Municipal Solid Waste Management Certification Course

PURPOSE / FOCUS OF THIS COURSE

The purpose of this academy program is to give insight into the municipal solid waste management cycle. This course will educate readers on what happens to their waste after disposal with the goal of helping businesses and individuals make better decisions in regards to their waste management options.

COURSE CONTENT / METHOD OF SHARING

This course will be broken down into four chapters, each describing a different process or stage in the Municipal Waste Management Cycle, from planning and development through collection and disposal.

1. Introduction to Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM)
2. Guiding Principals of Solid Waste Management
3. Municipal Solid Waste Management Workflow
4. The Future of Municipal Waste Management

At the end of document will be a short summary multiple-choice test to ensure you grasp the concepts within.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

If you are having trouble understanding the content in this course, or you wish to learn more about the topic, please refer to the reference section to explore additional resources available to explain in greater detail. These resources may be in video, or text form and are a method of supplementing the information given within the program.

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is the unwanted or discarded solid waste generated by residential, industrial, commercial and institutional organizations within a municipality. Over the past century there has been a mass migration of individuals and communities from rural environments to centralized urban landscapes like towns or cities. This, in conjunction with rising global economic and industrial prosperity, has led to a large increase in waste generation on a global scale. This change in waste generation needs a system in place for its proper collection, management and disposal, and while every municipality waste management plan may have slight variations, for the most part the overall framework is the same.

Why Do We Manage Our Waste?

The management of Municipal Solid Waste is a process that has an incredibly large amount of moving parts, as a result of this the planning and implementation phase of developing a large-scale waste management plan are critical. By having in place a sound plan that clearly indicates and establishes to residents, businesses and industries how the municipality will achieve its shared waste management goals, all stakeholders can work collectively to reach the desired outcome. The following is a list of common principals that are shared by many municipalities around the globe.

Promote A Circular Economy and Zero Waste Solutions

A circular economy aims to achieve zero waste generation through the efficient and sustainable design of materials, products, businesses and systems. By designing products with its end-of-life destination in mind, we can transition away from the linear “purchase-use-dispose” consumer model we have come so accustomed to. By rethinking how we can use waste, we can redesign practices, processes and infrastructure to better accommodate the reintegration of recyclable products back into the economy for future use.

Promote the Waste Management Hierarchy

The Waste Management Hierarchy diagram helps individuals, businesses and municipalities to better prioritize what to do with products after their intended purpose has been fulfilled. It displays 4 options in order of most preferred reduce and reuse option, to least preferred landfill and disposal options.

Prevent the Disposal of Organic and Recyclable Waste

By developing more efficient practices and technologies to better separate undesirables from recyclable waste stream, the end product can have a greater economic value and be of better use to the recycling industry. Establishment and enforcement of disposal best practices will help to reinforce the sustainable attitudes of the waste management hierarchy.

Develop and Maintain Partnerships with Interested Parties

There are many people involved in a successful Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan, including Hauling services, landfill operations, environmental organizations, stewardship agencies and waste generators. Cooperative efforts on all fronts will be critical in achieving waste reduction goals. Special attention should be given to allow the regional marketplace to accommodate, compliment and make best use of stewardship programs and resources such as the Ontario Tire Recycling Stewardship.

Support Polluter and User-Pay Approaches While Managing Incentives

Provide incentives for users and manufacturers to manage materials to better support a circular economy and restrictions on disposal of products that can be recycled efficiently. In addition, further education and behavior changes can help achieve reduction targets by providing businesses and residents with the resources necessary to make informed decisions.

This section of the program is designed to communicate the general flow of municipal solid waste from the point of generation through to the method of disposal. In order to implement an efficient waste management system, municipalities must understand the type and frequency of wastes generated and then options and resources available to them for collection and disposal. By mapping out and having a thorough understanding of the process, municipalities are able to identify deficiencies and areas of improvement within their system.

Waste Generation and Sources

In 2009 the world produced approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of solid waste, this number is expected to reach 2.3 billion tonnes by 2025. WHO and The World Bank have been tediously conglomerating datasets from nations around the world to centralize waste management data and provide countries and businesses with a solid foundation of information to begin undertaking the enormous task of preparing for projected waste values. One outcome of these reports shows that populations living in an urban environment produce nearly twice as much solid waste as those living in rural communities, and that countries that have a higher level of economic development and industrialization have seen a direct correlation with the amount of MSW produced. As household income and standard of living rises, so does disposable income and consumption of goods and services which lead to increased waste generation. The populations in less developed countries produce anywhere from 0.1-2.0 Kg of waste/person/day while developed nations produce from 2.0-5.0 Kg/person/day.

When developing a MSWM system, the first thing that should be considered is what are all of the different types of waste generators found in their collection area. This can give a broad birds-eye view of the types of processing and disposal facilities necessary to handle the different types of waste generated by different sectors.

Municipal waste generators are generally classified into one of four categories:

From the list above, you can imagine that the wastes generated from these different sectors have a great amount of variability within, and as such different methods of collecting, transporting and treating the waste may be necessary. For example, a municipality that has an abundance of manufacturing and industrial facilities within its boundaries may need chemical treatment facilities, or hazardous storage options for waste generated during manufacturing processes. While an urban community dominated by residential housing will have a greater need for specific programs, such as bulky item pick-up and curb-side collection to accommodate for the varying needs of individual households.

Collection and Transportation

Municipal waste collection and transportation is the collection of waste from the point of generation, and the subsequent transportation to the point of treatment or disposal. As you can imagine there is no one-size-fits-all method of municipal waste collection as there are many underlying factors in choosing a method that works best for the municipalities purposes, such as:

• Municipal Waste Collection Budget
• Waste Stream Separation
• Size and Dispersion of Collection Region
• Method and Distance of Final Disposal

Municipal Waste Collection Budget

The collection and transportation of generated waste can account for quite a large portion of the budget depending on the preferred method. It can involve capital investment in collection vehicles, sanitation employees, appropriate source separation containers and public education. Low-Income regions around the world can spend upwards of 90% of their budget on collection alone. This is because the primary function of waste management is to protect the public health, making the main priority to remove the waste from the point of generation and allocate it elsewhere away from populated areas. Conversely, high-income countries tend to have a more organized collection system with source separation, appropriate containerization, collection schedules and public participation allowing for a greater investment in safe disposal options.

Waste Stream Separation

Municipalities that separate their waste at the point of collection into categories like recyclables, organics and waste have higher Diversion Rates than those who do not. However, this does come at a cost in the form of separate collection vehicles, systems, treatment processes and public education. The municipality must look within its collection region and decide on the best method of separation based on the types of waste generated and the treatment and disposal options available to them.

Size and Dispersion of Collection Region

The size of the region can play a critical role in choosing an appropriate method of collection. If the municipality has a very large population spread out over a large area it may not be feasible to collect all the waste on one-day, leading to a very large fleet and waste collection schedule. In contrast, if the population is relatively small in a rural community where all generators are spread out, a waste collection contract might not be the most economical or efficient method of collection. In this case, individuals may be required to bring their waste to a centralized location where it is disposed of in a dump or landfill, or it is picked up and transferred for disposal elsewhere.

Method and Distance of Final Disposal

All three of the previously mentioned factors play a critical role in deciding the best possible method of disposal, but this choice also impacts the most efficient method of collection. Large urban municipalities with high population densities may not have the land resources to have a landfill or recycling facility within their boundaries. As a result, collection vehicles may be required to pick up all the waste and drop them off at a transfer station where the waste can be loaded up into larger transportation vehicles and brought to the nearest landfill.

Recycling and Resource Recovery

Recycling and resource recovery is the portion of a waste management plan where all the materials and products that have been deemed to have additional value after end-of-life are processed in such a way to allow them to be reused as raw materials. Earlier on in the MSWM planning phase, coordinators would have identified that separating materials at the source of generation has tremendous benefit as it allows for recyclable and reusable materials to be collected with very little stream contamination. The source separated materials are then collected and brought to a processing or resource recovery facility where they can be cleaned, broken down and reintegrated into the raw materials system.

Recycling facilities are very effective at what they do, through a combination of manual and mechanical sorting they are able to separate comingled recyclables with a very high degree of accuracy. For example, many recycling facilities incorporate some form of magnetic separation where steel and aluminum cans travelling down a conveyor belt will be removed from the comingled stream and separated accordingly. While the many different methods and technologies employed at a recovery facility are very successful at what they do, there are still manual laborer’s who act as quality controllers and separate materials that may have gotten through the sorting technology.

Traditional Recycling

The most common form of resource recovery is recycling. Materials made from types of plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, metals and more are labelled with an identifier code that informs the end-user it can be recycled, and what type of material it is composed of. As an example, the following chart displays common recycling identifier codes for plastic materials;

Symbol	Code	Description	Examples
	#1 PET	Polyethylene Terephthalate	Soft Drink Bottles
	#2 HDPE	High-Density Polyethylene	Trash Cans, Laundry Detergent Bottles
	#3 PVC	Polyvinyl Chloride	Plumbing Pipes, Flooring Materials
	#4 LDPE	Low-Density Polyethylene	Plastic Bags, Soap Dispenser Bottles
	#5 PP	Polypropylene	Bumpers, Carry-out Beverage Containers
	#6 PS	Polystyrene	Toys, Beer Cups, Video Tapes
	#7 Other	Others	Acrylic Plastics, Bioplastics

Since 1950, global production of plastics has increased from 1.5 million tonnes (Mt) to over 280 Mt. This production level is unprecedented and unsustainable as the primary material or plastics are petroleum and oil based, in order to minimize the environmental impact plastics must be reintegrated back into the economy through recycling whenever possible. This process reduces the amount of raw petroleum based materials necessary for manufacturing, and significantly reduces the amount of energy required to manufacture products using recycled inputs instead of virgin materials.

In order for reintegration to be successful however, there needs to be a market and infrastructure in place capable of supplying and processing recyclables in the timeframes and volumes necessary for production. As of now, the globally traded recycled plastic trade only accounts for approximately 5% (15Mt) of the annually manufactured new plastic products, with China responsible for 59% of all waste plastic imports. This large gap between new and recycled materials represents a system and infrastructure that has large areas of improvement, which the principle of “Circular Economy” aims to address.

Organic Material Recycling

Out of all the waste products that end up in landfills, approximately 30% of it is composed of organic materials, this includes yard and food scraps, agriculture and forestry debris, construction woods and more. These materials when deposited in a landfill breakdown through natural processes and release a harmful greenhouse gas called methane, which has 22x a greater Global Warming potential then carbon dioxide.

Not only does landfilling of organic waste contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases, it also removes valuable minerals and nutrients from natural processes. When food and yard waste decompose, they release the nutrients and minerals held within back into the soil, however, all these materials are basically lost and locked away within the landfill as there is no farming operations or other processes on a landfill to take advantage of them. The ideal method for disposing of organic wastes is to utilise some form of composting. By using specific practices and processes to safely breakdown organic waste in a controlled environment we can reduce the gas emissions, divert the organic material from entering the landfill and return the precious nutrients and minerals back into useable soil and compost to create a closed-loop cycle.

E-Waste and Stewardship Programs

With the price of oil continually creeping upwards, governments and businesses are realizing the power of recycling. The cost, in both dollars and energy, to acquire, process and reintegrate recycled materials is quite often smaller than using raw input. This affect is also being witnessed by the electronic manufacturing industry who utilise many types of precious and expensive materials like gold, silver and copper. There is a growing number of companies who are dedicated to collecting disposed electronics, separating all the materials within and salvaging the more expensive metals for resale, this unique form of recycling allows manufacturers to purchase back materials that were used to make old products, to reintegrate them into new products, reducing the volume of materials that need to be mined from the earth.

The electronic industry isn’t the only one seeing these types of developments, there are programs popping up all over that aim to capitalize on reusing and recycling disposed products in an environmentally and economically viable fashion. Another example is the Ontario Tire Stewardship Program which has built a network of companies and organizations that will collect used tires, diverting them from landfills, and using them to create new products. Recycled tire rubber can be used for many purposes such as an aggregate fill in types of pavement, and even creating porous driveway stones that help mitigate surface water runoff.

Final Disposal Options

At the end of the day, there just isn’t a sufficient and effective way to create and achieve a 100% diversion rate system, eliminating the need for waste disposal options, for now at least. As a result, there is still a need for a final resting place for discarded waste materials. There are many options available to municipalities for waste disposal and some of them are much more environmentally friendly then others, but like most other parts of the MSWM plan, each region may have different options and requirements for disposal. The following are a few methods of final waste disposal.

Municipal Dumping Site

A dump is one of the most rudimentary forms of waste disposal, generally consisting of a large valley, hole, mine or gulley in which residents simply “dump” their waste into. This is an incredibly irresponsible form of waste management as the composition of deposited waste is unknown and could contain materials hazardous to the environment and human health. There is little to no control systems in place to ensure contaminants such as leachate stay within the dump site. While regulations are tightening down on the creation of new open dump sites, there are many that are still active today.

Municipal Landfill

A landfill is a method of waste disposal in which the waste is compacted and buried under layers of Earth, it requires quite a large land investment and is ideally located away from the general population. While it is one of the oldest methods of waste disposal, technology and innovation have lead to the creation of highly sophisticated and safe landfill sites. Before a landfill is created the land and surrounding area is surveyed extensively for vulnerable habitats and species, hydrologic and geologic conditions, proximity to bodies of water and many other conditions. These help developers and engineers measure and mitigate the potential environmental impact a landfill site can have.

In addition to a rigorous site selection process, landfills employ many safety measures to help contain the materials buried within to protect human health and the environment, one of which is a leachate collection system. As you can imagine, the comingling of hundreds of tonnes of municipal waste can create quite a bit of nasty liquid called leachate. Leachate is generally extremely toxic to both the environment and human health, so containing within the landfill is of utmost importance to builders and engineers. The most common form of a leachate collection system consists of an incredibly thick impermeable plastic composite liner placed underneath the landfill at the point of construction. These layers ensure all waste stays within the landfill site and cannot permeate down through the soil into water systems below.

Another feature being employed at an increasing number of landfills is a methane gas capture system. You may recall that approximately 30% of all waste deposited in a landfill is organic in nature, and that when it breaks down it releases methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. Landfill gas capture systems retrieve the methane from the ground before emission and direct it towards a flaring system where the methane is burned off reducing its effectiveness as a global warming contributor. In some cases the landfill actually has a system in place to store the methane gas and use it for energy production.

Incineration

Incineration is the controlled burning of municipal solid waste to reduce the volume and in some cases generated electricity from the generated heat. There are a few forms of waste incineration, the most common of which for municipalities is the moving grate incinerator where a large grate filled with solid waste passes over the burners which are kept around 1000C to ensure adequate breakdown of materials.

Like landfills, incinerators have undergone extensive technological advances in the past few decades and now can be considered one of the most effective and safe methods of waste disposal. Extensive technological advances have been made to reduce the amount of atmospheric pollutants and contaminants emitted from incinerators, reducing them to negligible levels according to the U.K Health Protection Agency, in addition, heat capture systems have made incinerators quite an effective energy producer.

It has been found that the “Bottom ash”, the solid residue leftover after combustion, is generally non-toxic and safe to dispose of in landfills, the combustion processes is capable of reducing volume of waste by 95%, greatly extending the lifespan of landfills. As energy prices continue to rise, and space available for municipal landfills is reduced, incineration will continue to become a larger and more appealing option for growing municipalities.

With many obvious and glaring inefficiencies, such as the unsustainable production of plastics and other non-recyclable products, it is becoming increasingly obvious that in the near future, the waste management industry is going to see a shake-up. As global waste generation continues to increase with the rise of populations and increasing spending power of less-developed countries, landfill space will continue to shrink, greenhouse gas emissions related to the manufacturing and transportation of virgin products will continue to rise and more municipal resources will have to be dedicated to the proper management and disposal of waste.

The following are some interesting and innovating ways that governments, corporations and municipalities are trying to do their part to help mitigate some of the impact of our unsustainable waste generation, and help to promote a Zero Waste society.