Strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from municipal solid waste management in Pakistan

2021 ◽  
pp. 0734242X2098392
Author(s):  
Paul Selvam Michel Devadoss ◽  
Agamuthu Pariatamby ◽  
Mehran Sanam Bhatti ◽  
Santha Chenayah ◽  
Fauziah Shahul Hamid

The studies on municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Pakistan and its impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are glaringly missing. Therefore, this study examines the effect of MSW management on GHG emissions in Pakistan and suggests the best suitable strategies for alleviating GHG emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 waste model (WM) was used to create inventory of GHG emissions from landfilling. The solid waste management GHG (SWM-GHG) calculator and strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threat (SWOT) analyses were used as strategic planning tools to reduce GHG emissions by improving MSW management in Pakistan. The IPCC 2006 WM estimated 14,987,113 metric tonnes (Mt) carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq) of GHG emissions in 2016. The SWM-GHG calculator, on the other hand, estimated 23,319,370 Mt CO2-eq of GHG emissions from management of 30,764,000 Mt of MSW in 2016, which included 8% recycling, 2% composting, and 90% disposal in open dumps. To reduce GHG emissions, two strategies including recycling-focused and incineration-focused were analysed. The recycling approach can reduce more GHG emissions than incineration, as it can reduce 36% of GHG emissions (as compared to GHG emission in 2016) by recycling 23% of MSW, anaerobically digesting 10% of MSW, and disposing of 67% of MSW in sanitary landfills (with energy recovery). Moreover, the SWOT analysis suggested integration of the informal sector, adoption of anaerobic digestion and formulation of explicit MSW regulations for improving the current management of MSW which will also result in lower GHG emissions.

Author(s):  
Brian Bahor ◽  
Keith Weitz ◽  
Andrew Szurgot

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is internationally recognized for its potential to be both a source and mitigation technology for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Historically, GHG emission estimates have relied upon quantitative knowledge of various MSW components and their carbon contents, information normally presented in waste characterization studies. Aside from errors associated with such studies, existing data do not reflect changes over time or from location to location and are therefore limited in their utility for estimating GHG emissions and mitigation due to proposed projects. This paper presents an alternative approach to estimate GHG emissions and mitigation using the concept of a carbon balance, where key carbon quantities are determined from operational measurements at modern municipal waste combustors (MWCs).


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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 931-932 ◽  
pp. 645-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chhay Hoklis ◽  
Alice Sharp

The municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is one major concern in Cambodia due to complicated problems from waste sector. Until now, because of poor MSWM, solid wastes have produced high pollution, like methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2), which are the substances of greenhouse gas affect to climate change. Therefore, this study was undertaken to estimate and compare the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from municipal solid waste in different cities namely; Phnom Penh, Battambang, and Siem Reap of Cambodia. GHG emission was calculated through Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calculator 2006 based on secondary data of 2009 for all cities. In order to reduce the GHG emission, four scenarios were proposed with different waste treatment technologies such as composting, anaerobic digestion, waste reduction at landfill by separating waste for recycling before disposal off in landfill, and landfill with gas recovery as well. Additionally, the multiple benefits of implementing the proposed scenarios may include reduction of GHG emission, promotion of energy saving for landfill operation, and promotion of the renewable energy concept like electricity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunlin Xin ◽  
Tingting Zhang ◽  
Sang-Bing Tsai ◽  
Yu-Ming Zhai ◽  
Jiangtao Wang

The Chinese government is committed to ensuring separation of municipal solid waste (MSW), promoting the integrated development of the MSW management system with the renewable resource recovery system, and achieving construction of ecological civilization. Guided by the methods in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under five waste disposal scenarios in Beijing under the life cycle framework were assessed in this research. The study included collection and transportation, as well as three end disposal methods (sanitary landfill, incineration, and composting), and the emission reduction benefits of electricity generation from incineration and recycling of renewable resources were taken into account. The results show that an emission reduction benefit of 70.82% could be achieved under Scenario 5 in which kitchen waste and recyclables are sorted and recycled and the residue is incinerated, and the selection of the optimal strategy was not affected by changes in the separation rate. In addition, landfill would emit more GHG than incineration and composting. The results of this study are helpful for the government to make a decision on MSW management considering the goal of GHG emission reduction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 527-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Daskal ◽  
Ofira Ayalon ◽  
Mordechai Shechter

Regulation is a key tool for implementing municipal solid waste (MSW) management strategies and plans. While local authorities in Israel are responsible for the storage, collection, and disposal of MSW, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MoEP) is responsible for the formulation and implementation of waste management policies and legislation. For the past 12 years, about 80% of the MSW in Israel has been landfilled and recycling rates have not increased, despite regulations. This paper presents the state of MSW management in Israel in light of the MoEP’s strategic goal of landfilling reduction, the regulations and legislation designed and implemented for achieving this goal, and the ensuing results. Among other things, the results indicate the importance of monitoring and assessing policy and regulations to examine whether regulation is in fact effective and whether it keeps track of its own targets and goals or not. It is also concluded that even when there is an extensive regulation that includes a wide range of laws, economic penalties and financial incentives (such as landfill levy and financing of MSW separation at source arrangements), this does not guarantee proper treatment or even an improvement in waste management. The key to success is first and foremost a suitable infrastructure that will enable achievement of the desired results.


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