Stefan Salhofer

Management of municipal solid waste incineration residues

The management of residues from thermal waste treatment is an integral part of waste management systems. The primary goal of managing incineration residues is to prevent any impact on our health or environment caused by unacceptable particulate, gaseous and/or solute emissions. This paper provides insight into the most important measures for putting this requirement into practice. It also offers an overview of the factors and processes affecting these mitigating measures as well as the short- and long-term behavior of residues from thermal waste treatment under different scenarios. General conditions affecting the emission rate of salts and metals are shown as well as factors relevant to mitigating measures or sources of gaseous emissions.

Strategic environmental assessment as an approach to assess waste management systems. Experiences from an Austrian case study

Waste management has evolved from the simple transportation of waste to landfills to complex systems, including waste prevention and waste recycling as well as several waste treatment and landfill technologies. To assess the environmental, economical and social effects of waste management systems, several tools have been developed. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an approach for integrated assessment enhancing involvement in the planning of a decision supporting process. The aim of this paper is to show how SEA can be applied in a waste management context. For this purpose a case study is described where a SEA process was undertaken to develop a regional waste management plan. The approach from this case study is compared to other methods.

Assessment of removal of components containing hazardous substances from small WEEE in Austria

Minimum treatment requirements for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) established by Directive 2002/96/EC provide for the removal of specific components containing hazardous substances. To date, no comparative analysis of removal rates has been undertaken. The present paper examines the state of de-pollution of sWEEE in Austrian treatment plants. The mass of selected components removed and the corresponding mass of hazardous substances is compared to estimated values for sWEEE input material. The results obtained reveal that components are only partly removed, featuring a high variation between components and plants assessed. The overall rate of removal ranged from 72% of the estimated value for batteries to 21% of the estimated value for liquid crystal panels. This implies the forwarding of substantial quantities of hazardous substances to mechanical treatment processes, particularly relevant in terms of dispersion of pollutants. Furthermore, easily releasable pollutants, such as Hg from LCD-backlights, Cd from batteries or highly contaminated dust in general, pose substantial health risks for plant workers. Low removal rates of printed circuit boards, batteries and toner cartridges also lead to a reduction in quantities of valuable recyclable materials (precious metals, plastics).

Municipal solid waste recycling and the significance of informal sector in urban China

The informal sector is active in the collection, processing and trading of recyclable materials in urban China. Formal waste management organisations have established pilot schemes for source separation of recyclables, but this strategy is still in its infancy. The amounts of recyclables informally picked out of the municipal solid waste stream are unknown as informal waste workers do not record their activities. This article estimates the size and significance of the current informal recycling system with a focus on the collection of recyclables. A majority of the reviewed literature detects that official data is displaying mainly ‘municipal solid waste collected and transported’, whereas less information is available on ‘real’ waste generation rates at the source. Based on a literature review the variables, the ‘number of informal waste workers involved in collection activities’, the ‘amounts collected daily per informal collector’ and the ‘number of working days’ are used to estimate yearly recyclable amounts that are informally diverted from municipal solid waste. The results show an interval of approximately 0.56%–0.93% of the urban population or 3.3–5.6 million people involved in informal waste collection and recycling activities in urban China. This is the equivalent to estimated informal recycling rates of approximately 17–38w/w% of the municipal solid waste generated. Despite some uncertainties in these assessments, it can be concluded that a significant share of recyclables is collected and processed by informal waste workers.

Development of a social impact assessment methodology for recycling systems in low-income countries

PurposeInformal recycling is one of the most significant activities within waste management systems in low-income countries. The main aspect of a number of recently implemented waste management systems has been to organise the informal recycling sector. The implementation of formalisation is expected to eliminate social problems related to the informal sector, but this has not been precisely measured and evaluated. A lack of methodology to assess social impacts persists, as does the comparison of different formalisation approaches. The goal of this work is to develop a methodological procedure for assessing the contribution of formalised recycling systems in low-income countries in terms of social impacts, in comparison with informal systems.MethodsSome existing social assessment approaches were evaluated by a review of literature. This investigation focuses on the development of the social life cycle assessment approach, the analysed social aspects, proposed indicators and characterisation models within this framework.Results and discussionThis study proposes an approach for the social assessment of recycling systems based on formalisation approaches in low-income countries oriented towards the social life cycle assessment methodology (sLCA). The approach developed considers 3 social impact categories, 9 social subcategories and 26 semi-quantitative indicators for the assessment of the social impacts on formalised recyclers. It includes a characterisation procedure that takes into consideration the application of a score system and the calculation of average scores at both the indicator and subcategory levels.ConclusionsThis research shows that it would be feasible to apply a sLCA-based methodology to evaluate recycling systems based on formalisation of the informal sector. The impact categories and subcategories identified represent the social problems of informal recyclers. The 26 semi-quantitative indicators and the proposed characterisation approach attempt to measure the social impacts that currently are only qualitatively assumed. The applicability and validation of the indicators and characterisation procedure will be determined by further research. The methodology developed will be tested using data from three recycling systems in Peruvian cities.

Application of a methodology for the social life cycle assessment of recycling systems in low income countries: three Peruvian case studies

PurposeIn a previous phase of this work, a methodology oriented towards social Life Cycle Assessment (sLCA) was developed to assess the social impact of formalised recycling systems in low income countries. To support this, a literature review of social impact assessment methodologies was carried out incorporating the social issues of both the informal and the implemented, formal recycling approaches. The goal of this study is to determine the feasibility of applying this methodology by assessing the current social impacts of three Peruvian recycling systems based on two formalisation approaches. A further goal is to identify and measure the social impacts of the formalisation procedures, thereby confirming or rebutting the expectations and forecasts of organisations (NGOs, Local Authorities, Ministries & Business) involved in the implementation.MethodsThe methodology developed was applied to three Peruvian recycling systems which had been formalised using two different approaches. One approach utilizes cooperation with recyclers’ associations and the second one, operated by the municipality uses formalised recyclers as employees. Interviews were conducted with local recycling system stakeholders in order to collect data to assess fulfilment of the social criteria. Three impact categories and 9 subcategories were analysed using 26 indicators. To transform the qualitative information into numerical values, a score system 1 or 0 for the fulfilment or non-fulfilment of social criteria was applied. After obtaining the indicators’ average scores, further characterisation by social impact subcategory was effected. The final scores for the subcategories show the fulfilment or otherwise of all social criteria related to the subcategory.Results and discussionThe assessment substantiates similar negative impacts of both formalisation approaches for the social subcategories discrimination, recognised employment relationships and fulfilment of social benefit, physical working conditions and education. The formalisation based on cooperation with recyclers’ associations reveals a positive social impact for freedom of association and collective bargaining, psychological working conditions and social acceptance whereas the method operated by the municipality scores better for working time and minimum, fair incomes. Regarding the methodology, no difficulties were detected in applying the indicators.ConclusionsIt can be concluded that although sLCA was originally used to analyse products and production processes, it is feasible to adapt it for the social assessment of recycling systems based on formalisation of the informal sector in low income countries. A comparison of current social impacts between different formalisation approaches using this methodology is also viable. A further conclusion is that it is feasible to measure the social impacts of formalisation approaches using the selected indicators and characterisation procedure. Social issues such as anti-discrimination policies, employment terms, payment of social benefits, preventive policies, occupational and health training and adult education can be improved following the evaluation.

WEEE management in Europe and China – A comparison

Over the last years Europe and China have developed specific regulations to address the challenge of managing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Households in todays urban China are similarly equipped with electrical and electronic appliances as households in European metropolitan areas, which in turn will lead to similar per capita generation rates in WEEE. While the challenge is a similar one, the systems, technologies and legislation in place in Europe and China are partly different, partly aligned to each other. In Europe WEEE collection is based on existing municipal structures. Additionally, retail and other take-back channels are in place. In China the informal sector dominates WEEE collection, being more competitive and flexible and offering pecuniary reimbursement to consumers. In Europe manual dismantling as a first treatment step has been gradually replaced by mechanical break up of appliances, followed by sorting out of hazardous and valuable components. In the subsequent second treatment level, cathode ray tubes are separated, whereby compound materials like motors and coils are mechanically treated, printed circuit boards go to special smelters, and plastics are separated and partly recycled. In China large formal dismantling capacities have been set up in recent years. There dismantling practices follow similar principles as in European plants; however, further processing is only partly implemented in Chinese recycling facilities. Specifically metallurgical treatment of printed circuit boards is still not existent in China. Companies selling electrical and electronic products within the EU are obliged to organise collection and treatment. This has led to a larger number of producer responsibility organisations. Financed and controlled by producers and importers, these systems aim to fulfil legal requirements at optimised costs subject to compliance with environmental standards and monitoring requirements. The Chinese system is built on a state controlled fund which subsidies formal recyclers. For these recyclers this financial support is essential to compete with informal recyclers, who operate at lower costs and do not necessarily comply with environmental standards.

Recycling of LCD Screens in Europe - State of the Art and Challenges

Screens (monitors and TV-sets) actually undergo a rapid change in technology from cathode ray tubes to flat panel displays. Up until now, only small quantities of flat panel displays have been recorded at waste collection sites. Increasing quantities in the future make an adequate recycling infrastructure necessary. This paper aims to provide basic data on quantities, composition, recycling technology and experience from a case study on economic impacts of liquid crystal display screens recycling.

A review of ecodesign and environmental assessment tools and their appropriateness for electrical and electronic equipment

The electrical and electronic equipment sector is a steadily growing one and thus also environmental considerations about it become more and more an issue. There is a large number of tools that can be used for ecodesign and environmental assessment, but not each tool is equally suitable for all products. Although electrical and electronic equipment are often mentioned together, they show major differences and thus tools will be used differently. The choice of an adequate tool depends on many aspects and thus no single rule on how to choose a tool can be given. However, this paper gives an overview of different well-known tools. Case studies from literature and new ones illustrate the process of choosing tools and furthermore show their use on particular products. The applicability of tools for electrical and electronic equipment is then thoroughly discussed.

E-Waste Collection and Treatment Options: A Comparison of Approaches in Europe, China and Vietnam

E-waste is a complex waste stream with several categories of products, each of them requiring a specific treatment technology. This chapter analyses the status quo of e-waste management in three global regions, where the European Union represents a frontrunner in environmental legislation and implementation; China, catching up with recent legislation and large-scale investments in recycling infrastructure; and Vietnam, as an example for the numerous countries where an unregulated situation dominates. This chapter aims at giving an overview of the management of this waste stream focussing on two relevant stages in the material recovery chain: collection as the interface between consumers and waste management and treatment with an overview of technologies applied for the removal of hazardous materials and the recovery of valuable materials such as steel, copper, plastics and others. Challenges for these situations are identified.