Surviving from garbage: the role of informal waste-pickers in a dynamic model of solid-waste management in developing countries

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROCÍO DEL PILAR MORENO-SÁNCHEZ ◽  
JORGE HIGINIO MALDONADO
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Waste Pickers

In developing countries, informal waste-pickers (known as scavengers) play an important role in solid waste management systems, acting in a parallel way to formal waste collection and disposal agents. Scavengers collect, from the streets, dumpsites, or landfills, re-usable and recyclable material that can be reincorporated into the economy's production process. Despite the benefits that they generate to society, waste-pickers are ignored when waste management policies are formulated. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the role of scavengers in a dynamic model of production, consumption, and recovery, and to show that, in an economy producing solid waste, efficiency can be reached using a set of specific and complementary policies: a tax on virgin materials use, a tax on consumption and disposal, and a subsidy to the recovery of material. A numerical simulation is performed to evaluate the impact of these policies on landfill lifetime and natural resource stocks. A discussion on the implementation of these instruments is also included.

scholarly journals Municipal solid waste and risk from 1970 to 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-137
Author(s):  
Juan Antonio Araiza-Aguilar ◽  
◽  
Silke Cram-Heydrich ◽  
Naxhelli Ruiz-Rivera ◽  
Oralia Oropeza-Orozco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste Management ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Reference Framework ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Management Policies

In the field of solid waste management, key concepts such as risk, impact and hazards have been used interchangeably and have had imprecise meanings and scopes; this can lead to a partial or biased vision, for example in relation to municipal solid waste management policies. This paper presents a review of the literature on the theme of municipal solid waste and risk. Analysis of scientific publications from the years 1970 to 2020 shows that the concept of risk in the field of solid waste has been approached from various perspectives and different interpretations. Of all risk components, vulnerability has been the least addressed in the literature, because technical aspects such as hazard modeling predominate in this field. Most of the publications have studied the final disposal stage, since open dumpsites and landfills are still the most common methods for disposing of solid waste. Finally, a reference framework is proposed.

scholarly journals Integrated Waste Management

2015 ◽  
pp. 125-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günay Kocasoy
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Solid Wastes ◽  
The World ◽  
Integrated Waste Management ◽  
Management Policies

Handling of solid waste has been a serious problem for countries all over the world. Increase in population, change in life standard and life style, industrialization and production of new products contribute to the increase in the amount of solid wastes and consequently the problems generated by them. Developed countries, being aware of the significance of the problems, established regulatory programs, while economically developing countries continued to handle the solid wastes in a very primitive way, such as dumping them into “open dumps.” In these countries recycling activities are mostly carried on by scavengers in a very primitive way. For the protection of the environment and sustainable development, economically developing countries should establish solid waste management policies, plan recycling programs and publish related regulations and by-laws, and strictly control the application of them. This is explored in this chapter.

Energy recovery from small-scale energy-from-waste (EfW) facility – Possible application in Hong Kong

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-104
Author(s):  
Cassie CHOW ◽  
Alex Wai Hung CHEUNG
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Msw Management ◽  
Direct Combustion ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Waste Diversion

Solid waste management system is becoming a significant environmental, economic and technological challenge due to the increasing population and different waste stream. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is easy to generate but difficult to venerate. The question of whether MSW is an undervalued resource or an environmental burden is in continual debate. This paper presents an overview and structure of the current MSW management in Hong Kong and the advantages of waste diversion when the waste that normally would be delivered to the landfill is removed from the MSW. This paper also studies the technology of energy recovery which can be achieved from MSW in direct combustion as a fuel to produce power and heat, or indirectly, through waste conversion to fuel or fuel in a state of storage for future use. The necessity, rationale and application of energy recovery facilities are discussed to meet public health and environmental concerns and the public’s desire and willingness to reuse and recycle waste materials. Solid waste management serves both resource recovery and waste disposal in the public’s future challenges and opportunities for change.

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