Waste management solutions

How to shape the future of waste?

With the increasing urbanization, waste management is a major global issue that governments face daily. The overproduction of waste has been causing negative impacts on our environment. Waste reduction and valorization need to be taken to the next level. What are sustainable solutions for waste disposal & management?

01. Benefits

Waste management benefits

Sustainable waste management is a key concept of the circular economy and offers many opportunities:

  • Economic: waste management involves collecting, sorting, treating, recycling, and when properly facilitated providing a source of energy and resources. Therefore, it has a huge economic potential that needs to be leveraged by public and private entities.
  • Social: besides creating jobs, improved waste management leads to a better quality of life for local populations, by improving hygiene conditions and reducing health risks related to illegal dumping and inadequate garbage collection.
  • Environmental: the main advantage of sustainable waste management is to lessen the impact on the environment, by improving air and water quality and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Besides, reducing food waste also helps reduce the heavy environmental cost of producing more.

02. Definition

What is waste management?

First of all, there are many types of waste: municipal (household, commercial and demolition waste), hazardous (industrial), biomedical, electronic (e-waste), radioactive, etc. Waste management includes the collection, transport, valorization and disposal of these waste. More broadly, it includes any activity involved in the organization of waste management from production to final treatment.

The main principles of waste management are:

  1. Waste hierarchy, referring to the “3Rs rule” Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, waste prevention and minimisation being the most desirable goal.
  2. Extended producer responsibility, adding all the environmental costs to the market price of a product, including end-of-life disposal.
  3. The polluter pays principle, requiring that a waste generator pays for the appropriate disposal of the waste.

03. Impacts

Waste management methods

Waste management techniques include:

  • Landfills: a landfill, sometimes referred to as a garbage dump, is a place where waste is generally stored on the ground. Landfills are the most common and cheapest method for waste disposal in the world.
  • Incinerator: Incineration of waste is a technique of transformation by the action of fire. Waste combustion can be used to produce electricity and heat, but also is an important source of air pollution.
  • Recycling: recycling is the physical reprocessing of old materials such as metals, plastics and e-waste - industrial or household - into new products. The type of material collected for recycling can vary depending on the city and country.
  • Biological reprocessing: composting is a process of conversion and recovery of organic matter into a stabilized, hygienic, soil-like product rich in humic compounds: the compost. Anaerobic digestion is a process similar to composting, that allows the treatment of organic waste and sludge by fermentation in the absence of oxygen.
  • Waste collection: the collection of household waste is usually done by means of garbage trucks, which go to each point of garbage production to collect garbage. There are also collection systems where a network centralizes waste, such as automated vacuum collection.
  • Energy recovery: energy recovery from waste, often called waste-to-energy, is the process converting non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat, fuel or electricity through combustion, anaerobic digestion, gasification, pyrolyzation, etc.

04. Solutions

Waste management solutions

The Solar Impulse Label is granted to innovative waste management solutions that meet high standards of sustainability and profitability. Each solution goes through a strict assessment process performed by independent experts.

Solvakem Circular Chemistry Solutions
Apr 2020

Solvakem Circular Chemistry Solutions

Facilitating industrial symbiosis for the chemicals industry

  • Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods
  • Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)
Fouling Cleaning Ultrasound Technology
Apr 2021

Fouling Cleaning Ultrasound Technology

Ultrasound system for industrial fouling control

  • Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods
WEEECAM
Apr 2019

WEEECAM

A large-scale, profitable electronic waste refurbishing and recycling

  • Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)
HP2 steam generation
Jan 2021

HP2 steam generation

A high performance integrated steam generator to prepare, condition and combust biomass

  • Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)
  • Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods
View more

05. Implementations

Waste management solutions implementations

Minimac Total Lubricant Management Solution by Minimac Systems Pvt. Ltd. implemented by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in Haldia (India) in 2019

StixFresh & Shelf Defense by Ryp Labs implemented by Walmart in Costa Rica (Costa Rica) in 2020

Greenrail by Greenrail S.r.l. implemented by Ferrovie Emilia Romagna in Emilia Romagna Region (Italy) in 2018

Aventum Plasma Gasification by Aventum implemented by JESCO (Japan Environmental Storage & Safety Corporation) in Kitakyushu (Japan) in 2013

NOMA Editions by NOMA implemented by Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Saint Denis (France) in 2024

BioVALO by IDEAL Environnement implemented by SCEA Du Mont Au Roux in Cléville (France) in 2021

SHOC Technology & Recycling by VIRIDIS environnement implemented by The Intermunicipal waste management for the Beauce Region (RICBS) in Chartres (Canada) in 2021

Buy Back Program for Mobile Devices by Back2Buzz implemented by GIE AXA in Paris (France) in 2020

Rice Husk insulation by ricehouse s.r.l. implemented by Industrial Company in Salento (Italy) in 2023

Ways2H Hydrogen Solution by Ways2H, Inc. implemented by United Kingdom in UK (United Kingdom) in 2021

OPATRACE by OPALEAN implemented by Messageries Laitières in Vires (France) in 2021

OPATRACE by OPALEAN implemented by ADEO in Multiple cities (France) in 2022

OPATRACE by OPALEAN implemented by Leroy Merlin in Paris (France) in 2022

Too Good To Go by Too Good To Go implemented by City of Copenhagen in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2016

Too Good To Go by Too Good To Go implemented by Okay in Halle (Belgium) in 2024

Geopannel Ecological Insulation Solution by GEOPANNEL implemented by IES Hermanos d’Elhuyar in Logrono (Spain) in 2022

06. Challenges

Challenges & disadvantages

  1. Hazard: the first one while promoting recycling is to make sure both consumers and recyclers are protected from toxic and dangerous substances that can be found in waste.
  2. High costs: moreover, this cannot be seen as a short-term lucrative investment as it obviously requires a lot of money to implement sustainable waste management strategies.
  3. Quality of recycled products: downcycling, the recycling process that turns waste into products of inferior quality, can cause a problem regarding the quality of secondary products.

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pauline.michiels@solarimpulse.com