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:

Waste hierarchy, referring to the “3Rs rule” Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, waste prevention and minimisation being the most desirable goal.
Extended producer responsibility, adding all the environmental costs to the market price of a product, including end-of-life disposal.
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.

May 2021

Ipcube

A global innovation in cardboard pallet logistics

Mobility
Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods

Feb 2023

TreaTech solution for the valorisation of waste

A disposal solution developed to turn waste into valuable products such as renewable energy, clean water, and minerals

Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)

Nov 2020

Use case available

Excess Materials Exchange (EME)

Digital platform for unlocking the potential of secondary material exchange

Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods
Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)
Buildings & Constructions

Mar 2021

Use case available

Sensoneo Smart Waste Management

A software for data-driven smart waste management with increased transparency and efficiency

Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)

05. Implementations

Waste management solutions implementations

Excess Materials Exchange (EME) by Excess Materials Exchange implemented by Enfield Council in Einfield (United Kingdom) in 2022

Sensoneo Smart Waste Management by SENSONEO implemented by Operator ICT in Prague (Czech Republic) in 2019

Sensoneo Smart Waste Management by SENSONEO implemented by Bratislava city in Bratislava (Slovakia) in 2021

FluidSolids Biocomposites by FluidSolids AG implemented by Pumpstation GmbH in Zurich (Switzerland) in 2022

La Consigne Verte by TRIBIOVAL implemented by Le Connecteur in Biarritz (France) in 2023

The Patented Plagazi Process by Plagazi AB (publ) implemented by Municipality of Köping in Köping (Sweden) in 2024

The Patented Plagazi Process by Plagazi AB (publ) implemented by Gotlandsbolaget in Båstad (Sweden) 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

Internationally scalable waste anaesthetic capture and recycling system by SageTech Medical Equipment implemented by Bupa - Cromwell Hospital in London (United Kingdom) in 2024

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

WasteHero Solution by WasteHero ApS implemented by City of Herning in Herning (Denmark) in 2018

Bin-e Waste Management System by Bin-e implemented by Ambilamp in Madrid (Spain) in 2021

Flatmate by Sanura implemented by de Alliantie in Amsterdam (Netherlands) in 2021

TPS Process by IDELAM implemented by Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine in Bordeaux (France) in 2020

Petrel Circular e-Commerce by Petrel implemented by Carrefour in Massy (France) in 2019

06. Challenges

Challenges & disadvantages

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.
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.
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.

Connect with us

Any questions

Feel free to get in touch with us
pauline.michiels@solarimpulse.com

Explorer for sustainability

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