Disposal of household waste in the world. The problem of waste disposal in the modern world
Waste recycling in Russia is complicated by the fact that the territorial and infrastructural features of the country do not yet allow for the effective separate collection and transportation of waste. Experts believe that the development of local and regional markets for secondary raw materials and products made from them will help move this problem forward. This requires decisions from municipal authorities that would encourage entrepreneurial initiative in this area of production activity.
Another possible solution that will allow the development of the waste recycling industry is to build specialized complexes near large cities, using proven schemes and technologies that have long been successfully used abroad as the basis for their work. One of the obstacles here remains the imperfection of Russian legislation in the field of ecology and the lack of common standards for the country for the processing and use of secondary raw materials.
It is expected that by 2020 a full-fledged garbage and other waste recycling industry will be created in Russia. In 2013, a special bill was prepared amending the law “On production and consumption waste”. Legislators believe that after the adoption of amendments affecting the interests of citizens and entrepreneurs, there will be additional incentives for the development of certain industries related to waste disposal.
How does waste disposal work?
In cities and other populated areas of Russia, you can increasingly find containers for separate waste collection. This system makes further waste processing more efficient and less costly. For some time now, recycling plants have begun to use repurchase of recycled materials, but such programs primarily concern only paper, certain types of plastic and polyethylene. The fact is that most often it is these raw materials that are processed in specialized factories.
In 2013, there were about 250 waste recycling plants in Russia, but their number is growing steadily. The production cycle at such enterprises is increasingly subject to unification and standardization. Waste processing plants in Russia often have their own services for transporting, sorting and recycling waste. Special equipment for various purposes makes it possible to extract household and secondary raw materials, which are easily stored, transported and converted into items that have value in the eyes of consumers.
From the point of view of recycling efficiency in Russia, “metal” waste remains the most promising. It is the easiest to sort because it is easily recognized. The second most important place is occupied by the recycling of cardboard and paper. It is somewhat more difficult to sort and recycle plastic and plastic film. The list of popular raw materials for processing is completed by glass containers. As a rule, entrepreneurs try to adhere to a certain specialization when disposing of waste, guided by economic benefits and the availability of raw materials.
Any living organism leaves waste during its life. In this case, the first place here goes to the person. Huge landfills are proof of this. Mountains of garbage not only spoil the appearance and have an unpleasant odor, but are also a source of pollution of the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere, including infectious and toxic agents.
At the same time, waste in landfills is often a resource base. Therefore, their recycling is not only necessary for preserving the environment, but also a cost-effective measure. And there are many technologies.
Garbage sorting
The separation of waste into certain components is rather a preliminary step in processing. Ideally, it begins at the stage of waste production and accumulation, that is, in citizens’ homes and apartments.
Several containers are used for this. A separate type of waste is thrown into each of them: paper, glass, organic food waste, metal, plastic, etc. In Russia, this practice is taking root slowly, but residents of European countries do not consider waste separation particularly difficult. This is especially true for pedantic Germany. Here even glass is sorted by color. But the Germans were faced with a problem such as a lack of space for a huge number of garbage containers. And not every Russian apartment has space to accommodate containers for various wastes.
For this reason, waste sorting at waste treatment plants is more relevant, which includes several actions:
- Shaking debris, tearing plastic bags and paper and releasing adhered sand and dust particles.
- The separation of all waste into fractions is carried out in several stages. For this purpose, special gratings with different throughput diameters are used.
- Separation from the total mass of metal waste capable of magnetization. This procedure is carried out using special magnetic separators.
- Manual sorting of waste transported on a special conveyor. The use of robots allows people to be relieved of this monotonous work.
As a result of sorting, secondary raw materials are obtained, and the unselected material is also subjected to further processing: burning, burial, etc.
How to dispose of waste correctly and safely
On the modern market you can find shredders of various sizes, capacities and specializations. Read more about how they work and what to look for when choosing a shredder
How many products does humanity produce every day? How much can he consume in the same time? Where will the rest go? What to do with it? We bring to your attention the answers to these questions.
Universal equipment for waste sorting and highly specialized machines for crushing rock. Profitable, reliable, affordable
In the modern world, time and quality are valued in any work, including waste recycling. The bag opener is one of the reliable devices that saves time and gives excellent results.
According to statistics, a huge amount of bottles are recycled per year. In pre-processing, bottles are usually baled and sent for recycling.
With the help of crushers, large waste can be converted into crushed raw materials for secondary production. One of the most common means of crushing waste is rotary crushers. With the help of such a machine you can crush wood, crushed stone, plastic, cardboard, film.
To process recyclable materials, presses of horizontal or vertical type are used. Horizontal devices require significant space for placement. Vertical ones are compact and mobile, but less productive
Waste disposal in the cement industry - implementation paths, methods and necessary procedures. How to profit from trash
What legal subtleties await an entrepreneur when licensing waste processing and disposal?
Disposal of hazardous waste is a necessary stage in the development of industrial areas and megacities. It must be done in accordance with safety requirements and compliance with all rules.
Correct and strict adherence to safety rules when disposing of ammonia will allow you to recycle it efficiently and safely for the environment. Ammonia processing is a necessary step in working with gases in production.
Has the evolution of solid waste recycling technologies affected it? What methods of waste recycling have appeared in recent decades and are they used in Russia?
The problem of waste accumulation is one of the most pressing problems of humanity. There are many methods for recycling and neutralizing hazardous waste: incineration, burial, recycling, neutralization.
The problem of rice husk disposal is relevant all over the world. What technologies exist for processing rice husks and how can the secondary product be used?
This is one of the oldest and most common methods of waste disposal. Nowadays, large volumes of waste are disposed of using special furnaces in waste incineration plants.
This processing method has several advantages:
- significant reduction in waste volume;
- obtaining thermal energy;
- destruction of pathogenic microflora.
However, this recycling process also has one significant drawback: the formation and release of harmful emissions into the atmosphere. This has led to the fact that incinerators are subject to high requirements for cleaning gaseous waste, which often deprives enterprises of the required level of income. And the heat from combustion is rarely used in Russia.
This is one of the most common methods for treating animal waste, solid household and . Its essence lies in the natural decomposition of organic substances during the life of bacteria. There are several technologies.
They consist in the fact that periodically turned over heaps of organic waste are formed on special sites. The tedding of the piles is carried out using special tedding machines. In the most effective version, processing is carried out in special bioreactors with aeration.
However, this method is rarely used in Russia.
In addition, in our country composting is often carried out without preliminary sorting; the resulting compost is dangerous and cannot be used for its intended purpose as fertilizer for gardens, agricultural enterprises, etc.
But even with preliminary preparation it is not possible to get rid of heavy metals in solid waste. This compost can be used to cover landfills.
Another disadvantage of composting is the need to allocate areas.
High-quality purified compost from organic animal waste (manure and droppings) and plant residues is an excellent source of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, which are in a form that is digestible for plants. Composting also destroys helminths and pathogenic microorganisms.
The essence of the method is that garbage is distributed in special pits and covered with a layer of soil of 60-80 cm. Such treatment is carried out at landfills, the preparation of which prevents the penetration of contaminants into the soil and groundwater. In the most advanced version, landfills are equipped with special ventilation, a gas exhaust system and containers for collecting biogas, which can be used as fuel for heating.
The disadvantage of the method is that the risk of pollution of the atmosphere, soil and groundwater remains even if the most advanced filter systems are used. The accumulation of biogas for further use is rarely done today and mainly in Europe.
Thermal waste treatment
In addition to traditional incineration, this method of waste disposal includes pyrolysis, which is the decomposition of waste under high temperatures without oxygen. It is more advanced and technologically advanced than simple combustion.
Plasma waste treatment
Essentially this is gasification of waste. Processing occurs at temperatures from 900 to 5000 degrees. As a result, gas is obtained from organic matter, and slag is obtained from inorganic matter.
The first can be used to generate electricity and heat. The slag is absolutely harmless and compact.
At the same time, to dispose of waste using plasma treatment, there is no need to sort and dry the waste.
There are even small pyrolysis boilers for heating houses.
Site columnist Elizaveta Semyonova figured out how to build a business in the field of recycling and waste processing, what funds and resources will be needed for this, how things are with competition in this area and whether it is possible to make money from such a business.
Garbage is a unique resource: people are willing to pay for both its acquisition and its sale. In addition, this resource is inexhaustible.
Waste disposal is a headache for municipal authorities, a potentially knowledge-intensive industry with virtually zero competition and a highly profitable business.
None of the regions of Russia has a developed waste management system. To understand the scale of the problem: the country currently has more than 31 billion tons of unrecycled waste. Unutilized means those with which nothing was done: they were not burned, not buried, and especially not processed - they are simply located on Russian territory.
The problem of waste disposal in the 21st century seems especially ridiculous because at every stage of this process there is money to be made - literally from nothing.
Legal side of the issue
State participation in recycling consists of environmental supervision, licensing, reporting, monitoring compliance with standards and setting tariffs for waste disposal.
The legal regulation of garbage relations (Federal Law “On Production and Consumption Waste”) is determined by five classes: from “extremely hazardous” waste of the first class to “virtually non-hazardous” waste of the fifth. Categorization is based on the level of damage to the environment (examples in order of decreasing damage: mercury, asbestos dust - oil products, acids - pig manure, diesel fuel - tires, paper - shells, sawdust), but for commercial analysis it is more convenient to group classes by origin. The first three classes are industrial and construction waste, and the fourth and fifth are household waste (the so-called MSW - municipal solid waste).
The owner of waste of classes 1–4 can transfer the right to dispose of it to a person only if that person has the appropriate license: for their use, neutralization, transportation, disposal. From January 1, 2016, any unlicensed activity of this kind will be considered illegal. In addition, all people involved in such a business must have a certificate confirming their professional training.
To find out what class of waste you will have to deal with, its owner (legal entity) must order an examination. In addition to the fact that garbage is considered property, it also has a passport.
The law says nothing about solid waste of the fifth, non-hazardous class. Thus, no permits are needed if the business works with food waste, metals, waste paper, wood, plastic containers, and plastic film.
There are several main stages in the disposal and processing of solid waste.
Transportation
The primary task of waste disposal is its direct removal from the consumer’s territory.
The company of Canadian Brian Scudamore began with a used truck for $700 and the slogan “We"ll stash your trash in a flash!” (“We’ll destroy your garbage in no time!”) in 1989, while saving money for college, Scudamord in his spare time took away the garbage that the local authorities could not cope with. The clients, freed from the problem, willingly paid, and the entrepreneur eventually chose the garbage over his studies. Today, his company, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, has annual revenues of more than $100 million, with franchises in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Pros: there is no need for rental, complex equipment and expensive specialists.
Minuses: A significant expense item is fuel costs. In addition, it will not be possible to unload garbage on the side of the road; you need to negotiate with the landfill.
Profitability: the cost of removing a standard container (0.8 cubic meters) in Moscow is from 330 rubles. One garbage truck contains 25–60 such containers. Pricing in this area is subject to market laws, but is highly dependent on tariffs for waste storage (disposal).
Starter kit: special transport, drivers.
Competition: Garbage removal for private individuals is included in the “maintenance of residential premises” and is the responsibility of municipalities, but in servicing legal entities, competition is quite high - about 500 official companies are registered in Moscow alone.
Peculiarities: The main problem of this business is reducing transport costs. The solution is achieved in two ways, and both are associated with increasing the capacity of garbage containers: a garbage truck with a press (manifold increases transportation productivity and reduces the cost of disposal), a trash can with a press (beneficial for the client, since it reduces the frequency of garbage disposal).
Pressing
The American company Seahorse Power began developing bins with a press in 2004, introducing the world to autonomous BigBelly solar-powered pressing units. The operation of the press is based on a chain drive without using the principles of hydraulics, and maintenance of the installation is reduced only to the annual lubrication of the door locking mechanism.
A wireless notification system allows you to automatically monitor container fill levels, providing additional opportunities to improve process logistics. The price tag for the device ($3.1-3.9 thousand) can be considered as a long-term investment, since the capacity of the container is five times higher compared to a regular tank.
The company is valued today at $5 million.
Source: Wikipedia
Despite the importance of timely waste removal and compaction, the above-described manipulations do not solve the main problem: garbage needs to be stored somewhere or destroyed somehow.
You can look at waste as rubbish that needs to be disposed of, or as a resource. These opposing principles form two approaches to waste management.
Accommodation
Disposal of waste - its storage or burial: waste with an uncertain fate needs to be stored somewhere, but burial implies complete isolation, preventing any interaction with the environment.
Pros: business for the lazy.
Minuses: rapid depletion of area (a million-plus city requires an additional 40 hectares annually), relatively low profitability (since landfill tariffs are set by the municipality).
Profitability: Burying a ton of solid waste in the Leningrad region costs 400–1000 rubles; a non-compacting garbage truck can deliver from two to ten tons at a time.
Starter kit: several hectares of free land outside the settlement, water protection and recreational zones.
Competition: There are officially 1,092 landfills in Russia, and almost all of them are already approaching or exceeding 100% occupancy.
Peculiarities: the landfill must have a waterproof bottom and protection from the wind, so ideally it should be built. However, most landfills are of “natural” origin - such as “Krasny Bor” in the Leningrad region, located above clay deposits. It was assumed that the clay would protect groundwater from toxic substances, but it turned out not.
Legal subtleties: it is necessary to obtain permission to create a location (confirms compliance with geological, hydrological and other standards), enter the landfill into the unified state register and monitor the environmental situation - even after the end of operation.
Waste incineration
In most cases, arson is carried out illegally - in order to somehow relieve the pressure on landfills. There are only about ten legal waste incineration plants in Russia today.
Low competition should not create illusions: although it is expected to achieve profit through associated energy production, most waste incineration plants are exclusively subsidized, since the combustion of solid waste by all rules is a very expensive procedure. Therefore, considering such recycling as a business would be overly optimistic.
The only advantage of waste incineration is that it reduces the volume of waste by 90-95%, that is, it saves space at the landfill, but this cannot justify the terrible damage that this causes to the environment.
Those who are passionate about the idea of more progressive waste management need to be prepared for the following obstacle: the fact that in Russia disposal is charged by the state - and charged cheaply - demotivates people to look for any alternative methods of disposal. For comparison, in the United States, burying and incinerating waste is three times more expensive than recycling it.
Sorting
Any processing is impossible without sorting. At the same time, most recyclable materials lose their consumer properties when mixed in a common container - paper, for example, becomes damp and rots. Therefore, recycling is most effective (and easy to implement) if sorting is carried out at the waste collection stage - this way, up to 60-80% of solid waste can be reused. However, this requires a revision of the entire recycling paradigm (a well-known project in this area is the Japanese concept of Zero Waste).
Pros: the demand for sorting is quite high - you can find a buyer even abroad (for example, the Swedes and Danes import garbage from Germany and Norway to produce electricity).
Minuses: expensive equipment - a full-fledged waste sorting complex costs around 4 million rubles. The cost of organizing separate waste collection in St. Petersburg alone costs 1.5 billion rubles.
Profitability: depends on the quality of the raw materials. In rubles per ton: waste paper - from 500 to 10,000, broken glass - 2000–3000, plastic - up to 4000, ferrous scrap metal - up to 8000.
Starter kit: premises, installations (shredder, press, conveyor, crusher and others), workers, (optional) vehicle fleet.
Competition: Only 50 waste sorting complexes are registered in Russia.
Peculiarities: Sorting can be implemented in the form of purchasing individual types of waste (sorting at the collection stage). This is less profitable, but does not require any expensive installations.
Recycling
Recycling is anything that turns waste into something useful, be it energy, new raw materials, fertilizers, and so on.
Composting
The simplest option is composting - processing organic waste into homogeneous, odorless brown dust that improves the properties of the soil. It consists of accelerating natural decomposition processes and can include up to 30% solid waste (food, grass, manure, cardboard, sawdust). It does not require any complex equipment; the compost heap only needs mixing and moistening.
Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of waste that occurs without oxygen. It differs from simple combustion in that at the output, in addition to recyclable materials, it allows you to obtain electrical energy, gasoline, diesel and heating oil (analogous to fuel oil). The quality of the pyrolysis product directly depends on the composition of solid waste, so pre-sorting plays a decisive role here. This type of recycling has many advantages: it is environmentally friendly, significantly reduces the volume of waste and provides thermal energy that can be used.
The cheapest is the processing of mono-raw materials. A successful example is the Danish company Gypsum Recycling International. GRI was founded in 2001 and, thanks to its sophisticated collection, logistics and patented mobile recycling technology, is today the world leader in recycling efficiency (the process of returning waste, discharges and emissions into technogenesis processes - editor's note), giving a second life to 80% of gypsum waste.
Pros: high profitability and demand for recyclable materials, low level of competition, interest of foreign investors and favor of the authorities, fairly quick payback (from two to five years).
Minuses: substantial initial investments are required (the bill runs to tens of thousands of dollars, in the case of complex processing - millions, while you can save on used equipment), there are no guarantees of full capacity utilization of such high-tech plants, since the waste collection system in Russia today is extremely chaotic.
Due to the underdevelopment of the market, prices for recyclable materials are very unstable: when demand increases, suppliers can no longer cope with waste collection and prices rise sharply; when demand falls, goods quickly accumulate and fill storage facilities, and therefore are sold at bargain prices.
Profitability: very high, especially if the recycling plant is also a manufacturer of the recycled product. For example, by buying a ton of green cullet for 2,000 rubles, processing it into glass powder, and then blowing a batch of bottles and selling each for 50 (approximate price in Moscow), you can ultimately earn about 100 thousand rubles.
Starter kit: production premises with an area of at least 200 square meters, a warehouse with an area of at least 100 square meters, equipped in accordance with sanitary and fire requirements, installations, technologists and workers, (optional) vehicle fleet.
Competition: In Russia, only 5% of the total volume of waste is recycled, while 50% of solid waste consists of raw materials that can be reused. In total, there are 243 waste processing plants registered in the country, and none of them carries out a full recycling cycle.
Peculiarities: the efficiency of waste recycling depends on the quality of sorting, therefore the best waste recycling complex is a complex system, established from collection and sorting to distribution to the consumer. This cannot be done without close interaction with the authorities and a whole campaign to create a culture of waste management.
Legal subtleties: processing permit required.
On March 21, due to the release of hydrogen sulfide at the Yadrovo landfill in the vicinity of Volokolamsk near Moscow, 57 children ended up in hospitals. On the same day, the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, closed the landfill for waste delivery from March 24. In June 2017, after numerous complaints from residents and an appeal to the president during a direct line, the Kuchino landfill in Balashikha was closed. Is there an alternative to landfills and what waste processing technologies exist in the world - in the RBC review.
Building a full-cycle economy
In 1991, Germany made packaging manufacturers obligated to take it back after use. In 1996, these measures were expanded: the German authorities adopted a special act, the purpose of which was to introduce a closed-cycle system in the field of waste recycling. The new conditions obligated companies, starting from the project stage, to ensure that production did not leave waste, and at the end of the life cycle the product was subjected to environmental recycling.
In 2012, the act was finalized and expanded. Voluntary and mandatory liability today applies to manufacturers not only of packaging materials, but also of vehicles, electronic devices, chemical products, etc. The goal is to maximize the use of materials “preserved” in waste.
As of mid-2017, the turnover of the waste processing industry in Germany was about €70 billion, employing more than 250 thousand people.
Metal mining
Waste recycling plant in Germany
In recent years, with the development of technology, the production of metals (including precious ones) from waste from the electrical industry has increased significantly. In 2016, up to 30% of the world's gold production came from recycling electrical appliances.
For example, German electrical contact manufacturer Doduco recycles waste containing 1% precious metals. Precious metals are mined from old refrigerators, computer keyboards, wires, etc. The company receives gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and the production of silver bullion reaches 500 tons per year.
Immark plant in Switzerland
In Switzerland, Immark extracts gold and silver from waste and represents one of the most successful examples of using waste as an inexhaustible source of profit. Sorting, processing and cleaning systems make it possible to extract kilograms of gold and silver, tons of iron and aluminum from used equipment, which is prohibited by law from being thrown into general garbage in the country.
Energy production
Sorting center in Istanbul
Sweden has one of the highest rates of household waste recycling in the world - 99%. About half goes to reuse and recycling. Manufacturers are responsible for disposing of packaging and end-of-life products, including electrical appliances, automobiles and medicines. The other part of the waste, after careful sorting, is burned to produce energy, which plays a large role in the heating system.
Today there are more than 30 waste incineration plants in the country. In 2016, 2.3 million tons of waste were burned to produce energy. Sweden even imports waste for incineration, including from Norway, the UK and Ireland. The Scandinavian country leads Europe in generating energy from waste.
Since 2007, garbage has been used to generate energy in Istanbul. A city with a population of 15 million people produces more than 18.5 thousand tons of waste every day. In 2011, automated separation and recycling technology was introduced at three waste processing plants.
Use as a building material
Chubu Airport
In Japan, the use of difficult-to-recycle industrial waste as construction material has become widespread. Back in the middle of the 20th century, the country began to build artificial artificial islands using crushed industrial waste. Today, international airports are located on such islands near the cities of Nagoya and Osaka. The garbage island is also planned to be used in the 2020 Olympic Games.
In Japan, garbage is also used in road construction. For example, recycled glass is used to build new highways.
In 2014, the production of building materials from industrial waste was launched in Vladivostok. A plant for the production of concrete blocks for low-rise construction using construction and household waste was opened on Russky Island.
They say that the contents of garbage dumps speak about the well-being of city residents. If we apply this observation to Moscow, then we can say that it is a city of the rich. Old armchairs, sofas, window frames, boxes of household appliances, and cabinets occupy container sites and courtyards with enviable regularity. The cleanliness of the streets can be used to judge the level of development of a society. In a clean city, few people think about garbage disposal. People remember him only when they see full garbage cans and landfills in unexpected places. Who owes the household waste littering the area? After all, the lack of timely collection of household waste contributes to the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria, being sources of stench and infectious diseases.
Types of garbage
By origin, types of waste are divided into: industrial, construction, bulky, solid and municipal. Garbage is also classified according to its danger to the environment. There are five hazard classes in total:
- Extremely dangerous - irreversibly disrupt the ecological system without its restoration;
- Highly dangerous - severely disrupt the ecological system. The recovery period after eliminating the source is 30 years;
- Moderately hazardous - contribute to disruption of the ecological system, the recovery period after reducing the harmful effects is 10 years;
- Low-hazard - the restoration period of a damaged ecological system is 3 years;
- Practically harmless - practically do not disturb the ecological system.
Stages of waste disposal
The technological process of waste disposal is aimed at ensuring an ecological balance in the environment and consists of three main stages:
- Formation and accumulation of garbage;
- Garbage collection and its further transportation;
- Placement or burial of waste.
Disposal of waste depends directly on its category. Waste can be burned and disposed of in the atmosphere or buried in the ground.
How waste is disposed of in different countries
Increasing volumes of production and consumption contribute to the formation and accumulation of waste, while the problem of waste disposal is becoming acute throughout the world. Countries with a small territory were the first to think about solving this problem. Since the 80s, separate waste disposal has been practiced in Europe. Residents of small towns and cities independently sort their garbage and throw it into colorful containers.
In Germany it is practiced on certain days of the week. Before this, residents store garbage at home, so to prevent unpleasant odors, all types of packaging are thoroughly washed. The Japanese divide garbage into two categories: combustible and non-combustible. Waste collection takes place in a certain place at a certain time, where residents themselves bring sorted garbage. Japan also pays great attention to the recycling of electronic equipment and household appliances.
Separate waste disposal is also used in Italy. In Russia, the authorities began to think about the practices of other countries and the introduction of this system on their territory.
How waste is disposed of in Moscow
Waste disposal in Moscow begins with its collection and removal to recycling sites. Garbage is transported in special closed containers that prevent environmental pollution. Next, the process of waste disposal occurs. This stage helps reduce the volume of waste and minimize its possible negative impacts. The next stage is the placement of waste according to hazard classes.
According to statistics, the amount of garbage in Moscow in one year is 28 tons. Waste removal and processing is carried out by licensed organizations. Today, the only way to solve the problem of waste disposal in Moscow while preserving the environment is waste recycling plants.