Chapter 10: Waste Management
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10.2 Status of the waste management sector
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10.2.3 Development trends for waste and wastewater
Waste and wastewater management are highly regulated within the municipal infrastructure under a wide range of existing regulatory goals to protect human health and the environment; promote waste minimization and recycling; restrict certain types of waste management activities; and reduce impacts to residents, surface water, groundwater and soils. Thus, activities related to waste and wastewater management are, and will continue to be, controlled by national regulations, regional restrictions, and local planning guidelines that address waste and wastewater transport, recycling, treatment, disposal, utilization, and energy use. For developing countries, a wide range of waste management legislation and policies have been implemented with evolving structure and enforcement; it is expected that regulatory frameworks in developing countries will become more stringent in parallel with development trends.
Depending on regulations, policies, economic priorities and practical local limits, developed countries will be characterized by increasingly higher rates of waste recycling and pretreatment to conserve resources and avoid GHG generation. Recent studies have documented recycling levels of >50% for specific waste fractions in some developed countries (i.e., Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 2005). Recent US data indicate about 25% diversion, including more than 20 states that prohibit landfilling of garden waste (Simmons et al., 2006). In developing countries, a high level of labourintensive informal recycling often occurs. Via various diversion and small-scale recycling activities, those who make their living from decentralized waste management can significantly reduce the mass of waste that requires more centralized solutions; however, the challenge for the future is to provide safer, healthier working conditions than currently experienced by scavengers on uncontrolled dumpsites. Available studies indicate that recycling activities by this sector can generate significant employment, especially for women, through creative microfinance and other small-scale investments. For example, in Cairo, available studies indicate that 7–8 daily jobs per ton of waste and recycling of >50% of collected waste can be attained (Iskandar, 2001). (...)
