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Solid Waste Management: An International Outlook

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 16973

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Amaya Lobo García de Cortázar

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Guest Editor

Department of Water and Environmental Science and Technologies, University of Cantabria, Santander 39005, Spain

Prof. Dr. Ana Lorena Esteban García

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Guest Editor

Department of Water and Environmental Science and Technologies, University of Cantabria, Santander 39005, Spain

Prof. Dr. María del Consuelo Hernández Berriel

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Guest Editor

Division of Graduate Studies and Research, National Technological Institute of Mexico/Technological Institute of Toluca, Metepec, Estado de México, C.P. 52149, México

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We all are aware that currently, solid waste management is a major concern worldwide. The amount of waste generated has been growing, linked to the economic development of society, and this has led us to unsustainable lifestyles, in which large quantities of valuable resources are discarded as waste. Furthermore, solid waste disposal involves serious risks to human health and the environment that must be avoided.

Nowadays, this issue is approached from different starting points. In some places, management solutions are still being sought to prevent waste from harming people’s health. Meanwhile, this objective has been exceeded in others, where it is now a matter of improving the efficiency of the available techniques to make the most of resources with the lowest environmental burden, following the paradigms of zero waste and circular economy.

In this context, we should take advantage of the easy access to information offered by our interconnected world, and benefit from the recent technological developments that have hugely increased our ability to obtain and process large amounts of data, acquiring novel knowledge from them. This allows us to implement solutions developed in a given context to solve similar cases elsewhere. At the same time, we can characterize each problem more deeply and therefore adapt better alternative solutions.

This volume aims to provide a view of the breadth of perspectives with which solid waste management is tackled internationally. We invite you to submit selected reviews, original case studies, or research articles that present and analyze the following:

novel solutions to specific waste management challenges that can serve as a reference to others,
proposals for new methods or results of environmental monitoring that provide new information useful to improve the design or control practices in waste management systems and facilities,
innovative strategies, technologies, or methods for solid waste management within the framework of the circular economy.

Prof. Dr. Amaya Lobo García de Cortázar
Prof. Dr. Ana Lorena Esteban García
Prof. Dr. María del Consuelo Hernández Berriel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

waste management
circular economy
zero waste
environmental monitoring
waste minimization
reuse
recycle
recovery
pollution
smart technologies

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 1466 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sequential Methodology for the Selection of Municipal Waste Treatment Alternatives Applied to a Case Study in Chile

by Estefani Rondón Toro, Ana López Martínez and Amaya Lobo García de Cortázar

Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7734; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15097734 - 08 May 2023

Viewed by 1548

Abstract

Most municipalities in developing countries lack technical and economic resources to improve their municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system. Therefore, tools are needed that enable the most appropriate solutions to be identified to put waste to better use. This study presents an easy-to-apply sequential methodology for the analysis of MSWM alternatives. The method consists of two stages: (1) screening available technologies based on a small set of key variables; (2) ordering the selected alternatives by a combination of multicriteria methods that integrate local priorities. For this second stage, a basic series of technical, environmental, economic and social indicators is proposed. The methodology is applied to a case study where current management is limited to mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in a landfill without gas recovery. Seven options for implementing energy recovery in landfill, using mechanical plants to recover part of recyclable material, treating the organic fraction, and employing refuse-derived fuel and/or waste to energy incineration, were evaluated together with the current situation and considering four scenarios. The results identify various alternatives that allow the sustainability of MSWM in the case study to improve. Notwithstanding, today, it is necessary to introduce economic instruments that discourage final disposal to make municipal waste recovery viable. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solid Waste Management: An International Outlook)

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13 pages, 743 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strategies to Strengthen Integrated Solid Waste Management in Small Municipalities

by Gerardo Bernache-Pérez, Lorena De Medina-Salas, Eduardo Castillo-González and Mario Rafael Giraldi-Díaz

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4318; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15054318 - 28 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2034

Abstract

Many developing countries have problems associated with waste management; therefore, this research aims to propose strategies for waste management in small municipalities (less than 50,000 inhabitants), pointing out the importance of involving the stakeholders responsible for improving each phase of this process. The methodology consisted of carrying out a diagnosis to show the current situation at the national, state, and municipal levels, as well as several strategies. The results revealed that in Mexico the waste management system consists of a collection and final disposal model, while waste recovery and treatment are incipient. To strengthen integrated waste management in small municipalities, the strategies proposed in this research consider higher budgets by the federal government to enable an infrastructure for collection, treatment, and final disposal, allowing waste valorization. Other strategies consist of improving coordination between the different stakeholders involved, based on actions by federal, state, and municipal authorities to promote the participation of the social, service, productive, and educational sectors, through public policies, as well as formal incorporation of scavengers and the formation of inter-municipal associations responsible for waste management. Among the conclusions, it is highlighted that the implementation of these strategies will favor the transition towards a circular economy model for small municipalities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solid Waste Management: An International Outlook)

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28 pages, 9425 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Finite Difference Modeling of the Temperature Profile during the Biodrying of Organic Solid Waste

by Carlos Orozco-Álvarez, Javier Díaz-Megchún, Anselmo Osorio-Mirón, Sergio García-Salas, Enrique Hernández-Sánchez, Gisela Palma-Orozco and Fabián Robles-Martínez

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14705; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142214705 - 08 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1425

Abstract

Biodrying is a complex process that is very useful in the treatment of solid waste, where variables, such as temperature, thermal conductivity and the moisture content of organic matter, oxygen concentration in the pore space of the waste mass, microbial heat generation, microbial biomass, among others, are involved. Given this complexity, the development of mathematical models that help us to understand this bioprocess is fundamental. In the present work, a mathematical model, based on the finite difference method, was developed to predict the temperature profile at nine recording points, in an organic solid waste pile, during the biodrying process. The bioprocess was carried out under natural convection and solar radiation conditions, inside a greenhouse-type structure. A network of 5³ nodes, distributed in the x, y and z directions, on a rectangular prism, was developed. From this network, 27 base nodes were taken and the energy balance was developed for each node, and with this, the equation was obtained, in explicit form, to calculate the temperature. In these base equations, the microbial heat generation was considered, at between 2 and 140 W/m³; the convective coefficient was between 1 and 5 W/m² °C; and the daily records were taken inside the greenhouse for the solar radiation (0 to 450 W/m²), temperature (15 to 50 °C) and RH% (70 to 30). The modeled temperature profiles of the center (C) and the midpoints of the pile were, on average, 91% close to the experimental values, during the period from 0 to 20 days of biodrying; 70% close, during the period from day 21 to 35, the period when the modeled values were lower, due to the turning of the pile; and 94% close to the experimental values from day 36 to 50, when the modeled values were higher, also due to turning. The modeled temperature profiles of the left, right, upper and lower surfaces were, on average 92% close to the experimental profiles over the 0–35 day period, and the modeled and experimental values were practically identical from day 36 to 50 of the biodrying process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solid Waste Management: An International Outlook)

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Review

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16 pages, 1151 KiB

Open AccessReview

Municipal Solid Waste Management Policies, Practices, and Challenges in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review

by Lemesa Hirpe and Chunho Yeom

Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11241; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132011241 - 12 Oct 2021

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 10823

Abstract

Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) affects several spheres, including environmental, social, and economic activities. In Ethiopia, massive waste generation and unbalanced management have worsened the issue. Hence, this systematic review investigates the Ethiopian MSWM policy and legal frameworks, practices, and challenges. The Scopus and Web of Science databases and Google Scholar were used to search published and unpublished studies from 2005 to 2021, and a website search was used to find studies from 1995 to 2021. The search was restricted to the English language, and the last search was conducted on 25 June 2021. The study was extracted from the characteristics of the developed study. A risk of bias assessment was conducted for the included studies using the AMSTAR 2. Among the 1135 identified records, 72 studies were found to be eligible. This systematic review identified numerous legal frameworks that enhance the implementation of MSWM in Ethiopia, which is mainly focused on waste collection, transportation, and disposal. Lack of policy enforcement, weak capacity, public awareness, and minimal cooperation among stakeholders were the main challenges. MSWM problems in Ethiopia have seen an increase in recent decades and are affecting daily life. Therefore, these findings may help to improve MSWM in Ethiopia. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solid Waste Management: An International Outlook)

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