International Trends in

Solid Waste Handling: 2013 by

Thomas R. Halbach Department of Soil, Water and Climate

University of Minnesota

March 14, 2013

Solid Waste Management &

Recycling Export Roundtable

Carlson School of Management

Minneapolis, MN. USA

Learning Objectives &

Overview

Learn about current estimates of trends in

solid waste handling from a global

perspective.

Identify the challenges with these changes.

Identify additional sources of information.

My Background

18 Lectures in China MSW Waste Policy

Source Separation of Organic Wastes

Waste to Energy

Composting

Soil Remediation

Other Solid Waste Work in:

Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Argentina

Sources

World Bank Waste Study 2012.

By Daniel Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada-Tata

International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)

United Nations Environment Programme

Waste Management World

Bureau of International Recycling (aisbl)

Eurostat environmental data centre on waste

Waste Commission of Shanghai Municipality

Municipal Solid Waste Management is

often the Most Important Service a City

Provides.

In low-income countries, MSW is often the largest

single budget item for cities, and one of the largest

employers.

A city that cannot effectively manage its waste is

rarely able to manage more complex services such

as health, education, or transportation.

Improving MSW is one of the most effective ways

of strengthening overall municipal management.

Reliable global MSW information is either

not available or incomplete, inconsistent,

and incomparable.

1) Global Generation of MSW

Will Rise 69.3 %

Current 1.3 billion tons/year to >2.2 billion

tons/year by 2025.

Tonnage Up +69.3% in the next 13 years!

+ 5.3% ave. annual increase.

97% of this growth will be in Asia & Africa.

USA 267 million tons of MSW in 2025

a 16.6 % increase over the same time

period

Colombo, Sri Lanka

2) Cost of Solid Waste

Management Will Rise 82.9%

From the current $205 billion per year to

$+375 billion in 2025.

An increase of +82.9% over next 13 years.

Ave. annual increase of +6.4%.

With costs increasing most severely for those

cities in low income countries.

MSW is Growing Fastest In:

China

East Asia,

South Asia

Eastern Europe and

the Middle East.

At the same time Japan is expected to

reduce its MSW by 12% ?

Liulitum landfill NW Beijing

Spittelau District Heating Plant

Vienna Austria

3) Population Increase

According to the UN, world population will

increase by 20% to reach 8 billion inhabitants

by 2025.

+ 1.538 % per year ave. growth rate

Some countries are increasing, some are

decreasing and some are stable.

4) Mega Cities World Wide

~75% of the people by 2025

The 500 Mega Cities will hold 75% of the

total world population.

China will have 221 cities > one million

India will have 70 cities > one million

Tokyo, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Bombay, Mexico

City, Delhi, Cairo, Dhaka, Jakarta, etc.

Environmental Quality?

Cities with > 1,000,000 People

Beijing

Beijing's 18 million residents produce 20,000 tons

of garbage each day and the amount has

overburdened its 23 waste treatment plants.

4000 illegal dumps identified by the City of Beijing

June 2011.

40 New MSW plants, including nine incineration

plants, by 2015, with a total cost of $1.5 billion

Beijing January 14, 2013

4) Increasing Complexity of the

Materials in the Waste Stream

By 2025

Waste composition will keep changing

New and different products

Improved recycling of materials

New technologies

Estimating future waste characterization will

be more difficult.

A new stream of nanomaterials

Commercial Composting

5) Increasing diversity on waste

management technologies.

Sanitary Landfills

WTE

Re-use Programs

Recycling Programs

Aerobic Composting

Education Programs

Waste Reduction

“New” technologies

Gao An Tun WTE Beijing

WTE 2013

~700 WTE in 35 counties Worldwide

480 WTE in Europe

88 WTE plants USA.

100 WTE plants China

Japan 60%, Singapore 90 % WTE

China > 250 by 2025.

6) Different Regions of the

World Will be Greatly Different

EU reduce landfilling, increase capacity and

up-date their 480 WTE plants, increase

recycling and increase export of waste.

265 million tons of MSW to 300 million tons by 2025.

An increase of 13.2%

China 1.6 kg/p/d

MN 2.1 kg/p/d.

Africa 0.6 kg/p/d

Issues

Question 1: Will the expansion of modern

waste management systems be capable of

handling the increasing amounts of waste

generated?

Or will the reality be an ocean of new

uncontrolled dumpsites and toxic low

temperature burning?

Issues

Question 2: How will those advanced

technologies become available for countries

that are trapped in poverty?

The gap between poor people and the

wealthy of the world may grow wider?

Issues

Question 3: Is our waste management

system capable of handling new kinds of

waste?

Issues

Question 4 will illegal waste shipment and

waste trafficking become even worse!

It is four times as expensive to incinerate

trash in the Netherlands as to put it – illegally

– on a boat to China.

Issues

Question 5 Will we find safe final sinks;

from material cycles; and landfill aftercare?

CH4 emissions will increase from 34 million to

48 million tons or 10% of the global

anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by

2025.

Conclusions I

Poorly managed waste has an enormous

negative impact on health, local and global

environment, and economy;

Improperly managed waste usually results in

down-stream costs higher than what it would

have cost to manage the waste properly in

the first place.

Conclusions II Our world will be more populated; more

economically productive and more

interconnected.

The defining challenge of the 21st Century will

be that humanity shares a common fate. That

fate is already demanding new forms of global

cooperation.

Especially in waste management!

Thank You

Questions?

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