ArticlePDF Available

Solid Waste Management Practices in Turkey

December 2011
Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management 13(4)

DOI:10.1007/s10163-011-0028-7

Authors:

Mehmet Berkun

Karadeniz Technical University

Egemen Aras

Bursa Teknik Üniversitesi

As an economically developing country, Turkey has very well operated integrated solid waste management applications structured on modern facilities, besides over 2,000 scattered open dump areas in the country. Integrated waste management applications seem eligible for the metropolitan cities like Istanbul and Izmit (Kocaeli). Attempts have not been encouraging for the scattered regional settlements using central storage sites due to financial shortages and received rejections from nearby settlements. Small-scale compact solid waste management systems with materials recycling and composting can be more suitable alternatives in the small-scale regional settlements. The major constituents of municipal solid waste are organic in nature and approximately a quarter of municipal solid waste is recyclable. Although paper, including cardboard, is the main constituent, the composition of recyclable waste varies strongly by the source or the type of collection point. Solid wastes need primary treatment in order to be suitable for incineration and composting. Turkey needs to give more emphasis on the usage of modern solid waste removal technologies to overcome the overgrowing solid waste disposal problems.

Household solid waste (HSW) composition in Turkey [16]

…

Municipal solid waste in Turkey [17]

…

of disposed/ recovered waste brought to controlled landfill sites by type of waste and disposal/recovery methods [20]

…

Figures - uploaded by Egemen Aras

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Egemen Aras

Content may be subject to copyright.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Solid waste management practices in Turkey

Mehmet Berkun •Egemen Aras •Tugce Anılan

Received: 24 June 2008 / Accepted: 20 August 2011 / Published online: 30 September 2011

ÓSpringer 2011

Abstract As an economically developing country, Tur-

key has very well operated integrated solid waste man-

agement applications structured on modern facilities,

besides over 2,000 scattered open dump areas in the

country. Integrated waste management applications seem

eligible for the metropolitan cities like Istanbul and Izmit

(Kocaeli). Attempts have not been encouraging for the

scattered regional settlements using central storage sites

due to ﬁnancial shortages and received rejections from

nearby settlements. Small-scale compact solid waste

management systems with materials recycling and com-

posting can be more suitable alternatives in the small-scale

regional settlements. The major constituents of municipal

solid waste are organic in nature and approximately a

quarter of municipal solid waste is recyclable. Although

paper, including cardboard, is the main constituent, the

composition of recyclable waste varies strongly by the

source or the type of collection point. Solid wastes need

primary treatment in order to be suitable for incineration

and composting. Turkey needs to give more emphasis on

the usage of modern solid waste removal technologies to

overcome the overgrowing solid waste disposal problems.

Keywords Black Sea Solid wastes Landﬁll 

Leachate Coastal pollution

Introduction

Since the handling and disposal of solid waste is an expensive

process, trying to minimize the generation of solid waste,

encouraging the recycling/recovery of its valuable compo-

nents, and their conversion into useful products are important.

This, consequently, lessens the amount of solid waste to be

dumped and reduces the waste management costs. The

application of an integrated solid waste management program

is a valuable tool in order to minimize the usage of natural

resources and to handle the solid wastes efﬁciently.

In Turkey, increased population, industrialization, and

standards of living have contributed to an increasing

amount of solid waste and its consequent disposal prob-

lems. Though developed countries have established regu-

latory programs, developing countries have generally

continued to use unsophisticated methods, such as open

dumps. Turkey, as an economically developing country,

has over 2,000 of these open dumps.

Methods of disposal of solid waste, according to the

Turkish State Statistical Institute’s (SIS) database, were as

follows: 25,014,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste were

collected, whereas 7,002,000, 351,000, and 8,000 tonnes

were disposed of in sanitary landﬁlls, composted, and

incinerated, respectively. A total of 17,653,000 tonnes of

waste was disposed of without any control [19].

The amount of solid waste collected from municipalities

receiving waste collection services were given with yearly

averages (Table 1)[20].

According to the results of the municipal solid waste

statistics (Table 2)[20]:

– A total number of 25 facilities, of which 18 were

controlled landﬁll sites, three were waste incineration

plants, and four were composting plants, were covered.

M. Berkun (&)T. Anılan

Department of Civil Engineering, Karadeniz Technical

University, Trabzon 61080, Turkey

e-mail: berkun@ktu.edu.tr

E. Aras

Department of Civil Engineering, Gumushane University,

Gumushane 29100, Turkey

123

J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313

DOI 10.1007/s10163-011-0028-7

– A total amount of 7,136,000 tonnes of waste, of which

39,130 tonnes were hazardous and 7,096,932 tonnes

were nonhazardous, were brought to 18 controlled

landﬁll sites. The total capacity of these sites was

309.5 million tonnes. The amount of waste disposed of

in controlled landﬁll sites were 7,078,179 tonnes.

– 30,911 tonnes of hazardous waste were brought to

three incineration plants having a total capacity of 44

thousand tonnes per year. 29,807 tonnes of this waste

were incinerated and 1,104 tonnes were transferred to

controlled landﬁll sites. In addition to that, 5,586 ton-

nes of ash and slag remaining from incineration were

disposed of in controlled landﬁll sites. Two incinera-

tion plants with energy recovery produced 11,212 MW

of electricity.

– 339,114 tonnes of waste were brought to four com-

posting plants having a total capacity of 606 thousand

tonnes per year. After the sorting processes, 165,351

tonnes of waste were sent to composting units and

29,256 tonnes of compost were produced. 160,000 ton-

nes of mixed and undifferentiated waste were trans-

ferred to controlled landﬁll sites.

– 85% of 1,583,519 m

of leachate collected in 13

disposal and recovery facilities was discharged into the

sewerage systems of municipalities after being treated

in the leachate treatment plants within the facilities,

and the remaining 15% was discharged without treat-

ment. Collected leachate was sprayed onto wastes in

eight facilities and evaporated in two facilities.

Since incineration and sanitary landﬁll are expensive

both in initial investment and throughout their operation,

their use is mostly conﬁned to developed countries, while

open dumping, at lower cost, is the method used in eco-

nomically developing countries. Turkey’s traditional

means of disposing of solid waste has been to dump it at

the open sites or at sea, which means that solid wastes are

just dumped without any precautions being taken. Serious

accidents, such as the methane explosion at the Umraniye

open dump, Istanbul, in April 1995, which killed 39 peo-

ple, or the slippage of a huge mass of solid waste from the

Istanbul Kemerburgaz open dump onto the neighboring

road in May 1996, demonstrate the signiﬁcant threat posed

by this method of disposal [10].

Turkey’s municipal solid waste generally consists of

wastes generated from residential and commercial areas,

industries, parks, and streets, and is not sorted at the

source, but collected in the same waste bins. Data are

available about the amount of solid waste in each of these

groups. The only data available have been obtained by

investigations conducted at the source residential areas.

Municipal solid waste per capita is determined from the

Table 1 Number and population of municipalities served by municipal waste services and amount of waste collected seasonally [20]

Waste collected

Year Turkey’s

total

population

Population of

municipalities

Number of

municipalities

questioned

Population of

municipalities

questioned

Total

amount

(tonnes/

year)

Per capita

(kg/capita-

day)

Amount of

waste in

summer

(tonnes/

summer)

Amount

(tonnes/

day)

Per capita

(kg/capita-

day)

Amount of

waste in

winter

(tonnes/

winter)

Amount

(tonnes/

day)

Per capita

(kg/capita-

day)

2001 67,803,927 53,407,613 3,215 53,377,431 25,133,696 1.35 12,534,609 67,301 1.32 12,599,087 69,341 1.36

2002 67,803,927 53,421,379 3,215 53,391,197 25,373,134 1.34 12,700,895 68,425 1.32 12,672,239 69,387 1.34

2003 67,803,927 53,430,733 3,215 53,400,551 26,117,539 1.38 12,858,960 70,800 1.37 13,258,579 71,312 1.38

2004 67,803,927 53,935,050 3,213 53,903,955 25,013,520 1.31 12,783,745 68,153 1.30 12,229,775 67,455 1.29

2006 70,586,256 58,581,515 3,225 58,581,515 25,279,971 1.21 12,749,850 69,349 1.21 12,530,121 68,363 1.19

2008 70,586,256 58,581,515 3,225 58,581,515 24,360,863 1.15 13,306,071 66,775 1.16 11,054,792 65,271 1.13

306 J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313

123

amount of solid waste transported to the disposal areas. The

data obtained in this way are not dependable, because the

amount of solid waste taken to the ﬁnal disposal areas does

not reﬂect the actual amount of solid waste generated.

The ﬁrst gas burning power plant in Istanbul with 6 MW

capacity, a steam engine turbine generator with 5.2 MW

inbuilt capacity in Izmit, and sanitary landﬁlling applica-

tions in some major cities with recovery and recycling have

been encouraging alternatives for the future applications.

In this paper, a general overview of solid waste data and

management practices including waste recovery and recy-

cling initiatives with some employed case studies in Tur-

key were given.

Collection, transport, and disposal

The collection and transport of solid waste is the respon-

sibility of the municipalities by law. Household solid

wastes are transported by municipality-owned trucks

(6–20 m

capacity) equipped with a hydraulic press.

Metallic bins and containers are used to collect the muni-

cipal solid waste from the households. Typical bin sizes are

400 and 800 l. The local municipalities supply containers

and bins, and the residents are required to bring their solid

waste into these bins within plastic waste bag supplied by

the market.

The solid waste disposal methods have lately become a

major public concern in Turkey. Open dumps are the

majority of the municipal solid waste disposal sites.

Although the numbers of sanitary landﬁlls seem very small,

it corresponds to almost 20% of municipal solid waste

being land ﬁlled (Tables 2and 3). It is also known that

several other municipal landﬁlls are in the project or bid-

ding phases. Therefore, within the next 10 years, more than

50% of municipal solid waste in Turkey is expected to be

land ﬁlled.

Recycling and materials recovery

Solid waste recovery and recycling has been a long-

standing commercial activity in Turkey. Glass and paper

recycling have been conducted at industrial scales since the

1950s [12]. With the recent investments in the recycling

industry, almost all types of the plastic materials, glass,

paper, and metals can be recycled at industrial levels.

Turkey, as one of the biggest steel scrap importers of the

world, recycles more than 2 million tonnes of steel scrap

annually. The recycling of nonferrous metals is also

widespread and conducted at an industrial scale, including

aluminum, copper, lead, and silver. The scrap metal recy-

cling industry is essentially built on small- and medium-

Table 2 Main waste indicators of municipalities [20]

Year 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2008

Number of municipalities served by municipal waste services 1,985 2,126 2,172 2,275 2,579 2,921 2,984 3,018 3,028 3,115 3,129

Amount of municipal waste collected (1,000 tonnes/year) 17,757 20,910 22,483 24,180 24,945 25,134 25,373 26,118 25,014 25,280 24,361

Amount of municipal waste per capita (kg/capita-day) 1.10 1.27 1.37 1.46 1.51 1.35 1.34 1.38 1.31 1.21 1.15

Amount of municipal waste per capita in summer season (kg/capita-day) 1.04 1.19 1.29 1.41 1.46 1.32 1.32 1.37 1.30 1.21 1.16

Amount of municipal waste per capita in winter season (kg/capita-day) 1.15 1.31 1.42 1.50 1.54 1.36 1.34 1.38 1.29 1.19 1.13

Controlled landﬁll number 2 6 688121215162237

Capacity (1,000 tonnes) 76,750 202,527 202,527 216,690 216,690 261,282 277,195 278,015 278,060 376,974 390,478

Amount of waste disposed of (1,000 tonnes/year) 809 1,444 2,847 4,364 5,258 8,304 7,047 7,432 7,002 9,942 10,037

Composting plant number 2 2 222345544

Capacity (1,000 tonnes/year) 245 245 245 245 245 299 664 667 667 605 551

Amount of waste brought to composting plant (1,000 tonnes/year) 192 159 179 180 166 218 383 326 351 268 276

Incineration plant number 0 1 122333332

Capacity (1,000 tonnes/year) 0 9 9 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44

Amount of medical waste incinerated (1,000 tonnes/year) 0 0.3 3 9 15 779868

Rate of population served by waste disposal and recovery facilities in total

population (%)

5 6 10 15 16 26 25 25 26 34 39

J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313 307

123

scale scrap dealers spread around the country. This type of

operation is also valid for most of the collection and

recovery of recyclable municipal solid waste.

The scrap dealers and individual collectors mostly

conduct the recovery of plastics, paper, glass, and metal

from municipal solid waste. These individual collectors

and scrap dealers purchase the used packaging (mostly

paper and cardboard) from commercial units, markets, and

business centers and reprocess (sort and bale) these mate-

rials to sell directly to the industrial recycling facilities. In

addition, scavenging and collection from the waste bins is a

widespread activity. Since this type of collection and

recovery process is a part of ‘‘unregistered’’ economic

activity, it is difﬁcult to specify ﬁgures reﬂecting the actual

collection and recovery. However, estimates made by

experienced individuals working in this ﬁeld indicates that

the total amount of municipal solid waste recovered in

Turkey is probably over 1.0 million tonnes/year. Separate/

curbside collection of the recyclable materials has started

within the last 10 years in Turkey. Currently, more than 60

municipal recovery programs (glass, paper, metal, and

plastics) are operational nationwide. These pilot programs

have been a useful tool to develop relevant statistical basis

for solid waste recovery activities.

The Secretariat General for EU Affairs reported that

the recycling and recovery of packaging waste rate was

well above 40% in Turkey [8]. However, most of these

activities operate within the hands of private entrepre-

neurs and waste collectors working on streets and in

waste yards. This is obviously driven by the fact that a

strong used material market operates in Turkey, as well as

by the limited economic conditions in the country that

provide an employment opportunity for this sector. Paper

and cardboard are collected through the scrap/waste

dealers and delivered to recycling facilities nationwide.

There exists approximately 30 medium- to large-scale

paper recyclers, operating with capacities exceeding

50 tonnes/day. The output of these facilities is mostly the

packaging cardboard made out of recycled paper. Glass

recycling also works on the free market principles, which

is mostly operated by the Glassworks Co. of Turkey,

consuming more than 90% of the collected used glass

bottles. The collection and recovery scheme is essentially

the same as paper and cardboard recovery. In addition to

Table 3 Amount of disposed/

recovered waste brought to

controlled landﬁll sites by type

of waste and disposal/recovery

methods [20]

Type of waste Controlled land

ﬁlled (tonnes/year)

Sold or donated

(tonnes/year)

Hazardous Nonhazardous Hazardous Nonhazardous

Total 57,338 9,979,785 5 1,619,699

Chemical wastes 1,537 211,222 – –

Waste oils – – 2 –

Sludges from the treatment of industrial

wastewater and puriﬁcation

of process water

3,044 168,435 – –

Medical wastes 37,195 2,688 – –

Metallic wastes – – – 113,385

Glass wastes – 307 – 199,892

Paper and cardboard wastes – 1,528 – 800,734

Rubber wastes – – – 161,236

Plastic wastes – 1,254 – 316,673

Wood wastes – 914 – 12,173

Textile wastes – 278,938 – 8,958

Discarded equipment and vehicles 77 761 – 127

Waste batteries and accumulators 173 – 3 –

Vegetable wastes – 293,224 – 351

Animal wastes from food processing – 90,924 – –

Manure – 42,275 – –

Household and similar wastes – 7,851,580 – –

Mixed and undifferentiated wastes 15 249,646 – 6,170

Sorting residues – 104,586 – –

Sludges from urban wastewater treatment – 34,660 – –

Mineral wastes 15,297 646,843 – –

308 J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313

123

glass bottle banks spread around large cities, private

entrepreneurs and scrap dealers collect, sort, and prepare

used glass bottles for recycling.

Signiﬁcant efforts have been made, in recent years, to

increase the number of glass bottle banks and separate

collection systems. The plastics and metal packaging

collection system is essentially the same. PET recycling

has been an industrial activity since the establishment of a

major PET recycling plant in 1992. Currently, three

industrial-scale PET recycling plants exist in Turkey, with

a total operating capacity exceeding 25,000 tonnes per

year. HDPE, LDPE, and PVC post-consumer bottle

recycling has also been a long-standing operation and has

been evolving since the oil crises in the 1970s. Several

small-scale plastics recyclers (like PVC recycling opera-

tions) exist, since these facilities can be established with

fairly low initial investments. In summary, a strong

market demand exists for almost all types of packaging

waste, regardless of its nature. Current scrap material

prices are indicative of the world market inﬂuences.

However, glass, paper, and PET recycling are being

conducted at fairly high industrial capacities, which is

another important recyclable item in household solid

waste. Used beverage and tin cans are being recycled

together with steel scrap by the steel smelters. Several

small-scale aluminum recyclers are spread around the

country and a major aluminum can recycler recently

started operation in the western part of Turkey, with a

capacity of 12,000 tonnes/year. Due to the high intrinsic

economic value of aluminum cans, the aluminum col-

lection and recycling rate is fairly high, exceeding 60%

recovery rate.

The district municipality of Bakirkoy established the

only recycling center in Istanbul, though it is, in reality, a

sorting center rather than a recycling center. It has been

operated as a pilot project covering the nearby districts of

Bakirkoy. In chosen districts, residents collect packaging

wastes such as glass, plastic bottles, cartons, and metal

containers in the plastic bags/containers distributed to them

by the municipality. These wastes are collected and

transferred to the Bakirkoy waste separation center on

certain assigned days of the week by the municipality’s

vehicles. The laborers sort them manually and compact

them to reduce their size, and then they are sent to different

factories to be reused and converted into useful products.

Recently, Kadikoy has become another district munici-

pality which has started a waste-recycling program. The

solid wastes will be sorted at source and then collected and

transferred to the recovery center located in the same dis-

trict. After the ﬁnal separation of the solid wastes manually

in the center, they will be crushed, pressed, and converted

to granules, bailed, and sold to the industry for further

processing and recycling.

Materials recovery facilities can be self-sufﬁcient if

operated at capacities exceeding 70% of the established

capacity, whereas the initial investment to set up large-

scale collection and recovery schemes is the major barrier

that the municipalities have to overcome. Participation rate

measurements indicated that, although 80–85% of citizens

are willing to participate in municipal recovery programs,

the actual participation varies between 35–45%.

Costs and ﬁnancing

Cost data on solid waste management in Turkey is usually

highly controversial and complicated, due to the nature of

the subject. The cost data is further complicated by the

speciﬁcs of the municipal region and the cost-accounting

methodology employed. Revenues are sufﬁcient to cover the

general operational costs of material recovery facilities if

operated at full capacities. Depending on the source com-

position or depending on the collection method employed, a

relatively acceptable commercial proﬁt can be retained.

Costs of items are categorized with different types of col-

lection methodology. Collections through bring-centers

yield relatively high investment costs and low operational

costs, whereas the door-to-door collection of recyclable

materials by plastic bags has the lowest investment cost.

However, the continuing consumption of plastic bags yields

relatively higher operational costs [11,22]. Material

recovery facilities are usually self-sufﬁcient if operated at

their established capacities, whereas the initial investment to

set up large-scale collection and recovery schemes still

remains to be the major barrier for the municipalities.

Landﬁll leachate

Although solid waste leachate disposal into the sea directly

without treatment is a generally used practice in coastal

settlements, recently built sanitary landﬁlls have treatment

facilities. Leachate characteristics and treatability have

been investigated by Ozkaya et al. [13], Inanc et al. [9],

Pala and Erden [14], and Timur and O

¨zturk [21]. Leachate

compositions of some major Turkish cities show that the

organic and heavy metal concentrations are higher than the

Turkish wastewater discharge limits (Table 4). Leachate

treatment for organic and heavy metal removal before

discharge is compulsory according to the Turkish waste-

water discharge regulations. Although existing landﬁll

leachate treatment have inadequacies in most of the

deposition sites, recently built modern integrated solid

waste treatment systems have leachate treatment using

second- (aerobic–anaerobic) and third-stage (metal

removal–ﬁltering) treatment facilities.

J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313 309

123

Medical waste

The number of private and government hospitals in Turkey

is constantly increasing. This increases the quantity of

medical wastes. The amount of medical waste collected

separately by destination is given in Table 5[18].

Although the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has

developed regulations aimed to ensure the appropriate

handling and processing of medical waste, there are

shortcomings and difﬁculties to uphold the regulations in

practice. This can be achieved by the integrated study of

local administrations. Istanbul is a model city to all other

cities in Turkey related to medical waste management. The

ﬁndings of the case study carried out showed that medical

wastes collected from hospitals constituted 41% of the total

solid wastes collected, with the remainder (59%) being

municipal waste. The estimated quantity of medical waste

from the hospitals was about 22 tonnes/day, representing

an average generation rate of 0.63 kg/bed-day, which is

below the average range of 1.5–3.9 kg/bed-day of medical

waste in other countries [5].

Results and discussion

According to the results of Municipal Waste Statistics

Survey 2008, which was applied to all municipalities, waste

services were given in 3,129 municipalities out of 3,225

(Table 1). The amount of waste collected from municipal-

ities receiving waste collection services was 13.31 million

Table 4 Landﬁll leachate characteristics of Turkish cities [3,6,7,15]

City TRWC

Istanbul (Kemerburgaz

landﬁll site)

Bursa Trabzon Gaziantep Izmir (Harmandalı

landﬁll site)

BOD

(mg/l) – 35,000 8,084 500–15,625 10,750–11,000 250

COD (mg/l) 15,490 51,400 14,865 2,431–37,024 16,200–20,000 400

TKN (mg/l) 1,985 35,000 1,793 1,602–2,730 1,350–2,650 40

-N (mg/l) 1,880 – 1,615 – – –

-N (mg/l) – 1,012 – 1,379–2,430 1,120–2,500 –

-N (mg/l) 87 – – 60.7–285 – –

Total P (mg/l) 1.72 26.17 1.85 7.7–14.4 – 10

TSS (mg/l) 4,430 2,561 4,487 – – 350

Volatile acids (mg/l) – – – – 7,700–9,500 –

(mg/l) 4,120 – 3,961 5,725–9,702 – –

pH 7.86 6.42 7.73 7.90–7.30 7.3–7.8 6–10

Alkalinity (mg CaCO

-1

) 12,130 8,509 11,855 12,897–18,150 7,050–12,100 –

Iron (mg/l) 73 248 – 2.66–25.2 – –

Copper (mg/l) 0.2 6.83 – 0.26–1.45 – 2

Manganese (mg/l) 3.36 – 0.20–0.85 – –

Zinc (mg/l) 1.82 56.58 – 0.47–2.20 – 10

Nickel (mg/l) 0.7 – – 1.23–5.80 – 5

Lead (mg/l) – 23.8 – 0.67–1.91 – 3

Chromium (mg/l) – 9.62 – 0.00–2.24 – 5

Cadmium (mg/l) – – – 0.12–0.25 – 2

TRWC Turkey’s receiving water criteria

Table 5 Amount of medical waste collected separately by destina-

tion [18]

Disposal methods Number of

municipalities

Amount of medical

waste (tonnes/year)

Turkey 495 69,628

Metropolitan municipality’s

dumping site

34 10,542

Municipality’s dumping site 223 19,233

Another municipality’s

dumping site

20 341

Controlled landﬁll 22 15,732

Incineration plant 35 13,846

Burial 112 6,733

Burning in an open area 49 3,201

Includes district and subdistrict municipalities served by metro-

politan municipalities

310 J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313

123

tonnes in summer and 11.05 million tonnes in winter,

adding up to an annual total of 24.36 million tonnes.

According to the survey results, the daily amount of

municipal waste per capita was calculated as 1.16 kg in

summer, 1.13 kg in winter, and 1.15 kg for the yearly

average. Of the 24.36 million tonnes of waste collected in

municipalities in 2008, 41.3% was disposed of in a

municipality’s dump, 9.3% in a metropolitan municipality’s

dump, 1.4% in another municipality’s dump, 1% by burning

in an open area, 0.4% by burial, 0.2% by dumping into lakes

and rivers, 44.9% was transferred to controlled landﬁlls, and

1.1% was brought to composting plants. In 2008, the total

capacity of 37 controlled landﬁll sites was 390 million

tonnes and a total amount of 11,656,827 tonnes of waste

were brought to these sites. 93.9% of the incoming waste

was municipal waste and 6.1% was waste brought by other

economic sectors and wastes transferred from incineration

and composting facilities. 10,037,123 tonnes of waste was

disposed of in controlled landﬁll sites and 1,619,704 tonnes

of waste was sold or donated. In addition to that, in three

sterilization facilities, which came into operation in 2008

with an overall capacity of 13 thousand tonnes/year,

3,153 tonnes of medical waste was sterilized. 2,688 tonnes

of the sterilized waste was transferred to controlled landﬁll

sites and 465 tonnes was transferred to municipal dumping

sites. In 2008, 29,117 tonnes of hazardous waste was

incinerated in two incineration plants having a total

capacity of 44 thousand tonnes per year, and 6,806 tonnes

of hazardous waste was transferred to controlled landﬁlls. In

2008, 275,752 tonnes of waste was brought to four com-

posting plants having a total capacity of 551 thousand

tonnes per year. After the sorting processes, 143,000 tonnes

of waste was composted and 46,827 tonnes of compost

were produced. 120,906 tonnes of waste which cannot be

composted was transferred to controlled landﬁll sites.

11,808 tonnes of waste was sold.

The composition of municipal solid waste varies by the

source of waste; however, in all cases, organic constituents

account for more than 50% of municipal solid waste.

However, regardless of the source of collection, whether it

is commercial, residential, or a tourist site, the majority of

the material collected is composed of paper and cardboard.

Glass packaging ranks second, with an average of 20–25%

(by weight) and plastics constitute 15–20% of the outputs

of the material recovery facilities.

Organic components can be assumed to be 50–55%,

whereas recyclable and others (ash and slag, dust, etc.) can

be assumed to be 20–25%. Signiﬁcant alterations may be

presented due to the condensed population, type of con-

sumption and speciﬁc nature of waste sources, seasonal

changes, and demographic factors. Generated waste quan-

tities in some big cities show substantial changes compared

to others. This can be caused by the percentage differences

of the low income level population densities in these cities.

Higher waste generation in winter can be caused by the ash

and slag disposal. Differences in the municipal solid waste

quantities in some big cities can be caused by the popu-

lation density variations and by the types of the industrial

establishments. The presence of high percentages of ash

and slag in the wastes is caused by the used coal for winter

heating (Tables 6and 7).

Integrated waste management applications seem eligible

for the metropolitan cities like Istanbul and Izmit in the

western Black Sea region. Attempts have not been

encouraging for the scattered regional settlements region

using central storage sites due to ﬁnancial shortages and

received rejections from nearby settlements (e.g., south-

eastern Black Sea region). So, the application of small-

scale compact solid waste management systems with

materials recycling and composting can be more suitable

alternatives in the small-scale regional settlements. Solid

wastes of Turkey are deﬁcient in nitrogen but rich in

organic carbon, causing an inappropriate C/N ratio for

composting with high water contents (Table 8). Low

caloriﬁc values of the wastes indicate unsuitability for

Table 6 Household solid waste (HSW) composition in Turkey [16]

Season HSW

(kg/capita-day)

Organic and

wet (%)

Ash and

slag (%)

Recyclable

(%)

Summer 0.6 80.21 2.61 17.18

Winter 0.5 46.2 45.89 7.9

Average 0.57 68.87 17.04 14.09

Table 7 Municipal solid waste in Turkey [17]

Municipal solid waste

(kg/capita-day)

Treatment of solid waste

Year: 1994 2001

Summer 0.9

Winter 1.0 Landﬁll (%) 4.7 15

Average 0.97 Composting (%) 1.1 2.0

Table 8 Solid waste characteristics of the major cities in Turkey

[1–3]

City pH C

(%)

C/N

ratio

Water

content (%)

L. cal. value

(kJ/kg)

Trabzon 6.32 35.12 0.51 68.50 76.25 1,703

Istanbul 7.99 21.32 0.84 34.00 47.60 3,773

Ankara 4.94 24.42 1.61 15.28 76.42 460

Izmir 6.94 25.50 1.20 27.50 50.25 1,042

J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313 311

123

incineration. Sanitary landﬁlls and associated power plants

(e.g., Istanbul 6 MW plant) seem to be appropriate disposal

methods, while composting seems to be potentially appli-

cable. Although gas burners cause considerable gas emis-

sions in the landﬁll sites, greenhouse emissions from

landﬁlls are also an emulous matter of concern, both of

which have not been extensively studied countrywide.

According to 2004 SIS reports, 59.4% of the CH

emission

is originated from solid waste disposal in Turkey.

Some solid disposal methods, as a part of integrated

solid waste management systems, have been successfully

applied in Istanbul and Izmit. But, due to the massive

solid wastes of Istanbul metropolitan city, these measures

are still far from adequate (Fig. 1). Besides recycling/

recovery, applications of composting and appropriate

incineration (for medical wastes) methods should be

encouraged in order to minimize the generation of solid

wastes. Although land ﬁlling is the cheapest method for

the disposal of solid wastes, it is getting harder to ﬁnd

appropriate landﬁll sites each year by the ever increasing

rates of solid wastes.

Appropriate composting technology can be applied

alternatively if solid waste characteristics are suitably

adjusted for composting. The removal of medical wastes

using modern technologies (e.g., pyrolysis) is urgently

needed.

Especially for the integrated solid waste management

applications in the solid-waste-rich metropolitan cites,

methane recovery from organic substances, gas engine

generation, and heat recovery by combustion are also

important considerations for the future management poli-

cies of Turkey.

References

1. Alyanak I (1987) Solid waste related problems in Izmir and

applied protective measures. Man and Environment (in Turkish)

2. Basturk A (1997) Design of solid waste plant and problems in

Istanbul. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on

Environmental Problems of Istanbul and Solutions of Them,

Istanbul, Yildiz Technical University Press, pp 103–109

3. Berkun M (2001) Solid waste characteristics and removal in the

Southeastern Black Sea Region, Karadeniz Technical University

Research Fund Project No: 91112001

4. Berkun M, Aras E, Nemlioglu S (2005) Disposal of solid waste in

Istanbul and along the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Waste Manag

25:847–855

5. Birpınar ME, Bilgili MS, Erdog

˘an T (2009) Medical waste

management in Turkey: a case study of Istanbul. Waste Manag

29(1):445–448

6. C¸ec¸en F, Yangin C (2000) Comparison of BOD results obtained

by dilution and manometric methods in sanitary landﬁll leachates.

J Environ Monit 2:628–633

7. C¸ec¸en F, C¸akırog

˘lu D (2001) Impact of landﬁll leachate on

the co-treatment of domestic wastewater. Biotechnol Lett

23:821–826

8. EUSG (2006) Packaging and packaging waste directive 94/62/ec.

http://www.abgs.gov.tr/tarama/tarama_ﬁles/27/SC27DET_03.25.

PackagingPresentation.pdf. Accessed 29 May 2006

9. Inanc B, Calli B, Saatci A (2000) Characterization and anaerobic

treatment of the sanitary landﬁll leachate in Istanbul. Water Sci

Technol 41(3):223–230

10. Kocasoy G, Curi K (1995) The U

¨mraniye-Hekimbas¸i open dump

accident. Waste Manag Res 13:305–314

11. Lund HF (1993) The McGraw-Hill recycling handbook.

McGraw-Hill, New York

12. Neyim OC, Metin E, Erozturk A (2001) Packing waste in Turkey,

recovery implementations and recycling industry. In: Proceedings

of the 2nd International Packaging Congress and Exhibition,

proceedings book, p 561

13. Ozkaya B, Demir A, Bastu

¨rk A, Bilgili MS (2004) Investigation

of leachate recirculation effects in Istanbul odayeri sanitary

MARMARA SEA

BLACK SEA

ASIAN

SIDE

EUROPEAN

SIDE

KOMURCUODA

UMRANIYE

KUCUKBAKKALKOY

YAKACIK TUZLA

SISLI

HASDAL

ODAYERI

KISIRMANDIRA

HALKALI

YENIBOSNA

Kücükçekmece

Lake

Büyükcekmece

Lake

Ömerli Lake

Sanitary Landfills

Closed and Rehabilitated Open Dumping Sites

Transfer Stations

Gas To Energy Plant

Medical Waste Incineration

Composting and Sorting Plant

Selected Routes Between Landfills and Transfer Stations

Fig. 1 The integrated solid

waste management scheme of

Istanbul metropolitan city [4]

312 J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313

123

landﬁll. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng

39(4):873–883

14. Pala A, Erden G (2004) Chemical pretreatment of landﬁll

leachate discharged into municipal biological treatment systems.

Environ Eng Sci 21(5):549–557

15. Salihoglu KN, Salihoglu G, Pinarli V (2002) Assessment of

leachate from the municipal landﬁll of Bursa. In: Proceedings of

the Symposium of Appropriate Environmental and Solid Waste

Management and Technologies for Developing Countries, ISWA,

vol 2, pp 857–864

16. State Institute of Statistics (SIS) (1993) Environmental statistics,

Household Solid Waste Composition Survey

17. State Institute of Statistics (SIS) (1994) Municipal environmental

inventory, fundamental environment indicators

18. State Institute of Statistics (SIS) (1995) Environmental statistics.

SIS Press, Ankara

19. State Institute of Statistics (SIS) (2004) Solid waste statistics

20. State Institute of Statistics (SIS) (2008) Municipal waste statis-

tics, no. 50

21. Timur H, O

¨zturk I (1999) Anaerobic sequencing batch reactor

treatment of landﬁll leachate. Water Res 33(15):3225–3230

22. White PR, Franke M, Hindle P (1995) Integrated solid waste

management: a life cycle inventory. Blackie Academic & Pro-

fessional: Chapman & Hall, London. ISBN 0-7514-0046-7

J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2011) 13:305–313 313

123

Sustainable Waste Management Through Systems Engineering Models and Remote Sensing Approaches

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2022

Ajay Singh

The burgeoning population has endangered the sustainability of urban areas where over half of the total global population will live by 2050. The population growth has increased the rate of waste production noticeably during the recent past. And its disposal and management are a serious environmental problem across the world. The problem is severe in developing nations because of the quick populace rise and urbanization, the absence of funding and policies, and poor and irregular waste management services. Besides, most municipal authorities in developing nations mainly focus on waste disposal and not management. Appropriate management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is essential for accomplishing many United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN’ SDGs) such as SDG6 “Clean Water and Sanitation,” SDG11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities,” and SDG12 “Responsible Consumption and Production.” This paper assesses the use of diverse systems engineering models and remote sensing, GIS, and GPS for appropriate disposal and management of MSW issues. All the possible sources of related and up-to-date literature have been accessed and more than 210 publications were collected and thoroughly analyzed for this review. The past literature analysis revealed that the cost–benefit analysis models were used to appraise a waste management system’s positive and negative economic effects. In contrast, optimization models were used to reach the best solution among several options, considering a set of objectives. The analysis also revealed that the GPS applications were primarily done for tracking waste bins and collection vehicles for monitoring collection time and location. Moreover, the investigation revealed that the combined applications of GPS and GIS techniques performed better than their specific applications. The analysis of numerous global case studies disclosed that political, socioeconomic, hydrological, geological, and environmental factors should be taken into account for a proper landfill siting.

5R's of Zero Waste Management to save our green planet: A Narrative review

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022

Earth, the green planet is the only planet in our solar system known to host life. In the absence of food and water, life cannot survive. Without productive soil, the world would fail to support even half of its present organisms, or a tenth of its human population. At present, basic natural resources needed for human life are either growing scarce or are frequently polluted. In many parts of the world, soil is degraded, water is scarce, and food supplies are declining. In modern times, the waste generated by humans has become a big challenge for our environment. Several developed as well as developing countries are generating enormous amount of waste and struggling to deal with it in a sustainable way. Waste that is non-biodegradable or non-recyclable is not only filling landfills but also affecting our water bodies, grasslands, fields, climate, public health, wildlife, and so forth. Since we have limited space on earth to dispose all the waste, it is imperative to take steps to manage the waste by using the resources efficiently. Zero Waste management is a global movement designed to reduce waste in our society. The concept of 5R's is to decrease the number of things we use and simultaneously also decrease the number of things we throw away. The intent of this article is to understand the existing global status of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation as well as to explore various ways to manage ever growing volume of waste, which poses formidable challenges to both high and low-income countries of the world.

Assessment of municipal solid waste management system in Lae City, Papua New Guinea in the context of sustainable development

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2021
Environ Dev Sustain

Lae City (LC) of Morobe Province is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. Due to the abundant natural resources it inherits, the resultant urbanization has led to an influx of the human population. This increase in population as a result of industrialization has led to increased municipal solid waste (MSW) accumulation. To address this exigent issue, which affects the nation’s carbon footprint, it is imperative to review socio-economic and geographic factors to establish a feasible approach for managing MSW efficiently and sustainably. In the quest to achieve the same, the present assessment focuses on the 3 core waste management hierarchy systems to support sustainable development for LC by reviewing existing opportunities and challenges associated with the current MSW management system and the associated policies. The result shows that as a sustainable approach to MSW management of LC, a zero-waste campaign for resource recovery engaging all stakeholders can be implemented since the organic content of MSW generated in LC is as high as 70%. Moreover, the dumping of MSW at the dedicated dumpsite site can be minimized if policies are strengthened and the proposed waste avoidance pathway is implemented strictly. In addition to this, to avoid the contamination of groundwater and recovery of methane, the use of the Fukuoka approach in the existing landfills has been suggested to capture leachate without any huge expenditure. Graphic abstract

Not really a waste! Exploring sustainable ways of managing waste from post-harvest processing of oil palm by households in Twifo Wawase community of the Central Region of Ghana

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2020

To help achieve sustainable development and reduce the impact of improper waste disposal, all aspects of waste disposal must be looked at. This study explored how rural households, especially women (who processed palm fruit and extracted palm oil for household use) disposed of the solid and liquid residue that is left after the process. A qualitative approach with descriptive research design was used to collect primary data from study participants. Purposive sampling was used to select 20 participants (women) for focus group discussion, whereas some women leaders of the community were also interviewed to gain in-depth knowledge on the subject matter. An observation checklist was also used as data collection tools. Data collected were analyzed systematically, by taking into consideration, the various themes of the study. Study participants indicated that the palm tree has endless value as they saw its usefulness from the fruits to the tree’s kernel. It was further revealed that whereas some residents and participants would dispose of the waste indiscriminately, several other places value on the by-product as being useful. The fiber waste was either treated to be used as fertilizers or as energy fuel for domestic activities. Though the palm kernel was mainly used for palm kernel oil for cooking and other purposes, they were sometimes hoarded and sold for money to buyers although this was seldomly done due to inadequate market for it. It was therefore recommended to the local government and other community-based organizations in the district pay attention to investing in sustainable ways with which the waste from palm trees could be used as a resource in the circular economy. Groups and agencies are also recommended to further educate the women on other means to use the waste as this would not only transform the livelihood of the households by reducing poverty but also be employed as a conduit to prevent pollution and environmental degradation.

Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal/resin luting agent bond strength: Influence of Titanium dioxide nanotubes addition in both materials

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2020

Purpose: To evaluate the shear bond strength (SBS) between Y-TZP and a resin luting agent, after 1 of 2 enhancing strategies with TiO2--nts was applied, either to the resin luting agent or the Y-TZP mass, in different concentrations. Methods: In the Strategy TiO2-nts on ceramic, the resin luting agent Panavia F2.0™ (Kuraray) and an experimental Y-TZP with added concentrations of TiO2--nts (0%, 1%, 2%, and 5% vol/vol) and a commercial Y-TZP, comprised 5 different groups (n = 10). In the Strategy TiO2-nts on cement, the resin luting agent RelyX U200™ (3 M ESPE) was added with different concentrations of TiO2--nts (0%, 0.3%, 0.6%, 0.9% wt/wt) luted to a commercial Y-TZP, comprising 4 different groups (n = 10). The Y-TZP discs were included in acrylic bases, and a cylinder (3 × 3 mm) of the correspondent luting agent for each respective group was applied over them. After 24 h, specimens were subjected to SBS assessments in a universal testing machine. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses were also performed on Y-TZP surfaces. Data were analyzed via analysis of variance and Tukey tests (α = 0.05). Results: TiO2-nts on ceramic influenced the bond strength significantly, but not linearly; TiO2-nts on cement did not influence bond strength when analyzed separately, nor in comparison with the first. Conclusion: Y-TZP enhancements with TiO2-nts led to a higher SBS with Panavia F2.0, a 5% TiO2--nt concentration presented the highest bond strength. Modified Rely X U200 did not improve SBS.

Strengths and Failure Characteristics of Self-Compacting Concrete Containing Recycled Waste Glass Aggregate

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2017

Osamah Ghazi

The effects of different proportions of green-colored waste glass (WG) cullet on the mechanical and fracture properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) were experimentally investigated. Waste bottles were collected, washed, crushed, and sieved to prepare the cullet used in this study. Cullet was incorporated at different percentages (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% by weight) instead of natural fine aggregate (NFA) and/or natural coarse aggregate (NCA). Three SCC series were designed with a constant slump flow of 700 ± 30 mm, total binder content of 570 kg/m 3 and at water-to-binder (w/b) ratio of 0.35. Moreover, fly ash (FA) was used in concrete mixtures at 20% of total binder content. Mechanical aspects such as compressive, splitting tensile, and net flexural strengths and modulus of elasticity of SCC were investigated and experimentally computed at 28 days of age. Moreover, failure characteristics of the concretes were also monitored via three-point bending test on the notched beams. The findings revealed that the mechanical properties as well as fracture parameters were adversely influenced by incorporating of WG cullet. However, highest reduction of compressive strength did not exceed 43% recorded at 100% WG replacement level. Concretes containing WG showed less brittle behavior than reference concrete at any content.

Effects of ZnO/TiO2 nanoparticle and TiO2 nanotube additions to dense polycrystalline hydroxyapatite bioceramic from bovine bones

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2019
DENT MATER

Objectives: A bovine dense hydroxyapatite ceramic (HA) was produced as new biomaterial, however, the production of a material with consistently high flexural strength remains challenging. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of ZnO nanoparticles, TiO2 nanoparticles, and TiO2 nanotubes (1%, 2%, and 5% by weight) on the microstructure and flexural strength of a bovine dense hydroxyapatite ceramic (HA). Methods: Discs (Ø=12.5mm; thickness=1.3mm) were prepared and subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD), and observation with a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), biaxial flexural strength (BFS) testing, and Vickers hardness (VH) testing. The BFS and VH data were subjected to ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests (α=0.05) and Weibull analysis. Results: The XRD showed that the addition of nanomaterials caused the formation of a secondary phase when 5% of the ZnO nanoparticles was used, or when all percentages of the TiO2 nanoparticles/nanotubes were used, and the HA crystallographic planes were maintained. Differences were not observed between the higher BFS values obtained with pure HA and those obtained with the 5% addition of TiO2 nanoparticles. However, the results were different compared with the other groups (α=0.05). The results obtained by Weibull analysis revealed that the 1%, 2%, and 5% addition of TiO2 nanotubes, and the 1% and 2% addition of TiO2 nanoparticles decreased the HA characteristic strength (σ0), while the Weibull modulus (m) increased when 5% of TiO2 nanoparticles, 1% and 2% of ZnO nanoparticles, and 2% of TiO2 nanoparticles were added, but with no statistical difference from the pure HA. The 5% addition of ZnO2 nanoparticles decreased the σ0 without changing m. Moreover, the 5% addition of TiO2 nanoparticles resulted in an m closest to that of pure HA. Regarding the VH results, the blend of HA with 1% and 2% addition of TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited the higher values, which were similar between the different addition ratios (p=0.102). Moreover, the addition of 5% TiO2 nanoparticles resulted in higher value compared with pure HA. Significance: This study demonstrated that the HA blend with 5% of TiO2 nanoparticles has the greatest potential as a bovine HA dense bioceramic reinforcement.

Solar Powered IoT based Smart Solid Waste Management System

Conference Paper

Oct 2021

Indicators and ICTs application for municipal waste management

Article

Apr 2021

Ajay Singh

The worldwide populace is rising steadily. Urbanization is likewise expanding quickly with the rising populace. Fast urbanization has considerably increased the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW). The MSW management issues have recently been analyzed through various assessment indicators and information and communication technologies (ICTs). This article provides an overview of applications of assessment indicators and ICTs for addressing the environmental issues of waste disposal and management in municipalities. The selection of indicators mainly depends on the stakeholders’ specific requirements, such as waste management strategies, urban planning and development, human health, and energy generation. The literature analysis revealed that collection, sorting, recycling, cost efficiency, and environmental aspect were the leading indicators used in waste management studies. And these indicators reduce the complexity of systems and formulate evaluations easier for the decision-maker. Moreover, these are also helpful in assessing the improvement and reporting the waste condition to the expert. These analysis further revealed that information and communication technology is a requirement in the planning and managing of current solid waste disposal problems. The use of ICTs in waste management systems mitigates possible constraints regarding spot selection, inept waste disposal, waste collection monitoring, and proper recycling.

An Alternative Approach to Waste Management: A Study on Toothpaste

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2020

Waste management is becoming the most inevitable circumstances of this globalised world. So our prime duty is to minimize the waste from industry to household. For that firstly we have to move a step ahead towards the recovery of nature by minimising the use of paper box for those product which come into tubes specially toothpaste. This paper critically examines the behaviour of creating waste and proposed towards the changing of attitude in household useless waste management. So the authors proposed here the tooth tablet (tooth tab) which can be easily used as a substitute of toothpaste that can be introduced in a glass jar without any paper cover box. Tooth tab will be also easy to carry and use.

Comparison of BOD results obtained by dilutionand manometric methods in sanitary landfill leachates

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2000
J ENVIRON MONITOR

This study examined the determination of BOD in landfill leachates by dilution (D-method) and manometric methods (M-method). The differences in results were discussed based on statistical tests. The effects of sample dilution, seeding, chloride and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) level were examined. The M-method was found to be more sensitive to increases in chloride and TKN concentrations. However, in the M-method the positive interference of nitrogenous BOD (NBOD) to carbonaceous BOD (CBOD) was more successfully prevented. The BOD rate constant k and the ultimate BOD (BODu) were estimated by non-linear regression. With the M-method these parameters could be more reliably estimated than the D-method. Suggestions were made for BOD analyses in landfill leachates in future studies.

Chemical Pretreatment of Landfill Leachate Discharged into Municipal Biological Treatment Systems

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2004

Landfill leachate produced in the Harmandali Landfill in Izmir in Turkey was characterized and chemically treated to examine chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal efficiencies. The leachate was coagulated adding various doses of an organic flocculant (DEC). Chemical oxidation was carried out using Fenton's reagent. Powdered activated carbon was used for adsorption to achieve improved COD and color removal in chemically treated leachate. The maximum removal efficiencies of 79% in COD and 98% in color were achieved by Fenton reagent and lime addition (at doses of 2,500 mg/L H2O2 + 2,500 mg/L FeSO(4)(.)7H(2)O(2)O(2)). The best DEC dose was found to be 4,600 mg/L, and COD and color removal efficiencies varied between 60-65% and 82-93%, respectively. A COD removal of 49% and a maximum color removal of 96% were obtained by lime slurry addition. Among the leachate samples, the highest COD and color removal was obtained using the Fenton's oxidation. Activated carbon adsorption tests indicated that the color parameter was best fitted to the Langmuir Isotherm (r(2) = 0.98). The isotherm constants were q(max) = 889 Mg Pt(.)Co(.)g(-1), K = 1,093. Oxygen uptake rate of the samples was also determined after lime and adsorption, Fenton and adsorption, DEC and adsorption, Fenton and lime, and DEC treatment. in raw landfill leachate and in its different dilutions with municipal wastewater. The oxygen uptake rate of municipal wastewater that is accepted as a reference value for biological treatability was found as 46 mg/L/h. In comparison to the OURS obtained from the different treatment alternatives, all alternatives were appropriate for biological treatment of leachate with the exception of discharging the raw leachate directly.

Impact of landfill leachate on the co-treatment of domestic wastewater

Article

Full-text available

May 2001

Landfill leachate and domestic wastewater were co-treated in batch activated sludge reactors and the ratio of leachate varied from 5 to 20% (v/v). The leachates had a non-biodegradable COD fraction of at least 20%. An increase in leachate adversely affected the co-treatment and it was concluded that the leachate ratio should never exceed 20% of the total wastewater or 50% of the initial COD. The initial Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) and the free ammonia level were identified as factors influencing the completion of nitrification.

Integrated Solid Waste Management: A Lifecycle Inventory

Article

Jan 1995

Life is often considered to be a journey. The lifecycle of waste can similarly be considered to be a journey from the cradle (when an item becomes valueless and, usually, is placed in the dustbin) to the grave (when value is restored by creating usable material or energy; or the waste is transformed into emissions to water or air, or into inert material placed in a landfill). This preface provides a route map for the journey the reader of this book will undertake. Who? Who are the intended readers of this book? Waste managers (whether in public service or private companies) will find a holistic approach for improving the environmental quality and the economic cost of managing waste. The book contains general principles based on cutting edge experience being developed across Europe. Detailed data and a computer model will enable operations managers to develop data-based improvements to their systems. Producers oj waste will be better able to understand how their actions can influence the operation of environmentally improved waste management systems. Designers oj products and packages will be better able to understand how their design criteria can improve the compatibility of their product or package with developing, environmentally improved waste management systems. Waste data specialists (whether in laboratories, consultancies or environ mental managers of waste facilities) will see how the scope, quantity and quality of their data can be improved to help their colleagues design more effective waste management systems.

Environmental statistics at Statistics Canada

Article

Jan 1990

This paper presents information on current activities within Statistics Canada in the area of environmental statistics. Special attention is given to ongoing work to enhance the environmental value of census data sets. A geographic information system (GIS) is used and is part of a larger effort to develop an approach to the problems of environmental data management for reporting on the state of the environment. Consequently this paper will discuss both the information system and other aspects of the environmental programme at Statistics Canada. This includes current activities to develop new data series and the creation of new tools to facilitate the identification and management of existing environmental information. -Authors

Integrated Solid Waste Management – A Life Cycle Inventory

Chapter

Jan 1999

This chapter discusses the needs of society: less waste, and then an effective way to manage the inevitable waste still produced. Such a waste management system needs to be both environmentally and economically sustainable and is likely to be integrated, market-oriented, flexible and operated on a regional scale. The current hierarchy of waste management options is critically discussed, and in its place is suggested a holistic approach that assesses the overall environmental impacts and economic costs of the whole system. Lifecycle techniques are introduced for comparing the overall environmental impacts and economic costs.

The Umraniye-Hekimbasi Open Dump Accident

Article

Jul 1995

The open dump of Ümraniye-Hekimbaşi was the main solid disposal site of the Asiatic side of Istanbul. At this site, which was in operation since 1976, 1500-2000 tonnes of solid wastes were disposed of daily. No waste compaction was undertaken during placement. The slope formed by the solid wastes was very steep (3 vertical to 1 horizontal), and recently demolition wastes were disposed of on top of these wastes. On 28 April 1993, an "explosion" took place, followed by the displacement of a large mass of solid wastes which engulfed 11 houses causing the death of 39 people. This paper investigates the possible reasons for this accident and concludes that it was caused by the initial sliding of the solid wastes, which were not deposited in a stable way, followed by an explosion of the methane generated and retained in the landfill. © 1995 ISWA

Integrated Solid Waste Management: A Life Cycle Inventory

Article

Sep 2001

The first edition described the concept of Integrated Waste Management (IWM), and the use of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) to provide a way to assess the environmental and economic performance of solid waste systems. Actual examples of IWM systems and published accounts of LCI models for solid waste are now appearing in the literature. To draw out the lessons learned from these experiences a significant part of this 2nd edition focuses on case studies - both of IWM systems, and of where LCI has been used to assess such systems. The 2nd edition also includes updated chapters on waste generation, waste collection, central sorting, biological treatment, thermal treatment, landfill and materials recycling. This 2nd edition also provides a more user-friendly model (IWM-2) for waste managers. To make it more widely accessible, this edition provides the new tool in Windows format, with greatly improved input and output features, and the ability to compare different scenarios. A detailed user's guide is provided, to take the reader through the use of the IWM-2 model, step by step. IWM-2 is designed to be an "entry level" LCI model for solid waste - user-friendly and appropriate to users starting to apply life cycle thinking to waste systems - while more expert users will also find many of the advanced features of the IWM-2 model helpful. IWM-2 is delivered on CD inside the book. © 2001 Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited. All rights reserved.

The Ümraniye-Hekimbaşi open dump accident

Article

Aug 1995

The open dump of Ümraniye-Hekimbaşi was the main solid disposal site of the Asiatic side of Istanbul. At this site, which was in operation since 1976, 1500–2000 tonnes of solid wastes were disposed of daily. No waste compaction was undertaken during placement. The slope formed by the solid wastes was very steep (3 vertical to I horizontal), and recently demolition wastes were disposed of on top of these wastes. On 28 April 1993, an “explosion” took place, followed by the displacement of a large mass of solid wastes which engulfed II houses causing the death of 39 people. This paper investigates the possible reasons for this accident and concludes that it was caused by the initial sliding of the solid wastes, which were not deposited in a stable way, followed by an explosion of the methane generated and retained in the landfill.

Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor Treatment of Landfill Leachate

Article

Oct 1999
WATER RES

Anaerobic treatability of municipal landfill leachate was evaluated using lab-scale anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBR) at 35°C. Experimental studies were conducted at wide-range of volumetric (0.4–9.4 g COD l−1 d−1) and specific (0.2–1.9 g COD g−1 VSS d−1) loading rates by varying hydraulic retention times (HRT) (10–1.5 days) and influent wastewater COD's (3800–15900 mg l−1). The COD removal efficiencies were in the range of 64–85% depending on volumetric and specific loading rates applied. The net daily biomass conversion yields were about 0.1 g volatile suspended solids (VSS) per g of COD removed. Bacterial decay rate constant was 0.01 d−1. The maximum volumetric methane production rate (VMPR) of 1.85 l CH4 l−1 d−1 was achieved at the volumetric loading rate of 9.4 g COD l−1 d−1. The specific methane production rates in terms of COD were about 1.06 g CH4–COD g VSS−1 d−1 in the reactor. The results have shown that about 83% of COD removed during the treatment was converted to methane. The average biomass yield was determined as 0.12 g VSS per gram of COD removed.