SOI at TU Darmstadt

“Worldwide, waste generated per person per day averages 0.74 kilogram but ranges widely, from 0.11 to 4.54 kilograms."

Lack of SWM leads to:

• direct health impacts on residents 

• environmental pollution on a local, regional and global scale 

Lack of SWM also contributes to:

• loss of valuable resources

• climate change

• Municipal solid waste – residential commercial, institutional waste
  
  
• Special waste – industrial, medical, hazardous, electronic, construction and demolition waste.

1. includes the planning, execution and control of all processes concerning waste collection and treatment 
2. can be organized public, private or in mixed forms 
3.  is an applied science, which is integrated into civil and environmental engineering (in close connection with urban planning and wastewater treatment)

Waste generation depend on income: low income countries generate large amount of organic waste (>50), while high income countries generate more plastic and organic (30% each). 

• Low income countries (>90%) reach the land fill, lack of technology
• Low income countries are also more vulnerable to toxicity from the waste. 

1. The “polluter pays” principle 

2. The “precautionary” principle 

3. The “proximity principle” 

4. The “prior informed consent principle 

1. “Polluter pays” principle implies that all producers of waste are legally and financially responsible for the safe and environmentally sound disposal of the waste they produce. This principle also attempts to assign liability to the party that causes damage. 

3. “Proximity” principle recommends that treatment and disposal of (hazardous) waste take place at the closest possible location to its source to minimize the risks involved in its transport.

-> Transforming waste into a resource to develop a circular economy 

-> Improving waste management in order to reduce health and environmental problems 

Strategy:

- four legislative proposals following different directives

Goals:

- introducing new waste management targets regarding reuse, recycling and landfilling 

- Strengthen provisions on waste prevention, streamline definitions, reporting obligations and calculation methods for targets. 

Reduce: means using fewer resources. It includes strict avoidance as well as reduction at source. Waste reduction can be defined as the complete range of measures and actions taken up before a substance, material or product becomes waste. 

Reuse: means any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived.

waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials.

part of recovery. Here waste materials are reprocessed into products. Does not include energy recovery like fuels. Eg: use of cans

When we convert discarded materials into something of equal or greater value, it is “upcycled". 

When a material or product is “downcycled”, it is transformed into something of less value

treat waste to recover energy in the form of heat, electricity or biogas.

any discarded, rejected, abandoned, unwanted or surplus matter, whether intended or not for recycling, recovery or treatment