Transforming waste to wealth, achieving circular economy

Waste is any substance which is discarded after primary use, or it is worthless, defective, and of no use. The term is often subjective, because what is waste to one need not necessarily be waste to another. Sometimes, the matter is objectively inaccurate, for instance, to send scrap metals to a landfill is to inaccurately classify them as waste, because they are recyclable.

Municipal wastes include the following:

a. Household waste, commercial waste, and demolition waste
b. Agricultural waste
c. Electrical and electronic wastes (many of them considered hazardous)
d. Hazardous waste
– Industrial waste
– Biomedical waste-clinical waste
e. Special hazardous waste
– Radioactive waste
– Explosive waste

Typical composition of industrial non-hazardous wastes is similar to municipal solid waste (MSW) in different percentages with the addition of waste oil and sludge. A typical composition of electronic waste includes plastics, metals, PCBs, glass, and hazardous wastes. Concentration of each material is varied among countries worldwide. Globally, wastes generated are causing several environmental impacts, from generation and transportation to their disposal in landfills. Increased amounts of solid municipal wastes are expected due to the increase in population. Nowadays, almost 80% of global municipal solid wastes are disposed of in landfills, and only a 20% are disposed in sanitary landfills. Moreover, environmental and energy issues are under intense investigation. Fossil fuel reserves as well as natural resources across the world are decreasing; CO2 emission levels are extremely high due to extensive use of fossil fuels whilst increased amount of municipal solid wastes further impact climate change due to CH4 emissions from landfills. Consequently, additional problems seem to be arising such as economic and social.

Furthermore, climate change constitutes a major environmental issue bearing a heavy impact in various aspects of human life and other organisms. In order to face energy supply problems as well as climate change impacts, the European Union has enacted several directives including 2009/29/E.C., 2009/28/E.C., 2009/31/E.C., and Decision No. 406/2009/E.C..

Considering that the last few years both economic activity and raw material consumption have increased, it can be concluded that the in-force development model is unsustainable. However, one of the EU’s fundamental objectives is to contribute in sustainable development through its policies, as initially included in the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997. In 2001, at the Gothenburg summit, EU sets the base for a sustainable development strategy (EU S.D.S.). Two targets of this strategy were defined: Initially take measures towards restriction of activities that contribute to unsustainable development and secondarily propose that all EU’s policies, either economic, social, or environmental, should be issued in such a manner that they reinforce each other. Thus, the overall aim is to improve life quality and public health of citizens, among the member states, indicating several fields as the most crucial that policies should be focused on. These include climate change and clean energy, sustainable transport, sustainable consumption and production, conservation and management of natural resources, public health, social inclusion—demography and migration—as well as global poverty and sustainable development challenges [6]. However, any attempt on having a positive impact on sustainable development must demand the participation of citizens, throughout any shift required in their daily habits. Furthermore, political and economic decisions on behalf of member states or worldwide are mandatory. Thus, the exploitation of other valuable energy sources such as wastes instead of conventional fuels—coal, oil, gas, nuclear—as well as the use of materials recovered from wastes is more than important, enhancing the concept of circular economy.

Further exploitation of MSW as feedstock in waste-to-energy (WtE) facilities and the overall upgrade of the latter may constitute a solution that could have a great contribution both in environmental protection and the energy sector, satisfying objectives and aims of EU’s policies and directives. In the basis of the two principle EU strategies, Europe 2020 and Strategy for Sustainable Development, the development and the integration of WtE facilities as the main waste treatment method can be an effective alternative energy option, leading to reduced CO2 and CH4 emissions while saving limited fossil fuel and natural resources. The text is organized as follows. Waste is analyzed as resources, wealth and as a commodity. All the above facets are presented so as to identify the justified placement of waste in a circular economy approach. Furthermore, energy recovery from relevant processes is considered. The final section of the text is dedicated to the identification of communities, cities, and countries that have successfully implemented such policies. The databases contributing to this effort were the EU databases and Waste ATLAS.

source :

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43615-022-00225-2