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.

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)

Apr 2021

Repair system for reusable plastics

A patented, innovative technology to repair reusable plastic goods

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

Apr 2024

Discovery 1318X

An advanced fine particle filtration solution that takes the "Waste" out of Wastewater - enabling the circular economy

Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)

Nov 2019

Ecobin Cameroon

An ecological bin made entirely of recycled plastic bottles to clean cities and beaches

Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)

05. Implementations

Waste management solutions implementations

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

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

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

Winnow by Winnow Solutions implemented by IKEA (Ingka Group) in Leiden (Netherlands) in 2019

Winnow by Winnow Solutions implemented by Marriott International in London (United Kingdom) in 2024

Kheoos Market by kheoos implemented by Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand (France) in 2021

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

Greenfib® by Greenfib® implemented by Ecouter Voir in Rennes (France) in 2021

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

Intelligent Organic Waste Recycling Robot by Waste Robotics implemented by 3Wayste in Dunkirk (France) in 2022

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

Pellenc ST by Pellenc ST implemented by Biocirculo facility in Bogota (Colombia) in 2021

Clean & sustainable cities by Cortexia implemented by City of Geneva in Geneva (Switzerland) in 2019

Clean & sustainable cities by Cortexia implemented by Stadtentsorgung Potsdam GmbH in Potsdam (Germany) in 2022

PHYre® by Extracthive implemented by Mer Concept in Concarneau (France) in 2023

GENESEAS by Recyclamer Innovation implemented by Marina Port Palma de Mallorca in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) in 2022

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

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