Waste Management methods

By definition, waste management is the process that involves the collection, transportation, and
recycling or disposal of waste. It encompasses management processes and resources that ensure
proper handling of waste products. Management of the resources involves maintenance of the waste
transportation trucks and the dumping facilities so that they comply with the environmental
regulations as well as health codes. The primary objective of waste management is to avoid the
adverse effects of wastes to human health and natural environment, but in most occasions, waste
management companies carry out the process to get useful resources. Waste materials can also be
in all forms of matter, which are gaseous, liquids, radioactive matter, and solid.

According to waste management companies, there are several waste management methods. These
methods differ from one nation to another. It also differs from industrial and residential areas.
Whichever the case, waste management is usually the responsibility of the local government.
Industries can also manage their wastes, in case they are non-hazardous. The methods of waste
management involve proper dumping, recycling, transportation and collection, and the creation of
awareness.

Dumping methods
The most common waste dumping methods include landfill and incineration. A landfill is a
conventional dumping method, which involves burying of wastes in a common pit. The landfill
should be economical and far from the residential areas. On the other hand, incineration is a
dumping method which involves combustion of the waste materials. The method is used to convert
waste materials into steam, gas, ash, and heat. The advantage of using incineration method is that
it can be conducted at individual scale level.

Recycling methods
Perhaps, products such as LDEP, PVC, PS, and PP are recyclable. However, there are complex
products that are not easy to recycle. Because of the complexity of recycling these products, there
exist processes such as biological reprocessing. This approach is useful to waste materials that are
organic in nature. The waste materials are put in biological decomposition and later recycled to form
composts for agricultural purposes.

Collection and transportation

Collection and transportation of wastes vary from one place to another. Some places prefer bin
rental, which comes in different sizes. The price of renting waste disposal bins depend on their sizes.
Large waste disposal waste bins cost more than the small ones. On average, the cost of renting 10-
yard bin in Ottawa is $225 including the tax and tipping fee. For the purpose of collection and
transportation of wastes, it is imperative that every residency is endowed with three waste disposal
bins. The first bin is for general wastes, the second one is for recyclable wastes, and the third bin is
for garden materials.

Creation of awareness
Management of waste is an area that requires proper awareness and education for global
preservation. Creating awareness is critical for the perseverance of the security of the humankind
and global health. Education on waste management involves the introduction of the reverse vending
machines to supermarkets and public institutions. The advantage of employing these machines is
that they are affordable and hence, cut down cost on waste management.
Recycling: Recycling serves to transform the wastes into products of their own genre through
industrial processing. Paper, glass, aluminum, and plastics are commonly recycled. It is
environmentally friendly to reuse the wastes instead of adding them to nature. However, processing
technologies are pretty expensive.

Five ways to increase citizen participation in local waste services

Web platforms, apps, and citizen surveys are changing how solid waste management services
are conducted globally and showing that waste infrastructure alone is simply not enough. These
interactive platforms provide incentives, quantify actions, and increase pressure on service
providers, and thereby improve waste management with greater citizen engagement. The World
Bank recently hosted five individuals representing organizations and projects that use information
and communications technology (ICT) to engage citizens with local waste services. Their varied
approaches reveal incentive models that effectively lead to strategic behavior change.

Recycle bank (Javier Flaim, CEO)

As a waste-focused behavior change program, Recycle bank combines education, incentives,
technology and community engagement to encourage more than 4 million members to make better
purchasing and disposal habits. By taking green actions and registering online, residents can earn
points towards rewards (subscriptions, discounts, donations). Recycle bank creates public/private
partnerships with municipalities/communities and businesses to power this platform. Recycle bank’s
300+ community partners have recycled nearly 1.5 billion pounds of materials and pledged to take
216 million green actions while earning more than $60 million in rewards in 2014 alone.

I Got Garbage (Prashant Mehra, Founder)

In India, 1.5 million waste pickers power the country’s recycling, but at a severe cost to their health and
wellbeing . Prashant Mehra, a social ‘intrapraneur’ at Mind tree, presented I Got Garbage, a mobile
and web platform he founded in Bangalore that empowers waste pickers by connecting them with
households. Households enter into long-term relationships with them for recyclables pickup and can
buy tools from them for home composting. This model of citizen participation puts waste pickers
away from the dangers of open dumps while enabling more comprehensive and efficient waste
collection. It converts waste pickers into recycling managers. Prashant highlighted the longevity of
such platforms as a key benefit of ICT for engaging citizens. But just as important as the platform is
building a functional ecosystem that motivates user adoption. Currently, the platform supports over
10,000 waste pickers, has generated over 100 million Rupees in collective revenue, and is expanding
to 27 cities.

World Bank MOPA Project in Mozambique (Jean Barroca, Innovation Consultant)

MOPA is a World Bank project in Maputo, Mozambique that addresses a need for improved urban
waste management systems stemming from limited municipal resources and insufficient data. The
solution, MOPA (Monitoria Participativa Maputo), uses citizen-driven data and analytics to help cities
plan and manage their services. Citizens report waste-related issues to the municipal government
using mobile phones. This information is fed into a real-time report of issues and resolutions that is
open to the public. Data visualizations and statistics allow city officials to address problems as they
arise and monitor service quality. MOPA opens a channel of communication between the
municipality and the people, including those from low-income areas that traditionally lack proper
waste services.

EMASEO (Carlos Sagasti, Former General Manager)

Public Metropolitan Sanitation Company of Quito, EMASEO EP, is the municipal waste collection
company of Quito, Ecuador, which serves 2.2 million residents and gathers 1900 tons of waste daily.
A decade ago, Quito suffered from a severe waste problem. Dumpsters overflowed, collection
services were insufficient, and citizens had limited awareness of the public waste systems and
procedures. In response, EMASEO used ICT to monitor services in real-time, optimize internal
process management, and improve external cleaning services. Using GIS and handheld devices, they
also monitored household behavior and provided door-to-door information on ways to participate in
public waste collection, schedules, and local disposal sites.
World Bank Development Policy Loans in Morocco (Maria Sarraf, Team Leader)
In order to gain public feedback on waste services, citizen report cards were introduced in five
Moroccan cities as part of the World Bank’s Development Policy Loans for Solid Waste Management.
In this case, due to low local technology access, face-to-face communication is used to garner
citizen feedback on issues including service quality and willingness to sort and recycle household
waste. Results are discussed at town hall meetings with residents, private operators and the
municipality. Parties commit to a set of actions to improve waste services and the outcomes
influence the contract of the private waste operator. The national waste management program
financially incentivizes local governments to use citizen report cards, citizens provide feedback to
improve services, and private operators can improve their image and maintain contracts.

While these case studies provided a broad view of ways that ICT can be used to facilitate citizen
engagement, a clear takeaway was that technology is a powerful tool but not a complete solution.
Technology access is not universal, and communities that are poor or elderly may be best reached
using “offline” methods. Further, community engagement requires strong incentives – municipalities
must understand what type of measures can truly motivate behavior change, whether financial,
physical, or social.