1 Share of states and union territories in urban MSW generated. (Sources: Annepu, Ranjith Kharvel. Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India. January 10, 2012. 2. Observations from India’s Waste Crisis. Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT), India. November 2012)
Among the four geographical regions in India, Northern India generates the highest amount of MSW (40,500 TPD or 14.8 million TPY), with 30% of all MSW generated in India; and Eastern India (23,500 TPD or 8.6 million TPY) generates the least, with only 17% of MSW generated in India. Among the states, Maharashtra (22,200 TPD or 8.1 million TPY), West Bengal (15,500 TPD or 5.7 million TPY), Uttar Pradesh (13,000 TPD or 4.75 million TPY), Tamil Nadu (12,000 TPD or 4.3 million TPY), and Andhra Pradesh (11,500 TPD or 4.15 million TPY) generate the highest amount of MSW. Among the union territories, Delhi (11,500 TPD or 4.2 million TPY) generates the highest, and Chandigarh (486 TPD or 177,400 TPY) generates the second highest amount of waste (Kharvel, Figs. 1 and 2). There are significant variations in the composition of municipal solid waste from municipality to municipality and country to country. This variation depends mainly on the lifestyle, economic situation, waste management regulations, and different industrial processes. The quantity and quality of the municipal solid waste are critical for the determination of the appropriate handling and management of these different kinds of wastes. To put up the waste-to-energy plant, such information is essential within the municipality. Engineers and scientists can decide on the utility of MSW as a fuel based on the calorific value and the
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Class H 6% Class G 5% Class F 6% Metros 37%
Class E 5% Class D 4% Class C 5%
Class B 8%
Class A 24%
Fig. 2 Share of different classes of cities in urban MSW generated. (Sources: Annepu, Ranjith Kharvel. Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India. January 10, 2012. 2. Observations from India’s Waste Crisis. Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT), India. November 2012)
elemental composition. Meanwhile, this information will help in predicting the composition of gaseous emissions. Thereafter, this MSW is subjected to energy conversion technologies including gasification, incineration, etc. However, the possible hazardous substances found in the ash should be considered carefully (American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2014). The utility of the material either for composting or for biogas production as fuel via biological conversion and the composition of the waste will provide valuable information (Kumar et al. 2010). Meanwhile, time has a great impact on the composition of MSW. The retention time is important for biodegradation of such MSW, which converts the amount of recyclable material, particularly the organic contents. Solid and hazardous wastes are continuously posing negative impacts on the environment and have become the biggest challenge for policymakers to deal with. Municipal solid waste generation is increasing worldwide due to the increasing population and development activities and is going ahead of the recycling, disposal, and storage in special warehouses. Further accumulation of municipal solid waste is fraught with serious negative consequences for both the population and the environment. Therefore, all over the world, solid and hazardous waste
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reduction, storage, and disposal, as well as recycling, have received increased and serious attention. Municipal solid waste is broadly divided into domestic, industrial, and biomedical waste associated with health facilities and radioactivity. This waste can be solid, liquid, or a mixture of solid, liquid, and gas phases. The storage of all waste gradually makes changes due to their natural degradation and the impact on external conditions. As a result, the sites of storage and disposal of waste may be generated by new environmental hazardous substances, posing a serious threat to the human environment if they spread into the biosphere. Therefore, storage and disposal of hazardous wastes should be analyzed as storage of the physicochemical process.
Concept of Bioremediation and Current Technologies Bioremediation is a treatment technology that uses biodegradation of organic waste, consisting of metallic containments, through stimulation of indigenous decomposers (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) by providing certain amendments, like adding oxygen, limiting nutrients, or adding endemic and exotic microbial species. These organisms may be isolated from existing natural conditions or introduced from externally applied microorganisms to degrade and transform hazardous organic constituents into compounds of reduced toxicity and/or availability. Specific technologies fall into two broad categories: 1. Ex situ technologies may be in the form of slurry state, land treatment, solid state, and composting. 2. In situ technologies. Potential remediation may include some amendments such as nutrients or oxygen, while other passive remediation may be of natural attenuation to adequately characterize, model, and monitor the site to establish natural attenuation and protection of the potential environment. Key Features of Bioremediation 1. Most bioremediation treatment technologies destroy the contaminants in the specific soil profile. 2. These treatment technologies are generally formulated to reduce toxicity either by destruction or by the transformation of toxic organic compounds into less toxic compounds. 3. Indigenous microorganisms, preferably bacteria and fungi, are the most commonly used. Some other wastes may be mixed with specific bacteria or fungi known to biodegrade the contaminants in question. Phytoremediation methods may also be used to enhance biodegradation and stabilize the soil.
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4. The addition of nutrients or electron acceptors (such as hydrogen peroxide or ozone) to enhance the growth and reproduction of indigenous organisms may be required. 5. Field application of bioremediation may involve: (a) Excavation of site (b) Soil handling (c) Storage of contaminated soil piles (d) Mixing of contaminated soils (e) Aeration of contaminated soils (f) Injection of fluid (g) Extraction of fluid (h) Introduction of nutrients and substrates
Current Technologies: Kinds of Bioremediation The objective of bioremediation is to break down contaminants through bio-augmentation and/or bio-stimulation of microorganisms that use the contamination as a food and energy source for their development and growth. Microbial cells decompose organic matter through oxidation or reduction process and moisture and/or nutrients to increase the favorability of the environment for microorganisms. Bioremediation technologies can be used at ex situ or in situ environment.
Types of Bioremediation The following are the different types of bioremediation techniques: 3.1.1.1 Bioventing 3.1.1.2 Enhanced bioremediation 3.1.1.3. Phytoremediation 3.1.1.4 Mycoremediation 3.1.1.5 Biopiles or windrows 3.1.1.6 Composting 3.1.1.7 Land farming 3.1.1.8 Slurry-phase biological treatment The details of all these techniques are as follows.
Bioventing Bioventing is an in situ remediation technology that involves the introduction (and sometimes extraction) of air into the subsurface to enhance microbial activity and facilitate biodegradation of organic contaminants adsorbed to soils in the unsaturated zone. Bioventing is different from air sprigging, which is typically conducted at higher flow rates to promote volatilization rather than biodegradation of volatile organic compounds.
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Emissions Control
JP-4 JP-4
Lateral Vent Array
Vertical Vent Array
Fig. 3 Typical bioventing system
During venting, the air is injected at low rates to increase the oxygen content in the subsurface and promote oxidation reactions. When concentrations are below the lower explosive limit, gases, like methane or propane, can also be introduced to promote the degradation of organic contamination under reducing conditions. Where high concentrations of contaminants are present, it is possible that the soil pores can become clogged with additional biomass generated during venting, reducing the oxygen levels. The air injection can be useful to increase the oxygen levels under these conditions (Fig. 3).
Enhanced Bioremediation This technology is used in in situ conditions involving the addition of a chemical to the subsurface to enhance microbial activity and facilitate biodegradation of organic contaminants adsorbed to soils in the unsaturated zone. Aerobic enhancement consists of the additional oxygen (an electron acceptor) to the subsurface to increase the density of microbial organisms to assist with the biodegradation of contaminants in the soil or groundwater. However, oxygen release compounds (ORC) are more commonly used to enhance aerobic bioremediation of groundwater; hence, ORC can also be applied to the unsaturated zone. The ORC may be an appropriate oxidant or substances such as hydrogen peroxide or ozone. Anaerobic enhancement consists of the addition of an electron donor (such as hydrogen or hydrocarbons) to the subsurface to increase the population of microbial organisms to assist with reductive de-chlorination processes (anaerobic degradation) in groundwater. The direct addition of hydrogen may be avoided, as during
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Fig. 4 Typical oxygen-enhanced bioremediation system for contaminated groundwater with air sprigging
anaerobic biodegradation, hydrogen is normally indirectly generated via fermenting organic matter. Other nutrients such as nitrate and sulfate can be supplemented to groundwater to enhance anaerobic biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons (Fig. 4).
Phytoremediation Phytoremediation is an in situ remediation technology that involves the use of plants to remove or stabilize contaminants in soil and, to a lesser extent, groundwater. Phytoremediation methods are generally used in the wastewater treatment through reed beds for on-site biological treatment of sewage effluent. Phytoremediation process involved the following activities: • Enhanced rhizosphere biodegradation: through the release of natural substances from plant roots to supply nutrients to microorganisms which increase biological activity • Phyto-accumulation: the uptake of contaminants by plant roots and transfer of the contaminants to the plant’s shoots and leaves • Phyto-degradation: through the metabolism of contaminants in plant tissues • Phyto-stabilization: the production of chemicals by the plant that immobilizes contaminants at the interface between the roots and soil
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Fig. 5 The different phytoremediation processes
Hardy species, such as eucalyptus, fern, rye, and fescue grasses, are often selected for phytoremediation due to their fast-growing and robust nature and ability to survive in saline and waterlogged soils (Fig. 5). Mycoremediation Mycoremediation is a type of in situ bioremediation process that uses fungal material (mycelium) to accumulate and degrade contaminants in soils and groundwater. The fungi are made up of dense network of branching (like plant roots) white hyphae called mycelium. The mycelia secrete the enzymes required to decompose the contamination; as such, the reaction is extracellular (outside rather than within the fungi). Fungi may be used in breaking down petroleum hydrocarbons and some chlorinated compounds and in stimulating native microbes and enzymes in situ. Mycelium also accumulates heavy metals and the contamination can be removed during harvesting. The types of fungi used in mycoremediation are affected by the temperature, soil pH, and availability (or lack) of oxygen. Typically, a mycelium-treated substrate that
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Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of a typical bioventing system
is biodegradable in nature and straw are spread over contaminated soils, which produce enzymes capable of decomposing contaminants over time (Fig. 6). Some of the common fungi used in mycoremediation and the contaminants they can treat are presented in Table 1 below. Biopiles or Windrows This method is generally useful, where petroleum hydrocarbon-impacted soils are excavated and placed in a treatment area where agents are usually mixed into the contaminated soils to enhance the degradation process. The soil can be put in stockpiles (biopiles) or in rows (windrows). The removed soil needs to be aerated, and moisture, temperature, oxygen, and pH can be adjusted to make the process more effective. Leachate is required to be treated further to avoid any contamination leaching into the soil and groundwater below the treatment area (Fig. 7). Biopiles can also be engineered and contain ventilation piping and blower, irrigation piping, and/or sump and pump systems to facilitate aeration and drainage to maximize degradation rates. Composting This is an ex situ bioremediation technology that involves the biological decomposition of wastes under controlled conditions to a state in which it can be handled, stored, and/or applied to land without adversely affecting the environment.
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Table 1 Common fungi used in mycoremediation Type of fungi Shaggy mane
Target contaminants Arsenic Cadmium Mercury Dioxins Wood preservatives Cadmium Mercury Copper Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) Cadmium Mercury Dioxins PAHs PCBs Pentachlorophenol PAHs Organophosphates Mercury Cadmium E. coli and other biological contaminants
Elm oyster Phoenix oyster
Pearl oyster
Shitake
Turkey tail
Button mushrooms King Stropharia
Source: CRC CARE National Remediation Framework Technology guide: Bioremediation: Information correct at time of publication, Version 0.1: August 2018
Polypropylene cover To gaseous air filter
Contaminated soil
Air/water separator Air pump
Leachate collection sump
Perforated pipework
Sand layer HDPE liner
Water/nutrient supply tank
Fig. 7 Typical system of biopiles in solid waste
Contaminated soils are added to the composting process, and the contaminants are degraded together with the degradable waste material into humus and inert by-products (such as carbon dioxide, water, and salts).
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Fig. 8 Typical layout of composting at landfill site
Composting is a special type of decomposition for which the conditions are established to allow for optimal microbial activity. The correct proportions of carbon and minerals in the compost mix (e.g., carbon-to-nitrogen ratio), good aeration, and adequate moisture content are all important conditions to maintain. When the conditions are right, the decomposition activity of microorganisms is very rapid, and a large amount of heat is produced, and the temperature rises. It is generally accepted that if the whole composting mass has been held at 55 C or more for three consecutive days, the compost can be termed a pasteurized material with significantly reduced numbers of plant and animal pathogens and plant propagates. The composting process can be extended to produce a mature product with a lower level of phytotoxicity and a higher degree of biological stability than pasteurized compost (Fig. 8). When the material is heavily contaminated or odorous, different systems will be required, such as enclosed trenches or rotating drums where odor can be captured during the composting process and treated. Aerobic conditions have to be maintained through the contaminated medium to provide favorable conditions for the microorganisms to survive. Initially, microbial activity will be faster due to the increase in temperatures during the decomposition process, and the most degradable contaminants will be consumed. After this initial stage, the temperatures will drop until heat is no longer generated, and the material is now converted into compost product. Due to high microbial diversity (higher in comparison to healthy fertile soils), this expedites degradation of the contaminants.
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Fig. 9 Land farming to treat organic wastes
Land Farming Land farming is an ex situ remediation technology that involves spreading impacted soils in thin layers across a prepared surface and regularly turning the material to enable airflow through the soil matrix (introducing oxygen to facilitate degradation). The soil material is placed on a lined surface, with drainage control and bunding, to minimize the potential for leaching and runoff of contaminants. The soil conditions should be controlled to maximize the degradation rate, including moisture content (via irrigation/spraying), aeration (by tilling), and pH (buffered to neutral by adding acid or alkali). Land farming may be useful to control volatile contaminants (such as petrol) involved; volatilization may be a significant contributor to the loss of contaminants. As part of such bioremediation works, where volatile emissions and odors are possible, the requirements for emission management must be addressed. If the process involves only volatilization without degradation, none of the regulatory agencies will not accept land farming as an acceptable treatment option (Fig. 9). Land farming may be useful in situ to treat soils up to approximately 1 m depth (bgl). Soils are mechanically mixed to introduce oxygen to the subsurface and facilitate the addition of nutrients and lime to reduce soil acidity. Slurry-Phase Biological Treatment The slurry phase is also an ex situ bioremediation technology that is performed in a bioreactor to bioremediate a mixture of water and excavated soil. The soil is mixed with water to slurry, which is determined by the proportions of the contaminants in soils, the rate of biodegradation, and the physical nature of the soils. Prewashed soil fines the contamination and the wash water is treated in the bioreactor. The slurry contains between 5% and 45% solids depending on the nature of the bioreactor. The soil remains suspended in a bioreactor vessel and mixed with nutrients and oxygen. As per the treatment requirements, microorganisms, acid, or
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Air Discharge
Nutrient Solution
Ambient Air
SPARGER Stirred Batch Reactor
Fig. 10 Typical process of slurry-phase biological treatment
alkali may be added. The soil slurry should be dewatered when biodegradation is complete. This dewatered wash should also be recycled in the bioreactor to retreat before disposal (Fig. 10).
Comparison of Technologies The advantages and disadvantages of various bioremediation technologies, along with the soil types and conditions for which each technology may be suitable, are listed in Table 2.
Methodology for the Implementation of Bioremediation Technology Bioremediation techniques are developed to break down contaminants via the stimulation of microorganisms using the contamination as an energy source for development and growth. Different types of bioremediation techniques can be applied in vivo or in vitro and under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Soil, groundwater, and vapor are all able to be remediated. The following technical considerations should be kept in mind while considering bioremediation methods: • Physical characteristics of the soil • Chemical characteristics of the soil • Chemistry and concentrations of contaminants
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Table 2 Comparison of bioremediation technologies Bioremediation technology Bioventing
Advantages Fast degradation rates (in comparison to other bioremediation methods) No excavation required Can support rapid degradation rates May be used concurrently to address groundwater contamination Low cost Minimal exposure No excavation required
Disadvantages Contaminants may volatilize during treatment posing a potential vapor exposure risk and increased greenhouse gas emissions
Biopiles/ windrows
Generally low operation and maintenance cost
Composting
Low cost Generates heat (naturally)
Potential exposure risks during excavation. Potential odor and air emissions may require management Leachate may be an issue and base liner, and/or bunding may be required to prevent migration of contaminants to the water table Bulking agents necessary Potential exposure to risks during excavation Residual contamination will require treatment Leachate may be an issue and base liner and/or bunding may be required to prevent contamination migration to the water table Treated material may not be suitable for reuse or building over if retained on-site (dependent on physical properties at completion)
Enhanced bioremediation
Requires correct oxygen/ hydrogen and nutrient dosing and may need several trial stages
Treatable medium/ applicable conditions Permeable soils Unsaturated soils Can be applied under aerobic and anaerobic conditions
Can be applied to soils with high and low permeability Can be applied under aerobic or anaerobic conditions (groundwater) May require addition of Dehalococcoides bacteria for reductive de-chlorination Can be applied in situ or ex situ Permeable soils Aerobic application
Permeable soils Aerobic application
(continued)
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Table 2 (continued) Bioremediation technology Land farming
Slurry-phase biological treatment
Advantages Low cost Simple design and setup
Operational parameters can be adjusted easily Fast degradation rates
Disadvantages May not be suitable for high contaminant concentrations Potential dust, odor and vapor exposure during spreading of the soil and aeration Needs a large treatment area (reducing treatable volume) Runoff collection facilities must be constructed and monitored Leachate may be an issue and base liner may be required to prevent contamination migration to the water table High cost Treatable volume (and rate) limited by size of equipment used Potential exposure risks during excavation
Treatable medium/ applicable conditions Permeable soils Aerobic application
Can be applied to soils with high and low permeability Can be applied under aerobic or anaerobic conditions Surface contamination
In assessing whether soil bioremediation is required to be done, moisture content, available nutrients, contaminant mass, and distribution and physiochemical parameters are important factors. The hydrogeological factors such as aquifer permeability and water quality will play an important role while treating and assessing groundwater contaminations. In view of the uncertainty of whether bioremediation will achieve the required results, treatability studies can be undertaken to resolve the issues. These studies can be undertaken in stages 1 and 2 through conducting treatability studies to assess the ability of bioremediation techniques to meet the remediation objectives. This is typically conducted as a series of bench tests. The second, more detailed stage is to evaluate the application of the method under the specific site conditions, usually conducted on-site as a pilot trial. The formulation of bioremediation action plans can be formulated on the basis of information obtained in stages 1 and 2. The three-stage treatability test is required to be designed as bioremediation system to determine specific operating requirements and performance criteria; to enable completion of a bioremediation action plan, additional data will be required.
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Feasibility Assessment The feasibility of bioremediation includes the following considerations: • Whether the contaminants are sufficiently biodegradable and there is the confidence that the remediation targets will be met within an acceptable timeframe • Whether the bioremediation material will be suitable for future use or disposal, taking into account the amendment material added, other contaminants present, and the by-products and residuals of the treatment • Whether the extent and distribution of contamination are sufficiently well known. • Whether the physical-chemical composition and heterogeneity of the soil will allow sufficient uniformity of treatment to meet the bioremediation targets • Whether selected biodegrading organisms are naturally present or need to be added Sufficient background data is essentially collected to evaluate the applicability of bioremediation technology. Some of the confidence levels are required that the selected bioremediation method will achieve the required treatment outcome, and then other issues must be considered to determine whether it is a suitable technology for the site. These may include: • Are the sufficient microorganisms present and have the contaminant bioavailability sufficient to enable degradation? • Did the relevant regulatory agencies agree to accept the bioremediation technology as a viable means of remediation? • Is it confirmed that the contaminants have degraded, and have not been simply diluted by the material added or mixing operations, or volatilized and impact in ambient air? If there are any losses in the process, are they not acceptable to the regulatory agency? • Whether approval of regulatory authorities is required to plan to use these technologies? • Is the treated material reused as backfill on the site or as clean elsewhere, or is stabilization or landfill disposal required? Is there is any remnant biodegradable material present that would release methane or carbon dioxide concerns, or a geotechnical concern (physical stability)? • What are the by-products of the parent compound/s? Are they more toxic than the parent compound/s, and does this risk require additional precaution and assessment? Does the breakdown product require a different treatment method (such as the production of vinyl chloride during reductive de-chlorination of PCE)? • Is there any risk of contamination migrating to other environmental segments through the use of this technology (e.g., incorrect controls during land farming resulting in the transfer of contaminants from soil to the atmosphere)? • Will other stakeholders (such as local government or the public) accept the use of the technology, particularly those stakeholders that can have a significant bearing on whether the technology is applied at the site?
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• Are there any sensitive sites nearby that would not be compatible with the proposed operation? • Is there a time constraint, and can the bioremediation application meet this constraint? • Is the expected order of cost of treatment acceptable?
Data Requirements The following key technical considerations are required for successful implementation and design of a bioremediation system: • The physical properties of the soil • The chemical composition of the soil • The chemistry, concentrations, and distribution of contaminants within the soil materials
Physical Properties The physical composition of the material to be treated needs to be well characterized. Important factors include: • Soil type and heterogeneity: There will be an impact on air, water, and contaminant migration pathways differing grain sizes, and the presence of coarse fragments of material (such as concrete or bricks) may affect and prevent the distribution of oxygen or nutrients through the contaminated soils. • Organic matter: High organic matter present will affect the supply of oxygen to microorganisms, which may impact biodegradation. • The permeability and plasticity of the material: The distribution of vertical oxygen and nutrient will affect if the soil has low permeability. Low permeability soils may be helpful in situ applications.
Chemical Composition The composition of the material to be treated needs to be well-characterized. Important factors include: • For the location and to treat contamination that exceeds certain concentrations, distribution, concentrations, and mass of contaminants are required to be assessed in the soil at the site. • Range of contaminants, their concentrations, and physical form and their ability to degrade, volatilize, or inhibit the rate of microbial degradation. Volatility is important for slurry-phase biological treatment, where the contaminants could volatilize in the reactors before degradation. Some of the contaminants (like heavy metals) can have a toxic effect on microorganisms and inhibit degradation. The kind of contaminant may be important as to whether biodegradation will occur.
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• The transport of water will improve electron acceptors (such as oxygen), nutrients, and microorganisms to assist in biodegradation (via injection wells or pumping, etc.) during ion exchange and filtration mechanisms of the soil to be treated to assess what effect these will have on microorganisms • The physicochemical parameters like pH, electron acceptors, nutrients, temperature, and toxicity to assess which strain will be most effective at treating the contaminants present. • The contaminant solubility and bioavailability of vitamins for microorganisms are influenced by pH, with bioremediation techniques commonly performing optimally with pH levels ranging from 6 to 8. • The situations are oxidizing or decreasing, manipulated through redox potential and oxygen content. • The nutrients may be introduced for microbial growth (and mobileular division). • Sorption of solids relies on contaminant bioavailability capacity to solids and can be subtle in soil macro-pores (bioavailability for microbial reactions decreases and relies upon the contaminants which are strongly sobbed to soils or are inside macro-pores and are much less bioaccessible). • The charge of metabolism and degradation is affected by temperature. The biodegradation charge commonly will increase with temperature.
Maximum Allowable Concentrations The maximum allowable concentration and variation in concentration of the contaminants and by-products of treatment within the treated soil must be determined. If terribly demanding shutdown, criteria are applicable, and then bioremediation technologies might not be enough to satisfy the factors, and extra “polishing” stages of treatment could also be needed. As an example, criteria for substances like chlorinated organics could also be terribly demanding (e.g., branched alkanes> low-molecular-weight aromatics > cyclic alkanes (Leahy and Colwell 1990). Biodegradation rates are highest for saturates, followed by light aromatics with high-molecular-weight aromatics and polar compounds being highly recalcitrant to biodegradation (Leahy and Colwell 1990). Fedorak and Westlake (1981) reported a more rapid degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons compared to n-alkanes. .
Concentration of the Petroleum Hydrocarbons While the rates of microbial uptake and biodegradation of water-soluble compounds are usually proportional to the concentration of the compound, the same cannot be said for compounds with low aqueous solubility and those which can exert membrane toxicity at high concentrations. The biodegradation rates of high-molecularweight PAHs such as naphthalene and phenanthrene are related to their aqueous solubility rather than their concentrations in a given solution. On the other hand, high concentrations of highly soluble or volatile organic compounds may be detrimental to microbial forms due to their toxicity. Dibble and Bartha (1979) found that biodegradation activities in oil sludge occurred between oil concentrations of 1.25% and 5%, and it was found best at 5%. Oil loadings (>5%) lead to a decline in microbial numbers due to increase in toxicity. Del’ Arco and Franca (2001) supported this using sandy sediment deliberately contaminated with petroleum. Tarabily (2006) reported complete cessation of activity when the concentration of water-soluble fractions exceeded 50%. In addition to toxicity, high concentrations of petroleum may also inhibit microbial growth by upsetting the C/N/P ratios. Oxygen limitation may also hinder microbial growth when a thick layer of oil forms on the surface of water body, preventing oxygen transfer into the aqueous phase.
Adaptation Prior exposure to hydrocarbon contamination confers adaptation to microbial population, and it may often lead to enhanced mineralization. Grosser et al. (1991)
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recorded 55% pyrene mineralization in soil when the inoculum was grown on pyrene compared to 1% mineralization by indigenous population. Al-hadhrami et al. (1997) also reported higher metabolic activity when the inoculum was grown with crude oil as a substrate compared to nutrient broth.
Phytoremediation This may be defined as the treatment of environmental problems by using plants in situ so to avoid the need to dispose the contaminant material elsewhere. Phytoremediation may be applied to the amelioration of contaminated soils, water, or air, using plants that can contain, degrade, or eliminate metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, crude oil and its derivatives (refined fuels), and related contaminating materials. It should not be imagined that every type of contaminant can be disposed of by means of microorganisms. Heavy metal contaminants, e.g., Cd2+ and Pb2+, tend to resist interception by microorganisms. In such cases, phytoremediation is useful because the toxins are bioaccumulated into the body of plants, aboveground, which can then be harvested and removed. By measuring the oxidation reduction potential (redox) in soil and groundwater, along with pH, temperature, O2 retention, concentrations of electron acceptors and donors+, and of decomposition products, such as CO2, a measure of the bioremediation process can be obtained.
Bioremediation by INBIGS Institute of Biotechnology and Geotectonic Studies (INBIGS), ONGC Jorhat, is implementing bioremediation in different oil fields of Upper Assam and Jorhat Basin utilizing bacterial consortium isolated in its laboratory. INBIGS in collaboration with Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Department (MBBT) of Tezpur University, Assam, has also isolated a bacterial consortium capable of degrading petroleum crude oil from contaminated soil. The bacterial consortium was obtained from the oil-contaminated soil of well sites, Assam and Assam Arakan Basin, and mixed with appropriate carrier. It was observed that the product when applied in both oil-contaminated aquatic and terrestrial sites could restore the site to its original condition within a few months. This is a good example of microbiological approach of bioremediation where contaminant-specific organisms were augmented on the site. The mixed microbial consortium was maintained, multiplied, and then applied by INBIGS at various oil-contaminated effluent pits of Assam and Assam Arakan Basin with nutrients – urea, rock phosphate, and NPK. Oil content was monitored periodically and observed gradual decrease by bacterial action. Restoration of sites was successfully completed by bioremediation using the said bacterial consortium.
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Materials and Methods (a) Isolation and identification of oil-degrading microbial strains INBIGS isolated different hydrocarbon-degrading microbial strains from crude oilcontaminated soil samples of ONGC oil fields and preserved and maintained it by regular activation and reactivation in INBIGS MEOR Laboratory. These strains were mixed with C-II consortium developed through collaborative R&D project including surfactant-producing bacteria. Augmented consortia was applied at various bioremediation jobs in different oil fields of ONGC A&AA Basin, Jorhat Asset, and Assam Asset. A brief account of isolation and morphological and molecular characterization of augmented strains of CII is given below. (b) Isolation For isolation of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, enrichment culture technique was used. 1.0 gm of crude oil-contaminated soil samples was collected from oilcontaminated sites of ONGC oil fields of upper Assam and inoculated in BushnellHass medium. The final pH of the culture broth was adjusted to 7.0+ 0.2. Autoclaved crude oil (2%) was added to the culture as a sole source of carbon and energy. The culture was kept in a shaker incubator with 180 rpm at 370 c. After 10 days of incubation, 1 ml from the culture broth was transferred to an another Erlenmeyer flask containing 100 ml of Bushnell-Hass medium supplemented with 2% crude oil and incubated at the same condition. This process was repeated for four to five times. The pure single individual bacterial strains from the above culture were finally obtained by serial dilution technique followed by spread plate method. Bacterial strains were grown in L-B agar medium at 370c and incubated overnight. In the following day, morphological characters were observed under a colony counter and recorded as follows (Table 2). (c) Preparation of seed culture Mineral salt medium (MSM media) was used for preparation of seed culture from developed consortium. In a 3000 ml conical flask, medium was taken and sterilized in autoclave at 121 C temp. and 15 psi pressure for 15 min. This medium was inoculated with mixed consortium under aseptic condition in laminar air flow equipment. Many such sets were prepared so as to get sufficient seed culture required for the preparation of large quantity of bulk culture. N-hexadecane (1%) was added to each flask as a sole carbon source. For jubilant growth of microbes, all the flasks were placed in a shaker incubator at 180 rpm and 37 C temperature for constant mixing and aeration. Presence and growth of the microbes in the flask were confirmed visually and also under microscope. Developed microbial consortium from these flasks were then transferred into fresh medium for further growth, and thereafter the process was repeated periodically to develop and maintain an active mixed
Molecular taxonomic designation/code name Bacillus sp. Brevundimonas diminuta
Dysgonomonas sp.
Xanthomonadaceae sp.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
Bacterial Isolates INB-1 INB-2
INB-3
INB-4
INB-5
Table 2 Morphological characters of bacterial isolates
Circular
Circular
Circular
Form Circular Irregular
Convex
Flat
Raised
Elevation Raised Convex
Entire
Entire
Entire
Margin Curled Entire
Color Dirty white Opaque Shiny white Bright yellow Opaque Light yellow Cream
Gram–ve, bacillus
Gram–ve, bacillus
Gram–ve, cocci
Gram straining and microscopic study Gram+ve, bacillus Gram–ve, bacillus
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microbial consortium. Developed consortia in the flasks were used as inoculum for preparation of bulk culture. Mineral salt medium was prepared using urea, magnesium sulfate, ammonium sulfate, calcium chloride, disodium hydrogen phosphate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, boric acid, manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, molybdenum trioxide, and nhexadecane. (d) Mass culturing of oil-degrading consortia Mass culturing of isolated oil-degrading microbes was carried out in a nutrient medium having same composition of MSM media. Constant agitation was carried out by a mechanical stirrer and pH of the medium was maintained in the range 7.0–7.5 by adding sodium hydroxide pellets throughout the culturing phase. The MSM media was sterilized in autoclave at 121 C temp. and 15 psi pressure for 15 min. After sterilization, the media was cooled to room temperature and inoculated with the fresh seed culture prepared as above. Air was supplied to the bulk culture by an air compressor through a line filter of 0.2μm. The crude oil from the respective site was added as the sole carbon source to acclimatize the microbes to the crude type. Growth of the microbes was ascertained by determining the optical density at 600 nm and also by microscopic examination.
Field Application of Bioremediation in Effluent Pits The consortium was applied on oily waste by manual spreading at regular intervals of 1 month. Specially designed nutrient formulation, containing nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) compounds, was dissolved in water and spread uniformly to the bioremediation site with the help of water sprinkler. This was done to enhance the population of the microbial consortium and also to mitigate the initial toxic shock due to the oil contamination while application on the oily waste in the field. Mixing of oily waste and microbes was done by tilling of bioremediation sites. A farm by-product “NEOSORB” was used to remove the free oil from the surface of the effluent pits before bioremediation job where it was necessary. The product is of vegetative origin and is completely biodegradable. Before its application in field, it was tested at INBIGS for its oil adsorption capacity. Each bag containing 10 kg of “NEOSORB” was sprinkled in each pit to adsorb free oil where floating free oil found more than 1%. After adsorption of free oil, the flakes of NEOSORB were again collected manually with the help of net for mixing with soil for further soil bioremediation. The bulk culture prepared in tanks at INBIGS was transported to various oil fields of ONGC, A&AA Basin, Jorhat. Field application of the microbial culture was carried out in the different effluent pits. Microbial culture was applied to the area with the help of sprayer followed by sprinkling of nutrients minerals (urea, NPK, and rock phosphate). Effluent samples were collected periodically from the pits and analyzed in the laboratory by UV-VIS spectrophotometer and pH meter for
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determination of oil content in ppm and pH, respectively. The change in size of oil lumps and appearance of floating oil layer (before and after bioremediation) was observed visually. The bioremediation process at different sites was monitored and was carried out periodically till the oil content came down to safe environmental limit, i.e., less than 10 ppm. (a) Tilling and watering: Tilling of the bioremediation sites was done at a regular interval of once in a week to maintain aeration for the microbial consortium at the bioremediation sites. This was done with the help of a tractor or soil excavator like Hitachi/JCB. Watering of the bioremediation sites was done as per the requirement to maintain the moisture content of the soil for quicker biodegradation. (b) Sampling: Oily waste samples were collected from the bioremediation sites at zero day, i.e., before application of microbes on the bioremediation site and at every 30 days interval after application of the microbial consortium. The bioremediation site was divided in four equal blocks, which were further divided in four subblocks. Equal quantity of samples was collected randomly from each sub-block, i.e., total 16 samples were collected from 1 site. Samples were collected using a hollow stainless steel pipe of 3 inch diameter and 50 cm. in length and by inserting the same vertically on the bioremediation site from the surface till the bottom in one particular point. This was done to collect uniform samples from each depth of the bioremediation site. The samples were collected in sterile plastic containers. The 16 samples were mixed uniformly to get a homogenized composite mixture, which was considered as the representative sample from the site. Mixing was done in a large container by hand using hand gloves. (c) Monitoring of bioremediation process: Samples of oily waste from the bioremediation site were collected at zero day and after regular interval till the completion of the job. The samples were analyzed for the selected parameters.
Determination of Oil Content (a) In effluent samples, 10 ml of effluent sample is thoroughly mixed with 10 ml of dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) in a separating funnel. Rigorously shake the mixer for 5 min. Leave the sample for 15 min for separation. After gravity separation CH2Cl2 layer was transferred to a cuvette and then oil in ppm was determined using spectrophotometer. (b) In soil samples, 2 gm. of soil sample was taken in a thimble, and oil content was extracted using Soxhlet apparatus at 60 C for 7 h in petroleum ether (40–60 C). The extracted oil content was determined by weight after evaporation of the solvent.
Case Studies of Bioremediation by INBIGS INBIGS started bioremediation job in the effluent pit of BRDC, DVP, in the year of 1999–2000.The oil content of effluent was initially 126 ppm. After application of
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microbes, it was reduced to 5 ppm in 38 days. The field trial of bioremediation in effluent pit itself was conducted for the first time by INBIGS and found successful. This innovative and very cheap technology was developed in-house by INBIGS.
Field Implementation of Bioremediation (a) A mixed microbial consortium was developed, mass cultured in INBIGS Lab, and then applied in the effluent pit of BR#49,KH#14, and KH#19 for bioremediation of oil in the year 2001–2002.Toxicity of untreated and treated effluent was also studied. After application of microbes, oil content in the effluent pits of BR#49, KH#14, and KH#19 was reduced to 8, 8, and 5 ppm, respectively, from the initial oil concentration of 120, 80, and 115 ppm, respectively. (b) In the year 2002–2003, a mixed microbial consortium developed in-house and was mass cultured in laboratory and then applied in the effluent pits of Khoraghat GGS for bioremediation of oil. The initial oil content of the effluent in Khoraghat GGS-I was 4216 ppm. After application of microbial culture, it was reduced to 93.86 ppm in 120 days, recommended repeat bioremediation job to reduce further oil content of the effluent below the specified limit of Assam Pollution Control Board. Similar encouraging results of bioremediation were obtained in case of Khoraghat GGS-II also. (c) Bioremediation job was successfully done in the oil-contaminated soil sites of Borholla GGS, Nambar GGS, Khoraghat GGS-I, and Borholla well site resulted in significant biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons. Although bioremediation is a slow process and is not comparable to the speed of mechanical or chemical means, it is more effective in the long run to remove even the traces of hydrocarbons. After application of microbial bulk culture along with nutrients at Borholla GCP Part-I and Part-II, Borholla GGS, Khoraghat GGS-I, Nambar GGS Part-I and Part-II, and Borholla GCP near well site, the oil concentration of contaminated soils were found reduced. (d) Bioremediation jobs were implemented in effluents of RDS GGS-I and KPAA. The oil concentration of RDS GGS-I, flare pit no. 1 and 2, reduced from 670 ppm and 730 ppm to 45 and 80 ppm. The oil concentration KPAA waste pit no. 1 and 2 reduced from 590 and 630 ppm to15 and 30 ppm in year of 2007–2008. (e) A mixed microbial consortium capable of degrading hydrocarbon pollutants and biosurfactants production was developed in Tezpur University, mass cultured in INBIGS laboratory, and then applied along with nutrients at various oil-spilled soil sites of Borholla, Khoraghat, and Kalyanpur fields and in the effluent pits of BJAA, MRAG, and BRDM in Assam and Assam Arakan Basin. Oil degradation of 70–90% was observed in the oil-contaminated soil, and more than 90% degradation was observed in the effluent pits. (f) In the year 2011–2012,a mixed microbial consortium capable of degrading hydrocarbon pollutant and biosurfactant production was applied along with nutrients at various oil-spilled soil sites Nambar GGS, effluent pit MRAI, Borholla cluster 1, BRAH, HZAB effluent pits, HZAC effluent pit, production installation ELAA, and effluent pits of NOAA in Assam and Assam Arakan Basin. Oil degradation ranging from 77% to 87% was achieved in the oil-
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contaminated soil, and oil degradation ranging from 75% to 98% was achieved in the effluent pits. (g) To bioremediate the petroleum pollutants which have been generated during drilling activities in the oil fields of Assam and Assam Arakan Basin and Assam Asset, a mixed microbial consortium capable of degrading oil was developed, mass cultured in INBIGS, and then applied along with nutrients at 13 effluent pits, viz., CLAA, KHAX, KHAY, and NRAG of Assam and Assam Arakan Basin, Jorhat, and GKGP of Upper Assam Asset, Sivasagar. Oil contamination in these effluent pits were observed up to 475 ppm after removal of free oil floating on the effluent pits by oil absorbent. In the bioremediation study, oil degradation was achieved as high as 98% in 2–4 months. Total about 14,213 m3 of effluent was bioremediated in 2014–2015 and oil content brought down to APCB acceptable norms, i.e., 600 C) generally produces small gas molecules while at low temperature (1000 C near pyrolysis
Fig. 1 Flow diagram of plasma (courtesy of CPCB (2016; Ashter 2016)
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zone and >650 C close to chamber wall). After the preheating, organic waste is fed into the primary chamber where it is decomposed in an oxygen-starved environment. In primary (pyrolysis) chamber, gases such as methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen, are produced. The pyrolysis gases are combusted in a secondary chamber which increases its temperature between 800 C and 1000 C which forms CO2 and water vapor.
Plasma Torch and Power Supply Plasma torch comprises three graphite electrodes (one anode and two cathodes). DC power supply is used to produce plasma arcs among these electrodes. Plasma torch converts electrical energy into heat energy in an efficient manner. It is used to heat the primary chamber where pyrolysis takes place. Scrubber In scrubbing chamber 12pH NaOH solution is sprinkled using a pump. The hot gases coming out from the secondary chamber are quenched in Venturi scrubber and finally scrubbed in the secondary scrubber. Induced Draft Fan and Chimney The gases such as CO2, H2O are released in the environment using induced draft fans. Pyrolyzer/Reactor Hot plasma is generated using plasma torch and power supply which are then used for the disposal of waste. There are two types of plasma arcs: transferred arc and non-transferred arc. Graphite plasma torch is used for the disposal of plastic waste. Plasma torch has three graphite electrodes (one anode and two cathodes) which are connected with power supply. Plasma torch then converts electrical energy into heat energy which is used to heat the primary chamber (Puncochar et al. 2012; Binici and Aksogan 2016).
Biodegradable Plastics Biodegradable plastics are defined as those plastics that are degraded into water, carbon dioxide, and humus under specific conditions by microorganisms. Biodegradable plastics are considered as an obvious solution to the plastic waste management problem, but research has proven that they still lag behind fossil-based polymers in required properties. Since the 1970s, attempts have been made to create all sorts of biodegradable plastics, mostly from renewable materials such as potato starch, sugar cane, and cellulose, but despite these efforts, biodegradable products currently account less than 5% of all plastics in the market. This could also be because of their comparatively high cost. But moreover, according to a study by University College Dublin, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology in August 2018, some biodegradable plastics when discarded into the environment persist for a very long
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time. It was reported that only two types of biodegradable polymers promptly dissolve in the ocean, thermoplastic starch and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB); otherwise the rest ends up as garbage or in the stomachs of whales. According to Ramesh Babu Padamati, a senior research fellow in the polymer materials research unit at Trinity College Dublin, many biodegradable plastics do not even degrade in a natural environment; therefore certain conditions such as temperatures and microbial culture should be maintained and that chemical engineers should find right balance between material’s ability to biodegrade and create appropriate chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Scientists have also made various attempts some of which are controversial in closer look, such as (1) oxo-biodegradable plastics and (2) hydro-biodegradable plastics. Oxo-biodegradable plastics are made using the same technology as conventional plastics. They are made from polymers such as PE, PP, and PS where a small amount of pro-degradant additives such as salt of manganese or iron is added. These pro-degradant catalyzes the abiotic degradation process because the metal speeds up fragmentation when exposed to oxygen and heat, and, thereby, these additives reduce the molecular structures into lower compounds such as ketones, alcohols, carboxylic acid, etc. which can then be consumed by bacteria and fungi. Oxo-biodegradable plastics are currently said to be made from naphtha, a byproduct of oil refining. However, even if oxo-degradable plastics rapidly break down through exposure to sunlight and oxygen, they are still said to persist as huge quantities of microplastics which are extremely harmful to the environment. Hydro-biodegradable plastics are made from plant sources such as starch whose degradation is initiated by hydrolysis. However, many of such plastics contain 50% of synthetic plastics derived from oil, while genetically modified crops are also used in some. But it has been seen that while making raw materials to make such plastics, a significant amount of fossil-fuel energy and water is consumed, while residues from starches like bitter cassava from tapioca are said to be seriously toxic. As a result, such plastics are seen to have more detrimental effect than good. Therefore, experts are of the view that a lot more developmental work needs to be done by modifying the microbes, or microbial cell factories, using various metabolic engineering techniques, knocking out genes, and improving biochemical pathways to make proper monomers of the plastics. For instance, Japanese researchers in 2016 reported a type of bacteria called Ideonella sakaiensis which breaks down PET into its basic building blocks. In 2018, researchers from University of Portsmouth created a mutant version of this enzyme which reportedly broke down the PET more efficiently by 20% as compared to the original enzyme. And in this way, the researchers hope that such modifications of enzyme and further studies could help clean up the world’s seas and land that are contaminated with plastics, in the future. Recently, research interest has been growing toward developing bioplastics as they are considered to be an alternative to petroleum-based polymers. Due to their renewability, environmental friendliness, availability, and sustainability, they are considered the most promising candidates to replace the nonbiodegradable petroleum-based materials. The word “bioplastic” is used for both bio-based plastics and biodegradable plastics. However, not all bio-based plastics are biodegradable
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and not all biodegradable plastics are bio-based. Bio-based plastics are biologically synthesized from natural origins such as plants, animals, or microorganisms (Gironi and Piemonte 2011; Nagalakshmaiah et al. 2019).They can either be made by extracting sugar from plants like corn and sugarcane to convert into polylactic acids (PLAs), or they can be made from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) engineered from microorganisms. Common biopolymers such as cellulose, chitosan, starch, collagen, and soy protein are also frequently used. Over the recent years, microbial degradation and valorization of plastic wastes have surfaced increasingly with special focus on plastics such as PE, PS, PP, PUR, and PET. Some microorganisms and enzymes that are capable of degrading plastics include Rhodococcus ruber C208, Bacillus sphaericus Alt, Arthrobacter sp. GMB5 and GMB7, Pseudomonas sp. E4 and AKS2, Xanthomonas sp., Sphingobacterium sp., mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), superworms (Zophobas atratus), etc. However, there is a lack of understanding in the depolymerases which contributes to breaking down of plastics, and, therefore, more efforts are needed to understand such mechanisms along with rational protein engineering (Huo and Yu 2020; Fesscha and Abebe 2019).
Other Technologies Lately, utilization of waste products for construction materials has become significant in tackling the environmental issues. Many works have been published regarding the use of plastic waste such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), polycarbonate, thermoplastic recycled polystyrene, and polypropylene fiber in manufacturing concretes (Shanmugapriya and Santhi 2017; Jha et al. 2014; Sayadi et al. 2016; Pastor et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2014; Dalhat and Al-Abdul Wahhab 2017; Yang et al. 2015). Here, plastics are added in the form of plastic aggregates (PA) or plastic fibers (PF) to the concrete mixture in order to replace coarse aggregates and common steel fiber, respectively. Since PA has lower bulk density than granite, limestone, or basalt, thus, to make a lightweight concrete, PA are used. Common steel fibers are also replaced by plastic fibers (PF) as reinforcement to improve mechanical and strength durability (Becker et al. 2001). Efforts have also been made to add plastic polymers in asphalt concrete to improve its quality. Appiah et al. 2017 conducted a case study by using HDPE and PP in constructing roads in Ghana. They found that the addition of thermoplastic modifiers to conventional bitumen improved the viscoelastic behavior of the bitumen and changed its rheological properties. They thereby concluded that waste plastic-modified bitumen carries great promise as an alternative recycling method for plastic waste management in Ghana, as well as a nontraditional, modified binder for road construction (Appiah et al. 2017). More studies presented that each polymer has their own effects in the asphalt physical properties. For example, HDPE increases the temperature and aging resistance, PP widens the plasticity range and improves the binder’s load resistance, and ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) stiffens the
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asphalt, much like a hard plastic, so it is considered a plastomer. Styrene butadiene (SB) and styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) block copolymers can increase the elasticity of the asphalt, much like a rubber band, so they are considered elastomers. Another group of elastomeric polymers, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) latex polymers, increases the ductility of asphalt cements (Appiah et al. 2017; Morgan and Mulder 1995; Becker et al. 1994; Giavarini 1994; Heshmat et al. 1995; Isacsson and Lu 1995a; Daly et al. 1994; Zielinski 1989; Defoor 1990; Serfaas et al. 1992). Waste plastics are also used as a fuel in cement kilns because the extreme temperature inside the kilns reduces the possibility of generating toxic gases. Recently, the waste plastics are reused as fuels instead of coke or pulverized coal in blast furnace during smelting of iron (Giavarini et al. 1993). And last but not the least, recent innovations have turned heads to a new material on the scene called wood-plastic composites (WPC) which as the name suggests is a material created from a unique blend of natural wood and plastic fibers. The most exciting thing about WPC is that it can be created entirely from recycled materials which starts as a paste and can be molded to almost any shape and size, including arched or bent shapes. In addition to it, woodplastic composite is moisture-resistant and rot-resistant and is currently gaining momentum in the market all over the world. A study performed at National Institute of Technology Nagaland, India, focused on improving the mechanical and waterrepelling property of local waste teak wood dust and recycled polypropylene (Figs. 2 and 3) and found promising results. A plastic waste management center (PWMC) in Guwahati, Assam, a center of CIPET, an autonomous institution of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, is conducting skill development and entrepreneurship generation through plastic wastes. For example, as a part of one of their projects, plastic dustbins were distributed in some selected area, two each at every household, and villagers were requested to store the plastics wastes in the dust bins provided to them. Local workers of the center and vicinity areas collected the wastes from the individual village houses. The plastic wastes collected were used as raw material for the waste recycling plant at the center. The center utilizes a universal mechanical recycling facility and converts plastic wastes such as PE, PP, PSA, ABS, PET, etc. to value-added end products. The entire process is self-sustaining and generates awareness as well as employment generation in the plastic waste sector. Thus, waste plastics are treated as a source of raw materials and not as environmental and societal burden. Plastics are rarely used as virgin. Several additives such as peptizers, plasticizers, lubricants, flow promoters, antioxidants, stabilizers, flame retardants, etc. are used in plastics during processing. These hazardous chemicals which are used in very small amounts are mostly persistent organic pollutants that possess great concern. The contamination of new products developed from recycled plastics materials may contain persistent organic pollutants and other toxic substances generate human and environmental exposure. This is the greatest challenge possessed by recycling technology and needs major attention and focus in research field. Finding eco-friendly alternatives to the additives or finding innovative solutions to this problem or will take plastics as whole and recycling technology to a new pinnacle.
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Fig. 2 Different steps of making and testing wood polymer composite sheets
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Fig. 3 Water uptake study of waste-based wood polymer composites
Recent Approaches in India Various approaches and technologies are aimed at to solve the problem of plastic waste management in India and worldwide. Among them, some approaches to effectively utilize the waste plastics in India are summarized below.
Waste Plastic to Fuels (Pyrolysis) Pyrolysis is defined as the breaking down of polymer molecules into smaller molecules in the presence of heat and catalyst (such as aluminum oxides, fly ash, red mud, and calcium hydroxide) in an inert atmosphere (Kakuta et al. 2008). Depending upon the process followed, pyrolysis of plastics has an average yield of 45–50% oil, 35–40% gases, and 10–20% tar (Daly et al. 1994). Compared to other developed countries, India has yet to generate a business model for the conversion of plastic waste to fuel. The Indian Institute of Petroleum, a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratory, in Dehradun, developed a unique process of converting polyethylene and polypropylene to fuels like gasoline or diesel. It is reported that the technology is capable of converting 1 kg of plastic to 750 ml of automotive grade gasoline. Rudra Environmental Solutions, Pune, has designed and developed a pyrolysis plant where 1 ton of plastic waste can be converted to 600–650 L of fuel with almost 60% conversion rate. M K Aromatics Ltd. has set up
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two plants in Goa to convert plastic waste to fuel. Hydroxy Systems Pvt. Ltd. Hyderabad has adopted a different technique in the production of fuel oil from plastic waste. It has been claimed that the process is safe, controllable, and pollution-free and also holds the approval of the State Pollution Control Board. The facility has the capacity to convert around 13–15 t of plastic waste per month into approximately 500 L of fuel. Hence, in order to successfully establish the business model to convert plastic waste to fuel for both industrial and domestic use, it is crucial to develop proper infrastructure and also to create better customer awareness (Kakuta et al. 2008; Ashter 2016; Wong et al. 2015).
Plasma Pyrolysis Technology In India to introduce a cleaner and safer technology, Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technology (FCIPT), Institute for Plasma Research, had taken initiatives to develop plasma pyrolysis technology with the financial support from Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi. FCIPT successfully developed and demonstrated plasma pyrolysis technology to dispose organic waste and commissioned first prototype demonstration model in Goa for biomedical waste disposal (Wong et al. 2015; Nema and Ganeshprasad 2002; Nema 2007). With financial support from Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), FCIPT has even successfully worked on recovering electrical energy while disposing plastic and cotton waste (Nema et al. 2016). The CPCB 2016results suggested that the emission of toxic pollutants such as dioxins and furans was lower than the prescribed norms set for hazardous waste incinerators. Emissions from the exhaust of FCIPTs plasma pyrolysis system as found in literature reports are tabulated in Table 1. The possibility of recovering energy is also discussed basing on the pyrolysis of polyethylene. ½CH2 CH2 n þ H2 O þ Heat ) xCH4 þ yH2 þ zCO þ Soot þ higher HC
ð1Þ
CH4 þ H2 O ) CO þ 3H2
ð2Þ
C þ H2 O ) CO þ H2
ð3Þ
When the electrical energy passes through plasma, the energy is utilized for melting of plastics and bond dissociation (degradation) and in endothermic Table 1 Emissions from the exhaust of FCIPTs plasma pyrolysis system (Nema et al. 2016) Pollutants CO NOx Dioxin and furan
CPCB Stnd. 100 mg/Nm3 400 mg/Nm3 0.1 ng/Nm3 TEQ
Plasma system 40–85 mg/Nm3 7–25 mg/Nm3 0.01 ng/Nm3 TEQ
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reactions. It is then followed by the combustion of CO and H2 and CH4 gas exothermically releasing energy in the form of heat and light. CO þ § O2 ¼ CO2 ΔH ¼ 67:63 Kcal
ð4Þ
H2 þ § O2 ¼ H2 O ΔH ¼ 57:82 Kcal
ð5Þ
CH4 þ O2 ! CO2 þ H2 O ΔH ¼ 212:22 Kcal
ð6Þ
Polymer-Blended Bitumen For enhancing the quality of roads and pavements, utilization of plastic waste is being carried out at various cities in India. The procedure is considered simple. Plastic waste is first segregated and then shredded to a particular size (2–4 mm). The shredded plastic waste is then added to the aggregate, and the bitumen is heated to 160 C to result in good binding. The first plastic road in India was built in 2002 in Jambulingam Street of Chennai. In the year 2004, the KK Plastic Waste Management Ltd, Bengaluru, laid 250 km of roads in Karnataka. Similarly in 2015/2016, the National Rural Road Development Agency laid around 7,500 km of roads using plastic waste. It is reported that, currently, there are more than 21,000 miles of plastic roads in India and for every km of road (3.75 m width), 1 ton of plastic (10, 00,000 carry bags) is used for every ton of bitumen that is saved reassuring that it not only mitigates plastic waste management but even ensures petrochemical resource conservation (King and King 1986; Isacsson and Lu 1995b; Zorrob and Suparama 2004).
Co-processing of Plastic Using of waste materials as an alternate fuel or raw materials in industrial processes such as cement plants is known as co-processing. The advantage about this technology is that it can substitute the use of coal and petroleum in industries like the cement plants. As, for example, a collaborative work between Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), recycled paper-based industries and cement industries in Gujarat state of India succeeded in having a scientific solution of utilizing this technology by designing it a new way, and paper mills got rid of their enormous plastic wastes generated as cement plants started utilizing the waste plastics of paper industries (Shah 2018). The good news is that in 2012, Gujarat’s success story encouraged neighboring Rajasthan to utilize the paper waste plastic-based technology as thermal substitute for cement kilns that promoted circular economy and overall reduction in pollution.
Toward Circular Economy Through Green Chemistry As per “The Ellen MacArthur Foundation” report on the New Plastics Economy, it is estimated that 100 million marine animals die each year due to discarded plastics and that by 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans. Plastics, as
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discussed before, are a highly valuable material because they are not only convenient but have significant role to play in economy and business of modern world. According to the World Economic Forum, every year, globally there is a loss of $80–$120 billion from plastic packaging waste alone. Therefore, it is crucial to stress on safe and efficient distribution of the plastic products among the consumers. This can be done by moving the plastics toward a circular economy and stopping the “take-make-dispose” model of consumption. As of now, plastics products get manufactured, bought, used briefly, and then thrown away making it highly unsustainable. According to a “Science Daily” report, globally, only 14% of the plastic reaches the recycling plants where only 9% gets recycled, which means the left overs are disposed in fragile ecosystems, while 40% ends up in landfill which contributes to huge economic losses. Therefore, it has become largely significant for the production company to take fast and radical action against plastic products. The implementation of “circular economy”, a nascent concept to improve the resource and energy efficiency, has been proposed by Leontief. A circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. The concept deals with how materials constantly flow around a “closed-loop” system, rather than being used once and then discarded. According to World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), circular economy can identify the environmental priorities covering information about material flow, carbon, water, and ecological footprints and can develop an advanced concept that can change the businesses, government, and the performance of societies. Heading toward a circular economy will also aid in achieving the UN Sustainable Goal on Sustainable Consumption and Production. Since circular economy aims in balancing the economic growth, resource sustainability, and environmental protection, integration of green chemistry principle and circular economy should be implemented by the government, in industries, and in education. Green chemistry principle should be integrated into the circular economy concept, using five strategies: (i) establishment of cross-departmental collaboration, (ii) development of cleaner production and green polymer product, (iii) provision of integrated chemical management system, (iv) implementation of green chemistry/ polymer education program, and (v) construction of a business model supporting the principles. “Plastic” must become a responsibility for each producing company. The company should set goals to reduce the use of virgin plastics by redesigning their products and aim on collecting more plastics for recycling rather than selling. The companies along with the government can collaborate and set up industries that can produce high-quality recycled products and ensure that 100% of their plastic packaging must be fully reusable, recyclable, or compostable. The government and the companies can strictly focus on disciplinary elements of redesign-reduction-recovery-recycle-reuse (5Rs) practices. Since, the concept of green chemistry has been holistically developed to synthesize less hazardous chemicals and products, prevent wastes, atom economy, design benign chemicals, design for energy efficiency, design for degradation use of renewable feedstock, preventing pollution, reducing environmental impact, and thereby, enhancing economic benefits since 1990s. It generally highlights the design of safer chemicals, the use of catalysts rather than stoichiometric reagents, and the
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prevention of waste production and prevents pollution in molecular level and benefits human health, environment, and sustainability. To date, several presidential green chemistry challenge awards are given to honor the technologies and significant innovations in plastics sector that incorporates green chemistry pathway into plastic design, manufacture, and applications and thereby promote the environment, sustainability, and circular economy. Thus, achieving sustainability and circular economy by using the pathway of green chemistry is thought to be the most excellent solution pathway for the growth of future plastic engineering and polymer industry. Thus, the application of green chemistry concept emphasizes on building sustainability and role of chemists in achieving it. This is a foundational component to achieve the circular economy in the area of plastics. A circular system in polymer chemistry or more specifically in the life cycle of a plastic, starting from laboratory, production to use with zero or minimal waste possesses utmost potential in future plastic industry. For instance, a Unilever company in Chile has moved from using a nonrecyclable folding carton for three detergent brands – Omo, Drive, and Rinso – to a 100% polyethylene (HDPE) bag which is recyclable, saving 1,634 t a year. In Brazil, in 2018, they launched a 3-L bottle for Omo laundry detergent brand, with a formula at six times the concentration of the original, so it can be diluted in people’s homes which have reportedly reduced the volume of plastic used by 75%. In India, Gujarat- and Rajasthan-based cement industries are already using paper-based waste plastics for reducing their thermal energy requirement from coal or petroleum (Shah 2018) and promoting circular economy.
Conclusion and Moving Forward It is clear from the published reports and literature that currently waste plastic technology-based products like WPCs are significantly growing in the Indian and international market. Despite its initial focus only on decking, it has been extending its applications including doors, railing, façade, and furniture and is often considered as the new face of the furniture industry. This is because of their biggest strength in its ability to resist rotting and decaying and also because of its eco-friendly properties (Deka et al. 2012; Rathnam et al. 2020). In 2018, the country head (WPC) company, Alstone, has started to invent WPC doors and doorframes. However, there is indeed a lot more to work on plastic waste-based WPC products to grow in this field. Good thing is that, beyond WPCs, a lot of research is being conducted worldwide to further improve the plastic waste-based products. Some of these waste plastic-based products possess great potential as booming industry in future. Waste plastic-based WPC is only an example. There are number of products and ways that need rethinking and redesigning plastics to provide safer, less hazardous, green, and circular solutions. It is time to reboot the plastic industry with circular solutions. There is no denial that there lies an urgent need of new innovations in the area of waste plastics that will be able to create a circular economy. Bringing in systemic change and innovations in recycling technology and redesigning plastics is thus the need of this hour. Company
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should collaborate with the government and with each other and invest in infrastructure of waste industries, making recycling more efficient. To help boost recycling rates, global programs and partnership must stress on emerging green technologies and explore means to develop new “closed-loop” business models that can allow plastics to enter fully into a circular economy model.
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S.K. Nema, Plasma processing update, Institute for Plasma Research, 50 (2007) S.K. Nema, K.S. Ganeshprasad, Current Science, 69 (2002) S.K. Nema, C. Patil, V. Jain, Plasma Pyrolysis Technology and its Evolution at FCIPT, Institute for Plasma Research, India. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.3435.6880 (2016) NPWMTF, National Plastics Waste Management Task Force (NPWMTF) Report (Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, New Delhi, 1997) J. Pastor et al., Glass reinforced concrete panels containing recycled tyres: Evaluation of the acoustic properties of for their use as sound barriers. Constr. Build. Mater. 54, 541–549 (2014) E. Pfender, Thermal plasma processing in the nineties. Pure Appl. Chem. 60, 591–606 (1988) E. Pfender, Thermal plasma technology: Where do we stand and where are we going? Plasma Chem. Plasma Process. 19, 1–31 (1999) M. Puncochar, B. Ruj, P.K. Chatterjee, Development of process for disposal of plastic waste using plasma pyrolysis technology and option for energy recovery. Procedia Eng. 42, 461–473 (2012) V. Rathnam, A. Kichu, N. Dutta, T.K. Maji, N. Devi, Influence of organically modified nanoclay and TiO2 nanopowder on the properties of Azadirachta Indica wood flour reinforced high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride nanocomposite. J. Thermoplast. Compos. Mater. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0892705720935968 N. Saikia, J. de Brito, Mechanical properties and abrasion behaviour of concrete containing shredded PET bottle waste as a partial substitution of natural aggregate. Constr. Build. Mater. 52, 236–244 (2014) A.A. Sayadi et al., Effects of expanded polystyrene (EPS) particles on fire resistance, thermal conductivity and compressive strength of foamed concrete. Constr. Build. Mater. 112, 716– 724 (2016) J.P. Serfaas, A. Joly, J. Samanos, SBS-modified asphalts for surface dressing: a comparison between hot-applied and emulsified binders. In: Wardlaw KR, Shuler S, editors. Polymer modified asphalt binders. ASTM STP 1108 (Philadelphia, USA, ASTM Ed.) (1992) p. 281–308 E. Sevigné-Itoiz, C.M. Gasol, J. Rieradevall, X. Gabarrell, Contribution of plastic waste recovery to greenhouse gas (GHG) savings in Spain. Waste Manag. 46, 557–567 (2015) SGCCI, The Indian Plastic Industry, PlastIndia Foundation, Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI), India (2000) H. Shah, How Gujarat succeeded in co-processing plastic waste in cement kilns and promoting circular economy. Down to Earth, September, 2018 (2018) M. Shanmugapriya, H. Santhi, Strength and chloride permeable properties of concrete with high density polyethylene wastes. Int. J. Chem. Sci. 15(1) (2017) J. Wang et al., Morphologies and properties of polycarbonate/polyethylene in situ microfibrillar composites prepared through multistage stretching extrusion. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 131(7) (2014) S.L. Wong, N. Ngadi, T.A.T. Abdullah, I.M. Inuw, Current state and future prospects of plastic waste as source of fuel: A review. Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. 50, 1167–1180 (2015) S. Yang et al., Properties of self-compacting lightweight concrete containing recycled plastic particles. Constr. Build. Mater. 84, 444–453 (2015) J. Zielinski, Investigations on thermal properties of asphalt-polymer compositions. Erdöl Kohle 42(11), 456 (1989) S.E. Zorrob, L.B. Suparama, Laboratory design and investigation of proportion of bituminous composite containing waste recycled plastics aggregate replacement (Plastiphalt). Cem. Concr. Compos. 22(4), 233–242 (2004)
Integrated Strategy of Plastic Waste Management to Green Environmental Sustainability and Health Care
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Universal Consequence of Left-over Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plastic Manufacture, Ingesting, and Waste Generation: Worldwide Consequence . . . . . . . . Plastic Manufacture, Ingesting, and Waste Generation: Indian Consequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reducing the Consumption of Plastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edification and Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Refining the Discarding of Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removal and Assortment of Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Processing and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Avoiding Littering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Management Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Energy Recovery from Plastics Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ecological Pollutant Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Management of Plastic Left-over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reuse, Recycling, Ignition, and Landfill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Plastics are an essential measure of culture and are used differently. A setup of molecular monomers assured composed to custom macromolecules is composed of plastics. Owing to nondegradability and the production of noxious vapors during incineration during ignition, there are growing concerns. There is growing solicitation in wrapping, farming, and vehicles and biomedical due to the S. Karuppiah School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India e-mail: [email protected] M. Mathivanan (*) School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_52
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development of the preferred form color and description expedient to consumers. Owing to advances in information technology, intellectual, and smooth wrapping systems, they are indispensable for the new century. Efforts are under way to build an effective and accurate conversation between sustainable raw materials and advanced polymeric products through new technologies that are greater in relations of efficiency, environment, and charge. In tributaries and shoreline areas, due to indiscriminate dumping by consumers, aquatic contamination is rising at a wilder pace. R&D strategies are currently focusing on exploring whether marine organisms’ ingestion of plastic debris results in harmful revelations for people who eat seafood with precise significance to plasticizers, phthalates, stabilizers, heavy metals, methyl mercury, lead cadmium, and BPA. There is a connection between the biological effects of pollution and the subsequent economic effects and losses. The establishment in developing countries of reasonable, efficient, and genuinely defensible left-over management performs as a pillar of sustainable development. Keywords
Plastic waste · Solid waste management · Microplastic · Left-over · Ingestion
Introduction As well as the efforts to tackle global warming, environmental concern generated by insufficient waste management encourages steps toward ecological managing of the organic segment of the waste. A selection of techniques for waste organization and left-over reduction are combined in integrated waste management (Ackerman 2000). It may include the burial of left-over in sanitary landfills and the combustion of unused in incinerators for bulk burn. As town populations endure to increase and ingesting habits change, solid waste supervision has become a problem of growing universal concern. For a broad variety of synthetic or semi-artificial organic solid resources, plastic is the general name. Plastics are usually high-molecular-weight polymers. Typically they are artificial, furthermost often originating from petrochemicals, although most of them are moderately natural. To enhance performance, a polymer can comprise other condiments such as plasticizers, stabilizers, lubricant, UV-absorbing material, and flame retardants. All facts of anthropological life, such as wrapping, cultivation, aquatic transport, building, telecommunications, education, medicine, transport, protection, and customer durables, have been permeated by plastics. Due to their ease of manufacturing, one of the causes for the great success of plastics is because of the immense variety of properties exhibited by them. Therefore, the need for plastics in recent existing has increased to boost the eminence of existence. The amount of plastic left-over in municipal solid waste (MSW) is growing owing to inhabitant’s growth, construction accomplishments, and lifestyle fluctuations. The health and environmental consequences concomitant with the
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management of solid left-over are growing, especially in the background of emerging nations and environmental clearance regulatory necessities (Benjamin et al. 2015). Since the 1960s, while scheme assessments primarily target precise, designed schemes which have been used to assist SWM agencies in developed countries, the SWM sector in developing nations is dominated by collection and removal. It should be understood that the waste created during healthcare accomplishments transmits a potential danger of contagion and injury relative to additional form of discarded. With procedural fundamentals for proper calculation, data analysis, preparation, appropriate funding, teamwork, and administration, the implementation of a countrywide policy for appropriate waste handling can be an important step in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) releases over regulated composting progressions, mechanical biological waste handling, waste air management, etc.
Universal Consequence of Left-over Plastics Plastic Manufacture, Ingesting, and Waste Generation: Worldwide Consequence Universally, almost 140 MT of plastics are manufactured every year. Recent studies in Western Europe reported that the total annual consumption of plastics was 49 MT (in 2003) at 98 kg per capita. In Western Europe, the decadal development (1993–2003) of annual plastic intake was 34 kg per capita. In 2000, the universal demand for plastic extracts stood at around 9.9 MT with a worth of US$19 billion (Birgisdottir et al. 2013). Approximately 80% of universal plastic condiments are used outside the European Union by the United States, China, India, and Eastern Europe. However, with over 1 52 MT of plastic consumption in 2004, Southeast Asia, particularly India and China, has appeared as the global spearhead in plastic ingestion. In Europe and Asia, plastic preservative arcades are rising at nearby 3% yearly rate, while China is expected to rise at 8–10%. Annual plastic consumption is measured at 38.9MT in the United States, closely followed by 38.8MT per year in China. India, with an overall yearly ingestion of 12.5 MT (Eerkes-Medrano et al. 2015), is similarly expected to be the third major consumer arcade for plastics in 2009. With a regular progress rate of 12%, plastic ingestion in India grew exponentially in the 1990s. The current growth rate of plastic consumption in India is also estimated to be greater than that of China and some other emerging country and similar to that of the United Kingdom (Figs. 1, 2, and 3).
Plastic Manufacture, Ingesting, and Waste Generation: Indian Consequence India manufactured 0.363 MT of plastic polymer in1990–1991; however, an unprecedented 890% rise in a decade leads to 3.2 MT (2000–2001) of total plastic
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production. The production of plastics in India further increased to 4.77 MT in 2005–2006, of which polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are the highest; India produced 0.363 MT (Free et al. 2014) of plastic polymer in 1990–1991, but an unprecedented 890% rise in a decade leads to 3.2 MT(2000–2001) of total plastic production. The production of plastics in India further increased to 4.77 MT in 2005–2006, of which polypropylene (PP) and highdensity polyethylene (HDPE) are the highest. In India, plastic consumption per captica was found to be 0.8 kg in 1990–1991, but it was increased significantly to 3.5 kg (2000) within a decade, though it was quite far below the universal average (18 kg). Nevertheless the predictable per capita plastic ingestion estimates in 2021 may spread a significant amount of 10.9 kg, which appears accurate given the speed with plastics. Packaging represents India’s largest single plastic use sector. In almost half of all packaged goods, the region interpretations for 42% of plastics ingestion and plastic are the substantial choice. In addition to wrapping, plastics are moreover widely cast off in customer goods such as furniture, housewares, and construction and in the industrial sectors (Fig. 4). Though the investigation results from the Countrywide Plastic Waste Management Task Force, wrapping accounts for 52% of the total plastic ingestion in India. This is consistent with the configuration of consumption in other nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where wrapping has the determined portion of entire plastic ingestion. The crucial usage of this percentage of plastics ingestion with 0.93 MT (Japan Ministry of the Environment 2003) of waste plastics and
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1000 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
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Fig. 3 Ingestion of dissimilar fresh plastic mastics (Banerjee et al. 2014)
Packaging 7% 24%
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household wastes were discarded annually. Although a substantial part of this waste is recovered by rag pickers, a substantial quantity of it is each stained with organic substance or not deemed suitable for additional handling. In India, due to its truncated cost, chemical edifice, physical recompenses, and great durability, PE, PP, and PVC lead the arcade. Polyolefins In India, 1.3 MT of plastic left-over is generated yearly, (Kang et al. 2015) which is 36% of the total plastic consumption of India. Almost 42% of the total plastic waste generated is reprocessed in India by 20,000 reprocessing productions with a total prospective of 0.37 MT/annum. In 2000–2001, greater than 5,400 tonnes of plastic left-over were produced per day in India, according to NPWMTF (1997). The fraction of plastics in MSW also augmented from 0.7% in 1971 to 4% in 1995. The absence of biodegradability of profitable polymers, especially castoff in wrapping, manufacturing, and cultivation, has attracted communal care to a hypothetically enormous problem of environmental accretion and contamination that could persevere for eras. Plastic waste removal has prospective harmful possessions on the surroundings, and, consequently, maximum energy recovery in order to maintain ecological sustainability should be a logical method. The concept of ISWM is to articulate verdicts about waste generation, material reprocessing, and ultimate waste disposal.
Reducing the Consumption of Plastic The reduction in consumption of waste products after efficient processing is valuable, but often difficult to accomplish due to food security and deficiency of expediency (Beitzen-Heineke et al. 2017). Nevertheless, it is also possible to prevent needless wrapping (e.g., double packaging) or use eco-friendlier substitutes. Growing understanding of customer selection’s environmental impacts over official (i.e., in institutes) or casual instruction is a long-term policy to minimize plastic use, for example, foremost to the selection of microbead-free replacements that could be assisted by consistent labeling (Chang 2015; Santos et al. 2005; Ambrose et al. 2019). Growing claim for plastic-free goods would cause businesses to redesign their goods, but there is a scarcity of alternatives that require strategies that are beneficial to their growth. Grasp and control strategies (Ashrafi et al. 2018; Landon-Lane 2018), comprising guideline of consumption, constraint of ads, and prohibition of one time use goods, can be complemented by voluntary acts by trades known as corporate social responsibility (CSR). While customers are backing these initiatives, as exposed by the devastating public support (94%) of the European Union’s naval clutter intervention (Flash Eurobarometer 2016), the same does not always extend to producers and sellers, such as the argument that European packaging manufacturers (Pack2Go) violated the free movement of products when France forbidden one time use plastic flatware (La transition 2018; Perchard 2018). On the other hand, the proposed lessening of frivolous plastic mover stacks in Europe (Directive 2015), intended at minimizing the annual damage of eight billion
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plastic stacks to the masses (Kasidioni et al. 2015), has resulted in fees for earlier unrestricted plastic masses in some countries, foremost to a 74% lessening in use in Portugal (Martinho et al. 2017) and 90% in Ireland, a move only appraised by the rise in sales of rubbish bags (Convery et al. 2007). Backing for administration policies can also differ between buyers and vendors, demanding careful consideration.
Edification and Consciousness Learning is a strong weapon in the battle beside (micro)plastic contamination (Potts et al. 2011), as shown by the greater quantities of oceanic clutter retrieved from beaches haunted by poorly trained residents in Brazil and the rejection of items containing micro droplets by people exposed to consciousness wars. Nevertheless, up until recently, knowledge on (micro)plastic contamination was minimal, with 73% of Chilean learners not understanding the microplastic unruly (Hidalgo-Ruz and Thiel 2013). As 80% of examined inquiries seek to retrieve evidence (Dabbagh and Kitsantas 2012), the Internet can be used as an educational tool, while social media provides chances to occupy with information (Jansen et al. 2008; Selwyn 2007), which currently has a superior effect than other data vents (Miller 2009). While investigating the patterns in the keywords “microplastics” and “microbeads” on examination devices and communal broadcasting, the progression of the public’s improved awareness of “microplastics” was witnessed, as well as the configuration of actions consisting of consecutive media announcement of news, social media sharing, and activating knowledge looking for behaviors on examine engines, prominent to an alternate. In addition, learning and attentiveness programs would be effectively converted hooked on long-term improvements in performance (Grasmick et al. 1991), such as minimizing littering by moral responsibilities rather than inadequate littering penalties (Burgress et al. 1971). Education and knowledge must also concentrate on realistic measures, including reducing the use of toxic goods, reducing scattering, and enlightening recycling rates, which may benefit from the online behavior of customers. However, reducing the use of plastics depends on the accessibility of plastic-free substitutes.
Refining the Discarding of Waste The following order is focused on waste management: minimize, reuse, recycle, and recover. Although the importance is to reduce and reclaim, to interfere in fabrication and use such waste can be created and appropriately accomplished as a reserve by means of an effective Integrated Waste Management System. It is demanding to reuse packaging, necessitating packaging retrieval, categorization, and refilling, and so it is rarely secondhand external of high-value products, such as integrated circuit
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technology and cars. Therefore it should be recycled when waste is made, and merely after it is not biodegradable for use as feedstock or for vitality retrieval and merely when ultimate left-over, such as ash, is landfilled. Appropriate management of solid discarded reduces plastics in the surroundings, thereby reducing disintegration into microplastics (Wu et al. 2017). In Taiwan, for example, changes in waste controlling strategies, such as plastic bag and plastic tableware bans (the “Plastic Constraint Policy”) and compulsory waste categorization (Recycling Act and Compulsory Trash-sorting Policy), have been successful in decreasing the proportion of waste disposal (from 0.9 to 0.48 kg capita-1) and substantially reducing plastic bottles, metal drink cans, and plastic bags. Similarly, councils through greater modest spending in waste supervision in Australia have less clutter on their shore (Willis et al. 2018). Moreover as established in the modern Basel Resolution contracted by more than 180 nations (Basel Convention 2019), guidelines are currently in place for skill in diverse plastic scrap among nations, limiting the capacity to transfer plastic waste and accumulative the need for local resolutions. Execution of Integrated Waste Management Systems is costly and sluggish, however. Emerging nations which lack waste supervision may not automatically be able to device such composite arrangements. In these situations, it is important to manage waste in order to reduce threats to communal healthiness and the manufacture of nautical clutter. For this purpose, it is possible to use landfills and incinerators as the key waste management techniques, potentially transforming them into more sustainable practices.
Removal and Assortment of Waste The principal step is to collect the discarded through the aggregation of sources (consumer collection) or through post segregation (Bing et al. 2014). The assortment of sources is desired since it is inexpensive and decreases waste emissions. Waste removal, which is more or less appropriate for customers (and, conversely, for municipalities liable for assortment) includes door-to-door crew, with or lacking fees, (b) curbside assortment, and (c) buying-back hubs (purchasing litter) or drop-off hubs. Profitable enticements to improve reprocessing charges can be optimistic, such as in buy-back schemes wherever an amount of money per package or weight is established (or refunded) to the customer, or undesirable, in the case of payments varying in mass and form of waste (with lesser recycling fees) in door-to-door assortment (Sidique et al. 2010) or by the use of smooth garbage containers. The location of payment morals is however a gentle undertaking: higher payments can lead to prohibited discarding or left-over incineration, while low fees would not disturb waste ingestion and segregation. Buy-back schemes, on the other hand, minimize littering, illegal waste, and collection costs. For example, after the introduction of the container deposit legislation, the buy-back program (Schuyler et al. 2018) decreased the number of beverage containers on the coast of the United States and Australia. A cost-benefit analysis of the payment reimbursement sequencers for infusion containers in Israel showed the commercial profits of this policy, primarily through
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preventing the transport of high capacity, low-mass brew containers via the processing of curbside waste (Dace et al. 2013). Although this assortment approach is linked to higher reprocessing charges and decreased scattering, it is also analyzed for its high cost, improved environmental influence through the simultaneous maintenance of payment reimbursement and curbside assortment systems, and high reprocessing proportions in certain nations, although the non-application of this strategy (Eriksson and Finnveden 2009). Thus, for each area and content, the use of payment reimbursement or buy-back schemes must be separately assessed.
Processing and Sustainability Door-to-door fee assortment also has the prospective to low left-over per capita and increased participation in reprocessing. While this approach is expensive for communities, costs can be lesser than landfilling and environmental left-over recovery, and it reflects the principle of “pay-as-you-throw.” In areas like Germany and San Francisco, USA, such door-to-door services are already being successfully introduced. Door-to-door schemes, however, enable residents to supply discarded in their homes, endanger communal well-being and discretion, and have high ecological influences resulting from time-consuming fossil-fueled-vehicle discarded assortment paths (Tanskanen et al. 1998). Alternatively, smart waste ampoules released by occupant cards, permitting only restricted waste volumes to be deposited at every opening, may deliver curbside waste assortment and legal use of discarded payments based on the capacity generated by each domiciliary. An increase in the number of left-over containers in curbside assortment, as well as an increase in the variety of source segregation containers, may boost recyclability and left-over dumping but should take into interpretation an upsurge in fossil-fueled-vehicle assortment exertions and a decrease in the bulk of single waste tributaries, which may increase the cost of recycling (Lavee 2010).
Avoiding Littering Another contributor to marine litter is the improper handling of waste, known as littering. Awaiting now, penalties have been pragmatic to littering as a inhibitive process. Sanctions though are counterproductive since they call for continuous observing. Thus, they should be paired with constructive supports, such as providing rewards for the proper removal of left-over (Ignatyev et al. 2014) or attractive to the individual’s moral responsibilities, because social penalties such as embarrassment (self-imposed) or humiliation (socially imposed) may reduce conduct. Optimistic supports comprise tax inducements or schemes for the repayment of deposits, which can also be recycled to boost reprocessing proportions (Gu and Ozbakkaloglu 2016). Plastic reprocessing is a multifaceted procedure consisting of (1) the processing of separate left-over by customers or in hubs; (2) the segregation of recyclables and
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the removal of pollutants; (3) polymer and color grounding and separation; (4) the extrusion into pellets of every polymer and pigment; and (5) the sale of reprocessed pellets to industrial firms. Polymer-based segregation of left-over is extremely challenging and can negotiation the absolute eminence of reprocessed plastics. Principal reprocessing (closed-loop) produces high-eminence plastics from unpolluted products commonly manufactured by producers (e.g., plastic back shields on flat-screen TVs), while tributary reprocessing (relegation) produces lesser-quality plastic from polluted plastic to be used in fewer challenging uses (e.g., building resources, fabrics, bitumen, concrete, and complexes). Recycled plastics can preferably be used in long-lasting and robust applications. Asphalt (Najafi 2013) and concrete can also be mixed into shredded plastic waste to strengthen its properties. Assorted polymers or assortments of plastics and nonplastics (e.g., timber) can also create strong and low fee thermoset complexes using a cross-linking compatibilizer agent (Peeters et al. 2012; Poulikakos et al. 2017) that can be recycled for example, as railway sleepers (Ferdous et al. 2015). Aggregates can eliminate the essential for polymer segregation and are stronger than their traditional equivalents (e.g., timber) for outdoor use, but cannot be extra recycled: (a) The high charge of the reprocessing practice relative to the low charge of new plastics (b) The deterioration and pollution of plastics, which restrict their use and the number of reprocessing cycles (Braungart et al. 2007) (c) The low recycling potential of certain plastic items, such as fabrics, stretchy wrapping, or coated plastics Instead, manufacturers demand a persistent resource of standard-quality raw materials, often difficult to attain with reprocessed plastic (Craighill and Powell 1996). We are optimistic that these issues can be solved by growing reprocessing proportions, improving the eminence of reprocessed products, and technical advances in the reprocessing progression. Reprocessing is the chosen form of waste supervision (Bernardo et al. 2016; Arena et al. 2003; Chilton et al. 2010; Lee and Xu 2005; Ross and Evans 2003), taking into account the environmental impacts. Recycling PET and PE, for instance, needs just half the energy required to manufacture virgin polymers (Arena et al. 2003). High carbon-based pollution and little capacity to substitute virgin plastics however can courtesy recycling completed incineration (Lazarevic et al. 2010). The environmental influences of recycling are typically the result of nonrenewable vitality use, conveyance, and the introduction of pitches and condiments (Gu et al. 2017).
Waste Management Strategies Nevertheless in waste management, recycling is also a priority. Reprocessing protects water and vitality, decreases discharges of pollution, decreases the essential for landfills, generates employment and increases indigenous economies, decreases
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resource ingresses, and expands the surroundings in general. Nations should attempt to increase their reprocessing proportions for these purposes. As previously mentioned, recycling can also become sparingly viable by enlightening principal reprocessing, placing dues on fresh plastics or over the compulsory expenditure of reprocessed plastics in all items. However, not all plastics can be cast off assorted; polluted and despoiled plastics are not ideal for reprocessing but can be used as feedstock’s or in the retrieval of energy.
Energy Recovery from Plastics Waste The heat rate of plastic waste can be used excellently by substituting coal, according to the CPCB report. The practice of plastic left-over as substitute energy, besides with a decrease in CO2 discharges, will help reduce energy costs. It is entirely burned at greater heat through co-incineration of plastic left-over in blast incinerator and cement furnaces, and slag, which remains as discarded, can be added used as cement and road erection. Because of the scorching of plastic left-over in the practice, there is no risk of generating toxic emissions, and the process is safe according to environmental norms. Establishments such as airport and railways required the development of an environmentally sociable waste organization scheme for the discarding of their premises produced plastic left-over (Klein et al. 2015). There is a crucial requirement to escalation community awareness to decrease the encumbrance of rejected plastics, as individuals are accountable for the contamination triggered by plastics. In recent years, new strategies have been made to, formulate upcoming plastic waste management strategies. In addition, upgrading technology for the removal of plastic waste is most important. In order to assist in sorting and segregating in accordance with IS14535:1998, virgin plastic goods shall be categorized with a plastic documentation code.
Ecological Pollutant Strategies Its impact on the environs and anthropological health is due to the excess use of plastic materials. In essence, because of its nonbiodegradable nature, plastic is currently considered a severe global ecological and health issue. Plastic vessels and coats help retain food healthy, but in the human body, they can moreover consent overdue neurotoxins like BPA. From pipes and floors to furniture and garments, PVC is used for everything, but it includes substances called phthalates that have been involved in male generative disorders. Research works have also exposed that later in life (Nate Seltenrich 2015), childhood revelation to ecological toxins may have substantial negative possessions. New logical approaches suitable for observing of various phthalates in different ecological, biological, and other atmospheres are increasingly in demand. Most commonly, separation and spectrometric approaches are used. However, due to their high compassion, fair selectivity, simple mechanization and miniaturization, and particularly low venture and organization
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charges, recent electroanalytical techniques can also play a convenient part in this area, which creates them ideal for large-scale observing.
Management of Plastic Left-over Plastic waste is processed in India at a rapid rate of urbanization. Socioeconomic growth, the degree of industrialization, the operating sector, and environment conditions also affect waste generation rates. In order to minimize the quantity of waste discarded on landfills by discriminating assortment, reuse, reprocessing, and retrieval of several solid waste, communities at large, municipalities, and local experts promoted by regulation have established guidelines for waste management (OECD 2001). In nations where waste supervision schemes are measured progressive, one of the techniques of reprocess, recovering, landfilling, or ignition is used to handle plastic waste disposal. A substantial punishment for noncompliance with the guidelines for successful enforcement should be included. Every year, India produces approximately 1.5 MT of plastic left-over. It collects and handles less than a quarter of the waste.
Reuse, Recycling, Ignition, and Landfill Re-use involves traditional reprocess where the object is used for the similar purpose again and new-life reclaim where a different function is used for it. Recycling, on the other hand, is the breakdown of the castoff product into fresh ingredients that are used to produce new ones. Reuse helps protect time, currency, vitality, and possessions by taking and exchanging valuable items without reprocessing them (OECD 2002a). Saving energy and raw materials by substituting several single-use goods for one reusable product decreases the amount of products that essential to be made. Reprocessing is a mechanism by which waste constituents are converted into fresh goods in order to avoid the waste of hypothetically usable constituents. A place for the removal of waste ingredients by interment and considered to be the eldest method of waste management is a landfill place also known as a discarding ground. Landfills have traditionally been the most common technique of organized left-over removal and endure in many places across the globe. In India, the reprocessing industry is scattered between the formal and informal industries. Prescribed reprocessing units are recorded, pay taxes, and are paid for by the municipality. Some landfills, such as the temporary storage, merging, and transition or treating of waste materials (categorization, handling, or reprocessing), are often used for waste management purposes. A landfill can also apply to soil filled with rocks instead of waste constituents, so that it can be used for a particular persistence, such as constructing firms. These areas may involve extreme trembling or liquefaction of the ground during a major seismic activity if they are not stabilized. Incineration is a method of waste management that includes the combustion of waste materials containing organic substances (OECD 2002b). The word “thermal treatment” defines incineration and other high-temperature waste handling schemes. Waste material incineration turns the waste into ash, fire gas, and heat.
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The ash is primarily made up of the waste’s inorganic constituents, which can proceed in the form of dense swellings or particles borne by the outlet gas.
Conclusion The major avoidance of contamination and discarded can be accomplished by directing factories to remove or minimize the quantity of toxic substances used in manufacturing, to lessen food packaging things and to create goods that latter longer and are informal to reprocess, reclaim, and restore. It seeks to decrease the complete waste manufactured at the source. In addition, we should inform and inspire individuals to purchase recycled goods, fix damaged objects, recycle, reuse, and compost products. Public well-being, the surroundings, resource scarceness, climate revolution, and public awareness and involvement in developed countries have served as SWM carters toward the existing paradigm arrangement improvements required to sort, collect, and handle relevant waste. It is proposed to devise and apply incentive policies for reprocessing activities and to create reprocessing funds. The management activities of plastic biomedical left-over are also one of the significant aspects of infection prevention and must be controlled. Landfill leachates are essential to be checked at periodic intervals for phthalates and their metabolites, metals, and other potential xenobiotics to protect them from argumentative effects. Abundant policy and regulatory approaches that inspire energy retrieval from waste, constrain choices for crucial waste removal, promote waste recycling and reuse, and promote left-over minimization directly affect GHG emissions from waste. In the postconsumer era, the extended producer responsibility [EPR] principles expand manufacturer responsibility, offering a durable inducement to restructure goods using less resources as well as those with higher reprocessing potential (OECD 2001). In marine systems where it has spread globally to even the most inaccessible haunts, contamination by plastics and polymeric produces is a growing environmental difficult. Smaller-scale plastic parts, microplastics (particles equilibrium constant Kc), that raises the quantity of the dimer in reactant side at the expense of BHET monomer as per the Le Chatelier’s principle of concentration stress. Therefore, to know about the optimum reaction conditions along with the selection of suitable catalyst for the glycolysis process is very important in order to eradicate the chances to reverse the reaction.
Metal Salt The eco-friendly active metal salts as catalysts are used for PET glycolysis process. The active metal salts are regarded as environmentally friendly and green catalysts, as they are not harmful to the ecosystem. A comparative analysis of catalyst potentiality of four metal salts, i.e., sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), and potassium sulfate (K2SO4), along with widely used conventional catalyst, i.e., zinc acetate (Zn(ac)2), was carried out by (Khoonkari et al. 2015). It was found after comparison that the zinc acetate brought nearly 65% yielding, whereas Na2CO3, NaHCO3, Na2SO4, and K2SO4 metal salt catalysts brought nearly 50%, 46%, 15%, and 2% yielding, respectively, by maintaining 196 C temperature and 7.6:1 molar ratio of EG/PET. Additionally, the influence of EG/PET molar ratio and temperature on the glycolysis reaction was also carried out. The results exhibit that when temperature is increased, the yielding of BHET monomer is also significantly increased. When temperature increases from 165 C to 180 C, the yielding of glycolysis process is also increased, and it has found that the optimum temperature to get maximum yielding is 180 C because further increment in temperature does not brought any change. By increasing the molar ratio, overall yield of the reaction is possible to improve, but it is limited due to the limited effect of temperature. With increasing EG/PET molar ratio from 4 to 6, the yielding of the product is increased, but further increment in molar ratio does brought any remarkable improvement in the yielding. Therefore, after achieving the optimum conditions for temperature, i.e., 180 C, EG/PET molar ratio, i.e., 6, and the selection of an appropriate catalyst along with its percentage, the product can be obtained with maximum yielding. All four metal salt catalysts were compared with conventional Zn(ac)2 catalyst. Although the Zn(ac)2 catalyst yielded the maximum product in the temperature range of 180–195 C, thus, it is regarded as most efficient catalyst for glycolysis in mentioned temperature range that is also said to be an ideal efficiency (L’opez-Fonseca et al. 2010; Imran et al. 2013). L’opez-Fonseca et al.
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(2011) addressed various probable issues associated with metal acetate catalysts, i.e., nonbiodegradability, nongreen catalyst, no control on the formation of reaction products (monomer, dimer, and oligomers), their toxicity, and laborious separation process. L’opez-Fonseca et al. (2011) have also investigated into the influence of the time, reaction temperature, molar ratios, catalyst types, and catalyst amount on the depolymerization process. The origin of PET waste is also a key factor, thus the effects of the type of PET waste being used (i.e., transparent, colored, degree of crystallinity, additive/virgin etc.), on the glycolysis reaction is also an interest seeker parameter. In order to investigate the effect of temperature, the glycolysis of PET was carried out at 165–195 C for 8 h of duration, at three different EG/PET molar ratios (3:8, 5:7, 7:6) and also at three different PET/catalyst molar ratios. In order to analyze the influence of reaction time on final yielding, the reaction was carried out in two different ways, first, without any catalyst, and, second, with catalyst. The results indicated that in case there is no catalyst, the glycolysis reaction rate remains extremely low, thus, more than 8 h of reaction duration needed to accomplish the same yielding percentage (i.e., 70%) as could be achieved within 1 h in the presence of catalyst. It is noteworthy that in case if glycolysis reaction takes extended time duration due to the excess formation of water and increased BHET density in product side, then this reaction will be reversed which makes it non-favorable for glycolysis as it would lack in efficiency. Therefore, prolonged reaction duration for glycolysis is never a desirable thing. L’opez-Fonseca et al. (2011) also have looked into the effect of the temperature by decreasing it from 196 C to the 185 C (boiling point of EG) and found that the yield of BHET has obtained as 67% that was 70% earlier. On further decreasing the temperature, i.e., 165 C, the yield of BHET has obtained 34% only.
High Surface Area Catalysts: Nanocomposite-Based Catalysts Nowadays, the nanomaterials are widely used in all the fields of applications due to their diverse and tunable properties. Nanomaterials are being used in the polymer industry in couples of years. One of the widely used nanomaterials is of nanoclaybased. Hydrotalcite is a nanoclay itself, and it is used as a nano-catalyst for the PET glycolysis for the purpose of imparting some specific properties in glycolyzed product, i.e., BHET. The catalytic efficiency of hydrotalcite in the PET polycondensation reaction was analyzed by (Xue et al. 2013). However, the surface of hydrotalcite needs to be functionalized by different treatments in order to make it suitable for polycondensation catalyst (Sharma et al. 2013). It is also analyzed that on calcination the activity of hydrotalcite catalyst decreases, significantly. But, on reversing the process, i.e., rehydration of calcinated hydrotalcite catalyst, it shows comparatively improved catalytic activity as compared to untreated hydrotalcite catalyst. The catalytic activity of hydrotalcite depends upon the molar ratio of Mg+2 to Al+3 in its chemical composition. It has been found that highest catalytic activity of hydrotalcite occurs if the molar ratio of Mg+2 to Al+3 is kept as two. The substitution of the CO32 ionic cite of hydrotalcite by comparatively more nucleophilic functional groups, i.e., –OH, –RO, etc., makes hydrotalcite more effective catalyst, thus brought out a faster polycondensation reaction. The chemical structure
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of hydrotalcite clay has two constitutional parts – primary part that consists of lamination of sheets into the plates, and secondary part of structure is agglomerated plates ended up in loose particles. The hydrotalcite clay having larger sheet size exhibits less catalytic activity as compared to smaller sheet-sized hydrotalcite. Besides, the milling off of hydrotalcite clay into smaller particles brought negligible effect on catalytic activity that might be due to the fact that on milling off the particles of hydrotalcite makes it interact on plate level that is not considered as an effected cite. The hydrotalcite clay sheets get expanded while the polycondensation reaction. However, after the polycondensation process is completed, the hydrotalcite clay is isolated, and it is reused for another polycondensation process. The catalytic reactivity of expanded hydrotalcite clay is found to be higher because of high surface area as compared to normal hydrotalcite (Parashar et al. 2013). The Dow chemical company (Michigan, USA) has recently patented about a layered double hydroxides (LDHs)/hydrotalcite (HT)-like compounds and claimed that they are safe, economical, and most effective catalysts for the production of PET. They have claimed that synthesized HT-like compounds are hazardless for ecosystems thus are suitable to use for food contact packaging without any confinements. The optimization to get superior catalytic activity of HT-like compounds for PET polycondensation reaction includes fine tuning of molar ratio of Mg+2 to Al+3 in its chemical compositions, the length and thickness of the layers, interlayers distances, –OH functional groups content, the nature of counter balancing anions, i.e. –OH, –RO. The depolymerization of PET flakes can be accomplished within few minutes using hydrotalcite (Al/Mg/CO3) catalytic system in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent. Further, the oligomer produced can be treated with NaOH in CH3OH at the room temperature that forms the precipitations of EG and MT in CH3OH. The depolymerization of PET flakes in the presence of hydrotalcite catalyst depends upon the reaction temperature. The outcomes exhibit that the catalytic activity of hydrotalcite is increased if the reaction temperature is increased gradually that further leads to high rate of depolymerization of PET. The maximum yielding of EG and MT was achieved (~98% conversion) at the temperature of 190 C within 10 min. Rest of the oligomers (~2%) remained dissolved into DMSO solvent and can be separated out by simple distillation process. The depolymerization reactions of PET were carried out by taking various concentrations of the hydrotalcite catalyst, and it is found that the PET depolymerized completely in 10 min when 0.5 gm amount of catalyst was taken. On further lowering the concentration of catalyst (i.e., 0.05 gm), the PET flakes take significantly high time to be depolymerized. Therefore, the conclusion drawn is that hydrotalcite catalyst system in the vicinity of an appropriate solvent, i.e., DMSO is capable to depolymerize the PET flakes into its oligomers, within 10 min. Thereafter, the obtained oligomers can be converted through room temperature transesterification reaction into EG and DMT. Once reaction is completed, the hydrotalcite is isolated and used for further reactions even with improved efficiency.
Recyclable Catalyst: Ionic Liquid Wang et al. have initiated the study in 2009 about the ionic liquids to be used for the glycolysis of PET (Wang et al. 2009a). The use of ionic liquids for glycolysis process
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over other metal-based conventional catalysts makes the purification of products easier. Various ionic liquids were prepared and were used to perform the glycolysis of PET at various temperatures and reaction times. It has been reported that by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([bmim] Br) ionic liquid-based catalyst for PET glycolysis reaction, cent percent conversion of PET into its monomers was accomplished in 8 h reaction time at 180 C. Since, the ([bmim] Br) catalyst is regarded as an efficient catalyst in reference to the conversion rate. Recently, the Fe holding magnetic ionic liquid was used as a catalyst for the PET glycolysis reaction. It is reported that Fe containing magnetic ionic liquid catalyst demonstrated improved catalytic activity as compared to the traditional metal salt catalyst or the pure ionic liquid catalyst along with the quantity of the catalyst influencing the conversion of PET and selectivity of BHET monomer (Wang et al. 2009b). Thereafter, Yue et al. (2011) have studied about catalytic activity and found that a basic [bmim]OH catalyst shows improved catalytic activity as compared to [bmim] Br and [bmim] Cl ionic liquid catalysts.
Subcritical and Supercritical Glycolysis The subcritical as well as supercritical glycolysis process of PET with ethylene glycol EG in order to produce BHET is investigated by several researchers since couples of years to acquire a process for PET recycling. In one of the studies by (Imran et al. 2010), the supercritical glycolysis has put through by maintaining the reaction temperature and pressure as 450 C and 15.3 MPa, respectively. The subcritical glycolysis of PET was accomplished by maintaining the reactions conditions as 350 C temperature and 2.49 MPa pressure, and in another lot the temperature and pressure were kept as 300 C and 1.1 MPa, respectively. The yielding of BHET monomer was obtained as 90% when PET was glycolyzed by either of the methods. By keeping the PET/EG weight ratio as 0.06, it has found that the optimum reaction time for supercritical glycolysis process has come as 30 min, whereas for subcritical glycolysis process, it comes as 75 min (350, 2.49 MPa) and 120 min (300 C, 1.1 MPa). The supercritical glycolysis of PET at 450 C and 15.3 MPa yields BHET monomer with the conversion rate of 93.5% in 30 min of reaction time, while in the subcritical glycolysis at 350 C/ 2.49 MPa and 300 C/1.1 MPa reaction conditions, the yielding of BHET with the conversion rate 94% takes 70 min, and conversion rate 92% takes 120 min, respectively. The reason behind the fast rate of reaction in supercritical conditions may be due to the high kinetic energy and solvent density. Furthermore, the active ester linkages present in PET gets dispersed uniformly at the supercritical conditions that increase the rate of reaction of glycolysis process. These results obtained from glycolysis of PET suggest that the maximum yielding, i.e., 90%, of BHET can be attained in a substantially short reaction time, i.e., 30 min by maintaining the supercritical conditions, i.e., 450 C and 15.3 MPa. The yielding of BHET monomers through sub- and supercritical glycolysis of PET becomes the function of reaction conditions, i.e., temperature and pressure post-30 min of the reaction
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initiation. The maximum BHET monomer was yielded as 93.5% at 450 C temperature and 15.3 MPa pressure. It has been observed that the increment in BHET monomer yielding was merely 10.1% when temperature was raised from 300 C to 400 C, whereas it was 83.06% while raising the reaction temperature from 400 C to 450 C. The greater increment in BHET yielding (83.06%) from 400 C to 450 C was due to the reason that in this temperature range, the EG goes through the state transition from subcritical to supercritical that subsequently enhanced the glycolysis reaction rate of PET in a short duration.
Microwave-Assisted Glycolysis The microwave-assisted glycolysis process is considered superior over other process in terms of reaction duration. It occurs at considerably higher rate than other conventional processes, i.e., electrical heating. In glycolysis reaction PET reacts with the EG to form BHET monomer along with other oligomers molecules of high weight. The produced oligomers are water-insoluble due to high molecular weight; therefore they are mixed in water and then can be separated out through filtration. The filtrate contains BHET monomer, unreacted EG molecules, and some water soluble dimers/oligomers. The filtrate is cooled down so that BHET monomer can be precipitated out; those were later on purified by the recrystallization process. The needle-shaped white crystals of BHET are obtained. The effect of the reaction time and the molar ratio of PET/EG content on the yielding of BHET during microwave-assisted glycolysis is analyzed by Chaudhary et al. (2013). Researchers have found that the yielding of BHET monomer increases significantly along with the procession of microwave-assisted glycolysis reaction, and thereafter if the reaction is left to proceed for further extended duration, the BHET monomer yielding decreases. This decline in BHET yielding can be assigned to the polycondensation process of BHET that predominates the glycolysis process. The molar ratio of PET/EG as 1:2 comes out to be adequate for the microwave-assisted glycolysis reaction. By taking this ratio, the yielding of BHET accomplishes to nearly 20% after half an hour reaction duration. By increasing the PET/EG molar from 1:2 to 1:6, the yielding of BHET monomer increases, significantly. On conventional electrical heating, the glycolysis process takes comparatively longer duration to get accomplished. In this process, conversion of PET into its monomers after 8 h achieves 100% at 190C temperature along with 44% yielding of BHET by keeping PET/EG ratio at 1:6. In order to promote increase in the yielding percentage of BHET, the glycolysis of the produced oligomers remained as residue from 1st glycolytic cycle which is recommended in another step rather than continuing the 1st glycolytic cycle for prolonged duration. For this intention, the oligomer obtained in 1st glycolytic cycle as residue can be reacted with the EG to the formation of BHET. It has been found that while residual oligomers are exposed to microwave irradiation for 10 min, the entire amount converts into the BHET monomer.
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Enzymatic Glycolysis The depolymerization methods for PET based on the biotechnological environmental friendly concepts, i.e., enzyme catalysis, possess vast advantages as compared to the conventional chemical-based methods. Such processes are nowadays attracting the attentions of researchers from throughout the globe (Schulte et al. 2013). For this purpose, the knowledge of enzyme technology is very much essential. The enzymatic methods for PET glycolysis is advantageous over other methods and it consists the concept that the action of bio enzymes by putting negligible energy under the modest conditions without any need of expensive efforts, is very encouraging for the depolymerization of PET (Fischer-Colbrie et al. 2004). The enzymes used for biodegradation of PET are usually extracted from a variety of bacterial and fungal sources (Ronkvist et al. 2009). The member enzymes of the cutinase (Then et al. 2015), lipase (Eberl et al. 2009), and esterase (Tokiwa et al. 2009; Oeser et al. 2010) classes are found to be capable for PET biodegradation. It has been found by Vertommen et al. (2005) that the extent of PET biodegradation using the cutinase enzyme extracted from Fusarium solani pisi and lipase enzyme extracted from the Candida antarctica can be calculated by measuring the quantity of obtained soluble biodegradation products, those that are produced after a certain period of biodegradation of PET, through reversed phase HPLC method. Synthetic polymers, i.e., PET are conceived as nonnatural substrates for the enzymatic reactions; thus such polymers are regarded as nonstandard material for biodegradation that leads to draggy rate of enzymatic reaction (Tokiwa and Suzuki 1977). Researchers (Silva et al. 2011) have put forward the protein engineering studies through which the affinity of cutinase enzyme toward PET polymer as well as ability to hydrolyzation can be significantly increased. The degradation of synthetic polymers begins at higher reaction temperature. Consequently, the site-specific mutagenesis along with protein engineering approach needs to be executed to enhance the cutinase enzyme’s thermal stability. Studies carried out on the enzymatic biodegradation of PET polymer shows that the limitation can be overcome by increasing the flexibility of polymer chain by heating the PET in its amorphous phase that makes it fairly accessible toward enzymatic biocatalytic site (Marten et al. 2005). Thus, the special configuration of polymeric chains, their flexibility, and the type of solvent being used play a major role in degradation. Unfortunately, the enzymatic biodegradation reactions are sluggish and their efficiency is very low, i.e., 15%. However, in order to address the issue, many research fellows have demonstrated about how the rate of enzymatic degradation can be enhanced. Out of many, one method is to add tiny amount of hydrophobin recombinant fusion enzyme along with the main biocatalytic enzyme. The hydrophobins are proteins those that are rich in cysteine amino acid and have capability to develop a hydrophobic layer coating. The additional hydrophobins, i.e., HFB4 and HFB7, are capable to modify the physical and chemical properties of the surface of biocatalytic enzyme that results in approximately 15-fold increment in the PET biodegradation (Ribitsch et al. 2013, 2015).
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PET Recycling, Circular Economy, and Sustainability The PET polymer is a fully recyclable material. The recycled PET is named as rPET. In early 1990s, PET has replaced the PVC at large proportion that is a less recyclable material and has high molecular weight. While using the PET material instead of PVC for plastic bottle manufacturing reduces the weight of bottle by 30% that leads to lesser emissions from transportation and logistics process. PET is already the most recycled material in entire world, but its collection and rate of recycling deviate extremely from country to country. The plastic industries are taking opportunities of general awareness and working with the cooperative groups, NGOs, local bodies, governments, and other companies to raise the rate of plastic recycling along with participating in the formal as well as informal systems of waste management in order to use recycled polymers, i.e., rPET for the development of new products. For the recycling process, first PET materials, i.e., bottles, are collected and sorted; washed with normal and alkaline water, i.e., NaOH solution; and then cut into small chips/ flakes, washed again, and thereafter extruded into continuous thick thread that is palletized later on as per the requirement. These pallets are melted down later to form new products. The rPET materials are used either to form new bottles by blown molding or to form various products, i.e., clothing, carpets, industrial products, etc. All the involved stakeholders including plastic producers, recycler firms, governing authorities, and end user should work hand in hand on a four-point strategy in order to ascertain the second life for plastics. The four-point strategy consists of collection, collaboration, innovation, and engagement. The collection as well as separation of post-consumer PET bottles is possible to achieve only by active involvement of all concerned stakeholders. The European Union has framed a target for the year of 2025 to accomplish bottles collection and recycling rate as 90% for sustainability interest, and that is not possible to attain without active involvement of the stakeholders. Starting from the collection of post-consumer-discarded PET bottles to end user of rPET products through various ways of consumer chain, the recycling of PET involves a cyclic circular economy or the idea of circularity. Other two attributes of four-point strategy including “to be innovative” and “mutual engagement.” The packaging bottle manufacturing developers are much concerned to invest into designing the highly sustainable packaging and also spending a big proportion of their profit money into the research to find out innovative novel packaging materials from renewable, natural, and nonfossil-based origins. Companies are organizing various campaigns in order to make their consumers aware and educated about the opportunities associated with PET recycling and their righteous role to bring up a circular economy loop into many lives. The various chemical techniques for PET recycling emerged as novel techniques for a changeover toward a circular economy especially for packaging related PET wastes (Meys et al. 2020; Singh et al. 2017, 2018). In order to ascertain about the environmental and ecological benefits associated with chemical recycling, have brought in a reproducible LCA-based technique that estimates ecological as well as environmental benefits from chemical recycling methods. The researchers have employed this technique to analyze the impact of recycling of packaging waste of PP, PET, LDPE, PS, and HDPE plastics on the
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environment. The outcomes estimated that all the chemical-based pathways of PET recycling lead to abridge the global warming consequences as well as the diminution of fossil resource if the sorted wastage of plastic packaging is used. Various waste incinerators being used nowadays are facing mainly two problems: first, they have depressed efficiency of producing heat/electricity, and, second, they have high carbon emissions. The maximum capability to dilute the impacts of global warming and depletion of fossil resources can be attained through chemical upcycling of postconsumer-discarded PET into the 1,4-cyclohexane dimethanol rather than to go for energy recovery through incinerators. An ideal chemical upcycling of postconsumer-discarded PET can obviate approximately 4.2 kg of CO2- equivalent and nearly 1.4 kg of oil – equivalent to 1 kg mass of PET wastage. The impacts of global warming and depletion of fossil resources can be cut down even for the depressed conversion rates, i.e., 70% of biodegradation. Instead of treating the collected plastic waste in the solid waste incinerators at municipal level, the energy extraction processes are nowadays being executed through the mechanical recycling or through cement kiln combustion. If the reduction in the impacts of global warming is taken as a major concern, then the collected plastic wastage should be considered either for mechanical recycling or in cement kilns, rather than converting them into the fuels or refinery feedstock. Topic-based online search was carried out in Science Direct database by writing various keywords, i.e., “circular economy,” “PET recycling,” “circular economy, PET recycling”, and “circular economy, PET recycling, sustainability.” The results were customized in two ways – first, only research papers and review articles shall be shown in final results, and, second, in the duration of 2016 to 2020. The results were shown by the number of research papers and review articles of the last 5 years from 2016 to 2020, shown in Fig. 6. The graph shows that these interlinked areas of research are gaining the attention of researchers; thus the number of publications is significantly increasing from 2016 to 2020. It is remarkable that the along with the “PET recycling” and “circular economy,” the topic “sustainability” was associated in merely 28 papers in 2016, and it was enhanced by 414% in 2019 with 114 research publications. The publications about “PET recycling” have increased by 70% in 2019 compared to those in 2016. Such details about the publications show the interest of researches in the circular economy concept. The concept to develop the circular economy over linear economy leads to putting an appropriate increment in the plastic recycling within the loop of economy in order to accomplished the human needs by keeping resource extraction minimum, and it also attracts the attention of governmental policy makers, legislations (Zhijun and Nailing 2007), and individual industries shown in their action plans (Bocken et al. 2016). The European Commission (EC) has pursued a motivational campaign to promote the strategies for circular economy especially for the plastics. An objective has been framed by the EC in order to ascertain that 10 million tons amount of plastics will have to recycled to produce new products by the year 2025 and out of total amount, approximately 25% of recycled plastics shall be used for bottle production (Setboonsarng 2019). There are a number of textile as well as other industries that come out in support and are using rPET up to a reasonable proportion in their products. Various novel real-time applications of rPET are being searched
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No. of publications (Research papers + Review papers) PET recycling
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Circular Economy Circular economy, PET recycling 3000
Circular economy, PET recycling, Sustainability
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0 2020*
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Fig. 6 Science Direct database by searching “circular economy,” “PET recycling,” “circular economy,” “circular economy + PET recycling,” and “circular economy + PET recycling + sustainability” keywords
and explored in order to breakthrough an advanced generalized method for reclaiming the PET fibers for further various applications. In order to support the recycled material-based market, recently, a Thai-based company named Indorama Ventures and some other companies have invested a huge sum for the PET reclamation plants (Setboonsarng 2019). Unremarkably, putting circular economy forward will have a large capability in order to connect the society for a mutual goal, and further it will bring an excellent coordination among the companies, civil society, local government, and other stakeholders by working out together without harming and using natural resources very expeditiously, along with increasing the benefits (Lieder and Rashid 2016) and serving the useful applications (Tukker 2015) to more individuals. Since the last decade, the literature has been explored intensively for the circular economy potential associated with the PET life cycle especially for bottleto-bottle method. It has been found that the use of rPET is increased significantly for the bottle manufacturing between the year of 1991 and 2011 nurtured by the betterment in the decontamination capabilities with super clean process of recycling (Welle 2011). Rochat et al. (2013) have advocated the bottle-to-bottle recycling pathway claiming the environmental economic and social benefits calculated through material flow analysis (MFA), life cycle assessment (LCA), and multiattribute utility theory (MUT). In another research, Kuczenski and Geyer (2013)
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explained that the bottle-to-bottle recycling pathway for the Californian scheme of refundable plastic bottles is not harming the environment and ecosystem. Nevertheless, the applications of rPET have been approached beyond the bottle production industry; despite it, a primary purchase of the rPET object for a specific application shall impel the other productions, i.e., sheet, fiber, and film, etc., to depend on the virgin PET. The acceptability for the plastic products is slumping among the people, and the replacement of vPET with rPET in the bottle manufacturing is progressively turning into a selling argument. Increasing the use of rPET to produce new bottles may lead toward the maximizing material efficiency as well as minimizing the environmental harms. The data shows that nearly 4.6% of PET in the US market in the year of 2016 was going around in the closed loop for bottle-tobottle recycling pathway, whereas nearly 9.8% of PET was circulated through an open-loop manner toward the applications of films, sheets, fibers, etc. An integrated assessment of MFA-LCA framework showed (Lonca et al. 2020) that increasing the closed-loop recycling pathway in the bottle manufacturing industry will neither cut down the production of vPET nor decline the emission of GHG in the views of entire the market. A simplified representation of the actual US PET flows with tested key circularity parameters is shown in Fig. 7. The closed-loop recycling pathway for PET is considered to be beneficial for ecosystem and environment even if it is not recycled. It can be made to be circulated as much as maximum rounds in circular economy loop in order to utilize it at maximum extent. The main focus should be on the ways to discover the methods for increase the collection rate of post-consumer bottle as well as to improve the efficiency of recycling process. The attributes
Fig. 7 (a) simplified representation of the actual USA PET flows with tested key circularity parameters. (b) slopes representing the influence of key parameters to the total impacts on climate change of the US PET market, such that, e.g., (ΔI)μ ¼ (Iμ1-Iμ0) / (μ1-μ0). The lower it is, the lesser overall impacts (Lonca et al. 2020). (Reproduced with due permission from Copyright Clearance Center RightsLink ® Elsevier])
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increasing the circularity of one product for circular economy may or may not be beneficial for other products as well. The circular strategies for a specific material at product level may or may not provide the significant benefits if the material is considered for final use that has no option of recycling. It is regarded as a more beneficial material than recovered quantities. Integrating the material circularity assessment (MCA) with LCA led to knowing about the trade-offs among the circularity of materials, environmental performance, and life cycle of the material. The aggregated usefulness of LCA and MFA helps to figure out the overall risk associated with burden shifting which is caused by the unintended outcomes of the market effects taking place beyond the scope of an individual product. The assessment of circular strategies in order to establish circular economy loop is needed at the product level believing a wider reach of analysis in case there is a competition among the users in same material market. Nevertheless, a significant number of benefits can be anticipated after putting through the circular economy on the larger scale. For example, a bottle production company may not experience a straight gain by opting the use of rPET in order to produce further products but being in favor to the PET circularity within the market level, i.e., putting the effort to increase the collection and plastic reclamation instead of focusing on to increase the competition in the market of rPET, may contribute in ascertaining the sustainability of PET bottle market. The circular economy interprets a more sustainable and an alternative model to the conventional linear economy. A linear model of economy consists the production, utilization, and thereafter disposal of the product. Whereas in the circular economy approach, the resources are kept in use for as prolonged period as possible, by taking out the maximum value while in use, and thereafter regenerate the products when its service life ends. The diverse properties of the plastics make them capable to play an important role in order to experience a resource efficient as well as more sustainable future. Due to light in weight, the durable and versatile plastics help in to save the key resources, i.e., water and energy, in various fields of service consisting building and construction sector, packaging, automotive and renewable energy sector, etc. In order to develop an efficient pathway for the circular economy, it is essential to confirm that the decisions around an appropriate solution should be based on the sustainability associated with the entire life cycle instead of considering merely efficiency aspects of resource only at the last use of the product. All the plastics put a substantial involvement into the circular economy when the life cycle of their entire life is analyzed. Our economy has been linear since a long time because the natural as well as crude oil-based raw materials are being used to produce the products, and they were discarded after end use, i.e., packaging materials without thinking about their recycling or reuse. The future will not go anymore hand in hand with the concept of linear economy; thus, it is need of the hour to shift onto the circular economy concept. That consists of the preventing of waste materials by enabling the materials and products more efficient and easy to reuse and recycle. The new raw materials needed to develop objects must be produced sustainably by maintaining the human and natural environment intact.
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Conclusion Circular economy is an economic practical and executable system through which the products are designed to be used/reused up to a maximum extent. From the beginning, the selection of material and designing of the product should be match the concept that ensures zero materials lose, zero output of toxins, attainment of maximum utilization from each process, component and material. If the circular economy concept is employed rightly, it is beneficial for the economy, society, and the environment as well. The materials associated with the packaging must be designed in accordance to any of the systems named reuse system, recycling system, and the composting system. As far as the new plastic economy is concerned, none of the plastic is considered to be waste or pollutant for the environment. Three major goals are needed to be achieved to make such economy true that results in the creation of circular economy for PET. This chapter emphasizes on the complete elimination of all the unnecessary and problematic plastic products; impart the innovation to make sure that the plastics being in use are easily reusable, recyclable by physical (preferred)/chemical method, or compostable/biodegradable; and ensure the circulation of PET items being in use to hold them within the economy loop for extended duration so that we can keep them out of the environmental concern. Without the continuous elimination of unnecessary PET products, circular economy concept cannot be attained. As the demand of plastic packaging materials seems to be two-folded within coming two decades, it seems an inconceivable task to maintain this incoming stream of the PET materials into the economy to make it a circular economy. Also, in order to accomplish a circular economy, the quantity of the material that requires to be circulated and enroll in the economy has to be decreased. Since the last couple of years, a significant increment in the business as well as in the government interest has been reported in terms of the dedication and action on the “reuse” concept in various forms, i.e., single lab level, pilot lab level, research initiatives, technology transfer, and reuse-focused novel startups.
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plastic Waste and Its Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Situation in Nepal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste Management in Nepal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Municipal Solid Waste Management in Nepal (SWM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theoretical Framework: Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Method and Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ISWM in Nepalese Municipality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stakeholders’ View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plastic Waste and Its SWM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Management and Cost Responsibilities of SWM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Solution to Plastic Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recover Material from Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sustainable Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental and Social Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Complementing Strategies for the ISWM in Nepal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Household Behavioral Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scaling up the Recovery Rate and Collection Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tax and Charges on Plastic Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Landfill Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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B. Bharadwaj (*) School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia e-mail: [email protected] R. K. Rai School of Forestry and Natural Resource Management, Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_54
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Abstract
Used plastics are nondegradable solid waste; responsible for soil and water pollution. The use of plastic bags and packaging is increasing. There are strong voices to impose a ban on plastics in general and single-use plastic bags in particular in many parts of the world. However, stakeholders involved in the plastic supply chain have a different economic motive and have different opinions regarding the plastic ban and management strategy. This chapter is based on the primary data collected through the interview with 100 respondents from 5 different stakeholders and secondary information from 43 municipalities of Nepal. This chapter assessed the stakeholders perception of plastic waste management and then developed the integrated solid waste management for Nepal. The findings suggest that stakeholders have their own idea and constraints to manage used plastics. Producers oppose ban policy, whereas NGO and environmental activists see it as a solution. Stakeholders were inconclusive on whether an additional levy on plastic discourages its use. Producer and policymaker fear levy on plastic will increase the price for numerous consumer goods affecting employment and low-income consumers. Collectors suggest that segregation and the increased price of recyclables would boost the employment and recovery rate. Municipalities, who are responsible for solid waste management, seek support from central government. Despite these discrepancies, all stakeholders agreed that recycling and reuse of used plastic could be the common point of agreement. In their view, recycling of waste promotes business for collectors, provides raw material to processors, reduces the waste burden, reduces import of plastic, and contributes to keeping the environment clean. Keywords
Solid waste management · Stakeholders · Recycling · Collectors · Plastic
Introduction Consumption is the founding block of the global economy. Consumption is linked to waste generation, including solid waste. Both consumption and solid waste are increasing. Management of the increased solid waste is becoming challenging day by day, due to several reasons. First, the production of solid waste is increasing, needing more resources and effort to tackle it (Karak et al. 2012). A daily global waste production is three and a half million tons – ten times compared to a century before – and the production is increasing (Washington Post, 21 November 2017). This increasing production of solid waste demands environmental resources such as land and water bodies; and management chain requires human resources, informal though. Also, it threatens the capacity of urban infrastructures such as drainage system (Pervin et al. 2019). Second, the combination of material into the waste is changing due to the nature of waste produced. The characteristics of waste are shifting from organic to
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inorganic and complex materials that are hard to handle. Increasing innovation and expansion of a complex production system produce a complicated combination of materials such as colored plastic. After the consumption, these products, used for packaging, enter into the waste stream and change the waste characteristics. This ultimately becomes more complicated to manage. For instance, the production of nuclear waste from an X-ray machine or medical waste is increasing. When the waste after the use of these materials enters into the waste, they are hard to segregate and manage. These materials in the waste risk human health and environment for a long duration of time. The growing use of plastic is another challenge. Third is the socio-ecological aspect of solid waste management (SWM). Since SWM is a multiscale and have multi-stakeholders. It involves a large number of stakeholders and socio-ecological factors such as population, environmental buffering capacity, and management capabilities. The population is not evenly distributed. Some areas are densely populated, such as in South Asia, where finding an appropriate landfill away from residential areas is challenging. A rapidly increasing population in this region will make SWM more complex in the future. Shrinking buffering capacity of the environment is another important ecological aspect impacted by poor waste management. The environment acts as a sink of waste from the economic process. As the environment is already overloaded with waste and pollutants, adding a little more may cross the buffering capacity of the ecosystem and result in unexpected damages. GHG emission from the burning of fossil fuel and other activities is a serious concern. The additional emission from solid waste will have a severe consequence. Besides, ocean and water bodies already have loads of plastic and toxic materials into it; adding one more unit may worsen the quality more than it would have done a few decades before. With reduced carrying or buffering capacity of the environment and ecological system, an increased flow of waste is likely to have immense consequences in the future. Fourth, the disparity in waste management capacity across the cities is another challenge. Some cities have an effective SWM so that the final quantity of waste that reaches landfill is much smaller than the volume produced. For example, the facts and figure about materials, waste, and recycling provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency (accessed in 2020 August 31) show that the production of waste is increasing over time. However, the amount of waste in the landfill is almost constant in recent decades, due to recycling and waste-to-energy recovery. On the other hand, South Asia is experiencing rapid urbanization with an increasing volume of waste production due to the limited resources and capacity of South Asian cities; the flow of waste is likely to increase with an increased negative impact. Cities in developing countries will attract more rural migrants and will serve as a waste production center. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs suggests that currently 55% of the population live in urban areas and the urban population will constitute 68% of the total population by 2050 (DESA 2018). In developing countries, solid waste is one of the major problems of local authorities. Municipalities are preliminary responsible for household level and one of the highcost activities (Guerrero et al. 2013).
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However, waste is also a resource as it denotes unused or unwanted materials. Unused for one could be usable for others. Technology helps to convert waste into many consumable resources such as waste to energy. Recovery of waste material provides essential resources to the different sector such as raw material for industries and fertilizer for agriculture. Besides this, waste management is already an ample employment opportunity, though informal work environment continues to challenge the whole process. The municipality can generate revenue from SWM, such as the fee for collection and revenue by selling recycling. Besides this, an extended benefit includes the increased price of the property in cleaner neighborhood (Nepal et al. 2020) and carbon credit from GHG reduction through SWM (Zheng and Suh 2019).
Plastic Waste and Its Challenges Increasing use of plastic has become global, and concern on plastic waste production and its broad-ranging impact is contributed by all three factors mentioned in the first section. Increasing use of plastic has a positive contribution to the solid waste stream. Darrin Qualman illustrated that the global production of plastic is increasing exponentially. The production of plastic was deficient until 1940, which has reached more than 400 million ton a day. Increasing use of plastic is associated with its strength. For example, plastic is convenient to use and provides several commercial advantages. From medical equipment to food packaging, plastic provides several advantages such as lightweight, nonconductive, waterproof, flexibility, and strength. It also contributes to reducing organic waste. However, its environmental consequences are a major concern. Plastic is made up of petrochemical – with high GHG emission footprint. A significant portion of the plastic used is disposable after use. Water bottle, for instance, is used once and thrown away. Polythene bag has also a similar story. These are frequently used items and disposable use of plastic pushed the solid waste volume up. Usually, plastic takes a too long time to decay and decompose; and remain in the environment and landfill, probably up to 1000 years. Also, plastic clogs the drain, causing flooding. This can threaten the capacity of urban infrastructure, particularly of drainage during the rainy season (Pervin et al. 2019). Further, animals ingest it. According to plastic statistics from Ocean Crusaders, a million sea birds and a hundred thousand sea animals die due to the plastic ingestion and entangling. They indicate mismanaged plastic waste disposed of in the ocean is a major source of plastic pollution. Increasing use and wide externalities to environment, plastic pollution has now become a global concern (Haward 2018). Weak solid waste management is responsible for the release of used plastic into the environment. Absence of SWM means households have to either burn it or release it into the environment. Even if municipalities in a developing country are collecting the waste; they are dumping it somewhere outside the residential areas such as river bank and forest, these practice release a vast amount of plastic into the environment. These plastics pollute environment and threat human/animal life for hundreds of years. Also, burning is one way of managing plastic waste and common practice in developing countries. The toxic pollutant from the burning plastic harms human
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health. Plastic is light, dispatched around the city to reduce the aesthetic and cleanliness of the city. Another way of managing plastic is to reuse and recycle. This will reduce the plastic disposed into the environment and generate resources for the municipality. Therefore, improving SWM in developing countries will have twofold contributions: (i) financing SWM and (ii) reduced environmental damage. The municipal SWM is very challenging and costly activity, which likely to escalate in the future. This is not only a waste issue but also the social, geopolitical, financial, and environmental problem. Developing countries have poor infrastructure, weak supply chain, low technological capacity, and low social acceptance toward waste management. Therefore, SWM is more challenging in the global south (Guerrero et al. 2013). The case of the developing world is vastly different. Therefore, a proper and comprehensive view of SWM practices in urban areas of developing countries and a framework to operationalize the waste management is critical. This chapter aims to fulfil this gap with the SWM story of Nepal.
Solid Waste Situation in Nepal According to a report by the World Bank, a daily average solid waste production of Nepal is 0.12 KG per capita. This quantity is far less compared to an average daily production of solid waste (0.6 kg per capita) in the underdeveloped country (Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata 2012). A reason could be low urbanization and per capita income. Nepal has seen rapid urbanization in recent years. The urban population has increased from 13.9% to 17% between 2001 and 2011 (CBS 2012). The proportion of household living in urban settings in newly reformed municipalities is around 64% (CBS 2017). Besides, high population density, urbanization is also characterized with the increased consumption of processed food products and complex economic activities. Usually, processed food products have a longer shelf life that uses plastic, paper, and metal for packaging, handling, and transportation (Ngoc and Schnitzer 2009). The urban households have a higher demand for electronic appliances such as television, fridge, computer, and mobile phones. Increased consumption of these various products not only increases the volume of solid waste but also increases the variety of materials in the solid waste stream. The composition of solid waste has both spatial and temporal variations (Miezah et al. 2015). For instance, densely populated cities have a high percentage of inorganic material such as plastic and paper as compared to the sparsely populated cities. For instance, Kathmandu – the capital city of Nepal – has 64% of organic material and 16% of plastic in the solid waste, whereas Narayan municipality, a small town in the mid-western hills, has 85% of organic material and 7% as plastic in its solid waste. The contribution of inorganic material is also changing over time. Plastic waste is increasing gradually, while the share of metal is being reduced (SWMTSC 2008, 2012). This might be due to the increased use of plastic material instead of metal in the production process. Plastic waste is one of the major concerns of the urbanization. Plastic waste is increasing gradually over the year in Nepal (see Fig. 1). The
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Fig. 1 Plastic and organic material in a municipal solid waste stream over the year. The data is from various sources such as study reports and survey data
share of plastic was minimal in 1970, and now it is up to 10% of the total waste (SWMTSC 2012). Based on the import data from the Department of Custom and population projection from central bureau of statistics, plastic use has increased from 5.04 kg per person to 11.35 kg per person between 2010 and 2016. It is difficult to estimate the weight of plastic imported in pieces and length, hence excluded in these estimates. This figure excludes the recycled plastic, import of finished plastic goods, plastic used to pack the imported goods, and plastic embedded in other products such as laptops and mobile. On an average, per capita waste production was 62 kg per person per year in 2012. It was estimated that plastic constitutes about 15% (3.52 t) of the daily solid waste (24 t) produced by a municipality. Of total plastic waste produced, 64% (2.26 t) is collected and dumped through municipal waste collection service (SWMTSC 2012).
Solid Waste Management in Nepal Nepal had its first waste management institution in 1891 as Safai Adda (Safai ¼ cleaning, Adda ¼ office). This institution mobilized cleaners in the Kathmandu Valley – to clean the road and public places. The waste management responsibilities were then transferred to Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur – three municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley, in 1950. The initial phase of SWM was to collect solid waste and throw away from the residential areas.
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SWM was not an issue a few decades back. Especially before the people movement in 1990, urban areas were not crowded, plastic was still new, and households used to practice farming on some form such as kitchen garden or small farm even in Kathmandu Valley. Household used organic waste as manure, sell the recyclable to collector, and dump or burned remaining waste. There was open space such as river bank and public places where households used to dump their waste. An urban household survey in 1996 showed that around half of the urban households dumped solid waste in the public or fixed place, 17% burned it, 16% were served by municipal solid waste collection service, and 15% of household used to make compost (CBS 1997). SWM started to become an issue as urban area gradually expanded, and cities started to receive migrants. The urban household survey, 1996, revealed that 59% of the surveyed households perceived unmanaged solid waste as a major environmental problem in their locality. During that period most of the waste was organic, and use of plastic was negligible, which constitutes only 0.3% of the total waste (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2005). With an increased urbanization and use of plastic waste, plastic and other materials in the solid waste increased, and SWM started to became a public concern. Municipalities were implementing several solid waste reduction and management activities at their capacity. Hetauda Municipality, for instance, implemented a ban on the use of a single-use plastic bag in 1995. Biratnagar Municipality implemented solid waste collection in 1997. However, municipalities lack a strong legal framework, resources, and technology to address SWM concerns. These decentralized SWM initiatives scaled up rapidly after the implementation of the Local Self-Governance Act (1999). The Act devolved SWM responsibilities to the municipality. After the enforcement of the Act, the municipality can implement their SWM, collection fee, and landfill sites. After the decentralization of the responsibilities, several municipalities started to implement the SWM and solid waste reduction initiatives. A program was aiming public mobilization. Suiro Abhiyan (iron hook campaign) in Hetauda and Bharatpur municipality during 2005 provided hooks at household level. The participating households collected plastic in the hook, which was collected periodically by the respective municipality. In addition, municipalities were encouraging the use of organic waste such as waste to biogas and waste to composting providing compost bin in subsidy. Several NGOs were also engaged in solid waste collection and management activities such as Nepal Pollution Control and Environment Management Center and Urban Environment Management Society. Recently different private ventures are emerging to collect the used material and recycle it, such as Khaalisisi ® and Doko Recyclers ®. Although an informal rag-picking is a common practice in Nepal, these ventures are more sophisticated with the improved service mechanism and more attractive price.
Municipal Solid Waste Management in Nepal (SWM) Nepal observed a rapid urbanization with new urban centers around the highway in the recent decades. A decade-long insurgencies and civil war fueled rapid migration from rural to town around the east-west highway (Subedi 2014). A report from
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UNFPA shows that 27 out of 75 districts, in the mid-hills, have a negative trend in the population growth from 2001 to 2011. In addition, several village development committees were upgraded to municipalities during 2014 and 2015, as they meet the criteria to become municipalities. Due to the rapid and unplanned urbanization, SWM started to become an issue everywhere, especially in the municipality with a high population density. The demand for hospital and hazardous waste was also increasing. Cross-municipality collaboration for integrated SWM is in urgent need and starting gradually. Nepal introduced the Solid Waste Management Act (2011) to address all emerging issues in SWM. The Act has provisions related to SWM system, collection fee, responsibilities of residents, and fine for noncompliance. Two years later, the Government of Nepal enforced regulation to implement the Act. In 2015, Nepal adopted the federal governance system. The constitution of Nepal provided authority to local governments to manage solid waste. Municipalities can formulate their own SWM Act and implement it. Ilam Municipality implemented a plastic bag ban in 2010 (Bharadwaj et al. 2021). The ban was successful in reducing the use of a single-use plastic bag in the town. Other municipality followed suit. Mechinagar and Damak, for instance, enforced a similar kind of ban. However, not all municipalities, who intended to enforce a complete ban, were unsuccessful due to resistance from the stakeholders such as retailers and plastic good producers. Ministry of Forests and Environment (then the Ministry of Environment) implemented a plastic bag reduction and control directive in 2011. The directive prohibited the use of plastic bag thinner than 20μm. This partial ban – ban on plastic bag thinner than 20μm – became a convergence point for all stakeholders. Retailers were allowed to use the plastic bag but of thicker size (>20μm), and producers could continue to the bag production. Several municipalities followed the directive and implemented the partial ban. In 2013, Kathmandu metropolitan city declared a complete ban on a plastic bag. However, the association of plastic good producers/manufacturers challenged the plastic bag ban in the Supreme Court of Nepal. The Supreme Court ordered to halt the decision until the case is finalized. In the absence of enforcement, this ban becomes ineffective. Two years later in 2015, the Government of Nepal decided to ban the use of the plastic bag in Kathmandu Valley with a strong legal footing. The ban was published in the Government Gazette, and the preparation was well planned. However, the enforcement loosened 2 weeks later as a disastrous earthquake hit the central region of Nepal including Kathmandu Valley (Bharadwaj et al. 2020a). In 2012, there were 58 municipalities in Nepal. Now, there are 6 metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, and 276 municipalities. In 2012, a daily waste production of 58 municipalities of Nepal was 1435 t. The daily waste production varies across municipalities from 1.99 to 499 t (SWMTSC 2012). Of total waste, only 57% (822 t) reaches to a landfill site as municipality adopts locally feasible SWM practices. Figure 2 illustrates the general SWM practice in Nepal. Municipality collection system only serves one-third of the total waste produced. There are two major approaches to a collection. Some municipalities use their resources and mechanism to collect the waste from door to door. Municipal garbage truck moves around the road and household dump waste into the truck. About 81%
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Fig. 2 Solid waste management practice in Nepal. The data are based on surveys from CBS (2011, 2014) and ADB (2013a)
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of households are using the formal waste collection services provided by the concerned municipality. Few municipalities also have private parties involved in the waste collection (Rai et al. 2019b). In total, 28% of households use private collection facilities. The waste collection service provided by the private sector is similar to the municipal waste collection service. Around four-fifth (82% of sample households) used a traditional approach to manage their solid waste. The traditional approach includes using organic waste as animal feed or manure, burying, or burning of inorganic waste. Nearly half of the sample households use solid waste as manure in the kitchen garden and agricultural land. Besides, 27% of the households dump solid waste. The most popular spots to dump the waste are the rivers and public land. Similarly, 21% of households either burn it or bury it. A small portion of waste is to recover and recycle. There are several channels of material recovery. The first step is the household level segregation of recyclable materials. Households store the recyclable material separately. The material includes a metal such as iron, glass (beer bottle), and plastic material. They sell the collected material to private collectors who visit door to door. New and more formal collectors are also emerging in cities such as Khaalisisi ® and Doko Recyclers ®. These companies collect recyclable material with modern customer services such as collection membership and on-call collection of recyclable materials. The second phase of recovery happens during the collection. Some materials are recovered by the garbage collector, sold to collectors. Private waste collection service provider directs their garbage collection employee to recover the recyclable materials so that they can clean and sell them. However, the collected waste reaches directly to the dumping site. Dumping site is the main place where informal material recovery happens since rag pickers collect some of the recyclable materials. They have to collect these recyclables as fast as possible, particularly before the waste is covered by sand and gravel. But Dhankuta Municipality collects the solid waste and then dumps it to the transfer station. Here, the private waste company recovers all the materials and sell them. In return, they pay revenue to the municipality. This is the municipality with the best SWM practice in Nepal. The abovementioned SWM suggests that segregation of solid waste happens in several stages. First, households segregate recyclable at home. Recyclers visit door to door to buy these materials such as iron, glass bottles, or some plastic good. The second stage of the segregation is institutional. Some municipalities such as Madhyapur Thimi Municipality collect glass and metal waste separately. Some municipalities provide bins to encourage waste segregation at households and make compost. However, the scale of material recovery is very small. This smallscale recovery removes a small fraction of solid waste from the mainstream. Disposal of solid waste is the most critical and challenging part of SWM in Nepal. Municipalities have adopted different types of disposable practices as per their convenience. Out of 58 municipalities, 30 dumped the collected waste in open areas; 13 municipalities disposed of nearby river banks; 5 used controlled dumping where solid waste is dropped in designated areas then burn, bury or treat it; 3 municipalities do not have any dumping arrangement; and 6 municipalities have
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landfill site. The disposal of collected waste is mostly either in open site or riverbank. These are the cases from old well-established municipalities.
The Problem Urbanization is rapidly increasing in Nepal. Now, there are 293 municipalities. More and more people are likely to live in urban areas (Subedi 2014). Increase in urban population is associated with an increase in solid waste (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2005). Majority of a municipality does not have waste management practice. Despite several municipalities having collection facilities, SWM is limited to throwing waste away from the sight of people. Only a few have landfill sites. To put this in Nepalese context, municipal current SWM is simply collecting waste and through away from eyesight. On the other hand, the contribution of plastic, a nondegradable waste, is increasing in the solid waste stream (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2005). The quantity of plastic imported into Nepal has almost doubled from 2009 to 2017. Increasing use of plastic is linked to an increased share of plastic into the waste stream (Bharadwaj et al. 2020). In 2004, the share of plastic in solid waste was roughly 8% which was 11% in 2013 (ADB 2013). This increasing urban population, coupled with poor waste management, will release a huge amount of plastic into the environment. In the focus group discussion, a municipal official raised three major challenges in SWM in Nepal: (i) SWM finance, (ii) not in my backyard (NIMBY) psychology of municipal residents, and (iii) stakeholder cooperation in the SWM process. Financial resource in municipalities of developing countries is an obvious challenge. On top of this, demand for SWM is low as the municipality lacks several other essential services such as blacktop road. On average, the municipality spends 5% of its total budget in SWM, which ranges from 0.07% to 24.34% (mean solid waste cmanagement cost is roughly USD46/t ) (SWMTSC 2012; ADB 2013). A part of this cost is recovered from substantial waste collection fee (Rai et al. 2019) – however, only a few municipalities charge for waste collection such as Dhankuta and Bharatpur. Although municipal residents have shown their willingness to pay for solid waste collection services, concerned municipality has not managed such practices (Rai et al. 2019). SWM cost depends on several attributes such as frequency of collection, coverage, type of landfill, and service charge structure of solid waste facilities. For instance, Dharan and Damak sub-metropolitan cities spend as low as USD 7 for a ton of solid waste, while Dhankuta Municipality, which of the leader of SWM in Nepal, spends around USD23 per ton of solid waste management. Average SWM cost is USD 10 and USD 22 per ton in Lalitpur and Kathmandu metropolitan cities, respectively; however, they also have private facilities for solid waste collection such as Doko Recycler ® and Khaalisis ®. Solid waste collection cost in developing countries constitutes 20–50% of the total SWM cost (Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata 2012). High collection cost is due to scattered settlements, cost of vehicle operation, wages, and infrastructure of the city.
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SWM Act (2011) specifies collection as a household responsibility. Many municipalities have enforced service charge. Nevertheless, household considers solid waste collection fee as a forced burden, and many of them do not participate (Rai et al. 2019). Municipal officials have experienced that every municipal resident wants a clean city without an additional fee, and elected officials consider this as a regular job with no additional investment. The second issue is NIMBY. Nobody wants the dumping site near their home. In contrast, everybody wants the municipality to collect their waste and throw it somewhere away from them. NIMBY is a challenge in SWM, globally; and Nepal is not an exception (Ferronato and Torretta 2019). NIMBY tends to be more assertive when SWM becomes a low priority, and this issue applies to Nepal. Poor waste management roots into household waste behavior. In Nepal, people use plastic to pack organic waste. Municipalities do not separately collect the recyclable and other waste. This waste is then transferred to dumping site without treating in open truck or tractors. Then these vehicles spread stinky smell and also drop waste on the way. Such poorly managed waste transfer practice annoys community living in the route of the dumping site. Then the waste is dumped in open space away from household such as river bank. After the waste is dumped, it starts to decay and produces stinky smell in the nearby community. Wild animals such as street dogs and crow drag the plastic with waste and spread around the dumping site. The poor SWM practice produces negative externalities as (a) smell and latchet from the landfill site, (b) dispersion of waste mainly plastic by air and animals from the landfill site and during transportation, (c) heavy traffic during transportation in dumping site of big cities like Kathmandu, and (d) social impact caused by dogs and vulture in a landfill site. This ultimately pollutes the urban environment and increases the risk of animals. As a result, property price lowers and the efficacy of urban infrastructure reduces (Pervin et al. 2019; Nepal et al. 2020). These are the main reason behind the protest against the dumping site by the nearby community. Several municipalities are struggling to spot the landfill sites due to the local resistance. The third challenge is the weak coordination among the SWM stakeholders. Needless to say that, segregation at household is an integral aspect of SWM. However, this is a challenging part too. This is affected by the constructed infrastructure rather than the attitude of the individuals. In an urban area, people use their maximum space for building construction. Only, limited space could be available for other activities such as a kitchen garden. Usually, only a few households in the city center of Nepal practice kitchen garden or keep animals. Not having a kitchen garden or animals means they have to throw away their organic waste. Households pack organic waste in plastic because of its nature to decay fast. They throw waste in open spaces if they do not have a collection facility. If the municipality collects waste, they put this into the garbage truck. When all materials are packed into the same garbage truck, it spoils everything during the transportation and makes segregation almost impossible. The private sector is another influential stakeholder. Without their support, SWM improvement is almost impossible. A case of stay order granted by the Supreme
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Court in the plastic bag ban decision by Kathmandu metropolitan is an example. There are two major types of stakeholders in private groups. The first type is collectors, who collect recyclable materials. The collection of recyclables is their main source of income and livelihoods. Locally they are called Khali sisi (literally means empty bottle), as they loudly speak out khali sis purano kagaj (empty bottle and old paper) while they visit door to door. In other words, they can be considered as an initiator of the circular economy. The second important private stakeholders are plastic good manufacturers. They can facilitate the circular economy by producing recyclable packaging. It helps to improve material recovery and boost to a recyclable collection system (Bharadwaj et al. 2020b). A producer can buy recyclable and use it as raw material. Central government can influence the entire SWM through tax and incentives. For example, if they increase the tax for raw plastic import, then the recycling will be positively incentivized through the increased price of recyclable plastic. The government can implement a packaging standard that enforces producer to use recyclable products. The role of NGO and civil society role in environment-friendly practices are unavoidable. These organizations can bring collective action and agendas to save the environment with improved service to people and providing opportunities for the private sector. Similarly, the introduction of the reusable bag helps to save the environment and provides greater value for the consumers. The situation mentioned above indicates that the SWM problem is not just about the collection or disposal of household waste but an outcome of the overall urban planning. South Asia produces 334 million ton of waste each year, and almost 90% of the waste is mismanaged (Kaza et al. 2018). This mismanaged waste poses serious consequences such as plastic in the bay of Bengal (Eriksen et al. 2014). Also, this mismanagement imposes a cost to society as a loss of the valuable resources that can contribute to the socioeconomic development of these developing countries. Solid waste in Nepal has several types of plastic. Colorful plastic packets, particularly the packaging of food items in Nepal like instant noodles and biscuits, are very difficult to recycle (Smithers 2018). Goods of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are easy recyclables, which are used to produce inferior plastic goods. Practices around the world show that a considerable percentage of plastic can be recovered and recycled. Several municipalities have imposed a ban on plastic (Bharadwaj 2020a). Despite all these efforts, the problem of plastic waste is increasing unexpectedly and creating complexity in waste management. In this context, this chapter aims to explore the aspects of integrated solid waste management (ISWM) in Nepal, especially focused on plastic waste, and propose an ISWM framework for Nepalese municipalities.
Theoretical Framework: Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) Municipal SWM is an important part of urban planning. It is a complex process that includes a series of steps having multidimensional effects on various part of society. SWM also engages a diverse set of stakeholders in different steps of the process. Any
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effective SWM has to achieve broader societal goals. Also, external environmental concern has become an integral aspect of any environmental systems, including SWM. For example, waste is a source of GHG emission. Hence, municipalities can contribute to the decarbonization of the economy by improving the SWM. A poor SWM system is linked to an urban disaster such as city flooding. These disasters threat the lives and wealth of the urban dweller. They also damage the urban infrastructure and reduce their efficiency to serve the city dwellers (Pervin et al. 2019). Besides this, SWM engages a wide range of stakeholders. An effective SWM aims to articulate the interest of stakeholders while achieving the core goal of SWM. City dwellers may seek a predictable and cost-effective collection system, whereas SWM employees may look for higher pay due to the nature of the work. The politician may resist investing budget in the SWM. Besides, it is also a feedback loop on broader socioeconomic factors. Material recovery, for instance, could provide raw material to the industry by providing employment and substituting the import. Therefore, improvements of SWM have to engage all stakeholders and aim to contribute to societal benefits such as emission reduction and align with crosscutting themes such as sustainability and good governance. Integrated sustainable solid waste management framework was developed and improved to understand who should do what and how (Anschütz 2001; WASTE 2015). This framework views SWM as a system comprised of different process and stakeholders. This approach comprises of three aspects: stakeholders, elements, and considerations and focuses on reduce, reuse, and recycle. It expects all stakeholders to operate following the principles of equity, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability (Anschütz 2001; Shekdar 2009). ISWM assumes stakeholders may have their particular interest on SWM. These stakeholders aim to influence the SWM process to secure, if not increase, their benefit. Therefore, a common consensus or integration of stakeholders interest is a condition to SWM (Shekdar 2009). Various stakeholders, from waste source to the final disposal site, are engaged in the SWM (Guerrero et al. 2013). SWM intervention has to understand their interest. This understanding will help to identify appropriate interventions favored by all stakeholders. For instance, a ban on the plastic bag will affect the plastic industry which might obstruct the overall process. Integrating their interest may provide coherent and robust SWM. Similarly, households segregate waste. If waste collection service does not separate the collected of the segregated waste, then it spoils the efforts of households to segregate waste. Material and its recovery are the second aspects of ISWM. Since solid waste is made of various materials, they have different value and impacts. Glass, for instance, has high recycling value, whereas some toxic materials such as radioactive waste from X-ray machine could have a severe impact on human health. The flow of material is an integral part of the social system, and SWM should fully concentrate to manage the material flow is. In the absence of management, plastics release into the environment and become a pollutant. At the same time, when it is recycled and supplied to the industry, it becomes a source of employment and income. The solid waste life cycle starts from the production of materials and ends up with long-term
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impacts in the waste disposal area. However, the impact of the material varies widely. For instance, organic materials can be decomposed easily, whereas plastic requires several steps for processing. Some materials have reuse value while other recycled back to use. Understanding material contents through the process of creation, flow, and disposal can lead to effective SWM strategies and approaches. For instance, they are imposing a ban on seriously impacting waste like asbestos. Other aspects of ISWM are social acceptance, cost and efficiency, and implementation and technical aspect of SWM. Waste management is a sub-system of society. Therefore, SWM has to be designed as a social entity that satisfies the socioeconomic need. Usually, municipal authorities design interventions targeting a particular aspect of SWM or bias toward specific stakeholders, For example, some municipalities encourage households to segregate waste at their home. However, they fail to provide a separate collection service for degradable and nondegradable waste. Garbage truck mixes the waste that makes a household effort to segregate a waste of time and effort. Such isolated approach may increase the burden to a particular stakeholder and fails to materialize the benefits. ISWM seeks to answer “Who is responsible for what? Furthermore, how?,” so that every stakeholder has their role to play. ISWM focuses on promoting circular economy such as reusing and recycling. This process honors the waste hierarchy and its appropriate mobilization. For instance, organic material can be used to prepare compost at household, a plastic bottle can be sold to the recycler, glass can be provided to the municipal recycling garbage truck, and other waste could go to general waste for high-tech recovery. This process makes SWM cost-effective, participatory, and efficient. Existing empirical studies suggest SWM interventions such as recycling, recovery, and segregation reduce the cost and increase the revenue and are a crucial element for sustainable financing municipal SWM (Nepal 2008; Lohri et al. 2014). ISWM explores multiple aspects of SWM to provide valuable information to SWM planning through the analysis of the overall system (Guerrero et al. 2013; WASTE 2015). Therefore, this study used the ISWM framework to understand municipal SWM in Nepal and develop a localized framework to provide a common ground for all stakeholders linking them together and considering pollutants as resources.
Method and Data This study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand the SWM in Nepal. So doing this study discusses the ways ISWM can improve the existing SWM in municipalities of Nepal: (a) Stakeholder survey: The first step is to understand the engagement of stakeholders in SWM. We surveyed 20 collectors, 23 local government officials (including an executive officer, elected officials, and staff engaged in environment management), 15 respondents from NGO, 25 respondents from
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policymaker (official from the ministry of finance, ministry of Local development, and national planning commission), and 18 good plastic producers. The questionnaire has two parts: the first part is generic on the perception of pollution, SWM process, and responsibilities. The second part of the questionnaire intends to collect stakeholder specific information. For example, collectors were asked about the price of recyclable plastic, and producers were asked about their willingness to pay for additional plastic levy. (b) Material and its recovery: This analysis used recent information on material recovery and its contribution to sustainable financing to analyze the material contained in the solid waste of Nepal (Bharadwaj et al. 2020). Besides, the analysis focused on plastic to explore the material recovery; however, it also discussed the potential of other materials in the solid waste that can be recovered and recycled. (c) Other aspects: ISWM has several aspects, such as sustainability and governance. This analysis derived information from the aforementioned stakeholders and discussed how the circular economy can contribute to achieving these aspects. For this secondary information from existing studies was analyzed.
ISWM in Nepalese Municipality There are four major aspects of ISWM in Nepal. The first one is the stakeholders. The earlier section discussed the four major types of stakeholders in plastic waste management of Nepal. These stakeholders are engaged in different activities of the SWM. Municipality – a local government – is the core stakeholder who is responsible for SWM in Nepal. Collectors and producers are part of the private sector, who are involved in the collection and utilization of plastic recyclable. Similarly, NGO is a civic group that pushes environmentally friendly and better SWM. Central government provides fund and enforces incentive to plastic use and SWM. The survey result by each of this stakeholder is discussed below.
Stakeholders’ View Plastic Waste and Its SWM Of total respondents, 90% agreed that the use of plastic is increasing. Three out of four respondents agree that plastic is a major source of environmental pollution in Nepal. Approximately, one-third of the respondent agreed that the current tax in plastic is low, but around 70% supported that the levy on plastic should be increased. When asked about their preference to increase the cost of plastic to make biodegradable items such as cups and bags cheaper, 78% of respondents were positive. Similarly, 88% of respondents prefer to use biodegradable if there is no price discrimination between plastic and biodegradable goods. The responses show that stakeholders are aware of the increasing use of plastic and environmental
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pollution. Most of the stakeholders have a positive attitude toward biodegradable substitute. However, collector and producer have a different view as compared to others. Half of the producers agreed that plastic is a pollutant. More than half of the collector and producer did not agree that plastic is a major source of pollution. Majority of them also thought that the current tax rate is either fair or high and there is no need to increase the charge on plastic goods. However, they were in favor of biodegradable; most of them agreed to use biodegradable if the price does not exceed to that of plastic (Table 1).
Management and Cost Responsibilities of SWM There is wide agreement on “who should do what to manage municipal solid waste” (Table 2). Out of total respondents, 83% suggested that segregation of solid waste is the responsibility of the households, and they have to bear the cost of segregation (68%). Also, they consider that collection (65%), transportation (80%), and landfill management (59%) are the responsibilities of the municipality. Therefore, the municipality has to cover the cost of collection (76%), transportation (72%), and landfill management (53%). One-third of respondent suggests that the central government has to manage and cover the cost of landfill site management. Respondents were asked about the responsibilities of plastic pollution; the responses were mixed. Almost one-third mentioned that plastic pollution is the responsibility of consumer followed by central government (25%), producer (21%), and local government (19%). This suggests that respondents think the municipality is responsible for the SWM but do not consider municipality as a primary response agency for the environmental pollution caused by the plastic good. Three in four respondent says local government has to be funded for SWM. Similarly, 54% of respondents supported the idea of charging 5% additional tax on plastic good. Among the respondent, 65% mentioned that the financial resources collected from the increased tax should support local government to improve their SWM practices such as landfill site construction. Levying plastic will alter the demand and supply of the goods. Respondents were asked about the chain effect of the increased tax or charging a levy on plastic goods. On the recycling side, 94% agreed that an increase in plastic tax would increase the price of plastic goods; hence, the selling price of recyclable plastics will also increase (76%). About two-thirds (67%) agreed that an increase in the price of recyclable would increase the collection of used plastic, which will ultimately substitute the import of plastic (65%). On the demand side, 63% agreed that an increased tax on plastic would reduce its demand and increases the demand for biodegradable substitute (81%); hence, people will be encouraged to use biodegradable substitutes (78%). Similarly, more than three-fourth (77%) respondents favored the option to slightly increase the cost of plastic cups and bags to encourage the biodegradable option in the market.
Yes (75%) Biodegradable (100%)
Agreed (73%) Agreed (70%) Less (37%) Yes (78%) Biodegradable (88%)
The current tax rate is
Favor cost of plastic to make biodegradable cheaper?) If the price of the biodegradable and plastic item is the same, what will you use?
55% didn’t agree Agreed (70%) 60% didn’t agreed Fair
Agreed (76%)
Plastic is major source for environment pollution The local level should be funded for SWM Increase charge
Collector Agreed (85%)
Overall Agreed (82%)
Issues Plastic as a pollutant
Table 1 Stakeholders view of plastic pollution and its management
Biodegradable (89%)
Producer Majority disagreed 61% didn’t agree Agreed (68%) No one agreed (100%) Higher or at least fair Yes (50%) Biodegradable (93%)
Yes (93%)
Low
NGO/activist Agreed (100%) Agreed (100%) Agreed (63%) Agreed (86%)
Biodegradable (73%)
Yes (71%)
Fair or low
Agreed (100%) Agreed (88%) Agreed (77%)
Local level Agreed (93%)
Biodegradable (87.5%)
Yes (96%)
Agreed (100%) Agreed (82%) Only 48% agreed Fair
Policymaker Agreed (88%)
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Table 2 SWM management and cost burden Who should manage? (# of responses) Responsibilities Household Municipality Central government
Segregation Collection Transport Landfilling 83 13 1
26 65 5
4 80 13
2 59 34
3
4
3
4
68 14
14 76
2 72
1 53
Tax collector (central government)
9
6
18
Producer (importer)
9
4
8
34 12
Producer
Who should pay for the cost (# of responses) User (household) Manager (municipality)
The Solution to Plastic Waste Management How can municipalities resolve the issues related to SWM in general and plastic waste in particular is a critical challenge in Nepal. Respondents were asked to rank the four potential strategies. The first was to continue the existing plastic management. The second strategy is to top up a levy on the plastic bag and set up the mechanism to redistribute it to the municipality to achieve the set standard of SWM. The third option was to increase the price of the plastic bag equal to biodegradable alternatives. The fourth option was to use a mix of interlinked actions. This option was to create a fund by enforcing additional charge on plastic goods and mobilize the fund. In this option, the municipality will get the same amount of money they will collect by selling the recyclable plastic. The fourth option got an average rank score of 1.6 (1 being the best and 5 being the worst rank values), whereas the option continue current practice received the highest average value (3.4). Majority of respondents (92%) do not prefer to continue the current practice of plastic management. More than half (58%) of the respondents ranked the fourth option as the best option (see Fig. 3). However, each stakeholder has their preference to implement plastic management options. The first stakeholders are the environmental activists, who work for NGOs or environmental campaign. This group of stakeholders are lobbying for a ban on plastic products such as a single-use plastic bag. They believe that an increased tax on plastic motivates both consumers and producers to switch into a biodegradable and reduce the use of plastic as packaging materials. They view existing custom duty on plastic is substantially low. As a result, other alternative materials cannot compete with plastic products. They see the promotion of traditional items such as bamboo products and jute bags which are potential alternatives. Several respondents among this cohort of respondent see that recycling can contribute to the reduction of plastic pollution and recycling promotion should include awareness programs.
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Integrated approach
58.3
Increase palstic price to promote biodegradable
20.2
Conditionlevy for plastic SWM
13.1
Continue Current practice
8.3 0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
Fig. 3 Percentage of the respondent by their choice of solid waste management scenarios
Collectors seek plastic waste management differently. They do not see the plastic ban as a solution. They suggest that a ban on plastic will have negative impacts on their employment and business. In their view, proper management of plastic waste contributes to waste management while supporting employment and economy. Almost all collectors stated that plastic recyclable has a huge market, but the price of recyclable is low. On average, a plastic recycler collects 130 t of plastic each year. They pay on an average NRs 13 per kg for used plastic bag to rag picker or street collector; and they sell after cleaning at NRs 20 per kg. Their major problems are low price, getting the material, and management of waste such as space to clean. They don’t consider the market of recyclable as a problem. However, not all plastic is collected. Usually, collectors do not collect hard plastic and fancy-colored plastic such as a package of noodle and tobacco. They have two suggestions to improve the existing condition: (i) imposing an additional levy on the plastic bag may discourage import and motivate recycling and (ii) implementing standards on packaging plastic, which uses around 60% of plastic. This encourages recycling and boost-up recovery. However, these two actions should be complemented by public awareness, household segregation, robust collection chain, and providing recyclable collection facility. Plastic industries have a strong objection to environmental policy reforms that discourage or regulates the use of plastic (Dauvergne 2018). The resistance was also observed in Nepal. Half of the producers disagreed that the plastic is a pollutant. All producers expressed that the existing tax is either high or fair. They strongly disagree that a plastic levy is an appropriate approach. They suspect that additional tax may affect low-income consumers as it increases the consumer prices through several points, for instance, packaging and raw materials. However, they agree that additional tax discourages import and encourage recycling which could be the best solution that can supply raw materials to the plastic industry and reduce the pressure in the landfill site. In response to shifting to biodegradable alternative, they suggest that incentive can motivate producers to shift. The producers also see recycling as a policy option as it will increase the supply of plastic to industry and also help other business such as the collection chain. So doing will ease SWM and avoid release of plastic into the environment.
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Policymakers agree that local government requires support for SWM and additional tax on plastic could reduce the use of plastic. However, they suggest that additional tax will increase the cost of raw material for industry and consumer goods. This increase will push the price up, hence, may face political resistance. Majority of them have considered that the existing tax rate is fair. Policymakers favored recycling is the most appropriate measures of plastic reduction. They also mentioned that promotion of alternatives such as paper bag and single-use biodegradable utensils, recycling, awareness, polluters pay principle, and charging plastic bag levy can help reduce the use of plastic. They also suggested that segregation at the household level and encouraging the production of a substitute to plastic good is crucial initial steps. Local government officials are seeking support to manage municipal waste. They are worried about the increasing volume of plastic in the solid waste and exploring an effective way to deal with plastic waste. They revealed that waste collection tariff without quality SWM service results in resident resistance. They know what is going wrong in SWM but hesitate to act because of its complexity and cost. They believe segregation at source is helpful in improved SWM but has to be facilitated by the municipality. They are inconclusive about whether the tax on plastic is fair or low, but they consider that the federal government has a crucial role in landfill facilities. In conclusion, each stakeholder has their agenda about plastic goods. Environmentalists are in favor of ban and tax on the plastic bags with the promotion of alternative and recycling. On the other hand, producers and collectors rejected the option like ban and tax, but they suggest recycling and promotion of alternatives as to the possible acceptable actions. Policymakers and local government are a bit reluctant toward the levy, but they mention local government needs financial resources for SWM and highlight the benefits that recycling can provide. All stakeholders mentioned that household segregation of solid waste is a critical aspect.
Recover Material from Solid Waste Material is the second component of ISWM. Organic material continues to dominate solid waste but decreasing over time. In 2012, 71% of the solid waste was made up of organic waste. Organic waste contains kitchen waste and green waste produced around households. Contribution of plastic is also increasing a percent every 4 years. In 2004, 7% of waste was plastic which reached 8% in 2008 and 9% in 2012. Similarly, the contribution of the paper is also increasing (see Fig. 4 for detail). Recycling and reuse are the dominant strategies in the waste hierarchy (Quartey et al. 2015; Cole 2018). However, all materials in the solid waste are not recyclable. Plastic, for instance, is recyclable in different forms such as a water bottle and white single-use bag. Nevertheless, colored plastic packaging is costly and sophisticated to recycle. Several countries have packaging standards that set out the quality and standard of packaging material. This standard facilitates recycling. However, the introduction of such a standard is effective only if recycling facilities are accessible (Zaman 2018). Practices across different countries show that recycling capacity and
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Organic waste
Plastic
paper
2012
glass
metal
textiles
rubber and leather
72
9
2008
61
8
9
2004
62
7
8
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Other
12
4 1 21
2 1 21 80%
10 4 11
14
16 90%
100%
Fig. 4 Material contained in the solid waste in 2004, 2008, and 2012. (Source: Solid Waste Management Technical Support Center, Lalitpur)
collection system determine the extent of solid waste recycled. Germany, for instance, recycles more than 60% of the household waste (PLANETARK 2018). Recycling is a globally accepted SWM strategy, supported by the stakeholder’s survey result presented in section 4.1. Organic materials in the waste can be used in a different form. Subsistence agriculture is a traditional practice. In this practice household compost their organic waste such as agricultural waste and kitchen waste to supply manure to the field. This practice can be revived by encouraging the kitchen garden – which is the most common and traditional practice. Households also use organic kitchen waste, especially food waste to feed cattle and pet animals. This practice is the main reason behind the successful waste management in Dhankuta Municipality. The municipality has the best SWM practice in Nepal due to their household segregation and recovery of materials from the waste through a private company. However, for this to succeed, minimum landholding in urban areas is important. Implementation of minimum open space will motivate households to develop a kitchen garden where organic waste supplies manure. Removing organic waste from the waste chain will supply clean and dry waste that is easy to segregate and recycle. Nepali municipalities have possessed a huge amount of recoverable materials (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2005). A recent study analyzed the material recovery potentiality from Municipal Solid Waste of Nepal and suggested that 6.05 t of plastic can be recovered daily from the collected municipal waste in Nepal (Bharadwaj et al. 2020). However, the recovery of material depends on the collection efficiency and material recovery rate. For example, a 15% recovery rate will recover 2134 t of plastic waste at 33.7% collection efficiency. When collection efficiency is increased to 66.7, while keeping the recovery rate at 15%, more than double (4220 t) of plastic is recovered. The extent of increasing material recovery rate will be more effective as compared to increasing collection efficiency. Collection efficiency is more with SWM, whereas recovery rate is both technical and social. Household segregation, for instance, is crucial for recovery, but without technical capacity, the material is hard to segregate and recycle. Material recovery depends on two factors: (i) collection efficiency and (ii) recovery rate. In Fig. 5, we show a fraction of recoverable material at different
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l i
l
l i
l i l
l
l l
i i
l i
l
i
Fig. 5 A schematic presentation of the plastic waste reduction framework
collection efficiency. Based on achieved CE and 12% of plastic MRR, only 0.61% of the total waste produced can be recovered. Plastic recovery would increase to 1.2% and 1.6% of total waste if CE increases to two-third and 90%, respectively. In the 2012 scenario, a percent increase in plastic MRR will increase the recovery by 0.04% of plastic waste and 0.02% of total solid waste.
Sustainable Financing SWM cost is one of the concerns of municipal authorities, as it may constitute about half of the total municipal budget in developing countries (Henry et al. 2006). Nepalese municipality spends around 7% of their budget in SWM. Recycling can provide needful financial resources to municipalities. According to recent estimates by Bhardwaj et al. (2020); recovering plastic from the solid waste and selling it to the collector can cover from 27% to 138% of plastic proportionate SWM cost. Recycling plastic can provide NRs 127 million revenue when recovered plastic is sold at NRs 30 per kg. Similarly recovering paper, metal, and other material from the solid waste will increase revenue. Another source of finance is a collection fee. Sustainable financing is also a function of efficient expenditure. The cost of SWM in Nepal is NRs. 2347 per ton to NRs 4673 (USD1 ¼ NRs87 in 2012). This huge
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difference cost indicates that Nepali municipality can benefit from the reduction of the SWM cost. Reduction on SWM cost is associated with efficient machines, costsaving collection setup such as replacing labor-based collection by a mechanical garbage truck. Another poorly explored financing option is an indirect gain from the clean city. A recent study in Nepal investigated the benefit of cleaner neighborhood in urban areas of Nepal (Nepal et al. 2020). The study estimated that a cleaner neighborhood would have an 11–25% higher price as compared to others. The higher price of the property means more revenue from the property tax. Recovering materials with long-life material will also increase the life of the landfill sites and reduce the landfill management cost.
Environmental and Social Benefits Sustainability is the key aspect of ISWM which can be achieved through environmentally sound practices (Ngoc and Schnitzer 2009). The use of plastic has doubled in the recent decade. Bharadwaj et al. (2020) estimated that 45% of total waste could be reduced out of total waste even if half of the organic waste is composted and other materials are recovered. Material recovery supports a clean environment in several ways. First, it reduces the release of waste into the environment. For instance, 48.7 t of paper is recoverable from the waste stream in Nepal. Second, it reduces the use of raw resources that are associated with GHG emission. For example, recovering and reusing a kg of plastic from waste will reduce the use of 2 kg of petrochemical. Recovery of waste helps to have cleaner neighborhood, which will increase the value of the household property (Nepal et al. 2020). Recycling of material will reduce the import of these materials that contribute to narrow the trade deficits – a challenge in the public financing of Nepal. Recycling provides several other benefits, such as employment in the recycling chain.
Complementing Strategies for the ISWM in Nepal There are some best cases being practiced in Nepal such as household segregation in Chitrawan Municipality, single-use plastic bag ban in Ilam Municipality, landfill site management in Pokhara metropolitan city, and effective collection system in Bharatpur sub-metropolitan city. However, none of these strategies is either sufficient or financially sustainable because they do not cover the entire SWM system. The experience also showed that when these practices are integrated, as practiced in Dhankuta Municipality, the SWM system becomes cost-effective and environmentally sound. The finding highlights the need for ISWM for generating revenue to offset the cost and avoiding plastic released into the environment. ISWM is considered as one of the best alternatives to manage plastic waste (Borg 2018; Thornton 2018). Stakeholder converges at recycling to manage the increasing plastic waste in Nepalese municipalities. Recycling has the potentiality to recover and recycle
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the waste but requires several complementing strategies to be successful. Figure 5 provides a framework that enables recycling of solid waste and implements ISWM in Nepal.
Household Behavioral Change Household is an integral aspect of ISWM. Improving recovery rate and collection efficiency demands substantial household behavioral change. Behavioral change is a two-way process where municipality interventions are critical. Household participation to collection service, for instance, is influenced by the predictability of the collection service. When collection services are predictable and transparent, household willingness to pay for collection services also increases (Rai et al. 2019). Household segregation is the backbone of material recovery. Segregation behavior is possible with a mix of multiple interventions such as awareness and a separate collection system. It is important to note that requesting household to segregate the solid waste is not sufficient. It has to support composting practices and kitchen gardening at household. When organic waste is used at household, the remaining waste is easy to segregate. SWM Act, 2011, of Nepal makes households responsible for segregation, and noncompliance could result in NPR 500 fine per incident. The practice of segregation at household is almost nonexistent due to the absence of monitoring and enforcement. Segregation at source recovers clean and high-price recyclable and avoids nondegradable waste entering the waste stream. Household segregation also reduces the collection cost and makes organic waste available for use at house to reduce the overall volume of the waste. Also, sensitization plays a vital role in behavioral change and also increases willingness to pay a levy for use (Madigele et al. 2017; Latinopoulos et al. 2018). Collectors suggest that increased plastic tax may contribute to encourage plastic recycling because of the increase in the price of plastic.
Scaling up the Recovery Rate and Collection Efficiency Producers indicate that around 60% of the imported plastics are used in making packaging materials. According to the collectors, they do not collect several plastic items such as colored plastic and hard plastics. These items are not feasible to recycle and worthless to collect. Therefore, improving the packaging standard is an important step to make used plastic appropriate to recycle technically. The enforcement of the standards increases the efficiency of the overall recycling process. Another strategy to increase material recovery is to increase the collection efficiency. The municipality should provide predictable service and separately collect recyclable and nonrecyclable. Better urban planning is also critical for improved collection system. For example, allowing construction of residential house in areas without road network will make garbage collection complicated.
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Proper management of public land and riverbank will also demotivate households to dump their waste in these lands illegally.
Tax and Charges on Plastic Goods In Nepal, the current tax rate on plastic depends on the origin of the imported goods. A good originated in India is taxed 4–27% compared to 5–30% tax rate on the plastic goods that originated elsewhere. Only 40 items pay the excise duty. Almost all plastic items pay value-added tax – 13%, except for a few items, such as carboys and laboratory equipment. Average total tax, including VAT, is between 18.65% and 54.25%. Nepal tariff on plastic goods is higher compared to the developed countries and lower than the South Asian countries (WTO 2018). High-volume imported plastics including polyethylene and polypropylene, which covers half of the import, are charged 10% duties, excluding value-added tax. Most of the imported plastic items have a tax rate of around 10%, and the small fraction of imported items has very high tax. Among the surveyed respondent from the producer, 66% have stated that an additional 3% tax on plastic import could be acceptable. Majority of the policymakers and producers fear a policy to increase tax as they consider that it leads to the increased price of many goods. The existing plastic tax can also be improved. The vast majority of stakeholders agreed that increasing plastic tax would discourage the use of plastic goods and encourage recycling. Therefore, a policy to charge pollution fee on the plastic goods may be appropriate, however, requires a detail investigation on broader implications.
Landfill Management Landfill site management is a major challenge in Nepal. Deep-rooted NIMBY psychology in municipal residents has faced a serious problem. Several efforts to construct a landfill site in a different part of Nepal have failed. A few years back, the government initiated an integrated landfill site in Morang district of Nepal. The landfill aimed to serve several municipalities and provide standard SWM in the region. However, the project was terminated before the construction of the landfill site due to agitation from the local community. Resident’s NIMBY psychology is also linked with the trust of the municipality. The resident has bitter experience with the municipality regarding the location of the landfill site. Usually, municipalities make several commitments to get local support for the landfill site. As soon as the landfill starts to operate, the municipality ignores its commitments. The landfill site in Dhankuta Municipality is located in the city area. It is well managed and has a garden in the reclaimed landfill. Several groups of people from different municipality and offices visit the landfill site. Environment officer of the municipality mentioned that it took a long time to convince people; however, people acceptance is due to a combination of several activities that starts from the household
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segregation to the recovery of materials. This case suggests that poor management is the problem.
Conclusion The increased consumption of plastic is a threat to the environment, human health, and urban infrastructures. The externalities of plastic use are associated with poor solid waste management (SWM). The SWM is a comprehensive system with several stakeholders with their interests. A wide range of materials makes the SWM complex. These materials have different demand in the market and also require different recovery method. Further, SWM in municipalities of developing countries is also associated with unplanned urbanization and absence of other urban facilities such as road. However, SWM is an important aspect of resilient cities. The results suggest that stakeholders’ interests converge at recycling of plastic, consistent with wide acceptance to a circular economy. However, recycling plastic needs a wide range of complementing and interlinked interventions. These interventions aim to increase recovery and collection efficiency to improve recycling and reduce waste. This chapter proposes a framework for reducing plastic waste. Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge with gratitude the funding and support from the funding and support from South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). However, the views as well as interpretations of the results presented in this research are those of the authors and should not be attributed to their affiliated organizations or their sponsors.
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D. Pokhrel, T. Viraraghavan, Municipal solid waste management in Nepal: Practices and challenges. Waste Manag. 25(5), 555–562 (2005) Practical Action Nepal, Best Practices on Solid Waste Management of Nepalese Cities (Practical Action Nepal, Kathmandu, 2008) E.T. Quartey, H. Tosefa, K.A. Danquah, I. Obrsalova, Theoretical framework for plastic waste management in Ghana through extended producer responsibility: Case of sachet water waste. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 12(8), 9907–9919 (2015) R.K. Rai, D. Bhattarai, S. Neupane, Designing solid waste collection strategy in small municipalities of developing countries using choice experiment. J. Urban Manage. 8(3), 386–395 (2019a) R.K. Rai, M. Nepal, M.S. Khadayat, B. Bhardwaj, Improving municipal solid waste collection services in developing countries: A case of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Nepal. Sustainability 11(11), 3010 (2019b) A.V. Shekdar, Sustainable solid waste management: An integrated approach for Asian countries. Waste Manag. 29(4), 1438–1448 (2009) R. Smithers, Crunch time for Walkers over non-recyclable crisp packets. The Guardian (2018). Retrieved 2019/01/15, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/05/ walkers-plastic-crisp-packet-non-recyclable B.P. Subedi, Chapter 4: Urbanisation in Nepal: Spatial pattern, social demography and development, in Population Monograph of Nepal Ramshah Path, Economic Demography, vol. III, (National Planning Commission Secretariat Central Bureau of Statistics, Kathmandu, 2014) SWMTSC, Baseline Study in Solid Waste Management of Municipalities in Nepal (Solid Waste Management Techinical Support Center, Lalitpur, 2008) SWMTSC, Baseline Study in Solid Waste Management of Municipalities in Nepal (Solid Waste Management Techinical Support Center, Kathmandu, 2012) T. Thornton, In banning plastic bags we need to make sure we’re not creating new problems. The Conversation Australia (2018, 2018/07/21). Retrieved 2018/07/23, from https:// theconversation.com/in-banning-plastic-bags-we-need-to-make-sure-were-not-creating-newproblems-81253 WASTE, Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM). Our approach (2015). Retrieved 2019/01/15, 2019, from http://waste.nl/en/our-approach WTO, Tariff Download Facility (World Trade Organization, 2018) A. Zaman, The new 100% recyclable packaging target is no use if our waste isn’t actually recycled. The Conversation. (2018, 2018/05/04). Retrieved 2018/07/23, 2018, from https:// theconversation.com/the-new-100-recyclable-packaging-target-is-no-use-if-our-waste-isnt-actu ally-recycled-95857 J. Zheng, S. Suh, Strategies to reduce the global carbon footprint of plastics. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9(5), 374–378 (2019)
Biopolymer-Based Liners for Waste Containment Facilities: A Review
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Evangelin Ramani Sujatha and Subramani Anandha Kumar
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biopolymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hydraulic Conductivity of Biopolymer-Treated Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strength of Biopolymer-Treated Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Durability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sustainable Development and Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Waste containment facilities use compacted clay liners or geosynthetic clay liners as barriers to deter the transport of leachate into the soil environment. These liners suffer disadvantages like higher thickness and volume change in compacted clay liners and internal erosion, migration of bentonite, and the possibility of degradation in geosynthetic clay liners. Both liners have to be installed in the site over the existing ground on which the waste is to be dumped and are not sustainable solutions. The need for novel sustainable waste containment liners for use in various applications like impounding hazardous waste, liners for controlling leachate migration in municipal solid waste, control seepage of contaminated fluids into the ground, etc. is therefore necessary. Biological methods can provide a sustainable solution to control seepage and provide impermeable barriers to contain the waste. Biopolymers are natural polymers extracted from various natural sources and provide a viable option to modify existing in situ soil as liners. They have a low environmental impact, are nontoxic, and do not pollute the soil or the groundwater. Studies by various authors show that biopolymers E. R. Sujatha (*) · S. Anandha Kumar Centre for Advanced Research on Environment, School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_61
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modify the soil’s hydraulic conductivity favorably by converting the permeable soil into an impermeable layer. The soil’s hydraulic conductivity on using popular biopolymers like xanthan gum, guar gum, and β-glucan has shown a significant reduction from 10–3 to nearly 10–9 cm/s. Biopolymers also render the soil less compressible and improve its strength. These properties address the disadvantages of conventional liners making biopolymers the right choice to modify in situ soil into liners. Though limited studies have been conducted on their durability, results show that soil’s biopolymer stabilization is stable for one year without degradation. Hence, biopolymer-treated soil can be recommended for use as a liner for waste containment facilities. Keywords
Sustainable development · Liner · Waste containment · Biopolymer · Hydraulic conductivity
Introduction Waste disposal through landfills is still the most common method adopted till date despite the popularization of other methods like recycling, incineration, and composting (Rubinos and Spagnoli 2018; Vaverková et al. 2018). Landfills are an integral component of the solid waste management systems in industrialized nations like the USA, France, England, Germany, China, etc. (Agamuthu 2013) though they are the least preferred option and the number of landfills over the years has shown a sharp decrease. Rubinos and Spagnoli (2018) in their study report that the urban centers around the world generate wastes to the tune of 1300 MT/year. In the USA, 136 MT of waste are landfilled while in the European Union; nearly 23% of the wastes are disposed through landfilling (USEPA 2016). China disposes nearly 60.2% of its waste in landfills (Mian et al. 2017). Solid waste management in developing countries to a vast extent is done through landfilling. Open dumps, landfills without gas recovery systems, and illegal landfills are widely prevalent in developing countries (Srivastava et al. 2015). Open dumps account for nearly 51% of the waste disposal system in Asia alone (Srivastava et al. 2015). Gas and leachates are the two main emissions from landfills. Gas emissions are predominantly methane and contribute to global warming considerably. Leachates contain hazardous compounds, heavy metals, organic content, metalloids, etc. (Emmanuel et al. 2019; Kjeldsen et al. 2002). They contaminate the soil, groundwater, and also other water sources in the vicinity of the landfill area. These emissions are a serious environmental threat to the local geo-environment. Clay liners are most commonly adopted in waste containment facilities to minimize the percolation of leachates into the soil. Compacted clay liners and geosynthetic clay liners are extensively used as liners and covers in engineered fills (Emmanuel et al. 2019). Compacted clay liners (CCLs) have low hydraulic
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conductivity and high heavy metal & leachate attenuation capacity. They are also more economical than other treatment methods (Morandini and Leite 2015; Uma Shankar and Muthukumar 2017). But they suffer from limitations like high volume change, formation of desiccation cracks on drying, and instability (Uma Shankar and Muthukumar 2017). They pose construction difficulties and clay used as liners (i.e., bentonite) is also of limited availability off late (Phanikumar and Uma Shankar 2017). Geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) have been considered as an improvement over the CCLs owing to their lesser hydraulic conductivity and thickness. Also, the installation of GCLs is comparatively less time-consuming and much easier than that of CCLs. They also have serious disadvantages like the possibility of punching shear failure and loss of bentonite with time (Bouazza et al. 2009). The most notable of its limitation is its low leachate attenuation capacity in comparison with CCL (Emmanuel et al. 2019; Uma Shankar and Muthukumar 2017) underlining the need for alternative baseliners. Compacted soil liners are now gaining importance over the CCLs and GCLs. Their construction cost is lower than that of other types of clay liners, and also, they present the unique advantage of using the existing soil and require no transportation and laying of liner materials. Additives like fly ash, gypsum, lime, cement, etc. can also be added to stabilize the in situ soil (Phanikumar and Uma Shankar 2011; Sivapullaiah and Baig 2011). Several authors have investigated the suitability of numerous materials as an alternative to CCL such as sand- bentonitecoal ash mixes (Sobti and Singh 2019), sand-bentonite-glass fiber composite (Mukherjee and Mishra 2019), shale-clay mixtures (Li et al. 2017), coal gangue (Wu et al. 2017), ground granulated blast furnace slag amended with bentonite and cement (Manikanta and Uma Shankar 2019a), sawdust blended with bentonite and cement (Manikanta and Uma Shankar 2019b), fly ash-cement mixtures (Phanikumar and Uma Shankar 2016), and steel slag (Herrmann et al. 2010) to modify the in situ soil and use it as a baseliner. But these modified liners despite their better performance have caused some serious environmental concerns. For example, cement in its production stage releases greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (Chang et al. 2016b, 2019b), and the use of additives like fly ash, steel slag, and other industrial byproducts has caused grave environmental concerns (Li et al. 2017) and challenges in practical applications. This underlines the need for a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and economic material for use as an additive in compacted clay liner. The choice of biological materials as an additive for soil stabilization is gaining importance off late (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2020, 2021; Ayeldeen et al. 2016; Chang et al. 2015a, b, 2016a, b; Kwon et al. 2019; Latifi et al. 2016b). They present a practical alternative for improving the properties of the in situ soil to suit the requirement as clay liners. This study reviews the choice of biopolymer-treated soil as modified in situ clay liners. The three most important aspects of a clay liner related to its performance are its strength, hydraulic conductivity, and capacity to attenuate the migration of heavy metals into the soil. The effect of biopolymer on these parameters is reviewed to advocate the choice of biopolymers for use as an additive in modifying the soil as clay liners.
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Biopolymers Biopolymers are organic polymers, and they are synthesized from biological systems like plants, animals, microorganisms, etc. and are finding immense potential in the construction industry and soil stabilization (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2020; Chang et al. 2015a; Chen et al. 2013; Dejong et al. 2011; Kwon et al. 2019). Biopolymers are derived from various natural sources like plants, bacteria, animal sources like shells of crustaceans, and dairy products (Choi et al. 2020). They are made up of monomeric units that are linked in a large formation. These natural polymers like straw, natural bitumen, and sticky rice mortar have been used in the construction industry since ancient times (Chang et al. 2016b). Biopolymers take a longer period of time to decompose (Ghadir and Ranjbar 2018), and the products of decomposition are water, carbon dioxide, and a small quantity of ammonia. Biopolymers can be broadly classified as polysaccharides, polypeptides, and polynucleotides (Kalia and Avérous 2011). Polysaccharides are composed of polymeric carbohydrate chains that are made of monosaccharide units and are found abundantly in nature (Belitz et al. 2009). Polysaccharide biopolymers are in general hydrophilic owing to the presence of numerous surface hydroxyl groups (Clark and Ross-Murphy 2005; Kalia and Avérous 2011), forming viscous hydrogels with water. Hydrogels are formed when the polymer network imbibes water. Their viscosity varies with the biopolymer–water content and the presence of counterions that may be alkali or alkali earth metal ions (Chang et al. 2016a; Izawa and Kadokawa 2010). The increase in the biopolymer–water content and the presence of counterions lead to the increase in viscosity of the hydrogels. Biopolymers find immense use in agriculture, food production, medical industry, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals (Saha and Bhattacharya 2010) as stabilizers, thickening agents, and gel-forming agents. Biopolymers also find a wide range of applications in the construction industry, particularly in geotechnical engineering. In the construction industry, biopolymers are used as plasticizers for concrete mixtures, cementitious grouts, and drilling fluids (Chang et al. 2016b; Choi et al. 2020). The various applications of biopolymers in geotechnical engineering include strengthening the soil (Chang et al. 2015a, 2016b; Sujatha and Saisree 2019), modifying the consistency of the soils (Chang et al. 2019a), controlling the permeability of the soil (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2021; Cabalar et al. 2017), providing erosion resistance (Hataf et al. 2018; Ko and Kang 2020), soil stabilization (Chang and Cho 2014; Ghadir and Ranjbar 2018; Ghasemzadeh and Modiri 2020), and improving the resistance of the soil against seismic forces. The biopolymers commonly used to modify soil properties are xanthan gum, gellan gum, β-glucan, guar gum, chitosan, agar gum, starch, casein, humic acid, etc. (Chang et al. 2016b; Choi et al. 2020). Biopolymers modify the properties of the soil matrix through bio-clogging and bio-cementation (Chang and Cho 2014; Wani and Mir 2020). Bio-clogging refers to the void filling in the soil through a biological process, for example, through a microbial activity that helps in the reduction of permeability of the soil. Biocementation is the aggregation of soil particles through biological materials that
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Biopolymer-Based Liners for Waste Containment Facilities: A Review
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bind the particles in the soil matrix (Ivanov and Chu 2008). The mechanism of strengthening is governed by two important factors (i) rheology of the hydrogels and (ii) the chemical bond that forms between the soil particle and the biopolymer (Chang et al. 2016a). The chemical bonds can either be ionic or hydrogen bonds depending on the charged nature of the biopolymer (anionic, cationic, or nonionic). These processes are similar to soil grouting but are more economic and environmentally friendly than chemical grouting (Khatami and Kelly 2013). They leave a low carbon footprint than other conventional soil stabilization techniques (Chang et al. 2016b).
Hydraulic Conductivity of Biopolymer-Treated Soils Biopolymers are very effective in controlling the hydraulic conductivity of the soil (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2019, 2021; Chang et al. 2016b). Choi et al. (2020) report that the hydraulic conductivity of the biopolymer-treated soils reduced by the order of 3–4 times the magnitude with less than 8% biopolymer content (Choi et al. 2020). This substantial reduction in the hydraulic conductivity is ascribed to the bioclogging effect of the biopolymers. Hydrogels are formed with the addition of water, which in turn expands in volume with further absorption of water and fills the void spaces in the soil, causing pore-clogging/pore-plugging as shown in Fig. 1. This makes biopolymers suitable for hydraulic applications like slurry walls, seepage barriers for containment facilities, and grouting (Chang et al. 2016b). Table 1 shows the influence of biopolymer type and dosage on the hydraulic conductivity of the treated soils. The wide range of variation in the biopolymer dosage indicates that factors like fines content in the soil, type of clay minerals, size and shape of soil particles, temperature, aging, and curing conditions affect the hydraulic conductivity of the treated soils (Choi et al. 2020). Singh and Das (2019) studied the hydraulic conductivity of biopolymer-treated expansive soil and observed that the hydraulic conductivity decreases with the
Fig. 1 SEM images of the biopolymer-treated soil. (a) Xanthan gum–clay soil blend (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2021). (b) Guar gum–clay soil blend (Sujatha and Saisree 2019)
Xanthan gum
Guar gum
Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum Guar gum Sodium alginate Xanthan gum Xanthan gum
Polyester poly(3hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) Polyglutamic acid (PGA)
Guar gum
Chitosan
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
12.
14.
15.
13.
Biopolymer type Sodium alginate Gellan gum
Sl. No. 1. 2.
Ottawa sand
Ottawa sand
Ottawa sand
Ottawa sand
Clayey silt Clayey sand Clayey sand Clayey sand Ottawa sand
Low-plasticity clay
Highly compressible silt–clay Soft marine soil
High-plasticity silt
Soil type Poorly graded sand Poorly graded sand
Table 1 Effect of biopolymer on hydraulic conductivity
1 2 1 1 1 g/l
– SC SC SC –
–
–
–
–
1
0.5
2
1
Optimum content (%) 0.4 2
CL
CH
MH-CH
CH
USCS classification SP SP
Permeability (cm/s) (from–to) 10 2 – 1.8 10 4 2.1 10 4 – 8.2 10 9 9.1 10 9 – 7.4 10 9 2.87 10 3 – 2.57 10 4 3.37 10 6 – 0.29 10 6 6.5 10 7 – 1.2 10 7 5 10 4 – 8 x 10 6 10 4 – 3 10 8 10 4 – 2 10 8 10 4 – 3 10 9 1.74 10 2 – 4.36 10 3 1.74 10 2 – 4.52 10 5 1.74 10 2 – 6.48 10 4 1.74 10 2 – 1.34 10 3 1.74 10 2 – 6.10 10 4 (Khachatoorian et al. 2003)
(Martin et al. 1996)
(Cabalar et al. 2017)
(Sujatha and Saisree 2019) (Kwon et al. 2019)
(Singh and Das 2019)
Reference (Wen et al. 2019) (Chang et al. 2016a)
1212 E. R. Sujatha and S. Anandha Kumar
Guar gum Sodium alginate Xanthan gum β-Glucan
Xanthan gum Guar gum
16. 17. 18. 19.
20. 21.
CL CL
CL
Lean clay
Clayey sand Clayey sand
–
Silty sand +18% kaolin
1 1
2 0.5 0.5 2
1 10 4 – 10 7 1 10 4 – 10 7 1 10 4 – 10 7 1.03 10 2 – 7 10 9 1.03 10 2 – 10 1.03 10 2 – 6 10 8 8
(Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2020) (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2021)
(Bouazza et al. 2009)
45 Biopolymer-Based Liners for Waste Containment Facilities: A Review 1213
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increase in biopolymer dosage as the viscosity of the pore fluid increases and clogs the voids in the soil matrix with the formation of highly viscous gum-like hydrogels (Singh and Das 2020). This clogging further restricts the movement of fluid through the treated soil matrix. A similar reduction in permeability is also observed in clean sands. The hydraulic conductivity of sand reduced from 8.46 10–5 to 2.84 10–11 cm/s with the addition of 1.5% xanthan gum (Cabalar et al. 2018). The reduction in permeability of these granular soils was attributed to void filling that caused pore-plugging and binding of the soil grains through the formation of hydrogels (Bouazza et al. 2009; Cabalar et al. 2018; Ivanov and Chu 2008; Khachatoorian et al. 2003). Ayeldeen et al. (2016) in their study also observed a reduction in the hydraulic conductivity of the biopolymer-treated sands and silts (xanthan gum, guar gum, and modified starch) and attributed the reduction to the formation of cross-linking elements that formed in the void spaces of the soil matrix obstructing the flow of water through the soil matrix. They also observed that the volume of these cross-linked elements increased with the biopolymer dosage. In the case of nonionic biopolymers like guar gum, the accumulation in the void spaces was wider and thicker, filling the void spaces more effectively (Ayeldeen et al. 2016). The comparative study of the hydraulic conductivity of xanthan gum and guar gum treated soil showed that xanthan gum was more effective in controlling the hydraulic conductivity than guar gum owing to its charged nature (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2021). Gellan gum-treated soils also show an effective reduction in hydraulic conductivity owing to the water retention capacity and pore-filling nature of the gellan gum hydrogels on saturation (Chang et al. 2016a). Also, the hydraulic conductivity of the granular soil samples is sensitive to confining pressure indicating that it is dependent on the structure of gellan gum in the void spaces (Chang et al. 2016a). Biopolymer-treated soils modify the hydraulic conductivity of the soil in a very short duration of time compared to other conventional stabilizers like cement (Chang et al. 2016b). Ayeldeen et al. (2016), Cabalar et al. (2017), and Anandha Kumar and Sujatha (2021) studied the effect of time/aging on the hydraulic conductivity of biopolymertreated soils. Ayeldeen et al. (2016) report the hydraulic conductivity of sand and silt increases with an increase in the curing time as the hydrogels shrink on dehydration causing gaps in the soil matrix which act as paths for water movement. Cabalar et al. (2017) observed that initially up to 7 days, there is a decrease in the hydraulic conductivity of biopolymer-treated clean sand but with further increase in time, hydraulic conductivity tends to increase. Anandha Kumar and Sujatha (2020) observed in their study on clayey sand that hydraulic conductivity decreased with the curing period for the investigated time period (i.e., 28 days). Chang et al. (2016a) have also observed a decrease in hydraulic conductivity with time in both sand and Saemangeum soil for a period of nearly 6 days. Bouazza et al. (2009) used xanthan gum, guar gum, and sodium alginate to stabilize silty sand and reported a decrease in hydraulic conductivity with aging to a period of 70 days. The authors attributed this decrease in hydraulic conductivity to the formation of hydrous gels. Martin et al. (1996) also observed a decrease in hydraulic conductivity of soil treated with sodium alginate over a period of 6 months. These observations indicate that the type of soil
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and degree of saturation are important factors that govern the hydraulic conductivity of sand with aging. The study on the hydraulic conductivity of biopolymer-treated soil strongly advocates the choice of biopolymer stabilization for in situ soil to be modified as baseliners as the decrease in hydraulic conductivity can very effectively attenuate the movement of leachate and heavy metals into the soil.
Strength of Biopolymer-Treated Soils Biopolymers act as a cementing agent (Choi et al. 2020) and tend to aggregate the soil particles, and these aggregates show higher resistance to loads. Chang et al. (2015a) report that factors like the dosage of biopolymer, type of soil, water content, and method of mixing affect the strength of the treated soil. Several studies show that biopolymer dosage and type of soil are the most influential factors (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2020; Ayeldeen et al. 2016; Chang et al. 2015a, b, c, 2016b; Chen et al. 2019) that influence the strength of biopolymer-treated soils. A minimum dosage of biopolymer, say 0.5–2% to the dry weight of soil, shows a considerable increase in the strength of the soil (Anandha Kumar and Sujatha 2020; Chang et al. 2016b; Chen et al. 2019). Literature points out that UCS of the soil increases with the biopolymer dosage. Also, it is observed that the maximum biopolymer dosage is limited to 5% as beyond 5% uniform mixing of biopolymer and soil is not possible owing to the higher viscosity of the biopolymer hydrogels (Choi et al. 2020). Also, the rate of increase in strength approaches an asymptotic value with an increase in the biopolymer content of 3–4% (Choi et al. 2020; Qureshi et al. 2017). This increase in strength can be ascribed to the interparticle bonds that are caused by the biopolymer hydrogels (Chang et al. 2015a; Choi et al. 2020). They have a high specific surface and are electrically charged, enabling the soil–biopolymer interactions, which again contributes significantly to the increase in strength (Chang et al. 2016a). The charged nature of biopolymers like xanthan gum, gellan gum, Persian gum, Ca-alginate, Na-alginate, etc. causes bridges to be formed between soil particles and improves the particle alignment in the soil matrix (Chang et al. 2015b, 2016b). Table 2 presents the summary of UCS value for various biopolymers, biopolymer dosages, and types of soil. Generally, in clays, the biopolymer bonds with the charged clay particles through hydrogen bonding and cation bridging (Chang et al. 2015a) when the biopolymers are also charged in nature like in the case of biopolymers like xanthan gum, gellan gum, Ca-alginate, Na-alginate, and chitosan, but in the case of nonionic biopolymers like guar gum, the formation of ionic bonds and these bonds contribute to the increase in strength of the soil. Therefore, the entire soil matrix along with the hydrogels in the pore spaces of the soil matrix participates in the strengthening of soil. In the case of sand, particles are not charged, and hence hydrogen bonding/ electrostatic bonding is ruled out. Strengthening is therefore is a result of the interparticle cohesion and friction that is mobilized. In coarse-grained soils, the interparticle strength is gained through the formation of dehydrated gel that supports the sand particles (Qureshi et al. 2017). The biopolymer forms gel matrices and interacts with the sand particles as a coating on the surface, between particles
10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
9.
7. 8.
6.
3. 4. 5.
Sl. No. 1. 2.
Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Modified starch
Biopolymer type Sodium alginate Xanthan gum (XG) Guar gum (GG) Persian gum (PG) Gellan gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Guar gum Xanthan gum Guar gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Guar gum β-Glucan (BG) Alginate (ALG) Chitosan (CHI) Guar gum
Highly compressible silt– clay Soft marine soil Bentonite Kaolinite Low-plasticity clay High-plasticity silt High-plasticity silt
Lateritic soil Well-graded sand with silt
Red mud
Poorly graded sand High-plasticity silt Red mud
Soil type Poorly graded sand Low-plasticity clay
Table 2 Effect of biopolymer on strength of the soil
CH – – CL MH MH
MH-CH
CH SW-SM
ML
SP CH ML
USCS classification SP CL
1 1 1.5 3 2 2
1.5 XG, 4 GG, 4 BG, 4 ALG, 2 CHI, 4 2
0.5
2 1 0.5
Optimum content (%) 0.4 XG, 1.5 GG, 1 PG, 2
2600 – 3400 286 – 2580 150 – 1180 396 – 823 52 – 338 52 – 570
0 – 434.6 985 – 1171 245 – 1204 245 – 900 102 – 536 102 – 469 171 – 406 181 – 7087 181 – 3277 181 – 2467 181 – 2044 181 – 1059 152 – 418
UCS (kPa) (from– to) 140 – 260 184.5 – 338.5 357.6 – 421.2
(Ayeldeen et al. 2016) (Lee et al. 2019)
(Kwon et al. 2019) (Latifi et al. 2016a) (Cabalar et al. 2017)
(Sujatha and Saisree 2019)
(Rashid et al. 2019) (Soldo and Miletić 2019)
(Chang et al. 2016a) (Singh and Das 2019) (Reddy et al. 2020)
Reference (Wen et al. 2019) (Ghasemzadeh and Modiri 2020)
1216 E. R. Sujatha and S. Anandha Kumar
Guar gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum
16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
21.
High-plasticity silt Inorganic, silty sand Kaolinite Sand Poorly graded sand with silt Red yellow soil
2 2 1 1 1 1
MH SM – – SP-SM –
1000 – 4940
52 – 840 210 – 4900 440 – 2540 0 – 880 220 – 3680 (Chang et al. 2015a) (Chang et al. 2015a)
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through cementation and within the pore spacing by filling the voids with hydrogels (Chang et al. 2015a). Chang et al. (2016a) observe that the strengthening effect is better in clay soil than in sands owing to the ionic/hydrogen bonds between the clay particles and the biopolymer as they are electrically charged. The water content of the treated soil strongly influences its strength (Chang et al. 2015a, b; Chen et al. 2019). Chang et al. (2015a) and Chen et al. (2019) showed that dehydrated soil shows higher UCS and stiffness than wet or submerged soil in sands and attributed the enhanced strength to the formation of high-tensile biopolymer dehydrates like films which are also thick in the sand matrix. Similar results were observed by authors like Chang and Cho (2012) and Chang et al. (2015b) in biopolymers like β-glucan and gellan gum. On saturation, the biopolymer being hydrophilic absorbs water, weakening the bonds that lead to a drastic reduction in the strength of the biopolymer-treated soil (Chang et al. 2015a). Chang et al. (2015a) also reported that in the case of clay, an interaction between the hydrophilic biopolymer and adsorbed water in clay particles causes the change in strength on saturation but also pointed that a similar reaction is not possible when clay particles have hydrophilic double-layer surfaces. The common methods of mixing biopolymer and soil are dry and wet mixing methods. In the dry mixing method, the biopolymer is added as a dry powder and mixed with soil thoroughly before the addition of water, while in the wet mixing method, it is first mixed with water to form a hydro-solution and then added to the soil (Chang et al. 2015a). UCS of dry mixed samples shows higher strength than that of the wet mixed samples. The superior strength of the dry mixed samples can be attributed to the viscosity and solubility of the biopolymer in water (Chang et al. 2015a). Also, there is a possibility that the monomeric threads can break when mixing the biopolymer hydro-solution to the soil. Literature shows that a biopolymer is a very promising alternative to conventional additives that are used for improving the strength of the soil (see Table 2). They are more economic than traditional stabilizers as they yield better results with the addition of a small quantity of biopolymers. For example, Chang et al. (2016a) reported that sand treated with 2% gellan gum yielded a strength higher than the strength of sand treated with 12% cement. Though biopolymers are sensitive to changes in water content, the published results indicate that biopolymer-treated soils exhibit an appreciable degree of resistance to cycles of wetting and drying (Chang et al. 2016a; Chen et al. 2019; Sujatha and Saisree 2019). The unconfined compressive strength of clayey soil on rewetted soil is greater than 200 kPa, and for sand it is 50 kPa (Chang et al. 2016a). Biopolymer-treated soil can therefore be advocated for modifying the in situ soil as a baseliner for landfills and waste containment facilities.
Durability Biopolymers are natural organic materials and are sensitive to the changes in water content making them susceptible to degradation. These characteristics of biopolymer mandate that a study on the durability of biopolymer-treated soil is necessary to recommend them for practical long-term application. The increase in the UCS and
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stiffness of biopolymer-treated soil samples with aging indicates that there is no material decomposition with aging (Chang et al. 2015a; Singh and Das 2019). Authors like Chang et al. (2015a), Singh and Das (2019), and Sujatha and Saisree (2019) have studied the behavior of biopolymer-treated soils under wetting and drying cycles and freeze and thaw cycles. These studies reveal that the biopolymer-treated soils show minimum cumulative soil loss and moisture content change when compared to untreated soil. This resistance to extreme conditions has been attributed to the change in the viscosity of the pore fluid and subsequent modification in the rheology of the biopolymer-treated soil (Singh and Das 2019). The interaction between the soil particle and biopolymer monomer mimics adhesive action and helps the soil to resist degradation. Studies also indicate that at higher biopolymer contents, the resistance to loss of volume and change in moisture content is lesser than at lower biopolymer contents (Sujatha and Saisree 2019). From these studies, it can be inferred that biopolymers can be used for long-term geotechnical applications particularly as seepage barriers. These findings also reinforce the fact that biopolymer stabilized soil is suitable as a baseliner in landfill and waste containment facilities.
Sustainable Development and Circular Economy Biopolymers are natural materials and can be produced ex situ and applied in the field. They can be commercially produced at a large scale with better quality control. They are carbon neutral in most cases and in some cases like xanthan gum are carbon negative (Chang et al. 2016b). Their use can limit the choice of conventional soil stabilizers like cement which emit greenhouse gases at their production stage (Chang et al. 2016b). They form stable hydrogels and do not cause harm to the local soil environment. They are also capable of promoting green cover owing to their organic nature. But most biopolymers are at present costly when compared to the conventional additives that are used to stabilize the soil. The market prices of the biopolymers are dependent on their purity leading to higher manufacturing costs. In geotechnical applications, purity is not a necessary property, and production costs can be reduced by compromising the purity. The inclusion of carbon emission trade imposed on manufactured stabilizers like cement renders the option of biopolymer-treated soil more competitive with only 3.6% higher costs than cement stabilized soil (Chang et al. 2016b). Also, biopolymers are extracted from plant or animal sources, which in itself can lead to further opportunities for economic growth through the cultivation of these biopolymers. Also, greater demand for biopolymers can lead to larger production and lower costs. Hence, biopolymers offer an eco-friendly and competitive option for improving the properties of the in situ soil to be used as baseliners, side liners, and cover in landfills.
Conclusion Environmental concerns raised by conventional stabilizers like cement underline the need for an environmentally friendly and sustainable material for soil stabilization. Biopolymers offer a viable alternative that is both sustainable and competitive. They
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have tremendous potential to reduce carbon emissions and promote the growth of vegetation which is a major advantage when used as covers for landfills. They are a major step forward in environmental conservation. They are effective at a lower dosage and have lesser water requirements compared to conventional stabilizers. The presence of fine particles in the soil can improve the strengthening effect further. Biopolymer treatment increases the strength and reduces the hydraulic conductivity of the soil through bio-cementation and bio-clogging. Biopolymer-treated soil seals the void spaces and acts as a hydraulic barrier almost immediately on mixing with soil and water. They are effective in both granular soil and clay. They are amenable to various modes of introduction into the soil like grouting, mixing, injection, and spraying. Biopolymers can be used for geotechnical applications like deep mixing based on their viscous nature. Despite their attractive benefits, there are also several challenges in adopting biopolymer stabilization in the field like the economic feasibility, workability, equipment, possible degradation in the long term, and their inherent water-sensitive nature. But their numerous advantages make them a promising choice soil stabilizer.
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Solid Waste Management in Textile Industry Monika Patel, Ankita Sahu, and Ravikant Rajak
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Textile Fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Natural Fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Regenerated Fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Synthetic Fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental Impact of Fibers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cotton and Wool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rayon and Tencel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nylon and Polyester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Textile Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pre-consumer Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Post-consumer Textile Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soft and Hard Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Causes of Textile Waste Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Industrialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Modern Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rapid Change in Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Easy and Cheap Availability of Textiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of Consumer Awareness About Environment Friendliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of Strict Government Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of Classic Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Low Popularity of Secondhand Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of Systematic Pipeline of Textile Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Major Textile Waste-Generating Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Necessity of Textile Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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M. Patel (*) Department of Floriculture Landscape Architecture (Floriculture), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India A. Sahu ICAR – Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India R. Rajak RNTC Agriculture College, Deoghar, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_57
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Principles of Textile Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rethink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reduce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reuse/Upcycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reintroduce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upcycling and Recycling of Textile Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traditional Textile Upcycling and Recycling Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People of Wagdi Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People of Kathiyawad Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traders of Secondhand Clothing (SHC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Real Fabric Zari (Gold and Silver Work) Extractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fabric Scrap Collectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Secondhand Clothes (SHC) Retailers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Modern Textile Waste Upcycling and Recycling Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Modern Concepts of Textile Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extended Producers Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Take-Back Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recycling-Based Entrepreneurship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Online Market Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Textile Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benefits of Textile Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reduction of Environmental Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Positive Impact on Economy of Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clothes for the Poor and Disaster Relief Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conservation of Natural Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reduction of Pressure on Virgin Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enhancement of Creative Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contribution Towards Business Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employment Regeneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Global Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Social Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Constraints for Indian Textile Recycling Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of Awareness Among Citizens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of Proper Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neighbor Country Competitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of New Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lack of Government Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Things to Consider for Improving Waste Management Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
As a result of economic development, many developing countries started their own manufacturing companies. Among these, textile and appeal companies generate significant amount of solid wastes in developing countries. Textile industry is the second largest source of pollution after oil industry. This industry is complex because of its involvement in a very long way from production of raw materials to disposal. It includes variety of processes like fabric production, cutting, sewing, yarning, dyeing, etc. Developing countries mainly have poor
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solid disposal methods. The concept is avoiding waste before generation. This type of management is a whole system approach and it eliminates waste rather than managing the waste. There are five principles to achieve the aim: rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, and reintroduce. So there is a need of this type of solid waste management for having an environmentally and economically sustainable future. In this chapter, the details of solid waste management in textile industry is elaborated. Keywords
Textile waste · Textile waste management · Sustainable environment
Introduction Every year, hundreds of new textile products are developed with sustainability as a focal point. With increased buying power of consumers, more textiles are dumped after their life cycle. This is creating the alarming pollution of landfills. This landfill site may have serious human and environmental effects. After disposal, the textiles age and decompose at the landfills. The decomposition of such materials releases toxic greenhouse gases and also pollutes water bodies directly and indirectly. Scientists are trying to find prospective in the moon and other planets after they tap most of the earth’s resources. Land space is now reduced and valued more than ever before. In this scenario, it is important for the textile industry to move towards better waste management practices. In the near future, it will be impossible for waste to be dumped on landfills (Bertram and Chi 2016; Huang et al. 2018). There is an end to every textile material, after which it is discarded. It may decompose in a few years if the fiber is 100% normal, but the population outbreaks have made scientists find new sources. The growing population demands more clothing, which is estimated to be 99 million tonnes per year, which cannot be fully met by natural fibers (Mukherjee 2017). There is a growing need for people from the fabric where blends and mixtures of textiles are inevitable. Blends are mostly petrochemical-derived synthetics that are harmful to the ecosystem. To sum up, the fibers are of two types: natural and synthetic origin. Textile materials made from natural fibers are biodegradable, while synthetic materials pose a risk of being non-compostable (Khalili et al. 2017). This sector of industry create major environmental pollution. Production of raw materials, fibers, through spinning, weaving, dyeing, manufacturing, and finishing processes are labor-oriented works, and these have harmful effects on human health (Fletcher and Grose 2011). The impacts caused by incorrect disposal of these can pollute the soil, contaminate water and air, and cause a series of harmful impacts on the pillars of sustainability: environment, society, and economy. Sustainability is the priority of any segment of the textile industry, from fiber cultivation to shipping and life cycle evaluation. The entire product life cycle is checked and then certified in the event of quality certification or ISO. Once the fabric
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is found not to be wearable, it is either thrown away in landfills or discarded. Some nations have organizations that collect and distribute old textiles to orphanages and countries in the third world. Goodwill is one such charity house that works in the direction of making one person’s waste to another person’s money (Koch and Domina 1999; Hawley 2006; Wang 2017). Growing market consciousness is one of the driving force for development of eco-friendly goods. The marketing and promotional policy has also shifted to eco-friendliness (Charter and Polonsky 2017). Customers do not downgrade the recycled goods. Recent research has established a positive attitude in buying recycled textile fabrics that are eco-friendly and healthy for the skin. The research also shows that this is seen in men rather than in women. It may be that men look more at content and women to fashion (Raut et al. 2016). The use of recycled fabrics in their items has now moved to multinational fashion brands.
Classification of Textile Fiber Textile is the material which is woven from natural or synthetic fiber. Different types of fibers are woven into yarns, then plies and then into textile (Long 2005). Fibers are divided into two types, natural fiber and synthetic fiber. Wool, silk, cotton, hemp, flax, and glass fiber are natural fibers. Synthetic fiber are generated from petroleum. Acrylic, nylon, and polyester are synthetic fibers. Recently, nanomaterials have been introduced into the textile industry. Fiber can be classified into various categories based on different guidelines. Fiber can be divided into two kinds according to length: staple fiber and filament. Fibers can be categorized into two groups according to origin: natural fiber and man-made fiber, while man-made fiber can be further divided into regenerated fiber and synthetic fiber (Fig. 1). Cotton and wool are environment-friendly and biodegradable; although the raw material of rayon and tencel are renewable, but still the processing procedure creates some environmental pollution due to chemical usage. But nylon and polyester production processes are responsible for nitrous oxide emission. Both are synthetic fibers and nonbiodegradable (Jain and Gupta 2016).
Classification of textile fiber Natural fiber
Fig. 1 Classification of textile fiber
Regenerated fiber
Synthetic fiber
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Natural Fiber Natural fiber comes primarily from plants, animals, and minerals. Cotton accounts for 35% of the global clothing fiber market. It is a soft, white, and fluffy staple fiber that grows mainly in tropical or subtropical regions around the globe, such as America, Africa, India, and parts of China (Mistra 2010). As the most traditional fashion fiber, cotton contributes the largest share in the textile industry. As one of the largest textile exporters in the world, China is the world’s largest cotton producer, making cotton production a key driver of economic development and, in particular, supporting China’s small-scale peasant economy. Wool is the most essential textile fiber obtained from the hair of sheep or other animals due to its many unique properties. Highly flammable and highly durable, it can reach up to 50% when wet and 30% when dry. Wool has outstanding moisture wicking properties, drawing moisture into the center of the fiber so it doesn’t feel damp or soggy to the wearer. The quality and price of the wool depends primarily on the diameter of the fiber.
Regenerated Fiber Regenerated fibers are the fibers regenerated by extrusion and precipitation from natural raw materials such as cellulose and protein. The first regenerated fiber is rayon made from the most available natural polymer cellulose. Rayon is like cotton which is hydrophilic and biodegradable (Hergert and Daul 1977). Depending on the manufacturing process, rayon may be weak and extremely water-absorbent or as strong as strongest fibers or like steel (Hergert and Daul 1977). There are two methods of creating rayon in history: the viscose discovered by Cross Bevan and Beadle in 1892; the cuprammonium produced by Despaissis (Hergert and Daul 1977). Tencel (also known as Lyocell) is another form of regenerated cellulose fiber made from wood pulp. It is as soft as cotton, solid as polyester, and warm as wool.
Synthetic Fiber Synthetic fiber is developed from chemical substances and typically created by heat to melt the fiber polymer to a viscosity appropriate for spinnerette extrusion (US EPA 1995), forming the thread. With use in both fiber and textile technologies, synthetic fiber makes up half of all fiber usage. Nylon, polyester, acrylic, and polyolefin dominate the market for all synthetic fibers, accounting for almost 98% of the production volume of synthetic fibers, with polyester alone contributes around 60% (Mcintyre 2004). These fibers are nonbiodegradable. In 1930s, nylon emerged as the first synthetic fiber as a replacement for silk used in fabrics, bridal veils, carpets, musical strings, and rope. There are many positive qualities of nylon, such as light weight, exceptional tensile strength, toughness, and harm resistance. One reason why nylon so widely used in toothbrushes to garments is that it is flexible,
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simple to dye, and easy to manufacture. Nylon dries quickly, but is heat sensitive and it should be washed and dried in cool environment. Polyester, which accounts for 40% of the global clothing fiber market (Mistra 2010), was invented in Britain in the early 1940s and became popular in the 1950s due to its durability and unique properties. Polyester is durable and immune to biological damage, such as mildew, but some wearers can experience irritation. The polyester processing process is similar to nylon (Chen and Davis Burns 2006). Polyester is also made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) derived from ethylene glycol and either dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) or terephthalic acid (TPA) similar to plastic drinking bottles (US EPA 1995).
Environmental Impact of Fibers Two examples are taken from every type of fibers for analyzing the environmental effects in the whole production process.
Cotton and Wool Cotton is the world’s most popular clothing fiber, and it is biodegradable. It allows many customers to regard it as an environmentally friendly commodity. In fact, cotton is not so environmentally friendly, but renewable in itself. Cotton is vulnerable to insect and fungal attacks, leading to the heavy use of pesticides and fungicides, thereby contaminating the soil and underground water. It is estimated that cotton uses just 3% of the world’s agricultural space, but about 25% of the world’s pesticides, according to Yates (1994). Except pesticides and fungicides, defoliants are also used prior to cotton harvesting (Grayson 1984). Cotton farming use heavy amount of water. Global cotton products need 256 gm3 of water per year in 1997–2001, which accounts for 2.6% of global water consumption (Hoekstra et al. 2005). Very long chemical and physical processing methods add several poisonous and hazardous chemicals. For example, formaldehyde or similar products have been used on cotton to enhance the wrinkle recovery of fabrics (Needles 1986). In spite of its natural characteristics, the production of cotton also has a negative effect on the climate. Scientists are doing their hardest to mitigate the bad impact of the production of cotton. Transgenic cotton has resistance to insects and fungi, and it minimizes the use of pesticides and fungicides (Myers and Stolton 1999). The use of dyes can be minimized by growing colorful cotton through selective breeding or from natural mutants (Robbins 1994). Traditional cotton plays dominant role in the cotton production (Chen and Davis Burns 2006). Wool is a renewable product, but it has also side effects on the environment. Overgrazing of sheep create soil erosion. It affects soil aeration, and this creates problem in seed germination. Another issue that excess sheep manure can cause is pollution by runoff water (Kadolph and Langford 2007). Wool also needs to be treated with certain chemicals, such as dye to modify or enhance the output
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characteristics. Scientists can now breed a type of sheep with colored wool that can decrease the use of dye. But replacing conventional wool with natural colored wool is still very far away (Chen and Davis Burns 2006).
Rayon and Tencel Although the raw material is renewable, due to the application of chemicals during rayon processing cause some environmental problems (European Commission 2003). In the early 1990s, Tencel emerged as an environmentally friendly commodity in the market. It is created by a process of solvent spinning, which uses the solvent as the amino oxide. There are no by-products of the whole process and luckily all the solvent in the process can be extracted, filtered, and recycled (Kadolph and Langford 2007). Tencel is also biodegradable, although it is still a relatively new fiber and is not as commonly used as rayon (Chen and Davis Burns 2006).
Nylon and Polyester The manufacturing process also releases nitrous oxide that can deplete the earth’s ozone layer although the solvent washing is not involved in the nylon production process. Some chemicals are applied to the spinning solution, except dyes to alter the filament’s physical and chemical properties until the fibers are shaped (Chen and Davis Burns 2006). As like other petroleum materials, nylon is difficult to decompose under normal conditions, and this results in long-term accumulation in the landfill without recycling. The carpet industry is working on recycling of nylon from carpet by converting nylon fibers into caprolactam, which is used as the raw material for nylon (Chen and Davis Burns 2006). But unfortunately, most of the nylon enters the garbage dumps (La Mantia 2002), as recovering process is costly. Recovering process has more adverse impact. Polyester can be recycled and converted again into fresh polyester materials, and therefore it reduces landfills. Every year in the USA, an estimated 2.4 billion bottles are kept out of landfills through the manufacturing of 100% recycled polyester fibers (Rudie 1994). It is estimated that processing of polyester fiber from recycled polyester fiber minimize air emissions by 85% compared to the production of polyester fibers from raw materials (Chen and Davis Burns 2006). But the quality of recycled polyester might not be as good as virgin polyester fiber (Kadolph and Langford 2007).
Classification of Textile Waste In order to manage the textile waste, first step is to know the sources of waste. This can be classified as pre-consumer waste and post-consumer waste based on consumer usage (Fig. 2). Other classification of waste can be done as manufacturing and
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Pre consumer waste
Based on consumer usage
Post consumer waste
Fig. 2 Classification of textile waste based on consumer usage
Soft and Hard waste
Based on manufacturing and recovered waste
Wool and Non wool
Clean and Dirty waste
Fig. 3 Classification of textile waste based on manufacturing and recovered waste
recovered/reclaimed waste, soft and hard waste, wool and non-wool waste, and clean and dirty waste, etc. (Fig. 3) (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Pre-consumer Waste It is the manufacturing waste or postindustrial waste which is generated by textile industry through first stages of the supply chain. This consists of yarn waste, garment cutting waste, trimming waste, print trials, errors in dye lots, production surplus, and end of rolls. On an average, about 15% of fabric used in garment production is cut, discarded, and wasted in the initial process (Beitch 2015). Industry arranges their own landfill disposal services or pay landfill fees for dumping (Chavan 2014). Every year approximately 75% of the pre-consumer waste is recycled (Wang et al. 2003).
Post-consumer Textile Waste It is the household waste and dirty waste after consumer use. It consists of any type of garments or household articles which are discarded by consumers or retailers of appeal. These are discarded either because they are worn out, damaged, outgrown, or
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have gone out of fashion (Wang et al. 2003). Approximately 25% of the total postconsumer textile waste is recycled. Nylon can be recycled to fishing net and can be used for fishing in the ocean (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Soft and Hard Waste Textile waste generated from carding, combing, drawing, and spinning are called as soft waste. Waste generated from spinning, twisting, weaving, and knitting is called as hard waste (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Causes of Textile Waste Generation Industrialization When global population was less and resources were abundant, there was no problem in recycling. But with population explosion and industrial revolution, different types of nonbiodegradable wastes came into existence (Vishnoi 2013). After introduction of synthetic fibers in the twentieth century, there is rapid boom in the production of textile industry which eventually led to more pre consumer and post-consumer textile waste.
Modern Lifestyle Modern lifestyle is a significant contributor to landfill waste. Modern day products are more overpackaged and are consumed at a high level, contributing even more to the waste stream (Hawley 2006). Ever-changing fashion in developing nations like India is also responsible for more textile waste generation. The buying behavior of upper middle classes and middle classes have changed in the last two decades. This change is good for fashion business but not for environment. Shopping in big lucrative malls has become more a way of life and addiction. E-shopping has become easy and cheap. Finally this mentality is contributing towards carbon emissions and global warming.
Rapid Change in Fashion Rapid change in fashion demands for ongoing replacement of old products with something new and updated products (Hawley 2006). A trend of “throwaway” fashion is growing among young consumers. Rapid change of fashion life and low price of clothes are main reasons for growth of unwanted items (Joung and Poaps 2013). So to meet the global demand of clothes, natural fibers are replaced by synthetic fibers, and this cause more non-biodegradable waste generation (Farrant
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2008). In last decade fast fashion changes the purchasing power of consumers which led the problem of overconsumption.
Easy and Cheap Availability of Textiles With rapid growth of textile business, the retail prices for textiles have fallen due to the availability of cheap clothes. Global textile suppliers have concentrated over low-priced clothes with short life cycle (Joung and Poaps 2013). In the UK, “over the last decade women have doubled the purchase of wear items.” According to the office for National Statistics, the price of women’s clothing has fallen by 34% compared to the price of the same in the year 1995. This is supporting the throwaway culture and subsequent negative environmental impacts (Farrant 2008).
Lack of Consumer Awareness About Environment Friendliness Consumer disposal behavior and their awareness about environment plays a vital role in reusing the product till its end of life and then send for recycling rather than landfill (Muthu et al. 2012). Appropriate textile disposal practices are more important for recovering textile waste through recycling (Joung and Poaps 2013). The consumer stage use of garments cause water pollution due to usage of detergents, bleaches, etc. So consumers need awareness regarding maintenance of clothes, lifespan of clothing, and aftereffect on environment. Low-quality garments are freely traded without eco-labels while higher quality products are traded with compulsory eco-label. In countries like India, people are less concerned about this label, and this type of attitude creates water pollution without any valid reason.
Lack of Strict Government Policies Scientists from developed countries are working in the direction of recycling whereas developing countries like India is waking up towards this issue. In India, government policies are good enough in papers but poor enough for practical reinforcement (Norris 2010). Therefore, government should take initiatives and viable policies for trainings of self-help groups, disposal of waste, and awareness camps for environment conservation.
Lack of Classic Designs The high speed and low cost production of textiles put pressure on working conditions and environmental standards (Fletcher 2008). Design with durability should be prioritized as this is the sustainable approach. Before the industrial revolution, clothes were individually tailored according to body size, shape, and
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style choice. But now the mass production of ready-to-wear clothing has created havoc on environment. Ready to sale clothes are causing problems with poor fit for most of the consumers (Laitala 2010). Clothing should be durable, comfort, aesthetic, and ease of maintenance with proper design and shape to satisfy the long-run consumer needs.
Low Popularity of Secondhand Clothing Usage of secondhand clothes is not widely spread, and generally it is considered for low-income groups. It is not appreciated as a good substitute of firsthand clothes and people are unaware of secondhand cloth shops, so they are not widely available (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Lack of Systematic Pipeline of Textile Recycling Textile recycling practices has gained a momentum. People are gradually becoming more aware of textile recycling and use of recycled products. In countries like India, still there is no stringent policy for controlling the unnecessary textile dumping. So textile recycling, upcycling, and reverse logistics pictures are not so clear. Pre-consumer wastes are comparatively easy to collect but post-consumer wastes pose lot of problems regarding collection, sorting, and transportation (Farrant 2008).
Major Textile Waste-Generating Activities Textile manufacturers undertake a range of waste-generating activities like washing, drying, warping, weaving, dyeing, printing, finishing, quality, process control, and warehousing. Fabric waste is the main waste generated by this sector. These include soft fiber waste, yarn spinning (hard fiber) waste, beaming waste, off-cutting, packaging, and spools. Wet finishing processes require approximately 200 l of water per kilogram of fiber and this make wastewater the largest waste in the sector by volume (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Necessity of Textile Waste Management The textile industry is second largest source of pollution after oil industry. This industry is complex because of its involvement in a very long way from production of raw materials to disposal. Both production and consumption processes produce lots of textile waste. It is necessary to consider all the stages of manufacturing of textiles for recycling and upcycling of textile waste. There is an urgent need for effective textile waste management to stop its adverse effects on environment and its
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creatures (Jain and Gupta 2018). Following facts about textile wastes trigger all environmentalists to think seriously in the direction of textile waste management: • After oil industry, textile industry creates major source of water and air pollution, and it is also responsible for global greenhouse gas emission. • Total solid waste generated by 217 million urban people is 83.8 million tonnes in 2015. It is expected to increase 221 million tonnes in 2030 (Agarwal et al. 2015). More than a million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year as a piece of clothing lasts approximately about 3 years. The post-consumer waste is increased by 40% in between 1999 and 2009, but the recycling rate is increased by 4% only. • Nowadays, approximately 80–90% of textile wastes are polyethylene terephthalate polymer and are nonbiodegradable like plastic bottles. Synthetic materials are quite resistant and are not so easy for degradation (Tortora and Collier 1997). Polyester and nylon are nonbiodegradable and are unsustainable for environment. Major portion of textile industry produce polyester, and it requires 70 million barrels of crude oil per year for production. It takes an estimated 500 years for its biodegradation (Styles 2014). Nylon production emits a large amount of nitrous oxide, the most ubiquitous greenhouse gas. • After biodegradation, textiles form methane gas which is released into the air and increase greenhouse gas emissions (Roznev et al. 2011). They easily clog out drainage and waterways as most of them are nonbiodegradable (Vishnoi 2013). • Approximately 40% of our clothing are made up of cotton. Cotton crop is a heavy water dependent crop. Apart from farmland and heavy amount of water, cotton farming consumes about 10% of agricultural chemicals and 25% of world’s pesticides (Chen and Davis Burns 2006). Approximately one-fourth of total chemicals produced worldwide are consumed by textile industry. Cotton farming is heavily relied upon the agrochemicals which enter into our food chain and cause biomagnification (Aiswariya and Amsamani 2010). Organic cotton farming is a good alternative, but it is also expensive to grow as compared to conventional cotton farming. Manufacturing a pair of T-shirt and a jean needs approximately 5,000 gallons of water. Organic cotton still needs huge amount of water for its dyeing and other processes. So cotton garments carrying the “organic” tag are not out of carbon footprint. • Textile industry is responsible for water pollution, and it is the third top industry for wasting water. Fresh water is required for dyeing process and then dye untreated wastewater is discharged into the nearby rivers and then eventually to the sea. Textile industry dump their lead, mercury, arsenic, nonylphenol containing chemicals into the river, and it adversely affect the health of locals and aquatic life. During textile use stage, the discharge of phosphates containing wastewater promotes growth of green algae which can harm aquatic lives (Farrant 2008). Waterless dye technologies have been developed but have not yet been popularized as the new technology is expensive and works on few fabrics. • Asia is major hub for textile industry, and it exports textile to other parts of the world. Approximately 90% of textile are transported by container ship each year; these ships consume fuel by tonnes per hour and then air pollution to the coastal areas.
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Principles of Textile Waste Management Textile waste is generated at every stage of production. 5 R’s principle of textile waste management is very important tool to solve this problem (Fig. 4). These are: rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, and reintroduce.
Rethink Environmentally friendly waste management is the first and most effective component of waste management. From production, manufacturing, buying to after use of textiles, one should take wise decisions by keeping the environment as foremost important gift (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Reduce Manufacturing methods that require less natural resources and generate less textile waste should be adopted. Textile materials with high strength and durability should be the prime importance of consumers which result in less amount of textile waste (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Rethink
Reintroduce
Reduce
Principles
Recycle
Fig. 4 5 R’s principle of textile waste management
Reuse
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Reuse/Upcycle Clothes should be reused again as secondhand clothes. Upcycling is reusing of waste clothes without destroying or sending to municipal waste, and same clothes are used to form something new. Upcycling is more energy efficient than recycling, and it helps to decrease the cost of recycling (Farrant 2008).
Recycle Recycling is to reprocess the used waste items to make new items. This can reduce energy consumption, air pollution, water pollution, etc. (Farrant 2008). Recycling is the process of obtaining wealth from the waste, and this strategy is adopted widely (Sule and Bardhan 2001).
Reintroduce Recycled textiles should be introduced into the market and can be launched as new brand. They can be tagged as recycled products with huge respect (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Upcycling and Recycling of Textile Waste Textile wastes varied in terms of different shape, size, color, form, quality, etc., and so almost 100% usable textile waste can be modified to different products either by upcycling or recycling techniques. Upcycling is the reuse of existing products within the same production chain. The end products are disassembled and again reassembled to new and different products. For centuries, the reuse and upcycling process are going on with considerable amount of creativity and vision. Most of the upcycled products are handmade and sustainable products. Upcycling includes using of old sarees for making of beautiful carpets (Jain and Gupta 2018). Recycling is breaking down of end products into the previous raw materials to create new products. Textile recycling use pre-consumer and post-consumer waste. Those waste are broken down to yarn and then yarn is used for waving different new products. Sometimes yarns are broken down to fiber sage for making new textile materials (Jain and Gupta 2018). Stages of textile waste recycling are as follows: Primary recycling: It is the original recycling process, where man-made fibers such as polyester are recycled back to its original form. Secondary recycling: It is for the conversion of waste textile materials into other purpose materials with lower level of physical, mechanical, or chemical properties.
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For example, discarded textiles can be converted into wipers. This recycling involves lots of processes such as cutting, shredding, carding, etc. Tertiary recycling: It involves processes like pyrolysis, gasification, hydrolysis, etc. for conversion of the waste materials into basic chemicals. Conversion of plastic waste materials into its original chemicals is an example of tertiary recycling (Muthu et al. 2012). Quaternary recycling: It is the conversion of fibrous solid wastes into its original form (Muthu et al. 2012).
Traditional Textile Upcycling and Recycling Processes By using numerous techniques and artistic brain, both pre- and post-consumer textile waste can be reused. Already many household and craft products are made using textile waste. Many times, nonwoven, braiding, weaving, knitting, quilting, patchwork, puppets, etc. techniques were used by both household and craft sectors to create useful and decorative products.
Textile Waste Upcycling and Recycling Processes at Household Level The upcycling process of household textile waste is a part of livelihood in many communities. This practice is considered as low standard livelihood of poor families. Soft clothes of new born child can be used as a substitute for sanitary napkins in later stage. Unused sarees and other old clothes are good for moping and dusting purposes. Old woolen and fabric clothes can be used as stuffing materials of toys, pillow, mattresses, etc. Precious silk sarees can be used as the cover of sophisticated sofa cover, cushion cover, pillow cover, curtains, bed cover, etc. Old-fashioned clothes can be redesigned to fit the new fashion (Jain and Gupta 2016). Passing of precious textile materials from generation to generation is the good practice in many parts of world. The popular Buddha robe “Kasaya” is made of patched pieces of donated clothes throughout his life. Lord Buddha is depicted with such a robe draped over his body. Japanese Boro textile (kimono, sleeping futone covers, etc.) are made after repairing cotton cloth scraps with indigo dye by the poor communities. These textiles are passed from generation to generation with further stitching of sashiko stitch (running stitch). Patched quilts with unique embroideries by Americans are an excellent example of upcycling waste of fabric scraps. The growing pop culture also motivates for reuse or upcycling of products (Mitchell 1936; Leonas 2017). Textile Waste Upcycling and Recycling Processes at Crafts Sector Apart from household activities, there are some upcycled crafts based on creative expression. These crafts are mainly female-dominated livelihood activities of poor communities and tribes. Kantha work of Bengal is one of the oldest textile recycling practice where the old muslin sarees are used as base material for beautiful running stitch work. The Bakarwal and Gujjar tribes of Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan use various recycled textile crafts as a part of their old ancestral tradition for preserving old clothes. Tribes of Jammu and Kashmir convert old woolen blankets
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into handmade rugs by using acrylic yarns. Similarly, tribes of Rajasthan do patch, embroidery work and mirror work to add beauty in the old textile products. Different accessories like cap, bags, wall hangings, cushions, bed covers, etc. are also created by recycled textiles (Bairagi 2014). Chindi durries of Haryana is famous for using strips of old sarees, shawls, dupatta, and other garments for weaving their new handmade products. Many African tribes use textile waste for making beautiful jewelry in their unique design. Still many organized and unorganized communities do textile recycling as a traditional livelihood activity. Indian textile industry is incomplete without mentioning the following communities who play vital role for textile waste recycling business.
People of Wagdi Community Wagdi community people are working in textile recycling business since long before the concept of sustainability. They are originated basically from Mahesana region of Gujrat state (India), and they collect post-consumer goods in exchange of utensils (Bartans); they are spread almost all over the India. This recycling business is women-dominant livelihood and men of the family sell out those collected garments. In last decades, this community was doing good business, but with changing fashion and bargaining style, they faced problems (Jain and Gupta 2016).
People of Kathiyawad Community These people sell the diamond garments mostly in craft lane of Janpath at Connaught Place, Delhi. The creative design was mainly carried out by the ladies of Kathiyawad community of Gujrat. They sell their costly textile products in very reasonable prices. This community is considered in the above hierarchy of the people of Wagdi community. Traders sort and mend the garments in different categories. Valuable and precious textiles are sent to the retailers and finally to consumers (Jain and Gupta 2016).
Traders of Secondhand Clothing (SHC) Middle men between the collectors and retailers of secondhand clothing are called as traders. They sort, clean, and mend the clothes and sell those in different markets (Jain and Gupta 2016).
Real Fabric Zari (Gold and Silver Work) Extractors Real gold and silver zari extraction business is still in practice by old businessmen of shops of Kinari Bazaar, Chandni chowk, Old Delhi area. Extraction of real zari work
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from silk sarees are the precious findings for the people involved in this business. Bartan wala give costly utensils in exchange of these precious old real zari fabrics (Bairagi 2014).
Fabric Scrap Collectors These are the individuals who collect and sort fabric scraps from different clothing manufacturing places and sort them according to color and fabric type. In general, these types of storage and separation areas are located nearby textile sites from where they can easily collect the scraps. Sanjay Nagar, Old Faridabad, Jamunapaar, etc. are some of the places where this kind of selection and separation processes are performed. This form of Katrans (fabric scraps) are traditionally used by various modern industries dependent on textile recycling such as paper making, fabric, cellulose industry, durry (carpet) making, etc. The fabric scrap dealers monitor this types of job (Jain and Gupta 2016).
Secondhand Clothes (SHC) Retailers Some of the unorganized flea markets for the secondhand clothes sale are Janpath, Connaught Place, Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Shankar Market (Jamunapaar), etc. These are the final destinations for the selling of SHCs from the USA and other European countries illegally. Among young urban populations, these are very popular places to buy trendy clothing. The number of these flea shops has increased tremendously in recent years in various local markets of Delhi and other Indian metro cities to catch the attention of fast and trendy young people. People can very easily get trendy clothes on very fair prices. In last few years, the number of these flea shops has increased tremendously in various local markets of Delhi and other metro cities of India to capture the attention of fast and fashionable youth. They can get branded fashionable garments on a very reasonable prices very easily. These SHC flea markets are not just confined to old markets like Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar of Delhi. These garments can be seen in different local markets and malls and have become a tough rival to clothing department stores, but their strategy is restricted to metropolitan areas (Bairagi 2014).
Modern Textile Waste Upcycling and Recycling Processes Modern day textile upcycling and recycling processes can be subdivided into three types as following (Fig. 5).
Mechanical Recycling In general, mechanical recycling is used for items with single fiber material fabrics to recycle the fibers, yarns, and fabrics. The discarded garments are opened up, then
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Textile waste upcycling and recycling processes
Mechanical recycling
Chemical recycling
Bio recycling
Fig. 5 Types of modern textile waste upcycling and recycling processes
disassembled, and smaller bits of fabrics are removed. To continue the breakdown, it is then passed through a spinning drum and fibers are obtained. This activity is referred to as garneting. The resulting length, fineness, strength, polymer, and color characteristics of the fiber decide the consistency and the most suitable new end product. Waste obtained from the manufacturing supply chain would usually yield recycled fibers of greater quality than those collected from post-consumer waste. Good quality yarns are used in fabric, sheeting, and upholstery. In other structures (i.e., concrete), nonwoven fabrics, carpet underlays, shoe inlays, vehicle sound and thermal insulation, home insulation, toy padding, and other end items, lower-quality fibers are used as reinforcement. The wool recycling industry is hundreds of years old. After wearing threadbare clothing (i.e., wool sweaters), it was gathered and shredded into individual fibers and then made into blankets (Ravasio 2013). Panipat’s Shoddy industry is known as the global textile recycling capital, and this is one of India’s most effective, competitive, and relatively oldest industrial textile recycling industry. It recycles approximately 1,44,000 tonnes of secondhand clothing discarded annually by many developed nations. Secondhand garments are used as a raw material for making low-quality items such as blankets, shawls, carpets, etc. 1.5 tonnes of shoddy yarn produces roughly three tonnes of textile. The garments are first sorted and then the whole opened and broken up into fibrous mass. These fibers are then colored, carbonized, and turned into spun woolen yarns from which blankets are made (Ravasio 2013). In 2006–2007, approximately 22,028 tonnes of used clothing were imported (Ravasio 2013). In 2007–2008, this number rose to 37,000 tonnes, and then almost six times to that (218,698 tonnes) in 2008–2009 in shoddy production. But this world famous recycling industry has deteriorated in recent years and lost its identity, benefit, and charm due to its tough fight with cheaper, warmer, and lightweight polyester blankets, and many other issues such as economic slowdown and restricted shoddy yarns product range. Until 2012, Panipat had about 600–700 shoddy yarn and textile factories (Rebello 2015). But it has only 150 units now. The value of production decreased significantly from Rs. 35 crores to 90 crores per month. SHC container imports also decreased from 800 containers per month to 300 containers per month. According to one of Jharcraft’s (Jharkhand Silk Textile & Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd.) technical experts, silk waste fibers are used as insulating
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layers in very high-quality sleeping mattresses as more warmth is given by silk fibers. They used thermoset resins and recycled cotton as an alternative to clothing processing to make thermoset composites that they used to make fashion accessories (Zonatti et al. 2015). One of the world’s largest sports processing companies sorts and shreds 100% cotton sweaters. They use sandy cotton fiber that is used in “Punch-n-Kick” sacks (Hawley 2006). Contributions have also been made to the silk industry, where waste produced during soil rearing and reeling operations in the silk industry has been established. The oil was extracted from pupae gathered in the silk industry. Sericin, which was considered waste in the silk industry, now has a very high commercial value in cosmetic products industry, and it is available at a price of Rs 5000/kg approx.
Chemical Recycling It is a form of recycling process that is used primarily to recycle fibers and blends. It is possible for chemical recycling of synthetic fibers, including polyesters, polyamides, and polyolefins. Chemical recycling comes under the tertiary recycling class, which allows fibers to be broken down for re-polymerization. In particular, because of the disparate physical and chemical properties of the fibers in the waste, blends are difficult to recycle. Chemical recycling processes require higher energy consumption and expenditure in capital is high, so this choice is only feasible for large-scale producers (Jain and Gupta 2018). One of the most widely used clothing and home textile materials is cotton and polyester blends. When used with blended products, chemical recycling has proven effective as it uses a process of selective degradation. The fibers can be chemically separated and then reformed into new fibers in cotton and polyester products. At present, a process using N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide, which dissolves cellulose, is being created. Filtration removes the dissolved cellulose and polyester, and respins the captured polyester into a fiber, filament, or yarn. Dissolved cellulose can be used to produce regenerated cellulosic fibers, like lyocellulose fibers (Jain and Gupta 2018). A combination commonly used in high-performance sportswear and athletic wear is nylon and spandex. The percentage of nylon is usually much higher than that of spandex, and it is possible to recycle and reuse nylon. It is understood that by dissolving it in solvents such as N-dimethylformamide, spandex can be separated from blended fabrics. This solvent, however, is costly and there are environmental concerns about its use. In order to degrade the spandex, the blended fabric was first treated with heat and then subjected to a washing system using ethanol, which essentially eliminates the spandex residue, leaving only the nylon (Yin et al. 2013). Some of the brands use recyclable materials in their products are Tenjin, Aquafil, Martex fiber, Evrnu, Ecoalf, Timberland, Nike, Speedo, Adidas, Hanes, H&M, The North Face, Patagonia, Cone Jeans, etc. (Leonas 2017). Many producers of carpets, suppliers of fiber and chemicals, recycling companies, and academic institutions are actively exploring different approaches for fibrous waste recycling. The methods provide chemical pathways for
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depolymerization of nylon, recovery of carpet fiber, plastic resins, direct extrusion of mixed fibers, carpet waste, soil reinforcement fibers, waste-to-energy conversion, and carpet for cement kilns as feedstock (Wang et al. 2003). Instead of wood pulp, recycled fibers are used in paper production. In terms of intensity and consistency, these papers are very strong. By chemical alteration, pure white cotton fibers can be transformed to superabsorbent polymers and can be used for the manufacture of medical textiles, i.e., in diapers, bandages, and pads. For the production of composite materials, there is a possibility of processing cellulose in powder form, which can be used as fillers, or for blending with other polymers. It is also possible to make super absorbent agro-textiles for water storage and managed water release for plantation in arid or desert terrain (Vishnoi 2013). It is also possible to see excellent use of fiber cellulose in the medical field as well as in the manufacture of different medicines and life-saving membrane medical devices. PET plastic water bottles, used polyester garments, scraps of fabrics, waste yarns, or other plastics are broken into small pieces from which chips are developed. The chips are decomposed to form dimethyl terephthalate, which is then repolymerized and spun into new fibers, filaments, and yarns of polyester. By producing pellets/pellets, polypropylene that is commonly used in the manufacture of sportswear (Vishnoi 2013). In 1993, Patagonia was the first company to recycle PET bottles to manufacture the first polyester fleece jacket. They currently recycle various industrial waste, plastic bottles, and worn out clothes into approximately 82 different items, such as insulated pants, down jackets, and beanies. Eco-spun (Welspun Inc.) is a brand that sells recycled fabric made from recycled plastic bottles. Every year, nine million plastic-based waste is disposed of in the landfill and such critical work can be an excellent choice for the category of recycled textiles in processing of such waste. A standard-sized sofa can cover up to 200 PET bottles (Charter and Polonsky 2017) Eco-fi develops textiles made from 100% recycled PET fabrics and is used in a range of applications, such as home textiles, automobile interiors, decors, upholstery, art products, etc. The blends with wool in the market are also very common. Lutradur ECO is another brand that uses disposed PET bottles and produces yarns. A 2 l PET bottle is made of 1 m2 of cloth. Seaqual fiber is processed by upcycling ocean waste. In 2017, this special project is implemented to transform plastics into textile fibers (Aishwariya 2018). Safeleigh is launched by Leigh fibers. It use the cut scarp of protective clothing such as clothing for firemen, bullet proof vest, and combine with aramid for building a clothing line as a natural character that has flame retardancy nature (Hawley 2014). K-sorb (Eco-sorb international) manufactures regenerated textiles for use in industry, sludge stabilization, and various environmental rehabilitation programs. Barnhardta is a very old recycling company that supplies regenerated, recycled, and recycled cotton as homogeneous blends with a lower absorption rate than virgin cotton. Stein fibers are produced by the importation of textile waste around the globe. This is one of the most popular brands in the field of technical textiles such as filtration, insulation, automotive, packaging, and invisible textiles (Aishwariya 2018).
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Bio-recycling By running them through willow machines, most of the mills extract the valuable short fibers from the blow room waste, which in turn leaves a non-resalable residue called “willow waste.” The scope of cotton waste mostly lies in manufacture of tissue paper, linoleum, plastic and regenerated fibers, upholstery fabric, curtain cloths, cover cloths, sheets, towels, shirts, quilts, underwear, carpet, industrial roller cloth, electrical cabling, etc. (Vishnoi 2013). The processing and production of biogas from willow dust is another important achievement of the numerous research institutions that have been adopted by textile mills. A researcher in India has found that willow waste can be processed to become compost, allowing a viable enterprise for making organic cotton possible. Their work was aimed at bio-managing cotton waste through a three-tier system of interaction between enzyme-earthworm-microbes. An attempt was made to transform hospital textile waste, domestic and postindustrial waste, effluent waste, diapers, sanitary pads, and other nonwoven (disposals) into compost and to determine the compost properties of various textile waste. The study focuses on the success of growing cotton using prepared compost as an aid and innovation in organic cotton cultivation (Aiswariya and Amsamani 2010). In recent times, awareness of the ill effects of nondegradable synthetic materials has opened up enormous opportunities for manufacturers to think of compostable textiles. Nappy pads, wipes, mulching sheets for agro-textiles, interiors for cars are the products which can return to nature after their life cycle (Aishwariya 2018). This is the era of nonwovens and waste disposal. So the research in the industry can focus on materials with 100% natural origin that can be completely degraded when they are thrown into the landfill after their life cycle. So, the natural and regenerated fibers can be processed in this way. Biodegradable PLA plastics are already in the market. PLA (polylactic acid) is derived from corn. The natural antimicrobial properties are further enhanced and applied to medical textiles. So, the fabric is compostable when it is thrown into the landfill (Radhakrishnan 2015; Schneider 2016; Mejía et al. 2017). Various works are being done on the use of postindustrial waste about compost and the application of bio-manure to plants. Fortification and enrichment is possible by using effective microorganisms to make the medium more nutritious to soil, plant, and water bodies (Aishwariya and Amsamani 2012). Natural fibers tend to degrade easily when they are cut into smaller particles and then disposed of. The technique is particularly appreciated in the interior design and automotive sector, where the use of natural fibers can also reduce the weight of car and ensure better mileage. The packaging of textiles, which focuses mainly on research and business opportunities with eco-friendly textile materials, is now in the process of making compostable bags. Natural fibers of the least size possible and made of nonwovens can be a very efficient material for manufacturing carrying bags to replace waste (Palamutcu 2017; Keune 2017; Dissanayake and Perera 2016). Harmful textile effluents are also
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treated with microorganisms and further amplified in order to ensure safe disposal (Krishnamoorthy et al. 2015; Guha et al. 2015).
Modern Concepts of Textile Waste Management Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) The task of an organization to maximize its positive impact and mitigate its negative impact on society is “social responsibility.” In other words, it is the belief that corporations should be actively concerned with the welfare of society as a whole. For individuals and states, as well as organizations, the principle of social responsibility is applicable. An organization’s social responsibility is referred to as “corporate social responsibility.” All over the world, the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on the rise. CSR operations in India are regulated by clause 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. It encourages businesses to invest at least 2% of their total net profit on CSR operations in the preceding 3 years. In clause 135, only firms of a certain size are included. The rules applied to the concerned companies having a net value of `500 crore or more, or an annual turnover of `1000 crore or more, or an annual net profit of `5 crore or more. A study on “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Indian Textile Industry” was carried out in and around Coimbatore and Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. It revealed that manufacturing units are not at all concern about the river water pollution, ground water pollution, water scarcity problem, land degradation, aquatic life, human life, and complete environment. The textile industries in Tirupur are not socially responsible, according to 85% of respondents, and they do not carry out proper social welfare activities. They are more concerned with clients, exports, and income. Most respondents revealed that companies only operate on paper in compliance with labor legislation, rules, and regulations, but in practice, there are issues such as child labor, no specific working hours, no right to join an association, and bad working conditions (Venugopal et al. 2015).
Extended Producers Responsibility This modern concept has gained lot of attention. Before the processing of that garment, the original manufacturer must consider the recycling and proper management of textile waste. Before making them, it is their duty to think about the waste management of the goods. Companies should have a waste management system and have to reuse, upgrade, or recycle their waste items. It is likely that this take-back method is based on closed loop or open loop thought. Both off-cuts, waste and goods can be managed inside the factory’s own processes in closed loop thinking, while recycling can be achieved by any other outside partner in open loop thinking (Niinimaki 2015). These principles are very new to the Indian textile industry.
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Take-Back Program Many brands and retailers have shown interest in this dilemma and have begun to take control of their goods outside retail, with incentives to establish take-back schemes. They started bringing back worn out products in 2005 (Chavan 2014). Big Bazaar, Lifestyle, Stop Shoppers, etc. in India are some of the big brands that also provide their customers with this kind of schemes.
Recycling-Based Entrepreneurship Jaagruti (paper waste recycling), Goonj (textile waste recycling), Conserve India (plastic bags and other fabric waste), Weee recycle India, Chinta, Shuddi, Vatavaran, Nepra, Pick me up, etc. are some of the NGOs that are working in India on various concepts focused on recycling. Goonj is a well-known name that specifically focuses on the recycling of textile waste. It operates in 21 Indian states for multiple works like disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, community development programs etc. Anshu Gupta founded this NGO. This NGO got Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2015 and it became the first NGO to emphasize clothing as a fundamental yet unaddressed need that deserves a position on the development agenda. Recycling of discarded clothes and other household goods can generate some useful products such as sanitary napkins. A vast network of 500 volunteers and 250 partners gathers and delivers 1,000 tonnes of materials each year. It runs projects in villages and slum areas for infrastructure and socioeconomic growth (Jain and Gupta 2018).
Online Market Place There are many social networking sites, online websites, and apps like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. which are providing platform for purchasing recycled products, garments on rent or SHC (secondhand clothing). These days organic, recycled, and upcycled products are getting popular.
Circular Textile Program It aims to create a mechanism that ensures that textiles are recycled and upcycled in a closed loop. We must begin to consider waste as an indicator of inefficient design, manufacturing, and usage trends in order to close the loop, and partially move our attention from the waste management industry to the entire supply chain itself, in order to improve waste reduction strategies through new recycling technologies, market demands, and changed customer behavior.
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Benefits of Textile Waste Management There are many benefits of textile waste management, but few important are listed below.
Reduction of Environmental Pollution Reduction of pesticides in cotton farming and toxic dyes in manufacturing reduce water pollution and land degradation. These techniques also help to reduce toxic chemicals in every stages from fiber to fashion. Reuse and recycling of the donated clothing result into a safe environment compared to purchasing new garments made from virgin materials. So, textile waste management is responsible directly or indirectly for clean and green environment (Woolridge et al. 2006). There is an environmental advantage when goods are recycled or upcycled, as a result of avoiding the environmental cost associated with the manufacturing of new products and waste disposal. Environmental credits can be issued if it can be shown that environmental burdens can be avoided (Woolridge et al. 2006). Textiles account for more greenhouse gas savings per pound reused or recycled textiles than paper, plastics, and glass combined (Chavan 2014). Some textiles are made from nonrenewable sources, such as the nylon made from petroleum, that is not a sustainable behavior if great consumption of this resources, although the global petroleum conservation can support the demand of resource for at least another several hundred years at the rate of current consumption (Wang 2010). Recycle is an environmental choice for the post-consumer textile, since it can improve the material efficiency and reduce the consumption of the energy. But the recycling rate of textile is very low because of the diversity of fibrous waste, structure, and high recycling cost. For example, the cotton is usually not recycled due to the presence of dyes and other fibers. In the USA, only 15.9% of textile waste was recovered in 2007 (US EPA 2008), the unrecovered textile waste accounted for about 4% of the content of landfills (Divita and Dillard 1999). That proves the textile recycle is still not enough, which results in the high cost of the final disposal. Except for that, the recycling process is very complicate.
Positive Impact on Economy of Country Trade laws forbid the free movement of used textiles between certain countries as a justification for banning trade, causing infestation and adverse effects on young industries. However, there is no question that textile recycling has a positive impact on many organizations. Recycling textiles is a part of the underground economy in many parts of the world. It is also not even accounted for in national economic statistics in certain instances (Hawley 2006). Recycling leads to raising
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the economic status of the family and the country as a whole. The survival of the Wagdi group in India is entirely dependent on SHC collection and further trade. Only 1.8% of energy is required for the manufacturing of these goods from virgin materials that are used for reuse of one tonne of polyester clothing. Only 2.6% of energy is required for manufacturing these goods from virgin materials those are used for the reuse of one ton of cotton clothing. This energy conservation helps in raising economy of country.
Clothes for the Poor and Disaster Relief Purpose Donations provide clothes for those who are unable to afford from their own expenses. SHCs received by charitable organizations from developed nations are exported to underdeveloped nations. These clothes are available to improve their living standards at very fair prices. Due to their inexpensive and bulk processing, recycled shoddy blankets are commonly used for disaster relief.
Conservation of Natural Resources According to Chavan (2014), 4.2 trillion gallons of water would be saved if 75% of textile waste diversion were done. That is enough for supplying 27.8 million houses and it will save 17 million tonnes of CO2. 7.5 million cubic yards of landfill space would be saved which is equal to getting 3.5 million vehicles off the roads. The 5.8 times could fill the empire State building.
Reduction of Pressure on Virgin Materials Demand for virgin resources is reduced by recovered textiles. In the recycling processes, washing materials and energy use also occur, but they are far less resource intensive and polluting than the processes involved in manufacturing of textiles from virgin fiber (Vishnoi 2013).
Enhancement of Creative Ability A modern idea and potential movement of sustainability and environmentalism has brought the fashion industry new approaches and new sense for finding fashion in sustainable items. There are designers, companies, policy makers, academics, and numerous organizations who make creative thinking about maintaining their own specific ways in order to create new goods and policies that go hand in hand with environmentalism (Jain and Gupta 2018).
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Contribution Towards Business Generation Recycling and upcycling offers numerous opportunities at the craft, manufacturing, and household level to create different companies. Companies can get greater profits by eliminating charges associated with lowering buying material prices, increasing efficiency, minimizing the cost of care, recycling of solid waste, and creating an alternate revenue source. According to the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) and the Council for Textile Recycling Stream, thousands of companies and organizations employ thousands of workers and they are diverting some two million tonnes of textile waste from solid waste (Wang et al. 2003).
Employment Regeneration Recycling and upcycling is an integrated process that starts with the collection of recyclable materials from sites such as homes, drop-off points, centers, and businesses for construction and demolition. These recyclable materials go through a rigorous sorting process after collection to separate different materials as well as different quality goods. In order to perform work, recycling companies require skilled and semiskilled workers. By offering recycling training programs, several recycling organizations and associations play a major role in creating social awareness. The US scrap industry created over 150,000 direct jobs and 323,000 indirect jobs in 2015.
Global Impact For a single individual or country, waste management is not advantageous. The world is worried about waste and its side effects on the climate. Efforts are being made jointly to address the problem. This allows the nations to bind. The textile recycling industry is both a small and a big one. Rag dealers are small, independently operated family-owned companies. They are closely connected to a global network that transfers used clothing around the world through brokers and longterm partnerships that have taken generations to set up (Hawley 2006). In other words, emerging or underdeveloped nations often absorb the SHC of developed countries. It is a two-way advantage in various respects for both the sender and the client.
Social Progress All sustainability efforts lead for better organizations, corporations, and nations aligned with environmentalism. A critical social and environmental role is performed by the multi-billion dollar worldwide recycling industry. In terms of
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conserving the world’s resources that drive social change, the industry has no peer (Vishnoi 2013).
Constraints for Indian Textile Recycling Industry Lack of Awareness Among Citizens People in India are not very conscious of concepts like recycling and its advantages. The proportion of the population conscious of this is almost zero. Owing to the impact of Western culture, buying and discarding clothing behavior in urban communities has changed dramatically. They believe in buying at random. It is not necessary to take care, preserve, and correctly discard clothing information. There is a recycling logo on big branded clothing polybags, but there is no proper understanding of the meaning (Jain and Gupta 2016). The quantity of discarded cloths has increased a lot in urban areas, but because of customer negligence, lack of knowledge, and not so simple accessibility, Burtan Wali (Wagdi community people who collect SHC) do not collect proportionate quantities of clothes. As a consequence, these individuals have very little income and are forced to shift their business. Demand for recycled shoddy items that are woolen blankets has declined sharply in recent years. Some of the key reasons for this low demand are change in weather, economic downturn, limited inferior quality products of shoddy yarn, and the most importantly alternative development of polyester blankets that are comparatively cheaper, lighter, and warmer. Custom made clothing is still popular in India than readymade clothing. There are endless numbers of roadside tailors, boutiques, and small garment construction units that are not licensed and accredited to meet the demands of the masses. They do not follow any rules and regulations for garment design. In contrast to the pre-consumer waste created by this unorganized garment construction industry, scraps of pre-consumer textile waste provided by the organized sector and SHC are channeled. Varied fabric trims in colors, fabric structure, and forms are dumped into the landfills (Vishnoi 2013).
Lack of Proper Channel In India, there are not such proper and organized channels for the disposal of waste as developed nations do. It seems that government funding and policies are marginal. The ideas of garment bins and donation centers in India are far behind. There are a few NGOs such as Goonj, Chintan, etc. functioning in the direction of textile waste recycling, but some locations are very confined to the work area. The old and productive recycling channel of textile wastes, i.e., the Wagdi people, the Katiawad community, etc. are losing its income, businesses, and identity due to lack of knowledge, negligence, and support (Jain and Gupta 2016).
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Neighbor Country Competitions For example, Bangladesh and Pakistan have become formidable rivals for the Indian garment industry. As a result, the production of clothing in the organized export clothing sector is comparatively poor. The production of pre-consumer fabric scraps, which has a negative impact on companies and individuals associated with fabric scraps, is directly impacted by low garment production (Jain and Gupta 2016).
Lack of New Technologies In the field of disposal, India is estimated to rise by about 3–5%, which will increase proportionate disposal in landfills (Vishnoi 2013). Day by day, textile production and both pre- and post-consumer textile waste are growing. For the recycling of mass waste, recycled goods from small scale recycling industries are not enough. We cannot restrict production for a better economy and livelihood, but with modern technology and varied product ranges, we can find endless efficient textile recycling practices.
Lack of Government Support There are several government waste management and recycling policies, but they are poorly implemented, so active government support and involvement is required to facilitate recycling-based research work, NGOs and, most significantly, the upliftment of communities and individuals who have long been working with recycling-based activities (Jain and Gupta 2016).
Things to Consider for Improving Waste Management Practices Implementing waste management improvements may require forward planning and some changes to the way your business operates. For example: • Proposed actions such as on-site wastewater recycling and other waste management systems are need to be discussed with managers, safety representatives at work, unions, insurers, investors, suppliers, and customers to identify potential risks to quality, productivity, working conditions or safety to ensure that they are acceptable. • Employee training and awareness-raising is required for successful implementation of action plans and support for introduction of new equipment or processes, such as better separation of waste into fiber types, colors, and processes that maximize recycling opportunities and “waste” value.
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• Results are more likely to be achieved and maintained with a proper written plan and clear objectives for all management areas. Prioritize the actions and consider starting with the “low-hanging fruit” for quick gains and enthusiasm. • Monitoring the waste generation and disposal by checking the invoices of collectors or benchmarking production against the purchase of raw materials is important for environmental compliance, stock control, and for measuring improvements. • Costs, savings, and recovery periods for the waste reduction options provided by the overleaf are a rough guide only. They include estimates of upfront costs such as capital, labor, and installation cost. The suitability and benefits of each option depend on the nature and size of businesses and scope of application. They should comply with local environmental, safety, and other requirements. The waste hierarchy provides a framework for waste management: avoid, reduce, reuse, recycle, and dispose. Waste prevention generally delivers the best financial and environmental results.
Conclusion Due to the abovementioned constraints, the prevention measure of textile waste has some limitations. After considering the situation of textile industry, textile waste and textile consumption rate, the prevention schemes should be formulated according to the demand of designers, consumers, retailers, and charitable organizations. The designer provides eco-design plan, while the consumer purchase environmental-friendly product and send the discarded textile to the retailers and charitable organizations or reuse it. Finally, the charitable organization is in charge of the recycling and reuse of discarded textiles. In order to implement the suggested prevention schemes very well, the following points should be considered: • Clothing made from the recycled materials are less competitive than one from virgin materials due to low price of virgin materials. It is necessary to levy environmental tax to the virgin material in order to improve the market competitiveness of the secondhand clothes or apparel made from recycled materials. • Small countries having limited textile waste create big obstacle for the development of textile waste disposal industry. This situation decides that the charitable organization and secondhand company should cooperate with other countries disposal company in order to reuse the textile waste effectively. • Most of the stakeholders involved into the textile waste prevention do not get visual benefits from the textile waste prevention. The policy makers should establish some measures to stimulate the stakeholders for maximizing textile waste recycling. Financial subsidy can be provided to the stakeholders.
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Turning Plastic Wastes into Textile Products Hande Sezgin and Ipek Yalcin-Enis
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plastics: From Production to Waste Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Recycling Methods of Plastic Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Textile Industry and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recycling of Plastics in Textile Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Closed-Loop and Open-Loop Approaches in Recycling Plastic Wastes in the Textile Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recycled Pet Fiber in Textile Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fast-Fashion Trend in Textile Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Role of Life Cycle Assessment in Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Example of a Life Cycle Assessment of rPET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Consumer Attitudes Toward Recycled Textiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Precursor Brands and Retailers of Textile Industry Supporting the Use of Recycled Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Plastic is a component of many consumer products and constitutes most of the output and final products of the manufacturing industry. Plastic materials, which are used in almost every sector, constitute a large part of the solid waste volume in proportion to their usage rates. About 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year but sadly most of them are not recycled. Looking at the textile industry, it is clear that synthetic fibers have replaced natural fibers in recent years owing to their low cost, and this has made plastic materials one of the most important sources of the textile sector. However, the increasing decrease in H. Sezgin (*) · I. Yalcin-Enis Textile Technologies and Design Faculty, Textile Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_105
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raw material resources has turned the interest in recycled materials as raw materials in the textile industry, as in all other sectors. Today, it is known that many textile companies use recycled plastics as synthetic fiber raw materials in order to reduce their costs and support nature and sustainable economy. In this chapter, recycling plastic wastes into textile products is examined based on applications in textile sector and the positive effects of these applications to the circular economy and the environment. Keywords
Plastic wastes · Recycling · Textile material · Upcycling · Waste generation
Introduction Plastics are regarded as one of the most crucial threats to the environment. Due to the fact that all plastics are made of organic compounds, one of the disadvantages is that the extinction processes in nature are quite long (Muslim and Basuki 2016). This situation necessitates the management of many processes regarding the collection and reuse of plastic waste. Recycling of plastic waste has two main advantages. These are conserving natural resources by reducing the petroleum-based raw material consumption and thus making the environment more liveable (Jafari 2019). The textile and clothing industry, which meets the need for covering (which is one of the basic needs of people), is one of the most global industries in the world, as well as one of the most environmentally damaging sectors (Desore and Narula 2018). The need for textile materials increases day by day, making natural fiber resources insufficient and increasing the usage of synthetic fibers in the textile sector (Mukherjee 2017). Waste plastics, which are an important source of raw materials for the textile industry where natural resources are gradually decreasing, are discussed in this chapter in terms of recycling methods, their use in the textile industry, and the advantages this situation brings to the environment and sustainability.
Plastics: From Production to Waste Generation Plastics are versatile materials that meet the demand in every industry, from the clothing and automotive industries to medical and electronic supplies (Rahimi and Garcia 2017). They are synthetic polymers and categorized into two main groups as thermoplastic and thermoset plastics. Thermoset plastics solidify after being melted by heating, and the transition from liquid form to solid form is one way. The structure of the thermoset plastics is highly cross-linked. Thermoplastics, which are mostly produced by injection and compression molding methods, are plastics that can be softened by heat and hardened by cooling. The carbon atoms they contain in their structures turn thermoplastics into non-biodegradable materials, and this situation
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causes thermoplastic materials to turn into plastic waste at the end of the use (Telli and Ozdil 2015; Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Plastics, invented in the 1860s, entered the industry in the 1920s (Gourmelon 2015). Plastic was discovered in England by Alexander Parkes as a mixture of nitrocellulose, camphor, and alcohol under the name of “Parkesin” in 1862. At that time, rubber was used for materials to be shaped with molds instead of plastic (Brydson 1999; Singh et al. 2017a). In 1922, Hermann Staudinger invented macromolecules, which he called polymers, through the polymerization process, contributing to the rapid development of the chemical industry and therefore the plastic industry. In the 1940s, the plastics industry exploded and became one of the fastest-growing global industries. Glass and metal materials are beginning to be replaced by plastics for food packaging, which led to an increase in production worldwide, especially after the 1970s (Gourmelon 2015; Kayan and Kucuk 2020). While the first sandwich plastic packages started to be used in 1957, disposable plastic products such as plates, forks, spoons, and glasses were put on the market in the 1960s, and after a short while, plastic bottles were used for the first time in soda drinks and patented in 1973 (Kayan and Kucuk 2020). When the consumption values between 1990 and 2004 are analyzed, it is seen that the annual amount of metal consumption was doubled every 9 years, while plastic consumption was doubled every 4 years. Statistics reveal the rapid increase in the consumption of plastics clearly. Excluding rubber and fibers, the world plastic production reached 25 million tons in 1976 and 90 million tons in 1990 with the developing technology (Muslim and Basuki 2016). Plastic materials are widely preferred due to their unique functional properties as well as their low cost (Magnier et al. 2019). The largest market for plastics is the packaging sector, which promotes the transition from reuse to disposable containers. This led to a share of municipal solid wastes in plastics, which accounted for less than 1% by mass in the 1960s to 10% in 2005 in middle- and high-income countries (Geyer et al. 2017). Nowadays, plastic wastes constitute 12.3% of municipal solid wastes by weight (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). In addition to packaging, almost all aspects of daily life like transport, telecommunications, clothing, footwear, etc., plastics are preferred. Moreover, technically modified plastics can find a place in high-tech applications including medical purposes, generation of renewable energy, or saving the energy in transport systems (Thompson et al. 2009). The usage life of plastic packaging materials is 1–3 months, and they take their place in solid waste fields shortly after their production. On the other hand, the lifetimes of plastics in durable consumer goods vary between 1 and 5 years, and the lifetimes of plastics used in the construction industry range between 5 and 25 years. Therefore, the place that this waste group will occupy in the solid waste fields is lower than that of plastic packaging wastes. For this reason, the solid waste problem caused by plastic packaging materials is more important. Polyethylene materials (low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, and linear low-density polyethylene), which constitute 50% of these packaging wastes, constitute 11% by weight of the solid wastes (Ozturk 2005).
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The Society of the Plastics Industry gave descriptive codes (1–7) to thermoplastics in 1987 in order to facilitate the classification of thermoplastic materials and thus increase their reusability. They gave these codes according to their chemical structures and application areas. While code “1” is given to the polyethylene terephthalate, which is mostly used in water bottles and plastic bags, code “2” is given to the high-density polyethylene which is mostly used in oil bottles, plastic detergent bottles, and plastic toys. When we look at codes “3” and “4,” we see that they are used for polyvinyl chloride (general usage area, plastic curtains and shampoo bottles) and low-density polyethylene (general usage area, garment bags), respectively. Polypropylene with code number “5” is used in microwave food trays and yoghurt/cheese containers, while polystyrene with code “6” is used in egg cartons and cutlery. Other plastics that are not included in these six groups are coded with the number of “7.” The triangle arrow logo with a number written in the middle is usually located at the bottom of the product (Telli ve Özdil, Telli and Ozdil 2015; Rahimi and Garcia 2017). Recycling is a process in which a material that is no longer used is prepared for use by reprocessing. The most important purposes of producing materials with this method are to reduce the water and energy consumption that are used during material production while also minimizing waste and environmental impacts. It is a very advantageous process compared to incineration and landfilling methods (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). According to the statistics of 2018, roughly 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced, and 6.3 billion tons of that production has become a waste in landfills which means only 9% of it is recycled. If this current situation continues, there will be 12 billion tons of plastics in landfills by 2050. On the other hand, the plastic waste amount in the oceans was roughly 150 million tons in 2017, while by 2050, there will be more plastics by weight than fish in the oceans (Carr et al. 2019). Nowadays, it is almost impossible not to encounter plastic things while walking on the beach or swimming in the sea. These macro-sized pieces of plastic damage ecologically and commercially important species, including mussels, marsh grasses, and corals. On the other hand, mammals, reptiles, and birds can be harmed by eating or entangling these plastic materials (Rochman et al. 2013). Moreover, the effect of microplastics is similar or more dominant compared to the effect of macroplastics (Crippa et al. 2019). Micro-sized plastics have the potential to leach into food, and fish, invertebrates, and microorganisms ingest microscale plastics from synthetic (polyester or acrylic) clothing and plastic-containing cleaning products. Studies in humans and mussels have shown that ingested and inhaled microplastics enter cells and tissues and damage them (Rochman et al. 2013). The waste microplastics are identified in 114 aquatic species by the researchers. In a recent study, it is stated that around 25 microplastics present in over 90% of plastic bottled water tested across eleven major brands across nine different countries which declares microplastics are everywhere in our daily lives (Carr et al. 2019). Recycling of plastics has many advantages such as decrement in production emissions (like cobalt, manganese salts, sodium bromide, antimony oxide, and titanium dioxide), toxic emissions from incinerators, and petrochemical pollution (Leonas 2017; Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Thanks to the recycling of high
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amounts of plastics, fossil fuel-based products are expected to be prevented; nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide emissions and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and chlorofluorocarbons will be reduced. In addition, the amount of energy, water, and chemicals used in plastic production process will decrease as a result of plastic recycling (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). For instance, from ten polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, 450 g of polyester fiber can be produced. 2/3 less energy and about 90% less water is required to produce recycled polyester fabrics compared to the virgin one. By using 2 kg of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) fiber, a gallon of gasoline and enough water for one person for 5 days (drinking) can be saved (Mukherjee 2017). In addition to many advantages, plastic waste recycling has also some disadvantages. While some recycling processes powered by fossil energy have an impact on climate change, costly life cycles such as the transportation of waste from one region to another are some of the negative effects of recycling of plastic waste on the environment. Moreover, the new product produced has lower melt viscosity, mechanical properties, and thermal resistance compared to the first product (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Although plastics provide benefits according to their functionality, the risks and drawbacks that arise are negligible. For this reason, the economy of plastics should evolve from a waste-producing system to a system that preserves the value and benefits of plastics but eliminates existing drawbacks (Crippa et al. 2019).
The Recycling Methods of Plastic Wastes Plastic waste recycling is divided into four main categories. These are primary (closed-loop) recycling, secondary (mechanical) recycling, tertiary (chemical) recycling, and quaternary (incineration) recycling methods (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020; Singh et al. 2017b; Rahimi and Garcia 2017). Primary (closed-loop) recycling: The primary recycling method is also called closed-loop process or re-extrusion process (Al-Salem et al. 2009). With this method, single-type, non-contaminated plastic wastes whose properties are very similar to pure material are recycled (Singh et al. 2017b). In this method, waste plastics are ground into small pieces, mixed with the original plastic material, and finally processed again (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). This technique is highly preferred because of its convenience and the quality of the product that is very similar to the original product (Singh et al. 2017b). Plastic bottles produced with a mixture of recycled PET and virgin PET are a good example of primary recycling (Rahimi and Garcia 2017). However, since many plastic materials in the packaging industry are used together with materials such as paper and adhesive, this situation restricts the use of the primary recycling method (Hopewell et al. 2009). Secondary (mechanical) recycling: The most preferred method of recycling plastics is the secondary recycling method, also known as mechanical recycling (Ragaert et al. 2017). The method is commercialized in the 1970s (Park and Kim
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2014; Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). The main steps of mechanical recycling are collecting, sorting, washing, grinding, and reprocessing. Depending on the content and nature of the recycled plastic material, some of these steps may be repeated several times, some steps may not be performed, or the sequence of process steps may change (Ragaert et al. 2017). This method includes different reprocessing methods such as screw extrusion, injection molding, and blow molding techniques (Singh et al. 2017b). In the secondary recycling method, although there is a mechanical recycling similar to the primary method, unlike the primary recycling, the quality of the materials produced in this method is lower than the original material, so the areas of use also differ (Rahimi and Garcia 2017). The chemical structure, the thermal properties, and the mechanical properties of the material to be recycled have a very important effect on the mechanical recycling of that material. Considering these features, it is known that the thermoplastic materials that can be recycled by the secondary recycling method are polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene (Garcia and Robertson 2017). The advantages of mechanical recycling are that the process is simple, ecofriendly, and its requirement of low investment. On the other hand, the decrease in viscosity/molecular weight during the process is one of the main disadvantages of the process. Also, the dyeability and printability properties of the resulting product may be impaired due to the cyclic and linear oligomers formed during mechanical recycling. At this stage, researchers and manufacturers have developed awareness in the past two decades to prevent this drop in viscosity (Park and Kim 2014; Muslim and Basuki 2016; Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Plastics recycled in this way are generally used in production of windows, pipes, and grocery bags (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Tertiary (chemical) recycling: Tertiary recycling is also known as chemical recycling (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). The chemical recycling method is a method that is compatible with the principles of sustainable development (Park and Kim 2014; Ragaert et al. 2017; Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). In this recycling method, the polymer is depolymerized into its oligomers and monomers and then polymerized again in the chemical method (Telli and Ozdil 2015). This method is intended to achieve higher monomer percentages with shorter reaction times (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020) and suitable for heterogeneous and contaminated plastic waste materials (Ragaert et al. 2017). The depolymerization process of PET differs according to the chemicals (water, methanol, ethylene glycol, etc.) that are used. Some of these processes are hydrolysis, glycolysis, methanolysis, ammonolysis, and aminolysis (Muslim and Basuki 2016; Ragaert et al. 2017; Telli and Ozdil 2015). Among these methods, glycolysis and methanolysis are the most preferred ones (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). In glycolysis, which is the oldest method used in the depolymerization of PET, PET is separated into its oligomers by being depolymerized by glycolysis decomposition (Ragaert et al. 2017; Singh et al. 2017b; Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). The methanolysis process of PET is based on its decomposition into its monomers by processing with methanol at high temperatures (180–280 C) and pressures (20– 40 atm) (Ragaert et al. 2017; Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). Chemical recycling of
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PET leads to more environmental impact compared to the mechanical recycling of PET (Majumdar et al. 2020). Chemical recycling provides advantages over other methods thanks to the presence of depolymerizing agents, resin synthesis, and monomers (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). However, it is a fact that plastics produced by chemical recycling method are more expensive due to the reasons such as raw material and operational costs (Ragaert et al. 2017; Garcia and Robertson 2017). Quaternary (incineration) recycling: Since plastics recycled by the primary, secondary, and tertiary methods begin to lose their properties completely after reaching a certain number of recycling cycles, incineration is the preferred recycling method for these plastics. Incineration recycling process is also known as quaternary recycling method (Singh et al. 2017b). The purpose of burning waste plastics used in this method is to recover their energy in the form of heat (Scott 2000; Park and Kim 2014; Garcia and Robertson 2017; Rahimi and Garcia 2017; Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). Due to the fact that plastic materials are petroleum-based, they release high-calorie energy when burned, but volatile organic components, smoke, particulate-bound heavy metals, and air pollutants such as CO2, NOx, and SOx, which are released during the combustion process, limit the use of this method in the environmental terms (Park and Kim 2014; Singh et al. 2017b; Rahimi and Garcia 2017). It is also known that the energy obtained by burning the waste plastic materials is less than the energy obtained by recycling them (Garcia and Robertson 2017; Rahimi and Garcia 2017). The use of this method, which is more suitable for the conversion of mixed plastics as there is no need for separation, is increasing owing to the ascending effectiveness of new incinerators (Singh et al. 2017b; Garcia and Robertson 2017).
Textile Industry and Sustainability Considering the energy, chemicals, and water used in the textile industry, it is of great importance to develop environmentally and socially responsible designs in order to ensure and support environmental sustainability (Desore and Narula 2018). The circular economy makes it possible to incorporate plastic waste into the production cycle. The circular economy aims at reducing the materials in the production, distribution, and consumption processes, as well as ensuring the reuse and recycling of the products. Many companies are encouraged to use more recycled plastic materials in their products under the circular economy. In this context, these companies are working on recycling plastic waste collected from the oceans into new products (Magnier et al. 2019).
Recycling of Plastics in Textile Industry Polyester, polyamide, acrylic, and polypropylene constitute 98% of the synthetic fiber market. During the productions of synthetic fibers, a high amount of energy is needed. For instance, energy used per production of 1 kg of polyamide fiber is
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around 250 mJ. When we compare the virgin and the recycled PET fibers, the energy used per production of 1 kg of fibers is 125 mJ and 66 mJ, respectively, which means that by using recycled polyester instead of virgin PET, the energy usage is reduced by half (Mukherjee 2017). In a similar way, in a study of Rasel and Sarkar, it is stated that embodied energy values (mJ/kg) for virgin high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyvinylchloride are also reduced to almost half values for recycled materials which also results in almost the half price ($/kg) of these recycled materials in comparison to the virgin ones (Rasel and Sarkar 2019). Moreover, CO2 emissions per ton of the virgin PET are 9.52 kg, while it is only 5.19 kg for recycled PET. In addition to the values of PET, these CO2 emission values of organic cotton and the conventional cotton fiber are 3.75 kg and 5.90 kg, respectively. Therefore, although it cannot compete with organic cotton, it is possible to say that the amount of CO2 emitted to nature together with the use of recycled polyester is less than the amount released by the conventional cotton (Mukherjee 2017). Textile materials go through many different production processes from fiber to finished garments. In every production stage, many natural resources such as water, oil, and soil are consumed, various toxic chemicals are used, and as a result, large amounts of carbon dioxide and tons of waste are generated. In order to ensure sustainable garment production, all these stages of production must support sustainability. By using waste materials as raw materials instead of using new raw materials in the textile industry, raw material costs are reduced, profitability is increased, and the effects on the environment are minimized (Pamuk and Illeez 2018; Desore and Narula 2018). Environmental pollution, the availability of raw materials, and synthetic fibers with low cost are the main factors that affect recycling in the textile sector (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Unfortunately, consumers have a lot of misinformation about the raw materials used in textile materials. For example, cotton is considered to be an environmentally responsible fiber since it is a natural, cellulosic fiber. However, during the cultivation of the cotton plant, water resources are consumed; heavy pesticides and various chemicals are used. In Table 1, some fibers used in the textile industry are classified according to their environmental effects. In this table, Class A contains the least environmentally hazardous fibers, while Class E contains the most environmentally hazardous fibers (Pamuk and Illeez 2018). As can be seen from the table, recycled natural (cotton) and synthetic fibers (nylon and Table 1 Classification of environmental effects of some textile fibers (Pamuk and Illeez 2018) Class A Recycled cotton
Class B Tencel
Recycled nylon Recycled polyester Organic hemp
Organic cotton In conversion cotton
Organic flax
Class C Conventional hemp Ramie Polylactid acid Conventional flax
Class D Virgin polyester Polyacrylic Modal
Class E Conventional cotton Virgin nylon Rayon Bamboo viscose Wool Generic viscose
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polyester) cause the least harm to the nature, while fibers such as cotton and wool are among the fibers that harm nature the most. When we compare the effects of the virgin and recycled forms of synthetic fibers to the nature, it is observed that recycled polyester and recycled nylon are in Class A, while virgin polyester and virgin nylon are in D and E classes, respectively. This situation reveals how much the use of recycled fibers in textile sector reduces the damage to nature.
Closed-Loop and Open-Loop Approaches in Recycling Plastic Wastes in the Textile Industry From the environmental perspective, closed-loop and open-loop approaches are used for waste management. The closed-loop recycling approach is based on the basis that the natural properties of the recycled material and the properties of the original material are close to each other, so that the recycled material can take the place of the original one. Thus, it is possible to use this recycled material as a raw material in the same product group. In the open-loop recycling approach, the properties of the recycled material do not give similar results with the properties of the original material. For this reason, recycled material is evaluated in different application areas in this cycle (Huysman et al. 2015). As an example for closed-loop approach, PET shavings obtained from waste PET bottle should be used in PET bottle production. Environmentally speaking, it is essential to use the waste product in the same product group. Waste PET bottle is environmentally more valuable if it is used in PET bottle production again, because, in this way, the material gains a primary raw material quality and captures a longer life cycle. However, studies show that waste PET bottles will not be used as PET bottles again. Therefore, instead of producing PET bottles with a closed loop, it will be more appropriate to use waste PET bottles in different areas with open-loop approach. The textile sector comes first among these different fields (Telli et al. 2012). Moreover, in terms of textile industry, an open-loop recycling approach consists (i). pre-consumer textile waste such as offcuts from the cutting process; (ii). post-consumer textile waste in the form of whole garments; and (iii). postconsumer PET bottles that may be manufactured into recycled PET fibers (Payne 2016). Since the closed-loop recycling approach is thought to be more beneficial in comparison to the open-loop recycling approach, the one should not be preferred to other as stated in a study of Geyer et al. (2015). In addition to chemical and legal restrictions, losses in mechanical and physical properties during recycling limit the closed-loop recycling potential. Many studies in the literature have reported that the mechanical properties of plastic recycled from household waste are reduced compared to the properties of untreated plastic (Eriksen et al. 2019). Within the scope of the study realized by Eriksen et al. (2019), domestic PET, polyethylene, and polypropylene wastes were analyzed in terms of thermal degradation, processability, and mechanical properties in order to examine the suitability of closed-loop recycling in terms of material quality. Although the results showed that PET plastic is the most suitable plastic for closed-loop recycling, it was also emphasized that moisture
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control should be done well throughout the process. On the other hand, it was found that the tensile strength values of the reprocessed polyethylene samples were higher than that of virgin one and that non-food bottles were suitable for use in closed-loop recycling. It was observed that the mechanical properties of reprocessed polypropylene decreased compared to the mechanical properties of virgin one, and it was observed that many polypropylene wastes cannot be used in closed-loop recycling due to the difference in properties and processability between different polypropylene packaging materials. Figure 1 shows the recycling and reuse routes for textile and plastic wastes. The processes that textile material passes from raw material until it reaches the user are summarized in Fig. 1. The use of polymers obtained by recycling the used textile products with the closed-loop approach and the use of the polymers obtained by recycling waste plastic bottles by using the open-loop approach (down cycling) instead of using virgin raw materials as raw materials in fiber production are shown in the diagram. In addition, used textile materials can be recycled into fiber form or fabric form with the closed-loop approach and can be included in the production at the yarn spinning or garment production stages of the process steps. As a different example of the open-loop approach (down cycling), the transformation of used
Fig. 1 Recycling and reuse routes for textile and plastic wastes. (Reused under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License from Journal of Cleaner Productions, Elsevier Publications (Sandin and Peters 2018))
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textile materials into products such as rugs, blankets, or insulation materials is shown in the diagram. Although not used by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) life cycle assessment (LCA) (ISO 14044), down cycling is a term that describes the change in inherent properties and mostly a quality loss for the open-loop system (Geyer et al. 2015) resulting in less economic value (Payne 2016) in the recycled material. Developments in the recycling technologies of the plastics led to the emergence of a new source of raw materials for the textile industry due to price and ecological advantages. This raw material source is mostly PET polymers obtained from PET bottles, which are the most suitable material for recycling as a result of the studies of the American Plastic Council. Because, when life cycle analysis is examined, PET bottles, which constitute 30% of the highest consumption of PET-based materials among plastics, can be recycled more easily, it loses its property less and can find more use after conversion (Telli et al. 2012). Moreover, a plastic bottle does not disappear in nature for 3000 years, and when a ton of plastic is recovered, 14,000 kWh energy is saved (Tayyar and Ustun 2010). Recycling of waste PET bottles was carried out for the first time in 1977 (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020; Kumartasli and Avinc 2020).
Recycled Pet Fiber in Textile Industry As mentioned above, the Society of Plastics Industry gave descriptive codes to thermoplastics, and among thermoplastic materials, they gave the code “1” to the PET-based products, which they think the priority of recycling should be given to it (Telli and Ozdil 2015). Recycled fibers do less harm to the environment than other fibers. They use less energy, consume less resources, and consume less chemicals if they are not dyed. All textile materials can be recycled and used in low-quality end products, especially as reinforcement products. However, the lack of innovation in the recycling sector limits the use of these materials. For many years, transactions have been made using the same technologies. Recycled fibers are obtained by breaking the fabrics with the help of cards and openers/garnets. However, this process causes shortening of fiber lengths and worsening of their properties. For this reason, only low-quality yarns are obtained from recycled fibers. Innovations on this subject are needed for longer fiber production, and this kind of innovation has brought to the textile sector by the plastic recycling sector (Telli et al. 2012). Polyethylene terephthalate is one of the packaging plastics that is gaining more and more importance among manufacturers as it is an excellent barrier material with low cost and high strength, thermal stability, and transparency (Muslim and Basuki 2016). In every second, nearly 20,000 plastic bottles are manufactured globally, while in 1 min one million bottles are bought and from 2017 to 2021, 20% increment is expected in these numbers (Carr et al. 2019). However, over 75% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, and more than 121 million tons of waste are generated each
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year. The amount of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate drink bottles around the world is approaching 5 million tons per year, and these are banned and cannot be reused due to the hygienic requirements as well as a decrease in viscosity due to the degradation in the PET molecules thus a decrease in mechanical strength (Muslim and Basuki 2016). Polyester fiber is the most widely used material for textile applications with its advantages such as flexibility, lightness, reduced wind and friction resistance, low stretching and shrinkage, wrinkle-free, fast drying, and abrasion resistance properties (Rane et al. 2019). With 49% of global fiber production, polyester is the most preferred fiber in the garment industry, and its production is more than 63,000 million tons, annually. On the other hand, such a big sector brings along serious risks. The production of polyester fabric contains a significant amount of chemicals and by-products that both harm the environment and cause health problems on living things (https://textileexchange.org, 2018, Accessed 27 Oct 2020). 60% of the produced PET is transformed into a fiber (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020; Majumdar et al. 2020). PET packaging, which is used for the purpose of placing liquid foods on the market, can be converted into PET chips (burrs, flake) in recycling plants (Telli et al. 2012). With the huge demand in polyester goods, the textile industry becomes one of the most promising industries for the utilization of these recycled PET chips (Tayyar and Ustun 2010). Food and beverage containers and bottles follow it in second place. The rest of the application areas is listed as sheets and films, non-food containers and bottles, strapping, and the others (Sarioglu and Kaynak 2018). Since polyester fiber is the most important alternative to cotton, it is a very demanding material in the years when the annual amount of cotton is very low (Tayyar and Ustun 2010). The friction spinning method and the rotor spinning method can be widely used to produce recovered yarn from PET recycled fibers. When the yarns produced from recycled fibers and virgin fibers are compared, it is thought that the recycled yarns will be economically advantageous in the long run, although the strength and elongation values are quite lower (Vadicherla and Saravanan 2014). Moreover, due to the high crystallinity value of the recycled PET compared to the virgin one, recycled PET yarns have higher tenacity than the virgin yarns (Telli and Ozdil 2015; Muslim and Basuki 2016). On the other hand, it is also possible to obtain recycled yarn by twisting the recovered fibers by ring spinning method (Vadicherla and Saravanan 2014). Fibers can be obtained from PET chips by chemical or mechanical methods (Telli et al. 2012; Leonas 2017). Polyester, polyamide, and polyolefin are some of the synthetic fibers that can be chemically recycled (Leonas 2017). Chemical recycling comprises the breaking of the polymer into its molecules and then reforming them into a yarn (Mukherjee 2017). PET chips can be separated up to molecular level by chemical treatment steps and then re-polymerized. Although the chemical treatment stage is costlier than mechanical processes, this process is important since the increase in fiber quality during the recycling process is a very important parameter and a usable fiber quality can be obtained with chemical treatment (Telli et al. 2012). Chemically recycled PET can be used in filament production as well as unsaturated polyester resin, which is frequently preferred in fiber-reinforced polymer
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composites. Oligo-esters from PET glycolysis are used as starting materials for the production of PET chips (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). Since PET fiber is generally used as a mixture in the textile industry, it is difficult to recycle PET polymers from them. Therefore, PET bottle waste is preferred in obtaining PET polymers (Anabal 2007). Fiber production from recycled PET flakes is also carried out by the method of melt spinning in mechanical recycling. Generally, PET flakes are extruded into fiber form, but sometimes fiber flakes are formed into granule or pellet forms and then extruded (Park and Kim 2014). Producing a fabric from polyester recycled from waste plastic bottles involves the following steps: • Collected waste PET bottles are sterilized, cleaned, dried, removed from their labels, and sorted according to their color. Sorting of PET bottles is an important and critical step. In this process, PET bottles are basically separated from PVC, polyethylene, and other plastic containers manually. Instead of manual sorting, micronyl treatment can be used at this stage due to its more affordable cost. • The bottles are grinded into chips and then the chips are dried to remove their moisture. For easy reprocessing, grinding process comes after sorting in which PET is ground into flake form. After grinding, first, hot wash (with NaOH and detergent at 80 C) and then cold wash with water are done. Following these two washing processes, the drying process comes, and this step is also very crucial. Here, minimizing the moisture content will decrease the hydrolytic degradation effect while increasing the melt strength. Drying conditions generally take place between 140 and 170 C for 3–7 h. Since it is desired to contain less than 50 ppm of water in the PET flakes, the flakes are dried before being fed to the extruder. • The dry PET granules are first melted, passed through a melt metering pump to control and filter the flow, and then are extruded through the nozzle. Quenching air cools the extruded filaments and the continuous filament bundles are obtained. • With the drawing, crimping, and spin finishing stages, these filament bundles are cut into specific lengths to obtain polyester staple fibers. In the drawing stage, the filaments are pulled out for further processing. The crimping stage assists in improving the inter-fiber adhesion that leads to enhanced cohesive forces among them, and finally for achieving smoother fibers, the spin finish process is done. • This yarn is then dyed and rolled into bales, and it is ready to be converted into a polyester fabric (Muslim and Basuki 2016; Rane et al. 2019). The main end uses of recycled fibers and yarns are home furniture, reinforcement materials for concrete and polymeric composites, towels, construction sites, carpets, floor coverings, handkerchiefs, accessories, nonwovens, and acoustic insulators (Vadicherla and Saravanan 2014; Muslim and Basuki 2016). Moreover, the fillings of sleeping bags, pillows, and beds and insulators can be the alternative end-use applications that allow the use of colored recycled PET flakes. Nonwoven fabrics from recycled PET used as filters and absorbents are mostly produced by the spun bonding method (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). It is also possible to use recycled
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plastic in applications such as shrinkable films, some pipe productions, sandwich structured laminates, and some containers for industrial use (Sarioglu and Kaynak 2018; Ozturk 2005). In some areas of geotextiles where aesthetic properties are not at the forefront, recycled polymers can be preferred with their physical and mechanical properties similar to virgin polymers (Davies and Horrocks 2000).
Fast-Fashion Trend in Textile Sector In the 1980s, four phases constituted the fashion life cycle. These are promotion and adoption of the products; growth and increase in the acceptance of the products by the public; and mass conformity and the declining period of the fashion products. Besides, the fashion calendar at that time was mainly composed of two seasons (the spring/summer and the autumn/winter seasons). However, in the 1990s, this situation changed, and the product range started to expand and respond faster to the trends. With the addition of 3 to 5 interim seasons to the current seasons in the fashion calendar, the fast fashion term started to take its place in the literature (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst 2010). The term “fast fashion” refers to a fast-response system that promotes waste. In the textile sector, which has changed with great speed and continuity, the waste problem has become an indispensable subject, and the concept of sustainability has come to the fore (Pamuk and Illeez 2018). Today, the fashion industry has become a highly competitive field, and this has led to the need to constantly renew the product range in stores, which increases the profit margin for the seller and unfortunately shortens the life cycles of the products (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst 2010). In addition, it is a known fact that products produced with fast fashion understanding are of very low quality (Long and Nasiry 2019). The fast fashion trend harms nature in many different areas, apart from the large amount of textile waste it generates. Natural resources, synthetic materials, and chemicals which are used in very high amounts and also CO2 emission in delivery and transportation processes are the leading ones (Roozen and Raedts 2020). It is thought that clothing consumption comes up to 5% of the environmental impact and carbon emissions of households (Pamuk and Illeez 2018).
The Role of Life Cycle Assessment in Circular Economy Today, although the linear economy model has been used for a long time and is considered successfully by many people, it has shown that this economic model is coming to an end due to the many systemic problems that have become problematic in recent years. The chronically increasing amount of waste appears to be the biggest of these problems, and this situation causes a serious loss of value when the materials lost in the waste are considered. Circular economy targets production and consumption systems that envision minimum material use and result in minimum energy loss through reuse, recycling, and recovery methods. Circular economy includes both
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recycling of waste and eco-design products that are recyclable (Haupt and Zschokke 2017). According to the different approaches, while circular economy can be defined as a philosophy that covers the society and the global economy, it is emphasized that life cycle analysis or life cycle assessment is a tool used in this way (Haupt and Zschokke 2017). Thus life cycle assessment is a leading tool to support decisionmaking for sustainable development. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the life cycle assessment is used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of a material, product, process, or activity. The life cycle assessment assesses all direct and indirect environmental impacts of the life cycle from material acquisition to production, use, disposal, or reuse. This is why the basic principle of the life cycle assessment is represented by “cradle to grave” (Brusseau 2019). In other words, life cycle assessment is frequently preferred to determine the techniques to be used in recycling and to obtain the final product with the expected properties from recycled wastes (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Life cycle assessment used to analyze environmental impacts based on ISO standards 14,040 and 14,044. It consists of four steps: goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation (Brusseau 2019; Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Goal and scope definition: At this stage, the purpose of the study, scope, and boundaries of the system are defined, the target audience is determined, and the functional unit with options to be compared is included (ISO 2006; Perugini et al. 2005). The system boundary is an important definition for life cycle assessment and defines what will be included in the life cycle assessment and what will not. For example, the definition of the system boundary for rPET may include the collection of waste from various locations (e.g., municipal centers) and transport to production centers (e.g., melt spinning or meltblown units) (Periyasamy and Militky 2020). Inventory analysis: This is the second stage in which all material and energy inputs and outputs that cross the border with the environment are collected throughout the life cycle of the product or the service system (ISO 2006; Perugini et al. 2005). The life cycle depends on inventory (LCI) data and assumptions (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Impact assessment: The magnitude and significance of a system’s potential environmental impacts are evaluated at this third stage (ISO 2006; Perugini et al. 2005). Life cycle assessment covers also the comparisons between these impacts (Finnveden et al. 2009). Interpretation: This is the last stage in which the findings obtained within the purpose and scope of the study are defined, qualified, controlled, and evaluated. The entire life cycle assessment process is reviewed, and the assumptions are checked for consistency (ISO 2006; Perugini et al. 2005). The life cycle assessment results state that recycling and waste collection can have positive environmental consequences, thanks to waste that is separated efficiently before the recycling process. In addition to ISO standards 14,040 and 14,044, ISO standard 14,067 is also aimed to be used for the analysis of the carbon footprint (Tshifularo and Patnaik 2020). Moreover, in general the life cycle assessment does
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not take into account the economic or social aspects of a product. However, the International Standards Organization (ISO) declared that it has expanded the life cycle assessment methodology by introducing the 14,070 Standard series such as ISO 14071 and ISO 14072 in addition to ISO 14066. Thus, economic or socioeconomic categories are assigned numerical values (Antelava et al. 2019). Governments encourage the use of the life cycle assessment globally, which paves the way for the use of the life cycle assessment in very creative areas. Life cycle assessment applications, which were previously limited to studies that only examine effects such as cumulative energy use and solid waste, are now based on the evaluation of more complex effects such as biodiversity and noise and have spread to a wide variety of areas such as waste incineration, construction materials, military systems, and tourism (Guinée et al. 2011). Life cycle assessment can be used to evaluate the environmental performance of circular product designs, as well as to evaluate large-scale processes such as the transition to a more circular economy. Common to both life cycle assessment and European Conformity is the reduction of environmental impacts (Haupt and Zschokke 2017). However, European Conformity supports the closing of material loops, upcycling rather than downcycling, and places a huge responsibility on manufacturers as to what to do when their products reach end of life, and this process can make it difficult to execute and interpret the life cycle assessment as well as the linear business approach (Dieterle et al. 2018). Thus it can be recommended not to apply circularity in situations where conflicting processes are encountered between life cycle assessment and European Conformity (Haupt and Zschokke 2017).
Example of a Life Cycle Assessment of rPET Shen et al. studied the environmental impacts of recycling PET bottles into fiber form by using life cycle assessment. In this study, mechanical, semi-mechanical, back to oligomer, and back to monomer methods were used. In addition, three approaches have been applied for open-loop methodology. These are cut-off, waste valuation, and system expansion. Non-renewable energy use, global warming potential, abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, and photochemical oxidant formation were analyzed as environmental impact indicators, and the results were compared with those of virgin PET and some other fibers. Although there is a difference in the data obtained based on the allocation method used, the savings for non-renewable energy use and global warming potential were recorded in the range of 40–85% and 25–75%, respectively. This makes rPET fibers noticeable in terms of an environmental impact compared to virgin PET. On the other hand, although chemically recycled fibers can have a wide range of applications compared to mechanically recycled fibers, mechanical recycling is the most environmentally friendly option in recycling methods. Since PET fiber cannot be recycled mechanically repeatedly, closed-loop recycling methods such as bottle-to-bottle recycling can also be integrated into this recycling process, as PET can be recycled many times before being
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Collection of postconsumer waste bottles Baled PET bottles waste
T Amorphous PET polymer Production
Flake Production T
PET bottle grade resin production
Pellet production T
PET bottle production Fibre production 1000 kg fibre
Use phase of PET bottle
Textile/nonwoven production
First Life Cradle-to-factory gate second life
Use of textile/ nonwoven products
Second Life First Life T
Transportation service
Waste management Second Life Emissions to air/ water/soil
Fig. 2 Cradle-to-factory gate system boundary of recycling PET fibers from waste PET bottles, splitting the first life and the second life based on the cut-off approach. (Reused from Shen et al. With the permission of Elsevier Publications)
turned into fiber in an open-loop system. However, at this stage of the study, it is suggested to investigate the effect of recycling systems on the environment, the effect of the number of cycles, and the effects of different allocation methods for open-loop and/or closed-loop recycling (Shen et al. 2010). Figure 2 demonstrates the cradle-to-factory gate system boundary of recycling PET fibers from waste PET bottles, splitting the first life and the second life based on the cut-off approach. In Fig. 2, the first life and second life of PET are cut/divided into two independent product lines. According to the cut-off principle, used bottles from the first use are regarded as waste, and the “cradle” of the second life is the collecting and transporting the used PET bottles. While PET bottles are obtained from PET polymer that is acquired from natural resources in the first life, there is the
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cradle-to-factory gate second life section, which includes collecting these waste PET bottles, turning them into pellets, and production of fiber in the second life. After this section, the creation of yarn, fabric, and garments from the produced fibers and finally the waste management process are included in the second life of PET (Shen et al. 2010).
Consumer Attitudes Toward Recycled Textiles In the textile sector, which is mostly consumer-oriented, supply and demand are shaped by the knowledge, values, and perceptions of the customers (consumers) (Desore and Narula 2018). Although the attitudes of consumers toward recycled products are generally positive, there are also those who approach these products negatively due to the perception that the quality is low or it will have less value (Magnier et al. 2019). While there are numerous benefits perceived by consumers in general of using recycled products, the performance, financial, time, and obsolescence risks stated by Weelden et al. (2016) for refurbished products are among the hesitations that can also be considered for recycled products. These negative responds of consumers were studied in several studies. For instance, Achabou and Dekhili (2013) examined the consumer perception of the use of recycled materials in luxury products. According to the results of the studies conducted with the French luxury clothing brand, the use of recycled materials in luxury products negatively affected consumer preferences, and this situation led to the conclusion that there is an incompatibility between recycling and luxury products. Although consumers seemed to be closely related to environmental risks, they refused to see this responsible behavior in the products of luxury brands and emphasized that product quality is the most important criterion of choice. Within the scope of the study by Hamzaoui Essoussi and Linton (2010), there is an assessment of the price premium that consumers express their readiness to pay for products with reused or recycled content. In a study conducted with a total of 49 consumers for seven different product types, it was concluded that the functional risk perceived by the consumer has a statistically significant effect on consumer purchasing decisions. Findings supported that willing to pay varies by product. While recycled product with low functional risk and relatively high consumer willing to pay becomes an attractive item when associated with the identity of a company, a product with high functional risk has low economic appeal, makes the company look poor quality, and also creates a perception of dangerous products. These results are important in terms of the marketability of products made with recycled and/or reused materials. On the other hand, the source of material for recycled products also has an important effect on consumers’ perception. For instance, products containing plastics recycled from oceans may create a lower-quality perception in addition to contamination risk that is defined by Baxter et al. (2017) as an impurity that causes people to feel uncomfortable or even disgusted when using specific products that contain previously used or recycled materials. Examples for contamination
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perceptions can be the recycled PET water bottles which are not as shiny as the original or the textile goods including the recycled textile fibers which have an unpleasant odor compared to the original fibers (Magnier et al. 2019). A study of Magnier et al. (2019) examined consumers’ attitudes toward products made from recycled ocean plastic. The findings of the study conducted with 258 Dutch consumers revealed that the most important determinants of consumer purchase intention were expected conscience, value for money, and perceived functionality. In addition, one of the factors negatively affecting the purchase intention is stated as the risk of the contamination. A comparison was also made between product categories, for example, it was concluded that the quality expectations and purchase intention for textile products were lower than for durable and fast-moving consumer goods packaging. On the other hand, when the results of the study conducted for sweaters and running shoes among textile products were evaluated, it was concluded that the participants’ purchase intention was higher for running shoes made of ocean plastic than for sweaters. It has been declared that the results of the study will help understand the consumer attitude toward products made from recycled ocean plastic and help companies develop strategies to effectively market such products. It has been understood that especially luxury ready-to-wear companies should be careful when promoting textile products made of ocean plastic and highlight quality and durability issues in their communications (Magnier et al. 2019). Many people are unaware of how a garment is produced and the environmental damage of the process. This is due to the non-transparent processes. It is important to increase the communication between the consumer and the producer regarding the answers to the questions of getting value for money and what quality products mean (Vehmas et al. 2018). Although consumers are mostly interested in sustainable consumption, this issue does not preclude convenience and low price, as they generally lack knowledge of the environmental effects of clothing consumption and have negative attitudes toward the sustainable clothing (Paço et al. 2020). The main factors determining purchasing behavior are income level, education level, and gender. For example, it is known that although men know more about environmental issues, women are more concerned about the environmental problems (Hamzaoui Essoussi and Linton 2010). Similarly, it is stated by Achabou and Dekhili (2013) and Desore and Narula (2018) that younger women are the most concerned consumers by environmental and ethical issues in terms of textile products. On the other hand, since price and quality are the key factors while purchasing a garment, purchasing and wearing eco-friendly garments provide consumer social approval which means social and emotional values are also effective on buying decisions (Chi 2015). Moreover, the buying behavior is partially affected by guilt and insufficient knowledge of environmentally friendly clothing (Harris et al. 2016). Thus it is thought that companies will be able to reach this consumer group more easily thanks to expressions such as organic, recycled, durable, waste reduction, and/or carbon footprint reduction that they will add to their brands and product labels (Chi 2015). On the other hand, people who are generally interested in recycling issues are also interested in clothes made from recycled fibers in textiles (Paço et al. 2020).
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Desore and Narula (2018)divided the buying decision process of consumers into five stages. These are (I) need recognition, (II) information search, (III) alternative evaluation, (IV) purchase decision, and (V) post purchase behavior. In the first (need recognition) and second phases (information search), the negative perception of the consumer can be eliminated by providing the consumer with more information about the sustainable garments and the manufacturing process and content of the garment produced. In the third (alternative evaluation) and fourth (purchase decision) stages, the consumer compares traditional product prices with those of recycled ones. At this stage, since the trust of the consumer to the producer is the most important factor, brands, eco-labels, and standards play an important role in the consumer’s final decision. The fifth and the final stage (post purchase behavior) behavior is determined by the quality and durability of the purchased product.
Precursor Brands and Retailers of Textile Industry Supporting the Use of Recycled Plastics Sustainability studies are carried out by many companies in the textile and apparel industry, which is one of the most damaging industries in the world (Shen et al. 2017). The Recycled Polyester (rPET) Commitment was created by Textile Exchange in 2017 in order to encourage the brands and retailers to use recycled polyester by 25% up to 2020. Fifty-nine companies such as Adidas, Gap Inc., H&M, IKEA, Lindex, Timberland, etc. joined to this commitment. Although 2020 was given as a target, in 2018, 36% growth in the use of rPET fiber was reached. The benefits already achieved are stated as: • • • •
2.868 million bottles diverted from landfill 35.329.509 kg reduction in human toxicity 1.849.464 mJ saved on primary energy demand 122.823 kg of reduced CO2 (https://textileexchange.org, 2018, Accessed 27 Oct 2020)
By recycling polyester including post-consumer plastic bottles and post-industrial waste from manufacturing wastes, Repreve ® fibers were produced by Unifi, and these fibers were used by several brands including Quicksilver, Patagonia, Roxy, Katmandu, Adidas, and etc. To produce rPET for these brands, over 630 million plastic bottles were collected from the landfill. Unifi also announced that it aims to recycle 20 billion bottles by the end of 2020 and 30 billion bottles by the end of 2022 (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020; Leonas 2017). Under the Repreve ® Textile Takeback Program, together with the partners like The North Face, three million pounds of takeback fabric was also used in other categories including apparel, automotive, hospitality, healthcare, and contract furnishings (Leonas 2017). An example of companies using Repreve ® fibers is Penti. The Turkish underwear company Penti, in collaboration with Unifi, recycled 1,000,000 plastic bottles and more than 5 tons of industrial nylon waste found in nature. In the 54 piece collection,
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which includes underwear, home wear, socks, sportswear, and tights product groups, presented under the name “I’M IN,” where Repreve ® yarns are used instead of conventional polyester and polyamide materials, 45% less energy, 20% less water, and 30% less emissions were consumed (Erarslan 2020). H&M announced that it is the sixth largest recycled polyester consumer in the world in 2018 by recycling 325 million PET bottles. In 2017, they designed an intricate pleated gown with plastic waste collected from the coastline (Mukherjee 2017), and 100% recycled nylon and polyester were used in the Weekday swimwear brand produced by H&M at the same year (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). Apart from H&M, there are other companies that prefer recycled fibers in their swimwear collections. American designer Mara Hoffman manufactures all of the swimming suits in her collection from recycled nylon and recycled polyester. They used ECONYL yarn made from 100% recycled nylon (usually from fishing net, industrial waste, and fabric waste) for solid swimming suits and Repreve ® yarn made from 100% recycled polyester (usually from plastic bottle) for their textured swimming suits. With the Repreve ® fabric they have used since 2017, 7.767 lbs. of waste were taken from landfills and recycled (https://marahoffman.com/pages/our-materials, Accessed 27 Oct 2020). British swimwear company Batoko, founded in 2013, produces swimwear from polyethylene terephthalate plastic waste to combat the injustices created by the fast fashion system. Until 2017, they recycled approximately 220,000 plastic bottles in their swimwear production. In addition, printing processes in swimwear production are carried out by digital printing method, which saves water and energy and uses non-toxic inks. The company, in which packaging operations are carried out with biodegradable packaging, donates a portion of the profits it generates every year to the Marine Conservation Society (Brady 2019). Italian beachwear company Repainted also uses 100% ECONYL yarn in its products. The most important features of these products made from recycled nylon are their resistance to chlorine, sea salt, and sunscreens (Ras 2019). One of the places where recycled fibers are most preferred is shoe production. Due to the request of Timberland, Camtex Fabrics produced a recycled material for shoe linings in 2012 that includes at least 50% recycled PET bottles. Therefore, the use of rPET started to be used for the Timberland brand. In 2014, Timberland increased the use of renewable, organic, and recycled (ROR) materials in its footwear up to 79% (Leonas 2017). French shoe manufacturer Veja has produced the material called B-mesh (bottle mesh) obtained from the recycled plastic bottles intended for use in shoes and accessories. While three recycled plastic bottles are used for each shoe production, it is stated that this fabric is both breathable and waterproof. At the same time, they have produced a completely environmentally friendly shoe by using rubber and organic cotton in the remaining parts of the shoe (Wolfe 2020). American-based shoe company Rothy’s produces machine-washable shoes using 3D knitting machines with recycled fibers obtained from plastic water bottles located in the landfills. The company has also initiated a program called “Rothy’s Recycling,” in which users will send their used shoes to the company and in return they will be sent as recycled yoga mats, insoles, and other environmentally friendly products for free to the customers (Wolfe 2020).
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It is also known that Adidas aims to use recycled plastic in all its products by 2020 (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). They have released a collection of swimwear and shoes called “Parley for the Oceans.” The running sneakers were 3D-printed, and the upper part of the shoes is from ocean waste (Mukherjee 2017; Leonas 2017). Since 2010, Nike has recycled more than three billion plastic bottles and used them in its products. For example, recycled polyester was used in the jerseys of the US basketball team at the Summer Olympics and US Women’s football team at the FIFA World Cup (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). Marks and Spencer have produced non-allergic, machine-washable (at 50 C), soft-touch, cushioned material with medium support properties from recycled plastic bottles (Vadicherla and Saravanan 2014). Guru Athletics have produced yoga towels made of 80% polyester recycled from plastic pop bottles and 20% natural cotton fibers (Vadicherla and Saravanan 2014). Almost 100% of the polyesters produced by Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), the largest PET producer with a 20% market share worldwide, are recycled for the home textiles such as bedspreads, blankets, and chair padding. In India, 50,000 tons of recycled fibers per month are produced by recycling PET bottles which is approximately 50% of the virgin polyester produced in this country (Kumartasli and Avinc 2020). Some luxury brands have a variety of products made from recycled raw materials. For example, there is a Stella McCartney shoe collection made of biodegradable and recycled plastic. Viktor and Rolf have a new collection using fabrics from previous collections (Vehmas et al. 2018). Prada used recycled nylon made from ocean plastics, fishing nets, and textile waste in the bag collection named “Re-Nylon.” The company stated that they will use recycled nylon in all of their products from 2021 (Barr 2019). Besides, Gucci, one of the luxury brands, uses Econyl (recycled nylon) fiber in their clothes and bags and also encourages the utilization of recycled plastics in heels of the shoes (Moorhouse and Moorhouse 2017). Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood designed Lily Cole an evening gown with fabric made from recycled plastic bottles for the Oscar Ceremony in 2016 (Moorhouse and Moorhouse 2017). Levi’s Waste-Less™ Jeans are made of at least 29% postconsumer plastic which is recycled from eight plastic bottles (Vadicherla and Saravanan 2014). Camira, a British textile company, produces woven fabric by recycling plastics collected from oceans and beaches. Fifty percent of the fiber used is recycled plastics, while 26 plastic bottles are used per meter of fabric (Dezeen 2020). G-Star RAW company has designed the world’s first denim collection originated from ocean plastic (Moorhouse and Moorhouse 2017). One of the most recent examples of utilizing recycled plastics in the textile industry is the new collection of Coca-Cola Turkey and Mavi Jeans. Coca-Cola Foundation, the Nature Conservation Center, and the United Nations Development Program came together in Kemer (Turkey) to launch a pilot scheme. Plastics collected by KOLLEKT application, which supports community-based recycling, were recycled and used in the production of four t-shirts in this special collection. Each t-shirt production is made from one to two recycled PET bottles (Gencoglu 2020). Proceeding with the motto of “Ethically made underwear,” Girlfriend
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Collective brand produces sports bras and leggings from recycled plastics. The recycled polyester they use is obtained from used plastic bottles in Taiwan, while the recycled polyamide they use is produced from used fishing nets. They recycled 5,348,317 plastic bottles for their production in the year of 2020 (Wolfe 2020). Spanish clothing brand Ecoalf, serving since 2012, designs upcycle products by recycling used plastic bottles, fishing nets, and tires. One of Ecoalf’s most important projects is the “Upcycling the Oceans” project. In this project, more than 3,000 fishermen from 37 different ports in Spain dump the garbage they find in the oceans to the Ecoalf waste bins at the ports. By doing this, it is ensured that both the oceans are cleaned and the waste materials are brought back to the production chain. Ecoalf, which does not limit its sustainability philosophy to only the products it produces, opened a flagship store in Berlin in 2017, which is designed with completely recycled materials. While everything, from the cement used in the walls to the rugs on the floor, is made from recycled materials, the power is also provided by green energy (Ibanez 2019). Patagonia has been producing fleece jackets from used plastic soda bottles since 1993. After the success of Patagonia company with this product, many companies started to produce polar jackets from waste plastic bottles. The company uses recycled polyester in many different products, from t-shirts to thick cold weather clothing (Ras 2019). American clothing company ADAY produced a jacket called “The Waste Nothing” using fabric produced by recycling 41 water bottles. The product with kimono sleeves can be worn as a jacket or as a shirt when turned inside out. When the life of the garment is over by the user, it can be recycled back into a new fabric (Segran 2018). Kind Bag, a British bag company, produces shopping bags to replace plastic bags using waste plastic bottles. The company, which produces a bag from approximately six waste plastic bottles, demonstrates the importance it attaches to sustainability and nature by donating 10% of its profit to the Just One Ocean charity. The famous bag company Kanken has produced a bag by recycling 11 waste plastic bottles in its special collection, and the “spindye” technology, which provides less water consumption, was used in the dyeing of the bag (Henderson 2020). It is also seen that recycled fibers are used in the production of protective fabric face masks, which are an indispensable part of our daily lives with the COVID-19 pandemic. Petit Pli brand has produced 100% recycled polyester washable fabric mask made from plastic bottles against the coronavirus pandemic. The mask is designed to stand on the neck like a soft collar and to cover the nose and mouth when necessary. The mask has a pocket that allows adding an extra disposable filter and is suitable for machine wash at 30 C (Block 2020).
Conclusion In line with the developing environmental awareness, environmental protection gradually ranks among the main policy priorities of the countries all over the world, and waste management has a dominant place among the environmental
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protection policies. The waste management strategies aiming at preventing the depletion of natural resources and transforming the produced waste from being a threat to the environment and human health and turning it into an input for the economy form the basis of the sustainable development approach, which is increasingly adopted as a priority policy goal in the world. Considering the speed of technological growth, plastics with their notable benefits will play a significant role among the materials’ future. Since the second half of the twentieth century, plastics used in almost all areas of social life began to be harmful to humans, animals, and other living things, briefly all environmental elements, due to their fragmentation into very small particles. From medical applications including tissue and organ scaffolds/implants to lightweight materials of upcoming airplanes, there are several end uses that promise a golden age for plastics. However, current production, usage, and disposal methods should be changed to a sustainable model for a more liveable future. Textile, which is the second most polluting sector in the world, increases the amount of waste considerably with the spread of the concept of fast fashion, and its harm to nature is becoming unstoppable. In addition to the recycling of textile materials, the benefit of the raw materials used from recycled materials to the cyclic economy is clearly demonstrated. Nowadays, where the new trend is to obtain products from recycled raw materials for a sustainable world, evaluating the wastes of the plastic sector in the textile sector, which has a very high production volume, is the biggest proof that there is still a hope for our planet.
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Textile Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sources and Common Fates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sustainable Development in Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sustainability in the Context of Textile Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Strategies to Treat the Textile Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study: Bangladesh Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some Promising Methods for Textile Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Regeneration of Valuable Products from Textile Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiation Technology to Decontaminate Textile Sludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Briquettes from Textile Sludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion and Future Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Textile industry, one of the biggest and most complicated polluting industries in the world, produces textiles and apparels, contributing to depletion of water, energy, and other natural resources and releases both liquid and solid wastes. Although there are several established strategies to treat the textile effluent (liquid waste), treatment of textile solid waste (especially textile sludge) is still highly M. S. Islam Department of Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali, Bangladesh J. M. M. Islam (*) School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_109
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challenging. As a result, these industries cause a great threat to environmental sustainability and the ecosystem. In these regards, there is no alternative to developing a more suitable method to treat textile solid waste to meet the human needs but still reducing the load of textile waste into the environment and, thereby, maintaining an ecofriendly behavior. This chapter incorporates the sources, qualification, and quantification of textile solid waste and their sustainable and reasonable management approaches. The main focus is given on the textile sludge and the strategies to decontaminate it. Designing products by using textile solid waste for socio-economic and ecological well-being is also discussed. Keywords
Textile solid waste · Textile sludge · Sludge management · Radiation processing · Zero waste technology
Introduction Textile industry is one of the major important industries over the world that provides a large employment opportunity and thereby contributes to the economy of many countries (de Souza et al. 2010). The textile industry consists of heterogeneous structure and complex production chains (European Commission 2003) that connects several types of backward linkage industries to the textile industry. Population growth has made the textile industry as well as the apparel industry as one of the biggest consumer industries in the world from the viewpoint of greater consumption (Sandin and Peters 2018). Besides, due to the growing consumption of human being, aside from textile industries, new and new sectors are emerging focused on textile design and distribution. But unfortunately, while producing the goods, the textile industry generates not only solid wastes but also huge amount of liquid wastes. As a result, the generated wastes impose significant effects on environment. Textile industries produce liquid waste containing dyes and finishing chemicals that contaminate surface as well as ground water (Wallander 2012), and even it produces a significant amount of solid waste and emits greenhouse gases (GHGs). Therefore, the textile industry is considered as the second most polluting industry in the world (Sweeny 2016) and a major contributor in climate change (Connell 2015). Ecological concern has thus come into discussion with few significant issues: how the waste will be treated and how the waste will be reduced. Not only the industrialists but also the consumer society has accepted it as a new dimension for healthy well-being (Scrase and Sheate 2002). Industrial waste may have some benefits if they are treated and recycled properly for specific purposes. The concern for having beneficial effects from industrial wastes has evolved a practice named waste management practice. Recently, efficient waste management practices have been observed in developed countries that maintain strict rules and regulations (Jordeva et al. 2015). Textile Solid Waste (TSW)
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belongs to the industrial and non-dangerous waste category and is defined as “waste of raw material referred to as fabric trims, scraps or parts rejected by defects” in manufacturing processes of the clothing industry (Pinheiro and Francisco 2016).
Waste Management Definition As wastes are generated from different sources, they have profound effect on human health and ecosystem. The effect will be either good or bad that depends on some issues: either wastes will be treated, or they will be thrown away; if wastes are treated for some sorts of benefit, how they will be treated? From the viewpoint of waste treatment, it is deemed necessary to have a good knowledge on waste management as well as waste governance. It is an earnest need to define waste management prior to depict its principle. According to Business Dictionary, “Waste management encompasses management of all processes and resources for proper handling of waste materials, from maintenance of waste transport trucks and dumping facilities to compliance with health codes and environmental regulations.” The integrated definition of waste management according to Wikipedia is as, “Waste management or Waste disposal is all the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes among other things, collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. It also encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management encompassing guidance on recycling etc.”
Principle Waste management incorporates the responsibility of government along with other private organizations though it mostly involves government organizations – more specifically local jurisdictions. It is an integrated approach employing both public agencies and private sectors at various levels to interpret the sense of sound governance. The principle needs to be approximately outlined as follows: • To get an approval from regulatory control; i.e., this practice will control unrestricted disposal of waste and unrestricted reuse of useful materials. • To have an authorized release; i.e., this practice will control the authorized discharge of waste to the environment and authorized reuse of useful materials. • To maintain regulated disposal of waste and regulated transfer of useful materials to other practices. Although the chapter primarily focuses on textile industry solid waste management system, it is significant to realize that several systems are dealing with waste or
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items that could become waste. The scope of explaining waste management principle can be discussed further under following headings.
Waste Management Systems It is convenient to identify six different systems regarding waste management systems (Christensen 2011). The systems are tabulated as follows (Table 1). Waste Management Criteria The fundamental criteria are likely to provide a tailor-made and healthy handling of all waste with a minimum of effort for the customer and the citizen as well as to ensure the lowest possible load on the environment in terms of noise and contamination of air, water, and soil. The following criteria should also be assigned in waste management governance or planning such as: • Provide a maximum of resource recovery from the waste while minimizing the use of resources in the waste handling • Be a safe and healthy occupation for the workers offering non-monotonous work and achievable challenges • Provide only little impact on the city with respect to traffic, vehicle exhaust, noise, traffic accidents, and spill of waste • Include aesthetic and architectural considerations in establishing waste collection and treatment facilities • Respect as a minimum current laws, regulations, and code of practice. Be economically acceptable and fair Table 1 Different waste management systems and their characteristics Management systems In-house waste landfilling
Littering
Return system
Municipal waste management system Industrial waste management system Hazardous waste management system
Characteristics Waste from one industry may be used as a resource for another industry. The system can promote waste minimization and waste prevention. Litter is usually in the form of package and newspaper, and other wastes arise from building renovation and old white goods that demands public cleansing of affected areas and thereby become part of waste management system. Sometimes waste can be processed for further use as a consumer product. The system can benefit common people including the products in business chain. For instance, batteries, car tiers and electronic equipments, etc. Municipal waste is generated by civil work and citizens, and some types of wastes are released from small business and industries. The management system needs public concern. This management system includes how much waste the industry release either in large or small volumes. The system incorporates the authorities’ environmental approval and licensing of the industry. The system demands for special ways of collecting, storing, and transporting the waste and maintains special rules and standards.
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• Waste prevention and cleaner technology
• Reuse
• Recycling of materials
• Recovery in terms of material utilization and energy recovery
• Disposal including landfilling and mass burning without recovery
Fig. 1 Priorities of waste management, from the most preferred to less preferred techniques
Waste Hierarchy The Western world and parts of Asia have since the early 1980s used the waste hierarchy as the main credible to waste management. The wording used and the name may vary, but the main message is that priorities in waste management should be according to Fig. 1. The waste hierarchy is a strong approach and easy to communicate and quantify if the purpose is to avoid landfilling, but two aspects are not well addressed by the waste hierarchy. One aspect is that waste minimization and cleaner technology is a very difficult issue for local and regional bodies because they do not have the mandate and power to address this. Waste minimization is primarily a state or interstate issue, since globalized industrial manufacturing and marketing of products must be the focus. The second aspect is that, as energy prices go up and the Kyoto protocol forces many countries to lessen their use of fossil fuel, energy recovery from solid waste may be as beneficial as material recovery and thereby question the rigid prioritization of material recovery over energy recovery.
Textile Solid Waste Management Sources and Common Fates As the consumer demand is leading to accelerated industrialization, while producing the respective products, these industries are releasing a large volume of waste into the environment. Therefore, the issue of waste management has gained much greater attention over the society as most of the wastes are generated from industries which cannot be closed as they are producing much needed products (Fujii et al. 2012; Zurbrügg et al. 2012). Waste generation from textile industries is not an exception to this. We should define the waste elaborately before we go further to their sources and common fates.
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Waste can be defined as the “things that people do not need anymore and want to get rid of” (Nielsen and Schmidt 2014). According to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal of 1989, Art. 2(1), “‘Wastes’ are substance or objects, which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law.” Waste can also be defined according to Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Art. 3(1), in which the European Union defines waste as “an object that the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard.” According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 1976, solid waste means any garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities. Nearly everything we do leaves behind are some kind of wastes. Solid waste also can be depicted as non-liquid materials arising from domestic, trade, commercial, agricultural, and industrial activities and from public services (Sasikumar and Krishna 2009). Solid waste may consist of paper, textile, leather, food waste, yard waste, rubber, metals, plastic, and glass (Daven and Klein 2008). The daily source of textile solid waste is fibers that are made into fabric in the textile industry. Besides, each step-in textile industry from raw material to final product and product delivery to customer produces solid wastes. The basic steps which are the sources of solid waste generation stated as collection planning, planning the production process, material stock, design, folding, cutting, preparation for sewing, sewing, finishing, ironing, packing, product stocks, shipping and client etc. The spans of clothing industry incorporate many phases starting from raw materials processing to final products divided into segment’s, i.e., resource production and extraction, fiber production and yarn manufacturing, textile manufacturing to apparel assembly, packaging, transportation and distribution, and finally usage, recycling, and ultimate disposal, and contribute a significant part in municipal solid waste category (Karaosman et al. 2017). One of the most significant reasons to generate textile waste is people demands new clothes on new season along with the rising living standards of world population (Zamani 2014). Predictions confirm that global fiber consumption will reach 110 million tons by 2020 (Voncina 2016). Above all, the sources of solid waste can be tabulated as follows (Table 2). In other way, textile waste can be classified as production waste, pre-consumer waste, and post-consumer waste (Yalcin-Enis et al. 2019) listed below (Table 3). Production waste comes from several textile manufacturing steps and varies depending on the manufacturing step where the waste is generated (Wang 2010). Pre-consumer waste includes unsold/damaged products in stores, and these products come from design mistakes, fabric faults, wrong colors, etc. Post-consumer wastes consist of products that the owners do not need to use it and the volume of this waste is large compared to other wastes (Wang 2010). Nowadays, most of the fabric-related solid wastes and scraps are recycled to produce secondary products or used to generate energy (Fig. 2). However, one
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Table 2 Waste generated in the clothing production process (Alshamrani et al. 2007) Stages Collection planning Material stock Design Folding Cutting Preparation for sewing Sewing Finishing Effluent treatment Packing Shipping
Generated waste Paper, fabric scraps, magazine; paperboard; defective parts; packing; printer cartridges Paper; metals (rivets, buttons); defective parts; zippers; thread; labels; plastic; paperboard; fabric scraps Paper; paperboard; plotter pens; fabric scraps; metal clips; plastic Paper; plastic; fabric scraps; paperboard; adhesive tape Paper; fabric scraps; sewing machine sandpaper; paperboard; plastic Thread; fabric scraps; paper; elastic; plastic; cardboard box Thread; paper; fabric scraps; plastic cones; needle; trims; stitching yarn Thread; fabric scraps; trims; labels; adhesive paper; stitching yarn; plastic; paperboard Sludge Plastic; toner; labels Paper; adhesive tape; paperboard.
Table 3 Different types of waste Production wastes Fiber Yarn Cloth scraps Flocks Sweeping Fabric cut-offs Fabric roll ends Selvage Waste from effluent treatment plant, e.g., sludge
Pre-consumer wastes Unsold products Damaged products
Post-consumer wastes Worn-out products Damaged products Outgrown products Out of fashion products
specific type of solid waste is totally overlooked, and there is no established method to manage this waste. This solid waste is generated from the effluent treatment plants of the textile industry and commonly known as textile sludge. The contents of the textile sludge mainly depend on the initial textile effluent and their treatment procedure. Industries usually categorize this sludge as non-recyclable and dump it in landfill and waterbodies. Textile sludge contains high BOD and COD characteristics and significant amount of very fine particulates which cause air and water pollution mixing with air and water, respectively. In this regard, considering the importance of the textile sludge management, in this chapter, we will mainly focus on the aspects of this special type of textile solid waste treatment.
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Fig. 2 The model for industrial textile waste management (Rapsikevičienė et al. 2019)
Sustainable Development in Waste Management As sustainable development incorporates the improvement of lifestyles and wellbeing along with preserving natural resources and ecosystems, it always maintains an equilibrium between the human need and environment. Sustainable development is an intertwined approach which involves three basic dimensions, i.e., environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social sustainability (Mensah 2019). Sustainable development is an outsmart prototype of the United Nations. Based on the delicate balance between the human being and environment, the sustainable development was defined by the report titled Our Common future published by the Bruntland Commission in 1987. This commission defined the sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland and Khalid 1987). Sustainable development emphasizes on scrutinizing different aspects of development in order to build a sustainable solution. As stated by Atkinson et al. (2007), “sustainable is now prefixed to numerous and disparate policy objectives” (p. 16). Glavic and Lukman (2007) indicate the focus of sustainable development as being “the evolution of human society from the responsible economic point of view, in accordance with environmental and natural processes” (p. 1884). Although there are similarities in the definitions, there are also disagreements like the axiomatic foundations of the dynamic models within which the concept has been explored, differences in disciplinary perspectives and the interpretation of sustainability at the policy level (Common and Perrings 1992).
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Table 4 Illustration of the dimensions of sustainable development principle Economic Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty Work as worship Moderation Be content with little Voluntary giving Profit sharing
Social/cultural Equality of women and men Elimination of all forms of prejudice Unity in diversity/justice Universal compulsory education Trustworthiness/respect History – beliefs
Environmental Independence of life Nature a reflection of the divine Modesty – Earth source of all our wealth Unity in diversity Cleanliness Kindness to animals and preservation
There is a confusion between sustainability and sustainable development; sometimes these two terms are utilized interchangeably. Because, sustainability is often thought to be as a long-term goal, while sustainable development implies the many processes to achieve it (e.g., sustainable agriculture and forestry, sustainable production and consumption, good government, research and technology transfer, education and training, etc.). Ben-Eli (2015), on the other hand, observes sustainability as a dynamic equilibrium between interaction of the population and its environment so that the population develops its full potential without producing irreversible adverse effects on the environment. From this viewpoint it can be concluded that sustainability incorporates focusing human activities and their ability to satisfy human needs without depleting or exhausting the productive resources at their disposal. Therefore, it promotes thoughts on the way people should lead their economic and social lives regarding the available ecological resources for human development. The goal of the sustainable developments is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of future generations. The guiding principles are stated as follows: • • • • •
Living within environmental limits Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society Achieving a sustainable economy Promoting good governance Using sound science responsibility
The basic dimensions discussed under the principles of sustainable development can be summarized in a tabulated form as follows (Table 4) So, to secure sustainable development in the waste management, there should be a collective effort from economic, social, and environmental perspectives. It is a collective responsibility that encompasses the participation of all people and relevant
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entities. From the broad aspect of thinking, it can be assumed that sustainable waste management is built on the principle of participation that requires positive attitudes of the people so that meaningful progress can be achieved with responsibility and accountability for stability (Zhai and Chang 2019).
Sustainability in the Context of Textile Solid Waste Management Textile industry is one of the complex industries in the world. While producing its respective products, it produces heavy environmental load. Besides, it is responsible for depleting natural resources as well as water resources and thereby causes the change of environmental footprint. Therefore, sustainable waste management has gained significant concern to reduce the alternation of ecological footprint by textile industries. According to European Legislation, the advanced approach to waste management based on the principle of “waste hierarchy” that corresponds to the priorities of solid waste management (Golomeova et al. 2013). The practices under this principle have also been being applied successfully to treat textile solid waste for years. Textile solid waste management does not go further without this management system. Waste hierarchy priorities based on sustainability are designed as follows in the Fig. 3. As natural fibers are not sufficient to fulfill the demand of growing population, this driving force has compelled scientist and researchers to find new sources, i.e., synthetic fibers to meet this demand. Natural fibers are biodegradable while synthetic fibers are not, even not compostable (Khalili et al. 2017). There is no probable reason to reduce solid wastes completely; nonetheless, the term zero waste has frequently discussed for waste management, and it is more than a preventive approach regarding sustainability (Greyson 2007). Zero waste
Waste Minimization Most Sustainable Re-use
Recycle/Compost
Energy Recovery Least Sustainable Disposal
Fig. 3 Hierarchy in the priorities in the waste management sector
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(ZW) is a whole system approach eliminating waste rather than managing waste (Curran and Williams 2012). As sustainability concept is an integrated approach that incorporates environmental, social, economic, and some other aspects, zero waste concept is nothing exception to this. Zero waste stimulates the more employment opportunities when compared to waste incineration and creates on average 20 to 35% more jobs (Rathnayake et al. 2014). Therefore, zero waste management is discussed under different segments such as eco-design, cleaner production, product stewardship, inventory control, maintenance, and housekeeping (Rathnayake et al. 2014). Zero waste management is considered to be the sixth wave in the waste management chain, and it is the most holistic approach for the twenty-first century for waste management system for gaining true sense of sustainable waste management systems (Zaman and Lehmann 2011). However, Zaman (2012) suggested that achieving zero waste goals was very hard because 100% recycle was not possible.
Current Strategies to Treat the Textile Solid Waste Textile sludge contains several constituents like organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorous, and micronutrients in addition to dyes and heavy metals (Balan and Monteiro 2001). This sludge can be dried and processed under the techniques such as densification and combustion for energy production. These treatment processes guarantee sustainable production and reduce environmental impacts (Avelar et al. 2016). The cotton textile industry residues and dry sludge are polydisperse, bulky with low densities. The disposal of these wastes demands high cost of treatment. For this reason, densification process of these residues can become an attractive alternative to lessen the costs and convert them into an adequate biofuel that is considered as valuable by-product. The densification process of these biomass, such as briquetting, depicts the process of applying pressure on a mass of disperse particles, aiming to produce a solid, compact, geometric high-density material (Li and Liu 2000). The technology has several advantages such as improvement of the capability for transportation and storage, the production of a biofuel with uniform burning quality, and the reduction of the possibility of spontaneous combustion and biodegradation of the residues. The most challenging part is to treat the textile solid waste from the effluent treatment plants, especially where dye effluents are involved. These dye effluents eventually lead to generation of huge amount of environment polluting sludge regardless the effluent treatment process, especially where activated sludge process or physical coagulation/flocculation technology is used. This sludge comes with a complicated toxic nature consist of the materials that cannot be degraded or removed by the effluent treatment process such as dye residues, surfactants, heavy metal ions, detergents, solvents, and recalcitrant compounds (Chen and Wu 2018). So, if this sludge is not managed properly, it can easily accumulate into the plants and eventually enters into the food chain. So, safe
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sludge management is unavoidable and very important for environmental pollution abatement. Conventionally, landfill and incineration are the two main strategies that are used for textile sludge management. However, landfill has the disadvantage of hazardous leachate production which may result in soil and groundwater contamination, and most cases limits land applications (Turovskiy and Mathai 2006; Nessa et al. 2016). On the other hand, from the regulatory perspective, incineration may be the most effective method. However, it inevitably produces hazardous gases like dioxin and nitrogen oxides and discharges into the atmosphere. Besides, incineration process leaves a residual with high heavy metal concentration, which needs to be further treated before dumping (Hu et al. 2015; Lin et al. 2014). This is why, instead of landfill and incineration, more suitable sludge management process should be established, i.e., re-utilization of sludge to mitigate its pollution and to reduce the cost of treatment.
Case Study: Bangladesh Scenario In the recent years, readymade garments have become the major export sector of Bangladesh contributing to almost 80% of total export earnings (Anwar et al. 2018). Around 4000 readymade garments production facilities are currently operating in the country, and the numbers are growing. These industries generate around 2.82 million cubic meter wastewater per day. However, around 48% industries still do not use any effluent treatment plant (ETP) resulting direct discharge of wastewater in the waterbodies and thus polluting the environment (Today 2011). The remaining 52% who are using the ETP are generating 1.14 kg solid sludge per m3 of wastewater. In 2012, total generation of textile WTP sludge was about 36.39 metric ton, but still there is no established method to decontaminate this sludge (Nessa et al. 2016). Although there are some land filling and incineration practices have been started, most of these solid wastes are typically discarded into the environment without further processing (Fig. 4). However, the Department of Environment (DoE), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Bangladesh, has already taken extensive initiatives to reduce inappropriate sludge disposal practices and enforced proper guideline to sludge treatment (DoE 2015). The guideline stated that: 1. The producer of the sludge is responsible for the correct classification of the sludge as described in these guidelines. 2. The classification of the sludge must be finalized: (a) During the first 6 months of operation of a new treatment plant. (b) Six months after the gazette notification of the guideline for an existing plant. (c) During the first 3 months after changes regarding the origin of the wastewater, classified as in Annex 2B, or the treatment of the wastewater occur.
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Fig. 4 Textile waste pollution of Dhalaibeel which is a connecting canal to the river Bangshi in Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Canal was contaminated with textile effluent and solid waste resulting different shades of colors. Dead fishes were also found. Picture was taken in 8 November, 2020. (Image is used with photographer’s permission)
3. The producer of the sludge shall take the necessary measures to ensure the sludge management fulfills the requirements of this document. 4. The producer shall take necessary measures to ensure that the sludge is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health by pathogens or pollutants and without using processes or methods which could harm the environment, in particular present a risk to water, air, soil and plants and animals or cause a nuisance through noise or odors. 5. The bodies concerned shall work toward: (a) The prevention or reduction of sludge production and its harmfulness, in particular by: (i) The development and use of clean technologies more sparing in their use of natural resources (ii) The technical development and marketing of products designed to minimize waste and pollution hazards during manufacture, use and final disposal (b) The recovery of waste by means of recycling, re-use, or reclamation or any other process with a view to utilizing resources or extracting secondary raw materials (c) The use of waste as a source of energy The DoE is also set a maximum limit of heavy metal in the treated textile sludge and the cultivation soil for sludge application (Table 5).
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Table 5 Maximum allowable heavy metal content in textile sludge for disposal Parameter Pb (Lead) Cd (Cadmium) Cr (Chromium) Cu (Copper) Ni (Nickel) Hg (Mercury) Zn (Zinc)
In sludgea mg/kg dry substance 900 10 900 800 200 8 2500
In soilb mg/kg dry substance 100 1.5 100 60 50 1 200
The quantity is limited: < 3 t dry substance sewage sludge per ha in 3 years, < 10 t dry substance sludge compost per ha in 3 years b Soil of the agricultural land before application of sludge a
Some Promising Methods for Textile Solid Waste Management Composting Composting is one of the most popular as well as natural processes of recycling organic waste materials into rich soil known as compost. The compost is formed by aerobic decomposition of organic materials by microorganisms under controlled conditions (Golomeova et al. 2013). The basic process of composting is illustrated in Fig. 5. Even composting is the third preferred choice in the integrated waste management hierarchy; composting is one of the most suitable methods for textile solid waste treatment because of its low processing cost and zero waste behavior (Yadav and Samadder 2018). Biodegradable components of textile solid waste can be managed by prepared compost or by producing other goods which will ultimately go for composting after their life cycle. As examples, nappy pads, wipes, mulching sheet for agro-textiles, and interiors for cars can be prepared from these types of textile solid waste which will eventually back into nature after their life cycle (Aishwariya 2018). Besides, due to environmental concerns, composite textiles are made from natural fiber and synthetic biodegradable polymers like polylactic acid (PLA). These composite textiles are mainly used in medical textiles and are compostable/degradable when thrown in the landfill (Radhakrishnan 2015; Schneider 2016; Mejía et al. 2017). While composting, the textile solid waste is reduced to greater extent because of the carbon dioxide, water, and other gases release. So this process not only reduces the solid waste but also the compost product can be used as excellent fertilizer for gardening, plantation, and crop production. Under natural conditions, the decomposition process can last from several months to a year or even more, depending on climatic conditions as well as on the waste components. However, the composting process can be speeded up by fortification and enrichment. In this case effective microorganisms are introduced to the composting system (Aishwariya and Amsamani 2012).
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Fig. 5 Process of composting
Regeneration of Valuable Products from Textile Solid Waste As textile industries produce a large volume of solid waste, there is a challenge for researchers and scientists to convert these wastes into valuable products. Recently Weiyan Yin and coworkers has suggested a method to covert the textile waste fabrics into adsorbents to remove heavy metal ion, for instance, Cu (II) ion selectively by amidoxime- and triazole-functionalized waste cotton fabrics followed by azide-alkyne click chemistry (Yin et al. 2018). Although there are several ways to remove heavy metals from waste water such as adsorption, chemical precipitation, solvent extraction, and membrane filtration, these bio-adsorbents made from textile wastes have green and faster adsorption rates compared to others (Setyono and Valiyaveettil 2016). Hossain et al. (2018) prepared environmentally friendly bricks from textile sludge and successfully replaced 50% clay in the bricks manufacturing. The resulted bricks also required much less firing temperature compared to the conventional brick making process and thus reduced the risk of producing NOXs and SOXs from the sludge incineration. Besides these, many other researches have been conducted to prepare secondary products from the textile solid wastes which are tabulated in Table 6.
Radiation Technology to Decontaminate Textile Sludge The dye materials are coagulated and precipitated in the chemical processed ETPs. So, the textile sludge mainly has two components, i.e., precipitating salts and precipitated dye. These precipitated and concentrated dyes have very high BOD and COD value which is the main cause of the toxicity of the textile sludge. This is why, waterbodies contaminated with textile sludge suffers from dissolved oxygen deficiency and possess serious threat to the aquatic lives. Besides, if these dye materials enter to the food chain before degradation, they can accommodate in kidney and liver of animals and human being which may lead to damages of the vital organs.
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Table 6 Valuable products prepared from textile solid waste and their applications Solid waste type Textile sludge
Prepared products Methylene blue absorbent
Textile sludge
Soil conditioner
Textile sludge, coal ash, ground soil Textile sludge, sawdust
Lightweight bricks
Activated carbon for malachite green adsorption
Textile sludge
Organic Manure
Textile sludge
Partial replacement of Portland cement/ sand in the composition of concrete Biochars for oil removal
Textile sludge
Calcined textile sludge
Stabilizing material for highway soil
Sample preparation in brief Textile sludge was carbonized at high temperature in the absence of oxygen to prepare the absorbent Sludge was mixed with garden soil in different ratios and used to grow red amaranth (Amaranthus gangeticus) Lightweight bricks were successfully fabricated by using a mixture of ground soil, textile sludge, and coal ash as the raw materials Dried textile sludge was mixed with KI and KOH followed by heating at 90 C for 1.5 h. The impregnated sample was then activated at 700 C for 1 h Textile sludge was biodegraded to be used as manure Collected sludge was dried, powdered, and used as cement replacement
References Rahman et al. (2017a) Nessa et al. (2016) Chen and Wu (2018)
Biochars were made by carbonizing the textile sludge in laboratory tube furnace for 1 h in the absence of oxygen Sludge was mixed with Portland cement CPIIF-32, dolomitic hydrated lime (49.5% CaO), and a slow set cationic asphalt emulsion (RL-1C with 60.9% residue) as chemical additives to be used as highway soil
Sohaimi et al. (2017) de Oliveira et al. (2020)
Hui and Zaini (2020) Raju et al. (2020) Rahman et al. (2017b)
However, studies have reported that the textile sludge is rich in organic compounds and plant nutrients (Teixeira et al. 2007; Hue 1995) and has the potentiality to improve soil properties, as it contains many plant nutrients such as N, P, and K and could be an alternative to chemical fertilizers in agriculture. So, toxic textile sludge can be turned into useful products if the dye materials of it can be degraded. Usually, microorganisms do this job effectively, but it takes time and while doing it, they consume the dissolved oxygen (if the sludge is disposed in waterbodies). Besides, as the degradation happens in time-dependent manner (up to 1 year), there is always a chance to enter in the food chain before degradation. Radiation processing can play a very important role to solve the problem. Jahid et al. reported that ionizing radiation like gamma radiation was very effective to degrade the organic contents of textile effluent and thus reduced the BOD and COD to a great extent (Islam et al. 2014a, b). Besides, this industrial sludge comes up with
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water and contains azo dyes. So gamma radiation treatment may convert them into amide, which can be converted into ammonium by hydrolysis (Bagyo et al. 1997). So, the resulting nitrogenous compounds rich decontaminated sludge can be an organic nutrient source for the plants as well. Results reported by Islam et al. (2014b) also support the hypothesis. Gamma radiation-treated textile effluent was found nontoxic to plants and was very effective to induce plant growth compared to the control plants which were growth with common cultivation practice. On the other hand, as gamma radiation has very high penetration capability, the similar technique can be used on textile sludge to degrade the dye compounds and can be used as chemical fertilizer. So, this gamma radiationbased treatment practice can not only decontaminate the textile sludge; it also makes it a good fertilizer.
Briquettes from Textile Sludge These are also a huge possibility to produce condense briquettes from textile sludge and scraps. Briquettes made from densification process have better energy parameters, higher density, and higher heating value than raw materials (Stolarski et al. 2013). Due to the low moisture of the briquettes, the furnace rapidly reaches high temperatures, producing less smoke and soot. In addition, the material resulting from compression achieves higher flame temperatures and has increased thermal regularity, thus maintaining homogeneous heat (Bhattacharya et al. 2002). Moreover, briquettes have economic value because briquettes can be commercialized, generating income to the textile mills.
Conclusion and Future Perspectives Nowadays, environmental organizations as well as the buyers are much more concerned about the environmental degradation caused by textile waste. However, most of the times people are so focused on textile effluent-related issues that they often neglect the importance of textile solid waste management. This is why, although most of the textile industries have functioning ETP, only a few are handling the solid waste treatment. This problem is much more severe in case of textile sludge treatment. Sometimes, many of the industries really don’t know what to do with the sludge, and they eventually dump it to nearby waterbodies which is causing serious environmental pollution. So, it is high time to prioritize the solid waste treatment for sustainable development of the textile sector. However, scientists all around the world are working to develop suitable textile solid waste management strategies. Especially, the waste recycling and reusing are getting much more attention as these lead to zero waste production system. Recycled fibers are being used in automobile interiors, agro-textiles, reinforcement in geotextiles, acoustics, textiles for building construction purpose, upholstery, package textiles and food packing materials, and so on. Using recycled textiles for filtration
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purposes is another easy but very effective management for the textile solid waste (Zander et al. 2017). Besides, various product developments like building materials, fertilizer, bio-absorbent, etc. are also in progress using textile sludge. So, hopefully newer and newer approaches will come up to manage and utilize the textile solid waste which will ultimately turn this environmental treat to a blessing to the mankind. Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Mohammad Samsur Rahaman, Chemist, Echotex Ltd., Kaliakoir, Gazipur, Bangladesh for granting permission to use his photography in Fig. 4.
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Reuse of Textile ETP Sludge into Value-Added Products for Environmental Sustainability Subrata Chandra Das, M. Sarwar Jahan, Debasree Paul, and Mubarak Ahmad Khan
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Textile Wet Processing Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Textile Sludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harmful Effects of Textile Sludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reuse of Textile Sludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Building or Construction Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fertilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biogas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adsorbent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defoamer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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To produce colorful clothing and to meet the demand of our second basic needs, enormous volume of water, chemicals, dyes, and pigments are used in textile and clothing industries across the world. Therefore, huge amount of effluents has been S. C. Das (*) Advanced and Sustainable Engineering Materials Laboratory, Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gjøvik, Norway M. S. Jahan BSCL Scientific Research Laboratory, Bombay Sweets & Co. Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh D. Paul Department of Textile Engineering, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh M. A. Khan Jute Polymer Unit, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, Ministry of Textiles and Jute, Dhaka, Bangladesh © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_58
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emerged from these textile industries especially from textile dyeing, printing, and finishing industries every year which is a threat for the environment. Textile sludge is mainly the by-product of effluent treatment plant of a textile mill in the form of solid or semisolid waste. Textile sludge is not biodegradable due to the presence of toxic and harmful chemicals, heavy metals, organic matters, etc.; thus the sludge can cause harm to the aquatic life, crop land, wildlife, and human health. Recently, researchers from various fields have brought several ways to save our environment from this sludge which can be very promising and viable to maintain sustainability of the environment. This chapter will discuss the textile wet processing industry, textile sludge, and its harmful effects. Then the reuse of textile sludge into various value-added products are briefly presented such as bricks, concrete, building or construction materials, fertilizers, biogas, adsorbent, and defoamers. Keywords
Textile ETP sludge · Textile waste · Solid waste management · Clay bricks · Sludge reuse
Introduction Textile industry is the major export-oriented industry in Asia, more specifically in China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, and Turkey which are the top five garment exporter countries worldwide. There are various types of textile industry such as spinning, weaving, knitting, wet processing (dyeing and printing), and garment manufacturing industry. Among them, the wet processing industry is significant for having various chemical processing operations such as desizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing, printing, and finishing processes where enormous amounts of water, chemical agents, auxiliaries, and dyestuffs are employed (Paul et al. 2017; Islam et al. 2011). In wet processing industry, huge amount of water is required in every section; the consumption of water in different sections are 38% in bleaching and finishing, 16% in dyeing, 8% in printing, 14% in boiler house, and 24% in others (Jhala and Bhatt 1995). For coloration of textile fabrics, enormous quantities of dyestuffs and pigments are used in textile dyeing and printing industries over the year; however, a significant amount of dyes remained unfixed and discharged as wastewater or effluent. This wastewater contains heavy metals, toxic components, suspended solids, and other organic and inorganic compounds. The production of textile sludge is about 25 m3 per 1 million tons of wastewater where two-thirds of this textile sludge are disposed of in the environment (Huang et al. 2011). Textile sludge produced from these wastewaters after the treatment in textile effluent treatment plant (ETP) is one of the major concerns for the environmental pollution. There are various substances present in textile sludge such as organic compounds, various oxides, heavy metals, nitrogen, phosphorous, micronutrients, pathogenic microorganisms, and other toxic and hazardous chemicals (Hossain et al.
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2018; Patel and Pandey 2012). Sludge can be disposed by landfilling or incineration, but this will increase the extra cost for the industry. In the developing countries, in particular, much of the textile sludge are openly dumped into the lands, lakes, rivers, etc., as a result which leads soil, agricultural land, surface water and groundwater contamination (Balasubramanian et al. 2006). In the case of land filling of the sludge, there is a possibility of contamination of groundwater due to leachate. Since textile sludge contains heavy metals such as Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Al, Pb, Cd, Mn, Fe, Co, etc., and other harmful chemicals, so it will have a negative impact on aquatic life and ecosystem, soil fertility, germination, food chain, and finally high risk for human health (Mishra et al. 2019; Khan and Malik 2014; Kant 2012). In Bangladesh, wastewater generation by textile mills is about 2.82 million m3 per day basis which contributes to formation of solid textile sludge approximately 1.14 kg/m3 of wastewater. The generation of textile ETP sludge was skyrocket from 0.113 million tons to 36 million tons in the year from 2007 to 2012, respectively (WC 2009). Hence, the rapid growth of textile sludge is unavoidable and will increase in the future to meet the global demand of colorful textiles and clothing products to the consumers. Moreover, textile industries are the main economic backbone of some developing countries like Bangladesh and India. Hence, the generation of textile sludge will be continued to grow rapidly in the future until any ecofriendly and sustainable technology in textile wet processing will be introduced. But, to avoid the harmful effects of this toxic and hazardous textile sludge and to ensure environmental sustainability, proper sludge management is necessary. Researchers and scientists from various fields have tried to utilize the harmful textile sludge into some valueadded materials which are very promising and significant steps for the management of textile sludge and environmental sustainability. The reuse of textile ETP sludge in bricks (Hossain et al. 2016, 2017, 2018; Kumar et al. 2019), concrete (Zhan and Poon 2015; Singh et al. 2019), building and construction materials (Goyal et al. 2019; Jian et al. 2020), fertilizers (Parvin et al. 2015; Nessa et al. 2016), biogas (Goel 2010; Kumar et al. 2020), adsorbent (Jahagirdar et al. 2015; Devi and Saroha 2017), defoamer (Scheibe et al. 2018), etc., can be an effective way of reducing environmental pollution as well as value addition in the harmful and unused waste materials like textile sludge.
Textile Wet Processing Industry There are several types of textile industry, among them textile wet processing industry is the major contributor of environmental pollution due to the generation of huge amount of wastewater and effluents which contain various pollutants. There are various processing operations in a wet processing industry such as desizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing, printing, and finishing. In these various processes, enormous amount of water is required, and various types of chemicals and dyes are used. Table 1 shows the chemicals and auxiliaries used in various processes of textile wet processing industry as well as pollutants generated from these various processes. Generally, an average-sized textile manufacturing unit used water
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Table 1 Chemicals used in and pollutants from textile wet processing operations (Karthik and Rathinamoorthy 2015; Holkar et al. 2016; Periyasamy et al. 2019) Process Desizing Scouring and bleaching
Mercerizing Dyeing
Printing
Finishing
Chemicals used Enzyme, wetting agent, NaCl, detergent, phosphate buffer NaOH, silicate (Na2O/SiO2), Na2CO3, NaOCl, CaOCl, NaCl, H2O2, surfactant, wetting agent, detergent, per oxide killer, acetic acid, washing agent, enzyme action deactivator, etc.
NaOH, acid Dyes, pigments, salt, caustic soda, levelling agent, dispersing agent, wetting agent, sodium hydrosulfite, sequestering agent, acids, mordants, carriers, etc. Dye or pigments, thickener, print paste, emulsifiers, binders, surfactants, solvents, crosslinking agents, fixing agents, softening agents, defoamer, urea, preservatives or biocides, alcohol, coupling agents, reducing agents, alkalis, glycerin, glycols, printing oils, borax, etc. Softeners, soaping agent, fixing agent, acetic acid, silicones, repellents based on fluorocarbons, paraffins, flame retardants, antimicrobial agents, antistatic agents, brighteners, etc.
Pollutants Starch, hydrolyzed starch, waxes, ammonia, enzymes, salt, acidic pH Alkalis, peroxides, hypochlorite, chlorines, surfactants, silicates, organic stabilizer, soaps, saponified oils, disinfectant and insecticide residues, fats, hydrolyzed pectins, proteins, sizes, waxes, high pH, suspended solids, TDS, high COD, natural colors, etc. High pH, NaOH Dyes, salts, surfactants, organicprocessing assistants, sulfide, alkalis, acids, detergents, formaldehyde, heavy metals like chromium, copper, high BOD and COD, TDS, etc. Dyes, alkali, acids, thickeners, detergents, high BOD and COD, waxes, oils, fatty alcohol, formaldehyde, urea, surfactants, solvents, metals such as chromium, copper, aquatic toxicity, suspended solids, etc. Softeners, silicons, solvents, oxidizing agents, formaldehyde, enzymes, cationic compounds, chlorinated compounds, acetate, organic and inorganic compounds, resins, waxes, suspended and dissolved solids, etc.
approximately 200 liter per kilogram of fabrics processed per day (Wang et al. 2011; Kant 2012). A calculation performed by World Bank revealed that when a textile fabric treated in dyeing and finishing processes, about 17–20% of wastewater is produced from these processes (Kant 2012). For the production of clothing, there are over 8000 chemicals and auxiliaries used in textile industries. It is also seen that textile mills in India use approximately 80% of total production of 1,30,000 tons of coloring materials such as dyes and pigments for apparel production processes (Naik et al. 2013; Holkar et al. 2016). The wastewater produced from these processes, viz., desizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing, printing, and finishing processes, contains a large range of chemicals, unfixed dyes, or pollutants which are toxic and lethal, contributing to environmental pollutions. Dyeing process is the major contributor of environmental pollution among all these various wet processing operations due to
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Fig. 1 A typical ETP (a) and textile wastewater (b)
discharging dyes, dyeing additives, and other auxiliary chemicals to the environment. Usually, these dyes are not biodegradable and environmentally friendly due to the presence of some aromatic chemical groups. The synthetic dyes used in textile coloration contain heavy metals which are poisonous and carcinogenic. The wastewater generated from textile wet processing industry is high in pH, BOD and COD, and has high concentrations of dissolved solids, suspended solids, chlorides, sulfates, phenols, etc. The pollutants that cause water toxicity, are including salts, surfactants, ionic metals and their complexes, formaldehydes, toxic organic chemicals, biocides and toxic anions, detergents, emulsifiers and dispersants, etc. (Periyasamy et al. 2019; Karthik and Rathinamoorthy 2015). Figure 1 shows a typical ETP (a) and textile wastewater (b). Dyeing is a coloration process, by which coloring substance (dyes and pigments) is transferred from dye bath into fiber either physically or chemically; as a result the textile material is colored by dyeing process. In textile industry, synthetic dyes are mainly used. These dyes are produced from coal tar and intermediates of petroleum industry. The presence of chromophore groups in dyes is responsible for color in textile materials and the auxochrome groups for fixing the color in the materials. The azo (–N¼N–), carbonyl (–C¼O), methine (–CH¼), nitro (–NO2), and quinoid are the most significant chromophore groups. On the other hand, amine (–NH3), carboxyl (–COOH), sulfonate (–SO3H), and hydroxyl (–OH) are the most essential auxochrome groups. The textile dyes can be classified as acid dyes, direct dyes, azoic dyes, disperse dyes, sulfur dyes, reactive dyes, basic dyes, oxidation dyes, mordant dyes (chrome dyes), vat dyes, optical or fluorescent brightener, solvent dyes, etc. (Burkinshaw 2015; Wardman 2017). It is found that more than 10,000 various dyes and pigments have been used industrially, and especially for synthetic dyes, global annual productions are more than 7 105 tons (Khan and Malik 2014; Robinson et al. 2001). Among all types of dyestuffs, azo dyes contribute to the largest market share and constitute 60–70% of all organic dyes manufactured worldwide. A wide variety of chemicals are added to dyes to increase dye adsorption into the fibers;
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Table 2 Pollutants associated with various dyes. (Reused from (Periyasamy et al. 2019) with permission from Springer Nature) Dyes Reactive dyes Direct dyes
Fibers Cotton, regenerated cellulosic, wool, or synthetics Cotton
Basic dyes Acid dyes Vat dyes
Acrylic Wool Cotton
Sulfur dyes
Cotton
Disperse dyes
Polyester
Chrome dyes
Wool
1:2 metal complex dyes
wool
Pollutants 5–30% unfixed dyes, 7–20% viscose rayon, 10–20% lyocell, salts, alkalis 5–20% unfixed dyes, salts, copper salt, cationic fixing agents 2–7% unfixed dyes, alkalis, acids 7–20% unfixed dyes, organic acids 5–8% unfixed dyes, alkalis, oxidizing agents, reducing agents 20–30% unfixed dyes, alkalis, oxidizing and reducing agents 5–20% unfixed dyes, reducing agents, organic acids carriers, acids 5–7% unfixed dyes, organic acids, metals, sulfide, salts 2–8% unfixed dyes, organic acids, heavy metals, salts
these chemicals are organic-processing assistants, surfactants, salts, formaldehyde, heavy metals, sulfide, etc., which are the major contaminants in the wastewater coming from the dyeing operations (Sarayu and Sandhya 2012). The two key groups present in dyes such as auxochrome and chromophore groups are also liable for the pollution of dyeing wastewater (Szymczyk et al. 2007). Industrially batch, continuous, or semicontinuous processes are available to dye textile fabrics or clothing materials. During dyeing process of a textile material, usually all the dyes are not fixed to the textile fibers; some percentage of dyes remained unfixed. Table 2 shows the unfixed dyes and pollutants associated with various dyes.
Textile Sludge Textile sludge is the materials generated from the textile wastewater or effluent treatment plant (ETP) which is typically one kind of wastewater biosolids. It is produced at various stages of treatment such as screening, primary settling, chemical precipitation, and the activated sludge or trickling filter stage. During the treatment operations of wastewater from textile wet processing, the ETP generates very high amount of inorganic, biological, and organic mixed sludge. Textile sludge generally contains high amount of organic matter, micronutrients, heavy metals, pathogenic microorganisms, etc. (Hossain et al. 2018). Generally, the dyes and chemicals used in textile wet processing industry ultimately are found in sludge in various amounts which are toxic and extremely harmful for the environment as well as living beings. If a wet processing industry used 50 m3 water per hour, then it can generate
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Fig. 2 Textile mill ETP sludge
approximately 1–10 tons of sludge per day in wet basis (Balan and Monteiro 2001; Szymczyk et al. 2007). The fate of this huge number of toxic sludges may be in landfilling, dump in the rivers or ocean, or incineration. Figure 2 shows textile mill ETP sludge. The textile sludge shows various characteristics depending on from which it is collected in an ETP. Nessa et al. analyzed the properties of textile sludge in a textile mill of Bangladesh and found 6.9 pH, 0.04 electrical conductivity, 80% moisture content, 35% total organic carbon, 0.47% total nitrogen, 2532.9 mg/kg nitratenitrogen, 0.63% total phosphorous, 0.0013% sulfur (S), 3634.1 10.9 mg/kg sodium (Na), 4066 4.1 mg/kg potassium (K), 20565.3 246.1 mg/kg calcium (Ca), 4634 9.3 mg/kg magnesium (Mg), 5.9 meq/L SAR (sodium absorption ratio), and 11.1% sodium (Na) (Nessa et al. 2016). Patel and Pandey reported the characteristics of textile sludge as 8.70 pH, 6.90 mS/m electrical conductivity, 916.23 kg/m3 density, 0.94 specific gravity, 10.50% moisture content, 89.50% total solids, 3.60% total volatile solids (dry), 63.40% total fixed solid (dry), 11.20% organic carbon, and 991.57 kcal/kg calorific value (Patel and Pandey 2012). Hossain et al. studied textile sludge from mixture mass of ETP and filter press section; they found 6.4–6.7 pH, 1.2–1.5 g/cm3 dry density, 36–38% water absorption, 26–28% ash content, 10–12% volatile matter, and 8–9% moisture content on dry basis (Hossain et al. 2018). There are various heavy metals found in textile sludge such as Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Al, Pb, Cd, Mn, Fe, Co, etc., and the quantity is reported by various authors as shown in Table 3. There are various types of oxides found in textile sludges such as Al2O3, CaO, Cr2O3, FeO, P2O5, SiO2, TiO2, SO4, V2O5, MgO, MnO, Fe2O3, SO3, Na2O, K2O, etc., in different amounts (Jian et al. 2020; Goyal et al. 2019; Zhan and Poon 2015). Zhan and Poon analyzed oxides in textile sludge by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) method and found the amount of oxides in percentage (%) dry mass as 3.4% SiO2, 6.2% Al2O3, 2.79% P2O5, 0.87% CaO, 24.95% SO4, 0.53% TiO2, 0.82% MnO, 60.45% Fe2O3 (Zhan and Poon 2015). Goyal et al. reported 3.8% SiO2, 0.3% Al2O3, 33.5% CaO, 18.9% Fe2O3, 0.4% SO3, 1% MgO, 0.06% Na2O, and 0.04% K2O in their study on textile sludge (Goyal et al. 2019).
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Table 3 Concentration of heavy metals in textile ETP sludge Heavy metal (mg/kg) Cr Ni Cu Zn Al Pb Cd Mn Fe Co
Anwar et al. (2018) 10 32 58 131 76 12 5.6 – – –
Velumani et al. (2016) 34.36 30.80 87.35 82.65 – 101.13 BDL – – –
Nessa et al. (2016) 17.7 10.3 164.1 367.1 – 9.7 0.3 122.9 4245 1.0
Balasubramanian et al. (2006) 2.98 0.68 57.48 91.60 – 12.1 3.96 – 180.5 –
Harmful Effects of Textile Sludge The disposal of textile sludge is important; if it is not done perfectly, then hazard may happen due to the toxic effects of the ingredients present in sludge. As textile sludge contains huge amount of pollutants, unfixed dyes, various chemicals, and heavy metals, so these ingredients from sludge can cause various harmful effects on aquatic life, soil, and human health. Leaching is the process by which textile sludge enters the soil, pollutes water body, and pollutes the farmland (Patel and Pandey 2012; Anwar et al. 2018; Rahman et al. 2015).
Aquatic Life Dyes, heavy metals, and other chemicals present in sludge can cause imbalance in aquatic life. These can present in the water for long time due to its high thermal and photostability to resist degradation. These chemicals hamper the entering of sunlight into the water system; as a result photosynthetic function of aquatic plants or algae is severely affected (Zaharia et al. 2009). The heavy metals are carcinogenic and toxic to life, and the presence of these metals seriously affects the quality of water bodies leading to damage to the aquatic life, inhibits the growth of microorganisms, and affects flora and fauna. Azo dyes used in textile industry are highly toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic. By ingestion these dyes penetrate the body and metabolized by intestinal microorganisms causing DNA damage (Mishra et al. 2019; Gita et al. 2017). Hence, dumping or leaching of textile sludge into water body is lethal to aquatic life such as microorganisms, algae, plants, fish, mammals, insects, and other living species in water (Khan and Malik 2014; Holkar et al. 2016). Soil When textile sludge is subjected to soil or crop lands, then the ingredients present in the sludge also pollute the soil; it clogs the pores of the soil resulting in loss of soil fertility. The texture of soil gets hardened and penetration of roots is prevented (Khan and Malik 2014). It is also found that the presence of sludge in soil, even in short
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period, will decrease the water-soluble salts and organic matter content of soil as compared to normal water-irrigated soil, and high concentration of textile sludge can decrease the germination. It was found that ladyfinger and kidney bean were decreased germination percentage in sludge-polluted soil (Chhonkar et al. 2000; Ramana et al. 2002; Mishra et al. 2019). As a result, the crop production has hampered, and the vegetables and crops that cultivated in the textile sludge-polluted lands will carry these heavy metals and other chemicals, and ultimately it enters the human body while consuming foods (Anwar et al. 2018; Rahman et al. 2015).
Health Risk When textile sludge enter into the water system and soil or agricultural lands, the chemicals and heavy metals present in it will damage the aquatic life and soil productivity, and these toxic chemicals remain in the fish and crops which finally enter into human body by consuming foods produced from these sources (Pang and Abdullah 2013). Dyes contain mutagenic agents. The presence of azo and nitro groups in dyes are the threat for human health such as these may cause cancer and damage to DNA that can lead to genesis of malignant tumors (Mathur et al. 2012; Pang and Abdullah 2013; Mishra et al. 2019). Various waterborne diseases such as mucous membrane, dermatitis, perforation of the nasal septum, severe irritation of respiratory tract, etc., can be spread with the presence of textile dyes in surface and subsurface water through adulteration of aquatic systems (Islam et al. 2011). Health risk associated with heavy metals present in textile sludge may be high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, abdominal pain, reduced lung functions, muscular weakness and muscle cramps, reduced fertility, and may cause cancer, etc. (Mishra et al. 2019).
Reuse of Textile Sludge Many research works have been performed to utilize this harmful textile sludge into value-added materials such as bricks, concrete, building or construction materials, fertilizers, biogas, adsorbent, and defoamer. In this section, the reuse of textile sludge in various materials is presented.
Bricks Weng et al. revealed that firing temperature and sludge proportion are the two main factors contributing the quality of textile sludge bricks. If sludge content is increased in the brick samples, the decrease of brick shrinkage, water absorption, and CS (compressive strength) is found. The weight loss on ignition of bricks was mainly due to the burnt off organic substance present in sludge bricks during firing process. With up to 20% sludge content to the bricks, the strength measured at 960 C and 1000 C temperatures satisfied the requirements of the Chinese national standards. The metal leaching level experienced is low as found from the TCLP (toxic
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characteristic leaching procedure) test of the sludge brick materials. The best-quality bricks in this study recommended by the authors are 10% textile sludge content brick with 24% moisture, manufactured in a molded mixture within the firing range of 880–960 C (Weng et al. 2003). Baskar et al. studied the effect of sludge content (3–30%) by weight, firing temperature of 200–800 C, and firing time of 2–8 h on the quality of bricks. For 800 C, firing shrinkage up to 8 h and 6–9% sludge content brick showed first- and second-class quality of bricks, whereas 6% sludge bricks exhibited highest CS of 4.25 MPa, and 9% sludge bricks showed lowest CS of 3.54 MPa. But various temperatures displayed various CS such as 9% sludge bricks provided CS of 0.92 MPa, 1.64 MPa, 2.07 MPa, 3.06 MPa, and 3.54 MPa for 25 C, 200 C, 400 C, 600 C, and 800 C, respectively. According to the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), all sludge content bricks showed satisfactory outputs in terms of shrinkage and weight loss properties. But above 9% sludge content bricks did not satisfy the BIS norms for CS at the maximum temperature. The findings of this study are that textile sludge can be used up to 9% by weight for brick manufacturing (Baskar et al. 2006). Begum et al. studied the brick properties made of textile sludge up to 50% with an increment of 3%. The bricks with sludge up to 15% satisfied the BIS norms for CS and water absorption. It was revealed that brick weight loss on ignition was mainly attributed to the organic matter content in the sludge being burnt off during the firing process. The characteristics of bricks such as efflorescence, density, and weight loss on ignition for bricks with replacement of traditional materials with textile sludge up to 15% also satisfied the requirements of the BIS. According to this study, it is proved that up to 15% textile sludge can be effectively used to produce bricks (Begum et al. 2013). Jahagirdar et al. used 0–35% sludge by weight, firing temperature, and time varied to know the effects on CS, density, water absorption, efflorescence, and ringing sound as per BIS. With the increase of sludge content in the bricks, the density, CS, and ringing sound decreased, but water uptake and efflorescence increased. At 800 C (firing temperature) and 24 h (firing period), it showed better performance in terms of CS with same textile sludge content as compared to other firing temperatures and firing period combinations. Textile sludge up to 15% can be used in bricks to obtain CS more than 3.5 N/mm2 (Jahagirdar et al. 2013). Rahman et al. studied the performance of textile sludge bricks by adding waste glass into sludge-clay mixture to produce bricks, and it was found that brick composition of 10% waste glass, 30% sludge, and 60% clay showed highest CS and only 5% water uptake. This result satisfied the requirements of first-grade brick as per Japan Industrial Standard norms for common brick. At high-temperature firing process, waste glass melted and clogged up the pores on the brick surface, thus improved the performance of CS and lowered the water uptake. To examine the leachability of heavy metals, leaching tests results revealed that there were no environmental restrictions to use these bricks (Rahman et al. 2015). Velumani et al. produced textile sludge bricks with various proportions of hypo sludge, textile sludge, quarry dust, fly ash, and gypsum. All the combinations of fly ash bricks made with the mix proportion (15–35% sludge) are found to have satisfied the BIS norms for strength and durability criteria like water absorption and
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Table 4 Composition of different bricks. (Reused from (Hossain et al. 2018) with permission from Elsevier)
Sample name E F G X Y N
Textile sludge 50% 25% 25% 10% – –
Soil 50% 75% 70% 90% 100% 100%
1317 Sand – – 5% – – –
N: normal commercial brick, collected from a local manufacturer near Dhaka, Bangladesh
efflorescence. It was found that CS is directly proportional to the volume of textile sludge and hypo sludge. On the other hand, water uptake increased with the increase of sludge up to 25%, but further increase of sludge up to 35% the water uptake value decreased. The authors concluded that the fly ash sludge bricks gain strength and durability during the curing period satisfying the criteria. Burning or firing is not used, so it can save energy (Velumani et al. 2016). Hossain et al. used gamma radiation of 15 kGy dose to detoxify the textile sludge and then incorporate it into clay and sand to produce ecofriendly bricks. The firing was done at 450 C for 24 h. Table 4 shows the compositions of various bricks which are graded as E (50% sludge + 50% soil), F (25% sludge + 75% soil), G (25% sludge + 70% soil + 5% sand), X (10% sludge + 90% soil), and Y (100% soil). A normal commercial brick (N, 100% soil) was also compared with all the manufactured bricks. With the increase of sludge content in bricks, increase is found for bending strength, modulus, impact strength, and water absorption properties; however, decrease is found for density, weight loss, firing shrinkage, and electrical resistivity properties. Aging tests in water, acid, alkali, and salt solution showed the change of density for all bricks. For 50% sludge bricks (E), bending strength, impact strength, and water absorption were found to be 1.5 MPa, 6.41 kJ/ m2, and 22.72%, respectively, as they satisfied the brick manufacturing requirements (Hossain et al. 2018) (Fig. 3). Different textile sludge/clay mixtures (0.5–5.25% dry sludge) were used to make bricks, which were evaluated in terms of their CS and the leaching behavior studied by Anwar et al. The fabricated fired bricks were observed up to 77% more CS compared to average standard bricks and very low water uptake (0.8–1.3%) which is acceptable for different uses. From the brick samples, very low amount of heavy metal release was found by leaching experiment which can be negligible as compared with minimum level of heavy metal contamination that can cause cellular cytotoxicity (Anwar et al. 2018). Kumar et al. produced bricks from textile ETP sludge incorporating with quarry dust, fly ash, lime, and gypsum. The bricks made of 10% textile sludge, 30% quarry dust and 40% fly ash with curing period of 28 days, observed 8.5% more strength as compared with the companion specimens. It is also found that there were six mixes with a CS that is greater than or equal to 3.5 N/mm2 and water uptake was less than 20% for all samples except three. Hence, the CS of all experimental bricks are higher than that of the conventional brick, and the water uptake properties are in the
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Fig. 3 “E” grade brick or 50% sludge brick. (Reused from (Hossain et al. 2018) with permission from Elsevier)
acceptable range, so the bricks can be suitable for construction applications. The brick sample made of 15% sludge, 25% quarry dust, 40% fly ash, 18% lime and 2% gypsum mixture were found the minimum water uptake of 12.2%, which can be in the category of high-class brick (Kumar et al. 2019). In a recent study, the effects of textile sludge content up to 10%, and 950 C and 1180 C of firing temperature on the quality of clay bricks as per British Standards (BS) norms were experimented by Jewaratnam and Samat. At firing temperature 950 C, 5% and 10% sludge bricks showed CS in the acceptable range in load-bearing brick class 5 requirements (BS 3921), while at 950 C the 0% sludge brick and at 1180 C the 10% sludge brick have showed CS more than 48.5 N/mm2 that can be classified as brick class B. The increase of sludge content in the bricks increases the water uptake%; however, at a fixed proportion, water uptake decreased with the increase of temperature. At 950 C firing temperature, the firing shrinkage up to 10% sludge content was less than 20% (considered as lower). After 21 days of curing, the 10% sludge content cement brick showed CS of 27.53 N/mm2 and classified as load-bearing class 3 while for water uptake only 0.73% which is very low (Jewaratnam and Samat 2020).
Concrete Zhan and Poon studied the reusing of textile sludge to fabricate concrete blocks with a lime-based pretreatment process. The pretreatment process performed to remove ammonia in sludge can generate bad odor and strength loss in concrete blocks. The concrete blocks were made with an aggregate to cement ratio of 12, 10, and 6, and the pretreated sludge was adopted to replace the fine aggregate at a mass ratio ranging from 0% to 30%. It was revealed that the concentration of ammonia in sludge reduced significantly by lime-based pretreatment process. The concrete blocks with a lower sludge content and lower ammonia concentration showed higher CS and better volume stability. When the sludge content in the concrete blocks was about 10%, the concrete blocks with an aggregate to cement ratio of 10 can satisfy the minimum strength requirement for non-load-bearing applications. From the
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leaching test, it was found that the toxic trace metals present in textile sludge could be stabilized or solidified, and metal leaching from the concrete blocks was not a concern. The authors concluded that reusing the textile ETP sludge for producing non-load-bearing concrete blocks with acceptable CS and volume stability can be feasible when appropriate pretreatment processes are used (Zhan and Poon 2015). Arul et al. investigated the behavior of concrete and its mechanical properties with replacement of cement with textile sludge, and a possibility was found to use textile sludge up to 15% without adding any admixtures. Replacement of cement up to a certain percentage may reduce emission of harmful gases thus resulting in reduced emissions during the production of cement (Arul et al. 2015). Lekshmi and Sasidharan studied the concrete materials made of textile sludge content such as 0, 10, 15, and 20% at two different water cement ratios (0.4 and 0.5), and then the CS, splitting strength, and modulus of elasticity were determined. The authors pointed out the following findings (Lekshmi and Sasidharan 2015): (i) With the addition of textile sludge content (%), the strength of concrete decreased. (ii) At 0% replacement of cement with textile sludge, the CS, splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity was found the highest, and with percent replacement of over 10%, the properties reduced significantly. So, 0–10% addition of textile sludge in concrete can be optimum. (iii) At 10% replacement of cement with textile sludge, the CS at 0.4 water/cement ratio is 29.33 MPa which satisfied the IS norms (IS 15658-2006); 30 MPa is the minimum CS for paver blocks. (iv) The textile sludge concrete can be also used for constructing compound walls, partition walls, garden tiles, and foot path slabs where RCC is not used as textile sludge can corrode reinforcements and all other temporary structures. (v) The concrete cost will be reduced significantly if textile sludge is used instead of cement. (vi) The production of ordinary Portland cement contributes about 7% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, utilization of textile sludge to replace cement can minimize the emission of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, and it is cost-effective as well as sustainable for the environment (Lekshmi and Sasidharan 2015). Joseph and Kumar studied the effects of quartz powder and textile sludge on strength of concrete. Concrete samples were prepared by replacing cement by quartz powder at 5, 10, and 15% by weight of cement and by textile sludge 5, 10, and 15% by weight of cement. The authors also investigated the combined effect of quartz powder and textile sludge on concrete by replacing quartz powder and textile sludge in equal proportions of 5, 10, and 15% by weight of cement. It was found that with the increase of textile sludge (%) as replacement of cement, the strength of concrete decreased. With the 5, 10, and 15% replacement of cement by sludge, the highest CS was obtained at 5%, and then the CS decreased with the increase of sludge content. On the other hand, with the addition of 5, 10, and 15% quartz powder, an increase of
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9.6% found at 10% quartz powder than the normal concrete (Joseph and Kumar 2017). Mariappan et al. used fly ash and textile sludge in concrete with banana fibers by partial substitution of concrete by fly ash up to 30%, and textile sludge was replaced by fine aggregate up to 20% and addition of banana fiber of 0.25% with aspect ratio of 70 mm by the volume of M-30 mix by American Concrete Institute (ACI) method. Textile sludge-based concrete performs and fulfills the basic properties of conventional concrete for the optimized water to binder ratio (0.45), and strength-gaining mechanism did not uniform as like conventional concrete at initial period of time, but it was as good as conventional concrete after 28 days. A significant decrease of strength was found when textile sludge addition was more than 20%. Finally, the authors concluded that up to 10% of cement can be replaced by textile sludge without any unfavorable effect (Mariappan et al. 2018). Singh et al. produced concrete from textile mill sludge and plasticizer. The fine aggregates were replaced with textile sludge from 0 to 55% with 0.5% of plasticizer (at the weight of cement). A slight increase of CS and splitting tensile strength were found in concrete blended with 0–25% of textile sludge for all curing ages, and then a significant decrease of strength occurred. Due to the hydroscopic natural of textile sludge, it absorbed more water which significantly affects the water cement ratio in all the mixes, and as a result strength loss occurred. Hence, 25% textile sludge content can be utilized without compromising CS and splitting tensile strength of concrete. With the increase of sludge content in concrete, voids were increased, and the weight loss increased during chemical aging test, and much damage occurred by acid solution, so sludge content more than 20% is not recommended by the authors. However, the addition of plasticizer (0.5%) with textile sludge revealed improved properties (Singh et al. 2019) (Fig. 4). Recently, Loganayagan et al. reported the utilization of textile sludge into concrete materials as partial replacement fine aggregate up to 20%. The CS found for 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% replacement of textile sludge was 19.21, 17.88, 9.33, 8.66, and 3.23 N/mm2, respectively, after 7 days of curing, and 22.46, 19.56, 13.44, 11.66, and 9.66 N/mm2, respectively, after 28 days of curing. The CS decreased with the increase of sludge replacement in concrete, and the obtained bricks were not suitable for applications. Due to the finer sludge particles than cement, the water demand and volume got increased during mixing and the CS of the fabricated concretes reduced.
Fig. 4 Concrete specimens after immersed in acid attack. (Reused from (Singh et al. 2019) with permission from Springer Nature)
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Hence, the authors concluded that it was not possible to the partial replacement of textile sludge for fine aggregate in concrete materials (Loganayagan et al. 2020).
Building or Construction Materials Balasubramanian et al. reported the utilization of textile sludge in building materials according to BIS norms to assess the usability of textile sludge for structural and nonstructural application by partial replacement of up to 30% of cement. However, the combination of cement/sludge materials did not satisfy the necessary strength for structural applications but can satisfy the nonstructural applications such as flooring tiles, solid and pavement blocks, and bricks. Hence, the authors concluded that for the application of nonstructural building materials, the replacement of cement by textile sludge up to 30% can be feasible, and, further, they also recommended the leachability and cost-effectiveness studies (Balasubramanian et al. 2006). Patel and Pandey studied the stabilization or solidification of textile sludge with Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) to validate the utilization of sludge in construction materials. Some of the major findings of their study are highlighted below: (i) With the increase of textile sludge in the solidified blocks, the CS was decreased. (ii) After 14 days in water curing, the CS was found from 2.78 MPa to 17.42 MPa, and after 28 days it was from 3.62 MPa to 33.37 MPa. With the number of curing days, the CS of the blocks was increased. (iii) The number of curing days in water apparently did not change the density of the sludge blocks such as density found 1236.38 kg/m3 to 1669.59 kg/m3 after 14 days and 1222.17 kg/m3 to 1688.72 kg/m3 after 28 days; the values are almost similar. (iv) The leaching of heavy metals from the stabilized or solidified sludge was not found significant. But the authors recommended long-term leaching tests. The authors concluded, based on their experiment and comparing with various standards of construction materials, that after stabilization or solidification, the textile sludge can be a potential material for construction applications (Patel and Pandey 2012). Rahman et al. studied the replacement Portland cement or sand by textile sludge in building materials such as mortar and concrete samples. Textile sludge collected from ETP and ground it as cement-like fine powder. It was found that with the addition of textile sludge instead of cement or sand in mortar and concrete, the CS and bending strength decreased, but water uptake and porosity of the materials were increased. In mortar, highest CS was found to be 20 MPa with 25% replacement of sand by textile sludge, and similar properties were found for 5% replacement of cement by textile sludge when comparing with neat cement mortar. For concrete, highest CS was found to be 12 MPa with 30% replacement of sand by textile sludge.
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The findings from the leaching test of the fabricated mortar and concrete showed very low concentration of leached hazardous elements which is significantly lower than the standards of the Department of Environment in Bangladesh. From all these results, the authors concluded that textile ETP sludge can be used as a replacement of some traditional materials in nonstructural building components where lower strength is required (Rahman et al. 2017) (Figs. 5 and 6). The effect of replacement of cement by textile sludge on the properties of mortar and paste is investigated by Goyal et al. and they highlighted the following findings (Goyal et al. 2019): (i) The replacement of cement content up to 5% by textile sludge can be feasible without any deviation of the properties of mortar and paste.
Fig. 5 Test sample: (a) mortar specimen containing Portland cement, sand, and ETP sludge at the ratio of 1:3.76:0.25, (b) mortar and concrete specimens with varying sludge content. (Reused from (Rahman et al. 2017) with permission from Springer Nature)
Fig. 6 Scanning electron microscope image: (a) mortar specimens containing Portland cement and sand at the ratio of 1:3 and (b) mortar specimens containing Portland cement, sand, and ETP sludge at the ratio of 1:3.51:0.50. (Reused from (Rahman et al. 2017) with permission from Springer Nature)
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(ii) The incorporation of textile sludge in the mortar increased the water absorption rate, and due to the inhibition of hydration reaction, the initial and final setting time of mixes also increased. (iii) Due to the greater specific surface area of sludge particles in comparison to cement particles, the fluidity of cement-sludge paste decreased with the increase in sludge content. (iv) The replacement of cement by above 5% by textile sludge, the CS and split tensile strength of the mortar decreased. (v) Textile sludge addition up to 5% in the mix (mortar) decreased the permeability of the material. At 5% sludge content, water uptake, sorptivity and chloride penetration also reduced. Further, the permeation properties of mortars deteriorated with the addition of more sludge beyond 5%, due to lesser hydration reaction and insufficient pozzolanic action in the mortars. For higher sludge content in mortars, drying shrinkage also increased. (vi) A more porous microstructure was found, mainly composed of ettringite, voids, and lesser CSH gel, when higher quantity of textile sludge was added to replace cement in the mortar. (vii) For higher sludge content in mortars, drying shrinkage got increased and strength decreased significantly. With the replacement of cement up to 5% by textile sludge, no adverse effect was found after 90 days period of investigation. Oliveira et al. studied the calcined textile sludge as a stabilizing material for highway soil where sludge and three additives such as lime, cement, and asphalt emulsion were used in base and subbase of pavements. Their study was grouped into four stages; the first stage was characterization tests, the second stage was physical stabilization, the third stage was chemical stabilization and assessment of heavy metals in the sludge, and the final stage was the addition of 10% of textile sludge with chemical stabilizers (lime, cement, and asphalt emulsion) in amounts of 3%, 5%, and 7% as additives in a soil, according to the data found in the second stage. It was found that the stabilization of mixtures of soil with textile sludge (10%) had the potential to be used in pavement layers (base and subbase) and cement addition ameliorated the best chemical stabilization for textile sludge (Oliveira et al. 2020). In a recent work of Jian et al., the properties of hydration progress, CS, bending strength, microstructure evolution, and metal leachability were investigated to assess the effectiveness of ordinary Portland cement/textile sludge mortar at various content of cement (0–20%). From the results obtained from the heat of hydration and thermogravimetric analysis, it was revealed that due to the availability of organic substances, ammonium compounds, and trace metals, textile sludge replacement for Portland cement significantly retarded the hydration of cement at early and later age. A significant fall of CS and bending strength occurred for sludge addition in sludge/ cement mortar, even at 5% cement replacement by textile sludge. After the age of 28 days, 71% and 42% fall of CS and bending strength occurred for 20% replacement of cement by textile sludge. An increase of total pore volume was found for the sludge/cement mortar by sludge addition as revealed in pore structure analysis, and
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due to the sludge addition, the volume fraction of macropores increased and that of the micropores reduced. Almost zero environmental risk was found by leachability tests due to the fact that the toxic and hazardous metals present in sludge were stabilized after the mixture of Portland cement which restricted the mobility of metals in the cement/sludge mortar (Jian et al. 2020). Guha et al. constructed lab-scale pavement by using both the raw and residual sludge as substituent of sand in subgrade. By the incorporation of sludge and cement with various proportions, the lab-scale blocks were prepared. The authors also recommended that sanitary latrine ring and septic tanks can be made by this combination of sludge and cement. Hence, the use of raw and residual sludge could be a viable, environmentally friendly, and sustainable solution to the textile sludge disposal problems (Guha et al. 2016).
Fertilizers Rosa et al. studied the short-term ecotoxicity potential of both fresh and stabilized textile sludges by a battery of toxicity tests carried out with bacteria, algae, daphnids, fish, earthworms, and higher plants. The ecotoxicity study revealed that fresh sludge was more toxic than stabilized sludge in the case of solid or leachate, and after 120 days (4 months) of stabilization, the toxicity effects were not found significantly in the sludge content (25% sludge : 75% soil (v/v), equivalent to 64.4 ton/ha), and a significant increase of biomass yield was found for the earthworms and higher plants. The rank of biological sensitivity endpoints was algae ≈ plant biomass > plant germination ≈ daphnids > bacteria ≈ fish > annelids. The lack of short-term toxicity effects as well as the stimulant effect found with higher plants and earthworms was a good indication of the fertilizer or conditioner potential of this textile sludge, which after stabilization can be used in the restoration of a nonproductive forest soil (Rosa et al. 2007). Araujo et al. studied the effect of composted textile sludge on growth, nodulation, and nitrogen fixation of soybean and cowpea in a greenhouse experiment. The sludge compost was mixed with soil at 0, 9.5, 19, and 38 t ha1 (based upon the N requirement of the crops, i.e., 0, 50, 100, and 200 kg available N ha1). After plant emergence, the growth, nodulation, and shoot accumulation of nitrogen (N) were determined at 36 days and 63 days. Nodule glutamine synthetase (GS) activity and leghemoglobin content were evaluated 63 days after emergence. It was found that the composted sludge had no harmful effects on nodule number and weight, nodule GS activity and leghemoglobin content and N2 accumulation in shoot dry matter in soybean and cowpea were higher than other treatments with application of 19 t ha1 of compost. The authors verified that composting can be an alternative way to reuse or utilize the textile sludge which exhibited potential as fertilizer material (Araujo et al. 2007). Islam et al. studied the content of essential macronutrients (N, P, K, S), Fe, total organic carbon, and total organic matter in textile sludge and assessed its possibility to be used as a soil conditioner or fertilizer in crop land. It was revealed that significant quantities of plant macronutrient found in the sludge as compared with other common organic
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manures and the value of N, P, K, and S found were 1.53–2.37, 0.09–0.14, 0.11–0.17, and 2.69–3.42%, respectively. The concentration of Fe was also found significantly higher in sludge in comparison to soil which was 19.52%, and total organic carbon and total organic matter were found to be 19.89% and 34.67% respectively. After the application of 400 C temperature in textile sludge revealed that it was thermally stable and the presence of moisture in the dried sludge is also significant (Islam et al. 2009). Kakati et al. studied the potential reuse of textile ETP sludge on the growth of green gram (Vigna radiata L) as a fertilizer. The test results of sludge exhibited that it carried enough amount of macro- and micro-nutrients, but the presence of lead, ferrous sulfate, chloride, the total hardness, total volatile solids, and pH were found higher in the sludge. As a fertilizer, it was observed that a mixture of more than 75% textile sludge and 25% farmyard manure had an inhibitory effect on the growth of plant; moreover, adverse effect on the growth of plant was also found for 100% textile sludge as fertilizer. However, sludge content 10–25% as fertilizer could be effective due to observation of maximal plant growth (Kakati et al. 2013). Easha et al. characterized the ETP sludge from textile industry and focused on the reuse potentiality as organic manure. The pH, organic matter, nutrient elements (N, P, K), and metal content of the textile sludge were analyzed. The average values were 6.4 of pH, 80% of moisture content, 13.6% of organic matter; and the nutrient elements such as N, P, S, and K were 8.18%, 0.60%, 0.0012%, and 0.06%, respectively. Hence, according to the waste concern compost standard (WCCS), the values found for pH, organic matter, and nutrient elements were within the acceptable limit. The authors did not find toxic heavy metals such as Cr, Pb, As, and Cd in the sludge in their study. Finally, the authors concluded that the properties of the sludge found in their study can be used as organic manure (Easha et al. 2015). Islam et al. applied gamma or ionizing radiation to completely detoxify the wastewater and textile sludge by optimized dose of radiation and utilized the obtained residues as liquid fertilizer. Since textile dyes are mostly stable nitrogenous compound, hence, their degradation leads to generate water-soluble nitrogenous salts which are readily available for uptaking by plants. Moreover, the chemical or biological ETP can generate textile sludge which carries minerals and biomasses, so this can improve soil fertility. From the field experiments, the authors found that the plant growth was excellent without any harmful effect, but the raw textile sludge contributed higher toxicity. Toxicity and heavy metal content test of the grown plants showed that it was safe for human consumption; animals (rabbit) that consumed this plants (grown in the treated sludge and effluent containing soil) had no significant sign of complexity at any phase of life or during pregnancy (Islam et al. 2014) (Fig. 7). Gamma radiation was also used by Parvin et al. to detoxify the combined textile effluents; after irradiation the total nitrogen and ammonium content was increased in the effluents which can be utilized as a fertilizer containing irrigation water. After the usage of irradiated effluents on spleen amaranth plants, increased value found for dry mass (10.77 g), plant height (10.53/week), root length (19.00 cm), number of leaves (6/week) than that of raw textile effluent and only water used plants. Heavy metal
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Fig. 7 Amaranthus viridis (local name: Danta Shak) grown in soil, raw sludge, and irradiated sludge mixed soil preparations. (Islam et al. 2014)
content tests of the plants revealed that trace amount of heavy metal was absorbed by plants, but mineral nutrient content was satisfactory. In addition, the satisfactory results were also found for psychochemical parameter and the plant production rate by gamma radiation dose of 10–15 kGy. Hence, the application of gamma irradiation is a potential eco-friendly technology to detoxify textile effluents, and the treated water can be used as irrigation water with fertilizing properties (Parvin et al. 2015). Nessa et al. studied the impact of textile sludge on the growth of red amaranth (Amaranthus gangeticus), and textile sludge was used as 0, 50, 75, and 100% with soil for the pot cultivation of red amaranth, and then chemical analyses were done on the harvested plants. Significant amount of plant nutrients (N, P, K), Fe, and total organic carbon (TOC) was found in comparison to organic manure. The growth parameters such as height, number of leaves, leaf area, and root length of the plant were affected by the sludge content as shown in Table 5. For the 100% textile sludge application, highest growth of plant was found due to the high content of plant nutrients; however, the root length and number of leaves were not significantly affected by the sludge. The analysis of red amaranth plant grown by the use of textile sludge revealed that sludge did not increase the content of Cu, Co, Cd, Ni, and Mn; however, Pb, Cr, Zn, and Fe content crossed the highest permissible limit recommended by FAO/WHO. Hence, it is observed that textile sludge can improve the nutrient contents of pot soil as well as growth of red amaranth and it can be used as fertilizer if Pb, Cr, Zn, and Fe content can be controlled properly (Nessa et al. 2016) (Table 6).
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Table 5 Effects of textile sludge content (%) on the height, number of leaves, leaf area, and root length of red amaranth (Nessa et al. 2016). (Reused under open access license) Height (cm)
No. of leaves (avg.)
Leaf area (cm2)
Avg. root length (cm/pot)
Days 10 20 30 40 50 10 20 30 40 50 10 20 30 40 50 50
0% sludge 3.8 5.3 11.1 15.4 16 3 5.8 7.3 7.8 7.8 1.4 10.4 15.6 20.8 26 5.1
50% sludge 3.5 4.6 10.5 14.5 15.5 2.5 5.5 7 8 8 1.2 11.2 16.8 22.4 28 4.1
75% sludge 3.6 5.5 11.6 17 18 3 5 7 8.2 8.2 1 8.5 12.8 17 21.8 4.8
100% sludge 3.8 5.8 14.8 17.3 18.5 3 6.3 8.5 9 9 1.5 11.6 17 23 29 5.9
Biogas Goel developed anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) to generate biogas from textile effluent with the optimization of the process parameters such pH, temperature, HRT (hydraulic retention time), and OLR (organic loading rate). For degradation purpose, active bacteria were put as digested sewage sludge and in ABR, the extremely colored wastewater was successfully treated. The decrease in color (99.4%), chlorides (30%), as well as total solids (58%) for textile dye effluent was viewed through anaerobic treatment in ABR. The value of chloride content was decreased because of complex reactions of chloride ions with other anions settling down as sludge. Methanogenesis of textile effluent was effectively carried out in ABR, which provided highest biogas production (1.64 0.02 l/ d; methane content 83%) and COD removal (71.5%) at the optimized parameters such as pH (6.8–7.3), temperature (30–35 C), HRT (4 days), and OLR (0.5 kg/m3/d) (Goel 2010). Senthilkumar et al. studied the textile-colored wastewater for the decolorization and elimination of degradable organics with tapioca sago wastewater as a co-substrate in a pilot-scale two-phase upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and process of biogas generation. It was found that the process is very feasible and environmentally sustainable which generates very less amount of organic sludge. At optimum mixing ratio of 70 : 30 (sago/dye wastewater) and 24 h HRT, 88.5 and 91.8% were the maximum COD and color removal efficiency, respectively. The highest biogas generation was found to be
Parameters 0% sludge (mg/kg) 50% sludge (mg/kg) 75% sludge (mg/kg) 100% sludge (mg/kg)
Zn
26.6 7 73.6 45 168.4 65 241.1 185.4
Ni
7.8 3 12.2 3.1 6.4 1.1 3.6 3.1
Cu 9.6 0.7 0.3 0 15 2.5 14.3 0.3
Cd 0 0 0 0
Cr 1.9 0.8 5.3 0.6 41 1 0.3
Mn 93.9 2.9 160.5 13.6 236.8 22.2 156.8 1.5
2033 52.7 3204.2 253.3 2487.3 280.9 1386.6 112.9
Fe
Table 6 Heavy metal concentrations measured in red amaranth plants (Nessa et al. 2016). (Reused under open access license) Pb 1.1 0.9 1.9 0.7 2 0.9 1.8 0.5
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312 L/d at a rate of 0.42 L biogas/g COD for 70 : 30 (sago/dye wastewater) mixing ratio (Senthilkumar et al. 2011). Jeihanipour et al. studied the production of biogas from waste textiles by using a two-stage process. The efficacy of a two-stage continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), modified as stirred batch reactor (SBR), and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket bed (UASB) process was analyzed under batch and semicontinuous conditions. To produce biogas from cotton/polyester and viscose/polyester with no pretreatment or milling when comparing the single- and two-stage batch digestion processes, it was found that gas generation efficacy is significantly affected by the molecular structure of textile materials. On the other hand, due to much accessible surface area for cellulose fiber degradation, pretreatment of textile materials had very high effect on the generation of biogas in semicontinuous process. The initial biogas production rate was higher and the lag phase shorter in the two-stage batch process even though the complex structure of cotton/polyester, in comparison with the single-stage CSTR. In CSTR and UASB reactor, the semicontinuous two-stage process was managed a high OLR (organic loading rate) with a shorter HRT (hydraulic retention time) while digesting treated or untreated jeans textiles. Hence, by managing a serial interconnection of the two reactors and their liquids in the two-stage process, the authors developed a closed system which converted waste textiles into biogas (Jeihanipour et al. 2013). Apollo et al. studied the combination of UV photodegradation and anaerobic digestion to treat textile dyes for efficient generation of biogas by using zeolite. Generally, in a single treatment method, the UV photodegradation or anaerobic digestion process was not effective in the case of removal of color and reduction of COD, i.e., 70% and 54% reduction of color and COD, respectively, was found for only UV photodegradation process, while only 32% and 57% removal of color and COD, respectively, was found for anaerobic digestion process (as a stand-alone process). Hence, to achieve highest efficiency, the combined process of UV photodegradation and anaerobic digestion was introduced in upflow fixed-bed reactors, to degrade the color such as methylene blue dye with adding zeolite which worked as support material for microorganism and photocatalyst in the bioreactor and photoreactor, respectively. This combined process resulted in high COD and BOD, and color reduction efficiencies of more than 75%. The authors found that the action of UV photodegradation prior to anaerobic digestion process increased the degradability of methylene blue dye by threefold and biogas generation rose 2.7-fold than that of non-UV treatment of the dye. Hence, the combined process where UV will be done prior to anaerobic digestion can be a potential method of higher production of biogas from textile effluents (Apollo et al. 2014). Recently, Kumar et al. also used anaerobic digestion process to generate biogas from textile industry wastes by using various co-substrates such as food waste and cow dung at the ratio of 1:1 through biochemical methane potential tests under mesophilic temperature (35 C). But, during the biomethane potential (BMP) assay, textile sludge alone did not generate any biogas. The production of biogas was 524.4 mL/g textile sludge and 288.3 mL/g textile sludge in 30 days for cow dung and food waste-mixed textile
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Fig. 8 SEM image of incinerated sludge ash after adsorption in 10 mg/lit dye solution after 105 mins (equilibrium). (Reused from (Jahagirdar et al. 2015) with permission from Springer Nature)
sludge, respectively. The digestibility found 51% and 37% for cow dung and food waste-mixed textile sludge, respectively. So, the biogas production and digestibility were found higher for cow dung-mixed sludge. The volatile solid and ash content of textile sludge was 5.9 gVS/L and 41.4 g/L, respectively. However, the experiment was conducted on a small lab-scale basis, and the authors recommended to perform the study into a pilot and long-term basis for assessing the industrial feasibility (Kumar et al. 2020).
Adsorbent Jahagirdar et al. studied the reuse of incinerated textile mill sludge at 800 C as adsorbent for dye removal without any activation. Fig. 8 shows the porous nature of textile sludge ash which can be applied as an adsorbent for the mitigation of Remazol Blue (RGB) dye. Initial dye concentration, pH of the solution, and dosage of adsorbent are the factors that control the adsorption of Remazol Blue dye. The amount of Remazol Blue dye adsorbed on textile sludge-derived adsorbent increased as the initial concentration increased as time increased and reached equilibrium after 105 mins. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models observed favorable and moderate adsorption (Jahagirdar et al. 2015). Sohaimi et al. studied removal of oil from wastewater using adsorbent produced from textile sludge. Textile sludge biochar (TSB) was produced by carbonization in laboratory tube furnace in the absence of O2 for 1 h under N2 flow. The optimization was done to study various factors such as pH, adsorbent types and doses, initial concentration of oily wastewater, contact time, and temperature, and the maximum adsorption capacity of TSB under optimized conditions was 172 mg/g. By the characterization techniques such as FTIR, Brunauer-EmmettTeller (BET) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM)
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assessment, the effectiveness of TSB as oily wastewater adsorbent was validated. More studies were performed such as kinetics of adsorption by pseudo-second order and adsorption equilibrium by Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption was controlled by film diffusion and physisorption as found by Boyd model and thermodynamic studies. This experiment proved well the capacity of textile sludge as adsorbent of oily wastewater which can further be regenerated by using isopropanol (Sohaimi et al. 2017). Devi and Saroha reviewed the manufacture of adsorbents from sludge to remove different pollutants, and the performance depends on several factors such as pollutants type, type of precursor sludge, carbonization time-temperature profile, and the type of activation conditions used. The authors pointed out some factors to improve the environmental sustainability and feasibility of the use of sludge-based adsorbents (Devi and Saroha 2017): (i) The chemical activation observed was very effective in the surface area development and the performance improvement of the adsorbents. (ii) Solvent waste including organic and inorganic impurities were found by the usage of HCl washing and chemical agents. (iii) More studies (long-term and pilot-scale) are required to know about the leaching behavior of heavy metals present in the sludge-based adsorbents. (iv) More studies are required to the regeneration of sludge-based adsorbents employing different oxidants or peroxides. (v) Potentiality found for carbonized sludge-based adsorbents leads to peroxide activation as well as free radicals’ generation which can degrade the contaminants. (vi) The cost and feasibility of industrial scale production as well as environmental sustainability must be evaluated
Defoamer Scheibe et al. studied the application of textile sludge as defoamers and analyzed the properties of the liquid fractions or bio-oils obtained from textile sludge by pyrolysis process. Defoamers are chemical substance used over a column of foam already made, with the aim of causing a rapid collapse of the bubbles. At 310 C and 500 C temperatures, the pyrolysis was done. The produced bio-oils kept at refrigeration and analyzed seperately after 7 days, and 2 months. The characterization such as structure of bio-oils was measured by FTIR and the extraction of polar compounds by solid phase micro extraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. The authors found that aromatic hydrocarbons, amines, silicone, and organic sulfur compounds present in the pyrolysis oils and 1 mL of bio-oil produced from pyrolysis at 500 C can break down a column of foam in less than 60 s (Bikerman test), which is comparable to the commercial antifoams. Hence, these oils can be utilized as defoamers, even at the textile mill ETP itself. The authors recommended more research to validate the symbiosis relationship and
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Fig. 9 Textile sludge biooils: (a) bio-oil fraction obtained with pyrolysis at 310 C and (b) bio-oil and tar fractions obtained with pyrolysis at 500 C. (Reused from (Scheibe et al. 2018) with permission from John Wiley & Sons)
feasibility of the silicon compound extraction from the bio-oil and its costs (Scheibe et al. 2018) (Fig. 9).
Conclusion Textiles and clothing are the indispensable part of human’s life, so the production of cloths via textile industries will not be controlled, and the generation of wastewater and sludges from textile industries will continue to grow in the future until the implementation of an alternative technology which would be environmentally sustainable, economically feasible, and socially acceptable. Currently, textile industries such as spinning, weaving or knitting, and wet processing are responsible for various types of pollution to the environment, but the wet processing operations including scouring, bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing, printing, and finishing processes are the major contributors of environmental pollution, and the pollution is extremely harmful to the aquatic life, agricultural land, wildlife, and human health due to the presence of toxic and hazardous chemical substances in the textile sludge. In this circumstance, the reuse of this toxic and harmful textile sludge into useful products such as bricks, concrete, building materials, fertilizers, biogas, adsorbent, and defoamer is certainly a blessing for us which will not only minimize the environmental pollution but also create value addition in the waste and unused textile sludge. However, more research work and feasibility study are required to validate the sustainability, economic feasibility, and consumer acceptance of the new products made from textile sludge.
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Bio-management of Textile Industrial Wastewater Sludge Using Earthworms: A Doable Strategy Toward Sustainable Environment
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Ananthanarayanan Yuvaraj, Ramasundaram Thangaraj, and Natchimuthu Karmegam
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental Pollution Associated with the Textile Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Textile Dye Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solid Waste and Wastewater Sludge Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disposal of Textile Industrial Sludge Employing Biological Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anaerobic Digestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vermicomposting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Suitable Earthworm Species for Remediation of Textile Industrial Sludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Earthworm Degradation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Potential Earthworm Mechanism for Nutrient Enrichment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nitrogen (N) Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phosphorus (P) Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Potassium (K) Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Microelements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in the Internal Body of the Earthworms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Pivotal Role of Vermicompost in Crop Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion and Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Due to the rapid increase of industrial sectors in India especially textile industries utilize a large quantity of freshwater to create different fabric materials and other textile-related products. During the process, textile mills A. Yuvaraj · R. Thangaraj (*) Vermitechnology and Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India e-mail: [email protected] N. Karmegam (*) Department of Botany, Government Arts College (Autonomous), Salem, Tamil Nadu, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_59
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use various dyes such as azo, reactive, as well as triphenylmethane and eliminate toxic effluent along with the excess amount of chemical dyes that produce an enormous amount of wastewater sludge after the preliminary treatment of effluent. The textile industrial sludge contains different heavy metals including chromium, zinc, copper, lead, cadmium, and nickel. At present, a large number of Indian textile industries discharge wastewater sludge unscientifically. Currently, different disposal methods such as chemical, physical, and biological have been employed to combat and recover essential nutrients from textile industrial wastewater sludge. Among them, biological methods especially vermiremediation is one of the cost-effective and eco-friendly techniques appropriate for waste management. The different earthworm species effectively degrade the complex textile industrial organic waste materials including wastewater sludge and a considerable amount of toxic heavy metal ions bioaccumulate in the internal tissues (e.g., chlorogogenous tissues) of the earthworms resulting in limited metals in earthwormtreated substrate. Besides, vermicompost has a significant quantity of essential macronutrients (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), micronutrients, humic substances, and plant growth-promoting hormones (e.g., auxins, cytokinins, and gibberellins) which strongly enhance crop production. The textile industrial wastewater sludge can be transformed into nutrientrich vermicompost which is an alternative for chemical fertilizers in agricultural crop production. Keywords
Textile sludge · Heavy metals · Earthworms · Essential nutrients · Hormones
Introduction The fast development of the textile industrial sector produces about 1 trillion dollars and contributes around 7% of the overall world exports (Desore and Narula 2018). The textile industrial sectors utilize an enormous amount of freshwater for bleaching, washing, and dyeing process and are the highest global contaminators (Hossain et al. 2018). Besides, textile industries consume a large amount of dyes which can be categorized into two types: synthetic dyes and natural dyes, used for coloring textile fibers of different categories (Fig. 1). At present, most of the textile industries are using synthetic dyes more than natural dyes. In general, textile dyes are associated with organic compounds, mainly those dyes that are categorized as direct, reactive, and acids. Azo dyes are employed to create different colors, and acid dyes are applied in textile products such as nylon, silk, and wool (Rajesh Jesudoss Hynes et al. 2020). Direct dyes are widely used for nylon, rayon, and cotton fabrics, and reactive dyes are usually employed for fabric materials. Apart from this, certain textile industrial sectors (wool textiles) use metal-related dyes (Berradi
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Fig. 1 Different industrial dyes employed in textile sectors
et al. 2019). Unfortunately, a wide variety of textile dyes contains high solubility levels and also hard to remove through conventional methods. The textile industry produces several environmental pollutants (i.e., sulfur, nitrogen oxide, and volatile organic compounds) during the processing of fabrics, fibers, and garments. After the completion of the textile process, wastewater/ effluent that is ejected consists of a high level of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and nonbiodegradable organic compounds like textile dyes (Orts et al. 2018). Textile dyes especially metal-related dyes have carcinogenic chemical compounds that severely affect living organisms. After the primary treatment, wastewater/effluent generates wastewater sludge. The textile industrial sludge contains a significant quantity of organic matter, heavy metals (chromium, zinc, copper, lead, cadmium, and nickel), certain micronutrients, and pathogenic microbes (Bhatia 2017). Currently, untreated industrial sludge is disposed into agricultural lands that migrate into the water bodies (see Fig. 2a) during the rainy season and creates various environmental issues.
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Fig. 2 (a) Eutrophication of water bodies due to the migration of textile wastewater; (b) textile (dye) industrial wastewater sludge in dried form
The impact of heavy metals on the environment is depicted in Fig. 3. Therefore, the present chapter aims to investigate the major problems caused by wastewater sludge of the textile industries to human health and the environment and various techniques to combat sludge pollution.
Environmental Pollution Associated with the Textile Industry Textile Dye Pollution The synthetic dyes along with a massive number of pollutants from textile industries generate fatal diseases in various animals as well as human beings and also affect the ecosystem functions (Khan and Malik 2018). During the conventional treatment process, a great quantity of dyes is bioaccumulated in sediments, and several dyes can be moderately degraded (or) converted into other forms. For example, azo dyes effectively produce hazardous aromatic amines during the reduction process (Ito et al. 2016). Besides, a large number of textile industries have been employing metal-complex dyes such as chromium, cobalt, and copper. The above described toxic dyes along with intermediate chemical substances can efficiently generate carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds (Vikrant et al. 2018). These chemical compounds migrate into the water bodies during the rainy season and accumulate in the gills of the freshwater fishes (Vargas et al. 2009) and also affect the human organs through the food chain. Mainly, chromium-based compounds (or) ions can create oxidative stress in animals and severely affect the growth and photosynthesis in plants.
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Fig. 3 Impact of heavy metal pollution
Solid Waste and Wastewater Sludge Pollution In general, the primary solid wastes of the textile industry are non-polluting materials such as packaging waste, specification yarn, scraps of fabric, and fabric products. A huge amount of solid wastes is produced by cutting rooms. Apart from this, primary treatment plants (wastewater/effluent) can produce an enormous amount of colorful textile wastewater sludge as presented in Fig. 2b. The textile sludge consists of hazardous organic compounds such as dyeing agents, aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and perishable organics. On the other hand, sludge has different heavy metals including zinc, copper, lead, cadmium, chromium, and nickel (Man et al. 2018; Yuvaraj et al. 2020) (Table 1). These harmful chemical substances in the textile sludge, particularly heavy metals, affect human health and the environment. Nowadays, the main disposal methods of textile industrial sludge are incineration and landfills. Nevertheless, landfill disposal approaches can create soil and water pollution. Incineration of textile sludge effectively breaks down the organic pollutants, minimizes the volume, and inactivates the pathogenic microorganisms, but this technique produces large amounts of secondary pollutants that threaten the environment (Wang et al. 2019). Therefore, there is an urgent requirement for cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology to minimize the pollution associated with textile industrial sludge.
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Table 1 Various chemical parameters of textile industrial wastewater sludge Parameters pH (1:10 ratio – w/v) Electrical conductivity (dSm 1) Total organic carbon (%) Total nitrogen (%) Total phosphorus (%) Total potassium (%) Cadmium (mg kg 1) Copper (mg kg 1) Chromium (mg kg 1) Zinc (mg kg 1) Arsenic (mg kg 1) Lead (mg kg 1) Iron (mg kg 1) Manganese (mg kg 1) Mercury (mg kg 1) Molybdenum (mg kg 1) Nickel (mg kg 1) Selenium (mg kg 1) Phenol (mg kg 1) Aluminum (mg kg 1)
Textile sludge 8.15 2.87 19.35 0.21 0.12 0.06 7.36 96.51 97.87 97.06 Not detected 20.96 3942.97 30.64 0.08 Not detected 7.56 Not detected 25.12 15,638.93
References Yuvaraj et al. (2020)
Rosa et al. (2007)
Disposal of Textile Industrial Sludge Employing Biological Methods Anaerobic Digestion Anaerobic digestion (AD) is one of the biochemical processing methods appreciated for the stabilization of organic waste materials including industrial wastewater sludge, recovery of essential nutrients, and potential energy. In general, AD operation involves four steps (i) hydrolysis, (ii) acidogenesis, (iii) acetogenesis, and (iv) methanogenesis implemented by various microbial communities resulting in the production of biogas (Ware and Power 2016) (Fig. 4). The microbes break down the organic matter in the absence of oxygen (Kadam and Panwar 2017) and produce carbon dioxide, methane, and a minimum amount of other gases. In the first step of hydrolysis, industrial sludge and other organic wastes contain different polymeric materials; during the hydrolysis process, microbial communities convert polymeric materials into simple molecules such as amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids. Further, these molecules are fermented by acidogenic bacteria and generate gaseous components (like CO2 and H2) and different volatile fatty acids. These components are connected with acetogenic bacteria which produce acetic acid. Finally, methanogenic bacteria consume the
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Fig. 4 Overall process of biogas production [adapted from Ravindran et al. (2021)]
intermediate materials of the four different steps (above described) and ferment intermediate products to produce CO2, methane, and H2O (Bhatia et al. 2017). All kinds of organic waste materials including industrial wastewater sludge can be converted into value-added products through the AD process. In fact, many countries are employing large-scale AD operative systems to minimize different organic waste materials. For example, in a combined project between the United Nations Development Program and MNRE (former Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Resources), totally 11 AD plants were constructed (between 1997 and 2004) and were using municipal wastes, industrial waste materials, and agricultural wastes for sustainable biomethane production (Deodhar and Van den Akker 2005). Currently, effectively running AD largescale plants (capabilities >5,000 Nm3 biogas d 1 exist) are run by various industrial sectors. But, the AD system contains several disadvantages such as high cost of materials, difficulty in construction, and fluctuating gas pressure.
Composting Technology The composting method is a biochemical, aerobic, and microbial process that stabilizes the complex organic waste materials into stable (or) humus-like materials (Table 2). The microbial communities trigger the degradation of industrial wastewater sludge and other organic matter; microbes consume a significant amount of nitrogen, carbon, water, and oxygen as energy sources and produce heat, carbon dioxide, and compost (Rastogi et al. 2020). During the composting operation, temperature eliminates harmful microorganisms. The microbial compost consists of essential nutritive elements (e.g., N, P, and K) and plant growth-promoting substances that enhance crop production.
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Table 2 Difference between composting and vermicomposting process Parameters Process
Type of organisms involved in decomposition Waste materials pH Moisture level
Initial carbon/ nitrogen ratio Final substrate characterization
Composting Three stages: (i) Mesophilic (ii) Thermophilic (iii) Cooling stage Microbial communities
Vermicomposting Mesophilic phase
Organic waste materials
Industrial wastewater sludge and other organic solid wastes Between 5 and 8 40–55% (suitable)
Not necessary Fine organic wastes: 55–65% Rough organic waste materials: 70–75% Between 20 and 50 Coarse texture materials may consist of pathogenic microbes and heavy metals
Microbes and earthworm species
30:1 (appropriate proportion) Finer texture, pathogenic microbes free substrate, and heavy metals accumulated in the internal body of earthworms
Sources: Singh et al. (2011), Chowdhury et al. (2013), and Wu et al. (2014)
Generally, the composting process can be classified into three steps: (i) mesophilic, there is a rapid degradation of small substances (e.g., sugars, fatty acids, etc.) through mesophilic bacterial communities, and this stage increases the temperature of the substrate; (ii) thermophilic, where complex organic materials (e.g., lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose) break down by thermophilic microorganisms; during this stage, there is a gradual reduction of organic carbon due to metabolic actions of heat-tolerant microorganisms; and (iii) cooling stage, where there is a decline in the microbial activities and also a significant decrease in the substrate temperature. At this stage, compost has an enormous amount of vital nutrients that stimulate the mesophilic microbial population which degrade the remaining hemicellulose, cellulose, and sugars from the substrate. During the composting process, microbes play a pivotal role in the effective decomposition of industrial wastewater sludge and other organic wastes. Moreover, several workers have incorporated commercial microbes like microbial activator super LDD 1 and effective microorganism (EM) are well documented by Karnchanawong and Nissaikla (2014). These microorganisms efficiently stabilize the lignocellulose, hemicellulose, and cellulose, causing modifications to the nutrient levels and substrate temperature throughout the microbial composting operation (Rastogi et al. 2020). However, various factors, such as temperature, pH, nutrient content, porosity, particle size, C/N ratio, bulk density, oxygen supply, and moisture content, can alter the composting process. The composting methods have several advantages (producing nutrient-rich and humus-like compost) but also have several drawbacks like odor, heavy metal pollution, and require a large area.
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Vermicomposting Technology At present, various disposal technologies have been used to recycle different organic waste materials. Among them, vermicomposting technology (or) vermitechnology is a viable method to combat several toxic wastes and soil remediation. The great scientist, Charles Darwin, indicated that soil invertebrates especially earthworms as the unheralded soldiers of mankind, and also Greek philosopher Aristotle documented these lowly organized creatures as the intestines of the earth (Darwin 1881). About 3200 earthworm species have been recognized worldwide, and in India, around 500 earthworm species have been documented by Julka et al. (2004). The earthworms have many body segments and utilize a massive amount of various organic wastes. During the digestion process, gut enzymes of the earthworms along with the microbial communities break down the complex organic matter and release a huge quantity of microbes via earthworm casts. The earthworm casts were enclosed with different mucoproteins that generate great water-holding capacity and slowly release potential nutritive elements. In fact, various European and Asian countries are employing vermicomposting technology to reduce hazardous waste materials and produce effective organic fertilizer (Graff and Makeschin 1980).
Suitable Earthworm Species for Remediation of Textile Industrial Sludge Generally, the earthworm species belonging to the family of Lumbricidae are usually present in different countries including North America, Europe, Western Asia, and other parts of the planet. West African countries consist of the Eudrilidae family of earthworms, and Microchaetidae has been found in South Africa. Besides, the Megascolecidae family of earthworms has been largely found in Australia and eastern Asian countries, and the family of Glossoscolecidae dominates in Central and South America. According to Lee (1985) and Edwards (1998), earthworm species can be usually categorized into three groups: (i) Epigeic species: These earthworms are small-sized, live in 3–10 cm deep soil, have a short life cycle, high pigmentation, have rich reproductive rate, and feed on animal excreta and various leaf litters (i.e., Perionyx excavatus, Eisenia fetida, Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia andrei, and Lumbricus rubellus). (ii) Endogeic species: These earthworms have medium-sized body, live in the upper layer of soil, burrow up to 10–30 cm, have medium life cycle, have low (or) absence of pigmentation, have low reproductive rate, and feed on organic waste materials present in the soil (i.e., Octochaetona thurstoni, Aporrectodea rosea, Proctodrilus oculata, Aporrectodea caliginosa, and Octolasion cyaneum). (iii) Anecic species: These earthworms are larger, live in the deep soil layer, deep burrowers (30–90 cm), have longer life cycle, medium pigmentation, moderate reproductive rate, and feed on soil as well as leaf litter (i.e., Aporrectodea
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longa, Lumbricus polyphemus, Lampito mauritii, Lumbricus terrestris, Aporrectodea trapezoides, and Lumbricus friendi). Vermicomposting technology has attracted different environmental researchers as a suitable approach for the degradation of industrial organic waste materials. For example, Edwards (2004) indicated six earthworm species (Eudrilus eugeniae, Dendrobaena veneta, Perionyx excavatus, Eisenia andrei, Perionyx hawayana, and Eisenia fetida) have been used for effective waste management. In fact, different epigeic earthworm species have been employed worldwide to decrease industrial-based hazardous waste materials and produce valuable vermifertilizer.
Earthworm Degradation Process Organic waste materials (e.g., industrial wastewater sludge and other solid wastes) can be broken down by different microbial communities. In vermicomposting operation, earthworms along with microbes effectively convert the complex organic matter into a nutrient-rich substrate (Suthar 2008a). During the food ingesting process, earthworms maintain aerobic conditions; essential oxygen (O2) enters into the surface moist skin of the earthworms, and also carbon dioxide (CO2) is released through the skin. They maintain the level of aeration which stimulates the microbial population. Various microorganisms secrete hydrolytic enzymes that alter the nature of the substrate, whereas earthworms trigger the degradation process. During the initial stage, earthworms consume small-sized food particles, and the internal dorsal side of the pharynx that contains salivary glands produces mucin as well as proteolytic enzymes. Besides, the earthworm gizzard (thick-walled organ) effectively grinds (physical digestion) the ingested food particles as depicted in Fig. 5. In general, the vermicomposting process can be divided into two different phases: (i) active phase (at the initial stage), and (ii) maturation phase (Lores et
Fig. 5 The complex digestion process in earthworms [adapted from Brown et al. (2004)]
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al. 2006). At the initial (i) active phase, there is rapid digestion of organic wastes by earthworms which strongly alter the physical and microbial parameters of the substrate, and (ii) in the maturation phase, earthworms eject humus-like cast materials. The period of the active phase depends upon the type of wastes, the population density of worms, and the type of earthworm species used (Samal et al. 2019). The physical, chemical, and biological properties of waste material were significantly altered by the earthworm gut-associated process such as homogenization, digestive course, mucus secretion, the addition of excretory materials, etc. At end of the gut-related process, the worms eject cast materials (Samal et al. 2018). The final substrate materials contain two fractions: (i) wastes that are not consumed by earthworms and (ii) processed waste materials. Thus, the unprocessed organic matter is again broken down by microbial communities present in the worm casts.
Potential Earthworm Mechanism for Nutrient Enrichment The earthworm-based biofertilizer provides essential nutritive elements to the plants. In general, plant-based nutritive elements can be characterized into two groups: (i) macroelements include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (Sindhu et al. 2017); (ii) microelements include manganese, calcium, sodium, magnesium, molybdenum, copper, boron, iron, and zinc. Currently, it is very essential to identify the proper internal mechanism in the earthworms.
Nitrogen (N) Dynamics Typically, several environmental researchers claim N as Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), while other few workers documented N as total nitrogen (TN). It is remarkable to express that TKN is the ammoniacal nitrogen and naturally bound N but not involve nitrite-nitrogen (or) nitrate-nitrogen; whereas TN is the amount of nitrite-nitrogen (NO2–N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3–N), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3–N), and naturally bound N (Hill Laboratories 2018). Besides, an increase of TN during the vermicomposting process by joint action of earthworms and microbial communities enhance the TN availability. According to our previous experiments, vermiconversion of textile mill sludge + cow dung employing Perionyx excavatus and Eudrilus eugeniae for 60 days significantly increased TN content at end of the experiment (Yuvaraj et al. 2020). Recently, Paul et al. (2020) concluded that the vermiremediation of textile mill sludge along with cow dung using Eudrilus eugeniae for 60 days resulted in raised TKN content. During the vermicomposting process, earthworms release numerous metabolic substances such as mucus, body fluid, and excretory materials which also enrich the N profile in the end product (Gusain and Suthar 2020). The nitrogen-fixing bacteria and dead earthworms (e.g., tissues) can increase the concentration of N in the final substrate.
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Phosphorus (P) Dynamics Duration of composting (or) vermicomposting process and breakdown of complex organic materials trigger the available P and total P (TP) content (Jain et al. 2018). The earthworm species can convert insoluble-P into soluble-P during the waste stabilization process. Particularly, the earthworm intestine consists of different microbial communities especially P-solubilizing microbes which effectively promote the P mineralization process (Sharma and Garg 2019). The study of Bhat et al. (2013) confirmed that earthworm Eisenia fetida-worked substrate materials (textile mill sludge + cattle dung) contain a significant amount of total available P. Likewise, Yuvaraj et al. (2020) reported that vermiconversion of textile mill sludge along with cow dung using two epigeic earthworm species consists of a substantial amount TP when compared to the composted substrate materials. Based on the pieces of evidence, vermicomposting of industrial wastewater sludge including textile sludge can produce nutrient-rich vermicasts. Indian agricultural soils have a minimum amount of P content present in an unavailable form, therefore, require external P fertilizer for crop production. The authors suggest that vermicompost has different nutrient elements, humic substances, and plant-promoting hormones which can be applied for large-scale crop production.
Potassium (K) Dynamics The earthworms and several microbes play a pivotal role in the mineralization of K during the vermicomposting process. Generally, when organic waste materials enter the gut portion of the earthworms, the unusable organic K is converted into available exchangeable K due to the enzymatic activities (Suthar 2010). Indian researcher Garg et al. (2006) indicated that vermiconversion of textile mill wastewater sludge amended with biogas plant slurry employing earthworm Eisenia fetida resulted in a considerable amount of total potassium (TK) at end of the experiment. During the decomposition process, the rapid loss of industrial-based organic matter and mineralization of wastes by microorganisms along with different gut enzymes of the earthworms may enhance the K content.
Microelements Rapid degradation of the industrial organic wastes by earthworms reflects on Ca mineralization. The earthworms have calciferous glands (segments X–XIV) that produce calcium carbonate which adjusts the level of pH, and excessive Ca substances were ejected via worm casts which increases Ca level in vermicompost (Yuvaraj et al. 2021). Several researchers (e.g., Prakash and Karmegam 2010; Khatua et al. 2018; Rini et al. 2020) have documented that earthworm-worked substrate contain a significant amount of Mg, Fe, Ca, and Mn. The experiments of Suthar (2010) predicted one of the microalgae interconnects with newly eliminated
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worm cast that may form a small amount of Mg. But there is a requirement for more investigations to find the mechanism associated with the mineralization of microelements.
Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in the Internal Body of the Earthworms The earthworms can alter the physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the soil and modify the distribution and bioavailability of soil harmful pollutants (Curry and Schmidt 2007). Undoubtedly, earthworms can be employed in the reclamation and remediation processes. At initial, earthworms adsorb several toxic chemical compounds including heavy metals from the contaminated wastewater industrial sludge (or) other polluted solid wastes (Yuvaraj et al. 2018). Toxic substances can enter into the internal body of the earthworms through feed (or) moist skin (Shi et al. 2014). Finally, heavy metals bioaccumulate in the internal (gut part) chloragogenus tissue of the earthworms (Liang et al. 2011). The study of Suthar et al. (2014) confirmed that tissues of the earthworm (Eisenia fetida) exhibited a greater concentration of Cd (2.31–2.71 mg kg 1), Cr (20.7–35.9 mg kg 1), Pb (8.81–9.69 mg kg 1), and Cu (9.94–11.6 mg kg 1). Similarly, a significant level of Cu (16.8–25.5 mg kg 1) and Zn (103.7–143.3 mg kg 1) was also bioaccumulated in the internal body of Eisenia fetida as reported by Suthar (2008b). Recently, the experiments of Yuvaraj et al. (2020) demonstrated that a considerable amount of heavy metals (e.g., Cu, Cd, Cr, and Zn) was bioaccumulated in the tissues of the epigeic earthworm species Perionyx excavatus and Eudrilus eugeniae. According to published reports, earthworms efficiently degrade the industrial wastewater sludge including the textile industry, and a significant amount of toxic heavy metals is taken up by the earthworms via different modes as presented in Table 3. In general, the bioaccumulation process depends upon the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil and duration of exposure.
The Pivotal Role of Vermicompost in Crop Production There has been a growing interest in finding ways of decreasing the use of inorganic fertilizer and pesticides in crop production. Earthworms can convert industrial biowaste materials into nutrient-rich manure a process known as vermicomposting an eco-friendly process. The use of organic amendment like vermicompost has been long recognized as an effective means of improving soil fertility and health, increasing crop growth and yields, and subduing plant diseases. The different earthworm species utilize hazardous solid waste materials (including industrial sludge) and produce valuable vermifertilizer. Therefore, vermicompost has a rich amount of macro- and microelements that is suitable for modern agricultural production. Recently, a bench-scale experiment by Yuvaraj et al. (2019) indicates that vermicompost contains a high amount of macro- and
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Table 3 Mode of action in earthworms on metal-polluted substrate materials Source of contaminants Smelting industry
Test earthworm species Eisenia fetida
Type of pollutants Zn and Pb
Heavy engineering zone
Eisenia andrei
Lead recycling industry Mine spoilage
Eisenia hortensis
Cr, Pb, Cd, As, Zn, and Cu Cu, Pb, As, Cd, and Zn Zn, and Pb
Metallurgy unit
Aporrectodea caliginosa
Textile mill sludge
Perionyx excavatus and Eudrilus eugeniae
Dendrobaena rubida
Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn Cu, Cr, Cd, and Zn
Mode of action Increase in availability of Zn and accumulation of Pb in the gut of the earthworm Bio-accumulation of Cr, Pb, Cd, As, Zn, and Cu
References Sizmur and Hodson (2009) Leveque et al. (2013)
Substantial accumulation of Cu, Pb, As, Cd, and Zn
Andersen (1979)
Maximum gut bioaccumulation of Pb than Zn
Roberts and Johnson (1978) Nannoni et al. (2011)
Bio-accumulation of Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn Bioaccumulation of Cu, Cr, Cd, and Zn in the tissues of earthworms
Yuvaraj et al. (2020)
microelements and also enhances the growth of Abelmoschus esculentus plants. Likewise, Atiyeh et al. (2000) reported that nutrient-rich vermicompost triggers tomato and marigold plant growth (potting medium, Metro-Mix 360). Besides, earthworm-based compost has beneficial microbes that also can improve plant growth (Singh and Suthar 2012). Apart from this, several plant growth-promoting hormones (e.g., auxins and cytokinins) found in earthworm-worked substrate which improves crop production are well documented by Ravindran et al. (2016). The field experiments of Karmegam and Daniel (2008) confirmed that vermicompost increases the growth and yield of hyacinth bean, Lablab purpureus. Furthermore, various researchers indicate that vermicompost significantly increased the growth and yield of agriculturally valuable crops: Oryza sativa (Jayakumar et al. 2011), Fragaria ananassa (Singh et al. 2008), Solanum melongena (Najar et al. 2015), Daucus carota (Chatterjee et al. 2014), Solanum lycopersicum (Ravindran et al. 2019), and Abelmoschus esculentus (Hussain et al. 2017). The authors suggest that synthetic fertilizers can severely affect the beneficial microbes of the agricultural soils and result in the rapid decline of organic carbon. On the other hand, N fertilizer creates nutrient imbalance, soil acidification, and accumulation of high salt content in the soil (Sarma et al. 2017). The vermifertilizer exhibits a positive impact on agricultural crops when compared to synthetic fertilizers as presented in Fig. 6. Therefore, research studies have confirmed that vermicomposts have beneficial effects on the growth of a variety of crops including cereals and legumes, vegetables, ornamental and flowering plants, and field crops.
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Fig. 6 Comparison of organic and inorganic fertilizer
Conclusion and Perspectives The knowledge about the vermicomposting technology employing earthworm species and their valuable impacts on the ecosystem has been utilized to advance the composting process and also enhance the quality of the final vermicomposting product. In this book chapter, textile industrial wastewater sludge and their impacts on the soil and environment and various feasible disposal technologies have been addressed. The textile industries utilize a great quantity of freshwater along with different chemical substances for textile production. The primary wastewater treatment plants produce a huge amount of sludge that contains organic matter, several microelements, disease-causing microorganisms, and heavy metals such as Cu, Cr, Pb, Ni, Cd, as well as Zn. Currently, this polluted sludge is disposed of in open places that migrate into the agricultural lands and water bodies during the rainy season. The textile sludge creates various environmental issues especially water and soil pollution. Nowadays, different disposal techniques (e.g., physical, chemical, and biological) have been used to treat contaminated textile sludge. Among them, vermicomposting technology is one of the feasible options to minimize textile sludge and produce nutrient-rich vermifertilizer. The earthworms consume textile sludge, and gut-associated microbes, as well as certain gut enzymes, degrade the complex organic matter. The toxic heavy metals enter into the worm tissue through the skin (or) food and accumulate in the chloragogen tissues of the earthworm. During the digestion process, there is a transformation of insoluble nutrients into soluble forms and release of plant growth-promoting hormones. Therefore, vermicompost can increase crop production and improve the beneficial microbes in agricultural soil.
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Integrated Biotechnological Interventions in Textile Effluent Treatment
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Geetanjali Rajhans, Adyasa Barik, Sudip Kumar Sen, and Sangeeta Raut
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Non-biological Processes and Their Drawbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical Methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chemical Methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drawbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biotechnological Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enzymes and Whole Cell Biocatalysts (WCBs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Microbial Fuel Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nano-biotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Functional Metagenomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Challenges and Future Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Water is an indispensable source for life on earth. With the rampant growth of textile industry, ramification of significant amount of water consumption and production of immense volumes of contaminated water has been well witnessed. This highly polluted effluent being detrimental to the flora and fauna is often too difficult to manage as it contains a substantial amount of toxic and recalcitrant synthetic dyes. The unconventional processes based on biotechnological principles are enticing huge attention in the treatment of the toxic textile effluents, since they often avoid utilization of large amount of supplementary energy and chemicals, generates less sludge, cost-efficient, and environmentally benign. These processes include but not limited to enzyme and whole cell-based G. Rajhans · A. Barik · S. Raut (*) Center for Biotechnology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India S. K. Sen Biostadt India Limited, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_111
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biocatalysts (biodegradation of organic phenolic compounds and hydrocarbons by means of immobilized enzymes and whole cells), microbial fuel cell technology (integrating the biological organisms to generate electricity from the wastewater by consuming the pollutants present in it), nano-biotechnology (nanocatalysts pooled with an ulterior biological process to reduce color, COD, aromatic compounds, and toxicity), and functional metagenomics (identify novel genes that encode different classes of enzymes which are useful for bio-remediation). Regardless of some disadvantages, these processes are essentially powerful and can be gradually upgraded via advance biotechnological processes that are associated with the production of highly degrading and resilient tailored organisms. This is a sustainable approach to contributing innovatively to traditional physicochemical processes. The tools of integrated biotechnology can thus be used in the manufacturing of textile effluents as effective technical solutions. Keywords
Bioremediation · Enzymes · Functional metagenomics · Microbial fuel cell technology · Nano-biotechnology · Textile effluent
Introduction Water pollution has gripped the globe like never before. None of the industries have escaped from causing pollution. Among which, the textile sector needs to be specifically and thoroughly addressed in its close relation with environmental aspects. The global textile industry has a great impact on the market economy, contributing to 7% of total global exports as well as employing about 35 million people worldwide (Lu 2016; Desore and Narula 2018). Regardless of its overwhelming significance, this trade sector is one of the major global polluters and furthermore utilizes large volumes of fuel and chemicals (Bhatia 2017). The textile sludge exposes issues relating to huge volumes and undesirable composition, primarily containing elevated amounts of heavy metal cations, micronutrients, pathogenic microbes, and organic matter (Bhatia 2017). The effluent from textile mills is extremely alkaline and strongly induces chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), and alkalinity. Additionally, the dyes utilized in the textile industry are organic compounds highly soluble in water, which are particularly categorized as reactive, direct, acidic, and basic. Thus eliminating them by traditional methods is quite challenging. Moreover, their potential to color a specific substance is crucial owing to the existence of chromophoric groups in its molecular structure. Nevertheless, the color fixation properties are linked to the auxotrophic groups, which are polar and can bind to polar groups of textile fibers. The color accompanying clothing dyes induces aesthetic damage to the water sources as well as inhibits the light penetration into water, thus decelerating the photosynthesis rate and dissolved oxygen rates impacting the whole aquatic ecosystem. These textile dyes often serve as harmful, mutagenic, and carcinogenic agents
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(Khatri et al. 2018), prevailing as environmental toxins and through whole food chains inducing biomagnification so that species at higher trophic levels exhibit greater levels of contamination compared to their prey. Therefore, essential treatment strategies are required which aim to assure the environmental sustainability of the upcoming generations through physicochemical and biological technology or an amalgamation of both. The physicochemical methods, though effective, entail the complication incurred by sludge unloading and huge energy costs, inputs, or service. In contrast, the biotechnology interventions incorporating microbial systems and advanced anaerobic methods provide cost-efficient biological treatment approaches toward the elimination of significant industrial contaminants. The recognition and utilization of enzymatic activity of the novel microbial consortium by prospective bioremediation applications is a groundbreaking method for the optimum biodegradation of intractable dyes and complex sodium silicate compounds (Zabłocka-Godlewska et al. 2018). Microbial strains like Phanerochaete sp., Bacillus sp., Trametes sp., and Pseudomonas sp. have become plausible candidates for the treatment of wastewaters released from textiles industries and are widely studied in terms of degradation capacity. Immobilized methods for microbial enzymes such as lignin-modifying enzymes, laccases, lipases, oxidoreductases, etc. can decolor and detoxify toxic chemicals in a competent manner. Efficient biotechnological interventions are therefore essential in order to minimize adverse impacts and to foster safety, biodiversity, the environment, the economy and a sustainable future.
Non-biological Processes and Their Drawbacks The pre-treatment or decontamination of textile effluent can be carried out in the following methods: primary, secondary, and tertiary (Fig. 1). Several physicochemical techniques existing for treating these effluents have been discussed.
Physical Methodologies Physical processes, including coagulation/flocculation, are used to eliminate contaminants prior to sedimentation and filtration. Coagulation results in the charge neutralization which contributes to the creation of gelatinous material which could be quickly separated out. And flocculation is an agitation method that leads to agglomeration of the particle masses which eventually gets washed out of the solution. The procedure often eliminates a few amount of color corresponding to the reactive and vats dye. The real drawback is the passage of hazardous compounds into the solid phase and the sludge accumulation, which need eventual processing. The wastewater treatment using coagulation/flocculation method has been displayed in Fig. 2. Sludge disintegration can be accomplished by utilizing high-frequency electromagnetic waves such as microwaves and ultrasound techniques. Tiny gas bubbles
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Fig. 1 Primary, secondary and tertiary treatment processes
Fig. 2 Caogulation/Flocculation of waste water treatment
can be produced by utilizing these waves, and when these bubbles collapse, high temperatures and pressure gradients can be generated. This contributes to the breakdown of cell walls with the release of intercellular matter, which can then be more readily destroyed by microorganisms through anaerobic digestion. One more physical approach being dye adsorption by an adsorbent decreases the effluent color. Activated carbon, peat, bentonite clay, polymeric resins, and fly ash are a few absorbents being employed to treat the effluent (Igwegbe et al. 2016). The main benefits of adsorbents for usage in textile wastewater treatment
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Fig. 3 Nanofiltration setup for water filtration
are their high affinities and regeneration capacity. However, their high investment and sludge production constrained the usage of absorbent in effluent treatment. Other techniques such as ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and RO have also been explored in treating textile effluent. But their high cost restricts their industrial-scale application. Water filtration utilizing UF setup has been shown in Fig. 3.
Chemical Methodologies Chemical oxidation methods are other class of method used for the treatment of effluent water. In this method, electron moves from oxidant to the pollutant and resulted in structural modification to safer compounds. Oxidizing agents such as O3 and H2O2 forms strong nonselective hydroxyl radicals at high pH values. H2 O2 ! OH þ OH
ð1Þ
Due to high oxidation potential, these radicals can efficiently break the conjugated double bonds of dye chromophores as well as other functional groups such as the complex aromatic rings of dyes. The color of the effluent decreases due to the subsequent formation of smaller non-chromophoric molecules. A 99% reduction of rhodamine B dye with the use of H2O2, have been reported by Thao and Nguyen (2017). Processes like UV/TiO2, UV/H2O2, UV/O3, reactive UV/Fenton and other photochemical methods are centered on the effect of UV radiation and free radicals
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formation. The production of high concentrations of hydroxyl radicals leads to the decomposition of dyes to CO2 and H2O. The intensity of UV radiation, color structure, pH, and dye composition are affected by the speed flotation. When the oxidizing agent is used H2O2, UV light activates the decomposition of H2O2 two hydroxyl radicals. Removal of dyes has also been carried out with Fenton’s reagent which is a combination of H2O2 and ferrous ion. The reaction carried out is given in Eq. (2): Fe2þ þ H2 O2 ! OH þ OH
ð2Þ
The degradation of organic dyes occurs due to the generation of free radicals during the oxidative degradation of hydrogen peroxide. Previous literature reports that the process works best with the pH between 3 and 5 (Ma et al. 2005). The breakdown of organic compounds CO2, water, and inorganic compounds was due to the oxidation process involving Fenton’s reagent.
Drawbacks The physical techniques, like membrane filtration, involve shortcomings linked to membrane fouling issues, shorter lifespan, and the rate of periodic replacement; these should be included in every economic feasibility study (Andre et al. 2007). The chemical techniques such as flocculation, coagulation, and oxidative processes seem to be capable of dye removal; however they are expensive as well as involve disposal problem. Examples of physical and chemical methods and related drawbacks have been outlined in Table 1. Physicochemical technologies are well recognized in the industry but are ineffective, are highly expensive, and entail restrictions in implementation due to the poor biodegradability of dyes.
Biotechnological Processes The bioremediation is a method of degradation of toxins by biological candidates, viz., bacteria, fungi, plants, etc. Microorganisms have diverse characteristics as well as competence toward the biodegradation of recalcitrant chemicals. The basics of microbiology, metabolism and bioenergetics, diversity and ecology, biochemistry, evolution, breakdown of pesticides, dye stuff, organic and inorganic compounds, and heavy metals hold propitious implementation. Microbes have an inherent potential to disintegrate organic compounds in the contaminated areas. Although the soil is inhabited by living biomass and is rich in all types of species, the organism least explored to remove/degrade harmful compounds from the environment are the fungi. Ecological adaptations and metabolism enable microbes useful for bioremediation and waste processing. Some of the new biotechnological approaches for the bioremediation of textile wastewater have been listed below.
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Table 1 Drawbacks of the various non-biological processes for textile waste water treatment Treatment processes Physical processes Adsorption (activated carbon, peat, coal ashes, wood sawdusts, wood chips) Ion exchange Chemical processes Coagulation and precipitation Fenton process Ozonation Oxidation with sodium hypochlorite Electrochemical oxidation Emerging technologies Membrane filtration Ultrafiltration
Photocatalysis Sonication
Treatment Stage
Drawbacks
Pretreatment
Expensive, larger contact times, and required in huge quantities
Main treatment
Specific application
Pre-/main treatment Pre/main treatment Main treatment Posttreatment Pretreatment
Difficulty in sludge disposal
Main treatment Pretreatment
Posttreatment Pretreatment
Unreasonably expensive Unsuitable for disperse dyes and releases aromatic dyes Expensive Expensive
Highly expensive, difficulty in separating dissolved solids Eliminates suspended material and bacteria only, susceptible to oxidative chemicals (e. g., sulfuric acid, nitric acid, persulfate, and peroxide in high conc.), membrane damage at pressure >3 bar Expensive, only suitable for lesser amount of colored compounds Relatively new process, requires full-scale application
Enzymes and Whole Cell Biocatalysts (WCBs) Over the years, enzymes and whole cell-based biocatalysts have evolved dramatically owing to their flexibility and functional sensitivity across a broad variety of substrates for different industrial implementation. Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering methods make provisions for innovative technologies, catalyzed by biology-based, genome-scale computational systems. The protein engineering techniques tend to be helpful in enhancing the catalytic efficiency. The metabolism of microbes can be engineered via complex enzyme-catalyzed pathways and developed them into whole cell biocatalyst (WCBs) in order to generate different biological or industrial applications. Such developments offer exclusive prospects and pave the way for new opportunities of microbial engineering with future high-value biomolecules for industrial executions. Also in presence of fermentation inhibitors, selective microbes can be developed on a variety of complex biomass hydrolysates.
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Under specific culture conditions, it also has the potential to generate large amounts of intracellular lipids. The genomic, biochemical, and adaptive features of the microbes render them a potential contender for the identification of economically viable cell factories for the manufacture of enzymes, biofuel, and highly valued products of industrial importance (Han et al. 2018; Almyasheva et al. 2018). Enzymes have been recognized as the potent molecules to aid effective degradation of complex organic chemicals. There is evidence that numerous bacterial species secrete non-specific cytoplasmic enzymes that act like azoreductases. This enzyme class called azoreductases allows a catalytic reduction reaction leading to the breakdown –N¼N– bond present in the azo group and aromatic amine synthesis. The application of bacterial cytoplasmic azoreductases in the field of environmental biotechnology has been reported by several researchers. Laccases (belonging to enzyme class called phenoloxidases) have significant capacity for breakdown of waste materials that contain aromatic compounds. These laccases cause the degradation of complex polyaromatic polymers such as lignins. Sharma and Arora (2013) and Placido et al. (2016) were shown to work with laccase enzyme at pH 5 to treat fungal strains. The azo dye degradation by laccase involves the non-specific mechanism of free-radical formation, without forming toxic aromatic amines. A study show that Trametes versicolor was able to decolorize the azo dye Orange G was by 97% (Casas et al. 2007). Other oxidoreductase enzymes like manganese peroxidase attacks the phenolic compounds through the intermediary redox reaction with the help of Mn2+/Mn3+ ions, whereas lignin peroxidase attacks the non-phenolic methoxy substituted lignin subunits which behave as substrate. LiP recently extracted from Ganoderma lucidum IBL-05 demonstrated a decoloration efficiency of 66%, 59%, 52%, 40%, and 48% for Sandal-fix Red C4BLN, Sandal-fix Turq Blue GWF, Sandal-fix Foron Blue E2BLN, Sandal-fix Black CKF, and Sandal-fix Golden yellow CRL dyes, respectively, which significantly enhanced to 93%, 83%, 89%, 70%, and 80% in case of LiP immobilized by Ca-alginate (Bilal et al. 2019). The studies relate to the role of different enzymes in the removal of dye pollutants from the textile discharge. These experiments have not been performed to assess the long-term effects of such enzymes on the marine organisms in bodies of water after the period of decontamination. It is therefore important to further examine the effect on marine life and ecology protection of the ecosystem by textile waste water processing technologies. The decolorization by microbes relies on the adaptability and the optimized activity of selected microbes. Both single strains and consortiums can be employed to achieve decolorization. Several researches show the use of pure cultures for decolorization, among which bacterial cultures are widely used. Researchers began isolating pure microbial strains able to breakdown azo dyes in 1970s, with isolation of Bacillus subtilis, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Bacillus cereus (Singh 2014). Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BCH is one of the isolated strains that demonstrated 98% decoloration of commercial azo dyes such as Remazol Orange 3R. Azoreductase activities were hindered by the presence of oxygen, when A. hydrophila some other aerobic bacteria were examined for azo dye decoloration in aerobic state by oxygen insensitive or aerobic azoreductases. Literature reports that the white-rot
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fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, has been observed to be the most frequent, robust, and model organism for decolorization of various dyes from textile waste waters. Moreover, the efficient color removal of both Orange G and Remazol Brilliant Blue R was showcased by three promising strains, Ischnoderma resinosum, Dichomitus squalens, and Pleurotus calyptratus (Eichlerová et al. 2005). In terms of coloration efficiency in azo dye Congo Red, Trametes pubescens was also found to be the effective coloring strain in submerged cultivation (Si et al. 2013). However, some setbacks are noted during degradation of dye by white-rot fungi such as the lengthy growth period, the demand of restrictive nitrogen conditions, unreliable production of enzymes and large reactor size due to the long holding period for maximum degradation.
Microbial Fuel Cells Of the several alternate energy conversion processes identified from the recent technical reports, huge interest has been gained by fuel cells that have higher conversion capacity and power density relative to other methods. This fuel cell device is an electrochemical system that can transform the intrinsic chemical energy in fuel directly into electrical energy. The unconventional fuel cell is the organic fuel cell or biofuel cell that operates much in the similar manner as the conventional chemical fuel cell, though utilizes biological organisms as catalysts rather than noble metal-based catalysts. When enzymes are used to accomplish electrode operation, we have the so-called enzymatic biofuel cell; while microorganisms are responsible for bioelectrocatalysis, we have the microbial fuel cell (MFC). By using clean and renewable catalysts, MFCs offer a means to produce green and sustainable energy and to treat wastewater, which is commonly used as a carbon source for the electrochemical system. The connection between biology and electricity stretches back to the year 1912, when M.C. Potter at the University of Durham was the first to show that microorganisms could produce electrical energy (Potter 1911). This system is beneficial over traditional fuel cell technology: it operates under moderate conditions (at ambient temperature and physiological pH) and uses low-cost materials. Several microorganisms possess the potential to transfer electrons to the anode directly with no requirement of an electron shuttle and therefore gaining much interest for MFC application in dye bioremediation. Certain pure cultures like Proteus hauseri ZMd44 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Geobacter sulfurreducens, and Betaproteobacteria have been reported to simultaneously degrade dyes as well as generate electricity in mediator-less MFC systems (Fang et al. 2013). A report shows an investigation on Pseudomonas-catalyzed MFC for degradation of azo dyes such as congo red, methyl orange, reactive blue 172, reactive red 2, and reactive yellow 145 (Jayaprakash et al. 2016). Some cases have shown that intermediate products formed after decoloration of azo dyes, such as reactive blue 160, act as redox-active chemical species mediating electron transfer in MHCs.
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Fig. 4 Microbial fuel cell
Most of the cases gave priority to anodized dye degradation, only a few reported the degradation of dye in the cathode. The most plausible mechanism for the breakdown of dyes is the co-metabolism reaction, where anaerobic oxidation of the carbon source (co-substrate) leads to the formation of reducing equivalents (electrons) (Fig. 4). Generally, the co-substrate was oxidized (electron donor) and a portion of electrons was transferred to the electrochemically active bacteria accumulated on the anode, which passes through the external circuit producing current. The other portion of electrons is transferred for reductive cleavage of azo bond in dye structure, therefore creating a competition for reducing equivalents (electron donors) between the anode (electron acceptor) and dye molecules in the MFC-specific. If there is no relationship between the decoloration rate and the molecular weight, then the reduction reaction is a non-specific extracellular reaction where the dye could act as an electron acceptor supplied by the carrier of the electron transport chain of the cell membrane or by the reduced compounds produced by anaerobic biomass. Conversely, an intracellular reduction in azo dye requires the presence of an azoreductase enzyme with a specific transport system for the uptake of the dye to reach its reductive reaction center inside the cell. Thorough acclimatization and stabilization of the MFC system is crucial for improving the performance of MFCs for color removal. The textile anaerobic sludge-inoculated MFC may therefore favor intracellular and extracellular reductions in anodine dye. The azo dyes were
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tested as catholytes in MFC with the dual objective of providing an electron acceptor facilitator and the possibility of dye removal. The reduction reactions in the cathode chamber are illustrated by Goyal and Minocha (1985) and Menek and Karaman (2005) stating that the –N¼N– azo bond reduced to hydrazo (Eq. 3) or amine (Eq. 4), by consuming two or four electrons. N ¼ N þ2e þ 2Hþ ! NH NH
ð3Þ
N ¼ N þ4e þ 4Hþ ! NH2 NH2
ð4Þ
In MFC, the potentials are pH-adjusted standard potentials with respect to the cytoplasm (neutral pH) of microbial cells. Similarly, 303 K (30 C) is the commonly used temperature for incubation of bacteria on a lab scale. The potentials of the cell should therefore be adjusted in accordance with the conditions. The potentials of methyl orange-fed cathode with a concentration of 0.05 mM (pH 3.0) with 3 g/L of glucose-fed anode chamber with bacterial cells produce ~0.7 V, which is close to the predicted maximum cathode potential of an MFC using oxygen. In general, maximum electromotive force (emf) is given by Eq. (5) Eɸ ¼ E0
RT ln ðɸÞ nF
ð5Þ
where the coefficient ɸ is the ratio of products to the reactants raised to the power of their respective stoichiometric coefficients. In the case of oxygen-aerated catholyte, the maximum emf value for half the oxygen reaction is 0.805 V for pH ¼ 7 for 298 K. Similarly, for potassium ferricyanide at pH ¼ 7 at a concentration of 0.22 mM, for half the reaction of ferricyanide, the catholyte produces 0.361 V. Liu et al. (2009) concluded that MFC-fed catholyte with methyl orange produces 0.710 mV of azo dye-fed catholyte, concluding that the redox potential improves the rate of electron transfer to cathode. However, the cathode potential with azo dye is in less practice than the oxygen and ferricyanide. Cathode polarization indicates that pH is the limiting factor at cathode fed with MFC. In most cases of MFC with dye degradation studies, the maximum open-circuit value is in close proximity with the anode potentials. Latest findings of major MFC components such as anode, cathode and membrane have reached new levels of development. But it is necessary to find components that are environmentally sustainable and scalable for the treatment of industrial textile effluent. Thus, the ultimate purpose of scaling the technology for dye treatment with durability should concentrate more on the design aspect of MFC rather than solution chemistry. Serving this purpose, it is better to try more on electrode assembly with a membrane-less MFC in continuous operation, focusing on a simple construction process in a cost-effective manner. This study could provide a way for the direct application of MFCs to dying industrial effluents in the future.
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Nano-biotechnology Nano-biotechnology is a biotechnological dimension dealing with the synthesis, design, and stability of specific nanoparticles using biological tools. It can be integrated with other technologies and can modify, endorse or explain the current technical concept of platform technology. Nanotechnology use is anticipated to widen to a broad range of applications in the future to help minimize costs by reducing energy usage and attenuating pollution. In the current situation, the bioremedial approach using adapted microbes has gained attention, eventually leading to the biomineralization of the intractable substance. The contamination level caused by the varying configurations of synthetic dyes used in the textile industry makes the naturally attenuated micro flora insufficient for the “clean up” process. Major downsides are the rise in prohibitive costs, the emission of carbon dioxide from biomineralization and the concentration of substantial biomass content. In addition, the current application of nanotechnology in bioremediation using nanoparticles has been the subject of pilot-scale studies. Nanoparticles have been used to enhance the deterioration of refractory dyes, as they have special physical and chemical properties that are not present in bulk products. These versatile nanoparticles can be utilized in different applications including treatment of wastewater, drugs, energy storage, and bioremediation (Huang et al. 2004; Jyoti and Singh 2016). In reductive reactions, nanoparticles serve as effective catalysts. Many nanoparticles synthesized from different biological materials, including Ag (Silver), Au (Gold), Zn(Zinc), silica, etc., are currently used in several industries. Due to its remarkable antimicrobial and catalytic properties, Ag nanoparticles are widely used. Ag metal is able to construct stable nanoparticles and is used in a wide range of fields including biosensors, bio-labeling, catalysis, photography, and optoelectronics. In presence of a catalyst, the toxic dye methylene blue was completely degraded within 33 min, by Ag nanoparticles synthesized with Actinidia deliciosa fruit (Naraginti et al. 2017). In 12 min, the Ag nanoparticles synthesized by the Parkia roxburghii extract leaf biomass could completely breakdown both methylene blue and the rhodamine B (Paul et al. 2015). In medicine, cancer therapy, drugs, and gene transfer, Au nanoparticles have been used. Also in dye degradation, Au nanoparticles have been successfully involved. For Au nanoparticles synthesized by Paderia foetida Linn could degrade toxic dyes including methylene blue and rhodamine B within 12 min (Dutta 2017). Due to their high surface area, non-toxicity, stable composition, photosensitivity, higher reactivity, and economic performance, ZnO nanoparticles are also commonly used. ZnO nanoparticles were used as catalysts for color degradation and are considered as efficient photocatalysts. The basic compounds for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles have been found in Artocarpus heterophyllus leaf extract, and these nanoparticles was found to fully degraded bengal rose dye in 1 h (Vidya et al. 2016). Aspergillus sp. chemically synthesized ZnO nanoparticles successfully degraded methylene blue dye (Jain et al. 2014).
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On account of their high surface are stable structure, low toxicity, higher reactivity, photo-sensitivity, and cost-effectiveness; ZnO nanoparticles are widely used. Dye degradating ZnO nanoparticles are considered to be effective photocatalysts. ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by the Aspergillus sp. fungus were found to successfully degrade methylene blue dye (Jain et al. 2014). Because of their special properties, metal nanoparticles including nickel (Ni), molybdenum (Mb), silica (Si), copper (Cu), titanium (Ti), etc. have been emerging out. Palladium (Pd) nanoparticles obtained from Catharanthus roseus leaf extract showed effective phenol red degradation (Kalaiselvi et al. 2015). For the synthesis of zirconium oxide nanoparticles, the leaves of Lagerstroemia speciosa have been used, and these nanoparticles could degrade methyl orange dye by 94.5% (Sai Saraswathi et al. 2017). While nanoparticles are synthesized using biological materials, the presence of nanoparticles in textile effluent after degradation is becoming a major concern. Recovery and reusability of nanoparticles is required. Kitture et al. (2011) conducted cytotoxicity tests of ZnO nanoparticles against SiHa cell lines and confirmed that these nanoparticles are safer to use. Photocatalytic breakdown of Congo red by Fe2O3 nanoparticles was sufficiently good but requires secondary treatment to be used for irrigation purposes. It has been documented that after breakdown of methyl green dye, Ag nanoparticles could be extracted from the reaction medium and could be recycled. Biogenically synthesized nanoparticles would play an influential role in the treatment of wastewater in the future. Different metal nanoparticles, including Ag, Cu, Fe, Zn, Sn, or Au, can be used to effectively process industrial effluents. Modern dye degradation strategies are expected to be replaced by nanoparticles. In the recent years, there were major attempts at synthesizing magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with a minimum scale of one dimension of 1–100 nm for larger applications. The majority to be examined are silver, gold, palladium, and platinum. These are usually synthesized by physical and chemical processes such as heating, irradiation, and inflammable harmful solvents. These methods are cost-effective, but generate toxic compounds and thus represent a threat to the environment. This limitation makes it essential to develop a green route for the production of environmentally sustainable nanoparticles, with features such as improved yield, costeffectiveness, and safety. The synthesis and stabilization of MNPs through the green route depends on factors, including the green reducing agent, the reaction media and the stabilizer.
Functional Metagenomics The term “metagenomics” is defined as the genetic complementary analysis of the overall ecosystem through direct extraction and subsequent cloning of DNA from microorganisms. Functional metagenomics involves creating a metagenomic database, such as a 25–40 kb of DNA inserts for cosmid or fosmid. For instance, the metagenomic approach has contributed to the discovery of lipase and esterases
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(Lopez-Lopez et al. 2014), amidases, and amylases as well as secondary metabolites (Bashir et al. 2014). The discovery of distinct genes encoding enzymes with potential versatility may be a valuable source of innovative applications in the bioenergy field. A promising candidate in the bioremediation and biodegradation of industrial effluents tends to be the latest heat-stable laccase from marine fungi and cell factories. The functional metagenomic approach allows screening of a library of effective novel biocatalysts such as oxidoreductases, esterases, lipases, and biological agents. In addition, gene editing strategies will also assist microbial study in the hunt for successful methods of handling textile effluents. Advances in the design and engineering of nucleases, CRISPR-Cas9, ZFNs, TALENS, novel pathways, enzyme, and protein engineering have offered superior tools for bioremedial applications. Aplanochytrium sp., a strain derived from mangrove, was reported with Malachite Green (MG) degrading activity with decolorization rate of 86.32% within 5.5 days (Gomathi et al. 2013). Despite global advancement in understanding the microbial diversity in mangrove sediments, more than 90% of environmental microorganisms remain unculturable. The deterioration of MG by conventional cultural based approaches is often difficult to assess. Cultural-independent metagenomic database has been effectively used to identify new biosynthetic genes from a range of habitats. Lac1, a laccase obtained from marine bacterial metagenome, was able to degrade many industrial azo dyes under alkalescent conditions. Furthermore, 80% of Reactive Deep Blue M-2GE (50 mg/L) was eliminated within 24 h by a novel bacterial laccace Lac21, isolated from a metagenomic library on the South China Sea (Fang et al. 2012). However, the use of relatively low clone library performance in combination with activity-based screening might reduce screening performance. The metagenomic library focuses on the single functional gene and does not include a specific environmental study with the ability and variability of the functional gene. A highperforming tool for screening sequences and abundance of possible functional genes is provided by the sequence-based sampling of metagenomics combination with the databases such as Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Cluster of Orthologous Groups of Proteins (COG), etc. (Simon and Daniel 2009).
Challenges and Future Perspectives Prior to disposal, the wastewater treatment in textile industries is a necessary approach for reducing the cost of development and the stress of contamination. Conventional techniques for wastewater treatment textiles involve a number of combinations of biological, physical, and chemical processes, but these approaches include high investments. Over a few years, outstanding accomplishments have been made toward biotechnological applications in textile effluents, not only in the elimination of color but also in the complete dye degradation. Biotechnological treatment processes that can efficiently eliminate dyes from huge amount of wastewater at low cost are preferred.
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While numerous attempts have been made to bioremediate dye, complete degradation of dye is still a problem for science. Also, there is a shortfall of scientifically proven, bio-based technologies for the disposal of textile waste. Microbial degradation of dyes involves particular environmental conditions such as pH, temperature, and nutrient components that inhibit the complex dye elimination from textile discharge. Microbial degradation of azo dyes might results in mutagenic and carcinogenic aromatic amines. Another difficulty in case of microbial bioremediation is optimal microbial biomass for the elimination of dye present in vast quantities of textile wastewater. We hope that more advanced and sophisticated technologies can be developed such that textile wastewater can be treated easily, at small expense, on a commercial setup.
Conclusion This chapter offers a comprehensive overview of emerging technology available for decolorization and treatment of effluent as well as proposes possible biotechnological approaches. The unprocessed wastewater discharges from the textile industry have serious risk to global health, the ecosystem, and the financial system, including upsurge of vector-borne diseases together with depletion of ecosystem services and biological diversity. The compilation of valuable scientific knowledge is key to the development of a global, foreign, and local action plan for the conservation of the environment, the safe and productive reuse of wastewater. Therefore, strong actions are needed to be enforced to avert the discharge of pollutants into aquatic systems. Numerous innovative biotechnological interventions and advances of synthetic biology, omics, and genetic engineering are the need of the time, which can tailor microbial metabolism to make the microbes super effective in textile wastewater effluent treatment. Acknowledgments The Department of Science and Technology (DST/SSTP/Odisha/443) has sponsored this research and is greatly acknowledged by the authors. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by Center for Biotechnology, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar.
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Satyanarayana Narra, Vicky Shettigondahalli Ekanthalu, Edward Antwi, and Michael Nelles
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mobility of Plastic from the Economy to the Marine Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Current Situation on Global Marine Littering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Global Mismanaged Plastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Global Ocean Plastic Source: Land Versus Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marine Littering in India Cause and Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pathways to Marine Littering in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plastic Inputs from Indian River Catchments into the Global Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Actions to Mitigate Marine Littering in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impact of EPR on Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impact of Beach Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ocean Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Awareness Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Model Demonstrating the Current and Projected Impact of Several Waste Management Pathways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Importance of Collaborating International and Regional Marine Debris Network in Mitigating Marine Littering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Global Efforts to Support Marine Litter Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G20 Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Network Comparison and Connection Between Regional, National, and Global Marine Debris Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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S. Narra · M. Nelles Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum (DBFZ), Leipzig, Germany e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] V. Shettigondahalli Ekanthalu (*) · E. Antwi Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_60
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Abstract
Marine plastic pollution has increased significantly over the last few decades and is creating a substantial amount of ecological, social, and economic impacts. Plastic pollution is globally widespread, and researchers estimate 5–13 million tons of plastic enters the oceans each year. India, with a fairly low per capita plastic use and high population of 1.36 billion, produces about 5.5 105 tons of mismanaged plastic that has a high possibility to enter the ocean every year. India, with greater dependence on the informal waste management sector and with the reputation of having top polluted rivers, faces a huge challenge to tackling marine plastic pollution. Plastic in the marine environment has a high tendency to get strangulated and ingested by aquatic biota leading to physical and toxicological impacts on the marine ecosystem and consequently affecting humans as the final consumer. The main objective of this research is to depict the status and measures to be taken to tackle marine plastic pollution in India. In this concern, a GIS map has been created to depict the plastic input from different river basins of India. Further, the guiding model has been developed, which aids in demonstrating the strategical and technological solution by addressing the challenges of marine litter in India. The predictive model suggested that India is producing about 536 thousand tons of municipal waste per day. With a 50% increase in the current efforts of various waste management pathways, there is a possibility to manage additionally around 25% of the overall generated waste, consequently decreasing waste flow into our ocean. Current research also demonstrates the importance of collaborating international, national, and regional marine debris networks with civil society, public and private partners, and their effect on reducing the waste flow into our ocean. Keywords
Marine plastic pollution in India · Marine litter · Plastic leakage · Municipal solid waste management in India
Introduction Marine pollution is one of the major challenges for the whole of humankind which is significantly increasing since a few decades, and researchers estimate that about 4.8–12.7 million metric tons of plastic is entering the ocean every year, and without proper waste management strategies, this number is expected to increase by ten times by 2025 (Jambeck et al. 2015). The primary cause of marine pollution can be directly attributed to human activity which includes ineffective solid waste management and wastewater treatment protocols, illegal dumping of refuse, and lack of social and environmental responsibility. Occasionally, natural disasters such as tsunamis, flooding, hurricane, and seasonal monsoons leave large
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quantities of waste which find their way into the marine environment. The main source of marine pollution comes from land- and shore-based activities. Similar to the waste management practices, natural disasters, and social responsibilities may play a role, the fact remains, however, that the fundamental production and consumption pattern of humans in the last century has played a significant role in creating this menace. India is the second-most populous and sixth largest economy in the world. India is one of the main contributors to marine plastic pollution with one of the world’s top 10 polluted rivers, the longest shoreline, and islands that significantly contribute to global ocean plastic pollution. Oceans are the ultimate recipient for the improper management of all land-based pollutants, and the river together with channels and drain acts as a transporting driver discharging all land-based pollutants into the ocean. Hence, in contrast to the marine-based sources, land-based sources are considered the predominant source for plastics input into the oceans (Kershaw and Rochman 2015). India has a coastline of about 7500 km with about 25% of the population living along the coastal areas. Several major cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Kochi, and Kolkata are located on the coastline which directly influences marine-based ocean litter pollution. Additionally, India contains 14 major, 44 medium, and 162 small rivers with a mean annual runoff of 1645 km3 (Gladby and Roonwal 1995). Together with the runoff water, the rivers and channels act as plastic and waste transporters to the ocean. India’s longest river the Ganges, solely with the total catchment area of 1.57 106 km2, is estimated to flush 1.15 105 tons of plastic pollutants per year into the ocean (Lebreton et al. 2017). Since, the commercial development of plastic in the 1930s and 1940s, plastic has become extremely dominant in the consumer market. In the year 2016, global plastic resin production reached 335 million MT (PlasticsEurope 2018), a 750% increase since 1975. More challenging is the inability of plastics to decompose naturally. This means the majority of the plastics if not all of the plastics produced in the last 40 years are still present in some form even though it is not being used. Even in advanced economic blocks like Europe, only 30% of plastics are recycled (Law 2017). Tracer studies thus point to a large number of plastics finding their way into water bodies which eventually empties into the oceans. Plastic in the ocean has become ubiquitous, and its presence is becoming increasingly abundant in the ocean environment. This makes it more easily accessible for marine life, and they are posing a substantial threat to the marine environment and potentially humans. As the effect of weathering, plastic gets fragmented into smaller particles called microplastics, and these microplastics have a high tendency to attract toxic chemical pollutants and are easy for the smallest marine invertebrates like planktons to get ingested and end in the food chain. Further, the significantly small size of microplastics makes it extremely difficult to remove them from the marine environment (Jambeck et al. 2015). The utilization of compostable or biodegradable plastics can be one of the better approaches to address marine littering. Currently, there are several international standards available (ISO and ASTM level), which appropriately describe
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the biodegradation of plastics in the environment (RespirTek Inc. 2020). Production of biodegradable plastics, such as polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), has significantly increased for the last few years. Unlike conventional composting materials, PLA is a compostable bio-based plastic that requires a large industrial composting facility with hot, wet, and a huge amount of compost-eating microbes. PHA is a marine-degradable polymer (ASTM 7081) made from the off-gassing of bacteria, and the degradability of PHA varies highly with depth, temperature, and available microbial communities. PHA is ideal to be used in the application of functional biodegradation and can be ideal for its application in single-use throwaway plastic applications, including polyethylene lining on paper cups or straws (Marcus et al. 2017). The production of biodegradable plastic has nearly doubled from 700 thousand tons in 2014 to over 1.2 million tons in 2019 (European bioplastic). Indian bioplastic market is still in an emerging stage with limited market players effectively operating in this segment. Currently, the Indian bioplastics market is facing challenges with the low awareness of these emerging markets; however, potential companies are wishing to enter this market (Lepitreb 2014). Even though measures such as increasing the production and use of biodegradable plastics and marine-degradable plastics are generally good, it might take a generation before some of these measures can yield the desired impact. It is crucial to look at how to increase effective waste management or how human activity inland can be properly modeled to ensure proper collection and treatment of solid and liquid waste. In recent times, several waste management models have looked at the promotion of the 3Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle. While the reduction is possible, changing lifestyles of people coupled with economic boom points rather to increased generation of waste. So many of the countries with low per capita generation of waste are expected to increase their per capita generation potential once the economy begins to grow steadily or rapidly. Further, the general population increase as has been observed in the life of mankind on this planet points to increased generation of waste. Therefore, a general increase in waste generation is expected in the coming years. India is no exception; waste generation is expected to double from 62 million tons/annum to about 130 million tons/annum by 2050. Reuse and recycles of waste are very much dependent on several factors such as the level of infrastructure – collection and treatment. In as much as these general principles of waste management are good, the critical role of the informal sector in reuse and recycling is often neglected. Further, the role the informal sector could play in the prevention of marine littering has not been a subject of investigation, especially in India. Additionally, the combined effect of actions such as beach cleaning, ocean cleaning, and the introduction of popular policies such as extended producer principle and the banning of plastic bags on marine littering has not been properly evaluated. This chapter discusses the marine littering in general and traces the sources with specific references to India while proposing a policy option that considers both the conventional solid waste management methods and nonconventional actions and tries to provide a general outlook for future references on dealing with marine littering in India.
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Mobility of Plastic from the Economy to the Marine Environment Plastic has become indispensable material of the modern economy due to its unrivaled benefits integrated with low cost. Plastic usage has increased whopping twenty times in the past 50 years, and it is estimated to double again in the next two decades. Currently plastic has become an indispensable part of our daily life; almost everyone comes in contact with plastics every day. In contrast, the contemporary plastic economy has a huge downside that is becoming more obvious in everyday life. After a short life cycle, about 95% of plastic packaging material, or a value of USD 80–120 billion, is lost to the global economy every year. A staggering 32% of produced plastic packaging material escapes waste collection systems and creates major economic costs by impacting the productivity of natural systems such as the water bodies, marine network, and clogging urban infrastructure (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2016). The cumulative cost of such mismanaged plastic packaging and the associated greenhouse gas emissions from its production has been estimated by UN Environmental Program (UNEP) at USD 40 billion, which exceeds the entire plastic packaging industries profit pool. To overcome these drawbacks, enhancing system effectiveness is required to achieve better environmental and economic outcomes while continuing to harvest the benefits of plastic packaging. Marine plastic litter can be directly linked to market failure. In basic terms, the price of the product does not illustrate the true cost of disposal, and this loophole in the system allows the production and consumption of the plastic or materials in higher amounts at a very low “figurative” price. Furthermore, the management of the waste is done far away from the sight of the consumer, hindering the consumer to know the actual end-life cost of the product. Figure 1 illustrates the mobility of plastic from the economy into the marine environment. One of the key challenges to address marine litter accumulation is the fact that the sources of the litter are widespread. This problem is seen at the global level not being limited to the Indian context. India has relatively high complications because of the inferior waste management system and a higher percentage of mismanaged plastic waste entering the marine environment. In addition to plastic emission to the oceans and direct coastline littering through rivers, plastic debris eventually reaches the ocean environment through the leakage from the global value chain run by oil industries to various other production units and local retailers to consumers, and this leakage is likely to happen intentionally and unintentionally. Intentional littering includes the waste discarded consciously or inappropriately which can come either from the industrial, commercial, or domestic sector, and unintentional littering includes regular, unrestrained procedures of extractive, manufacturing, and consumption that indirectly contribute to the marine plastic pollution (Pravettoni 2018). Creating an effective after-use plastics economy is of prime importance in regulating marine plastic pollution. To achieving a successful reduction in plastic leakage, it would require combined efforts along three axes: improving after-use plastic infrastructure in the countries with high plastic leakage, increasing efforts
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Fig. 1 Movement of plastic from economy to environment. (Reproduced with permission from Pravettoni (2018)
to create economic attractiveness of keeping after-use plastic in the system, and reducing the impact of after-use plastic when it does get mismanaged (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2016). The after-use plastic economy is not only crucial in capturing more material value, but it also provides a direct economical intensive by avoiding the leakage into the natural systems.
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The Current Situation on Global Marine Littering Global Mismanaged Plastic Mismanaged waste is a material that is at high risk to enter the ocean ecosystem via wind or tidal transport or carried into the coastlines from inland waterways. Mismanaged waste composes of the material which is either inadequately disposed of or littered. Inadequately disposed waste includes the waste which had the intention of being managed via a formal waste collection system but ultimately gets mismanaged, and the plastic waste here mainly includes the disposal in dumps and uncontrolled landfills. The mismanaged plastic waste is not fully disposed of and possesses a high risk of being leaked and transported into the natural environment and oceans via waterways, winds, and tides. Unlike inadequately disposed waste, “littered waste” is the waste that is dumped or disposed of without consent in an inappropriate location. The trend in the mismanaged plastic is directly linked with the economy of the country. Wealthy industrialized countries are generating a significantly higher amount of plastic waste with every inhabitant contributing over 100 kilograms of plastic waste per year (Lebreton and Andrady, Future scenarios of global plastic waste generation and disposal 2019). In populous and developing countries, like China and India, a lower per capita plastic usage is coupled with a higher population density that will yield large volumes of plastic waste generated. High rates of plastic waste generation combined with inappropriate waste management infrastructures in densely populated developing economies will result in significantly higher volumes of plastic waste generation and leakage into the environment. The present global geography of mismanaged plastic waste generation is disproportionally higher in Asian and African continents. The higher-economy countries, including most of Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North America, Australia, and South Korea, have highly effective waste management infrastructure, and this directly implies that the discarded plastic waste is securely managed. In contrast, across many low-tomiddle-income countries across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, inadequately disposed waste can be high. A huge amount of plastic waste produced in these regions is inadequately disposed of and therefore at risk of polluting rivers and oceans. The influence of mismanaged plastic waste is strongly reflected in the global distribution of waste input into the ocean environment. An understanding of the global picture on waste management is needed to address the ocean plastic pollution problem. The countries across North America and Europe produce significantly higher quantities of per capita plastic waste, but it is well managed, and a very little quantity of the produced waste is at the risk of entering the ocean environment. Figure 2 represents the global distribution of the mismanaged plastic waste combined in the region of the world, in the year 2010 (this date is the measure of the total waste mismanaged by population within 50 km of the coastline, i.e., the produced waste in these regions has high risk of entering the ocean environment). 60% of the world’s total mismanaged plastic waste is coming from the countries in East Asia and Pacific regions. Countries under the South Asian region rank second; however, it is noticeable that these regions have five times less
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Europe and Central Asia 3.60% North America 0.90%
Middle East and North Africa 30.00% South Asia 11.00%
Sub-Saharan Africa 8.90%
East Asia and Pacific 60.00%
Latin America and Caribbean 7.20%
Fig. 2 Global mismanaged plastic by region in 2010 (Jambeck et al. 2015)
with 11% of the total world’s mismanaged plastic. Following this sub-Saharan Africa is at 9%, the Middle East and North Africa are at 8.3%, Latin America is at 7.2%, Europe and Central Asia are at 3.6%, and North America is at 1%.
Global Ocean Plastic Source: Land Versus Marine There are several studies on establishing ocean plastic mass balance in our marine networks. The principal focus of this section is to understand the source of plastic, where the plastic is getting accumulating, and how far and deep it goes once plastic enters the marine network. This reasoning is crucial in optimizing the mitigation strategies and also to plan the future ocean cleanup measures. Mitigation of marine littering requires the combination of preventive and curative approaches, from controlled consumer demand and better waste management infrastructure with appropriate collection technology. Plastic in the marine environment can arise from both land- and marine-based sources. The pathway and the sources of marine litter are diverse, and the exact quantities and the paths of the plastic waste inputs are not fully known. However, there is a lot of research that aims to determine the exact quantities and types of plastic litter and pathways in the environment. Most of the plastic in our oceans originates from land-based sources, and the studies suggest that developing economies are responsible for higher pollution (Jambeck et al. 2015). The study also showed that almost 83% of the 4.8–12.7 million tons of land-based plastic waste that are ending up in the ocean originated from 20 countries (China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam,
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Sri Lanka, Thailand, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, South Africa, India, Algeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Brazil, Burma, Morocco, North Korea, and the USA). Marine-based sources refer to the pollutants arising from the fishing fleets that include the discarded fishing gears, shipping activities, legal and illegal dumping by shipping industries, and sometimes abandoned vessels. At the global level, United Nations estimates that approximately 80% of the global marine plastic pollutants originate from land-based sources, and the waste inputs from municipalities, industries, and runoff significantly account for this. The remaining 20% comes from marine-based sources, and of this 20%, it is estimated that 10% directly arises from fishing fleets (UNEP 2019). However, some studies estimate a slightly higher contribution from marine sources as 28% (Lebreton et al. 2018), but the land-based sources remain dominating with the contribution of about 70–80%, while the relative contribution of land-based sources will vary depending on geographical location and context. Low- and middle-income countries have a significantly higher share to the ocean plastic pollution, and according to estimates (Jambeck et al. 2015), the huge amount of plastic leakage into the ocean stems from China and Southeast Asian countries such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. G20 countries such as Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa play a significant role, too. Further, some researchers have found out that the leakage of plastic into the ocean is also season-specific and it is estimated that over 74% of the plastic leakage into the ocean in Asia occurs between May and October (Lebreton et al. 2017). Figure 3 illustrates the comparison between the global plastic waste generated with inadequately managed and the plastic waste inputs from rivers into the ocean
Fig. 3 Comparison of global plastic waste generated, mismanaged plastic waste, and river plastic inputs into oceans (million tons per year) (Ritchie and Roser 2018; Lebreton et al. 2017)
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aggregated by geographical locations. From the data, it is clear that Asia has tremendously higher global shares of the amount of plastic waste generated, mismanaged plastic waste, and river plastic inputs. Despite higher waste being generated in Europe, Central and North America, and South America, the produced waste is properly handled leading to significantly lesser global shares of mismanaged plastic and the plastic inputs from rivers to the ocean from these regions. It is evident from the figure that the river plastic input from Asia dominates with whooping 86% (1.21 million tons per year) of the global total and followed by Africa at 7.8% (0.12 million tons per year) and South America at 4.8% (0.07 million tons per year). Central and North America, Europe, and the Australia-Pacific region together account for just over 1% of the world total.
Marine Littering in India Cause and Effect India’s booming economy and status as an emerging economy are driving demand for more plastic products. Over the last 6 years, production capacity has virtually doubled to current approximately 16 million tons per annum in 2020 (Plastic foundation, 2020). Using the same growth rate, the production of plastics could double to about 32 million tons per annum by 2030. Aside from this, single-use plastics constitute about 50% of all plastics produced in India. This does not include plastics imports into India. From the production perspectives alone, about eight million tons of all plastics produced in India in 2020 will end up as waste after its first-time use if all the plastics produced are used locally. Waste management is still a challenge in India even though progress has been made over the last few years. The collection efficiency of municipal solid waste (MSW) in India varies between urban cities and rural communities (Sharma and Jain 2019). While urban cities have a higher collection efficiency of about 80%, only 50% of the waste generated in small cities and communities are collected leaving the rest as litter. More worrisome is the fact that only 23% of the entire waste stream in India is treated. Thus, 77% of the waste stream ends up in open dumpsites or as litter in India. In terms of composition, organic waste constitutes more than 50% of the waste, while plastics account for about 9%. The low fraction of plastics in the waste stream is primarily due to the fact that India has a fairly low per capita use of plastic of about 11 kg per year compared to the USA of 109 kg per year (Teri 2016). However, with a population of 1.35 billion, it multiplies into more than 14.8 106 tons of plastic consumed every year. Despite India’s rather low per capita plastic consumption, India produces about 9.4 106 tons per annum of plastic waste among which almost 40% of plastic waste produced is neither collected nor recycled. This translates into nearly 3.8 x 106 tons per annum of mismanaged plastics waste which could end up as marine litter (Government of India 2019).
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Pathways to Marine Littering in India Several major, medium, and small rivers in India which flow for thousands of kilometers from their headwaters together with runoff carry huge loads of plastic to their deltas in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea and finally making their way to the ocean. One of the core reasons for this huge amount of plastic entering the ocean is due to the abundance of uncollected single-use and multilayered plastic in the environment. The informal sector does not collect or recycle these as there is no market value for these materials and the business models do not function due to their bulkiness in volume for very less price. On June 5, 2018, India hosted World Environment Day with the theme of “Beat Plastic Pollution.” On this occasion, the government of India urged industries, communities, and individuals to join hands to urgently reduce the production and excessive use of single-use plastic which is significantly influencing the marine ecosystem and threatening human health (UN Environment 2018). On this same day, the government also announced its intention to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022. This announcement has encouraged state-specific bans on the production, supply, storage, and use of some categories of single-use plastics that have already been implemented in at least 25 of the country’s 29 states. In 2009, Himachal Pradesh became the first Indian state to ban plastic and polythene shopping bags. Under National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, the capital city Delhi adopted a strict ban on single-use plastic that includes bags, cutlery, cups, and plates in 2017, and the southern state Karnataka took a step forward by completely banning single-use plastic items in 2016 (Nicholls 2016). Few states, viz., Gujarat and Goa, have also introduced partial bans and restricting the use of plastic in the areas surrounding historic, religious, and natural sites (Rastogi 2018). Most recently, in June 2018, Mumbai, India’s commercial nerve capital, and the state capital of Maharashtra became the country’s largest city to enforce a complete ban on 22 plastic items, including plastic shopping bags and disposable polystyrene plates and cutlery (Sampathkumar 2019). However, the ban in Mumbai exempts for retail and takeaway packaging, trash can liners, and additional relaxation was made to the ban on Saturdays of every week, in response to pressure from businesses (The Hindu 2018). There is an enormous apparition for such stringent bans placed on plastic nationwide; nevertheless, there is serious doubt on such highly ambitious decisions implemented almost nationally. In most of the states, the current prohibitions on plastic have proven to be problematic in terms of enforcement and implementation. So far the outcome is not satisfactory. For instance, in the northern state of Punjab, there is a complete prohibition on the use of polythene bags; however, people continue to use them (Parvaiz 2018). Nevertheless, there are huge gaps from the policy enforcement from a country level to the state level and further to municipal corporation levels. It is impossible to monitor the implemented strategies without proper guidelines and monitoring tools leading to system failure. The activities of the unskilled informal sector, in addition, are also resulting in the dumping of
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the recovered and sorted plastics which doesn’t have monitorial value directly into the water bodies.
Plastic Inputs from Indian River Catchments into the Global Marine Research estimates that nearly 90% of the total river plastic debris entering the global marine network is produced by the top ten polluted rivers mostly located in Asia. Out of these ten rivers draining a significant amount of plastics into the sea globally, there are three of these rivers flowing through India, which are Ganga, Brahmaputra, and the Indus. However, the river Indus majorly running through Pakistan carries the second-highest amount of mismanaged plastic derbies into the sea. Meghan, Brahmaputra, and the Ganges having their major catchments areas in India are ranked sixth among the world’s top ten plastic-inputting rivers (Schmidt et al. Export of Plastic Debris by Rivers into the Sea 2017). The river Ganges is a river of extreme complexity with a length of 2525 km and flows through four different countries. The Ganges is the primary water source for 400 million people (Lebreton et al. 2017) in the proximity of the catchment and is worshiped by about 1 billion Hindus. Likewise, the river Brahmaputra originates in Tibet flowing through three countries, being the major source of water in east and northeast India, and culminates in Bangladesh. The significant increase in the population, urbanization, and industrialization in these river basins without proper waste management system has considerably contributed to the plastic load on to the river and concurrently to the sea. The rivers Meghan, Brahmaputra, and Ganges have a total catchment area of 1.5 million km2. About 0.62 billion people reside in this catchment area and produce about 3.017 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste (MMPW) every year (Schmidt et al., Supporting Information – Export of plastic debris by rivers into the sea 2018). Similarly, the river Narmada and Tapi in the west and Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri in the south have a significant influence on river plastic input from India (see Fig. 4 and Table 1). The marine plastic load and the concentration in the rivers are linked to the characteristic of the river, urban land use, economic status, population density, and the education of people in the respective regions. Additionally, marine plastic input is directly influenced by the increase in tourism, shipping, and fishing activities. The recent study determines that a considerable portion of these pollutants floating in the open waters originates from the mismanaged plastic from the cities and the villages alongside these river streams (Pendharkar 2018). The transition of many Indian cities into megacities has the corresponding infrastructural challenges that come with it. Due to lack of adequate space, natural waterways are often converted to residential and commercial facilities. This results in the possibility of flooding. Additionally, the need for improved sanitation requires the proper transportation of sewage sludge to treatment facilities to be treated. This has resulted in the construction of sewers to carry sewage sludge generated in households and storm drains to carry runoff water to prevent the
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Fig. 4 GIS image explaining the river plastic inputs from different river basin into the global marine network
Rivers Catchment area km2 MMPW per capita [kg d-1] Population [millions] MMPW generated [tons y-1] Plastic load on sea [tons y-1] (Micro + macro)
Ganges + Brahmaputra 1,571,571 0.013 620.59 3,017,170 72,845
Narmada 95,804 0.009 19.65 62,888 85
Tapi 64,161 0.009 19.42 62,153 83
Godavari 309,453 0.009 68.52 219,231 753
Krishna 257,908 0.009 81.07 259,363 1011
Kaveri 78,063 0.009 31.34 100,270 192
Mahanadi 135,158 0.0009 31.20 99,821 191
Table 1 Overview of the Indian river basins features and the amount of plastic entering the marine system (Schmidt et al., Supporting Information - Export of plastic debris by rivers into the sea 2018)
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incidence of flooding during heavy monsoon events. Two systems are usually deployed; however, due to cost-effectiveness and convenience in handling, India’s preference is to deploy separate systems to collect runoff water from rains and sewage from households. While most sewers are covered in India in conformity with standards for improved sanitation, storm drains are left open and are thus susceptible to poor waste management. According to Mahapatra et al. (2011), poor solid waste management is the major cause of choked storm drains in Bangalore city. The study found out that over 90% of all storm drains visited had remnants of household waste present in them. This was primarily due to the open nature of these storm drains. The lack of proper waste management facilities in India means that people dump household waste indiscriminately into storm drains. Further, during heavy rains, uncollected and untreated MSW is carried away by the runoff water into open drains. The storm drains carry the MSW into rivers and streams which intend to carry it into the marine environment. The debate to either cover or leave the storm drains is a raging one with several experts in India supporting open drains against covered drains. Until the problem of solid waste is properly contained, storm drains will act as important conduits for the transportation of marine litter from communities into the rivers and subsequently into the marine environment.
Actions to Mitigate Marine Littering in India Several models in literature have attempted to find the optimum conditions to effectively manage municipal solid waste. Cost-effective models where the focus is on sustainable logistic/supply chain in the waste management sector taking into consideration the collection, transportation, and promotion of recycling are one of the most widely investigated models. Such models fail to look at treatment options. Here, the objective function is to minimize the cost of operation taking into consideration all the factors that matter in the collection and transportation such as choice of route, operation times, and operation frequency. On the other hand, the focus of environmental justice models is on ameliorating or mitigating the environmental cost of waste management. Model is mostly based on the life cycle cost analysis of the entire process; placing special emphasis on the environmental cost of treatment options, choice of treatment, and disposal sites to minimize their environmental effect is usually the main focus of such models. Even though the models are good, one major drawback of such models is the lack of good data to validate the model. Lastly, waste management models usually focus on the hierarchical policy options of which landfilling/waste disposal option on the top of the pyramid as the least option of choice for solid waste management. Other options like reuse, recycle, and reduction of waste occupy the lower layers of the pyramid in that order. More sophisticated models using linear programming, artificial neural networks, and stochastic models have been attempted in the past. While these models address critical aspects of the waste management matrix, they fail to look at the impact of specific policy options on
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reducing marine littering in India and the effect of such policy options on socioeconomic implications such as employment generation, etc. The current model is a simplified linear model that evaluates the impact of actions on marine litter reduction in India. The model looks at the four main actions: extended producer responsibility (EPR), beach cleaning, marine cleaning, and waste management in general. The combined effect of EPR, awareness creation, beach cleaning, and ocean cleaning on plastic waste collected in India is described by Eqs. 1 and 2. P¼
X
½EPR þ Awareness creation þ Beach cleaning þ Ocean cleaning
þ Po
ð1Þ
where Po is the current daily collection rate and P is the daily amount of plastics potentially saved from entering the marine environment. The current collection and recycling rate of plastics according to the Indian government stands at 60% of all plastic waste generated. This translates to about 15,600 tons/day of plastic waste recycling. P¼
n X
½xi Pr þ ½yi Pr þ ni Pr þ mi Pr ð1 xi Þ þ Po
ð2Þ
i¼j
where Pr is the daily plastic generation rate in India xi is the fraction of plastic waste that can be collected through the EPR system yi is the fraction of plastic waste disposed properly and not dumped indiscriminately mi is a fraction of plastics removed for treatment through beach cleaning, and ni is the fraction of plastics removed from the ocean for treatment. The fraction of plastic waste collected through the EPR system can be estimated by Eq. 3 n P
xI ¼
i¼0
ðdaily formal plastic collection rate þ daily informal collection rate Þ Daily plastic generation rate ð3Þ
where j ¼ the plastic component (PE, PET, PVC, LDPE, etc.) n P
yi ¼
i¼j
½daily formal plastic collection rate þ daily informal plastic collection rate Daily plastic generation rate ð4Þ
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mi ¼
plastic waste collected daily through beach cleaning
i¼0
n P
ni ¼ i¼0
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fraction of plastic waste generated daily
ð5Þ
plastic waste collected daily through marine cleaning fraction of plastic waste generated daily
ð6Þ
The quantity of plastics litter/waste with the potential of entering the marine environment can be described by Eq. 7. Even though not all plastic waste or litter may end up in the marine environment, Eq. 7 gives a good estimate of India’s standpoint regarding marine litter pollutants and what needs to be done to reduce this number. Pm ¼ Pr P
ð7Þ
where Pm is the daily rate of plastic with the potential of entering the marine environment in India
Impact of EPR on Recycling The EPR has been a widely hailed policy in Europe which has resulted in increased plastic waste collection and recycling in countries like Germany. India recognizing the potential of EPR to increase recycling has tried its implementation previously. As part of the 2016 comprehensive policy on plastic waste management, extended producer responsibility was mentioned as one of the key instruments for reducing the plastic waste generation. The EPR system is to be modeled as a pollution prevention system with financial cost backed by environmental standards. The EPR is to serve as the pivot around which large corporations develop and implement sustainable business lines by ensuring that the impact of their products is predetermined. However, EPR should not only be about large corporations, rather as an integral part of the waste management plan, but it should also be holistic and capture all stakeholders especially the informal sector. Currently, India is known to recycle 60% (TERI 2018) of the over 26,000 tons/ day of plastic generated leaving behind about 10,400 tons per day. Out of the over 15,600 tons of plastic waste recycled, 70% is attributed to large plastic/formal plastic recycling industries in India. This is evident from the 90% recycling rate for PETs. The remaining 30% is either taken up by the informal sector (20%) or reused in homes (10%) (Government of India 2019). This underscores the important role of the informal sector playing in ensuring a circular economy in India. It is imperative that the recycling system is not separated from the collection system. In all collection options including formal and informal systems are adequately considered and factored into the design of the entire program. However, the success of EPR
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implementation in India is expecting that very little producers are collecting and recycling the waste produced by their products. Primarily, the lack of a waste segregation mechanism and inappropriate collection system is making it relatively impossible for a producer to take back their product in an uncontaminated form. In this concern, to challenge the use and throwaway society, India has to adapt and imitate the success stories of the western world. Several models of the EPR have been drawn up and under review with no specific decision yet on which specific model has to be adopted. The most attractive one seems to be the “Green Dot” system. As German manufacturers failed to achieve their EPR objectives of collecting and recycling their products, Dual-System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) was established to take care of the whole recycling process. DSD created the Green Dot System in Germany in 1991. The main objective of Green Dot was to develop coordination between the collection, sorting, and recycling of used packaging waste in Germany. The crux here is that manufacturers and retailers have to pay Green Dot on the basis of packaging weight and the number of units sold in Germany. This system has led to less packaging materials usage resulting in less waste to be recycled. The net result of this system is a significant decline of almost one million tons less garbage than normal every year in Germany alone. Green Dot system has achieved greater success with a total of 95,000 licensees using the trademark in 20 countries of Europe (Grune punkt). In India, it is however important that the policy under concern take into consideration the strong role played by the informal sector. Aside from the informal sector taking up a significant percentage of recycled plastic waste, they also serve as a very important social buffer that can be heavily relied on when the conventional recycling systems fail. Moreover, they also double as an effective medium to increase the percentage of the waste that will fall outside the conventional waste collection stream. A payback scheme will not only ensure the full participation of the informal sector but also ensure that the plastic waste streams outside of the conventional collection systems are taken care of. The effective plastic recycling infrastructure can be built by intensive stakeholder engagement involving manufacturers, academia, civil societies, and the informal sector operatives to achieve a certain level of harmony and the assurance of the needs and expectations of all stakeholders are brought to bear. Furthermore, the engagement will deal with some of the associated risks the informal sector is exposed to. It is expected that with the tacit involvement of the informal sector and with the successful EPR practice, the recycle rate could reach about 90% as opposed to the case where the informal sector is alienated or not factored into the design of the extended producer responsibility program (see Table 2).
Impact of EPR on Job Creation The EPR is known to be a very good job creation vehicle in both the formal and informal sectors. For instance, Germany was able to create about 290,000 sustainable jobs in the waste management and secondary packaging sectors after the introduction of EPR (GIZ 2018). There is an opportunity for creating sustainable jobs in India when the EPR is properly implemented. For instance, it is estimated that
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Table 2 Anticipated recycling rate after successful implementation of EPR and strong participation of the informal sector (Government of India 2019) Indices Waste generation Current recycle rate Uncollected waste stream Recycle rate increase with successful EPR practice Recycle rate increase with successful EPR practice and strong informal participation
The fraction of plastic waste in % 100% 60% 40% 70% (projected) 90% (projected)
Actual plastic waste, t/day 26,000 15,600 10,400 18,200 23,400
about 1.5–4 million people are employed in the informal waste management sectors in India (Bhattacharya 2017). Women constitute the majority, and in some cases like in Pune City, women account for about 90% of the total number of informal sector workers (WIEGO 2012). One of the key challenges of the informal waste sector is the collection of dumping fees or avenues to sell the collected waste. The absence of a framework to address this huge problem does not only create a problem of trust but also a lack of interest by the informal sector to go the extra mile to collect recyclable waste. With the introduction of the EPR and assured sustainable cash streamflow from producers and importers, the informal sector is assured of fixed prices and consistent payment of fees for the collected waste. Further, a public-private partnership that recognizes and transforms the informal sector as integral agents in the waste management economy will ensure full participation and the adoption of environmentally friendly approaches to recycling in the informal sector. This is expected to trigger a corresponding increase in the number of waste pickers in the informal sector. It is projected that there could be a 25–50% increase in the number of waste pickers across India. Additionally, the current number of recycling companies will either be forced to increase their capacities which will create additional employment or secondary packaging industries will spring up to take up some of the collected waste due to the financial arrangement available under the EPR system. Plastic recycling is known to generate about six times more jobs than the production of plastics from virgin polymers. In that case, India’s 1.1 million people employed in the plastic production industry could witness a surge to about six million people once an effective EPR system is implemented (see Fig. 5). Additionally, a significant amount of jobs can be created by extending the formal waste management practice, with the efforts of awareness creation as well as with beach and ocean cleaning. These initiatives will not only create jobs but also aid in the overall waste management in India and thus reducing the plastic entering the marine environment. For an instance, increasing the formal waste management efforts by 50% can not only increase the number of people working in the formal sector by half but can aid in the management of an extra 40,200 tons of MSW per day.
Impact of EPR on the Quantity of Waste Collected An effective and successfully implemented EPR has the potential to significantly increase the amount of waste collected and recycled. It has been evidenced in EPR
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Fig. 5 Impact of successful implementation of EPR on job creation
pioneering countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark the amount of recycled collected increased considerably after the introduction of EPR. The biggest change in terms of the quantity of waste collected is expected to be coming from the informal sector in India. Considering 2.5 million people working in waste collection and with the plastic waste collection efficiency of 6.29 kg of plastic waste per day (Chandramohan et al. 2010), about 15.700 tons/day of plastic waste can be collected by the informal sector. This constitutes about 60% of the plastic waste generated in India every day. As shown in Fig. 7, should the number of waste collectors increase by 25% and 50% and work with the same level of efficiency as pertains now, there will be a corresponding linear increase in the daily amount of waste collected to about 19,600 and 23,500 tons, respectively. Given fact that about 60% of the plastic waste generated in India is collected, this increase in the collection rate by the informal sector is likely to have a significant impact on the waste management situation. The amount of uncollected plastic waste is likely to see a reduction to 25% and 10%, respectively. Such a significant increase in the quantity of waste collected is likely to trigger a significant increase in the entire waste recycling rate when the informal sector is fully integrated (Fig. 6).
Impact of Beach Cleaning Beaches form an essential component of the marine ecosystem. Aside from this, beaches present a huge economic potential because of their recreational value. As a result, marine litter does not only affect the flora and fauna of the ecosystem but also presents a huge economic loss to the country due to the loss of potential recreational value. Beach cleaning, therefore, serves a dual purpose: retaining the economic
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Fig. 6 Impact on uncollected waste by increasing the current percentage of the informal waste collector by 25 and 50%
potential of the beach and ensuring the removal of litter from the beaches to preserve the marine ecosystem. Thus, beach cleaning is one of the popular actions used to mitigate marine littering. In 2018 according to the Ocean Conservatory 2019, a single day’s campaign to clean the beaches around the world resulted in nearly 12 million tons of plastic being removed from beaches. In India, it is estimated that plastic debris density on Mumbai beach could reach about 7.49 g/m2 (Wang et al. 2017). In 2017, a volunteer beach cleanup project carried out in Versova, Mumbai, India, is still considered as the “world’s largest beach cleanup project” by the United Nations. Led by a young lawyer and environmentalist Afroz Shah, the team was successful in transforming the filthy beach to a fabulous beach by collecting staggering 5300 tonnes of trash and plastic from 2.5 km stretch beach within a period of 21 months (Arora 2017). This cleanup got a greater appreciation from the UN and environmentalist worldwide, and there is further need for astonishing initiatives like this in the rest of India and the world. Weekly efforts to remove trash from the beach in Mumbai have resulted in about 12,000 tons of plastic litter being removed over a period of 119 weeks (Martinko 2020). This works out to an average of about 100 tons of trash which is mostly plastics removed each week. This constitutes about 1% of the current mismanaged plastics in India. Beach cleanup is a community-based approach that involves volunteers, with the motivation to reduce and recovers large amounts of accumulation on the seashore and to prevent plastics from entering into the ocean or seas. The Ocean Conservancy reported that over 60% of plastic wastes found on a shore originated from recreational activities (Ocean Conservancy 2011). Removing plastic wastes from beaches (via beach cleanup) is a measure aimed to tidy up the marine environment and has been found highly effective in reducing the threat of microplastic.
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So far most of the efforts at beach cleaning have been driven purely by the spirit of volunteerism. People who feel the need to join the campaign do so willingly without any financial reward. The government has not taken any keen interest in rolling out a sustainable beach cleaning exercise. It is therefore difficult to estimate the job creation potential of this mitigation action also given the fact that experts disagree on the most appropriate cleaning mechanism to employ. While some experts favor mechanized cleaning due to its limited damage to microfauna and flora on the beaches, others prefer manual cleaning due to its job creation potential as well as the efficiency of cleaning. At the moment researchers do not see any immediate policy move by the local government or federal government of India to formalize beach cleaning. This could also be due to the lack of rigid supervisory and monitoring that must be in place before such a move is made. In light of the above, beach cleaning is expected to play a marginal role in any effort to reduce marine litter from entering the marine environment.
Ocean Cleaning Even though the exact amount of plastic waste in the ocean is unknown, few studies have attempted to quantify this by estimating more than 100 million tons of debris items in 12 regional seas, while another study reported that there are about 51 trillion particles floating on the surface of the ocean (Löhr et al. 2017). Due to the effect of drift in ocean current, the litter entering the ocean at any point moves across geographical borders with ease thus compounding the problem of marine litter. As a result, even though some advanced countries have launched individual efforts to clean the oceans, the problem is more global in nature and thus requires a global effort. India is yet to launch any major effort at cleaning its oceans. So far efforts have been mainly marginal and at best experimental with no real effort in place either at the local or the federal government level to clean the oceans.
Awareness Creation Several researchers have highlighted the need for countries to implement sustainable waste management policies to combat marine littering. Once the waste management net is able to capture the waste, at least the incidence of littering, leaks into the environment, and improper management of the waste is avoided. However, at the pinnacle of integrated waste management or circular economy is the awareness creation. What are the level of awareness creation regarding integrated solid waste management, the effect of indiscriminate dumping of waste among locals, and those living along the watersheds of major rivers? In urban and peri-urban communities. The lack of awareness of integrated solid waste management is a reflection of how people handle waste in general. For instance, only 28% of the waste generated in India is collected with the remaining ending up in open landfills and dumpsite (Sharma and Jain 2019). Raising awareness in public is a powerful, accelerating
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tool to promote voluntary measures and self-regulation in public, and this strategy has the potential to reinforce legal and economic instruments by creating an awareness on the needs and benefits of such measure and gaining the support of the public (Sherrington et al. 2014). There is a need for the public to see the link between their plastic consumption patterns and the associated consequences in terms of the environment. It is vital to set up educational outreach and public awareness programs from various governmental and nongovernmental (NGOs) agencies to educate and promote change in people’s perception and perspective, in order to frontier the indiscriminate disposal of plastic wastes into the environment. Particularly in developing countries like India, which does not have effective waste management systems because of the lack of infrastructure to cope with the increasing level of plastic pollution, this particular approach can be very useful. Workshops, projects, and campaigns on marine litter pollution and its management, conservation, and protection must be organized for the public and students and in larger numbers. Education and awareness campaigns targeting communities, schools, and industries have been proven successful in changing both children’s and adult’s behavior (Ogunola et al. 2018).
Model Demonstrating the Current and Projected Impact of Several Waste Management Pathways The projections are made by considering India’s population in the year 2018 (The World Bank 2019) and the per capita waste generation of 0.4 kg/day (Bhat et al. 2018). Our predictive model suggested that India is producing about 536 thousand t/ day of MSW and with a 50% increase in the current efforts of various waste management pathways (see Fig. 7), there is a possibility to manage additionally around 25% of the overall waste generated. Currently, it is known that between 2.5 million people are working in the informal waste management sectors in India. Considering each person collecting 13.6 kg (Chandramohan et al. 2010) of recyclable waste/day can lead to the collection of 34 thousand t/day of recyclable waste collection. With the effective formal-informal partnership, assured of fixed prices, and consistent payment of fees for the collected waste, it is possible to make the informal sector as integral agent in the waste management economy. Furthermore, this also fosters full participation and an increase in the number of informal workers in India. The anticipation of increasing people working in the informal sector by 25% will increase the waste processing to 42 thousand t/day only by the informal sector. This leads to a waste processing percentage to 7.8% only by informal waste workers. Similarly increasing the efforts of informal waste management by 50% can increase the total waste processed to 51 thousand tons/day, which is about 9.5% of total MSW processed compared to the current efforts of the informal sector at 6.4% (only recyclable waste considered). The formal waste management sector currently contributes to the management of about 15% of the total generated MSW. Increasing these efforts by 50% can increase the MSW processing to 120 thousand tons/day, which is about 22.5% of the total
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Fig. 7 Model depicting the current and projected impacts of several waste management pathways on increasing the waste management rate. (All numbers are in tons/day of waste processed)
MSW generated. Further, increasing the efforts to 100% can lead to the management of 160 thousand tons of MSW/day, i.e., 30% of generated MSW processed compared to the current efforts of the formal sector at 15% (waste being landfilled is not included). In addition to appropriate legislation and strong technical support, public awareness and participation are the critical components in successful waste management. The public needs to have a proper understanding of their waste and the management pathways, without which the success rate of even the best waste management plans can become questionable. Considering about 2.5% of the managed waste is currently fostered by awareness creation, and doubling the current awareness efforts will help to manage about 26.8 thousand t/day MSW. The greatest sources of marine litter are land-based activities, and regulating land-based sources will directly contribute to
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the waste entering the marine environment. As shown in projections, increasing the efforts of several waste management pathways will not only decrease the amount of unprocessed waste but also significantly decrease the amount of waste entering the marine environment. However, depending on the area, sea-based sources also contribute directly and considerably to marine pollution. The effective cleaning efforts of marine and beaches can directly reduce the marine littering and aid in faster restoration. As per the above model, it is expected that the beaches and marine cleaning can contribute to 2% of overall waste processing, i.e., cleaning and processing of around 10 thousand tons of marine and beach litter/day.
Importance of Collaborating International and Regional Marine Debris Network in Mitigating Marine Littering Global Efforts to Support Marine Litter Actions The global efforts aiming for the action to reduce and prevent marine pollution and to mitigate the corresponding impacts have significantly increased in the recent past. These efforts include the International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML), London Convention, Honolulu Strategies (UNEP & NOAA), G20 initiatives, and SDG’s targets and plans on marine litter mitigation. MARPOL is one of the most prestigious international marine environmental conventions. It was established by the International Maritime Organization in an effort to reduce pollution of the oceans and seas, waste dumping, oil, and air pollution. The main objective of this convention is to preserve the marine ecosystem in an attempt to completely eradicate pollution by oil and other harmful substances and to minimize accidental spillage of such harmful substances. GPML is international multistakeholder coordination that connects policymakers, the scientific community, civil society, and private sectors to discuss the problems and possible solutions related to the marine littering. The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter is commonly called as “London Convention” or “LC ‘72.” London Convention is an agreement to control pollution of the sea by dumping and to encourage regional agreements supplementary to the Convention. The Honolulu Strategy is a comprehensive planning framework and global effort to reduce the ecological, economic, and human health impacts of global marine pollution. The framework of the Honolulu Strategy is intended to be used for the development or refining tool for the sector-specific marine debris programs and projects (UNEP & NOAA). The Honolulu Strategy has three fundamental goals to reduce marine pollution, and each goal has an accompanying set of strategies. 1st Goal: to reduce the impact and amount of land-based litter and solid waste entering the marine ecosystem
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Table 3 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to marine litter (United Nations 2019)) SDGs SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities To make cities and human settlements safe, resilient, and sustainable
SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production To ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
SDG 14: Life below water Sustainable use conservation of seas, ocean, and marine resources
SDG targets related to marine litter Target 6.3: focuses on untreated wastewater By 2030, the target is to globally increase the water quality by eliminating dumping, reducing pollution, and halving the portion of untreated wastewater and considerably recycling and reusing Target 11.6: focus on municipal and other waste management By 2030, the target is to combat the adverse per capita environmental impacts of the cities. Special attention has to be given municipal and other waste management Target 12.4: focus on environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle By 2020, in accordance with international frameworks, the aim is to achieve environmentally sound waste management and significantly reduce their release to air, water, and soil Target 12.5: focus on waste generation reduction through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse by 2030 Target 14.2: focus on sustainable management By 2020, sustainable management and protection of marine ecosystems by strengthening their resilience and actions to restore the ocean 14.c Targets to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of ocean, sea, marine, and their resources by implementing the international law reflected in UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)
2nd Goal: to reduce the impact and amount of all sorts of sea-based sources entering the marine ecosystem 3rd Goal: aims in reducing the impacts of already accumulated marine litters Furthermore, four of the existing SDGs have targets specifically to combat marine plastic pollution (see Table 3). These objectives specifically deal with the sustainable waste management in the cities, life cycle management of the waste, and wastewater treatment and simultaneously focusing on 3R and sustainable management of the ocean.
G20 Action At the G20 ministerial meeting 2019, the protection of the marine environment and tackling marine plastic litter were high on the agenda, and it was acknowledged that particularly plastic pollution in the marine environment is posing a global threat. The
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communique made by the G20 summit 2019 calls for the action to address marine plastic pollution including microplastic and another type of marine litter and to address the adverse effects ecosystem, human health, livelihood, and economy by adopting the framework deed on marine plastic pollution (G20 Summit 2019). The current “G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter” was built and adopted from the Action Plan on Marine Litter that was adopted at the G20 Summit in 2017, in Germany, and aims to facilitate further action while taking national policies, approach, and the situation in consideration. The current action framework is predicted to complement the works of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) on single-use plastic and marine litter. For the successful implementation of the action plan, G20 has planned to promote a comprehensive life cycle methodology to “urgently and effectively” preclude the discharge of plastic litter into the ocean. The planned methodology of G20 focuses particularly on the land-based source and promotes the environmentally sustainable waste management solution, prevention and reduction of plastic waste generation, and cleanup of marine plastic. Further, the summit will also promote sustainable production and consumption, including circular economy, resource efficiency, and sustainable materials management (G20 2019). Nevertheless, the action plan also promotes the development of innovative solutions to enhance the national capacities, in cooperation with existing international initiatives. The G20 Environment Ministers further recognize the importance of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 to ensure the sustainable consumption and production patterns; by this the summit highlights the significance of improving resource efficiency to marine litter and foster the life cycle approach to reducing the discharge of waste into the ocean. Within the consortium of G20, the Government of Japan has agreed to support the portal site for efficient information sharing and updating. Shared information focuses on relevant policies, plans, and measures that are taken or intended to be taken voluntarily, in agreement with G20’s action plans on marine litter (G20 Summit 2019). The G20 members also decide to participate in deeds of marine debris networks beyond the G20 consortium to maximize synergies. G20 members will emphasize the importance of regional cooperation with pertinent local bodies and invite respective international organizations to develop the tailor-made policy options/tools to support practices effectively.
Network Comparison and Connection Between Regional, National, and Global Marine Debris Network Strategy to achieve societal change is the formation of marine debris networks which is by providing platforms that not only work at a national or regional scale but also discuss, share ideas, and communicates on a global scale. The influence of marine debris network’s activities is not only limited to certain areas, but they contribute to a variety of fields, inter-alliance education, improvement of stakeholder collaboration, monitoring, capacity building, operationalization, specifications, and road maps to
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implement voluntary and mandatory actions and measures, which contribute to scientific data for research. The role of both national and regional networks in comparison to the global marine networks is different; however, it is interdependent. The national debris network within the country should facilitate a platform for entire stakeholders in the specific region to collaborate and work to find effective tailor-made solutions. By connecting policies and developing recommendations from higher-level organizations, national or regional networks are in a position to bridge top-down frameworks. Furthermore, national and regional networks can provide mechanisms through which countries and organizations can work together in order to achieve a synchronized implementation of actions to deal with sustainability challenges. Global marine networks are not in connection with all the stakeholders on the ground instead of only working with researchers, political decision-makers, and perhaps industry. Therefore, the evaluation shows that national and regional networks cannot be substituted by global networks and national and regional networks can connect to stakeholders within their country, which is in the far reach of global networks (see Fig. 8). Nevertheless, a global fund might help national and regional marine debris networks to overcome their obstacles. One of the most recurrent reasons for the
International agency
Education on new strategies, campaign, news and data
Need for recognition‚ infrastructure, human and finances
Collaboration
Top down approach
National marine waste conservation network
Regional marine waste conservation network
Bottom up approach
Experience exchange Ask for data information, recommendations and network information
Share data information, recommendations and connect
Stakeholders, producers and retailers
Fig. 8 Network connection between regional, national, and global marine debris network, inspired from (Kandziora et al. 2019)
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failure of national and regional networks is the anticipation that collaboration can be done without setting up a coordinating body. In this case, each stakeholder group is organizing its programs according to their priorities. This leads to the obvious replication in both resources and effort. The participation of all stakeholders is the only solution to address this issue (Kandziora et al. 2019).
Conclusion Continuous discharge and accumulation of waste in the ocean have severe impacts on the marine ecosystem, human, and economy. The increased rate of production, indiscriminate disposal practices of plastic waste by people and industries, and the inability of plastic to get degrade in the environment have intensified the problem associated with plastic pollution compared to other issues, viz., climate change and ocean acidification. Increasing population and particularly the development of megacities are making SWM in India a major problem and directly influencing the marine littering. In India, the current waste management relies on the informal sector, inadequate waste infrastructure, and waste landfilling. Challenges in managing waste in India are mostly related to waste legislation, technology selection, and the lack of appropriately trained people in the waste management sector. There is a crucial necessity to foster effective formal-informal participation and collaboration, encouraging the informal sector with assured and consistent payment of fees for the collected waste, appropriate legislation, strong technical support, as well as public awareness and participation. Nevertheless, efforts with beach and marine cleaning can directly aid in reducing marine littering. Given the facts in this chapter, there is urgent action required to reduce the leakage of plastic to the ocean; however, the hard fact is that there is no simple solution to deal with this situation. It is evident that the traditional linear pathway of production, use, and disposal model for plastics is not sustainable and the future stand of the marine environment is devastating. In this concern, there is an emergency need for the development and implementation of more close-looped circular production models. In general, the action plans must involve close cooperation and involvement in international, national, and regional marine networks. The local government, municipalities, and the private sector have to be encouraged to the adoption of more sustainable and closed-looped practices.
References M. Arora, From filthy to fabulous: Mumbai beach undergoes dramatic makeover. CNN (2017). Retrieved 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/22/asia/mumbai-beach-dramatic-make over/index.html R.A. Bhat, S.A. Dar, D.A. Dar, G.H. Dar, Municipal solid waste generation and current scenario of its management in India. IJARSE 07(02), 419–431 (2018)
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composition of Tyre Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Processing of Tyre Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Types of Tyre Wastes Used in Cementitious Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Properties of Cementitious Composites Incorporating Tyre Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thermal Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acoustic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mechanical Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Durability Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interfacial Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benefits of Using Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Major Challenges with the Use of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prospects for the Use of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Urbanization coupled with increasing population has resulted in a consequential generation of a high amount of waste tyres. Due to the high amount of tyre wastes being generated, they end up in landfills or dispose of openly in the environment where they pose huge health, safety, and aesthetic threat. However, with the evolution in the field of cementitious composites, it has been shown that tyre wastes can be recycled as aggregates and fibres in cementitious composites. This chapter explores the use of tyre wastes with a focus on the use of rubber obtained from the recycling of tyre wastes as aggregates/fillers in cementitious composites. A. Adesina (*) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_63
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The influence of the tyre wastes on the physical, mechanical, and durability properties are discussed alongside the challenges associated with the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites. A brief introduction to the prospects of utilizing tyre wastes in cementitious composites was also discussed. Findings presented in this chapter showed that tyre wastes can be utilized in cementitious composites as a sustainable, efficient, and economical avenue to manage tyre wastes. The use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites was found to enhance the acoustic, thermal, and toughness performance. However, there is a detrimental effect of tyre wastes on mechanical performance. Nonetheless, cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes suitable for both structural and structural applications can be produced with proper selection and optimization of the composition of the composites. Keywords
Cementitious composites · Wastes · Tyre wastes · Sustainability · Composites
Introduction Solid wastes generated from various sources pose a huge menace to the environment in addition to the health and safety threat to humans and other living things in the ecosystem. One of the major solid wastes that are generated in large quantities worldwide and its generation is expected to increase significantly in the coming years is tyre wastes from vehicles. The industrial evolution coupled with continuous advancement in technology and urbanization has resulted in the production of an increasing number of vehicles and its corresponding use. However, with the benefits and critical role of vehicles in society also comes a generation of a significant amount of tyres as wastes at the end of their service life. These tyre wastes are referred to as end-of-life tyres (ELTs). It has been estimated that over 1 billion tyres are generated as wastes annually as they have come to the end of their service life (WBCSD 2011). An estimate of the amount of tyre wastes generated annually by different regions is presented in Fig. 1. The conventional methods used to manage these wastes are either by landfilling, burning, or stockpiling. The current amount of tyre wastes stockpiled/landfilled in the United States and Europe has been estimated to be about 1 and 3 billion, respectively (Mohammed et al. 2012). These conventional methods of managing tyre wastes could result in the leaching of dangerous chemicals into the surrounding environment. Due to the tyre wastes being nonbiodegradable, the continual deposition of these wastes in the environment is not feasible and have huge concern globally. The improper disposal of these tyre wastes in the environment creates health, safety, and fire hazards. For example, the stockpiling of tyre wastes would create a breeding ground for mosquitoes and rodents. In addition, the stockpiling of tyre wastes is a high fire hazard that could result in devastating fires when subjected to any form of ignition. When burning is used as a method for managing the tyre wastes, the residue
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Fig. 1 Estimate of annual tyre waste generation
obtained can contaminate the surrounding soil and water. The disposal of tyre wastes in landfills is also not favourable to the environment as they occupy a large volume of space and results in possible contamination of the surrounding soil and groundwater. With a higher amount of wastes anticipated to be generated in the coming years, it is imminent to devise innovative and environmentally friendly ways in which these tyre wastes can be managed effectively and efficiently. Several ways have evolved over the years to manage tyre wastes. Such methods include burying in landfills to using as fuel in energy generation. However, these conventional methods are either detrimental to the environment as mentioned earlier or not economical. For example, there are now limitations of disposal of tyre wastes in landfills due to excessive consumption of land spaces that can be used for other applications. Regions such as Europe have also banned the disposal of tyres wastes in landfills (ETRMA 2015). On the other hand, the sourcing of natural aggregates for the production of cementitious composites is invasive on the aesthetic and sustainability of the environment due to the increasing demand for aggregates (Marceau et al. 2007; Adesina 2018). Also, the transportation and processing of these natural aggregates alongside their corresponding transportation emit greenhouse gases into the environment (Langer and Arbogast 2002; Meyer 2009). Various social costs are also associated with the increasing extraction activities associated with the sourcing of aggregates used in cementitious composites (Winfield and Taylor 2005). With extensive sourcing of these natural aggregates and the increasing demand for cementitious composites, a scarcity of aggregates is imminent. Hence, utilizing alternative materials especially waste materials would help to eliminate the negative impact of
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the sourcing of these natural aggregates on the environment and supplement the reserves of natural aggregates used in cementitious composites (Zega and Di Maio 2011; Adesina 2020). One of the economical and sustainable viable ways to manage tyre wastes is by incorporating them as components in cementitious composites. The use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites is deemed sustainable as it eliminates the need to mine more natural resources and transport over long distances. Also, the incorporation of these tyre wastes in cementitious composites would eliminate the sustainability threat associated with the improper management of the tyre wastes. This chapter presents an overview of the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites. The tyre wastes focused on in this chapter are crumb rubber which is obtained from recycling tyre wastes. In this chapter, a brief overview of the properties of tyre wastes used in cementitious composites and the corresponding influence on the properties of the composites are discussed. A brief discussion on the challenges associated with the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites was discussed alongside prospects associated with its use. It is anticipated that this chapter would be an insightful resource for students, instructors, engineers, scientists, and other stakeholders in the construction and waste management industries.
Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites Composition of Tyre Wastes Tyre wastes are composed of the original material used for the initial production of tyres except with changes in the performance of the materials due to usage during its service life. A typical cross section of a tyre is presented in Fig. 2, and Table 1 presents a typical composition of tyres and the parts they are used for. It can be seen from Table 1 that rubber (i.e., both natural and synthetic) makes up a larger part of tyres. Hence, finding ways to recycle the rubber from these tyres would aid in managing a larger volume of tyre wastes. It is worth mentioning that the composition of tyres varies on applications and geographical locations. Fig. 2 Cross-sectional view of a tyre. (Reproduced with permission from Hita et al. 2016)
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Table 1 Composition of tyres Material Natural rubber Synthetic rubber Carbon black Steel Fabric, fillers, accelerators, etc.
Composition (%) 14–30 14–27 20–28 13–25 10–17
Tyre part Sidewall, thread, piles, bead heel Liner, sidewall, thread Sidewall Bead heel Plies, sidewall, liner
Capacity machine 8000 kg/h Granule
ELT
Steel bead heel extraction and shredder phase
Capacity machine 2000 kg/h Granulating phase
Water Energy consumption consumption 200kg/h 220kW/h
Energy consumption 215kW/h
Capacity machine 2000 kg/h
Rubber powder
Pulverization and separation Steel wires Energy consumption 180kW/h Not clean Textile Fibers
Fig. 3 Conventional recycling process of tyre wastes. (Reproduced with permission from Gigli et al. 2019)
Processing of Tyre Wastes Tyre wastes obtained after the end of their service life from the use by various types of vehicles can be processed into smaller sizes by either mechanical grinding of the tyre wastes at ambient conditions or size reduction carried out after freezing the tyre wastes below the glass transition phase. Of the two methods, the cryogenic method is preferred as it does not alter the properties of the tyres nor produce irregular shapes. However, the cryogenic method is deemed more expensive compared to the mechanical grinding at ambient conditions. Tyre wastes are processed for reuse by separating the component in the tyres into rubber, textile and metal, etc. One of the major components of tyre wastes that can be utilized in cementitious composites is rubber which made up more than 50% of tyres (Yang et al. 2018). The rubber can be processed and utilized as the aggregate or filler component in cementitious composites. After the initial processing of tyre wastes, the rubber component of tyre wastes to be used in cementitious composites can be obtained by various methods such as shredding, separation, and pulverization as depicted in Fig. 3 (Gigli et al. 2019). As mentioned earlier, the focus of this chapter is recycled rubber which is obtained from the recycling of tyre wastes. It is worth mentioning that tyre wastes
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can be utilized for other applications other than in cementitious composites such as in the production of new tyres, coatings and pigments (Kakroodi et al. 2012). However, these other uses require high capital and only utilize a low volume of tyre wastes compared to the overall volume of tyre wastes generated. On the other hand, cementitious composites are the most used building materials in the world, and it is typically made up of more than 50% aggregates/fillers. Hence, the utilization of tyre wastes as aggregates/fillers in cementitious composites would open a pathway to efficiently manage a large amount of tyre wastes.
Types of Tyre Wastes Used in Cementitious Composites In order to be able to incorporate tyre wastes into cementitious composites, it needs to undergo processing to reduce the size of the tyre wastes. Tyre wastes used in cementitious composites as aggregate/fillers are composed of the recycled rubber obtained from the recycling of the tyre wastes. Based on the size of the recycled tyre wastes, it can be classified into two major types referred to as crumb rubber and shredded rubber. These classifications are also related to their corresponding use in cementitious composites. Crumb rubber are tyre wastes which are about 0.075–4.75 mm in size and are used as the replacement of fine aggregate in cementitious composites. Generally, rubber from tyre wastes less than 0.30 mm are referred to as ground waste but can still be classified as crumb rubber and also used as the replacement of fine aggregates or filler in cementitious composites. Rubber from tyre wastes with size greater than 4.75 is referred to as shredded rubber or tyre chips and are used as the replacement of coarse aggregate in cementitious composites. Table 2 presents some physical properties of the crumb and shredded rubber. Various sizes of crumb rubber are shown in Fig. 4. As tyres are blackish, they still retain their colour at the end of their service life. Hence, tyre wastes (i.e., rubber) is black. It is worth mentioning that the lower the size of the tyre wastes, the higher the cost associated with its processing (Pehlken and Essadiqi 2005). Figure 5 presents the estimated cost and processing rate of reducing tyre wastes into various sizes. It can be observed from Fig. 5 that the hourly output decreases and cost increased with the fineness of tyre wastes. In addition to the rubber obtained from recycling of tyre wastes, other materials are obtained that can be incorporated into cementitious composites other tyre wastes such as steel fibres are generated during the recycling of tyre wastes. Figure 6 presents a picture of other components that are generated from the recycling of tyres and can be used as
Table 2 Physical properties of tyre wastes used in cementitious composites Type Crumb rubber
Shredded rubber
Size (mm) 0.60–2.36 1.18–2.36 0.30–3.00 5–10
Density (kg/m3) 536 530 909–973 450
Source Wang et al. (2017) Youssf et al. (2016) Su et al. (2015) Raffoul et al. (2017)
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Fig. 4 Rubber from recycling tyre wastes. (Reproduced with permission from Li et al. 2014)
components in cementitious composites. However, the focus of this chapter is only on the tyre wastes used as aggregates/fillers in cementitious composites (i.e., rubber).
Properties of Cementitious Composites Incorporating Tyre Wastes Physical Properties Workability The incorporation of crumb rubber from tyre wastes into cementitious composites has been reported to reduce workability (Chen et al. 2021). Figure 7 shows the influence of tyre waste content on the workability of cementitious composites in terms of the resulting slump. The reduction in the workability with the incorporation of the tyre wastes can be associated with the rough surface of the crumb rubber coupled with their corresponding irregular shapes compared to those of natural aggregates. However, there exist other studies that showed that the incorporation
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Fig. 5 Cost and processing rate of reducing the size of tyre wastes. (Adapted from Pehlken et al. 2005)
of tyre wastes increased the workability of cementitious composites due to the ability of the tyres wastes not to absorb the mixing solution (Bharathi Murugan and Natarajan 2015). Nevertheless, when higher workability is desired, chemical admixtures such as superplasticizers or mineral admixtures such as fly ash can be incorporated to improve the workability of the cementitious composite.
Density As a result of the lower density of rubber, cementitious composites incorporating the tyre wastes exhibit lower density compared to the conventional cementitious composites. Hence, increasing the content of the tyre wastes would result in more reduction in the density. The increase in the air content with the incorporation of tyre wastes can also be associated with the reduction in the density of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes. Aliabdo et al. (2015) reported a decrease in density of cementitious composites in the range of 9–20% when tyre wastes were used as the replacement of the fine aggregate in the range of 20–100%. This observation is in agreement with various studies where the incorporation of tyre wastes into cementitious composites has been found to yield lower density (Zhang et al. 2015; Kashani et al. 2017). Figure 8 presents the influence of tyre waste used as a replacement of sand up to 30% on the density of cementitious composites. It can be observed that the incorporation of tyre wastes into the composites yielded lower density with more reduction in density with a higher content of the rubber wastes. Hence, cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes can be used in applications where lightweight cementitious composites are required.
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Fig. 6 Other components of recycled tyre wastes (a, b, d) recycled tyre steel fibre and (c, d) recycled tyre polymer. (Reproduced with permission from Chen et al. 2021)
The use of lightweight cementitious composites in place of the normal weight cementitious composites is known to be beneficial in terms of reduction of the dead load of structures and an overall reduction in the cost of construction.
Thermal Properties The incorporation of lightweight materials into cementitious composites and the corresponding reduction in the density has been known to result in higher thermal insulation capacity (Wang and Meyer 2012; Adesina 2020). One of the benefits of incorporating tyre wastes into cementitious composites is the improvement of thermal properties in terms of the reduction in thermal conductivity and a corresponding enhancement of the thermal insulation capacity (Fraile-Garcia et al. 2018). The influence of the content of tyre wastes on the thermal conductivity of cementitious composites, when used as the replacement of sand, is presented in Fig. 9. The lower the thermal conductivity, the higher the thermal insulation capacity. The enhancement of the thermal insulation capacity of cementitious composites when tyre wastes are incorporated can be associated with the low thermal conductivity of
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Fig. 7 Influence of tyre waste content on slump. (Adapted from Batayneh et al. 2008)
Fig. 8 Influence of tyre waste content and size on drying shrinkage. (Adapted from Sukontasukkul 2009)
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Fig. 9 Influence of tyre waste content on thermal conductivity. (Adapted from Aliabdo et al. 2015)
Fig. 10 Concrete blocks made with tyre wastes. (Reproduced with permission from Fraile-Garcia et al. 2018)
the rubber. The thermal conductivity of rubber from the tyre wastes is about 0.25 W/mK, while that of the natural aggregates used in cementitious composites is 1.5 W/mK (Abdel Kader et al. 2012). Hence, the replacement of the natural aggregate with tyre wastes would result in a significant reduction in thermal conductivity of the composite. Due to the enhancement of the thermal insulation capacity of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes, such cementitious composites can be used in the production of rubberized blocks as shown in Fig. 10 that can be used in the construction of low energy buildings.
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Fig. 11 Influence of tyre waste content on attenuation coefficient. (Adapted from Aliabdo et al. 2015)
Acoustic Properties The incorporation of tyre wastes into cementitious composites has been found to improve the acoustic performance in terms of sound insulation (Holmes et al. 2014). The improvement in the sound insulation with the incorporation of tyre wastes can be associated with the reduction in the density of the composites which would result in higher sound absorption capacity (Swift et al. 1999). Similar observations have also been reported by Sukontasukkul (2009) and Aliabdo et al. (2015) where the incorporation of tyre wastes has been found to improve the acoustic insulation of cementitious composites. Figure 11 presents the enhancement of the sound attenuation coefficient with increasing content of tyre wastes. The higher the attenuation coefficient, the higher the sound insulation capacity of the composite. The increase in the porosity of the cementitious composites with the incorporation of tyre wastes could also be responsible for the sound insulation enhancement (Albano et al. 2005). Hence, tyre wastes can be utilized in cementitious composites in the construction of structures that are subjected to high noise environments such as around highways, airports, railways, etc. A schematic of how the use of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes (i.e., crumb rubber) can be used to enhance the sound acoustic performance of a high-rise building is presented in Fig. 12.
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Fig. 12 Possible application of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes for improving acoustic performance. (Source: Wakefield Acoustics Ltd.)
Mechanical Properties Compressive Strength and Modulus of Elasticity The use of tyre wastes as aggregates in cementitious composites would result in a lower compressive strength (Azevedo et al. 2012; Medina et al. 2017). However, the severity of the tyre wastes on the compressive strength is dependent on the content, size, and other physical properties of the tyre wastes used. The reduction in the compressive strength of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes is generally attributed to the low stiffness of the tyre wastes coupled with the poor bond between the tyre wastes and the cementitious matrix. Figure 13 presents the influence of tyre waste content on the compressive strength of concrete at various ages. The use of larger sizes of tyre wastes has also been reported to yield lower compressive strength due to the formation of larger voids (Su et al. 2015). The hydrophobic nature of tyre wastes in contrast to the hydrophilic nature of the cementitious composites could also result in the lower strength observed when these wastes are incorporated. The incompatibility difference of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic nature of the components within the cementitious matrix would result in a weak interfacial bond between these components resulting in lower strength of the composite. Nonetheless, the compressive strength of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes can be improved with the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials to densify the microstructure
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Fig. 13 Influence of tyre waste on compressive strength. (Adapted from Jalal et al. 2019)
(Onuaguluchi and Panesar 2014). Similarly, structural grade cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes (i.e., greater than 25 MPa at 28 days) can still be produced by adjusting the binder composition. Hence, it is critical that when various tyres wastes are incorporated into cementitious composites, innovative initiatives should be put in place in order to improve the compressive strength. On the positive side, the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites has been found to change the failure mode of the composites under compression from brittle to ductile failure (Sofi 2018). Similar to the compressive strength, the incorporation of tyre wastes as aggregates/fillers in cementitious materials results in a reduction in the modulus of elasticity (MOE) (Ling 2011; Son et al. 2011). The lower MOE of cementitious materials incorporating tyre wastes can be associated with its lower elastic modulus compared to that of natural aggregates (Youssf et al. 2017). The influence of tyre wastes content and age on the MOE of cementitious composites is presented in Fig. 14. The study by Li et al. (2014) also showed that the MOE of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes also reduced with decreasing sizes of the and higher content of the crumb rubber used.
Tensile and Flexural Strength Similar to the compressive strength, the incorporation of tyre wastes into cementitious composites is also detrimental to the tensile and flexural strength (Güneyisi et al. 2004; Youssf et al. 2016). The degradation of these properties with the incorporation of tyre wastes can also be associated with the lower stiffness of the tyre wastes which creates weak points within the matrix and would result in
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Fig. 14 Influence of tyre waste on MOE. (Adapted from Jalal et al. 2019)
the failure of the surrounding cementitious matrix when loaded. Hence, increasing the content of tyre wastes in cementitious composites would result in more reduction in tensile and flexural strength as shown in Fig. 15. However, as mentioned earlier, depending on the strength required for the application of the cementitious composites, the binder content can be modified to complement the loss in strength from the incorporation of tyre wastes. Despite the reduction in the tensile and flexural strength capacity of cementitious composites with the incorporation of tyre wastes as aggregates/fillers as shown in Table. . ., their incorporation is beneficial in terms of improving the toughness and ductility (Gesoǧlu et al. 2014; Guo et al. 2014). The use of tyre wastes as aggregates/fillers in cementitious composites has been found to change the failure mode from brittle to ductile. With this enhancement in toughness and ductility, cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes as aggregate/filler are suitable for the construction of structure where higher damping capacity is required.
Durability Properties Permeability The permeability of cementitious composites is a good indication of its overall durability as this presents the ease at which various determinantal materials can penetrate the composite. Similarly, higher resistance to chloride-ion penetration has been observed when tyre wastes are used as aggregate in cementitious
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Fig. 15 Influence of tyre waste on MOE. (Adapted from Thomas et al. 2016a)
composites (Azevedo et al. 2012; Thomas et al. 2016a). This observation corresponds to that of Wang et al. (2017) where the incorporation of tyre wastes was found to result in lower chloride ion penetration due to the lower conductivity of the rubber. However, reduction in permeability of cementitious composites when tyre wastes are used has been mostly reported for crumb rubber and not tyre wastes with higher particle sizes (i.e., shredded rubber) (Güneyisi et al. 2004; Gesoǧlu et al. 2014). The reduction in the permeability of cementitious composites when tyre wastes with smaller sizes (i.e., crumb rubber) are used can be associated with the ability of the small particles to fill the macro voids and reduce the open porosity within the cementitious matrix. Several other studies have also reported that the incorporation of tyre wastes into cementitious composites would yield higher permeability (Bisht and Ramana 2017; Girskas and Nagrockienė 2017). The increase in permeability with the incorporation of tyre wastes in those studies was attributed to the introduction of air voids into the composites as a result of the tyre waste presence. However, the poor interfacial bond between the tyre wastes and the cementitious matrix could also create voids within the composites resulting in higher permeability (Muñoz-Sánchez et al. 2017). In addition, non-uniform distribution of the tyre wastes in the composites would result in agglomeration of the tyre wastes, and a corresponding creation of weak zones within the composites would increase permeability (Bisht and Ramana 2017). Hence, it is recommended to incorporate mineral admixtures such as fly ash and silica fume in cementitious composites made with tyre wastes in order to refine the microstructure of the resulting composites.
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Fig. 16 Influence of tyre waste content and size on drying shrinkage. (Adapted from Sukontasukkul and Tiamlom 2012)
Drying Shrinkage The use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites has been found to yield higher drying shrinkage (Uygunoǧlu and Topçu 2010; Huang et al. 2013b). The increase in the drying shrinkage of cementitious composites when tyre wastes are incorporated can be associated with its lower stiffness and higher flexibility of the tyre wastes which would provide lesser restraint within the matrix. The drying shrinkage of cementitious composites has also been found to increase with a finer particle size as presented in Fig. 16. Hence, it is recommended that shrinkage mitigation techniques be put in place when tyre wastes are incorporated into cementitious composites. The shrinkage resistance of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes can be improved by incorporating mineral and/or chemical admixtures. Resistance to Physical Attacks In contrast to the effect of the incorporation of tyre wastes as aggregates/fillers on the mechanical strengths of cementitious composites, their incorporation can be used to improve the resistance of the composites to physical attacks such as impact and abrasion (Gupta et al. 2014; Thomas and Gupta 2015). A study by Thomas et al. (2016b) showed that the abrasion depth of concrete samples reduced with a higher content of tyre wastes as presented in Fig. 17. This observation is in agreement with other similar studies where tyres wastes were incorporated in various cementitious composites (Kang et al. 2012). The enhancement of the abrasion resistance of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes was ascribed to the reduction of the abrasive powder on the surface of the samples due to the presence of tyre wastes.
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Fig. 17 Influence of tyre waste on abrasion resistance. (Adapted from Thomas et al. 2016b)
Hence, cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes would be suitable for applications where structures are subjected to subsequent dynamic and impact loads. Similarly, rubberized cementitious composites would also be suitable for the construction and rehabilitation of structures such as dam spillways and tunnels due to their higher resistance to abrasion. Tyres wastes can also be incorporated into cementitious composites to improve its resistance to freeze and thaw cycles (Gonen 2018). Cementitious composites subjected to freeze and thaw cycles are prone to expansion and deterioration which would result in a significant reduction in the service life of structures made with such composite. However, the study by Zhu et al. (2012) showed that the freeze-thaw resistance of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes increases with increasing fineness of the waste. Hence, the performance of cementitious composites made with tyre wastes and subjected to freeze-thaw cycles requires comprehensive research in order to have more understanding of the performance of such composites.
Resistance to Chemical Attacks Despite the possible increase in permeability of cementitious composites with the incorporation of tyre wastes, some studies have shown that the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites has also been found to enhance the resistance against chemical attacks such as acid and sulphate attacks (Thomas et al. 2016a). However, similar to the permeability of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes, there exist other contradicting results on the influence of tyre wastes on the chemical attack resistance. A study by Thomas et al. (2016a) reported that cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes up to 20% as replacement of the fine aggregate
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Table 3 Methods to improve the interfacial bond between tyre wastes and cementitious matrix Method Silane coupling agent Coating with limestone powder Soaking in sodium hydroxide solution Incorporation of silica fume Precoating with cement/mortar Ultraviolet radiation Washing with water Partial oxidation Soaking in sulphate acid Soaking in methanol Incorporation of fibres Incorporation of nanomaterials
Source Li et al. (2016) Onuaguluchi (2015) Youssf et al. (2014) Onuaguluchi and Panesar (2014) Najim and Hall (2013) Ossola and Wojcik (2014) Raffoul et al. (2016) Chou et al. (2010) Muñoz-Sánchez et al. (2017) Rivas-Vázquez et al. (2015) Alsaif et al. (2019) Adamu et al. (2018)
exhibited lower resistance to acid attack compared to those made with only natural aggregates.
Interfacial Properties The barely rough surface of tyre wastes results in a lower interfacial bond when used in cementitious composites (Ganjian et al. 2009). Hence, without proper treatment of the tyre wastes, debonding of the tyre wastes from the cementitious matrix and a corresponding lower mechanical strength would be exhibited. The presence of zinc stearate which is used for the production of tyres and diffuses out to form a layer when used in cementitious composites is also responsible for the lower interfacial bond (Youssf et al. 2014). The interfacial bond between tyre wastes and cementitious matrix can be improved in order to enhance the corresponding mechanical and durability properties. Some of the methods that can be used to improve the properties of tyre wastes and the corresponding interfacial bond are listed in Table 3. Other innovative methods have also been developed by incorporating two methods in the enhancement of the interfacial bond between the tyre wastes and the cementitious matrix. Of such method is the two-stage surface treatment developed by Huang et al. (2013a) and Dong et al. (2013) by utilizing both silane coupling agent and enhancing the stiffness of tyre wastes as depicted in Fig. 18.
Benefits of Using Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites Some of the major benefits of utilizing tyre wastes in cementitious composites are briefly discussed: 1. Waste management: the primary advantage of the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites is the sustainable and effective pathway it offers to manage tyre wastes. Compared to the conventional methods of managing tyre wastes; its use
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Rubber particles
(a) Before hydration Hard cores of hydration products
Rubber particles
Silane coupling agent
(b) After hydration Fig. 18 Two stage enhancement of tyre wastes surface. (Reproduced with permission from Huang et al. 2013a)
in cementitious composites would enable higher quantities of the wastes to be managed. 2. Supplement material supply: with increasing demand for materials such as aggregate and fillers for the production of cementitious composites, tyre wastes offer a sustainable alternative to supplement the natural sources of aggregates and fillers used in concrete. Hence, the use of tyre wastes as aggregates in cementitious composites would prevent the possible aggregate scarcity resulting from the production of high quantities of cementitious composites. 3. Conservation of the environment: in addition to the effective management of tyre wastes by incorporating in cementitious composites, the environment is further conserved as the amount of natural materials mined in order to produce cementitious composites are reduced. Hence, there would be no overexploitation of natural resources. Also, the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites would create an avenue to utilize locally generated wastes, thereby reducing or eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the processing and transportation of raw materials. 4. Improved performance of cementitious composites: though the incorporation of tyre wastes is detrimental to the strength performance of cementitious composites, other properties such as thermal and acoustic properties can be improved. Thus,
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tyre wastes can be incorporated as a sustainable alternative to conventional materials to improve the thermal and acoustic properties of cementitious composites 5. Additional income: the increase in the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites would create a market around the recycling of tyre wastes which would result in the generation of employment and income.
Major Challenges with the Use of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites With several benefits with the incorporation of tyre wastes in cementitious composites also comes various challenges. Some of the major challenges associated with the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites are discussed: 1. Lower strength: the major issue associated with the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites is the resulting lower strength. The lower strength is mostly as a result of the lower stiffness of the tyre wastes, the poor bond between the wastes and cementitious matrix, and the possible introduction of voids into the cementitious matrix. 2. Lack of standard: the unavailability of design guidelines to incorporate tyres wastes such as that for natural aggregates does not exist, hence limiting the use of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes for large-scale and commercial applications. 3. Possible fire hazard: tyre wastes used in cementitious composites are mostly composed of rubber which poses a susceptibility to fire occurrence. Due to the lack of understanding of the performance of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes, there is limited application of rubberized cementitious composites in the construction of structures subjected to elevated temperatures. 4. Durability and long-term performance: the majority of the studies on the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites have concluded that there is a corresponding reduction in the mechanical properties when tyre wastes are used. However, there is no consensus on the role of tyre wastes on the durability of cementitious composites especially in terms of porosity and permeability. Similarly, there is no long-term evidence of the resilient performance of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes. Hence, stakeholders in the construction industry are reluctant in incorporating these wastes in cementitious composites despite its economic and sustainability benefits.
Prospects for the Use of Tyre Wastes in Cementitious Composites The continuous advancement in technology and material science is anticipated to result in a significant evolution of the use of tyre wastes in cementitious composites in the coming years. Some of the research and development that are expected in the application of tyre wastes in cementitious composites are briefly discussed:
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1. Development of treatment methods: some studies have shown that the detrimental effect of the incorporation of tyre wastes on the strength properties of cementitious composites can be reduced or eliminated by pre-treating the tyre wastes. Hence, it is anticipated that more innovative treatment methods both mechanically and chemically would be developed soon in order to improve the performance of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes. 2. Development of high-performance rubberized cementitious composites: the availability and development of various high strength binders are expected to yield in the development of rubberized cementitious composites that would exhibit higher performance. Such high-performance rubberized cementitious composites would exhibit higher mechanical strengths, toughness, ductility, and high resistance to both chemical and physical attacks. 3. Development of guidelines and standards: with the increasing use of various waste materials such as tyre wastes in cementitious composites, it is anticipated that guidelines/codes would be developed for the design of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes. Such guidelines would provide specifications on the properties of tyre wastes to be used and the corresponding maximum content for various structural and non-structural applications. 4. Development of low-energy buildings: the prospect to significantly improve the thermal properties of cementitious composites has opened a way to incorporate tyre wastes into various cementitious composites used in building construction. Cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes can be utilized in the construction of various building envelopes such as walls, floors, etc. The improvement of the thermal properties of cementitious composites used in the construction of buildings would result in lower energy usage and demand making such buildings energy efficient.
Conclusion This chapter presents an overview of the utilization of tyre wastes as components in cementitious composites. Tyre wastes explored in this chapter are based on the obtained rubber from the recycling of tyres. Based on the discussion made in this overview, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1. Incorporating tyre wastes into cementitious composites is an effective, economical, and sustainable way to manage the high volume of tyre wastes which is causing huge environmental menace all over the world. 2. The influence of tyre wastes on the performance of cementitious composites is dependent on the size and content of tyre wastes used. 3. The incorporation of tyre wastes into cementitious composites can be used to enhance the thermal and acoustic properties. Hence, cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes can be used in the construction of low-energy buildings and structures around high-noise areas.
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4. Though the incorporation of tyre wastes as aggregates/fillers is detrimental to the mechanical strength of cementitious composites, it can be used to improve other properties such as toughness, ductility, and thermal and acoustic insulation. 5. The lower mechanical strength exhibited by cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes is a result of the lower stiffness of the tyre wastes and poor interfacial bond between the wastes and the cementitious matrix. Hence, utilizing various effective methods to improve the interfacial bond between the tyre wastes and the cementitious matrix can be used to reduce/eliminate this detrimental effect. 6. There is no consensus on the role of tyre wastes on the durability performance of cementitious composites. Studies have shown that the incorporation of tyre wastes enhanced the durability performance of cementitious composites while studies also exist that show that incorporation of tyre wastes into cementitious composites is detrimental to its durability. Hence, it is recommended that this area needs a more dedicated and comprehensive study in order to fully understand the role of tyre wastes on the durability performance of cementitious composites. 7. The most effective way to improve the performance of cementitious composites incorporating tyre wastes is by developing innovative ways to improve the interfacial bonding between the surface of the tyre wastes and the cementitious matrix.
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K.S. Son, I. Hajirasouliha, K. Pilakoutas, Strength and deformability of waste tyre rubber-filled reinforced concrete columns. Constr. Build. Mater. (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j. conbuildmat.2010.06.035 H. Su, J. Yang, T.C. Ling, et al., Properties of concrete prepared with waste tyre rubber particles of uniform and varying sizes. J. Clean. Prod. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.022 P. Sukontasukkul, Use of crumb rubber to improve thermal and sound properties of pre-cast concrete panel. Constr. Build. Mater. (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2008.05. 021 P. Sukontasukkul, K. Tiamlom, Expansion under water and drying shrinkage of rubberized concrete mixed with crumb rubber with different size. Constr. Build. Mater. (2012). https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.07.032 M.J. Swift, P. Briš, K.V. Horoshenkov, Acoustic absorption in re-cycled rubber granulate. Appl. Acoust. (1999). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-682X(98)00061-9 B.S. Thomas, R.C. Gupta, Long term behaviour of cement concrete containing discarded tire rubber. J. Clean. Prod. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.072 B.S. Thomas, R.C. Gupta, V.J. Panicker, Recycling of waste tire rubber as aggregate in concrete: Durability-related performance. J. Clean. Prod. (2016a). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015. 08.046 B.S. Thomas, S. Kumar, P. Mehra, et al., Abrasion resistance of sustainable green concrete containing waste tire rubber particles. Constr. Build. Mater. (2016b). https://doi.org/10.1016/j. conbuildmat.2016.07.110 T. Uygunoǧlu, I.B. Topçu, The role of scrap rubber particles on the drying shrinkage and mechanical properties of self-consolidating mortars. Constr. Build. Mater. (2010). https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.12.027 Wakefield Acoustics Ltd. City of Vancouver Noise Control Manua R. Wang, C. Meyer, Performance of cement mortar made with recycled high impact polystyrene. Cem. Concr. Compos. (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2012.06.014 X. Wang, J. Xia, O. Nanayakkara, Y. Li, Properties of high-performance cementitious composites containing recycled rubber crumb. Constr. Build. Mater. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j. conbuildmat.2017.09.024 WBCSD, End of Life Tires – A Framework for Effective Management Systems (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2011) M. Winfield, A. Taylor, Rebalancing the Load: The Need for an Aggregates Conservation Strategy for Ontario (Pembina Institute, Drayton Valley, 2005) Z. Yang, R. Ji, L. Liu, et al., Recycling of municipal solid waste incineration by-product for cement composites preparation. Constr. Build. Mater. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat. 2017.12.081 O. Youssf, M.A. Elgawady, J.E. Mills, X. Ma, An experimental investigation of crumb rubber concrete confined by fibre reinforced polymer tubes. Constr. Build. Mater. (2014). https://doi. org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.12.007 O. Youssf, J.E. Mills, R. Hassanli, Assessment of the mechanical performance of crumb rubber concrete. Constr. Build. Mater. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.08.040 O. Youssf, R. Hassanli, J.E. Mills, Mechanical performance of FRP-confined and unconfined crumb rubber concrete containing high rubber content. J. Build. Eng. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jobe.2017.04.011 C.J. Zega, Á.A. Di Maio, Use of recycled fine aggregate in concretes with durable requirements. Waste Manag. (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2011.06.011 Z. Zhang, H. Ma, S. Qian, Investigation on properties of ECC incorporating crumb rubber of different sizes. J. Adv. Concr. Technol. 13, 241–251 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3151/jact.13.241 X. Zhu, C. Miao, J. Liu, J. Hong, Influence of crumb rubber on frost resistance of concrete and effect mechanism. Proc. Eng. 27, 206 (2012)
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy Initiatives in the Concrete Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circular Economy Challenges in the Concrete Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future of Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The concrete industry is one of the critical industries that sustain the development of our infrastructure and everyday activities. The industry also plays a significant role in every economy due to its high contribution to revenue and employment. With the increasing awareness of the circular economy and sustainability in all sectors, the concrete industry is also at the forefront of contributing to the circular economy and improving its overall sustainability. This chapter explores the circular economy in the concrete industry and the future of the circular economy in the industry. Current challenges facing the circular economy in the concrete industry and possible solutions were also discussed. Discussions in this chapter indicated that the implementation of a circular economy has the potential to yield significant positive performance as it is possible to incorporate various wastes materials into the concrete. Also, the use of building management systems can be utilized to improve the efficiency of the circular economy in the concrete industry. However, the circular economy must be implemented right from the start when concrete materials are being sourced rather than when concrete has already been used for construction. A. Adesina (*) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_64
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Keywords
Circular economy · Sustainability · Concrete industry · Concrete · Construction
Introduction The construction industry is a major component of various economies all over the world regardless if it is underdeveloped, developing, or developed and also has a significant influence on the sustainability and socioeconomic areas of the environment (Meyer 2009; Ortiz et al. 2009; Gartner et al. 2013). Concrete being the most used building material also evolved into an industry on its own which is referred to as the “concrete industry.” Due to the high production and utilization of concrete, the concrete industry plays a significant role in the economic, environmental, and social aspects of our daily activities as they are used in the construction of various infrastructures. However, the role of the concrete industry is both positive and negative. The positive role of the concrete industry is as a result of the provision of infrastructures for various purposes, employment provision, and contribution to the gross domestic product of economies. However, the concrete industry is also responsible for excessive consumption of natural resources, high greenhouse gas emissions, and high generation of solid wastes (Meyer 2009; Purnell 2013; Iacovidou et al. 2017). For example, the production of cement which is the primary binder in concrete contributes about 7% to the world human-induced carbon emissions (Nisbet et al. 2000; Marceau et al. 2007; Andrew 2018). Also, the production of concrete is one of the major processes responsible for the consumption of freshwater (Asadollahfardi et al. 2016). As rapid urbanization progresses all over the world coupled with the increasing global population, it is expected that the demand and use of concrete for various construction applications would increase. Though sustainability in the concrete industry has evolved significantly in the last decade, it is still predominantly dependent on the linear economy which is based on the production of materials for utilization and then disposal. On the other hand, circular economy which is aimed at retaining the produced materials in a cycle can be implemented in the concrete industry to improve the sustainability of the industry. In contrast to only “sustainability,” circular economy in the concrete industry offers a bridge between sustainability and business development. Hence, consideration of the circular economy in the concrete industry would yield more economical sustainability development and can be deemed as an effective methodology to achieve the economical and sustainability goals of the industry. Generally, circular economy is based on conserving materials instead of disposing them (Wijkman et al. 2016). Hence, the reuse of materials would ensure that raw materials and energy are conserved while mitigating excessive waste generation. Also, the reuse of materials would result in a corresponding increase in the lifecycle of the materials. In addition, it has been estimated that the implementation of a circular economy in any industry would result in about a 4% increase in employment opportunities and about a 70% reduction in greenhouse gases emission (Wijkman
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et al. 2016). With the concrete industry responsible for a large generation of wastes coupled with high consumption of raw materials, implementing a circular economy is an effective way to eliminate these pertinent issues created by the construction industry. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the circular economy in the concrete industry. The challenges facing the implementation of the circular economy in the construction industry and the future of the circular economy in the concrete industry are also discussed. It is anticipated that the information provided in this chapter would encourage more practical implementation of the circular economy in the concrete industry rather than just theoretical knowledge. This chapter would also provide stakeholders in the concrete industry information on various challenges associated with the implementation of the circular economy, thereby generating more awareness and sourcing of practical solutions to these challenges.
Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry Though it is referred to as the “concrete industry,” this industry encompasses various cement-based and similar materials ranging from mortar, grout, alkali-activated material, etc. The concrete industry is a critical backbone of every economy as it adds to the gross domestic product and creates employment options while making our daily life comfortable. However, as mentioned earlier, the concrete industry is a major consumer of natural resources ranging from freshwater to various minerals. In addition, the industry is responsible for high energy usage and generation of a high volume of construction and demolition wastes (Clark et al. 2006). Thus, the production of a high volume of concrete over decades coupled with its continuous production in large quantities has resulted in the depletion of numerous nonrenewable resources coupled with various detrimental impacts on the environment. Also, the production of concrete is relatively expensive due to the sourcing, production, and transportation of materials (Turner and Collins 2013; Chiaia et al. 2014). Hence, it is critical for the concrete industry to incorporate initiatives such as the circular economy to ensure more economic and sustainable development within the concrete industry. The circular economy entails conserving resources by utilizing materials as much as possible at the end of their service life in order to conserve the need for new raw materials and energy demand while conserving the added value of materials (The Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012; Gigli et al. 2019). Hence, the circular economy in the concrete industry would be based on the ability of the industry to retain materials for use rather than disposing them as wastes while conserving energy usage. A schematic representation of a circular economy is presented in Fig. 1. The circular economy has gained high implementation in other industries such as textile and automotive industries, but its implementation in the concrete industry is still lagging. One of the reasons the implementation of circular economy in the concrete industry is still lagging is a result of its disruptive nature which would require several years of awareness and implementing various initiatives. The ability of an industry to
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Fig. 1 Schematic representation of circular economy (European Commission 2014)
implement a circular economy effectively has been associated with the ability of the industry to encourage and manage innovation in various forms (Ven 1986; Boons and Lüdeke-Freund 2013; Ritzén and Sandström 2017). However, the ability to incorporate various waste materials into concrete materials increases the potential of the implementation of a circular economy in the concrete industry to be highly successful. In order to fully implement a circular economy in the concrete industry, it is critical to ensure that all stakeholders in the industry are on board. Hence, personnel and organization involved right from the sourcing of the raw materials to the management of structures made with a concrete need to identify how circular economy can be implemented within their bubbles. Proper implementation of circular economy in the concrete industry should be able to solve environmental, materials, and economic challenges associated with the production and use of concrete materials as depicted in Fig. 2. The reuse of wastes generated by the concrete industry and other industries in new concrete would create an effective avenue to supplement the reserves of raw materials such as aggregates (Venkateswara Rao and Rama Rao 2015; Huseien and Shah 2020a, b). Also, the use of various industrial waste products to partially or totally replace the portland cement which is the primary binder in concrete would result in a significant reduction in the embodied carbon and energy of concrete materials (Abdel-Mohti et al. 2016). The reuse of these waste materials would eliminate the need for energy for mining raw
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Fig. 2 Circular economy in the concrete industry
materials and reduce the detrimental environmental impact associated with the processing and transportation of raw materials used for the production of concrete. The low retrieval of raw materials from natural deposits for the production of concrete would also reduce the deformation induced on the environment as a result of excessive mining processes. Extensive researches over the years have shown that concrete itself can be recycled and used as various components in the production of new concrete (Choi and Yun 2013; Penacho et al. 2014; Pedro et al. 2015). Studies have also shown that waste such as greywater generated during the production of fresh concrete can also be treated and recycled as a mixing solution for new concrete mixtures (Sandrolini and Franzoni 2001; Ghrair et al. 2018). The high consumption of raw materials and a corresponding generation of a high volume of wastes by the concrete industry have made the implementation of a circular economy in the industry imminent. Some of the major initiatives that can be taken by the concrete industry to implement a circular economy are briefly discussed:
Circular Economy Initiatives in the Concrete Industry Figure 3 shows the various aspects of the construction industry in which a circular economy can be implemented. Some of the initiatives that are ongoing in the concrete industry towards the circular economy are briefly discussed: 1. Enhance raw materials acquisition processes: this can also include the use of alternative/sustainable sources of energy such as biofuels to replace conventional fossil fuels when sourcing raw materials. 2. Utilization of locally available raw materials: the need to achieve a specific performance of concrete has resulted in certain materials transported over long distances. An example is in Switzerland where the majority of the aggregates
Fig. 3 Initiatives to implement circular economy (Hossain et al. 2020)
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available are deemed reactive, and their use in concrete would result in a detrimental alkali-silica reaction (ASR). However, recent studies have been able to develop innovative ways to mitigate this detrimental reaction in concrete when such reactive aggregates are used by incorporating industrial wastes such as slag and fly ash to replace cement (Thomas et al. 2011; Du and Tan 2013). Hence, finding ways to utilize locally available materials would help to eliminate the detrimental environmental impact of transportation of these raw materials and would also reduce the overall cost and time of concrete construction. 3. Reduction in the quantity of raw materials used: the use of various optimization and concrete design tools in the concrete industry has aided in optimizing the composition of concrete resulting in a corresponding reduction in the amount required for the production of concrete. 4. Recycling of waste materials: the recycling of materials in concrete materials is one of the foremost actions the concrete industry has taken to implement a circular economy. Various wastes ranging from industrial to agricultural wastes can be recycled and used in the production of new concrete (Jin et al. 2000; Bheel and Adesina 2020; Ikponmwosa et al. 2020a; Akinyemi and Adesina 2020). The use of these waste materials in new concrete would result in a reduction in the cost and carbon footprint of concrete (Adesina 2020a, b; Bheel et al. 2020; Das et al. 2020; Ikponmwosa et al. 2020b). Table 1 presents several types of wastes from various sources that can be utilized as a component in new concrete. It is worth mentioning that waste materials used as a binder component in concrete require processing to very fine particles and must possess certain chemical properties in order to use it as a possible replacement of portland cement. The need to reduce Table 1 Wastes that can be utilized as components in concrete Source Construction
Industrial
Agriculture
Mining Manufacturing
Waste Concrete Bricks Asphalt Wood Fly ash Slag Silica fume Rice husk ash Millet straw ash Palm oil fuel ash Palm kernel shells Mine tailings Quarry dust Plastic Ceramics Rubber Glass
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Aggregates/filler X X X X X X X
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Fig. 4 Implementation of circular economy by reuse of construction and demolition wastes (CDW) (Huang et al. 2018)
the particle sizes of such wastes is to improve the reactivity of the material by increasing its surface area. A schematic of how wastes generated in the concrete industry can be reused in order to achieve a circular economy is presented in Fig. 4.
5. Building management systems: the use of building management systems such as building information modeling (BIM) has encouraged and eased the implementation of circular economy in the construction industry as it offers a technological tool to manage the materials, cost, and type of construction. The use of systems such as life cycle assessment (LCA) also creates an effective way to quantify the environmental and economic assessment of concrete materials and structures. The use of such systems in the concrete industry enables circular economy as it results in a reduction in the amount of new materials used and wastes disposed into the environment (Liu et al. 2015; Chong et al. 2017; Akanbi et al. 2018). 6. Development of high-performance concrete: the development of various highperformance concrete such as engineered cementitious composites and ultrahighperformance concrete have opened a pathway to have structures that are resilient and durable (Sun et al. 2001; Huang et al. 2013). The high performance of these types of concrete contributes to the implementation of the circular economy because they possess higher service life, thereby eliminating the subsequent need to utilize additional materials and energy for the maintenance or construction of new structures. 7. Structural health monitoring: the use of various structural health monitoring techniques to evaluate the serviceability of various concrete infrastructure has resulted in identifying the condition of concrete structures and determining the
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Table 2 Concrete technology Method 3D printing Self-compacting concrete Preplaced concrete Precast/prefabricated structures
Advantage Reduction in time and cost of construction Reduction in energy used for construction Reduction in energy and materials used for construction Reduction in materials and cost of construction
appropriate time when repair/rehabilitation needs to be carried out. The repair/ rehabilitation of concrete structures at the right time would eliminate the need for new construction as a result of excessive deterioration which would require sourcing for new materials. Also, structural health monitoring of concrete structures would ensure that the service life of structures is conserved. 8. Development of alternative concrete technology: circular economy in the concrete industry can also be achieved with the development of innovative concrete technologies that are cheaper, sustainable, and exhibit higher performance and service life. The development of such concrete technology would eliminate the constant need to replace and/or maintain structures built with such technology, thereby enhancing the service life of the structures and eliminating possible waste generation that could have ensued from their replacement/rehabilitation. Innovative construction methods, such as 3D printing (Buswell et al. 2018; Ngo et al. 2018), self-compacting concrete (Bignozzi and Sandrolini 2006; Adesina 2020a), preplaced concrete (Du et al. 2017; Yoon and Kim 2019), etc., can also be utilized to enhance the efficiency of the concrete construction process and consequently reduce the cost, carbon footprint, and time of construction. For example, the study by Eberhardt et al. (2019) showed that the use of prefabricated concrete could reduce the embodied carbon up to 55%. Another study also showed that prefabricated concrete can be used in order to reduce wastes generated during construction (Tam et al. 2005). Such alternative concrete should also reduce waste generated from the construction process to the bare minimum. Some examples of innovative construction methods that could be used to implement the circular economy in the concrete industry are presented in Table 2.
Circular Economy Challenges in the Concrete Industry Despite the benefits of implementing a circular economy in the concrete industry, the progress of this implementation is plagued with various challenges. Some of the challenges with circular economy implementation in the concrete industry are further discussed: 1. Mistrust: the introduction of any new concept in any industry is expected to be welcomed with some mistrusts initially due to limited understanding of the concept. The implementation of the circular economy created a disruptive transition in the industry. Hence, many stakeholders are reluctant to welcome the
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change due to the uncertainty and risks it comes with. To propel more implementation of circular economy in the concrete industry, there is a need for all stakeholders in the industry to be able to accept new concepts and ready to unlearn some of the conventional concepts used within the industry. Economic viability: some wastes generated by the concrete industry might be better off economically to be disposed rather than being reused in new construction due to the high cost associated with processing the wastes, thus preventing the industry from utilizing some wastes in concrete. For example, it is easier and cheaper for the automotive industry to disassemble a car and reuse the component. However, it is very complicated and most times expensive to disassemble concrete structures. Hence, utilizing precast/prefabricated concrete structures for construction could ease the disassemble process and result in a possible reduction in the cost and reusing concrete structures at the end of their service life. Lack of market: in contrast to the conventional materials market in the concrete industry, there is no comprehensive market that oversees providing the cost and meeting the demand of various waste materials that could be used in concrete. Also, this lack of market has resulted in a lack of quality control resulting in varying properties of concrete even when the same type of wastes is used. The lack of a market for possible wastes that can be utilized as components in concrete also creates a possible threat of material scarcity or extinction. Technology: though the use of technology in the concrete industry has evolved over the years, the majority of these technologies are based on the processing and utilization of raw materials. In order to implement a circular economy in the concrete industry, there is a need to develop innovative technologies to aid in the recycling of various raw materials for use in new concrete. The technology should also have the capability to reduce and reuse wastes developed during the recycling and construction processes. Lack of integration: the concrete industry is a large industry that spans through various sectors ranging from materials to technology to management. The current lack of integration between sectors in the concrete industry has worsened with the lack of knowledge on the concept of a circular economy. Lack of regulations/guidelines: with several promising opportunities of utilizing wastes materials in concrete, there is limited availability of regulations/guidelines that support the use of wastes in the design and use of concrete. The unavailability of such guideless/regulations has resulted in unwillingness by the engineers and contractors to utilize these wastes in concrete.
Future of Circular Economy in the Concrete Industry The increasing sustainability awareness in the concrete industry is expected to gear significant implementation of the circular economy in the concrete industry in the coming years. The structure of the concrete industry also makes the proper implementation of the circular economy more viable if implemented correctly. Some of the
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major prospects associated with the implementation of a circular economy in the concrete industry are: 1. Government involvement: the creation of various policies that makes areas of circular economy mandatory coupled with the provision of incentives for taking actions to promote circular economy would encourage more implementation of circular economy in the concrete industry. The policies could range from recommending maximum carbon footprint of structures to making the use of waste materials in concrete structures mandatory. Also, the government could provide incentives such as lower tax and administration fees for concrete structures that incorporated multiple circular economy initiatives. 2. Identifying challenges and barrier: as the implementation of circular economy in the concrete industry gain momentum, it is essential that dedication should be placed on identifying various challenges and barriers that have ensued from the implementation and find innovative solutions to solve these challenges. Hence, there is a need for the research community to get involved with the practical implementation of the circular economy in the concrete industry. 3. Development of economical recycling technology: the cost associated with the processing of waste materials before reuse is one of the major factors responsible for the hesitation by contractors and clients to utilize these waste materials. The increasing interest and implementation of the circular economy in the concrete industry are anticipated to result in the development of various innovative, sustainable, and economical ways in which wastes can be recycled especially in terms of reducing to smaller sizes. 4. Effective integration between sectors: integration between the science, technology, and business areas in the concrete industry would result in the implementation of circular economy in the concrete more economically feasible than being an expensive pleasure. 5. Development of sustainable supply chain management: creating a sustainable supply chain management within the concrete industry would create an integration between sustainable material supply and sustainable utilization resulting in a lower negative impact of the industry on the environment. 6. Comprehensive database of wastes: the coming years is expected to see the development of a database that gives information about various types and quantities of wastes generated by various industries and the corresponding properties of the wastes. The availability of such databases would propel more research and development in the concrete industry to devise various ways in which such wastes can be reused/recycled in new concrete construction. Such databases would also provide information on the wastes generated by the concrete industry and would attract the attention of other industries that might find a suitable application of the wastes. These databases would also incorporate geographical features in which industries can reuse locally generated wastes for new products, thereby eliminating the negative environmental impact associated with transportation and exploration of fresh raw materials. In addition, these databases would also provide the rate of material recovery within the industry in order to effectively utilize them.
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Fig. 5 Complex value optimization for resource recovery (Iacovidou et al. 2017)
An example of such a framework that can be implemented in the concrete industry was developed by Iacovidou et al. (2017) as presented in Fig. 5.
Conclusion An effective and efficient way to improve the sustainability of the concrete industry is the adoption of a circular economy. The implementation of the circular economy in the construction industry would result in the conservation of the sustainability of the environment and the continuous provision of sustainable infrastructures for various applications. This chapter presents an overview of the circular economy in the concrete industry alongside the current challenges and prospects. The discussion presented in this chapter showed that there is a high potential for the implementation of a circular economy in the concrete industry to be successful due to the viability of incorporating various waste materials into concrete materials. The reuse/recycle of various wastes in concrete materials would result in a significant reduction in the cost, energy, and carbon footprint associated with the concrete industry. The use of innovative technologies that aid in reducing the cost, energy, emissions, and wastes associated with the concrete construction processes would also help in achieving a circular economy in the construction industry. The implementation of a circular economy would also result in significant improvement in the efficiency of construction activities of the concrete industry and the construction industry at large.
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However, for proper implementation of the circular economy in the concrete industry, there is a need for the concrete industry to move beyond just utilizing waste materials in concrete and minimizing waste during construction. Significant benefits of a circular economy in the concrete industry would be more evident when the demand for materials is consequently reduced and technological systems such as building information modeling are implemented. It is also critical that the circular economy is implemented right from the early stage of concrete manufacturing rather than when concrete structures have already been completed. The implementation of a circular economy in the concrete industry is also expected to result in a significant improvement in the efficiency of construction activities of the concrete industry and the construction industry at large.
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Experimental Investigation of Physiochemical Properties of Cement Mortar Incorporating Clay Brick Waste Powder: Recyclable Sustainable Material
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Hemraj R. Kumavat and Rohan V. Kumavat
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pozzolanic Index of CBW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mechanical Properties of Mortars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Durability Properties of Mortars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Experimental Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Materials and Mix Proportions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Result and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Particle Size Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Clay brick waste (CBW) is continuing to rise as a result of rapid urbanization and increased construction practices. Traditional working practices for the treatment of such waste, particularly in developing countries, are open to landfills and dump sites that are considered unsustainable. Recently, concerns about the need for a safe and clean environment have limited knowledge of the need to recycle clay brick (solid) waste powder as pozzolanic material in a replacement with cement and sand for monitoring environmental pollution (CO2 gas emissions) due to cement production. Waste from building sites and brick manufacturing facilities is increasingly being recovered and used as a pozzolanic alternative in cement mortar production. As a result, mortar produced from CBW materials is used to H. R. Kumavat (*) Civil Engineering Department, R C Patel Institute of Technology, Shirpur, India R. V. Kumavat Civil Engineering Department, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai, India © Crown 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_65
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reduce the use of natural resources and the environmental effect. Cement was replaced by CBW with 0–20%. As a result, the use of CBW in cement mortar production provides an effective approach for efficient waste management and environmental regulation of CO2 emissions from cement manufacturing industries. This chapter focused on the possibilities of recycled CBW in developing countries, where CBW crushed into powder and mixed provides comparable outcomes as controlled mortar with a strength replacement of up to 20%. Recommendations are expected to increase the usage of CBW powder as a cementitious ingredient in the production of concrete. Keywords
Cement content reduction · Clay brick waste · Sustainable mortar · Recycled waste
Introduction Globally, clay brick structures are commonly used. Many structures were destroyed during their design time owing to deterioration, poor construction, or faulty materials. In addition, several buildings were destroyed by regular earthquakes and huge quantities of waste were generated. Old structures were to be dismantled due to urban planning and rebuilding demands (Rao et al. 2007; Xiao et al. 2011). In addition, population changes have led to a significant growth in construction activity and the consumption of energy resources. Importing aggregates will not be affordable in areas that lack high-quality stones or sand. Natural healthy aggregates are limited in several urban areas, rock and gravel supplies are increasingly depleted, and extraction is becoming more challenging. As either an essential concrete raw resources, throughout its processing, cement will generate more than enough dust and carbon dioxide (Shakir et al. 2014). A high proportion of nonrenewable energy sources have been utilized by mortar production, causing significant environmental degradation. Civil infrastructure projects have absorbed 60% of the raw resources derived from the earth’s crust at global scale (Zabalza Bribián et al. 2011). The key way of managing CBW is by landfills or remediation sites, and the use of these sites is a costly solution. Recycling one ton of CBW costs about $21/ton, whereas dumping of the same material costs about $136/ton. Since the demolition sites and disposal areas are located far away from each other, transportation costs are rising. The dumping of CBW consumes land space, leading to a low grain yield as landfills and reclamation areas are small. Waste storage and disposal, particularly in certain areas that lack waste disposal, has become a major environmental concern. The quantity of waste to be sent to landfills will be greatly decreased by processing waste materials (Lennon 2005). The sustainability involves environmental and energy conservation, and the preservation of nonrenewable environmental assets. The proposed introduction of
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CBW as the modern construction material was researched due to the reduced landfill sites and expensive natural aggregates. In today’s life, waste recovery and recycling is an energy-saving process. The use of CBW as sand reduces the need for waste storage (Debieb and Kenai 2008). The recycling of CBW in mortar is summarized in detail to serve as a reference for future waste CBW analysis. Research work has been carried out on the potential reuse of CBW in mortar production in order to minimize the use of cement and sand.
Literature Review
Cement Consumpti on (i n mi lli on tons)
China produces about 15.5 million tons of CBW per year as shown in Fig. 1. As per 2011 European Union Survey, nearly 1 billion tons of CBW, containing more than enough bricks, were created per year in the European Union (Manfredi et al. 2011). Furthermore, CBW from dismantled walls contributed for around 54% of Spain’s building and construction waste. The manufacture of 1 ton of cement with the latest
300
200
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Fig. 1 Cement consumption in different countries in million tons
Philippines
Bangladesh
Algeria
Thailand
Germany
Mexico
Countries
Pakistan
Japan
Iran
Saudi Arebia
Brazil
Russia
South Korea
Egypt
Vietnam
Indonesia
Turky
United states
India
China
0
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technology requires 1.7 ton raw material, 7000 MJ electricity, 0.75 ton CO2, and 12 kg Sio2 (Chao 2008). In China, 2.5 billion tons of cement were made in 2014, representing 60% of the world’s cement output (Jewell and Kimball 2015). CBW has a maximum resource benefit and is reused by several nations for most purposes in building operations (Directive 2008). Turanli demonstrated that an efficient way to prevent the alkali-silica reaction is the incorporation of crushed clay bricks to partly substitute cement (Turanli et al. 2003). However, it is revealed that the combination of crushed clay bricks as cement replacement significantly decreased the strength of the mortar, particularly when the amount of crushed clay bricks is considerably large (Ge et al. 2015a). Cachim discovered that replacing 15% of aggregate with CBW did not dramatically reduce concrete strength (Cachim 2009). Some authors analyzed the strength, resilience, and crystal structure of recycled polyethylene terephthalate mortar made with CBW as sand (Ge et al. 2015b). Uddin et al. studied the impact of the maximum size of coarse aggregate on the compressive strength of concrete using CBW as coarse aggregate (Uddin et al. 2017).
Pozzolanic Index of CBW Mainly quartz and feldspar are the components required for the pozzolanic activity. Generally, burned clay may not exhibit pozzolanic activity. Clay contains a high proportion of quartz and feldspar, which are crystalline minerals and do not produce active substances; therefore, clay cannot be considered a pozzolana. However, if clay is exposed to a temperature of 600–1000 C, the crystal structure of the silicate will often change into an amorphous compound reacting with lime at room temperature (Letelier et al. 2018; Ortega et al. 2018; Mehta and Monteiro 2017). The assessment of pozzolanic activity is typically based on a strength activity index specified by ASTM C618, which limits the sum of silicon, ferric, and aluminum oxides to be at least 70% for pozzolans. These components will promote the formation of C-S-H (calcium silicate hydrates) or C-A-H (calcium aluminate hydrates) and thus affected the performance of mortar and concrete (Aliabdo et al. 2014). Pozzolanic activity refers to the ability of substances to react with calcium hydroxide to form hydration products at ordinary temperatures. The pH value of saturated calcium hydroxide solution is 12.45 at 25 C. High concentrations of OH ions can break bonds in silica, silicates, and aluminosilicates to generate simple ions. The resulting silicate and aluminate ions accompany Ca2+ ions to form C-S-H (calcium silicate hydrates) or C-A-H (calcium aluminate hydrates). As the dissolution rate of silicate is more rapid than that of aluminate and the formation of calcium aluminate requires a higher concentration of calcium ions, first, CSH gels would appear on the particles of pozzolans, and then hexagonal sheets of calcium aluminates precipitate on the surface of the CSH gels (Shi and Day 2000; Cabrera and Rojas 2001; Navratilova and Rovnanıkova 2016).
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Mechanical Properties of Mortars 1. CBW is thought to be a useful additive because it decreases the impact of shrinkage, which is possibly caused by increased pore refinement due to CBW’s pozzolanic activity (Ortega et al. 2018; Navratilova and Rovnanıkova 2016). 2. During this time, the crystal structure became more refined, and the rate of finer pores raised. CBW improves the structure of mortar by reducing the size and number of pores, resulting in a thicker and stronger hardened paste. CBW’s pozzolanic response and the rehydration of anhydrate cement particles in the associated mortar increased substrate stiffness and improved pore structure (Aliabdo et al. 2014; Gonçalves et al. 2009). 3. The microstructural complexity of CBW mortar is higher. The percentage of macropores reduced and the percentage of mesopores improved as cement was partially replaced by CBW. Since the particle size distributions of CBW and Portland cement are identical, the packing density did not alter substantially when cement was replaced with CBW. 4. The mechanical properties of mortar were increased by using CBW as a cement substitute. The greater relative differences in strengths of mortars containing these CBW may be due to their pozzolanic action.
Durability Properties of Mortars 1. Around 15% found to be an effective substitute for ensuring greater sulfate resistance (Binici et al. 2012; Mobili et al. 2018). 2. It greatly decreased chloride-ion penetration, which is a common cause of corrosion of steel in cementitious materials; the process that illustrates this occurrence is that CBW facilitates the production of subsequent hydration products that can minimize permeability and enhance densification of the materials (Ortega et al. 2018; Gonçalves et al. 2009). 3. The regulated mortar lost the most weight due to dehydration of C-S-H and ettringite contents as well as calcium hydroxide, while the pozzolanic reactivity of the mortar with CBW absorbed even more of these substances, resulting in lower weight loss and possibly higher fire resistance.
Experimental Program Materials and Mix Proportions As a sustainable ingredient, CBW can be used to partially replace cement and sand in mortar. Since the mechanical properties of CBW are equivalent to those of cement and sand, we could use it as one of the construction materials to meet the industry’s current needs and ensure long-term structure. CBW is obtained from various brick
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production sites in the Jalgaon and Dhule districts, as well as sampling of brick waste with different proportions of fly ash and clay used in brick making.
Methodology The compressive and flexural strength of mortar with a grade of 1:4 was evaluated through a series of tests. An analysis of various blended mortars formed by replacing sand with a CBW at 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of the time is presented in this chapter. When comparing the replacement mortar’s experimental results to the controlled mortar’s results, it is clear that the replacement mortar performed better as shown in Fig. 2. The mortar cubes are cured in water for 3, 7, and 28 days after casting. The axial compressive load was applied to the mortar specimen on the computerized universal testing unit, and the deformation was reported by a sensor in the computer-dependent data acquisition system. The test specimens were subjected to an axial load until they failed.
Result and Discussion Particle Size Analysis The particle size distribution of cement and CBW was shown in Fig. 3. Figure 3 shows that cement is very fine than CBW, because some coarser particles which stay after CBW have been crushed which is reflected in Table 1. The distribution of
Fig. 2 Flowchart of mortar mix proportions
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Fig. 3 Particle-size distribution of cement and CBW
Table 1 particle size parameters of cement and CBW
Size parameters X10 (μm) X16 (μm) X50 (μm) X84 (μm) X90 (μm) X99 (μm) SMD (μm) SV (m2/cm3) VMD (μm) SM (cm2/g)
Cement 4.88 7.43 24.50 53.98 64.37 115.15 11.82 0.51 30.71 1873.50
CBW 12.14 21.93 78.57 194.43 234.24 365.67 25.32 0.24 103.57 874.40
cement particle size starts from 200 microns, but clay brick particle size from 400 microns depends on that particle density as well. The chemical composition of cement and CBW is given in Table 2. Flow values of fresh mortar with % replacement of CBW of flow table test is shown in Fig. 4. The bulk densities of fresh mortar with % replacement of CBW are shown in Fig. 5.
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Table 2 Chemical composition of cement and CBW
Content oxides SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 K2O MgO Na2O CaO SO3 LOI
Cement 20.56 5.39 3.29 0.62 2.02 0.23 63.54 2.39 1.7
CBW 50.6 19.4 11.4 2.23 1.72 0.87 5.93 3.66 1.1
260 240 220
Flow Value
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 BW-0
BW-5 BW-10 BW-15 BW-20 BW-25 BW-30 BW-35 BW-40
% Replacement Fig. 4 Flow value of mortar on flow table with % replacement of CBW
Findings The compressive and flexural strength of mortars increased with hardening age, and the value for (10% brick powder) specimen’s mortar was slightly higher than controlled mortar at 28 days as shown in Fig. 6. The inclusion of CBW had almost no influence on compressive strength and elastic modulus until a proportion of 20% cement replacement was reached in an
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23.0
Bulk Density of Mortar
22.8
22.6
22.4
22.2
22.0 BW-0
BW-5 BW-10 BW-15 BW-20 BW-25 BW-30 BW-35 BW-40
% Replacement Fig. 5 Bulk densities of mortar with % replacement of CBW
experimental investigation. However, under a high w/c ratio, the strength and elastic modulus of mortar will decrease with the increase in CBW. According to the result, CBW is one of the best construction materials (pozzolanic) used in the construction sector. The mechanical and durability properties of cement mortar containing CBW are equivalent to up to a 20% cement replacement. In addition, it reduces the load of CO2 in the atmosphere due to manufacturing of cement at higher temperatures, and also reduces the land storage of CBW on the earth surface. Hence, it is an ecofriendly and sustainable material for production of cement and sand in the future. Because the structural performance of CBW plays a significant role in the construction industry, the use of CBW expect in mortar may be strengthened.
Conclusion After studying the results dataset (laboratory and literature) on % replacement of CBW, we made a possible conclusion on sustainability (ecofriendly waste material) used in cement mortar with the experimental investigation: (i) The particle size distributions of cement and CBW of some parameters are same values.
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1.6 Flexural Strength Compressive Strength
1.4
Relative Strength
1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 BW-0
BW-5 BW-10 BW-15 BW-20 BW-25 BW-30 BW-35 BW-40
% Replacement Fig. 6 Relative strength versus % replacement of CBW (flexural and compressive strength)
(ii) We may deduce that CBW has pozzolanic activity since the chemical compositions of cement and CBW are similar. (iii) Flow value of fresh mortar increases with increase in % replacement; in another case, the bulk densities of fresh mortar decrease with increase in % replacement. (iv) The compressive and flexural strength of mortars increased with hardening age, and the value for (20% brick powder) specimen’s mortar was slightly higher than controlled mortar at 28 days. (v) According to a study, the addition of CBW had almost no effect on the compressive strength and elastic modulus until the percentage of 20% cement replacement. (vi) The strength and elastic modulus of mortar will decrease with the increase in CBW with high w/c ratio. (vii) Eventually, it is concluded that the partial replacement of cement with CBW plays a significant role in producing ecofriendly and sustainable materials for the production of mortar attributed to the aforementioned benefits: (a) a greater reduction in cement content and a lower carbon emissions; (b) compressive strength increased by 20%, with a partial reduction of the cement content in cement mortar.
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A Sustainability Approach to Geopolymer Brick Manufacture Using Mine Wastes
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M. Beulah, J. Pratap Kumar, Mothi Krishna Mohan, Gayathri Gopalakrishnan, and M. R. Sudhir
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Siginificance of work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Experimental Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Experiment and Test Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results and Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
India has tons of by-products of industries like fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), and mine tailings from different ores. By incorporating these wastes in bricks, the carbon footprint can be minimized. This research pivots around the use of iron ore tailings (IOT) and slag sand as a substitute for clay or shale in the manufacture of stabilized geopolymer blocks. Iron ore tailings and slag sand were used for substitution in the range of 20–40% and 15–40% with increments of 5%. Fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag, and sodium silicates (Na2SiO3) were used with a constant value of 15%. The bricks were cast and cured at ambient temperature. The study includes testing of mechanical properties of geopolymer bricks as per IS recommendations. To study the M. Beulah (*) · J. P. Kumar · M. R. Sudhir Department of Civil Engineering, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] M. K. Mohan Department of Science and Humanities, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India e-mail: [email protected] G. Gopalakrishnan Department of Civil Engineering, ACS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_76
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macroanalysis, SEM and XRD analyses were also carried out on raw materials and developed composites. The outcomes of this investigation show that the inclusion of 25% of IOT and 30% of slag sand is acceptable as brick material. Keywords
Iron ore tailing (IOT) · Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) · Fly ash (FA) · Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3)
Introduction Human civilizations have been traditionally using earth as a construction material for centuries. Many structures globally have been constructed with this material (Rael 2009). A number of these buildings are in good condition barring some environmental deterioration. However, this global trend of using earth as a construction material has led to the depletion of this natural resource. This led to the research on exploration of alternate construction materials and the establishment of fly ash and GGBS as reasonable construction materials (Bansode 2012). A sustainable future for the human race must include the effective reuse and recycling of industrial waste, and in these human efforts, mine wastes have a proven application in brick manufacture (Nagaraj and Shreyasvi 2016; Malatse and Ndlovu 2015; Weishi et al. 2018; Yu Stolboushkin et al. 2017). Studies have proven the viability of replacing fine aggregate up to 40% by iron ore tailings in the construction of rigid pavements (Panditharadhya et al. 2017; Gayanaa and Chandar 2018). A sustainable and greener development can be achieved by using iron ore tailings as a replacement of fine aggregates in brick manufacturing (Shubhananda Rao et al. 2019). Research has indicated the feasibility of using IOT as a fine aggregate in concrete (Kuranchie et al. 2015). Method of geo-polymerization involving IOT-based mortar by replacing fine aggregate (FA) has attained compressive strengths in the range of 3.47–8.27 MPa (Sharath et al. 2018). IOT has exhibited potential to be used as a partial replacement of FA in the manufacture of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) having improved strength and frost resistance (Kuranchie et al. 2015; Zhu et al. 2015; Kuranchie 2015). These researchers have demonstrated that 50% replacement of fine aggregates by IOT in M55 grade concrete in the manufacture of prestressed concrete sleepers has achieved maximum compressive strength (Manjula et al. 2015). Studies also show the viability of using IOT with lime for stabilization of black cotton soil when BC soil is planned to be employed as subbase material (Etim et al. 2017). A study also reveals that IOT has applications both as an aggregate and as a pigment in the production of sustainable cement tiles (Fontes et al. 2018). IOT has possible applications in highway projects wherein it has an acknowledged use as subbase course or base course material leading to reduction in the cost of the highway projects (Sun et al. 2011). Another conceivable utility of IOT has been that it has partially replaced clay in the production of bricks (Shreekant et al. 2016; Likhith et al. 2017). The literature has reports of geo-polymerization methodology in
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the production of IOT bricks achieving compressive strength of up to 50 MPa (Kuranchiea et al. 2014).
Siginificance of work The growth of the building material industry is interlinked with the growth of a nation’s economy and indirectly with the growth of national infrastructure. Mining sector is one of the important sectors that contribute to the national economy (Evdokimov et al. 2016). Mining operations are important to the improvement and preservation of our daily living, providing resources used to create electricity, roads, and communities. Sustainability, productivity, and reliability are necessities for success in the mining and construction fields. The major drawback of industrial mining is the damage mining operations cause to the environment. These mine wastes have been found to possess a great potential to be used as alternative building materials (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements 2001). The concept of sustainability has a balancing act to perform between the environmental risks that the mining industry creates and the resource requirements of communities for meeting social, economic, physical, political, cultural, and environmental objectives (Rogers 1998; Rao 2000; Egger 2006; Cohen 1995). Sustainable development is an overarching global paradigm (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements 2001). In order to have low energy consumption and low greenhouse emissions, sustainable cities of future should adopt the concept of zero waste concepts (Allen and Clouth 2012). Sustainable building materials play a vital role in green building design and construction (Ding 2014). Various researchers have established the suitability of mining by-products as useful construction materials (Duan et al. 2016; Fontes et al. 2016; Anderson et al. 2016; Lottermoser 2011). The key scientific objective of this study is to establish a methodical approach for cost-effective use of industrial wastes as building materials in large-scale production.
Experimental Program (a) Significance of the research. The key feature of this research examination is to contemplate the achievability of utilizing industrial wastes for geopolymer block manufacture. From the past related studies, it was evident that there is limited information on use of the various industrial wastes in preparation of sustainable composite blocks. The current investigation assesses the technicalities of these blocks with an intention to consolidate reuse of the industrial wastes as a value edition in the construction industry. This usage also has environmental spin-offs. (b) Materials. The materials used for this study include iron ore tailings (IOT), slag sand, fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3). Geopolymer is synthesized by using fly ash, GGBS, and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3):
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(i) Iron ore tailings. Iron ore tailings (IOT) are the industrial solid wastes created in the beneficiation procedure of iron ore. Among all varieties of solid wastes of mining, maximum creation in volume and least volume in consumption are both iron ore tailings. In the present study, iron ore tailings from BMM ISPAT from Ballari, Karnataka, have been utilized. The physical properties of the IOT are determined as per the specified standards of IS: 2720 (parts 3 and 7). (ii) Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) is fallout of steel industry and is made use of in the design and development of high-quality cement. (iii) Fly ash. Fly ash is a spin-off of the thermal power plant and can be used as a partial replacement of cement in concrete or can be blended with Portland cement. (iv) Slag sand. Slag sand is a green construction substance produced as an industrial spin-off of the steel industry which has application as a potential substitute for the traditional materials and from the river beds in the building constructions. (v) Sodium silicate. Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), popularly called as fluid glass or water glass, has wide mechanical and business applications. Depending on the intended use, sodium silicate is prepared in the thick fluid or solid form. Made out of oxygen-silicon polymer molecular matrix pores, sodium silicate is an adaptable inorganic substance. Production of sodium silicate is from the diverse proportions of soda ash and sand at higher temperatures. (c) Study of properties. The physical properties and the chemical composition of the raw materials were studied (Tables 1 and 2). The comprehension of the physical properties and the chemical composition helped to formulate the mix proportions of the different grades of geopolymer bricks. Also, the number of mixes or grades of geopolymer bricks to be manufactured was arrived at.
Table 1 Physical properties of materials
Materials Slag sand 2.56 12.31% 3.6
Properties Specific gravity Water absorption Fineness modulus
Iron ore tailings 3.2 13% 2.12
Table 2 Chemical composition of materials Material IOT FA GGBS Slag sand
SiO2 (%) 9.02 66.87 34.16 30.73
Al2O3 (%) 9.56 4.41 17.54 16.32
Fe2O3 (%) 66.50 23.34 1.99 0.56
TiO2 1% – 1% –
CaO (%) 1.96 1.17 37.10 38.47
MgO (%) 2.12 0.31 7.17 6.41
Na2O 0.93% – 0.57% –
K2O 0.25% – 0.31% –
LOI 8.59% – 0.10% –
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Fig. 1 Activities of mine life cycle
Figure 1 reveals that the average particle size of IOT is 22.84μm with 50% particle size of 17.88μm and with a surface area of 0.59 m2 per gm.
Experiment and Test Methods (a) Details of mixes and their constituents. Table 3 features the mix proportions and the information of their constituent materials. In the investigation undertaken, IISc developed MARDINI block-producing equipment that has been made use of. The standard brick size manufactured is 230 110 100 mm. (b) Test specifications. The curing of the molded brick samples is carried out at prevalent temperature. The bricks were then put through IS- and ASTMspecified tests, and the details are in Table 4.
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Table 3 Mix calculations of geopolymer bricks Brick designation GB-1 GB-2 GB-3 GB-4 GB-5
IOT (%) 20 25 30 35 40
Table 4 Details of the test specifications
Slag sand (%) 35 30 25 20 15
Fly ash (%) 15 15 15 15 15
GGBS (%) 15 15 15 15 15
Test method Compressive strength Water absorption Apparent porosity Apparent specific gravity Bulk density
Alkaline solution (%) 15 15 15 15 15
Standards IS: 1077:1992 IS: 3495 (part 2):1992 ASTM C20 ASTM C20 ASTM C20
Sustainable building objectives and strategies Objectives
Resource conservation
Cost efficiency
Design for Human adaptation
Strategies
1. Energy conservation 2. Material conservation 3. Water conservation 4. Land conservation
1. Initial cost (Purchase cost) 2. Cost in use 3. Recovery cost
1. Protecting Human health and comfort 2. Protecting physical resources
Fig. 2 Sustainability in building construction
To study material characterization, textural behavior, and mineralogical composition, SEM and XRD analyses were conducted on the raw materials.
Results and Discussions (a) SEM and XRD analysis of raw materials. Figure 2 is the SEM micrograph of IOT which displays the irregular particles of IOT with high degree of agglomeration. Figure 3 is the SEM micrograph of GGBS which highlights the nonuniform distribution of irregular particles. Figure 4 is the SEM micrograph of fly
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Fig. 3 Particle size distribution of iron ore tailings
Fig. 4 SEM micrograph of IOT
ash, suggestive of silt-sized particles which are generally spherical, typically ranging in size between 10 and 100μm. Figure 5 is the SEM micrograph of slag sand, reflective of its higher particle density. Figure 6 is the XRD arrangement of IOT, and it shows minerals such as quartz (Q), kaolinite (K), calcite (C), and hematite (H). Figure 7, the XRD theme of GGBS, signifies the amorphous nature of the material. Figure 8, the XRD design of fly Ash, has exhibited a mix of mullite, quartz, hematite, and CaO. Figure 9, the XRD structuring of slag sand, has revealed the combination mayenite (M), gehlenite (G), larnite (L), C3A, periclase (P), and shannonite (S).
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Fig. 5 SEM micrograph of GGBS
Fig. 6 SEM micrograph of fly ash
(b) Test results. Table 5 depicts the apparent porosity, apparent specific gravity, bulk density, water absorption, and compressive strength of the IOT bricks. The porosity varies from 36.43% to 39.01%. Apparent specific gravity has not varied much for the five compositions. The bulk density has ranged from 14.02 to 20.98 g/cm3. The compressive strength has varied from 3.88 to 24.37 MPa for GB-5 to GB-1. The water absorption of all mixes is lower than 20% and hence is
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A Sustainability Approach to Geopolymer Brick Manufacture Using Mine Wastes
Fig. 7 SEM micrograph of slag sand
700
H
600
Q - Quartz K - Kaolinite
Intensity (a.u)
500
C - Calcite
H
400
H - Hematite
300 Q K 200
H
K C Q
100
Q
H Q
0 -100 0
20
60
40
2q (°) Fig. 8 XRD pattern of IOT
80
100
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300
Intensity (a.u)
250
200
150
100
50
0
0
20
60
40
80
100
2q (°) Fig. 9 XRD pattern of GGBS Table 5 Apparent porosity, apparent specific gravity, bulk density, water absorption, and compressive strength
Composition GB-1 GB-2 GB-3 GB-4 GB-5
Apparent porosity (%) 38.65 36.43 37.02 38.87 39.01
Apparent specific gravity 2.89 2.90 3.05 3.04 3.08
Bulk density (g/cm3) 14.02 16.01 19.76 20.01 20.98
Water absorption (%) 9.68 5.35 10.22 7.044 4.55
Compressive strength (MPa) 17.54 24.37 4.38 4.84 3.88
in agreement with the recommendations of IS code. Efflorescence, hardness, and dimensionality of all the mixes were in accordance with the specifications of IS: 3495 part 3 and IS: 2185 part 1. Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13 depict the specific gravity cum bulk density, porosity, water absorption, and compressive strength of bricks of the various mixes, respectively (Figs. 14 and 15). (c) SEM and XRD analyses of mixes. SEM is a nondestructive technique used to study the morphology of the material surface. It is possible to differentiate grains and particles in a system by this technique. Figure 16 shows the SEM
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Fig. 10 XRD pattern of fly ash
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Q
M- Mullite Q - Quartz H- Hematite C - CaO Q M
Q MMH M Q
Q
C
Q
FLA
Fig. 11 XRD pattern of slag sand
micrographs of GB-1. The micrograph unambiguously supported the heterogeneous nature of the material surface. The surface exhibited the irregular distribution of shapeless independent particles with high degree of aggregation. Image also revealed the porous nature of the system, but these pores were not uniformly distributed. Aggregation may have occurred during temperature treatment due to surface kinetics. Porous nature may also be due to the processing conditions, and this may result in high surface area of the material. SEM image of GB-5 also showed the random distribution of shapeless particles with some degree of aggregation. Unlike GB-1, GB-5 material is nonporous in nature, and this may
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25
3.05
20
3 2.95
15
2.9
10
2.85 5
2.8 2.75
GB1
GB2
GB3 Composition
Apparent specific gravity
GB4
GB5
Bulk Density (g/cm³)
Apparent Specific Gravity
3.1
0
Bulk Density (g/cm³)
Apparent Porosity(%)
Fig. 12 Specific gravity-bulk density of mixes
39.5 39 38.5 38 37.5 37 36.5 36 35.5 35
GB1
GB2
GB3
GB4
GB5
Composition Fig. 13 Apparent porosity of bricks for mixes
lead to less surface area compared to GB-1. Compared to GB-1, GB-5 surface was found to be densely packed due to higher concentrations (Figs. 17, 18, and 19). XRD is a nondestructive and highly effective technique to study the structure and crystallinity of the materials. XRD pattern of GB-1 confirmed the crystalline nature of the system. The system is a combination of many compounds, and most of them are crystalline in nature. Sharp and intense peaks with small full width at half maximum (FWHM) supported the view point. Silica and alumina were found to be the major compounds with minor quantities of hematite and calcium oxide also
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Water Absorption(%)
12 10 8 6 4 2 0
GB1
GB2
GB3
GB4
GB5
GB4
GB5
Composition
Compressive Strength (Mpa)
Fig. 14 Water absorption of bricks for various design mixes
30 25 20 15 10 5 0
GB1
GB2
GB3
Composition Fig. 15 Compressive strength of bricks for various design mixes
present. Crystallite size of the system may be high due to the small FWHM. This is well supported by SEM image, which revealed the existence of highly aggregated structures or larger crystallites and the marginal presence of individual crystallites. The peaks at 2θ values around 26.7 , 37 , and 62 confirmed the existence of quartz in the system. The peaks at 24.3 and 21.2 were attributed to hematite and calcium oxide, respectively. The peaks at 33.3 and 40.4 supported the existence of mullite. XRD pattern of GB-5 also showed the crystalline nature of the system. Here also, silica and alumina were the major compounds. Compared to GB-1, GB-5 pattern exhibited well-resolved peaks with fairly high intensity. Higher concentration might have led to the proper exposure of crystal planes for good diffraction. Quartz and mullite were found to be the major compounds with fewer quantities of hematite and calcium oxide. The obtained results were well in agreement with XRF results. The peaks corresponding to some compounds were not observed due to its amorphous nature or perhaps may be due to less concentration.
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Fig. 16 SEM micrograph of composition GB-1
Conclusion The experimental study presents the results of testing of bricks, manufactured using iron ore tailings, fly ash, and GGBS as major materials. The test results reveal that IOT, fly ash, and GGBS are suitable materials for manufacture of bricks with fly ash and GGBS exhibiting good binding qualities. Bricks prepared with lower concentrations of IOT have displayed higher compressive strength, with the brick with 25% IOT attaining the highest compressive strength. The changing presence of the IOT composition has not impacted the bulk density of the brick. Also, the porosity for the five compositions has not shown a considerable effect on the compressive strength. Existence of Al2O3 in IOT and CaO in GGBS resulted in reactions with SiO2 forming a casual nexus of Si-Al and Si-Ca. This linkage has influenced the high compressive strength for the mixes GB-1 and GB-2, and the bricks of these two compositions can be considered as high-quality bricks. This comprehensive study is a substantiation of many researchers’ conclusion of the fact that mine wastes are value additions to the construction materials and mine wastes have definite applications in sustainable green technology.
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Fig. 17 SEM micrograph of composition GB-5
Fig. 18 Scanning microscopy analysis of composition GB-1
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Fig. 19 Scanning microscopy analysis of composition GB-5
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Integrated Electronic Waste Management: Issues and Strategies
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V. Rathinakumar, G. Ashwin Sriram, and G. I. Gunarani
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-Waste: A Global Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Life Cycle of E-Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-Waste Management in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Existing Legislation for E-Waste in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-Waste Management Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impacts of Informal Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-Waste Disposal Methods in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-Waste Management Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Management Strategies in Developing Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Management Strategies in Developed Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Regulations and Policies for E-Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Producer’s Responsibility in E-Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reprocessing of E-Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Training and Awareness Programs on Electronic Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Consider a pile of unorganized e-waste; it will never have any aesthetic benefit to our minds or our environment. While observing such a heap we should accept our role in this debacle which has arisen due to digital revolution. This catastrophe was created due to the fact that humans are consuming increasing amounts of electrical and electronic equipment and electronic devices are fast becoming the important aspect of a person’s social life. Even developed countries are facing so many failures for an effective e-waste management because of its abnormal generation. For a developing highly populated country like India, the existing V. Rathinakumar (*) · G. A. Sriram · G. I. Gunarani School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_67
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electronic waste management activities were not found to be sufficient. Improper management creates a range of disadvantages, such as complexity due to participation of more stakeholders, lack of quality decisions, lack of support from top management for immediate decisions regarding treatment and disposal, unsafe conditions of informal recycling, insufficient regulations, weak knowledge, and companies’ inability to resolve serious disputes. Unorganized e-waste disposal leads to great concerns over both human health and the environment. This chapter focuses on problems of mismanagement in both developing and developed countries, as well as a few solutions that are essential for comprehensive management. It also records the unlimited liability of all the stakeholders included in the e-waste chain like manufacturers/assemblers, importers, recyclers, regulatory bodies, and customers for constructive e-waste management. Keywords
E-waste · Recycling · Cathode ray tube (CRT) · Waste management · Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Introduction The computer industry is the world’s largest and most innovative industry. Tons of electronic devices are transported by sea every year, but they become a complex leftover material consisting of numerous harmful non-degradable plastics, toxic chemicals, acids, and heavy metals during their use period. Many are poured into recyclers, burned, or exported. For around 75% of e-waste, on the other hand, it is unclear how to put them to good use, for example refurbishing, remanufacturing, and reusing their repair parts. Others sit as junk in homes, businesses, and industries, occupying valuable space. Hazardous constituents such as mercury lamps, circuit boards, and leaded glass have traditionally been shipped to China, Africa, and India by most e-recyclers (Basel Action uploaded in 2013). The dismantling method requires a great deal of labor; there are tons of e-waste dismantled and scrapped in countries like China and certain places in India. Dismantling includes not only detaching, but also tearing, burning, and shredding. Dust and smoke particles, as well as other infectious elements, cause severe inflammation and injury, resulting in a variety of skin and respiratory diseases. Circuits are burned to look for precious metals like silver, cadmium, and gold, but the wire coating is made of PCB and PVC, which can produce noxious smoke, and carbon elements from toners can cause lung and skin cancer (Kevin et al. 2008). Electronic waste or e-waste is created when electrical and electronic equipment becomes unfit or has passed the expiry date for its originally intended usage. Examples of e-waste (when unsafe for use) include mainframes, computers, servers, displays, compact disks (CDs), air conditioners, calculators, scanners, fax machines, copiers, mobile phones, battery packs, TVs, transceivers, medical equipment, iPods,
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refrigerators, washing machines, and printers. Because of the rapid advances in technology and the development of modern electronic equipment, these electronic devices are easily replaced by new ones. This has contributed to an unprecedented rise in the development of e-waste. People prefer to turn to newer versions and this has therefore reduced the life of electronic goods. Printed circuit boards (PCB1), plastics, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), metals, wires, and so on are usually e-waste. Valuable metals such as copper, silver, gold, and platinum, if they are scientifically extracted, may be retrieved from e-waste (Hedman et al. 2005; Wikstrom and Marklund 2001). The presence of harmful substances such as liquid crystals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, lithium, nickel, arsenic, selenium, brominated flame retardants, barium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, and lead makes the crude dismantling and processing of e-waste using primitive methods very dangerous . E-waste poses a major risk to people, livestock, and the climate. Also in minute amounts, the presence of heavy metals and extremely toxic substances such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and beryllium poses a major danger to the environment. The secret to better e-waste management is consumers. Approaches such as Extended Producer Accountability; Environmental Design; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (3Rs), and a circular economy-facilitating market-linking technology network seek to enable customers to better dispose of their e-waste, with higher rates of reuse and recycling, and to follow healthy consumer behaviors. E-waste management is given high importance in developed countries, while e-waste management is compounded in developing countries by fully implementing or replicating e-waste management and other related issues, including the lack of investment and technological expertise in human resources. Furthermore, there is a shortage of resources and a lack of adequate regulations directly addressing e-waste. The functions and duties of stakeholders and organizations involved in e-waste management, etc., are also inadequately defined. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) published the revised e-waste (Management) Rules in 2016.
E-Waste: A Global Issue The United Nations (UN) presented a report at the World Economic Forum on January 24, 2019, that points out that the waste stream due to e-waste reached a mammoth volume of around 48.5 MT in 2018, and this figure is expected to double if nothing changes. The report states that only 20% of global e-waste is recycled. It also reaffirmed that due to poor extraction techniques, the total recovery rate of cobalt from e-waste is only 30%. The UN report also indicates that with suitable recycle management, an individual entrepreneur in recycling e-waste can contribute more cobalt to his country, and this amount can be even higher than the quantity produced by exploiting natural resources through mining activities. During the smelting process from the original ore, recycled metals were found to be 2–10 times more energy-efficient than metals. To improve the circular economy, good
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methodologies must be developed to reduce the amount of e-waste produced and to recycle those goods so that they can be reintroduced into the supply chain of new derivatives. It was decided to use about 50,000 tons of e-waste for the proposed 2020 Tokyo Olympics after considering all of the harmful effects of e-waste. All the medals to be awarded at the event will be made of old smart phones, laptops, and other gadgets. In order to complete this environmental task, the organizers of the Olympic committee started to collect around 47,000 tons of e-waste in November 2018 itself. Japanese municipal authorities framed an effective work plan by engaging around 90% of their labor force for this work. But unfortunately due to the present COVID-19 pandemic situation, the hard work of the Japanese authorities has not yet been recognized.
Life Cycle of E-Waste Figure 1 illustrates the various process involved in e-waste management. The major participants in the e-waste supply chain are consumers, business traders, logistic exporters, vendors for scrap dealing, groups of people engage in the dismantling process, smelters, and companies engaged in recycling. The exponential growth of e-waste has both merits and demerits, as it is well established that e-waste management is an emerging issue. As a merit it opens numerous business opportunities because of the significance associated with e-waste components. Overall it exposes the environment to both toxic and valuable materials. Around 60% of e-waste comprises gold, aluminum, iron, and copper, while pollutants comprise 2.70% (Widmer et al. 2005). It has been proved that during the recycling process, chances are very high of recovering valuable materials. Despite these benefits, however, e-waste management involves many complexities due to the participation of various groups of people and the technologies associated with the recycling process.
Input for manufacturing process Production of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) Sales of EEE Consumption of EEE
Waste Generation Treatment of waste Disposal
Fig. 1 Life cycle process of e-waste
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E-Waste Management in India According to a report published by Global E–Waste Monitor in 2017, India produces about two million tons (MT) of e-waste annually and ranks fifth globally. Countries like the USA, China, Japan, and Germany were identified as the predecessors for India in e-waste generation. The study also confirms that India will be a major source of e-waste in the not-too-distant future. It also predicted that in 2023 around 18 million tons of e-waste will be generated. The large increase (in total global e-waste generation) was mainly attributed to India. As shown in Fig. 2, the growth of e-waste generation in India was found to be abnormal over years. whereas around 95% of India’s e-waste is recycled in the informal sector and in a unprocessed manner. Treatment of e-waste under the informal sectors was found to be a serious threat in this regard, and therefore integration between the informal and formal sectors should be established. Government should show maximum interest in scrap collectors in the form of incentives and adequate knowledge about disposal systems should be provided to all manufacturers. It should be mandatory that the manufacturer take care of disposal systems even after sales. A long-term approach for monitoring the progress of the electronic system should be developed; once the design phase is over, the manufacturer should take care of the product from the customer, and the components should be properly disposed of (Fig. 3). Electronic Waste Management in India identified computer equipment waste as very high, accounting for almost 70% of e-waste, while proportioning the waste generated from various other sectors. This includes obsolete computer monitors, motherboards, cathode ray tubes (CRT), Printed Circuit Board (PCB), cell phones and chargers, compact disks, and headphones, and white goods such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)/, Plasma TVs, refrigerators, and air conditioners.
Fig. 2 E-waste treatment in India
E waste management in India
95 % treatment under Informal Sector
5% treatment under formal sector
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Computer - 70% Phone - 12% Electronics - 8% Medical Equipment - 7% House hold equipment - 3%
Fig. 3 Pie chart representing the distribution of e-waste in India
Long-standing PCs, batteries, and other apparatuses are discarded by consumers far faster than they were previously. The amount of waste is rising at an average of 21% annually, according to a report in May 2017 (Baldé et.al. 2017). This study predicts that electronic waste from long-standing PCs in India will rise by 500% by 2020; from discarded cell phones, it will be around 18 times greater; from televisions it will be 1.5–2 times greater; from rejected fridges, it will be twice as much as their respective 2007 levels.
Existing Legislation for E-Waste in India The recently proposed (2016) E-waste (Management) Guidelines switched the current (2011) E-waste (Management and Handling) Guidelines on October 1, 2016. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) definition required electrical and electronic equipment producers to record and define objectives for the recovery of produced e-waste and to confirm that it is channeled to approved recyclers. In March 2018, the revised E-waste (Management) Rules decreased the target to 10% for 2016–2017 (compared to 20%) and 20% for 2017–2081. In the end of the seventh year this goal will steadily increase to 70%. The penalties for noncompliance and punishment were the same as in the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, sections 15 and 16. The sections state that the punishment for noncompliance is a period of imprisonment that may extend to 5 years or a fine that may extend to Rs 1 lakh. As of October 12, 2018, EPR authorization was issued to 726 manufacturers by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). An authorization is effective for a term of 5 years from the date of production shall define the goals for the assortment for the definite period of time. The CPCB website, however, lists the objective achieved or any penalty levied for noncompliance. In addition, there is no independent process in abode to crisscross or validate the statements prepared in endorsements is used for the random testing provision offered by the regulations. With slack execution, many of the stable rules failed. The issue of e-waste has been addressed at various levels, but not on a large enough scale to have a significant impact, especially in the unorganized sector. Electronic waste is not harmful in nature if it is stored rather than dismantled, and
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thus inadequate care is the issue. India is also ill-equipped to handle electronic waste reprocessing due to a low supply of professional labor. Just about a quarter of India’s electronic waste is reprocessed. The user of an electrical or electronic system is not aware of the end of the product’s value chain. No information on the e-collection center for the product sold is given along with the product packaging. The liability of customers, along with the commodity, is not defined. There is no deposit refund scheme (DRS) available in India that supports the reprocessing of a commodity.
E-Waste Management Issues Because of the usage of harmful resources in the production of electronic goods, electronic waste can cause extensive environmental destruction (Mehra 2004). In such waste, poisonous materials such as hexavalent chromium, lead, and mercury are present in one arrangement or another, consisting mainly of printed board assemblies, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), mercury switches, capacitors, batteries, relays, photocopy machine cartridges, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), electrolytes, and selenium drums. E-waste landfilling can result in the percolating of lead hooked on the groundwater. Crushing and burning of CRT releases poisonous fumes which mix with the air (Ramachandra and Saira 2004). These goods contain many forms of rechargeable batteries, many of which contain hazardous materials that when charred in incinerators or disposed of in landfills can contaminate the environment. The cadmium presence in one cell phone battery is sufficient to contaminate 600 m3 of water (Trick 2002). The amount of cadmium at landfill sites is high, and the unavoidable average and long-standing cadmium permeating the adjacent soil causes substantial toxic pollution (Envocare 2001). Since plastics are highly flammable, there are brominated flame retardants in the printed cabling board and coverings of electronic devices, a quantity of which is obviously hazardous for the environment.
Impacts of Informal Recycling India’s accumulated electronic and electrical waste is manually discarded and organized into segments such as plastics, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), wires, printed wiring boards, metals, condensers, and other valuable resources such as batteries. For unorganized recyclers this work endangers their health and the environment due to a lack of knowledge. The useful fractions are processed in various conditioning and refining processes into directly returnable constituents and secondary raw materials. For the extraction of various materials, no advanced machinery or personal protective equipment is provided. All the work is done with bare hands and only with the aid of screwdrivers and hammers. Women and children are often employed in this hazardous work. Waste constituents which do not have any resale or reuse value are disposed of in open dumps and are openly burnt (Devi et al. 2004). Pollution and slag comprising toxic heavy metals are created through contamination accompanying such backyard casting using rudimentary practices.
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CRT breaking operations result in accidents due to shredding, burns, etc. from acids and cuts used to remove heavy metals. Strong acids are used to extract precious metals like gold. People working without masks and in poorly ventilated and sealed environments results in exposure to toxic and insidious chemicals. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in mature condensers and transformers, as well as brominated flame retardants, can discharge highly poisonous dioxins and furans when scorched to remove copper from the wires on printed CBs, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cables and plastic casings, and insulation. Analysis of the ecological and social consequences of electronic waste shows an assortment of advantages and disadvantages on a wider scale (Alastair 2004). E-waste recycling supporters contend that this industry would result in more jobs, new admittance to fresh resources and electronics, and better frameworks. These will further fuel the economic development of the region in question. The truth, however, is that the new prosperity and reimbursements are circulated unevenly and often the influence of electronics on social growth is negative. Most of the “recycling” of e-waste includes small businesses that are multiple, widespread, and difficult to manage. Because of widespread unemployment, the inner relocation of poor laborers, and the absence of dispute or governmental deployment by affected inhabitants who trust that electronic waste is the only feasible income source or entry into current paths of growth, they take advantage of low labor costs. As they border on the unpremeditated budget and are thus not included in authorized information, they are largely imperceptible to state scrutiny. Some of the most important issues related to e-waste management are cited by Rajesh and Karishma (2016) as follows: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Volume of e-waste generated Prevalence of child labor Ineffective legislation Deficiency of infrastructure Health threats Deficiency of enticement schemes Pitiable responsiveness and sensitization Electronic left-over significances Disinclination of expert’s intricate Safety allegations High cost of tracking e-waste High charge of locale up the reprocessing capability Deficiency of research
E-Waste Disposal Methods in India Figure 4 shows the various methods of disposing e-waste in India. Product reuse was found to be the easiest way to make use of the material. As far as the Indian market is concerned, this pattern was followed by retailers to exchange their old items for new materials. In addition, this business will be completed with an amazing discount in
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Methods of Disposing E - Waste
Product Reuse
Landfills
Incineration
Recycling
Fig. 4 Methods of e-waste disposal in India
order to improve the volume of income. Now an emerging trend is transfers of refurbished electronic goods for reuse after several alternations through online marketing. Another conventional method of disposing e-waste is through landfilling. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 2011), more than 3.2 million tons of e-waste ended up in landfills in the United States in 2007 (Smith T. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Report, 2007). The presence of toxic components in electronic waste leads to metal leaching, and soil and water pollution. Approximately 70% of heavy metals found in landfills (including mercury and cadmium) come from (Futures Foundation electronic discards, 2001) IT equipment, such as machines, cell phones, and CRTs. In the case of PCs, motherboards are burned in an open pit after manual separation of components to remove the thin layer of laminated copper foil on the circuit board, which is distilled by the froth floating process after charring. In small enclosures with chimneys for the extraction of embedded metallic bits, faulty IC chips and condensers that have no resale value are burned (Agarwal 1998). Recycling is another significant strategy for reducing waste from disposal. Electronic products are recycled when discarded, and the metal extracted from waste is reused in the manufacture of various new items, thereby reducing consequent financial costs.
E-Waste Management Strategies The easiest way to deal with e-waste is to decrease its quantity. Designers of such products should guarantee that reuse, renovation, and/or upgradeability of the product are carried out. The use of fewer harmful, simply recoverable, and biodegradable products that can be reused for restoration, remanufacture, disassembly, and
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recycle should be emphasized. The next phase of possible e-waste reduction solutions is recycling and material reuse (Ramachandra and Saira 2004). The magnitude of e-waste is minimized by the recycling of metals, plastics, glass, and other materials. The potential for these options is to save resources and retain the atmosphere free of hazardous waste that would otherwise have been unconfined. It is an optimal time for manufacturers, customers, regulators, state governments, policy makers, and local authorities to take the problem seriously and resolve the various perilous components in a unified manner. In order to encourage such practices, it takes only an hour to obtain a national regulatory and an e-waste-policy system. Those who understand the problems are better able to develop an e-waste strategy. Hence it is better for manufacturing plants to jointly begin the policy development, albeit with consumer participation. It is also important to confirm the sustainability of e-waste organization systems by enhancing the quality of assortment and reprocessing systems and by ensuring surplus funding.
Waste Management Strategies in Developing Countries In the solid waste supervision segment, the management of waste electrical and electronic apparatuses is a key concern with universal ties among well-developed, impermanent, and emerging nations. In developed and developing countries where the population consumes significant quantities of electric and electronic equipment (EEE) (electrical and computer apparatuses), which will soon be converted into electronic waste, consumer culture and technology addiction dictate everyday life. This segment is a fast-growing source of waste that, due to the noxious effects on public well-being and surroundings, requires special care and management. On the other hand, electronic waste includes useful resources that can be extracted and reprocessed (metals, plastics) through different procedures that mitigate the use of natural possessions (precious metals, copper). The electronic waste management system’s new task is to change the prototype from a cause of harmful emissions to a feasible reserve in terms of ecological growth. The definition of waste grading emphasizes waste management and 3R (reduce, reclaim, reprocess) strategy and gives less exposure to landfills. Under the Waste System Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC on waste), the “end of waste” requirements define when such waste ceases to be discarded and obtains product eminence. EU policy encourages a circular economy in which waste is considered to be a resource and sets the path for a reprocessing society. With appropriate legislation, electronic waste is a distinctive waste source. Owing to the absence of infrastructure, high labor charges, and complex ecological legislation, established nations prefer not to reprocess electronic waste and this waste is disposed of in landfills or diverted to emerging nations (Robinson 2009). The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal forbids the export to developing countries of noxious and dangerous waste, and the Nationwide Waste Laws of established nations limit the disposal of waste in demand to facilitate the export of toxic and hazardous waste.
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In the case of developing countries, take-back schemes, distinctive group facts for electronic waste sources, ad hoc electronic waste collection movements, reprocessing insides, manufacturing technologies will redirect electronic waste dumping from landfills in established and provisional nations, and electronic waste collection by the informal sector The EU supports Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) that transfers the concern of confined consultants to EEE manufacturers and shippers for the supervision of electronic waste and the achievement of processing, reprocessing, and recovery targets. There are various outcomes across Europe for the application of this policy (Cahill et al. 2010). However, substantial volumes of electronic waste are lawfully or criminally transported to developing economies and low-income countries from high-income countries, posing significant threats to health and the environment. Nationwide guidelines authorizing, banning, or disregarding electric and electronic waste trade/import activities differ from nation to nation, with the exception of the EU, which has additional identical regulation in this area. Several nations have expelled consequences of electronic waste (Cambodia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Malaysia, China), while others have not approved the concern (Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Benin, Liberia, Uganda, Senegal, India, South Africa) besides certain have approved special approvals for such imports (Ghana) (Thailand, Philippines) in compliance with Jinhui et al. (2013). Transboundary transport of superseded EEE and electronic waste is a composite problem on a provincial and universal level, and illegal activities are difficult to track. The developing countries have chosen electronic waste terminuses, and large quantities of electronic waste containing toxic constituents can be found discarded on vulnerable land and in watercourses (Heart and Agamuthu 2012). Electronic waste drifts, however, have added complex arrangements than the infamous Universal North to Universal South path, wherever intra-regional skill (e.g., Mexico, China-Bangladesh, Canada-U.S.) might show an additional important part at existent because of the Basel Resolution (Lepawsky 2015). Furthermore, in electronic trade between countries, there is no strong discrepancy between electronic waste flows and second-hand EEE drifts. Many electronic waste exports are disguised as used goods, or supposedly harmless waste transported into developing countries is actually discarded or reprocessed in a harmful manner (Rucevska et al. 2015). Other central issues are the portion of electronic waste sources (domestically vs. imported) through official and informal reprocessing sites, information on provincial and resident electronic waste collection arrangements, and the role of the informal sector in this field. Persistent organic contaminants (POPs) specified in the Stockholm Resolution, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), or other toxic substances such as polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxins and furans (PXDD/Fs), are heavily polluted in the disassembling areas of electronic waste from Asian and African nations. Electronic waste contains poisonous constituents such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs), asbestos waste, batteries and asbestos-containing constituents, and superseded EEEs (e.g., coolers), and can comprise ozone-depleting gases such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
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It is necessary to eliminate certain toxic components prior to handling or removal under the EU Directive. Large players in the electronic waste industry, such as the EU, the USA, India, China, South Korea, Australia, and Japan, must further develop and implement relevant regulations addressing electronic waste management issues. Lack of regulation, weak governance, smuggling practices, corruption, absence of a structured framework for waste supervision, and pitiable principles of living subject emerging nations to primitive reprocessing activities, electronic waste dumping, and pollution burning. The extent of this ecological contamination in dust, air, sediment, plants, and soil, especially in the major electronic waste reprocessing sites such as Guiyu, Longtang, and Taizhou, is revealed in an inclusive analysis converging on heavy metals, with serious public health implications (Song and Li 2014). India is facing similar problems owing to low-tech electronic waste reprocessing methods provided by the informal sector (Sepúlveda et al. 2010). In the dismantling areas of developed countries, reprocessing corporations and the informal sector are exploiting the low employment strength, carrying out their efforts under poor circumstances, manually, often without any safety precautions. As the primary source of revenue, such practices are often carried out by individuals at the domiciliary level. Electronic waste landfill locations are “hot spots” typically situated in the vicinity of domestic or farming lands, causing heavy environmental pollution. Such sites discharge into rivers, wetlands, and groundwater, and soil waste leachates and radioactive liquids contaminate livestock, crops, and eventually their consumers. Open electronic waste smelting sites are serious sources of air pollution from dioxins, heavy metals, particulate matter, furans, surrounding PAHs, and ashes from hydrocarbons. In developing countries, the informal sector plays a key role in discarding and reprocessing of waste. The main challenge is to enhance the decent protection, wellbeing, and ecological ethics of dismantling operations, to grow the recognized segment that employs marginalized and vulnerable people, backed by appropriate guidelines. An amalgamation of the preeminent physical pre-processing accomplishments conducted locally in emerging nations with high-tech end-processing activities in urbanized nations (Wang et al. 2012) can be seen as an integrated solution at a global level. In changeover countries where assorted municipal waste (including electronic waste) is disposed of in landfills with considerable damage in terms of retrieval and reprocessing, and to increase strict Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management and waste disseminates, separate collection of electronic waste must be increased.
Waste Management Strategies in Developed Countries Management of WEEE is carried out through various methods worldwide. The EU Directive is the most holistic national regulation framework, since it disturbs the entire life series from the strategy stage of the EEE to supervision of its termination. The latest apprise has set new priorities for reprocessing as well as for take-back assortment initiatives such as “one-to-zero” insertion. Suppliers have to take back a
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secondhand product without purchasing a novel one-option for minor WEEE collection. A judicial organization similar to that of the EU (Menikpura et al. 2014) has been developed by Japan; these two schemes are similar in several areas (Yoshida and Yoshida 2010). In the USA, where there is a deficiency of common centralized regulation on electronic waste supervision, a diverse judicial tactic is applied: each state has defined its individual scheme with precise goals and administration (Kahhat et al. 2008; Kollikkathara et al. 2009). One effort toward a combined method was introduced in 2011 with the National Strategy on Electronics Stewardship (EPA 2011), which aims to point out centralized activities to develop the design of electronic goods and enrich supervision of used or discarded electronics (Elia and Gnoni 2015). Even though a mutual judicial standard could not be made universal, WEEE administration schemes have common practical features as well as differences based on the specific legislative approach. The EPR principle (OECD 2001) is one common basic concept: EU regulation is based on this methodology, as communal and separate take-back systems are used by manufacturers to manage all stages of the invention life series, including the post-consumer phase (Ogushi and Kandlikar 2007; Toyasaki et al. 2011; Zoeteman et al. 2010). In Japan, too, the EPR norm is well recognized; producers and traders must organize an EEE take-back scheme. The proposed adoption in the USA primarily emphasizes the design stage: a range of inducements and unique initiatives are being introduced to help producers in the design of greener electronic goods, with the goal of preventing and minimizing waste flows. The most successful policy for mitigating environmental and social impacts resulting from waste is typically prevention: the two solutions most often implemented for WEEE are eco-design policies and product lifetime increases (Thompson and Oh 2006). The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), specifying enactment standards for the design of greener electronic goods, is an example belonging to the first group. It is also recycled as an obtaining tool generated to help public and private sector institutional buyers assess, evaluate, and choose desktop computers, notebooks, and displays on the basis of their environmental characteristics (De Felice et al. 2014). The implementation of the concept of the EPR also affects the model of budget apportionment for funding the take-back assortment mechanism, as well as the processes of reprocessing and removal (Magalini and Huisman 2007; Webster and Mitra 2007). Home consumers in Japan pay a charge to shelter a share of the costs of reprocessing and transport; this choice may also be extended under the EU Directive. A potential choice is reuse by evaluating the second intervention group, i.e., accumulative the life period of an EEE: constructive as well as adverse effects of EEE reuse (Truttmann and Rechberger 2006). Tasaki et al. (2006) analyzed the universal competence of two choices, i.e., invention reuse against tenancy, in Japan. Kahhat et al. suggested a creative organizational model to promote EEE reuse markets in the USA. Modifications fright with the waste drifts contained in the WEEE regulation: the EU Directive is the most detailed WEEE regulation, in that it covers electronic items (e.g., PCs, monitors, TVs), but also domiciliary utilizations, e.g., brown and white goods. Japan, which also includes large and minor domiciliary
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utilizations in its national electronic waste legislation, has adopted a similar legislative strategy. In comparison, only electronic goods are included in the US and Canadian electronic waste programs. The use of harmful constituents in EEE goods is also limited in compliance with the Restriction on Hazardous Substances, which encourages alternative, eco-friendly resources in the manufacture and design of EEE goods. The implementation of the Basel Convention (UNEP 1992) on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (such as electronic waste and second-hand electronics) is another point of distinction between national systems: it disturbs the interconnections among single national schemes and the worldwide trans-shipment of waste (Kirby and Lora-Wainwright 2015; Yang et al. 2008). Stricter rules on the worldwide trans-shipment of these waste drifts are enforced by the implementation of this Resolution. There are “interconnected” national structures where the Basel Resolution is dynamic, since this Resolution sets firm guidelines for worldwide trans-shipment of discarded waste. In WEEE management, this is a dangerous dispute as it involves ecological, commercial, but also societal influences.
Regulations and Policies for E-Waste All disputes stretching from development and trade to final discarding, as well as awareness transfer for the reprocessing of electronic waste, are discussed in the policy. Clear regulatory instruments should be in place, adequate for regulating together authorized and prohibited e-waste transfers and ingresses and confirming their ecologically sustainable management. In order to confirm that electronic waste from developing nations does not enter the realm of clearance, the loopholes must also be tackled in the prevalent legal framework. Such aspects need to be regulated by the Port and Customs authorities. E-waste disposal in urban landfills should be prohibited by laws, and e-waste proprietors and producers should be encouraged to recycle the waste properly. It is important to establish a public-private involvement platform for policymaking and problem solving in electronic waste supervision. In order to keep in step with the spatial and temporal changes in e-waste arrangement and material, this could be an employed clutch in adjusting the agencies, NGOs, manufacturing groups, authorities, etc. This Working Group will be a feedback channel for the government to review the current laws, strategies, and initiatives for e-waste supervision on a regular basis. For the declaration of hazardous material content, mandatory marking of all television sets, computer monitors, and additional domestic/industrial electronic equipment may be enforced with a view to recognizing ecological threats and confirming proper material supervision and discarding of e-waste. Legislation to change the situation, while important, is only effective if properly enforced. While there have been certain developments in this regard with the help of organizations like GTZ, due to the absence of funding and undeveloped legal structures, implementation of regulations is often slow. To ensure compliance, fines for nonfulfillment and deadlines for assortment or reprocessing are also used.
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Producer’s Responsibility in E-Waste Management Extended Producer Liability (EPR) is an ecological rule strategy in which the concern of a manufacturer for a commodity is prolonged to the post-user phase of the life series of the product, including its final disposal. In theory, concern for the life cycle ecological effects of the whole product scheme is shared by all actors along the product chain. The greater the effect of the commodity method on the environment, the greater the concern should be for mitigating such impacts. The clients, vendors, and product producers are these actors. Customers can stimulus the environmental effect of goods in a variety of ways: through buying decisions, product care and ecologically responsible activity, and careful removal (e.g., separate removal of reprocessing equipment). By supplying producers with environmentally friendly products and parts, suppliers can have a major impact. Through their influence on material selection, industrialized processes, product design, produce system support, and product delivery, producers can decrease the life-series ecological impressions of their goods (Eleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium Sergio and Tohru 2005). The strategy of the system desires to be such that there are payments and balances, particularly to avoid permitted provisions. The product designer’s objectives may include decreasing toxicity, reducing energy practice, reorganization of the weight and materials of the product, and finding informal recycle opportunities. Producers have to progress the strategy through: (a) Replacement of toxic elements such as certain brominated flame retardants, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and chromium hexavalent (b) Processes to make it easier to recognize and reuse constituents and resources, predominantly plastics (c) Steps to allow recycled plastics to be used in new products Via a “buy-back strategy” through which used electronic goods are returned and a deduction may be offered on new items bought by the buyer, manufacturers could give their customers incentives for product return. All sellers of electronic devices shall, at the end of their lifespan, offer take-back and organization services for their goods (Agarwal 1998). For these to be either reprocessed or reused, whether in a separate reprocessing division at the production unit or in a mutual plant, the electronic products should referred to be dismantled cautiously. Collection networks need to be implemented so that e-waste is picked up from the exact locations to ensure that it enters the recycling unit directly. Collection can be carried out via storage centers. Each manufacturer of electronic equipment must work in collaboration with assortment centers to confirm that a realistic and reasonable financing scheme is implemented. Assortment centers can only transport waste to discarders and reprocesses approved to treat, process, refurbish, and recycle waste in accordance with ecologically sound supervision strategies.
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Reprocessing of E-Waste Massive amounts of abandoned equipment produce operational parts that could be recovered and combined to construct a working unit with other used equipment. Removing, examining, and checking parts and then reassembling them into full working machines is labor intensive. For the ecologically sustainable supervision of e-waste, an institutional framework, including e-waste assortment, conveyance, handling, packing, retrieval, and discarding, needs to be developed at national and/or regional level. These amenities should be licensed by the governing consultants and adequate incentives should be given if necessary. The formation of electronic waste assortment, conversation, and reprocessing centers should be promoted in corporation with states, NGOs, and producers. E-waste reprocessing that is environmentally sound requires advanced skill and practices that are not only very costly but also require specific assistances and organizational preparation. Appropriate reprocessing of complex resources requires the proficiency to identify or assess the existence of dangerous or potentially harmful components, as well as suitable components, and then the ability to apply the competences and processes of the organization to recycle all of these streams properly. Suitable fugitive air contamination control devices and point source reduction devices are required. Strategies on the environmentally sustainable recycling of e-waste need to be created (Widmer et al. 2005). When they are confident of the returns, the private sector can step in to invest in e-waste ventures.
Training and Awareness Programs on Electronic Waste Management The prospect of e-waste supervision can be determined not only based on the success of the confined government or the reprocessing service provider, but also on citizens’ perceptions and the crucial role of producers and bulk customers in shaping and developing community engagement. In order to sensitize users, joint campaigns are needed and customers should pay for the reprocessing of electronic products. Via a labeling requirement for products, customers must be aware of their position in the system. Consumers are trained to purchase only required goods that use some of the new innovations to be recognized by eco-labeling. In order to foster best management practices, awareness-raising campaigns, and events on environmentally sound management (ESM) issues, health and security features of e-waste should be introduced for various target groups. Procedural guidance should be established as soon as possible for the ESM of e-waste.
Conclusion A suitable life cycle approach to electronic waste and a greater number of recycling activities should be encouraged by adding principles of circular economy, where more “waste” is converted into “resource”. There should be more influencing
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variables for effective e-waste management such as removal or reduction of CO2 emissions and CFCs especially in cooling appliances, energy recovery methods, and material recovery systems, and waste to wealth conversion should be identified in all sectors. These identified success variables should be applied and monitored by suitable regulatory agents. The incursion of electronic waste, predominantly discarded PCs, solid waste controlling, which is previously an enormous chore in India, is flattering more difficult. A thorough evaluation of the existing and future situation, with quantification, features, current removal practices, ecological impacts, etc., is urgently required. Organized infrastructure, including e-waste assortment, transport, handling, packing, retrieval, and removal, needs to be recognized at country and/or provincial level for the ecologically sustainable administration of electronic waste. In collaboration with confined industrialists and producers, the formation of electronic waste assortment, conversation, and reprocessing centers should be encouraged. It is important to develop model amenities using ecologically rigorous technology and methods for reprocessing and retrieval. Criteria for the retrieval and removal of e-waste should be created. Strategy-level initiatives should comprise the implementation of e-waste legislation, e-waste import and export control, and facilitation of infrastructure development. A successful take-back program can help minimize waste by providing manufacturers with incentives to promote goods that are less expensive, comprise less harmful materials, and are easy to take down, reprocess, and salvage. To enable customers to reuse electronic devices for assortment and reprocess/recycling, it should fix goals for assortment and reprocess/recycling, execute reporting standards, and provide compliance contrivances and refund or deposit programs. Focus on the strategy of novel electronic devices should be placed on end-of-life management.
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e-Waste Management: A Transition Towards a Circular Economy
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Global e-Waste Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WEEE Management in Developed and Developing Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Scenario: India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strategic Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hazardous Materials Found in e-Waste and Their Impact on Health and Environment . . . . . . Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to Develop a Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Challenges Associated with e-Waste Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WEEE Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Electronic waste is accounted as a rapidly expanding class of hazardous solid waste across the world. The inappropriate handling of techniques for electronic waste management and a higher potency to cause environmental pollution as well as human health hazards result in a global predicament. Curtailing the existing electronic waste management issue is possible through “sustainable consumption and production” that entails countries to necessitate vital transformation for their societies to produce and consume goods. This is accomplished by collaborative participation of governments, international organizations, commercial enterprises, and individuals to revolutionize flawed consumption and production patterns. This chapter will present e-waste scenarios and provide information about the hazardous materials found in them followed by their impact on health and environment. Waste electrical and electronic equipment management in developed and developing countries (precisely, India) will be explored along with befitting avenues concerned with recyclable components utilizing extended S. Barapatre (*) · M. Rastogi Department of Environmental Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_68
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producer responsibility resulting in the development of a circular economy. The current position of e-waste industry will be appraised to inspect the challenges associated with e-waste recycling including unlawful e-waste trade-in from developed countries and casual discarding causing grave environmental harm. Keywords
Electronic waste · Sustainable consumption · Circular economy · Recycling · Extended producer responsibility
Introduction Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or e-waste as the fastest-growing waste stream globally is expected to increase twofold by 2045 (Parajuly et al. 2019). It is turning now into a global problem due to the incessant demand for electronic products which has entailed serious obligation to both industrialized and developing economies of the world. We know that electrical and electronic equipment claim an indispensable part in our lives, with rapid growth at a rate three times faster than other solid wastes. e-products have lately evolved to complicated and ubiquitous usage in our everyday lives, but e-waste comprises of valuable resources and toxic materials that require careful handling. However, the collection and waste management systems have not yet caught up – lacking to ensure proper handling and management of e-waste and entailing various potent risks such as resource losses as well as negative impacts on environment and human health. There are many definitions of e-waste put forth that may seem controversial at times. According to a report by UNEP, “E-waste is a broad term that includes a range of electrical and electronic equipments which can be rendered as end of life electronic devices and do not incur value to their owners.” Such waste is also termed as WEEE or waste electrical and electronic equipment. While the European Directive 2002/96/EC defines e-waste as “Any waste electrical and electronic equipment, along with all its components, subassemblies and consumables which form part of the product at the time of discarding.” According to OECD, “E-waste is any household appliance that consumes electricity and has reached the end of its life cycle.” The electronic waste is divided into six distinct categories as mentioned in the Table 1 (Balde et al. 2015). WEEE is non-homogenous and multifarious with regard to its constituents being quite diverse across different categories and encompasses substances that can be labeled as hazardous and nonhazardous waste. Many precious metals like copper, aluminum, silver, and iron are also found in electrical and electronic appliances which can be recovered by recycling e-waste. Therefore, recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is a subject of great interest with respect to waste treatment and recovery of valuable materials. Inventing a lucrative and eco-friendly recycling approach entails identification and quantification of precious materials and perilous substances to realize the tangible characteristics of this waste
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Table 1 Different categories of e-waste S. No. 1. 2. 3.
Waste category Temperature exchange equipment Screens and monitors Lamps
4.
Large equipment
5.
Small equipment
6.
Small IT and telecommunication equipment
Equipment included Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioner, heat pump Televisions, monitors, laptops, netbooks, tablets Fluorescent lamps, LED lamps, high-intensity discharge lamps Washing machines, clothes dryers, electric stoves, large printing machines, copying machines, photovoltaic panels Vacuum cleaners, toasters, microwaves, ventilation equipment, scales, calculators, radio, electric shavers, kettles, camera, toys, electronic tools, medical devices, small monitoring and control equipment Mobile phones, GPS, pocket calculators, routers, personal computers, printers, telephones
Source: Balde et al. (2015)
and improved recuperation of minerals so as to conserve natural resources and develop a sustainable solution for e-waste management (Zeng et al. 2017). Most of the companies that manufacture electrical and electronic devices upgrade their products quite recurrently. Also, these products are designed in a way that gives them a short lifetime. The principal component of almost all electric and electronic equipment is the printed circuit boards (PCBs). PCBs in a regular personal computer contain around 20% copper and 250 g/t Au that is much more prominent than that of copper or gold ore (Yazici and Deveci 2013). To recover these metals from electrical and electronic wastes, various remedies are available based on physical, pyrometallurgical, bio-metallurgical, and hydrometallurgical processes (Awasthi 2017). Despite a relatively well-instituted waste management infrastructure along with sufficient collective efforts, unsatisfactory results have been generally found. This could be resonated to the lack of evidence for design support, policies developed, and know-how research wherein the recovery products are concerned. To resolve the abovementioned issues, the concept of circular economy is viewed as a progressive approach to address the e-waste problem. Although, an EPR-based e-waste management system was visioned as an appropriate plan, with circular economy pushing the producers to incentivize and reorganize their business models and design technology to reduce the operative costs, the implementation seeks no expected incentives as the individual operators and the resource recovery have been limited to meager collection and subsequent material recycling processes. Furthermore, the reuse potential of the lost material during the whole product process is almost nonexistent. Circular economy is a concept which eventually slows down the EEE consumption rate while circulating the waste material within the system for the longest possible time and minimizing and eliminating their re-generation via smarter product designing and business modeling (Parajuly 2017). It involves the 7 R’s system that includes reduce, reuse, refuse, recycle, recovery, rethinking, and redesigning that
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Fig. 1 General concept of a circular economy in e-waste management
accentuates the social, economic, and environmental aspects (in the case of India, Indian E-waste management rule, 2016). However, we cannot ignore the various obstacles that might slow down the process such as poor technology, inadequate collection system, need for finances, and lack of training to the informal sector. The circular economy works towards cleaner and renewable technologies, groundbreaking models, and developmental policies to “design out” waste by optimizing the products and cycling materials, maintaining them at their maximum utility and value (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2019). This optimization can be observed through the derived products (better-designed) and futuristic waste management models that lend the product an extended lifetime, and a possibility for reuse with resourceful material recovery. The general concept of a circular economy in e-waste management is illustrated in Fig. 1. The social and behavioral elements linked with e-product consumption and their adaptation towards enabling common people to facilitate this circular system are still being explored. Apart from the technicalities and recycling rates involved during e-waste circular economic process, the sustainable production of these products should be given due importance. The concept of circular economy is deemed to be essential for e-product generation and management; however, a collective effort of multiple sectors (businesses, governments, and consumers) needs to be mandated. This means the technological cum economic aspect as well as consumer behavior both are very vital to be defined for long-term sustenance of circular economy. Hence, it calls for identification of better opportunities for developmental interventions to improve e-waste management and achieve a satisfying circular economy.
Global e-Waste Scenario According to the global E-waste Monitor 2020, the worldwide e-waste production is increasing at a rate of 3 to 4% per year. In 2016, the total amount of e-waste produced throughout the world was around 44.7 million tons, and it is expected to reach 52.2
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million tons by 2021 (Balde et al. 2017). About 53.6 million metric tons (Mt) of electronic waste were recorded to be generated worldwide in 2019 with only 17.4 per cent being collected and recycled. Majorly 53.6 million metric tons (Mt) of the e-waste discarded products comprising of battery or plug (computers and mobile phones) contribute to the load. It is predicted that battery or plug containing discarded products will reach about 74 Mt by 2030 (http://www.globalewaste.org). Thus, e-waste seems to emerge as the world’s fastest-growing waste stream driven mainly by high consumption rates and shorter life span. Asia reportedly generated the largest volume of e-waste (2019) – around 24.9 Mt followed by the United States (13.1 Mt), Europe (12 Mt), Africa (2.9 Mt), and Oceania (0.7 Mt). Asia being the greatest producer of WEEE has a collection rate of 4.2 kg/inh where only 6% is properly collected and recycled. In India, the recyclable e-waste quantifies to only 5% of the total waste, owing to the lack of suitable infrastructure and weak policies and institutional framework. This leads to shortage in natural resources and amplified environmental degradation that adversely affect the people involved in recycling industry. Herein, 65 cities in India contribute to about 60% of India’s total e-waste, highest being generated by three states – Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh (Kumar and Dixit 2018). In addition, e-waste being a health and environmental hazard due to presence of toxic additives and hazardous substances such as mercury (damages the human brain) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) needs to be handled properly in an environmentally sound manner. To target effectual waste management, an improvised collection and recycling system has to be designed that would increase the waste recovery and treatment pace. Various countries have come together to adopt a national e-waste policy that works towards legislation or regulation of e-waste recycling. However, still in many regions, the regulatory advances and implementations are slow with poor collection and management strategy. In the case of developing nations, an enhanced living standard is visible due to better economic growth that eventually helps in decreasing the poverty rate. However, when these economies devise strategies to encounter e-waste management challenges as an important environmental-health issue, generating ample opportunities for the inhabitants through product recovery is not farsighted. WEEE is mainly produced by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries showing a distinct amplification in WEEE generation by developing countries than the developed countries. It is estimated that developing and developed countries will discard an average of 550 million metric tons of WEEE by the year 2030. Developed countries get rid of their e-waste by simply exporting their waste to developing countries. This e-waste is generally exported to China, India, and Africa which causes serious threats to their ecosystem. This trans-boundary flow of e-waste has also increased as no duty is levied to the importers and unauthorized recyclers which use all sorts of inappropriate technologies to dispose this e-waste. The Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their disposal was adopted as a response to a public objection to toxic waste deposits imported in Africa and other parts of the developing countries. It was implemented with an objective to protect human health
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and the environment from the adverse impacts of hazardous wastes. Yet, there has been an illegal transport of WEEE in forms other than waste which failed to fulfill the purpose of the Basel Convention. The European nations took another initiative by shaping the WEEE directive and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS Directive, 2002/95/EC).
WEEE Management in Developed and Developing Countries Considering the global framework, aiming an effective e-waste management system, the main acceptable factors include collection of waste, handling, processing through recycling or recovery, and disposal (E-waste management rule, 2016). On the contrary, in the case of developing countries, the major issues identified to cause major threats towards improper handling of enormous volume of this e-waste are informal recycling and a feeble/absent e-waste legislation. In addition, in low- and middle-income countries, informal sectors also play a significant role that cannot be overlooked. Figure 2 illustrates the current practices in e-waste management system. A faster consumption of EEE has been observed in the developing countries in comparison to developed countries in spite of a slower rate of technological advancement, thereby generating more e-waste, quantified to be double than the developed countries (Garlapati 2016). For instance, the discarded components of dead computers by 2030 are estimated to be 400–700 million by developing and 200–300 million by the developed countries (Sthiannopkao and Wong 2013). The lesser developed technology and improper rules and regulations in the developing countries make the challenge severalfold higher for e-waste management than the developed countries. Various researchers argue that critical factors in e-waste management are more deliberated to developed nations, while developing countries have a lot to struggle with respect to policy development and structural framework.
Fig. 2 Current practices for e-waste management system
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While comparing the legislative policies of developed and developing countries, the former is always one step ahead owing to stricter implementation of these legislations. Nevertheless, following the same path, many developing countries have taken up the initiative to formulate and implement specific policies for e-waste management. The developed countries have formulated national registry system encompassing proper collection and strong logistics system (Sthiannopkao and Wong 2013). For instance, the Packaging Waste Program and EPR program are mandated to put financial obligations on the manufacturers to collect and reduce packaging waste in Germany (Ongondo et al. 2011). The latter was adopted and extended to countries like Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, and Taiwan. Another EU legislation (Directive 2002/95/EC, the RoHS Directive) was enacted in 2003 endorsing their collection, recycling, and restricting the usage of hazardous substances in e-wastes (Directive 2002/96/EC). Countries like China and India (lacking a national registry) have clearly implemented the EPR legislation system to monitor the produced EEE and put forth a subsequent manufacturer take-back system. Furthermore, another major factor contributing to the existing menace in the developing countries is the big gray markets that make available second-hand EEE, thus making the situation more vulnerable. Despite low labor costs in these countries (China, India, and Pakistan), the gigantic quantities of e-waste (both import and domestic) and the supremacy of the informal parties were figured out as a major bottleneck to manage e-waste (Abbas 2010). Global policies are already in place to recycle e-waste which is largely dependent on consumer behavior and the local market. On the contrary, few studies conducted by researchers confirm that most of the e-waste is generated by the countries showing notable economic development. Canada has a well-developed recycling and processing industry controlled by industry standards. In Europe, all 27 countries have their own set of regulations intended to maximize WEEE recycling. In the United States, there is no national policy for WEEE recycling, but at least half of the states in the United States have their own range of laws for recycling of e-waste. In Latin America, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, and Brazil have e-waste policies, while Africa lacks lawful arrangements for e-waste recycling with around 85% of surplus electronic imports being reclaimed rather than being discarded. Egypt is one of the highest e-wasteproducing African countries that however lack proper e-waste management system. The National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme in Australia included a permutation of government directives and industry engagement for assembly and recycling of e-waste, whereas in Asia only South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and India hold e-waste policies. Maximum recycling is carried out by Taiwan with around 82% of e-waste being recycled followed by Japan and South Korea recycling around 75% of their e-waste. Though China possesses formal commandment for WEEE management, it is still working on extending its recycling capacity. It is not only the prime destination for e-waste dumping but also the largest producer and consumer of electronics in the world (Chi et al. 2011). E-waste management protocols in many other countries across the world are still in the developing stage. Table 2 describes the legislative framework for WEEE management in different countries. Balde et al. (2015) describes the modus operandi followed by countries worldwide with context to proper collection, preprocessing, and recycling of e-waste. His
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Table 2 Legislative framework for WEEE management in various countries (Pathak et al. 2017) Country/region South Korea Belgium Finland France, Germany and the Netherland Japan Vietnam China Norway The United Kingdom Thailand Singapore Pakistan The United States Hong Kong Nigeria
Legislation/regulation Act on control of Trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste and their disposal, 1994 Directive 2002/96/EC on WEEE, 2002 Government Decree on WEEE, 2004 Under EU Directives in 2005 Law for the control of export, import, and others of specified hazardous and other wastes Law on environmental protection, 2005 Catalogue of restricted imports of solid wastes, 2008 The revised EU directives, 2006 Under EU directives in 2007 Criterion for import of used EEE (UEEE), 2007 Import and export of e-wastes and used electronic equipment, 2008 Import policy order, 2009 HR 2284: Responsible electronics recycling act, 2011 Advice on movement of UEEE, 2011 Guide for importers of UEEE into Nigeria, 2011
study concludes that developed economies are more innovative than developing economies in this regard; however, there still lies a vast scope of improvement for both. Still due to various reasons, developed countries export their e-waste to the developing countries for dumping. These reasons include heavy labor price and stern environmental guidelines for hazardous waste disposal in developed countries. Despite the fact that developing countries are short of appropriate techniques, amenities, and means for efficient e-waste recycling, they still import e-waste from developed countries for provisional benefits. Such recyclers depend on rudimentary methods for extraction of precious substances from e-waste. However, some countries like Tunisia have now started working towards formulating a better approach for e-waste management and recycling. A significant quantity of e-waste is exported outside European countries, and most of it is transported to Asia and Africa in the false name of being sent for reuse and renovation where even dysfunctional items are unlawfully labeled as “used goods” which causes considerable harm to the environment and local citizens.
Case Scenario: India On a global scale, India ranks fifth in e-waste generation producing 2 million tons with a total annual growth of 30% (ASSOCHEM India report 2019). However, the OECD countries contribute about 50% to 60% of this total e-waste volume that makes its accurate quantification a very difficult task. In the case of India, e-waste was expected to increase to 5.2 million ton by 2020 (Gao et al. 2019; Masud et al. 2019) making e-waste management quite challenging. It is found that a speedy
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economic growth and enhanced purchasing capacity of the developed urban society (middle-income) results in the exponential rise of e-waste generation. The absence of suitable environmental and regulatory framework, lesser knowledge of operational awareness for asset recovery from old products and inefficient planning and designing for integrated supply chain are mainly responsible (Masud et al. 2019). Therefore, implementation and designing of e-waste management practices need to account for the environment and economic perspectives as well. Modern e-waste management system integrates processes like e-waste collection, design of green products, multiple-agency collaboration, disposal/recycling, and community participation. The need of the hour is to formulate an integrated waste management system aimed at sustainable development and environment protection. Pathak et al. (2017) adopted a mathematical modeling to predict this and quantified computers and mobile phones as the two major electronic items that were sellable in the Indian market. It has been understood that computers will immensely contribute to the e-waste volume with an increase until 2022, gradually slowing to reach a saturation point by 2030. Contrary to this, a saturation point could not be observed for the e-waste generating from mobile phones in the near future. To overcome these obstacles regarding e-waste generation and its stated adversity towards sustainability in India, a legislative framework was drawn with chronological developments. In 2010, the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 was amended to incorporate the e-waste management and handling rules (schedule-I) which elucidate the role of manufacturers (manufacturing/sale/purchase/processing of EEE), collection centers, recyclers, re-furbishers, traders, dismantlers, auctioneers, and bulk consumers. However after many changes and revisions (incorporating the extended producer responsibility concept) including various disapprovals and recommendations, the rule was finally put forward in 2011. According to Indian legislation, extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a competent e-waste handling system that forms collection centers, employs the distributor take-back system (DTBS), and engages authorized and approved dismantlers or recyclers either individually or by a producer responsibility organization (PRO). The notification further specifies the use of hazardous substances being limited to electrical and electronic appliances. However, this was held insufficient to resolve the existing e-waste management issues, and requirement of further modifications/improvements in the e-waste management rules to incorporate strategies for effective EPR management in an eco-friendly manner was recommended. The legislature was reformulated as E-waste Management Rule 2016 that took almost three decades to be developed into a specific e-waste legislation, incorporating the manufacturer and re-furbisher responsibility (Pathak et al. 2017). This advent in the form of e-waste legislation helped increase the awareness for waste management where several collection centers, systematic recycling companies, and local societal bodies (Recyclekaro.com, E-waste Recycling India and E-Parisaraa) have emerged. Albeit contributing small, a reduction in the e-waste volume and increase in recovery of valuable and critical materials are observed. Thus, a slow but positive starting point is seen, as 90% of e-waste is still handled by the informal sector with benefits of recycling being practiced by these recyclers in an organized and scientific manner (ASSOCHEM India report 2019).
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Strategic Approaches With an incessant emphasis on recycling issue, the strategic approach of circular economy (CE) is deemed suitable for stress reduction in the environment and to balance economy (Akram et al. 2019). The concept of CE has been framed and selected keeping in mind the uncontrollable increase in the electronic products and the recycling margins of these end-of-life (EoL) products (illustrated in Fig. 3). Specifically, in context to a developing country like India, emerging as a new potent economic system, recycling of EoL products will thereby aid in sustainable development (Slaveykova et al. 2019; Krishnamurthy et al. 2019). This includes constant efforts and making initiatives that control issues such as waste management, essentially pollution, e-waste management strategies, environmental sustainability, and protection. Among them, “environmental management system” (EMS) is considered as the most significant and vital driving tool to influence rest of the existing enablers. It emphasizes on deriving eco-friendly products, develops stricter legislations, builds green image, and supports the producers in proper implementation of CE practices. This enables the stakeholders and policy makers in reducing the environmental burden and developing an effectual e-waste management system focusing on identified key enablers (EMS and environmental partners).
DEMATEL Method DEMATEL method is applied to study the potency of cause and effect enablers on waste, setting up objectives that include finalizing and listing the set of enablers to execute e-waste management. DEMATEL is considered as an essential method to identify the interrelationships and to study the quantification of mutual effects
Fig. 3 Pictorial representation of a new e-waste management system
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among enablers (Kamble et al. 2019). Basically, dominant enablers (direct effect on other enablers) are the decisive factors in implementation and practicing the e-waste management framework. It investigates and establishes a cause and effect relationship between the e-waste management enablers to deduce the causal group factor and to analyze the listed enablers. To elaborate, the factorial relationship is weighed on a scale of 0 to 4, where 0 indicates no influence on “y,” while 4 indicates that “x” variable does influence “y.” This method reveals the interdependency of variables on x axis and y axis illustrated with the help of generic diagram called diagraph. Further, steps for scrutinizing enabler interrelationship and exploring the cause and effect relationship are described. With a global rise in e-waste generation and related environmental issues, transition from a linear economy to CE modeling is needed to be attained by global research, communication strategies, and efficient practices (Slaveykova et al. 2019). CE being an umbrella concept minimizes the process of waste generation (Pauliuk 2018) that involves developing closed-loop ecosystem for an efficient consumption and proper utilization of resources. It mainly aims to model a wastefree environment by practicing the R’s, reducing, reusing, and recycling of waste (Slaveykova et al. 2019). The CE model, however, in nascent phase (Rosa et al. 2019), focuses mainly on efficient management of the resources by utilizing reverse logistics, redesigning, innovation, and collaboration of ecosystems. The substitution of the linear waste management model by CE will aid in developing a sustainable ecosystem for future generations. The increased generation of electrical and electronic products calls for an efficient management of e-waste with advanced technology, upgraded with better policies. In addition, lower collection and recycling rates result in the loss of resources that may be rederived through these e-products. Currently, e-waste management is not limited only to recycling, in fact adequate initiatives are to be identified for reshaping and redesigning the manufacturing processes of products, creating a desire to create a closed-loop CE system (Pauliuk 2018). Additionally, an edge in recuperating environmental as well as economic aspects of the electronic industry can be achieved by developing integrated concept of sustainable practices with e-waste management system, e.g., eco-design, cleaner technologies, and green packaging (Akram et al. 2019; Zhang et al. 2019). An influence of other sustainable factors including social, environmental, economic, technology, and policy formulation on e-waste management is also known to play a critical role in the CE. But deficient infrastructure and the lack of information system required for establishing an efficient CE hold the developing countries back in this regard.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) WEEE management being a complex issue has prompted that we need a suitable tool to evaluate its environmental impact, thus assisting in decision-making. Several tools have been established and utilized for WEEE management, life cycle assessment (LCA) being a vital one. LCA assesses the environmental impacts while comparing the performance of involved waste management techniques. LCA is an international standardized practice grounded on ISO (International Organization for
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Standardization) 14,040 series. This includes four phases: (i) define goal and scope, (ii) life cycle inventory development, (iii) life cycle impact assessment, and (iv) life cycle interpretation. It helps to deduce the environmental impact of electronic products and identify the process that are associated with them (Aziz et al. 2019). It further evaluates the “cradle-to-grave” effect of extracted raw materials, utilization of products, and final disposal on the environment. Perhaps LCA has sometimes been applied to identify the product’s life cycle for specific cases as well by monitoring the production and waste management process (Kaab et al. 2019). About 200 LCA studies have already been cited globally for waste management essentially LCA findings in WEEE management but with significant differences among their background and research scope. Over the past decades, many specific LCA models have been developed for waste management, EASEWASTE model being a primary method (Gentil et al. 2010). The content analysis discovered mainly three research areas where LCA can be applied in WEEE management: (i) WEEE product, (ii) WEEE component, and (iii) WEEE residue/ mixture. Thus considering the critical role played by LCA in waste management, it is recommended as a standard method for WEEE management for developing countries.
Hazardous Materials Found in e-Waste and Their Impact on Health and Environment With an escalated pace of urban growth, e-waste tops the list of issues existing in the modernized world, constantly adding toxic and hazardous elements (lead, mercury, calcium, polybrominated biphenyls, and chromium) to our environment (Zeng et al. 2018). The major trepidation associated with e-waste revolves around the fact that it contains an array of hazardous substances which threaten public and environmental well-being. Inappropriate handling of such wastes causes detrimental effects due to leakage of perilous substances. On one hand, it is stated as a main source of essential minerals such as iron, copper, etc., and on the other hand, it is the root cause of various environmental hazards (Borthakur and Govind 2018a, b; Zhang et al. 2019). E-waste is a compound consisting of many metals (heavy and hazardous) such as Cu, Co, Fe, Ni, Cd, Pb, Cr, Au, Ag, Pd, plastics (polymers and additives), and ceramics undergoing conformational changes within their manufacturing time (Robinson 2009). The technical and management gaps such as the lack of required services, legislations, and methodologies towards e-waste management (for developing nations) raise severe concerns that ultimately result in mishandling and malpractices like open burning and dumping of waste. This causes pollution at different levels of environment and creates problems for public health and flora fauna ecosystem. E-waste also contaminates and causes air, soil, and water pollution which is quite evident from recycling or landfilling of these hazardous and toxic e-waste (Borthakur 2017). The major contributors are the hazardous organic
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compounds like PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), and PCDD/Fs (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans) found to increase air and water contamination and affecting human health by disrupting food chain (Tue et al. 2016). Informal recycling is a major malpractice that makes the prevailing situation worse for the developing countries like India, Ghana, Nigeria, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The usual practices – illegal and unsupervised melting of circuit boards, open burning of wire piles, and metal bearing acidic solution discards – have been visible (Borthakur and Singh 2017). Dismantling is another inappropriate practice for disposal of e-waste which when carried out in poor conditions leads to terrible pollution and damage to public health. The generated waste is disposed by open burning and dumping which are rendered as the worst alternatives practiced by countries devoid of proper legislation and fundamental waste management services. Such practices generally involve physically dismantling the e-waste by using basic tools like hammers, chisels, and screw drivers. Metals like gold are usually extracted by stripping of the metals in open-pit acid baths. Copper is recovered by burning electric cables in open pits, while plastics are shredded and liquefied at high temperatures without protective ventilation that releases toxins like dioxins and furans. Such rudimentary techniques threaten environmental protection and health of workers. Such illegal dumping is also witnessed in developed countries which can be attributed to improper implementation of environmental laws and WEEE management regulations by the authorities. All electronics include printed circuit boards which contain lead, brominated flame retardants, and antimony oxide which are highly toxic. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are heated to remove their components. Hazardous materials like lead, mercury, and hexavalent chromium are present in such wastes which contain cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), capacitors, mercury switches, batteries, printed circuit boards, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), cartridges, and electrolytes. Lead and cadmium are found in computer batteries and circuit boards; cathode-ray tubes also consist of cadmium and lead oxide while mercury is found in switches and flat screen monitors; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are present in transformers and capacitors. These harmful substances cause various illnesses like disorders related to growth, reproduction, thyroid, lung function, and abnormalities in cell functioning. These are most commonly seen in people directly exposed to these pollutants and also pregnant women, infants, and children. Over 1000 toxic materials are found to be associated with e-waste, the most common ones being nickel (Ni), barium (Ba), beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), lithium (Li), lanthanum (La), mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Nickel (Ni) and arsenic (As) are carcinogens and cause respiratory and skin problems. Antimony (Sb) is known to cause lung and heart damages, hair loss, and fertility issues. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) cause liver damage, thyroid, and
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anemia. Cadmium and mercury are known carcinogens and damage lungs. Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is a carcinogen and causes mutations and impairs the endocrine system. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) are known to impact the kidneys and liver and cause thyroid disorder. Barium (Ba) causes muscular feebleness and gastrointestinal unrest leading to paralysis. Beryllium (Be) causes respiratory illness, pneumonia, and lung cancer. Retardation and disruption in development of the nervous system are one of the major concerns related to e-waste exposure due to the fact that children residing in e-waste recycling areas are generally subjected to extreme levels of hazardous substances during their lifetime (Dietrich et al. 2010). These children usually bear petite body weight as compared to adults. But the volume of toxicants inhaled by them is far more than their body weight (American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2003). These hazardous substances also have adverse impacts on organ systems. The dangerous impacts associated with e-waste on human health are summarized in Table 3.
Table 3 Harmful impacts of hazardous waste associated with e-waste (Abdel Bashir et al. 2018) Pollutant Lead (Pb)
Cadmium (Cd)
Mercury (Hg) Chromium (Cr)
Occurrence Batteries, solders, printed circuit boards, cables, cathode-ray tubes Rechargeable batteries, semiconductors, printer cartridge Lightning devices and thermostats, batteries Floppy disks, data tapes
Arsenic (As)
Light-emitting diodes (as gallium arsenide)
Nickel (Ni)
Printed circuit boards, batteries, cathode-ray tubes Printed circuit boards, batteries, cathode-ray tubes CRT screens Old photocopy machines
Lithium (Li) Zinc (Zn) Selenium (Se) Barium (Ba) PCBs PVC CFCs
Sparkplugs, CRT, and fluorescent lamps Condensers, transformers, heat transfer fluids Monitors, keyboards, and cables Cooling units and insulation foam
Impact Headache, ulcers, damage to the skin, brain, and nervous system Carcinogenic and shows damage to the kidneys, respiratory system, bones; neurodevelopmental issues in the fetus Affects the brain, kidney, and nervous system Carcinogenic and impacts neurodevelopmental growth leading to multiple organ failure Causes cardiovascular, liver, renal, and gastrointestinal problems. Results in bladder cancer Carcinogenic; causes lung cancer and skin allergy Impacts gastrointestinal and neurological system Cytotoxicity and trauma Impacts gastrointestinal and neurological systems; causes fatigue, irritation, hair loss Muscular weakness, brain swelling, and damage to the heart, liver, and spleen Liver damage and cancer Respiratory problems Impact ozone layer causing skin cancer
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Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to Develop a Circular Economy European nations have put in considerable hard work to minimize e-waste and its impacts. To achieve this, manufacturers are roped in, and their responsibilities are maximized under “extended producer responsibility (EPR) system.” The OECD defines EPR as “an environmental approach in which producers share an extended responsibility for a product at the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle” (OECD 2001). EPR aims to offer incentives to producers for integrating environmental concerns during product design. It basically works towards the transfer of e-waste management jobs to manufacturers rather than the municipalities. Manufacturers are directed to take care of recycling, reuse, and final disposal of waste components. It is largely achieved by a provision to incorporate treatment and disposal costs in product selling price. Such efforts also enable producers to present best products in the global market. The EPR system is customized to provide an all-inclusive policy package where policy involves various tools like advance recycling fees (ARF), waste collection charges, landfill ban, subsidies, etc. The primary notion associated with EPR for electronic concerns the fact that collection and handling e-waste involves a net cost which needs to be adjusted; otherwise, it leads to irresponsible and careless handling of such hazardous waste. Therefore, EPR attempts to indulge original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by imposing collection targets for accumulation and recuperation of e-waste so as to prevent it from ending up in landfills. To meet these specific targets, manufacturers are linked with compliance organizations in exchange for a payment (EPR fees). But India’s social structure harboring a vast population ranging from lower-to-middle pay packets has inflated the gray market for UEEE, at times even after the product’s end of life. In Europe, the EPR principle has been applied to WEEE since 2003 in consequence of the first WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC) and its revision (the WEEE Recast Directive 2012/19/EU) that came later in 2012. While in December 2015, the European Commission embarked upon the EU strategy for circular economy which testifies that EPR protocols shape an important part of the efficient waste management system and certain incentives should be provided for producers to take care of recycling and reuse options while designing their products. Therefore, the idea of circular economy finds its origin from the theory of eco-industrial development. The concept of circular economy is based on the “win-win” viewpoint where economic prospects and environmental safeguard can be achieved simultaneously. But the most challenging aspect of circular economy lies in sweeping away the linear economic model that involves “take, make, and dispose” philosophy (McDowall et al. 2017). E-waste is delineated as an imperative resource of the circular economy agenda. Circular economy is designed to moderate the use of new materials and also the waste output by closing resource flow loop in a sustainable way. Circular economy not only provides answers to a number of problems like shortage of resources, generation of waste, and environmental contamination, but it also offers economic
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prospects due to waste recycling and recovery of precious material. CE advocates reuse and recycling of e-waste and represents it as a promising sector of prospective interest. If e-waste management is carried out taking into consideration all efficiency standards and protocols, it can very well provide the basis for development of a circular economy. This system needs to incorporate environmental, health, economic, and technological paradigms. But it seems that a solo guiding principle is not sufficient to accomplish the manifold environmental objectives like landfill diversion and moderating the toxicity of products. Implementing a Pigovian tax on market activities that threaten social order and well-being of society is known to be quite effective in reducing landfills and enhancing the use of recycled material in manufacturing process although illegal dumping is a threat to this strategy (Calcott and Walls 2000). The deposit-refund system can resolve this issue where the tax levied on the product is reimbursed when the product is returned for recycling purposes. But such a system incurs implementation cost and is quite tedious and therefore paves way for command-and-control strategy followed by the government where the government orders reduction in pollution level by imposing collection targets under an EPR-based take-back regulation and monitors whether the target is met or not (Palmer and Walls 1999). Recently, e-waste reverse logistics (RL) has gained momentum and involves designing, employing, and regulating the competent and lucrative flow of raw materials, inventory of goods in process, finished goods, and other information in a reverse flow, i.e., starting from the point of consumption to the point of origin, with a goal to recover value and achieve suitable disposal. Rapid development in technology and market competition lead to short product lifecycle and product obsolescence and therefore calls for incorporation of RL into management practices. Escalation in e-waste, progression in environmental legislation, and increase in consumer pressure for social corporate responsibility have necessitated the implementation of reverse logistics. Though there are developments of various RL models in developed countries, developing countries are still in its initial stage. In developing economies like India and China, dearth of suitable legislations and economic incentives, little public awareness, presence of unbranded products in the market, and informal waste pickers responsible for maximum e-waste collection and treatment without any concern for health, safety, and environmental protection need to be taken care of while designing the RL model (Wang et al. 2012). There are certain gaps that limit the proper implementation of reverse logistics. For instance, producers generally ignore investments in RL due to costs involved in setting up essential infrastructure for collection, recycling, and reuse of e-waste. Due to difficulty in managing and connecting with wholesalers, retailers, and consumers and collecting and recycling organizations, corporate show insensitivity towards RL. Inappropriate legislation can render the whole process of RL ineffective. As in case of the European Directive, a share responsibility model is required to employ a system of collection and treatment of WEEE wherein the model defines that producers are responsible for WEEE treatment but collection is not demarcated. So even if the retailers accept the returned WEEE, many times they do not agree to pay the transportation cost to producers or municipal collection sites. While in some
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countries, the lack of economic incentives have been identified as barriers in achieving the set target (Schluep et al. 2009). To overcome these barriers, developed as well as developing countries are still working on designing better and effective RL management models.
Challenges Associated with e-Waste Recycling All countries of the world are categorized as either developed or developing, and there are two different classification criteria for that, but the countries classified are different. Basel Convention classifies the countries as Annex VII (developed countries) and non-Annex VII (developing) countries. It is one of the most significant international trade covenants aimed to restrict cross-border movement of hazardous waste (Basel Convention, 2016). On the other hand, WTO also classifies the countries as developed and developing ones, but does not provide any definition for this classification. While the Basel Convention groups consists of OECD, the European Union (EU) and Liechtenstein under developed countries (Basel Convention, 2017) delineate developing countries as other territories. The WTO places the EU, North America (excluding Mexico), the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), Japan, New Zealand, and Australia under developed countries while Africa, Mexico, South and Central America, Caribbean, Europe (barring the EU and EFTA), the Middle East, and Asia (apart from Australia, Japan, and New Zealand) under developing countries (World Trade Organization, 2015). Such varied classification of countries makes international trade of e-waste an indefinite challenge. Most of the developed economies play the role of e-waste exporters while developing countries import these wastes. According to the Basel convention, most of the hazardous e-waste is exchanged between developed countries, and very little trade is carried out with developing economies. While contrary to this, WTO claims that most of the developed countries send their e-waste to developing countries. India, China, and Africa serve as central receiving points for global WEEE dumping. India suffers through this problem due to growth of the UEEE market with an upsurge in lower-middle class economy, rising upper-middle class economy as a result of fast industrialization, and intensification of the unlawful recycling sector. China is one of the largest importers of e-waste across the world. However, China entirely barred the import of e-waste in 2000, and it testifies no import of waste printed boards (WPBs) after 2000. But certain countries have still given an account of WPBs being exported to China during the same time. Due to technological, infrastructural, and financial constraints, developing economies are still battling to embrace the recommended recycling and disposal techniques. The best-of-2-worlds (Bo2W) theory can be deemed suitable to provide a pragmatic solution to this problem (Nnorom and Osibanjo 2008). Collection and screening centers should be made depending upon the population. Sustainable solutions like eco-friendly production designs, EPR, product stewardship, recycling, and remaking practices should be adopted (Azevedo et al. 2017). The increasing
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global demand for WEEE production and its varied composition has increased the risk of exposure to hazardous substances released due to inappropriate handling of e-waste. This calls for adoption of sustainable management techniques. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is one such strategy implemented to mitigate the adverse impacts of WEEE on health and environment. But there still lies a scope for improvement as this method still lags behind from the perspective of developing it into a circular economy. To achieve this, the challenges must be identified and worked upon.
WEEE Characterization In order to frame effective management strategies, WEEE composition should be properly studied as there is constant evolution of electronic devices owing to technological advancement. There is a dearth of information related to material concentration in specific equipment. Limited information is available about the components. Also, there is lack of applicable standard methods to evaluate the elemental concentration in WEEE. This calls for application of diverse protocols which impact the results during analytical determination. To overcome this issue, an official database should be created encompassing details of WEEE components and standard analytical protocols so as to ease out the characterization and comparison of outcome. To close the loop and create a circular economy, we need stern policies and appropriate infrastructure. This can be customized according to different regions. Countries like the United States, Canada, India, and European states have explicit legislations and follow EPR theory in practice but need to improvise their collection rates. One way to achieve this is by incorporating a competitive collection system between public and private sectors (Corsini et al. 2017). Countries not having specific legislations and handling capacities witness even worse scenarios due to increasing WEEE production. Such regions face the challenge of recognizing effectual policies that must be formulated considering the region-specific conditions in each country. Dearth of proper legislations causes emergence of informal WEEE management sectors that generally involve illegal e-waste trading of imported as well as domestic WEEE. This problem can be overcome by banning of WEEE imports and expanding formal collection rate. Improved recycling methods need to be tapped as they form the basis of circular economy. The recycling industry needs innovation and improvisation as the current recycling processes harbor pretreatment and mechanical separation and refining processes to obtain the intended materials. Not all the facilities possess the technical knowledge for an efficient refining technique. The recycling industry is underdeveloped as it is incapable of generating large profits. The intricate composition of WEEE renders the anticipated recycling techniques inefficient and therefore calls for alternative recycling methods. The perspective of circular economy revolves around the idea of maximizing resource extraction from WEEE, thereby reducing the burden on environment. Though many hazardous substances have already been replaced, heavy metals and organic pollutants still
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exist (Balde et al. 2015). The use of hazardous substances in electronics should be restricted as far as possible to enhance the efficiency of recycling processes. Alternatively, the use of bio-based electronic components is also proposed as an option to eliminate the hazards associated with WEEE recycling (Guna et al. 2016). Furthermore, while designing electronic goods, the ease of disintegrating them during recycling and recovery should be kept in mind. It will not only smoothen the process of pretreatment but will also ensure the reuse of these end-of-life appliances as proposed by the circular economy approach. Apart from being environmentally compatible, the recycling processes should also incur profits. It should be able to harness materials that can replace natural resources effectively and reduce the burden on environment. Bio-metallurgical techniques must be incorporated in place of pyro-metallurgy and hydrometallurgy for refining (Işıldar et al. 2017). Though biosorption and bioleaching are proven techniques, due to low loading capacity and extended reaction time, these techniques lose interest. Harmful substances present in WEEE gradually discharge into the environment and contaminate it causing health effects in human and animals. These effects raise a grave concern especially when they are associated with informal waste recycling process. Workers involved in such rudimentary and unmonitored practices are susceptible to various occupational hazards. Population inhabiting the surrounding vicinity is also exposed to hazardous concentrations of pollutants which contaminate air, water, and land. Cesaro et al. (2018) anticipated an approach to identify the potential relative impacts of various types of WEEE with respect to their content in metals, chosen as target contaminants. The approach was based on prioritization criteria for WEEE management, and computation of the risks linked to the potential contamination circumstances represents one of the main challenges associated with this approach. A detailed inventory of classification of organic and inorganic pollutants produced during informal treatment of WEEE and hazards associated with them can be prepared to assess the risks associated to human health. This will be helpful in formulation of effective guidelines and recycling practices. It is quite challenging to deal with this issue, especially WEEE classification with respect to material composition. Due to technological advancements, various innovative materials are used to manufacture EEE; therefore, it becomes challenging to assess the possible impacts of such varied materials on health and environment over time. Procedures followed by developed economies cannot be directly applied in under developed or developing economies owing to difference in socioeconomic conditions in given areas. An integration of formal and informal system supported by legal procedures can prove to be a feasible and constructive alternative. It can be achieved by division of work where the informal sector can handle collection and manual dismantling of valuable WEEE components, while the formal sector should be responsible for metal refining and the residue disposal. This will moderate the amount of WEEE generated on site and also restrict it from entering in informal sector. But the feasibility of this approach depends upon implementation of strict policies pertaining to illegal import of WEEE. The role and responsibility of developed countries are quite crucial with this regard.
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Due to escalation in the quantity of e-waste being imported (legally and illegally) and ineffective as well as inappropriate e-waste legislations in developing nations, the end-of-life management of products has proved quite challenging for such countries. Also, the general public is quite ignorant with respect to the toxicity levels of the hazardous e-waste. They are exposed to dreadful and poisonous conditions during recycling of e-waste as the government does not provide safety measures in the recycling facilities. They are forced to opt for working in unhealthy conditions over unemployment. There is a dearth of significant technical expertise, infrastructure, management, engineered landfill sites, equipment, and facilities for e-waste recycling. Also, with shortage of regimented collection and preprocessing systems and very few certified wastes, collecting and disposal companies are present which only deal with a trivial percentage of the total volume of available e-waste. Another problem associated with it is illicit dumping and incineration of this dangerous e-waste with other types of solid wastes posing serious threat to human and environment.
Conclusion The management of e-waste is a global concern and a greater challenge for sustainable existence of developing countries receiving quite a considerable amount of this waste. This needs development of an apt legislative framework and policies that work specifically for developed countries trying to manage this problem effectively. A number of policies have been legislated in the past decades, and all of these were based on the circular economy archetype. To boost recovery performance, WEEE legislations should be backed up by investments in training campaigns and capacity building. Novel innovations in the current processing techniques are required to restore metals from the complex e-waste stream. Accurate database and mapping of e-waste collection and treatment centers must be done. To improve global e-waste management, developed countries should be more devoted towards technology development and expansion of new recycling facilities, while developing countries should focus on adopting stern legislation and enhancing WEEE collection so as to enlarge their recycling potential. States producing little e-waste can pool in to establish common treatment/recycling facilities. E-waste recycling can cater huge prospects for urban mining to recover precious metals which are found in considerably higher concentration in e-waste as compared to their natural ores. Circular economy and sustainability are already grabbing the interest of our researchers, managers, and policy makers and now calls for a moral obligation from the general public. It is of utmost importance that the linear model be transformed into a circular model by closing the loop. An ideal version of a circular economy will be the one which is based on utilization of resources retrieved from WEEEs that can meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Also, a significant improvement in the e-waste management system with regard to circular economy can be attained in near future with equal contribution of formal and informal sectors for practicing integrative recycling.
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Deepak Sakhuja, Hemant Ghai, Ravi Kant Bhatia, and Arvind Kumar Bhatt
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Is e-Waste? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Categories of e-Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Material Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Key Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Legislations for e-Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Practices of e-Waste Management and Its Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Landfill Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thermal Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical/Mechanical Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chemical/Metallurgical Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biometallurgy Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advanced e-Waste Management Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Treatment of e-Waste Contaminated Surrounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sustainable Opportunities in e-Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Development of Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Urban Mining of e-Waste Has Emerged as Business Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities in e-Waste Management for Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities in e-Waste Management for Consumer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Electronic waste commonly called e-waste has become a major problem due to its public health and environmental issues. The amount of e-waste generated nowadays is skyrocketing, and it has become one of the major portions of municipal waste throughout the world. All the e-waste contains some form of recyclable material like gold, silver, and copper, which, if brought back to the production D. Sakhuja · H. Ghai · R. K. Bhatia · A. K. Bhatt (*) Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_69
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cycle by recycling, will generate income for both individuals and enterprises. However, due to technological challenges, these materials cannot be retrieved. In many developing countries, e-waste is collected by the informal sector, and they use processes such as acid bath, incineration, wet chemical processing, or landfills to dispose of the e-waste, which result in direct exposure and can wreak havoc on the humankind and environment. So, this gives an opportunity to the government to collaborate the informal sector with formal sector since the latter is equipped with advanced technology to handle e-waste. Consequently, by using the wellestablished collection network of the informal sector, it will save the cost of collection, which can be invested to upgrade and improve e-waste management. Start-ups working in e-waste management should be encouraged by providing financial support. So along with enhancing current technology and laws, new hands-on innovative ideas are always welcome to solve this menace. This chapter provides an insight on the technological challenges faced while disposing of e-waste and how this field provide ample opportunity to researchers and entrepreneurs to make the process of disposing of e-waste more efficient and profitable. Keywords
e-waste · WEEE · Electrical equipment · Municipal solid waste · e-waste management Abbreviations
Ag Al As Ba Be BFR Bi Br2 Cd Ce CFC CFCs CN Co Cr (VI) CRT Cu DNA Dy EEE EPR
Silver Aluminum Arsenic Barium Beryllium Brominated flame retardants Bismuth Bromine gas Cadmium Cerium Chlorofluorocarbon Chlorofluorocarbons Cyanide Cobalt Chromium VI Cathode-ray tube Copper Deoxyribonucleic acid Dysprosium Electrical and electronic equipment Extended producer responsibility
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Management of E-Waste: Technological Challenges and Opportunities
EU WEEE EU Fe Fe2+ GDP GPS HBr HCl HF Hg In IR IT Kg La LCD LED Li mm MPPI Mt N Nano-Pb NEPSI NGO Ni nm NTCRS OECD PACE PAHs Pb PBDD/Fs PBDE PCB PCBs PCDD/Fs PCDD/Fs PRO RoHS S0 Sb Se Sr StEP
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European Union Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment European Union Iron Ferrous ion Gross domestic product Global positioning systems Hydrogen bromide Hydrochloric acid Hydrogen fluoride Mercury Indium Infrared spectroscopy Information technology Kilogram Lanthanum Liquid crystal display Light-emitting diode Lithium Millimeter Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative Metric tons Nitrogen Lead nanoparticles National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative Nongovernment organization Nickel Nanometer National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Lead Polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans Polybrominated diphenyl ethers Printed circuit board Polychlorinated biphenyls Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins furans Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/polychlorinated dibenzofurans Producer responsibility organization Restriction of hazardous substances Sulfur Antimony Selenium Strontium Solving the e-waste problem
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UV WEEE Zn ZnO
D. Sakhuja et al.
Ultraviolet Waste electrical and electronic equipment Zinc Zinc oxide nanoparticles
Introduction During the past few decades, there are several innovations and advancements that have happened in science and technology which have made our life easier and simpler. The continuous urbanization and modernization have led to the formation of huge heaps of waste at the outskirts of the cities which pose some serious threats to the environment. Now these heaps of waste are more dangerous than ever because these also contain e-waste. e-waste include all obsolete, broken surplus electronic devices which are discarded by the owner with the intent of not using it again such as, televisions, desktops, laptops, mobile phones, mouse, keyboards, AC, refrigerators, printers, and every other industrial or household items, which run by electricity or batteries (Awasthi et al. 2018). The need of a consumer to replace the old devices with new devices have made the e-waste one of the fastest-growing waste stream, which if not disposed of or recycled properly can pose serious threats to the environment and humankind. The problem of e-waste is faced around the globe. Data has been suggested that developed countries (high-income countries) contribute more to the generation of e-waste than developing countries (middle- or lower-income countries). But still developing countries are facing more consequences of e-waste than developed countries because developed countries generally export their e-waste to these developing countries as second-hand products or for recycling because they have less labor cost and minimum legalizations. These exports are mostly illegal and not documented. Hence, developing countries not only have to manage their own e-waste but also must deal with the exports from the developed countries. According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2020, the world has generated 53.6 million metric tons (Mt) of e-waste in 2019, which was only 9.2 Mt in 2014 (Forti et al. 2020). It is also projected that it will grow to 74.7 Mt by 2030, almost doubling in 16 years (Forti et al. 2020). Such escalation in e-waste is a result of high demand, short lifespan, and few repair options of electronic items. The report also shows that only 17.4% of the total e-waste generated is officially collected and recycled. That means, 82.6% of e-waste is still managed by the informal sector or get mixed with other waste streams (Forti et al. 2020). Most of the developing countries do not have a formal e-waste management system. Hence, e-waste is generally managed by the informal sector which often handled waste in inferior conditions, causing harmful effects on the ecosystem and humankind. The reason e-waste is considered as one of the toxic waste streams is that it contains hazardous metallic contaminants which cannot be decomposed or rotten away by itself. It generally falls into the category of hazardous wastes or sometimes radioactive wastes, and hence, there is a dire need of a proper collection and
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management system because improper management may have both direct or indirect impact on the ecosystem and human health. Cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, chlorofluorocarbon, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins furans (PCDD/Fs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are some of the hazardous chemicals found in e-waste (Santhosh et al. 2018). These hazardous substances can enter biological systems through water, soil, and air and can affect the health of living beings. Since the use of electronic and electrical devices will continue to increase which ultimately results in the increase in e-waste, its proper management is the need of the hour. e-waste has a high potential for value recovery, and that is why it is also known as a feasible urban mine (Kiddee et al. 2020). It consists of some valuable materials like iron, aluminum, copper, and plastics as well as precious metals like silver, gold, palladium, and platinum (Needhidasan et al. 2014). But the technologies presently used for the management and recycling of e-waste are primitive, informal, and inferior which results in the emission of various organic pollutants and toxins into the surrounding which impacts not only the ecosystem but also individuals involved in the management of e-waste. Therefore, stakeholders and researchers responsible for managing e-waste are finding new technologies, innovations, and implementing different legalizations and policies so that threat of e-waste and its recycling can be minimized. This chapter overviews the challenges in the present technologies and new innovations and opportunities developed to recover economically important items from the e-waste stream.
What Is e-Waste? Definition Various legal and policy documents have been introduced and implemented by the different countries around the world which have defined e-waste according to their convenience. However, all definitions have some inconsistency and shortcomings in understanding (Kuehr 2019) (Table 1). For instance, some countries discriminate the e-waste based on origin, i.e., households and business electronic items, and impose different regulations on both the producers. On the other hand, some countries only include mobile phones, IT equipment, and televisions in e-waste while the rest of the e-waste is treated as municipal solid waste. But as we all know that, all e-wastes contain hazardous substances, hence requiring special management. Among all, an international organization, StEP (Solving the E-waste Problem), has provided a pragmatic approach in defining e-waste. However, to understand and support any definition of e-waste, it is important to first define electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). According to StEP, “EEE is any household or business item with circuitry or electrical components with power or battery supply” (StEP Initiative 2014). Now the term e-waste which is also known as electronic waste
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Table 1 Various definitions of e-waste Organization European Union Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (EU WEEE) Directive
Basel Action Network
Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP)
Definition WEEE refers to “all components, sub-assemblies, and consumables, which are part of the product at the time of discarding.” In the Directive 75/442/EEC, Article 1 (a), waste is primarily defined as “any substance or object that the holder disposes of or is required to dispose of pursuant to the provisions of the national law in force” e-waste means “discarded appliances using electricity, which include a wide range of e-products from large household devices such as refrigerators, air conditioners, cell phones, personal stereos, and consumer electronics to computers which have been discarded by their users” e-waste can be classified as “any appliance using an electric power supply that has reached its end of life”
“e-waste refers to the reverse supply chain that collects products no longer desired by a given consumer and refurbishes for other consumers, recycles, or otherwise processes wastes”
Reference (EU 2003)
(Mmereki et al. 2016)
(OECD 2001)
(StEP 2019)
or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), according to StEP defined as “E-waste is a term used to cover items of all types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and its parts that have been discarded by the owner as waste without the intention of re-use” (Kuehr 2019). It is significant to note that this definition includes all types of EEE irrespective of their origin, and there is no scope for differentiation, preference, or regional variance in this global definition (StEP Initiative 2014). Moreover, it is appreciated that every country accepts this definition and makes their policy around it.
Categories of e-Waste EEE includes a large variety of products which are divided into six general categories (Fig. 1) that correspond closely to their management or treatment options (Kuehr 2019): (i) Temperature Exchange Equipment: These equipment are more commonly referred as cooling and freezing equipment such as freezers, refrigerators, heat pumps, air conditioners, etc. (ii) Screen and Monitors: Monitors, televisions, tablets, laptops, notebooks, etc. are included in this category. (iii) Lamps: Fluorescent lamps, LED lamps, high-intensity discharge lamps, etc. are some of the examples of this category.
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Temperature Exchange Equipment
Screen and Monitors
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Lamps
DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF E-WASTE
Large Equipment
Small Equipment
Small IT and Telecommunication Equipment
Fig. 1 Different categories of e-waste
(iv) Large Equipment: Typical equipment includes copying equipment, washing machines, dish-washing machines, clothes dryers, large printing machines, electric stoves, large medical devices (non-infective), photovoltaic panels, etc. (v) Small Equipment: Equipment includes microwaves, small monitoring and control instruments, vacuum cleaners, ventilation equipment, electric kettles, toasters, scales, calculators, electric shavers, radio sets, electrical and electronic toys, video cameras, small electrical and electronic tools, small medical devices (noninfective), etc. (vi) Small IT and Telecommunication Equipment: Typical equipment includes global positioning systems (GPS), mobile phones, routers, pocket calculators, personal computers, telephones, printers, etc. Each category has different materials used, which can cause various consequences on the ecosystem and humankind if they are not managed and treated sustainably. The abovementioned categories can further classify according to convenience. According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2020, in 2019 the global quantity of e-waste (53.6 Mt) is mainly contributed by small equipment (17.4 Mt), large equipment (13.1 Mt), and temperature exchange equipment (10.8 Mt) while screen and monitors (6.7 Mt), small IT and telecommunications equipment (4.7 Mt), and lamps (0.9 Mt) represent the smaller share (Forti et al. 2020). Figure 2 shows the comparison of quantity produce by each category in 2016 and 2019 (Baldé et al. 2017; Forti et al. 2020). Except for screen and monitor category, every category has
E-waste Generation in Mt
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16.8 17.4 13.1 10.8 9.1 7.6
6.6
6.7 3.9
4.7 0.7
Small Equipment
Large Equipment
Temperature Exchange Equipment
Screen and Monitors
Small IT and Telecommunications Equipment
0.9
Lamps
Categories of E-waste 2016
2019
Fig. 2 Comparison of e-waste generation in different categories
shown a sharp increasing trend. This increasing trend is mainly fueled by the growing usage of electronic products in developing countries where buying these items represent a status symbol. However, there is only a slight increase in the screen and monitors category than others which have seen a sharp increase because heavy monitors and screens are now have been replaced by the lighter flat panel display, resulting in a slight increase of total weight even the number of pieces continue to grow in screen and monitors category.
Material Composition The materials present in e-waste can be valuable as well as toxic in nature. It is reported that up to 69 elements from the periodic table and more than 1000 different materials can be found in e-waste such as critical raw materials (e.g., germanium, cobalt, bismuth indium, and antimony), precious metals (e.g., copper, iridium, platinum, gold, silver, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, and osmium), noncritical metals (e.g., aluminum and iron) along with glass, rubber, wood, plastic, plywood, concrete, printed circuit board (PCB), ceramics, and other items (Forti et al. 2020; Needhidasan et al. 2014) (Fig. 3). Besides this e-waste also contain hazardous heavy metals (e.g., lead, selenium, mercury, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, etc.) and chemicals (e.g., CFC/chlorofluorocarbon or various flame retardants) (Baldé et al. 2017). The chemical composition of e-waste is very complex and generally depends upon the following factors such as the type of electronic devices, date of manufacturing, model, availability of reuse market, economic conditions, infrastructure of management technologies, and age of the device (Mmereki et al. 2016). For instance, electronic scrap from IT and telecommunications offices contains more quantity of precious metals than electronic waste from local households (Chancerel et al. 2009), due to the presence of both valuable and hazardous materials which has attracted the attention of the stakeholders to develop the separate treatment and management for
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Fig. 3 Material composition of e-waste
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Iron and Steel 16% Plastics 13%
50%
21%
Non-Ferrous Metals (Precious Metals & Critical Raw Materials) Other (Hazardous elements, flame retardants, etc.)
e-waste (Vats and Singh 2014a). Table 2 showing the health hazards of the different materials of e-waste.
Key Statistics The main problem that arises in managing e-waste is that it is increasing exponentially (Mmereki et al. 2016). The quantity of e-waste produced by different continents or countries varies because of the different definition of e-waste and consumption patterns of the consumer in that area (Parajuly et al. 2019). With a higher level of disposable income, increase in purchasing power, GDP and population, shorter life spans, and less repair options of electronic items and growing urbanization and industrialization have fueled the consumption of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) which ultimately lead to the increase in the generation of e-waste (Forti et al. 2020; Kumar et al. 2017; Mmereki et al. 2016). According to the Global E-waste Monitor, 2020, the world has generated a record of 53.6 Mt (an average of 7.3 kg per capita) of e-waste (Forti et al. 2020). e-waste generation per capita means that the amount of e-waste generated by an individual in kgs (Tiseo 2020). Among all continents (Fig. 4), Asia has generated the highest quantity of e-waste in 2019, i.e., 24.9 Mt, while the Americas (north and south), Europe, Africa, and Oceania has generated 13.1 Mt, 12 Mt, 2.9 Mt, and 0.7 Mt of e-waste, respectively (Forti et al. 2020). However, Europe ranked first in terms of e-waste generation per capita with 16.2 kg per capita whereas Oceania was second with 16.1 kg per capita, followed by the Americas, Asia, and Africa which generated 13.3, 5.6, and 2.5 kg per capita of e-waste, respectively (Forti et al. 2020). The above data confirms that the problem of e-waste is a concern for all the countries, but it is the major problem in the regions where economic development is the greatest. For instance, the larger population in Asia has made them the highest e-waste generators, but it has relatively low e-waste generation per individual due to its lower GDP and less purchasing power of people. But with the increase in GDP of the developing
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Table 2 Health effects of different material found in e-waste Material Aluminum (Al)
Antimony (Sb)
e-waste components Cathode-ray tubes, printed wiring board, hard drives, central processing unit, computer chips, connectors, and mobile phones Plastic computer housing, CRT glass, and a solder alloy
Arsenic (As)
Present in light emitters as gallium arsenide
Barium
Lubricant in an electron tube, fluorescent lamp, front panel of CRT Motherboard, boxes of power supply Printed wiring boards
Beryllium Bismuth (Bi)
Brominated flame retardants Cadmium (Cd)
Plastic housing of circuit boards and electronic equipment Chip resistors and semiconductors, CRT housing, battery
Cerium (Ce)
Fuel additive, optical polish, and catalyst
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Chromium VI (Cr (VI))
Insulation foam and cooling units Protect from corrosion, decorative hardener
Cobalt (Co)
Printed wiring board, cathode-ray tubes, housing, hard drive, and mobile phones
Effect Metabolism, neurotoxicity, skeletal underdevelopment, and fatal toxicity
Reference (Kiddee et al. 2020)
Carcinogen, stomach pain, causing vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach ulcer Cause lung cancer, skin disease, and impair nerve signaling system Muscle weaknesses, damage to the liver, heart, or spleen Lung cancer, berylliosis, skin diseases like warts Nephropathy, gingivitis, encephalopathy, osteoarthropathy, colitis, and stomatitis Disrupts endocrine system function
(Pathak et al. 2019)
Long-term exposure causes bone diseases, accumulates in the liver and kidney, causes neural damage Toxic effect on aquaticterrestrial organisms, skin lesions Effect ozone layer Lung cancer, DNA damage, asthmatic bronchitis
Effect on human osteoblast and osteoclast proliferation and function
(Kaya 2016)
(Arya and Kumar 2020) (Vats and Singh 2014a) (Kiddee et al. 2020)
(Chowdhury and Patel 2017) (Needhidasan et al. 2014)
(Kiddee et al. 2020) (Pathak et al. 2019) (Chowdhury and Patel 2017; Needhidasan et al. 2014) (Kiddee et al. 2020)
(continued)
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Table 2 (continued) Material Copper (Cu)
Cyanide (CN)
e-waste components Cathode-ray tubes, printed wiring board, central processing unit, computer chips, heat sinks, mobile phones, and cables Printed circuit boards
Dysprosium (Dy)
Lasers and magnets
Indium (In)
Printed wiring board
Iron (Fe)
Cathode-ray tubes, printed wiring board, mobile phones Catalyst, lenses, batteries, and cathoderay tubes CRT, acid battery
Lanthanum (La)
Lead (Pb)
Lithium (Li)
Mobile, telephone, batteries
Mercury (Hg)
Circuit boards, relays, and switches
Nickel (Ni)
Batteries, CRT, PCB, semiconductor
Plastics
Cabling and computer housing/moldings
Selenium (Se)
Fax machine, photoelectric cells
Effect Liver damage
Reference (Vats and Singh 2014b)
Cyanide poisoning (>2.5 ppm) may cause coma and death Headache, paraesthesia, and nausea Effect lungs
(Gollakota et al. 2020)
Liver damage
(Kiddee et al. 2020) (Kiddee et al. 2020) (Kiddee et al. 2020)
Pneumoconiosis
(Kiddee et al. 2020)
Damage to the reproductive systems, central and peripheral nervous systems and kidney, acid rain formation Diarrhea, vomiting, drowsiness, muscular weakness Chronic damage to brain and liver, respiratory and skin disorders, bioaccumulation in fishes Causes bronchitis, allergic reaction, and lung cancers and reduces lung function Generates dioxins and furans which cause developmental and reproductive problems, damage the immune system, interfere with regulatory hormones Selenosis
(Needhidasan et al. 2014)
(Vats and Singh 2014b) (Needhidasan et al. 2014)
(Gunarathne et al. 2020)
(Needhidasan et al. 2014)
(Vats and Singh 2014a) (continued)
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Table 2 (continued) Material Silver (Ag)
e-waste components Switches, batteries ceramic capacitors
Strontium (Sr)
Batteries, CRTs
Zinc (Zn)
Luminous substances, batteries
Effect Excessive amount can cause blue pigments on the body, damages brain, kidney, lung, liver Somatic as well the genetic changes, cause cancer in the bone, nose, lungs, and skin Nausea, cramps, vomiting, pain, and diarrhea
Reference (Gunarathne et al. 2020)
(Gollakota et al. 2020)
(Gollakota et al. 2020)
30 24.9 25 20 16.2 15
13.1 13.3
16.1
12
10 5.6 5
2.9
2.5 0.7
0 Americas
Europe
Asia
Africa
Oceania
Total e-waste generated (million metric tons(Mt)) Amount of e-waste generated per capita (kg per capita)
Fig. 4 Global e-waste generation
countries, it is expected that the total e-waste generation for countries like China, India, and Brazil will soon surpass the developed countries (Kumar et al. 2017).
Legislations for e-Waste Several legislations, regulations, and policies are enforced by governments around the world to develop the sustainable and efficient way of collection, transportation, and recycling of e-waste. Though these legislations vary from country to country. As of October 2019, 78 countries out of 193 countries have either a separate legislation, regulation, or policy for the management of e-waste (Forti et al. 2020). For instance, the EU established the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in
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2002 to manage end-of-life electronics in the European Union (Zeng et al. 2017). EU has also adopted another directive, i.e., Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, which restricts the use of hazardous substances in electronic equipment (Kumar et al. 2017). From time to time, the EU has updated these directives according to their need. The United States does not have national legislation on the management of e-waste. However, 25 states of the United States and the District of Columbia have enacted some form of legislation which have prohibited the consumer to dispose of e-waste in landfills (Forti et al. 2020; Li et al. 2015). In Southern Asia, India is the only country with e-waste legislations (Forti et al. 2020). In India, the E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 were enacted under Environmental Protection Act, 1986 which get effective from 1st May 2012 (Sharma and Hussain 2018). This rule not only mandates authorized dismantlers and recyclers to collect e-waste but also enables environmentally friendly recovery and/or reuse of constituents from e-waste (Forti et al. 2020; Sharma and Hussain 2018). The idea of extended producer responsibility (EPR) was also introduced for the first time which made manufacturers liable for safe management of electronic goods. A refurbisher, manufacturer, dealer, and producer responsibility organization (PRO) were brought under the domain of the E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016 (Awasthi et al. 2018). These rules were further amended in 2018 to further formalize the e-waste recycling sector (Sharma and Hussain 2018). However, the formal recycling sector still in a nascent phase in India and most of the e-waste is still handled by the informal sector (Forti et al. 2020). China has national legislation for 14 types of e-waste while countries like South Korea and Japan have advanced e-waste legislations (Kumar et al. 2017). Japan was also one of the first countries to establish an EPR-based system for e-waste (Forti et al. 2020). The National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS) was implemented in Australia under the Australian Government’s Product Stewardship Act, 2011. It provides Australian householders and small businesses access to industry-funded collection and recycling facilities for televisions and computers (Gough 2016). However, most of the countries in continent Africa lack a specific legislation for the management of e-waste (Forti et al. 2020). It is seen that in most countries, these policies are non-legally binding, and even where these policies are legally binding, enforcement of these policies is still a challenge. Due to such a casual approach and lack of legislations for e-waste in more than half of the countries of the world has resulted in that, in 2019, the large quantity of e-waste generated (82.6%) was collected informally and most probably managed in inferior conditions (Forti et al. 2020). Generally, this e-waste is not documented in a systematic manner, so it means that it is either managed outside the official collection system or exported to developing countries. Transboundary movement of e-waste has also become a major concern for the importer country because they must manage their own e-waste along with this imported e-waste. And since it is managed by the informal sector, it poses a significant risk to both environment and health. For instance, even if Africa produces a small quantity of e-waste per annum, it is significant because its e-waste is due to illegal imports from developed countries while only a small fraction of it is due to its local population (Baldé et al. 2017). So,
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to prevent the transboundary movement of e-waste, Basel Convention was formed under the United Nations Environment Programme, which is a multilateral treaty aimed to suppress, control, and monitor the flow of hazardous waste and their disposals (Baldé et al. 2017). This convention is signed by 187 countries till now (Forti et al. 2020). Along with that to address the e-waste problem and environmental pollution, several international organizations like Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP), Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI), National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI), Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment (PACE), and WEEE Forum were also launched (Widmer et al. 2005). There are still many challenges and shortcomings in managing the e-waste, and recyclers, manufacturers, national regulators, and the general public need to work together to deal with the increasing volume of e-waste (Singh et al. 2016).
Current Practices of e-Waste Management and Its Challenges EEE are the backbone of the modern economy and considered as a symbol of modern lifestyle. All these modernization, urbanization, and industrialization made e-waste one of the fastest-growing waste streams. So, for sustainable growth and development, environment-friendly management of e-waste is required. Repairing or reusing electronic items can be one of the good and sustainable measures for the management of e-waste because it not only lowers the EEE manufacturing volume but also reduces the generation of e-wastes. However, changes in the product designs, ever-upgrading technologies, and desire to buy the new devices to show status symbol have reduced the reusing or repairing of the obsolete and broken electronic items. Since the generation of e-waste is inevitable in present time, several management techniques are used by developed and developing countries to handle it. The recycling of e-waste has been proven as an efficient option because it not only allows metal recovery but also saves energy as compared to extract metal from ore (Evangelopoulos et al. 2019). It is estimated that the value of raw materials present in generated e-waste in 2019 is worth nearly $57 billion (Forti et al. 2020). At the same time, it was also estimated that aluminum recovery from e-waste fraction can save up to 95% of energy as compared to aluminum extraction from bauxite. Similarly, copper, iron or steel, and zinc recycling from e-waste can save up to 85%, 74%, and 60% of energy, respectively. Other components like plastics can also be recycled and save up to 80% of energy (Cui 2005). The precious metal (like gold) extraction also used up a significant amount of energy because of lower concentration in ore and difficulty to extract; hence, recovering gold from e-waste is easier and less energyconsuming, as 17 tons of gold can be recovered from 1 ton of e-waste of personal computers (Rankin 2011). Despite all these advantages and opportunities to recover raw materials from e-waste, e-waste management still face numerous challenges. The biggest challenge within the e-waste management system is that the lack of technologies to treat and dispose it without threatening the environment and humankind (Arya and Kumar 2020). The methods of collection and technologies involved in e-waste management generally vary from country to country. For instance, the EU
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has a vast network of formal sectors for the collection of e-waste along with superior technologies for managing it, but in countries like China and India, the informal sector still dominates the collection system of e-waste which generally uses inferior technologies for e-waste management. Despite many efforts and researches, many countries are still struggling in establishing environment-friendly e-waste management system as there are still gaps in current practices, such as poor awareness, lack of implementation of rules, unavailability of infrastructure, reluctance in the corporate sector, lack of supply chain concepts, lack in administrative enactment, and insufficient distribution of finance. Another challenge faced by developing countries while managing the e-waste is that they must manage the imported e-waste from developed countries along with the e-waste generated by their own population. In 2019, it was found that only 9.3 Mt of e-waste out of a total of 53.6 Mt was formally documented and recycled. The fate of the rest of the e-waste (44.3 Mt) is still uncertain. It is either get mixed with other waste streams or illegally exported to the middle- and low-income countries where it can reuse as second-hand products or often handled under inferior conditions putting the environment and humans at risk. A lot of techniques are applied to handle and recycle e-waste, but each technique has its own efficiency and shortcomings. The use of one or a combination of technology generally depends upon the cost of the whole process, the sector involved in the treatment of e-waste, and materials present in e-waste. The recycling of e-waste around the world includes two common steps, i.e., preprocessing and end processing. However, technologies and methods used in both the steps usually depend on the type of sector involved in recycling e-waste like recycling facility in the formal sector is highly equipped and environment-friendly while the informal recycling unit lacks structure, advance equipment, and environment-friendly methods. In the upcoming sections, there is a brief discussion about these techniques which are either used by one of the sectors or by both the formal and informal sectors to treat and dispose of e-waste along with the technological challenges faced while recycling the e-waste.
Landfill Disposal Landfill disposal is one of the most used strategies which is utilized by both the formal and informal sectors to handle e-waste and remains of the e-waste left after recycling (Ghimire and Ariya 2020). It is preferred because of its simplicity and ease of operation (Ning et al. 2017). In addition, most of the e-waste get mixed with municipal solid waste streams and ends up in landfill sites without getting treatment (Forti et al. 2020). This happens due to the lack of awareness among consumers and negligence shown by the waste collectors. In the landfill disposal method, waste is either dumped openly or buried in voids or pits which are created by mining (Ghimire and Ariya 2020). E-waste and remains of e-waste which are recycled with primitive technologies contain lots of hazardous substances which if not removed can lead to contamination of landfill site and groundwater (Baldé et al. 2017). Many reports have shown that e-waste release polyhalogenated organics and
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toxic metals in landfills which leads to the formation of leachate (Kiddee et al. 2020). Leachate formations make the land unsuitable for use, anytime soon in future (Ghimire and Ariya 2020). The concentration of hazardous substances in leachate depends upon waste characteristics and stage at which it was disposed of in the landfill (Kiddee et al. 2020). Several researchers have identified the different leaching components generated from e-waste. An investigation of leachates and groundwater from the landfill sites of Australia which are regularly receiving e-waste has shown the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and a higher concentration of lead, mercury, arsenic, aluminum, iron, and nickel (Kiddee et al. 2014). Lindberg et al. have also reported total gaseous mercury (7190 ng/m3), monomethyl mercury (6 ng/m3), and the most toxic dimethyl mercury (30 ng/m3) in the landfill gas in Florida, United States (Lindberg et al. 2001). Among all the pollutants present in e-waste, heavy metals are regarded as the most dangerous pollutant (Ghimire and Ariya 2020). It is found that nearly 70% of heavy metals in landfill sites come from e-waste (Ning et al. 2017). Most of the heavy metals do not disintegrate and remain in the landfill sites for a longer time (Kasassi et al. 2008). Hence, after biogeochemical cycles, heavy metals accumulate within organisms through the food chain which can harm human health and even cause the death of the affected individuals (Ghimire and Ariya 2020). It also reported that the landfill leachate and gas are not limited to the landfill site but also transported to surrounding sites through rainfall, groundwater, and soil (Ning et al. 2017). For instance, Wong et al. (2007) found that a certain number of metals like cadmium, lead, copper, nickel, and zinc are still detected even in the downstream of landfill site in China (Wong et al. 2007). Moreover, several studies have suggested that landfills which receive e-waste contain a higher level of toxic substances like lead, mercury, metalloids, PBDE, etc. than the landfills without the e-waste (Ghimire and Ariya 2020). In summary, landfill disposal is considered as an improper and unsuitable method for the disposal of e-waste due to environmental and health concerns. Therefore, stricter policies are needed on simple landfills of e-waste in many countries along with some awareness programs so that e-waste does not end in normal bins and get mixed with municipal solid waste.
Thermal Treatment Thermal treatment is done either to obtain noncombustible fraction from e-waste such as metals (Ghimire and Ariya 2020; Ning et al. 2017) and to remove nonmetallic fraction which comprises around 70 wt% in e-waste (Komilis et al. 2012) or to dispose of the remains of recycled e-waste. Even though the thermal treatment of e-waste is faster, it is tedious, costly, and not environment-friendly (due to emissions of acid gas like HCl, HF, SOx, NOx, and volatile organic compounds and formation of solid residue) (Evangelopoulos et al. 2019). But still, it is one of the most preferred methods in the informal sector to handle e-waste. Thermal treatment of
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e-waste is generally done in four ways, i.e., open burning, incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis.
Open Burning of e-Waste It is one of the rudimentary approaches opt by the informal sector to obtain metals from e-waste and remove polymeric fractions (Moltó et al. 2009). It is often performed in open pits. It is also known as uncontrollable combustion. Open burning is generally used for solder recovery from printed circuit boards, component separation, and melting plastic components (Cesaro et al. 2019). This open burning of e-waste has several direct and indirect impacts on the environment such as it releases a number of harmful substances into the atmosphere like dioxins and furans and the deposition of the contaminants on soil, sediments, and water (Alcántara-Concepción et al. 2016). In addition, it either directly impacts the human health during the recycling process or indirectly through the intake of contaminated water or via contaminated food chains. It is also reported that workers involved in the open burning of e-waste and residents living near the processing units suffer from breathing problems due to the presence of hazardous contaminants in the air (Imran et al. 2017). Incineration Incineration of e-waste is also not considered as a sustainable option for management and kept as the last means of recycling and regarded as a last resort (Evangelopoulos et al. 2019). However, many countries around the world use combustion to treat e-waste due to the simplicity of the process (Ning et al. 2017). For instance, WEEE is directly burned in the blast furnace which produces a product containing 70–85 wt.% black copper. This black copper is fed into the converter, and copper anode is recovered along with other elements, such as Zn, Ni, and Fe, on purification with H2SO4 electrolyte (Zhang and Xu 2016). Incineration of e-waste leads to direct release of fly ash, heavy metals, polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) into the atmosphere in the absence of posttreatment technologies along with nickel, cadmium, copper, zinc, and lead which will be vaporized according to their melting points (Ning et al. 2017). PCDD/Fs are formed due to the oxidizing surrounding, presence of halogens, incomplete oxidation, and presence of catalyst like copper in fly ash. Hence, the combustion of e-waste leads to air pollution. However, these dioxins and furans can be destroyed at high temperatures (>1300 C) into HBr or Br2 which are much less toxic, but this high temperature favors the formation of NOx (Evangelopoulos et al. 2019). Along with all this gaseous emissions, combustion of e-waste also leads to the formation of solidphase residues which contribute a serious problem due to their heavy metal content. Normally, vitrification process is used to treat this solid residue at a temperature of 1500–1600 C (Ning et al. 2017). All the by-product formation due to combustion e-waste shows that the incineration process is not environment-friendly. Also,
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construction of a combustion plant is costly, since it also required posttreatment technologies too.
Gasification Gasification is defined as the partial oxidation of carbonaceous material at an elevated temperature to produce syngas and other light hydrocarbons (Evangelopoulos et al. 2019). It is a way to convert organic compounds of the e-waste into a less voluminous substance, i.e., gaseous products like syngas. Hence, gasification is expected to be considered as more sustainable, feasible, and effective waste management method. However, gasification is not cited in literature as a developed method for metal recovery from e-waste (Gurgul et al. 2017). The syngas produced after gasification can be converted into value-added products like biofuels by syngas fermentation or Fischer-Tropsch methods while the remaining solid residue can be used for recovery of metals or nonmetals or as building material additives. The composition of metals or nonmetals in solid residue formed depends upon the type of e-waste fraction subjected to gasification. However, the requirement for low metal content and low halogen content in the feedstock makes the gasification of e-waste for material recovery inappropriate as higher concentration can cause corrosion (Evangelopoulos et al. 2019). Moreover, high capital investment, high energy input, and release of harmful gases make this method of recovery insignificant. But recently, some laboratory experiments were conducted where gasification of printed circuit boards in molten carbonates by steam is performed and the results obtained were very promising (Zhang and Yu 2016). Hence, steam gasification at lower temperatures (99%. To produce higher fractions of bioethanol, distillation is performed many times (Gavahian et al. 2016). However, because of azeotrope formation with water, conventional distillation has a disadvantage in providing ethanol with low-energy efficacy. This step is extremely energised as it exploits almost 40% of the total energy demand of generation of bioethanol. In addition, this step primarily impacts production costs (Gavahian et al. 2016). Alternative distillation methods were used in this perspective related to the concept of ethanol and water composition equipment and physico-chemical properties.
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Biohydrogen Production Hydrogen is secondary source of renewable energy. After combustion, it produces water as one of the primary products. Its energy content is approximately122 kJ/g; the fuel output is 2.75 times that of a hydrocarbon fuel. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are supposedly three times stronger than gasoline engines (Sharma et al. 2020). Wideranging applications for processing of steel, oil and fat hydrogenation, the generation of electricity and transport systems can be seen in hydrogen as a source of fuel (Allen and Nelson 2019; Abbasov et al. 2017; Konkol et al. 2016). However, hydrogen synthesis is mainly based on fossil fuels. Non-catalytic partial oxidation (Guiberti et al. 2016), gasification (Yuksel et al. 2019), water electrolysis (Yang et al. 2019) and hydrocarbons steam reforming (Wu et al. 2015) are the traditional methods used for hydrogen processing. Photocatalysis for the production of hydrogen has also been extensively explored (Mishra et al. 2019; Reddy et al. 2020; Rao et al. 2019). However, conventional paths are environmentally unfriendly, inefficient, energy-intensive and expensive (Sharma et al. 2020). The biological perspective to hydrogen development includes mainly the fermentation process (dark, photo and dark-photo mixture). For better efficiency, adequate pretreatment is essential prior to the fermentation process. Dark Fermentation In the dark and anoxygenic conditions, it is the acidic fermentation of carbon-enriched substrates for generation of hydrogen. For dark fermentation, many microorganisms, such as Clostridium acetobutylicum, Clostridium butyricum, Thermoanaerobacterium spp. and Bacillus cereus, have been examined (Yin et al. 2020; Dinesh et al. 2020; Sharma et al. 2020). The production of hydrogen depends on the type of feedstock and biocatalyst used as well as pH and temperature. Additionally, to biocatalyst, the optimal temperature is determined by the characteristics of the substrate. Thermophile bacteria producing H2 have been found to be higher than mesophilic bacteria due to thermodynamic circumstances (Sharma et al. 2020). Since the methanogenesis of both mesophilic and heat-free conditions is inhibited. Acidic pH below 6 encourages hydrogen synthesis (Wang et al. 2014). The optimal pH is 4.5–7 and 6.5–7 for kitchen and lignocellulosic waste, whereas the pH for animal compost is neutral (Santiago et al. 2019). The inoculum source, organic loading rate and hydraulic retention time also regulate productivity generation of hydrogen (Santiago et al. 2019). As CH4 and organic acids are transformed from H2 by hydrogenconsuming bacteria, therefore, in dark fermentation, H2 production is low. Just over 33% of COD has been transformed into organic acids which are acquired as accumulated side products as well as hydrogen. By eliminating methanogenic activity, however, the product yield can be improved by increasing H2-producing bacteria and limiting H2-consuming bacteria. However, pretreatment inoculums can help avoid H2 from using bacteria by an effective procedure, such as electroporation, sodium 2-bromoethanesulfonic acid treatment, microwave, heat treatment, ultrasonication, dilute acid treatment and aeration (Yang et al. 2019; Turhal et al. 2019). The key downside of this process is the low hydrogen yield through dark fermentation.
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Photo-Fermentation This method involves fermenting organic matter to give oxygen-free H2 and CO2 under sunlight when there are photosynthesis-free non-sulphur bacteria. The consumed light energy makes photosynthetic bacteria possible to convert substrate (Elkahlout et al. 2017). Thus, the photo-fermentation surpasses the production efficiency when compared with dark fermentation (1 mol of H2/mol). Different microorganisms such as Rhodopseudomonas palustris, Rhodospirillum rubrum, Rhodobacter capsulatus, Rhodobacter sulfidophilus and Rhodobacter sphaeroides have been investigated for photo-fermentation (Hitit et al. 2017; Elkahlout et al. 2017; Sargsyan et al. 2016). The rate of photo-fermentative hydrogen development relies on substrate, light strength and strain form. Wastewater from various sources often varies in turbidity and clarity that need different intensities of light. Reasonable hydrogen production lengths from 400 to 1000 nm are successful because highturbid media do not ensure greater penetration which will eventually decrease the light conversion efficiency (Sharma et al. 2020). The optimum performance of photo-fermentation was at pH 6.8–7.5 in temperature range 31–36 C. Nitrogenase and hydrogenase enzymes are present in photosynthetic bacteria, which have however played an important part for producing hydrogen (Yang et al. 2015). Mo and Fe also play a major role in H2 production via nitrogenase, but through the nitrogenase enzyme, formation of hydrogen is irreversible. When NH3 or O2 or high N/C levels are utilised, nitrogenase activity is impaired. Thus, it is necessary to condition of non-oxygenic and ammonium-limited for better efficiency (Sharma et al. 2020); however, the disadvantages of this method are extreme nitrogenase enzyme energy demand and inefficient light conversion capacity. Photo-fermentation combined with dark fermentation, however, has favourable outcomes and can be sustainable with reference to costs and management of waste.
Conclusion The increasing generation of waste, demand of energy and environmental pollution are the key concerns all around globe. The waste utilisation for generating bioenergy is a requirement of recent times to overcome these challenges. The WtE framework is built on the 5R concept that forms the foundation for sustainability. This aids to move this linear system from ‘manufacture-utilise-throw’ to a quite rational circular system that relies on the ‘manufacture-utilise-recycle-reuse’ approach. This chapter provides a current summary of research activities in the area of energy generation technologies with increase of waste. Various methods can be executed for treatment of the waste like industrial effluents, agricultural residues, FW and MSW. Biochemical route (fermentative biohydrogen production, bioethanol production, aerobic composting and anaerobic digestion) and thermal methods (gasification, incineration and pyrolysis) accompanied by pretreatment techniques have been comprehensively studied. WTE services of various developing countries, however, lack maintenance, pollution control system and proper infrastructure. The
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researchers reported that in several developed countries where the technique has evolved, the WTE sectors are quite well known and is given high priority. The developed countries focus mostly on pollution control, recovery/recycling and improving the strategy for process quality. The construction of WTE facilities in developing countries must be in accordance with that country’s regulations and requirements. In some developing countries, it was found that WTE plants were built but on a local level.
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Solid Waste to Energy: A Prognostic for Sound Waste Management
79
Bhargavi N. Kulkarni and V. Anantharama
Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . World Scenario of WtE Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste Generation, Composition, and Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Concept of Waste to Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Incineration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pyrolysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gasification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sanitary Landfilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anaerobic Digestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Role of Waste-to-Energy Technology in Sustainable Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Volume Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resource Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hygienization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Social Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Economics of Waste-to-Energy Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental and Public Health Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waste-to-Energy Technology During Health Emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Abstract
Population growth, rapid urbanization, industrialization, and shift in people’s standard of living have changed solid waste generation trends. This has affected solid waste management, particularly in urban areas of developing countries. Solid waste management in the developed world has often addressed these issues by adopting sustainable waste management approaches. Solid waste to energy B. N. Kulkarni (*) · V. Anantharama Department of Civil Engineering, R V College of Engineering (Visvesvaraya Technological University-recognized Research Center), Bangalore, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Baskar et al. (eds.), Handbook of Solid Waste Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_86
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(SWtE) has evolved as one of the important options in achieving sustainable solid waste management. This approach offers waste volume reduction and energy recovery with minimal environmental concerns. The treatment process of SWtE involves four phases: waste preparation, thermal/thermochemical/biochemical conversion, the process of energy recovery, and air pollution control. By-products of these processes are energy, ashes, and solid and liquid effluents. This chapter reviews solid waste-to-energy technologies (incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, anaerobic digestion, and sanitary landfilling with gas recovery). It evaluates the performance in terms of energy recovery and volume reduction, economics, the environment, and public health implications. This chapter argues that environmentally sound waste management for cities is possible by employing appropriate waste-to-energy (WtE) technique, but it requires thorough understanding of the characteristics and composition of the waste generated. The characteristics of waste (such as calorific value, waste density, particle size, and moisture content) are the parameters which govern the selection of suitable WtE technology. By way of contribution to literature, it delineates SWtE process into technological variations, solid waste as potential source of energy, and environmental concerns. This categorization provides a basis for comparison of SWtE approach with the other options for effective waste management. Keywords
Thermochemical conversion · Solid waste · Sanitary landfills · Sustainable waste management · Energy resource
Introduction Global population continues to increase at substantial levels. The United Nations (UN) has projected the world’s population to reach nine billion by 2050, with more than 50% of the population inhabiting urban areas. High energy consumption and waste generation are natural implications of such levels of population and urbanization (AlQattan et al. 2018). Waste management practices have evolved over a period of time. While in the beginning hygienic considerations were on top of the priority list, the rapidly rising quantity and complexity of wastes became significant waste management issue in today’s urban areas (Brunner and Rechberger 2015). Over the past decade, countries all over the world have explored better ways to use their solid waste (Mukherjee et al. 2020), and WtE technology has been considered as one of the plausible approaches to address the abovementioned issues (Mayer et al. 2019). Waste-to-energy conversion can be an excellent substitute for fossil fuel combustion. Solid waste, which is the alternative energy source, burns practically cleaner than many fossil fuels (Mukherjee et al. 2020). For instance, a life cycle assessment study conducted by Arena et al. (2015) compared the environmental performances of combustion- and gasification-based waste-to-energy technologies. The study reported that the levels of emissions into the atmosphere appeared low for
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both the units. Jeswani and Azapagic (2016) evaluated life cycle environmental impacts of energy recovery from municipal solid waste (MSW) focusing on waste incineration and energy recovery from landfill gas for the UK conditions. The study results revealed that incineration of MSW had much lower impacts than landfilling across all the impact categories considered. The production and utilization of energy from solid waste combustion have been practiced in Europe since the last century. Due to the concerns of groundwater quality and the scarcity of the land for landfilling, many European countries and Japan embarked on massive construction programs for WtE plants in the 1960s (Rogoff and Meng 2019a). Waste-to-energy technologies are capable of utilizing the energy released from the waste to generate electricity and heat and offer a much more environmentally friendly solution as compared to other waste treatment approaches (Breeze 2018). Malav et al. (2020) affirmed that different types of solid waste could be treated and converted into energy products using waste-to-energy technology. The waste materials from agriculture (crop debris, livestock wastes, abattoir wastes, bulk forest wastes, etc.), industries (paper and pulp, bagasse, press mud, contaminated petroleum or synthetic oil, tarry residue waste, coal tar, etc.), and domestic sources (clothes, bottles, food scraps, food packaging, disposables, magazines, newspapers, and garden waste) are convertible to valuable forms of energy through WtE technologies. Achillas et al. (2011) observed that countries, which exercised high rate of energy recovery from wastes, had appreciable rates of recycling, whereas for the developing countries where landfilling is the predominant waste management option, recycling rates were low. Drawbacks of landfills have been discussed by Kulkarni (2020); the study evaluated potential environmental risks associated with landfills and emphasized on the role of alternative waste treatment options in developing countries. Studies on WtE have highlighted the key merits of this technology. For example, Bosmans et al. (2013) evaluated the crucial role of WtE technologies in enhanced landfill mining. The study observed that some WtE processes like slagging gasification- and plasma-based technologies lead to material recovery and supports the concept of waste to products apart from WtE and ultimately results in a combined valorization process. Other advantages of WtE include supportive incentives, such as gate fee, feed-in tariff, waste disposal subsidies, tax incentives, and financial support. Waste-to-energy approach supports the creation of local small- and medium-sized enterprises and job and training opportunities for local people. The generation of energy from waste also helps meet the increasing energy demand. It reduces the dependence on energy imports and limited natural resources, thereby reinforcing economic productivity and contributing to a circular economy. Furthermore, unlike the intermittent nature of renewable technologies such as solar, wind, and even hydro, WtE technology utilizes the stable source of fuel (waste) throughout the year. Thus, WtE facilities can regularly generate and supply baseload power to the community and complement other renewable energy sources (Mohammadi and Harjunkoski 2020). In the backdrop of global population growth, increase in solid waste quantity, rise in energy demand, and environmental concerns, the present chapter explores the role
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of WtE approach for sustainable solid waste management. The chapter reviews various concepts of WtE such as process aspects, importance of waste composition and characterization, technological variations, utilization of solid waste as potential source of energy, social and environmental concerns, economic aspects of WtE, and global scenario of WtE technology; this, in turn, provides a basis for comparison of WtE approach with the other technological options for effective waste management.
World Scenario of WtE Technology The interest in recovering energy from solid waste is increasing on a global scale motivated by an increased generation of solid waste and the environmental concerns that arise from its inappropriate disposal (Istrate et al. 2020). Waste to energy is one potential solution for sustainable waste management, which addresses issues such as waste volume reduction, energy generation, and greenhouse gas emission. The concept of WtE has evolved since a while now (Kalyani and Pandey 2014). The International Renewable Energy Agency estimated that the world has a potential of generating approximately 13 GW of energy from WtE sector alone (Kumar and Samadder 2017). Waste-to-energy systems are increasingly utilized in high-income countries, and at a slower rate, they are also implemented in low-income countries (Mayer et al. 2019). Worldwide, 765 MSW-based WtE plants exist with an annual capacity of 83 million tonnes. The United States currently employs 86 of these municipal solid WtE combustion facilities across 25 states and utilizes 12.80% of it for energy recovery (Mukherjee et al. 2020). Europe incinerated 29% of its MSW in 2017, while countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway incinerated more than 50% of their MSW (Istrate et al. 2020). Japan built its first full-scale functioning WtE plant with electricity production in the city of Osaka by Hitachi Zosen in 1965. Today, nearly 80% of MSW generated in Japan is treated with incineration technology; Japan has the highest incineration rate as opposed to other countries, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries (Mani 2020). Tong et al. (2018) noted that the island country of Singapore, due to its growing population and limited land area and natural resources available, has adopted WtE approach for its waste management. The overall national recycling rate shows increasing tendency from 51% in 2006 to 61% in 2015, heading toward the recycling target rate of 70% by 2030, and the remaining unrecycled waste is disposed by either incineration or landfill. For any nation, a well-functioning solid waste management system is a central element for a good quality of life, a clean environment, and the conservation of natural resources. Nevertheless, execution of sound waste management system is still a challenge for many countries, specifically for developing and emerging countries (Campitelli and Schebek 2020). In addition, the energy requirement is more in emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, and South Africa and is much higher than the developed nations (Mangla et al. 2020). Incineration is the
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most widely used WtE option in populous countries like China (Kumar and Samadder 2017). Municipal solid waste incineration capacity in China increased from 15,000 ton per day in 2003 to 231,600 ton per day by 2015 (Istrate et al. 2020). In Brazil, electricity is produced from biogas conversion in landfills using engines. There are also some WtE local initiatives with both MSW incineration and MSW/ RDF gasification in Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais states. Incineration technology is mainly imported since there are no local manufacturers and presents high costs. Gasification technology under implementation is locally developed but yet being further developed (Coelho and Diaz-Chavez 2020). India set up its first incineration plant in 1987. However, despite the state-of-the-art technology, the plant was shut down after a few weeks of operation, due to the poor thermal characteristic of the waste feed (Mani 2020). Today, India’s waste-to-energy potential for MSW is 2.55 GW and 1.68 GW from urban and industrial waste, respectively. The municipal solid waste generated in the country’s towns and cities has the ability to generate the energy of around 50.50 GW, which can be increased to 1.12 GW by 2031 and to 2.78 GW by 2050 (Malav et al. 2020). Energy recovery from MSW is also gaining momentum in the other top ten most populated countries of the world such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Russia, as sustainable waste management alternatives (Mukherjee et al. 2020). In some of the African countries, such as South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, there are recent developments to produce energy with the treatment of both sewage and the biodegradable fraction of MSW. The municipal waste collection rates in South Africa are over 60%, and a few WtE projects are implemented (Coelho and Diaz-Chavez 2020). For example, the biogas production from the biodegradable fraction of MSW in Cape Town with the sale of approximately 600 GJ/year of compressed biomethane is an industrial replacement for natural gas. Several landfill sites in Durban and Johannesburg are equipped with landfill gas collection system to generate electricity in a range of 1–6 MW (Coelho and Diaz-Chavez 2020). Waste is available worldwide and its average heating value is approximately 10 MJ/kg; utilizing waste as a source of valuable energy seems reasonable and could be a key factor for sustainable development and the circular economy, which aims to maintain the value of products, materials, and resources as long as possible, to reduce waste and resource consumption (Wienchol et al. 2020). Mani (2020) affirmed that integrating energy recovery systems, precisely thermal treatment techniques, into the waste management scheme can abet immediate disposal of MSW with energy recovery. Besides helping meet the rising energy demand to some extent, this can serve as a key to the circular economy on a long-term basis. Waste to energy plays a crucial role in maintaining the circular relationship between economy and the environment and alleviates the existing resource deficit and environmental jeopardy (Sharma et al. 2020). Khan and Kabir (2020) affirmed that moving toward a circular economy is one of the prerequisites for sustainable development, as it offers benefits such as less environmental pollution by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improved security of supply of raw materials, and bolstering economic growth.
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Waste Generation, Composition, and Characterization Source of waste generation and waste composition and characteristics are crucial parameters to be studied before deciding on the type of WtE technology; these parameters depend on various local factors. Geographical factors, status of economic development, and urban population density influence the MSW generation in a nation. The type of industries within the municipal jurisdiction and extent of industrialization collectively determine the quantity as well as quality of waste. In most of the cases, industrial wastes from small- and medium-scale industries find their ways through the municipal system (Singh et al. 2011). Solid waste generation rate is directly proportional to the development of a country. Countries have been classified into different categories based on the gross domestic product. Countries with per capita gross domestic product greater than US$10,000 per annum are termed as developed nations (Kumar and Samadder 2017). A developing country is one where the per capita gross domestic product is lower than the average for the world (Vallero and Blight 2019). However, there are many countries for which this definition may be inadequate, because industrialized urban areas in a country may be “developed” while country areas are still “developing.” It is rare to find wealth evenly distributed within large cities or between town and country; these countries are usually referred to as having mixed economies (e.g., India and China) (Vallero and Blight 2019). The typical waste generation rate of developed nations ranges from 1 to 2.50 kg/c/d and for developing counties it is 0.50 to 1 kg/c/d (Kumar and Samadder 2017). The generation, composition, and characteristics of waste depend upon climate condition, geographical region, living standards, season, strategy of waste collection, and human activities (Panigrahi and Dubey 2019). Waste composition varies between countries and, for a small extent, within each country, depending on some factors, such as the local living conditions and material standard and the cultural customs but also the environmental regulations and the quantitative and qualitative levels of household separation and collection. In large-scale WtE units, these possible variations may affect the optimization of the operating parameters of each unit as well as the amount and characteristics of solid residues, even though, due to the high efficiency of modern air pollution control systems, they rarely affect the emission of pollutant species (Arena et al. 2015). Abdel-Shafy and Mansour (2018) have reported that MSW that are generated from the developing countries are mainly from households (55%–80%), followed by market or commercial areas (10%–30%). The later consists of variable quantities from industries, streets, institutions, and many others. Generally, solid waste from such sources is highly heterogeneous in nature. Thus, they have variable physical and chemical characteristics depending on their original sources. The heterogeneity of such generated solid waste is the major setback in sorting and its utilization as material. Thus, conversion efficiency of waste into energy forms is highly determined by the waste composition and characteristics. The characteristics such as particle size, moisture content, calorific value, and density are important factors for selecting and developing an appropriate WtE system. The municipal solid waste of developed countries has less moisture content; for instance, in the United States and European countries, it varies from 20% to 30%
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as compared to 50%–70% in developing countries such as in China and India (Kumar and Samadder 2017). Heating Values of Municipal Solid Waste. Heating values and moisture content of the solid waste are the two critical parameters with respect to energy generation. According to Rogoff and Meng (2019b), heating value is a basic measure of the heat energy released through the incineration of solid waste. Higher moisture and inert content will have higher detrimental impact on the final MSW heating value. Kumar and Samadder (2017) have reviewed that the waste stream of developed nations has high heating values (2000–4000 kcal/kg) in comparison with the developing nations (700–1600 kcal/kg) due to the presence of high percentage of paper and other dry organic wastes. Rogoff and Meng (2019b) have noted comparatively higher heating values (5800–19,800 kcal/kg) for developed countries like the United States. The range of heating values is dependent on the definition of waste and varies from 19,800 kcal/kg for trash, which is defined as “highly combustible waste, paper, wood, cardboard, including up to 10.00% treated papers, plastic or rubber scraps; commercial and industrial sources,” to 5800 kcal/kg for garbage which is defined as animal and vegetable wastes from restaurants, hotels, and markets and institutional, commercial, and club sources (Rogoff and Meng 2019b). The calorific value is normally classified into high heating value (HHV) and low heating value (LHV). LHV is the energy content available from complete combustion and does not consider the latent heat of vaporization of moisture present in waste stream, whereas HHV is the theoretical maximum energy content in which latent heat of vaporization of wastes is taken into consideration and is generally measured with the help of a bomb calorimeter and sometimes with the help of equations, which is a function of ultimate analysis of the substrate (Kumar and Samadder 2017). Of high importance in determining the fuel worth of wastes is the higher heating value (HHV), which is the quantity of energy generated during the complete combustion. Therefore, accurate, reliable, and timely HHV information of waste feedstock plays an inevitable role in the optimal design and operation of WtE systems (Bagheri et al. 2019).
The Concept of Waste to Energy Sipra et al. (2018) reviewed the effect of MSW components on biofuel production. The study noted that energy recovery from waste is the conversion of nonrecyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity, or fuel through a variety of processes (including combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery), and this conversion process is often termed as waste to energy (Sipra et al. 2018). The process of converting solid waste into energy can be achieved through three processes: thermochemical, biochemical, and chemical (Khan and Kabir 2020). In thermochemical processes, waste feedstocks are converted to energy in the form of electricity and heat, by applying high temperatures and controlling oxygen supply. Available thermochemical processes are incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis (AlQattan et al. 2018), and these processes vary depending on temperature and the amount of oxygen used. The thermochemical solid waste conversion processes can be grouped into two main categories: combustion- and
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Fig. 1 A generic thermochemical conversion-based waste-to-energy system
gasification-based thermal treatments. The first is well established and allows a significant recovery of energy, together with a remarkable reduction of volumes of solid residues to be sent to the final disposal. The second involves more complex processes, allows a dramatic reduction of the amount of residues to be disposed of in landfills, and can co-gasify different kinds of wastes, including bottom ashes from conventional incinerators (Arena et al. 2015). Biochemical processes involve the use of microorganisms to recover the energy from waste in the form of a gas or liquid, which can then be utilized to generate electricity. Anaerobic digestion, landfill with gas recovery, fermentation, and use of microbial fuel cell are the available biochemical processes. Chemical conversion involves the only esterification, in which a reaction occurs between acid and alcohol to form an ester. This chapter focuses on incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and landfills with gas recovery system, since these technologies are relatively well developed and have been adopted commercially in the waste management sector across different countries. Furthermore, these technologies can be used in developing countries as part of proper waste management, if capital costs can be confirmed (Khan and Kabir 2020). Figure 1 represents the generic waste-to-energy system based on thermochemical conversion. Components of WtE system can be modified based on the specific thermochemical processes (incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis) requirements like air or oxygen control and waste pretreatment.
Incineration Incineration is a thermal treatment process of combustible materials present in the waste (Malav et al. 2020). The process requires temperature in the range of between 850 C and 1100 C (Kulkarni 2020) and converts the combustible materials into
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carbon dioxide (CO2) and steam (H2O). During this process, the noncombustible materials present in the waste get converted into bottom ash which needs to be managed safely (Malav et al. 2020). Among the thermochemical treatment methods for solid waste, incineration is the most mature and widely used technique (Wienchol et al. 2020). Generally, most solid waste incineration units have three stages of reaction: Drying – moisture content is driven off. Ignition – solid waste is ignited. Burnout – solid waste is gradually moved through the furnace by the grate subsystem where the combustible fraction of the solid waste is burned out (Rogoff and Meng 2019d). Incineration of waste is aided by the introduction of air at two locations in the furnace. Air is introduced underneath the grates (primary air) to bring oxygen within the solid waste and help cool the grates. Air is also introduced above the burning solid waste (secondary air). Secondary air or overfire air increases the agitation and turbulence within the furnace and ensures that there is adequate oxygen available to fully oxidize and burn the entire combustible fraction of the solid waste. Overfire air also assists the mixing of the combustion gases and hence ensures complete oxidation and destruction (Rogoff and Meng 2019d). The heat from burning waste produces high-pressure steam in a boiler that in a turbine drives the electric generator to produce electricity (Mohammadi and Harjunkoski 2020). Incineration plants can generate between 400 and 700 kWh/tonne of MSW (Coelho and Diaz-Chavez 2020). The electricity generation capacity is a function of two factors, the cycle thermodynamic efficiency and the solid waste’s LHV. The LHV, usually expressed in kJ/kg, is calculated from the following expression: LHV ¼ 18, 500 Yfuel 2:636 Ywater 628 Yglass 544 Ymetal =4:185 ð1Þ The variables Yfuel, Ywater, Yglass, and Ymetal represent the proportion of each component in 1 kg of MSW to be converted (Coelho and Diaz-Chavez 2020). Although the classification according to the LHV is not definitive in defining the ideal MSW destination, based on the previous literature, Coelho and Diaz-Chavez (2020) have noted the following: • For LHV less than 7000 kJ/kg, incineration is not technically feasible. • For LHV in the range of 7000–8400 kJ/kg, incineration technical feasibility depends on some type of pretreatment to increase LHV. • For LHV greater than 8400 kj/kg, incineration is technically feasible. Incineration process consists of three major subprocesses: controlled combustion, energy recovery, and air pollution control (Singh et al. 2011). The process is operated at a high temperature range and can be combined with steam and electricity
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generation processes (Kalyani and Pandey 2014). The quality of the final products and the useful intermediate products is a function of atmospheric condition (i.e., presence of oxygen) and the operating temperature. Operating temperature of thermochemical processes largely depends on the process design and feedstock materials (Kumar and Samadder 2017). There are two categories of incineration systems; they are the mass burn and refuse-derived fuel (RDF). The key difference between the two is that mass burn undergoes little to no preprocessing of waste before incineration, while RDF undergoes preprocessing by carefully sorting materials with low heat value and low calorie content, such as glass and metals. For RDF, uniform waste content is produced after the preprocessing and to be shredded to produce fuel with relatively more uniform characteristics compared to mass burn. While RDF may be more efficient, mass burn facilities are more common (AlQattan et al. 2018). Modern waste incineration technology is categorized into three main groups: moving grate, rotary kiln, and fluidized-bed incinerators, of which grate boilers are used in 80% of WtE plants worldwide (Wienchol et al. 2020). Emissions from the process contain air pollutants like SOx, COx, and NOx, which may result in air pollution and health hazards. Thus, it is crucial to equip incinerator with air pollution control system (Kalyani and Pandey 2014). Apart from flue gas, incinerators produce bottom ash and air pollution control residues. Today, these residues are treated with much more care than in the beginning of incineration when they have been used as soil conditioner, construction material, and the like. While bottom ash is now landfilled or specially treated for use in construction, air pollution control (APC) residues are enriched in heavy metals and are more hazardous. They are disposed of in underground storages. Technological development in the metal recovery has facilitated the extraction of secondary resources such as iron, aluminum, copper, zinc, and other metals from these residues. Around 80%–90% volume reduction is achieved by incineration process (Singh et al. 2011), and efficiency of energy conversion to a steam boiler ranges from 19% to 24% for this process (World Bank Urban Development Series 2018). Breeze (2018) observed that the efficiency of steam turbine generator depends on the temperature and pressure of the steam and the actual steam conditions that can be used will depend on the type of waste being incinerated. For example, in Asia, steam conditions have traditionally been limited to 40 bar and 400 C because of the high plastic content and moisture content of the waste, both of which encourage corrosion. These steam conditions limit efficiency to around 22%–25%. In addition to volume reduction and energy recovery, waste incineration ensures complete destruction of any living organisms and mineralization of organic substances into harmless end products (Brunner and Rechberger 2015).
Pyrolysis Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of organic material into gaseous, liquid and solid materials in an inert atmosphere, for example, nitrogen or argon (Wienchol et al. 2020). Pyrolytic decomposition of solid waste is induced through the
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application of medium to high temperature (200–1100 C) (Mayer et al. 2019). The pyrolysis process is completed in three significant steps: initiation, propagation, and termination (Sipra et al. 2018). During the pyrolysis process, the molecular structure of solids is altered. Through this alteration, CO2 is released and causes about 40% reduction in the mass of the solids. The carbonized solids that are produced are then transformed into slurry, which is dried by applying thermal energy and converted to solid form of fuels in the form of pellets (AlQattan et al. 2018). Breeze (2018) noted that the products of pyrolysis depend on the parameters such as waste constituents, temperature at which the thermochemical decomposition is conducted, and the residence time in the reactor. With lower temperatures and shorter residence times, more oils and tars are produced. As these parameters are increased, a larger percentage of gaseous products is generated (Breeze 2018). The required waste pretreatment may include drying, shredding, and the addition of lime to the substrate for emission control (Mayer et al. 2019). The thermal pyrolysis process can be categorized into flash pyrolysis, fast pyrolysis, medium-speed pyrolysis, and slow pyrolysis based on the corresponding heating rates: Flash pyrolysis: This category of pyrolysis is characterized by rapid heating rates (>1000 C/second) and high reaction temperatures (900–1300 C). Flash pyrolysis has been shown to afford high yields of bio-oil with low resultant water content and conversion efficiencies of up to 70% (Li et al. 2013). Fast pyrolysis: Fast pyrolysis, with very short retention time and medium temperatures, results in a share in oil of up to 75% (Mayer et al. 2019). According to Li et al. (2013), to achieve reliably high bio-oil yields, parameters like reaction temperature often in the range of 425–600 C and residence time (typically