Waste management:

Systemic requirements

Session Learning Objectives

• Objective of the session

– To enable participants appreciate the systemic requirements for effective waste management

– Each country needs to evolve its own waste management systems, based on certain universal truths

– End result is to understand requirements for successful waste management which does not impact health or environment and is sustainable

– Appreciation of wide range of good/bad practices in waste

management

– Economic aspects of waste management

– Techniques of environment management for effective waste

management

• Training method

– Presentation

– quiz

Session Plan

• Role of state/non-state agencies in waste management(solid waste, biomedical waste, hazardous waste)comprises of:

– International agreements

– Policy/legislation

– Plan/programme/ targets

– Standard setting

– Monitoring

• Economic aspects of waste management

• Good and bad waste management practices acrosscountries

• Environment management

Actors in waste stream

5

Roles and responsibilities

Systemic requirements for effective

management of waste

• Complete waste management system for effective management

of waste to protect health and environment requires allocation

of responsibility for:

– International agreements

– Policies/legislation

– Programs/activities

– Standards to protect environment /public health

– Monitoring

• Each kind of waste requires a different system

• Helps in audit of waste management system, because different

levels of authority may be responsible for the management or

regulation of the different types of waste

International agreements

• Role of central government– London convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping

of Wastes and Other Matter, 1975

• Entered into force in 1975

• Objective is to prevent pollution of the sea by the dumping of waste and other

matter that is liable to create hazards to human health, to harm living

resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other

legitimate uses of the sea

– The MARPOL Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from

Ships, 1978

• Main international convention covering prevention of pollution of marine

environment by ships from operational or accidental causes

– Basel convention

• Convention principally devoted to setting up a framework for controlling trans-

boundary movements of hazardous waste

• Developed criteria for "environmentally sound management“

• links with regional hazardous waste regimes

Policy/ legislation

• Role of central/state government

– Clear cut policy emphasizing focus on management

rather than disposal

– Identify the roles and responsibilities of each level of

government

– Ensure the local government has authority/resources

– Overall targets for country/state

– Financial arrangements?

Programs/activities

– State/local government

• Assessment of waste currently generated and to be generated in

next few years

• Assessment of infrastructure/capacity for waste management

required

• Assessment of technical parameters– in line with requirements like

location, standards

• Assessment of resources required (funds, staff)

• Plan for waste management (ISM concept)

• Implementation at local level– cities/districts

– Whether direct implementation or PPP or privatized

Other roles and responsibilities

• Standards

– Regulatory agencies/ technical bodies

• Waste disposal standards: water/air quality standards

• EIA before establishment of waste disposal strategy

• Epidemiological impact assessment

• Monitoring

– Federal/provincial/local/technical agencies

• Practices followed as per plan

• Impact on environment and health

• Whether goals of policy met

• Whether requisite disposal standards met

Economic aspects of waste management

• Issues

– Waste generation and quality of waste generated

– Cost of infrastructure development

– Policy options available

Economic aspects of waste management

• Waste generation increasing in all countries

– Key factors influencing increase in waste generation include:

• Economic and population growth and structure

• Growing urbanisation and change in structure of households

• Changing socio-cultural habits and structure of consumption– for e.g.

increase in plastic and packaging

• Cost of infrastructure development

– Borne by government, entry of private players

– Increasing costs of setting up infrastructure

Increasing material recovery….

Economic aspects of waste management

• Policy options

– Challenge is to properly align incentives of individuals and

firms with those of society

– Need to determine the costs and benefits of different policy

options

– Key issue of externalities (impacts on health and

environment)

– How to incorporate non-market values into policy evaluation?

• Command and control instruments

– Bans, technology standards

– Compulsory take-back

– Recycled content standards

• Economic instruments

– Aim to internalise the costs of waste management and

environmental impacts

– Taxes on waste generation – wide variety of schemes in place

– Deposit-refund schemes

– Subsidies

– Trading schemes

• Extended producer responsibility

Full range of policy instruments

… mix of policy instruments is key

• No single instrument is the solution but a mix of

instruments is necessary

– What is the optimal mix to achieve environmental effectiveness

and economic efficiency?

– Issue of coordination of instruments to ensure they are

complementary

• Do overlapping instruments provide additional impacts

on environmental effectiveness and economic

efficiency

– For example, landfill tax and landfill diversion targets ( UK,

Netherlands)

Effective waste management practices:

examples

• Policy/legislation

– Country X’s policy seeks “to reduce the amount of waste

that is generated and, where waste is generated, to ensure

that waste is recycled, reused or recovered in an

environmentally sound manner before being safely treated

and disposed off”.

– Country Y’s waste management policy promotes a

systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste

management programme, which ensures the protection of

public health and environment, utilises environmentally

sound methods that maximises the utilisation of valuable

resources and encourages resource conservation and

recovery.

Examples

• Programs/activities

– Country X strategies include:• kerb-side collection of recyclable materials in urban areas, bring

bank for the collection of glass and aluminum materials,

– Country A’s strategies include

• Volume-Based Waste Fee System which imposes the cost of

waste disposal on individual waste generators to reduce the amount

of waste, Waste Charge System which imposes charges on

products that are hard to recycle or that contain hazardous

chemicals

Examples

• Standards to protect environment /public health

– In Country B standards are set by CPCB, a technical body

under the environment ministry

– baseline regulatory standards for managing waste at each

stage of the waste management hierarchy set by Department

of Environmental Affairs at federal level but provinces may set

norms and standards that are not in conflict with national

norms and standards. Municipalities may also set local waste

service standards in Country C

Examples

• Monitoring

– The Country D Environment Institute ‘SYKE' monitors and

maintains a master register of waste data and is thus the

primary monitoring agency for waste legislations/rules.

– In Country E, the National Solid Waste Management

Commission reviews and monitors the implementation of

local solid waste management plans.

Ineffective practices-- examples

• Policy/legislation

– In Country F no policy exists for regulating management of

waste

– Country G has not developed and adopted comprehensive

health care waste-management policies, including policies

to separate hazardous waste at source and policies for the

proper handling, transportation, storage and disposal of

medical waste

• Plans/programs

– There is not yet a national strategic action plan developed

by the government of the Country H for management of

biomedical waste

Ineffective practices

• Standards to protect environment /public health

– No standards for discharge from disposal of e-waste is in place in

Country I for example for dioxins, furans etc.

– In Country J no standards have been laid down for landfills as a result of

which Landfills in Ghana are primarily open dumps without leachate or

gas recovery systems. Several are located in ecological or hydrologically

sensitive areas

• Monitoring

– The Country K’s Environmental Authority currently lacks enforcement

and monitoring of the existing incinerators

– Incinerators in most of the hospitals and some health centres in Country

L are operated at low temperatures resulting in incomplete combustion

making them prone to release of dioxins due to lack of monitoring by

government agencies

23

Environment management

• A framework/approach for prevention of pollution/harm to environment

– Preventive environment strategies

– Beginning of the pipe solutions

– Solid waste

• Strategies include: 3 R’s– pay as you throw, deposit refund,

curbside recycling

– Hazardous waste

• Strategies include: Clean Technology, Eco- Efficiency, Waste

Minimization, Toxic Use Reduction, Green Productivity, Extended

Producer Responsibility, Environmental Reporting, Triple Bottom

Line, Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting etc.

Tools: EMS

– a framework that helps a company achieve its environmental

goals through consistent control of its operations

– Basic Elements of an Environmental Management System (EMS):

• Reviewing the company's environmental goals

• Analysing its environmental impacts and legal requirements

• Setting environmental objectives and targets to reduce

environmental impacts and comply with legal requirements

• Establishing programs to meet these objectives and targets

• Monitoring and measuring progress in achieving the objectives

• Ensuring employees' environmental awareness and competence

• Reviewing progress of the EMS and making improvements

25

Tools: LCA

• Life cycle analysis (LCA)

– technique to assess the environmental aspects and potential

impacts associated with a product, process, or service, by:

• Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and

environmental releases

• Evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with

identified inputs and releases

• Life Cycle Improvement Analysis through Interpreting the results

Tools: Waste Minimization Assessment

• Waste Minimization Assessment

– Waste minimization involves efforts to minimize resource and

energy use during manufacture

• For the same commercial output, usually the fewer materials are

used, the less waste is produced

• Waste minimisation usually requires knowledge of the production

process, cradle-to-grave analysis (the tracking of materials from

their extraction to their return to earth) and detailed knowledge of

the composition of the waste

Other Tools

– Cleaner Production Assessment

• systematic and useful tool identifying cleaner production

options as well as systematically investigating the existing

production process and identifying opportunities to improve

the production process/products

– Material Flow Analysis

• also referred to as substance flow analysis (SFA)

• analytical method of quantifying flows and stocks of

materials or substances in a well-defined system