The latest advances in bulk waste management

Bulk waste management technology is constantly evolving with a strong focus today on recycling and converting waste into clean energy.

While other technologies are also under exploration including the use of GPS navigation, radio frequency ID tags, software applications and other equipment used to facilitate waste collection, the real groundswell is in “green” waste management.

The efforts by the Obama administration and the general concern worldwide over climate change and environmental degradation have focused money and resources on new sustainable solutions in all areas including how we treat bulk waste. More concentration is now placed on reducing excessive consumption, reusing and recycling.

Electronic waste or e-waste is a particular problem with millions of people worldwide purchasing new mobile phones, computers and other devices each year often discarding their older models. Much of this waste ends up in landfills depositing harmful toxins into the environment.

Creating energy from waste

Various technologies are now in use or are under development that use bulk waste to create energy. For example, organic materials in garbage and landfills naturally decay releasing methane gas. Methane gas is even more problematic than carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming. According to some experts, methane is about 20 times more potent in its greenhouse impact.

However, methane is also flammable and when burned to create energy releases less harmful carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Methane from landfills can be captured using special wells and then piped to electrical generators.

Waste can also be collected for the express purpose of energy generation. Such waste is brought directly to generation sites where it is composted in a more efficient manner than occurs at landfills.

In addition to trash and garbage, sewage waste can be used for power generation via methane production. Some new research also uses waste water to generate electricity in microbial fuel cells.

In a microbial fuel cell, the microorganisms in the waste water oxide organic fuels to create electrons that move between an anode and cathode creating an electrical current. By placing a resistor between the anode and cathode, electrical power is generated.

Creating fuel from waste

One form of waste that can be converted very easily into fuel is waste cooking oil from restaurants. Such oil when filtered can be used by certain types of vehicles as a type of biodiesel.

Organic waste from various industries can also be converted into fuel. For example, agricultural refuse can be processed using microorganisms and/or enzymes to create biodiesel or ethanol. New research uses powerful enzymes that make it economically feasible to break down corn cobs and other cornfield waste into cellulosic ethanol.

Some utilities have converted old coal plants into partial biomass generators by burning waste wood from lumber mills and other timber and forest industries. The waste is mixed with coal to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Even animal waste can potentially be converted into fuel. Some research is exploring the possibility, for example, of converting manure from the pig farming industry into ersatz oil. Pig manure is not often used as fertilizer, so converting it into a biofuel would help farmers deal with large pig manure mounds.

In addition to converting organic wastes into fuel, there is also research into converting inorganic waste. Plastic waste, for example, is a major problem that is contributing to well-publicized environmental problems including the “garbage patches” in the Pacific and other oceans. New technologies can break down plastics to create diesel fuel and oil.

Eco-waste management will continue to grow

With governments committing vast monetary and other resources into the development of green technology in the coming years, we should seen a continued emphasis on green methods of bulk waste management.

Efforts by nations to reduce carbon emission will also bolster this trend in the future. We can expect that increasingly waste disposal sites will double as power generation sites, and this will be the case especially with newer projects.

Copyright Fell Environmental 2010