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.

Buy Back Program for Mobile Devices
Jun 2023
Use case available

Buy Back Program for Mobile Devices

Back2Buzz incentives customers to trade in their old mobile devices, to refurbish them and give them an extended life

  • Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods
REM
May 2018

REM

A novel acid regeneration system for steel pickling

  • Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste)
  • Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods
ACHILLE LOCAL MARKETPLACE
Jun 2022

ACHILLE LOCAL MARKETPLACE

Achille is a local marketplace using a Saas Mobile Platform for retailers to sell sleeping inventory to local customers

  • Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods
NitiFilter®
Aug 2022

NitiFilter®

A maintenance-free engine oil filtration system that protects engines, limits oil change, and reduces waste

  • Mobility
View more

05. Implementations

Waste management solutions implementations

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

LOCAL3 by REPLACE implemented by City of Sainte-Menehould in Sainte-Menehould (France) in 2021

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

FNX MODULES by Snam Groupe implemented by Snam Group in Aubin (France) in 2019

KioBox by Sabai Sabai implemented by Thai Café in Brussels (Belgium) in 2020

Aqua Assist by Drylet, Inc. implemented by Hera group in Sassuolo (Italy) in 2021

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

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

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

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

Retrofit for electronic infrastructure by Supercomputing Systems AG implemented by VBL - Public transportation company in Lucerne (Switzerland) in 2018

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

SAVE SAND by MS implemented by Vaills in Baho (France) in 2022

SAVE SAND by MS implemented by Hublet in Floreffe (Belgium) in 2024

The EcoStock by Eco-Tech Ceram implemented by ArcelorMittal in Dunkerque (France) in 2022

The EcoStock by Eco-Tech Ceram implemented by Villeroy&Boch in Valence d'Agen (France) in 2023

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