Kevin Roy B. Serrona

Managing Wastes in Asia: Looking at the Perspectives of China, Mongolia and the Philippines

The state of solid wastes in Asia reflects a situation where poverty and inefficient resource management are intertwined. Urban centers continue to grow and so with population. Consumption of resources necessarily goes up and generation of wastes is increasing at an alarming rate. Consequently, methane and carbon dioxide emission are rising. In the global landscape, greenhouse gas emission is being felt strongly with the melting of ice in the North Pole, changing seasonal patterns, and the imminent threat to the submersion of small islands. The effects of climate change as a result of man-made activities threaten everyone across social classes and geographical location. But developing countries are more exposed to vulnerability in view of poor resources and technology to cope with it. Poor planning, limited financial capacity, lack of technical know-how and toothless laws are some of the barriers that do not permit them to implement environmentally-sound, economically-viable and socially acceptable waste management programs. Among the serious problems needing serious attention is what to do with end-of-life (ELV) or used vehicles and the accumulation of non-biodegradable wastes like plastic that are left on the streets, drainages and water bodies. A number of countries in Asia have jumpstarted the campaign to reverse the problem of ELV accumulation. The European Union (EU) pioneered an ELV law in September 2000. Japan and Korea followed suit with the former passing an Automobile Recycling Law in January 2005. Korea, on the other hand, passed the Resources Recycling Law in January 2008. These countries recognized that a distinct ELV law is necessary within the framework of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) system. An international cooperation is being pursued by the Japanese government in partnership with Tohoku University and car manufacturers like Hyundai, Kia Motors, Shanghai GM and Volkswagen through the Asian Environment-friendly Automobile Forum to promote knowledge and awareness on ELV recycling in Asia. Experts from the academe, government and the private sector converge annually to exchange ideas and technical know-how on how to best address accumulated

Finding urban waste management solutions and policies: Waste-to-energy development and livelihood support system in Payatas, Metro Manila, Philippines

One of the potential solutions in social and environmental sustainability in municipal solid waste management (MSW) in Metro Manila is to combine community-based recycling and sound landfill management strategies. The marriage of the two puts importance on recycling as a source of livelihood while proper landfill management aims to improve the aesthetic and environmental quality of disposal facilities in urban areas. To do this, a social mapping of wastepickers, junkshops and local recycling practices needs to be undertaken and at the same time assess strategies of the national and local governments vis-à-vis existing laws on municipal solid waste. The case of Payatas controlled disposal facility was taken as a pilot study because it represents the general condition of disposal sites in Metro Manila and the social landscape that it currently has. In addition, a waste-to-energy (WTE) project has been established in Payatas to produce electricity from methane gas. Preliminary interviews with wastepickers show that development interventions in disposal sites such as WTE pose no opposition from host communities for as long as alternative livelihood opportunities are provided. Regulating the flow of wastepickers into the landfill has advantages like improved income and security. Felt needs were also articulated like provision of financial support or capital for junkshop operation and skills training. Overall, a smooth relationship between the local government and community associations pays well in a transitioning landfill management scheme such as Payatas.

Effects of introducing energy recovery processes to the municipal solid waste management system in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Currently, most developing countries have not set up municipal solid waste management systems with a view of recovering energy from waste or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this article, we have studied the possible effects of introducing three energy recovery processes either as a single or combination approach, refuse derived fuel production, incineration and waste power generation, and methane gas recovery from landfill and power generation in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as a case study. We concluded that incineration process is the most suitable as first introduction of energy recovery. To operate it efficiently, 3Rs strategies need to be promoted. And then, RDF production which is made of waste papers and plastics in high level of sorting may be considered as the second step of energy recovery. However, safety control and marketability of RDF will be required at that moment.

Latest Trends and New Challenges in End-of-life Vehicle Recycling

Rapid urbanization combined with increases in per capita income have led to the worlds motorization. Car manufacturers have been increasing their outputs in response to demands for fuel-efficient cars. New-generation vehicles (NGVs) like hybrid and electronic vehicles have emerged with significantly reduced weights and robust computerized systems. Likewise, the use of efficient batteries like nickel–hydrogen or lithium-ion batteries has been integrated into NGVs. Expectedly, a large volume of these cars will be classified as end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) in the near future. The European Union, Japan and Korea have developed ELV recycling systems based on the extended producer responsibility principle, designed to recover used car parts, scrap metal, batteries, etc. However, countries like Mongolia and the Philippines are inundated with imported used cars, including used NGVs, which damage the environment due to their poor emissions and hazardous waste components. Air pollution and lead soil contamination are some of the environmental problems associated with the proliferation of ELVs. This paper tackles the opportunities and challenges of ELV recycling as espoused by the European Union, Japan and Korea and its potential application in developing countries. It also discusses emerging trends in the effective utilization of waste batteries from NGVs.

Developing a monitoring and evaluation framework to integrate and formalize the informal waste and recycling sector: The case of the Philippine National Framework Plan

The Philippines has been making inroads in solid waste management with the enactment and implementation of the Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000. Said legislation has had tremendous influence in terms of how the national and local government units confront the challenges of waste management in urban and rural areas using the reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery framework or 4Rs. One of the sectors needing assistance is the informal waste sector whose aspiration is legal recognition of their rank and integration of their waste recovery activities in mainstream waste management. To realize this, the Philippine National Solid Waste Management Commission initiated the formulation of the National Framework Plan for the Informal Waste Sector, which stipulates approaches, strategies and methodologies to concretely involve the said sector in different spheres of local waste management, such as collection, recycling and disposal. What needs to be fleshed out is the monitoring and evaluation component in order to gauge qualitative and quantitative achievements vis-a-vis the Framework Plan. In the process of providing an enabling environment for the informal waste sector, progress has to be monitored and verified qualitatively and quantitatively and measured against activities, outputs, objectives and goals. Using the Framework Plan as the reference, this article developed monitoring and evaluation indicators using the logical framework approach in project management. The primary objective is to institutionalize monitoring and evaluation, not just in informal waste sector plans, but in any waste management initiatives to ensure that envisaged goals are achieved.

Emerging Issues on Urban Mining in Automobile Recycling: Outlook on Resource Recycling in East Asia

Jeongsoo Yu1, Jia Che2, Michiaki Omura3 and Kevin Roy B. Serrona4 1Department of Interregional Environmental System, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Tohoku University 2Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Fellow, Department of Interregional Environmental System, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies Tohoku University 3Innovation Research Center for Agricultural Sciences Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University 4Asian Automotive Environmental Forum, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Tohoku University Japan