Low-Carbon Solid Waste Systems

Author(s):  
Cody Taylor ◽  
Emily Bedwell ◽  
Amy Guy ◽  
David Traeger

As awareness regarding the potential threat of climate change has grown in the US, many local governments and businesses are being asked to consider the climate implications of their actions. In addition, many leaders, including solid waste managers, who are not yet pressured from the outside, consider it prudent to account for their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and consider it a proactive measure to assess climate risks and opportunities and to show commitment to progress. Sources of GHG emissions in the solid waste management process include: waste transport vehicles, composting facilities, processing equipment, landfills, and waste-to-energy facilities. Over the past 25 years, the levels of GHG emissions have been reduced through technological advancements in waste-to-energy, environmental regulations such as the Clean Air Act, landfill gas capture and control, and the promotion of recycling and reuse. There are many opportunities for solid waste managers to further reduce their GHG emissions levels, including promotion of waste-to-energy facilities as part of a low-carbon solid waste management plan. Waste-to-energy may also, in the future, offer potential revenue from the sale of renewable energy credits and carbon credits in emerging emissions trading programs.

Author(s):  
David Traeger ◽  
John Nelson ◽  
Robert Zorbaugh

HDR partnered with the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (Authority) to use the Carbon Assessment Planning Tool (CAPT) to evaluate GHG emissions in their solid waste system. The Authority owns three primary facilities, which comprise the Authority’s solid waste processing and disposal system (the System). The primary facilities in the System are the Transfer Station (TS), the Frey Farm Landfill (FFLF) and the Lancaster County Resource Recovery Facility (RRF). The Authority has recently added wind turbines to its energy portfolio and is considering other changes within its system. The model will be used to evaluate the net effect of the changing system characteristics on the Green House Gas emissions from the system. Reduction in the waste landfilled, changes in Landfill Gas production and increases in energy production will all be evaluated. The paper will review the model assumptions and parameters and will discuss system characteristics. The paper will also discuss a methodology for monetization of additional “green benefits” associated with the GHG emissions reductions through the sale of emission offsets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-449
Author(s):  
Riham A. Mohsen ◽  
Bassim Abbassi ◽  
Animesh Dutta ◽  
David Gordon

More light is being shed continually on the environmental impacts of municipal solid waste due to the increasing amounts of waste generated and the related greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from MSW account for 20% of Canadian greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and accordingly, waste legislation in Ontario demands high waste recovery and a moving towards a circular economy. This study evaluates the current municipal solid waste management in the City of Guelph and assesses possible alternative scenarios based on the associated GHG emissions. Waste Reduction Model (WARM) that was developed by the US-EPA has been used to quantify the GHG emissions produced over the entire life cycle of the MSW management scenario. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to investigate the influence of some scenarios on the overall GHG emissions. It has been found that one ton of landfilled waste generates approximately 0.39 ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2Eq). It was also found that the current solid waste scenario has a saving of 36086 million ton of CO2Eq (MCO2Eq). However, the results showed that the scenario with enhanced waste-to-energy, reduction at source and recycling has resulted in a high avoided emissions (0.74 kg CO2Eq/kg MSW). The anaerobic Digestion scenario caused the lowest avoided emissions of 0.39 kg CO2Eq/kg MSW. The net avoided emissions for reduction at source scenario were found to be the same as that found by the current scenario (0.4 kg CO2Eq/kg MSW). The sensitivity analysis of both reduction at source and recycling rates show a linear inverse proportional relationship with total GHG emissions reduction.


Author(s):  
Kafayat Olafunke Adeyemi ◽  
Urbans Benywanira

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is an energy source that should not go untapped or unutilized. The waste must be properly utilized through combustion, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas acquisition, as it represents material and energy content. This will reduce the effects of global warming, which is as a result of high concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases (GHGs), in the atmosphere. This chapter focuses on the technologies for solid waste management and the thermodynamics involved in the process for sustainable and cleaner energy. The equations presented represent the thermal efficiency, conversion efficiencies, as well as possible work that can be derived from a power plant utilizing MSW as fuel. It is important that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa vigorously pursue sustainable waste management technologies, especially recycling and landfilling, while exploring and investing in waste-to-energy technologies that will perform optimally using the composition of the waste in Sub-Saharan Africa in the design of the waste-to-energy technology.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 569-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Sadef ◽  
A. S. Nizami ◽  
S. A. Batool ◽  
M. N. Chaudary ◽  
O. K. M. Ouda ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 716 (1) ◽  
pp. 012016
Author(s):  
Saraswati Prabawardani ◽  
Hendri ◽  
Mahawan Karuniasa ◽  
Kati Syamsudin ◽  
Cynthia Maharani ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232110179
Author(s):  
Dolores Elizabeth Turcott Cervantes ◽  
Beatriz Adriana Venegas Sahagún ◽  
Amaya Lobo García de Cortázar

Local governments face the need to achieve sustainability in the provision of public services, and to do so, proper governance is essential. This work proposes a method to assess governance in local waste management systems based on a set of indicators that are flexible and robust enough to allow objective and reliable evaluation even where the information that is available is deficient. The proposal is based on a set of indicators divided into six categories that represent an increasing order of governance maturity: institutional framework; government effectiveness; transparency and accountability; network creation; participation; and corruption control. The article presents the proposal and a first test in two Mexican municipalities, which are an example of municipal solid waste management systems in an incipient stage of development, where there may be serious limitations in terms of access to information. The results show that the methodology can be replicated in different contexts and can be useful for making decisions about improvements in municipal solid waste management systems or for comparing them with others. In addition, sufficient information was obtained for a first diagnosis of the cases studied, which indicates the coherence of the proposed framework. Points for practitioners Proper governance is essential to achieve sustainability in the provision of public services. The assessment of local governance must be robust enough to motivate changes and, at the same time, flexible enough to allow reliable evaluation where the quality of service and the availability of information may be scant. We propose a new framework for the assessment of governance in municipal solid waste management systems that meets these requirements, based on a set of indicators clustered according to governance maturity.


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