Aplinkos tyrimai, ininerija ir vadyba, 2005.Nr.3(33), P. 40-46 Environmental research, engineering and management, 2005.No.3(33), P.

40-46

ISSN 1392-1649

Integrated Waste Management: Concept and Implementation

J. Stanikis
Institute of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology

(received in July, 2005; accepted in September, 2005) Integrated waste management concept where waste minimisation at the source plays the major role is described in the article. Some waste minimization results achieved in Lithuanian industrial enterprises during Cleaner Production programmes conducted by the Institute of Environmental Engineering are presented and discussed. The article discusses an inaccurate definition of waste and proposes alternative definitions. Other waste management concepts such as Zero Waste strategy and sustainable waste management are also analysed in the article. Key words: waste, management, integrated, concept, implementation.

1.

Introduction contracted out to a private waste management companies. Disposal often comes under the responsibility of another company and most probably another private company. Each company or authority only has control of the waste handling within its operation, so in this case, what is the feasibility of taking an overall systems approach when no-one has control over the whole system [1]? First of all, the definition of waste has a significant effect on waste management. Defining a material as a waste has an impact on what measures can be taken on it, and also on what measures are not permitted, as well as the administrative procedures applying to its transport, export or processing, sale and reuse. At the same time according to the European Councils Directive on Waste, waste is any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard. This definition is very broad and does not include materials that were, for a long time, considered by some participants as not being waste. It appears to be an emerging recognition that waste collected for recycling purposes should be defined as a secondary raw material.

No one single method of waste management can deal with all materials in waste in an environmental sustainable way. In reality any waste management is built up of many closely related processes, integrated together. Instead of focusing on and comparing individual options, for instance, incineration versus landfill, an attempt should be made to integrate waste management systems that can deal with the whole waste stream, and then compare their overall performances in environmental and economic terms. Integrated waste management approach looks at the overall environmental burdens and economic costs. Paper gives a holistic vision of waste management with the view to achieving environmental objectives using economically sustainable system principles. 2. The concept of Integrated Waste Management

The relevance of looking at the whole system could be challenged, since waste management is in most cases split up into many different compartments. For instance, collection of municipal solid waste is usually the duty of local authorities, though may be

Integrated Waste Management: Concept and Implementation

ENVIRONMENT Energy SOCIETAL SYSTEM

Emissions to: Air

Industry Raw materials

Landfill

Water Soil

Fig. 1.

Waste generation scheme

The definition of waste as a thing which its holder has discarded assumes that waste is already there and that the holder intends to dispose it, i.e. that something has to be done with it. Waste management in this situation appears to be simply a reaction to waste. Fig.1 presents typical waste generation scheme in accordance with the existing concept of waste and waste management. However, it has been widely recognized and practically proved that waste prevention is the most important tool for resource efficiency and for sustainable waste management. The acceptance that waste is there, it always will be, and we have just to deal with it will not lead to waste prevention. To be able to prevent, we need to know the reasons of waste

generation. Only after understanding the causes of waste generation we can prevent it. The definition for waste minimization was upon at the task meeting of the European Topic Centre on Waste in 1999 (see Fig. 2). Waste preventive measures include: reduction of waste by application of more efficient production technologies, internal recycling of production waste, substitution of hazardous substances, more efficient process optimization and control, re-use of products, or parts of products, for the same purpose. Fig. 2 presents waste minimization concept defined by European Topic Centre on Waste [3].

WM hierarchy

Waste minimisation Prevention

Reduction at source Product reused for the same purpose

Disassembly of complex products and reuse of components for the same purpose

Products reused for other purposes

On-site recycling

Off-site recycling Waste-oriented waste quality improvements

Source- oriented waste quality improvements

Pre-treatment Energy recovery

Preventive measures

Waste management measures Measures

Fig. 2.

Waste minimization concept by European Topic Centre on Waste

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J. Stanikis

The measures require a proactive attitude in order to achieve these goals. The producer has to implement waste management decisions long before the holder is to dispose an item. The waste minimization concept during the last decade has been widely implemented in Lithuanian industries. The experts of the Institute of Environmental Engineering have played the crucial role in waste minimization innovations identification, evaluation, implementation and reporting. 75 industrial companies have implemented 141 waste minimization innovations. The impact of

implemented waste minimization methods to the environmental performance improvement is summarized in Table 1. From the process of implementation it could be concluded that environmental performance improvement measured through the adoption of waste minimization innovations is regarded as an indicator of business health. Good waste management reflects good management in general. There is also good indicator for financial institution to avoid companies that may face the costs associated with environmental liability.

Table 1. Waste management related investments of Lithuanian industries according environmental areas, % [7] Industry branch Textile Leather Food Chemicals and chemicals products Machinery and equipment Metal processing Measuring and control equipment Production of non-metal mineral products Furniture production Wood processing Petroleum refineries Production of glass and glass products Solid waste reduction 7 80 24 Energy saving 63 56 67 44 79 59 Wastewater reduction 4 13 6 37 Air pollution reduction 19 10 33 19 18 9 4 Water saving 7 7 4

89 56 7 88

12

100

The role of waste prevention graphically is presented in Fig.3. Together with waste prevention, significant waste reduction can be achieved by introducing the concept of changing product which tends to focus on pollution reduction and resource efficiency. It should be stressed that waste policies can significantly influence product characteristics leading to less waste generation. These changes are basically defined by the policy objectives they potentially contribute to. They are the changes in product design or characteristics leading to at least one of the three consequences: to reduce the quantity of waste generated by consumption; to reduce the toxicity of generated waste; to facilitate recycling or re-use.

These objectives may contradict each other. For instance, substituting plastics by glass in beverages packaging reduces recycling costs but increases packaging weight. To tackle with these possible contradictions, any waste policy should necessarily establish a clear and non-ambiguous hierarchy between the different objectives. Collective extended producer responsibility programs involving producers responsibility organizations (PRO) are one of the most useful tools to promote product innovations A first point is that PROs are perfectly able to design financial schemes that provide producers with individual incentives to alter their products. Secondly, PROs may themselves directly undertake cooperative R&D on waste prevention. The economic advantage of cooperation is that it may reduce innovation costs by avoiding the duplication of R&D efforts. Emissions to: Air Landfill Water Soil

ENVIRONMENT Energy SOCIETAL SYSTEM Waste prevention

Raw materials

Eco design

Fig. 3.

Waste prevention and minimization

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Integrated Waste Management: Concept and Implementation

The technique of life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly used in order to understand and compare how product changes are provided from cradle to grave. The technique examines every stage of the life cycle, from raw materials acquisition, through manufacture, distribution, use, possible reuse/recycling, and then final disposal. The inputs (raw materials, resources of energy) and outputs (emissions to air, water and solid waste) are calculated for each operation within the stage. Our experience shows that LCA offers a good prospect of mapping the material and energy flows as well as the resources, solid waste, and air emissions of the total system. Comparing such system maps for different product change options allows the identification of areas where environmental improvements can be made [5, 6]. Besides that, experts argue that achieving optimal environmental improvement through design is contingent on people and on understanding the way in which people respond to their material surroundings. Great potential benefit lies there, because it focus only on the design of products, services and systems cannot promote sustainable consumption without consideration of people need. Implicit in this is a requirement for designers to engage with issues underlying consumers actions, to understand behavior in many contexts, and to connect with people aspirations and expectations. In order to widely promote waste minimization implication of ownership as a concept in waste management has to be introduced. Ownership of a thing/waste can be defined as a right and a responsibility to act upon the thing, that is, to control the properties of a thing. In this case the definition of waste could have a dynamic nature, which means that the same thing may be the waste or non-waste for different persons, in different places, or at different time. The definition also reflects that, with respect to

human beings, waste can only be defined on a temporary basis, since even the same person may find a use or reuse for the thing in the future. In some cases, the thing is the only temporarily useless. It should be noted that the Commission is planning a guideline document on the definition of waste with the aim of clarifying the definition and a similar initiative on classifications of recovery and disposal. In a press release sent out together with the communication it was stated that every time we throw away a product, it represents more than just apiece of waste; it also includes all the resources used in its production. If added together, the true weight of tooth brush is 1.5 kg and a mobile phone 75 kg. That is why the Commission is ready to put much greater focus on prevention and recycling. Waste prevention has the highest preference in the Hierarchy of waste management (see Fig.4). Less preferable are: re-use, materials recycling, thermal treatment with energy recovery, thermal treatment without energy recovery, landfilling. Despite of Hierarchy advantages, the priority list for waste management options has some limitations: the Hierarchy has poor scientific or technical basis (e.g. materials recycling is always preferable to energy recovery); the Hierarchy is of little use when a combination of options is used. What is needed is an overall assessment of the whole system, which the Hierarchy cannot provide; the Hierarchy does not address costs, therefore it cannot help assess the economic affordability of different waste systems; the Hierarchy cannot account for the wide variety of specific local situations, where waste management systems must operate effectively, for instance, small areas, where large increases in the population occur on a seasonal basis.

Waste prevention (including internal waste recycling) External waste recycling and reuse Waste treatment Controlled disposal Uncontrolled release
Fig. 4. Hierarchy of waste management

Rather than hierarchy of preferred waste management options integrated waste management is a holistic approach, recognizing that all options can have a role to play simultaneously. This approach 43

does not predict what would be the best waste management system, because there is no universal best system. Using a range of waste management options in an integrated system gives the flexibility to

J. Stanikis

channel waste via different treatments as economic or environmental conditions change, for example, paper can either be recycled, composed, or incinerated with energy recovery. The most significant definition of Integrated waste management (IWM) took place in 1991, when a task force from the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) published a Draft Regional Strategy for (IVM) that defined Integrated waste management as a

process of change in which the concept of waste management is gradually broadened to eventually include the necessary control of gaseous, liquid, and solid material flows in human environment. The concept of IWM now included all waste types, the option of using a range of treatment technologies depending on the situation and overall approach being taken with respect to the analysis, optimization, and management of the whole system.

ENVIRONMENT SOCIETAL SYSTEM Emissions to: Energy Energy recovery IWM Raw materials Materials recovery Landfill Air Water Soil

Integrated waste management

Fig. 5. Integrated waste management

The role of integrated waste management is presented in Fig.5. The system boundaries are defined by broken lines, where energy and raw materials from the environment are used in the system and emissions, including solid waste, leave the system and enter the environment. To achieve integrated waste management will require major system changes from the present situation. The objective of an integrated system is to be both environmentally and economically sustainable, which can never be reached, since it will always be possible to reduce environmental burden further and it will lead to continual improvements to systems: the process of continually monitoring performance for ways to improve a system. And again, LCA of waste could not only be useful in choosing between different options, as it was mentioned above; it can be used within any waste management system to identify areas for potential improvement. 3. Sustainable Waste Management

In fact, an integrated waste management system can itself become a part of a resource management system, where all resources, such as water, power, CO2 balance, and solid waste are managed within a single optimized system. This will eventually enable the development of a sustainable waste management

system. This means that sustainability calls for resource conservation measures, which in turn requires that attention is given to more than just existing waste. Moving towards waste minimization requires that a firm commits itself to increasing proportion of non-waste leaving the process. Waste management should entail control of processes that generate waste, waste handling and waste utilization. The range of instruments that can lead to waste reduction appears to be much greater than that which the traditional waste management hierarchy would suggest. It should be stressed that great efforts are needed to evolve and further develop the theory of waste management, which will help in attaining a more in-depth description of the waste management domain. Over the last few years, communities around the world, including Lithuania, have risen up against waste, fighting landfills and incinerators and in many cases stopping them. The idea of Zero Waste which is a driver for creating sustainable communities and presents huge opportunities for employment and local economic development have appeared. Zero Waste is a brand for change and a diverse, flexible range of policies, technologies, and actions starting with ecodesign, industrial ecology, cleaner production, extended producer responsibility, sustainable consumption, public education and local economic development, right through to waste minimization and resource recovery at the end of the pipe.

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Integrated Waste Management: Concept and Implementation

Task for product design ECO-DESIGN PRODUCTION

Product

CONSUMPTION

Fig. 6.

Sustainable production and consumption

Zero Waste concept has direct relation to Industrial ecology approach as applied in manufacturing involves the design of industrial processes and products from the dual perspectives of product competitiveness and environmental interactions. One of the most important concepts of industrial ecology is that, like biological systems, it rejects the concept of waste. Instead, materials and products that are obsolete should be termed residues rather than wastes, and it should be recognized that wastes are merely residues that our economy has not yet learned to use efficiently [4]. The experience in the field of waste minimization has showed that sustainable development cannot be achieved without fundamental changes in the ways societies produce and consume (Fig. 6). Such progress should be pursued by all countries, with developed countries taking the lead. Moving the global economy onto a more socially responsible and resource productive path will provide benefits to society, the environment and the economy in every country. 4. 1. Conclusions In spite of the successes of recycling, waste continues to grow, because essentially recycling is an end-of-pipe response to waste and as such, it has little influence over the whole supply chain. This means that it is not part of an integrated whole-system approach to material flows and is only better than landfilling or incineration. The present definition of waste may become a barrier to an efficient and sustainable waste management system. Defining material as waste has an impact on what measures can be taken with it, and also which restrictions on its transport, sale and reuse can be applied. A rigid use of a priority list for waste management options has some limitations. Rather than hierarchy an integrated waste management approach, which combines different waste streams, waste collection, treatment and disposal methods, is promoted. Sustainable waste management calls for resource conservation measures, which in turn requires that attention is given to more than just existing 45

5.

6.

7.

waste. Waste management should entail control of processes that generate waste, waste handling, and waste utilization. Waste minimization has proved as a key strategy for integrated and sustainable waste management and requires that an industry commits itself to increasing the proportion of non-waste leaving the process. Wide implementation of this strategy in Lithuanian industry has showed a very high potential in understanding the causes of waste generation and enabling the waste prevention. Zero waste is an idealistic approach driving for creation of sustainable communities and presents huge opportunities for employment and local economic development. A new way of looking at the problem creates thinking and new vision, because incremental change and improvements based on existing technologies, which themselves sometimes based on wrong assumption, will not bring about the change we need. Waste minimization undoubtedly needs to be a central element of corporate social responsibility, but sustainable consumption will also require considerable shifts in perception and behavior among consumers, especially those in the highly developed countries.

References
1. 2. Addressing the Economics of Waste. ISBN 92-6410618-9 OECD, 2004.-203p. Forbes R. McDougall, Peter R. White, Marina Franke, Peter Hinde. Integrated Solid Waste Management: a Life Cycle Inventory. ISBN 0-632-05889-7. Blacwell Science, 2003.-513p. Pongracz, E. Sustainable waste management. A matter of definition? In: Waste Management World, 2003 July-August, 21-27 p. Snow, W. Zero Waste. Does it mean an end to waste? In: Waste Management World, 2003 SeptemberOctober, 25-31p. Staniskis, J. (editor). Integrated Waste Management, ISBN 99509-751-5, Technologija, Kaunas, 2004.367p (In Lithuanian). Staniskis, J., Stasiskiene, Z. Industrial waste minimization experience from Lithuania. In: Waste management & Research ISSN 0734-242X. Sage publications, 2005, v. 23.1-9 p.

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3. 4. 5. 6.

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J. Stanikis

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Staniskis, J., Stasiskiene, Z., Kliopova, I. Sustainable Industrial Development Strategy: Theory and Practice ISBN 9955-09-718-3. Kaunas, Technologija. 2004,504 p. (In Lithuanian).

Prof. Dr. hab. J. Stanikis, Director of the Institute of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology. Address: K. Donelaiio str. 20, LT-3000 Kaunas, Lithuania Tel./fax: +370-7- 209372, Tel.: +370-7-300670, 323955 E-mail: Jurgis.Staniskis@apini.ktu.lt

Integruota atliek vadyba: koncepcija ir diegimas

J. Stanikis
Kauno technologijos universitetas, Aplinkos ininerijos institutas

(gautas 2005 m. liepos mn.; atiduotas spaudai 2005 m. rugsjo mn.)

N vienu atskirai paimtu atliek vadybos bdu negalima isprsti vis atliekose esani mediag tvarkymo aplinkai palankiu bdu problemos. Nors atliek antrinio panaudojimo srityje yra pasiekta tam tikr laimjim, atliek srautai grsmingai auga, nes antrinis panaudojimas i esms yra vamzdio galo strategijos priemon ir todl jo taka bendrai gamybos ir tiekimo grandinei yra nedidel. Taigi vietoj atskir atliek tvarkymo bd analizs ir palyginim veriau reikt stengtis integruoti vairius atliek vadybos bdus, kas leist tinkamai sutvarkyti vis atliek sraut. Straipsnyje sistemikai ipltota integruotos atliek vadybos koncepcija, daugiausia dmesio skiriant atliek minimizavimui j susidarymo altinyje. Pateikti konkrets atliek minimizavimo rezultatai, pasiekti Lietuvos pramons monse vykdant Aplinkos ininerijos instituto varesns gamybos programas. Taip pat aptariamas atliek apibrimo netikslumas, kuris neskatina ivengti atliek gamyboje bei efektyviai jas tvarkyti. Pasilyti alternatyvs atliek apibrimai. Straipsnyje analizuojamos ir kitos atliek vadybos koncepcijos: strategija be atliek ir subalansuota atliek vadyba. Irykinta iplstins gamintojo atsakomybs ir gamini ekologinio projektavimo svarba. Pateikta subalansuotos pramons pltros schema, kurioje esmin vaidmen vaidina vartotojai, veriantys gamintoj perprojektuoti savo gaminius aplinkai palankia kryptimi.

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