Resource Recovery to Approach Zero Municipal Waste

This book presents the state of the art of solid waste management toward zero waste. It discusses different countries’ laws and regulations, source separation of waste, and conversion of organic/biological waste into compost, biogas, and biofertilizer. It considers the combustion of waste in combined heat and power plants, as well as recent developments in waste gasification and pyrolysis. It describes various glass, metal, electronic waste, thermoset composite, paper, and fiber recycling technologies. It also examines landfill mining and encourages product design optimized for recycling.

Current development results in a linear flow from raw material to waste, which cannot be sustainable in the long term. Plus, a global population of 7 billion people means that there are 7 billion waste producers in the world. At present, dumping and landfilling are the primary practices for getting rid of municipal solid waste (MSW). However, this waste contains resources that we’ve yet to utilize. To create sustainable societies, we need to approach zero waste by recovering these resources.

There are cities and countries where zero waste is close to becoming a reality. Landfilling of organic waste is forbidden in Europe, and countries such as Sweden, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland have developed a variety of technologies to recover resources from MSW.

Resource Recovery to Approach Zero Municipal Waste explores the solid waste management laws and regulations of different countries, comparing the latest resource recovery technologies and offering future perspectives. The book tackles the many technical, social, ecological, economical, and managerial aspects of this complex subject while promoting the development of sustainable societies to achieve a greener global environment.