This book illustrates practical approaches to recycling solutions, and will provide needed guidance to public officials and other interested parties. This book addresses both art and science aspects of recycling. Many communities are faced with difficult choices when it comes to expanding or maintaining current recycling efforts.

Solid Waste Recycling and Processing, Second Edition, provides best-practice guidance to solid waste managers and recycling coordinators. The book covers all aspects of solid waste processing, volume reduction, and recycling, encompassing typical recyclable materials (paper, plastics, cans, and organics), construction and demolition debris, electronics, and more. It includes techniques, technologies, and programs to help maximize customer participation rates and revenues, as well as to minimize operating costs. The book is packed with lessons learned by the author during the implementation of the most successful programs worldwide, and includes numerous case studies showing how different systems work in different settings. This book also takes on industry debates such as the merits of curbside-sort versus single-stream recycling and the use of advanced technology in materials recovery facilities. It provides key facts and figures, and brief summaries of legislation in the United States, Europe, and Asia. An extensive glossary demystifies the terminology and acronyms used in different sectors and geographies. The author also explains emerging concepts in recycling such as zero waste, sustainability, LEED certification, and pay-as-you-throw, and places waste management and recycling in wider economic, environmental (sustainability), political, and societal contexts. Covers single- and mixed-waste streams Evaluates the technologies and tradeoffs of recycling of materials vs. integrated solutions, including combustion and other transformational options Covers recycling as part of the bigger picture of solid waste management, processing and disposal

This Guide has been developed particularly for solid waste management practitioners, such as local government officials, facility owners and operators, consultants, and regulatory agency specialists. Contains technical and economic information to help these practitioners meet the daily challenges of planning, managing, and operating municipal solid waste (MSW) programs and facilities. The Guide's primary goals are to encourage reduction of waste at the source and to foster implementation of integrated solid waste management systems that are cost-effective and protect human health and the environment. Illustrated.

Solid waste has grown into a relatively difficult problem to solve for those responsible for its management; these responsibilities include the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of solid wastes, particularly wastes generated in medium and large urban centres. This problem is even more intense in economically developing countries, where the financial, human, and other critical resources are scarce in general. In the last decade, there has been a great interest and awareness regarding the environmentally safe management of waste worldwide, centralised in legislative, administrative, standardisation, and research activities in this field. Therefore, it is essential to develop short- and long-term waste management strategies (often named the 3Rs) and their consequent implementation in compliance with the formulated priorities for waste: (1) Reduce, (2) Recycle, (3) Reuse and (4) environmentally safe disposal. Several contradictions and lack of agreement still exist, even regarding the major basic definitions, e.g., which material should be treated as "waste" and which as a "beneficial raw material", which wastes are "hazardous" and which are "non-hazardous", etc. Quite often, different approaches and as a consequence, waste management/disposals are adopted for the same situation/materials. Environmental risk assessment procedures and mode of actions are varied greatly not only within national levels, but also at regional levels within the same country by different groups of scientists and/or policy makers. The general idea of the book has arisen from the mutual experience of many specialists in numerous disciplines from different countries involved in the problem of environmental assessment, economic and monitoring approaches, and control approaches for chemicals generated from solid waste disposal. Solid waste worldwide issues nowadays reflect the complexity and unbalanced development of our world at the beginning of the 21st century. This book covers a broad group of wastes, from biowaste to hazardous waste. The contributors to the book are recognised experts in the diverse fields associated with the issues of waste management and the reuse-recycle of materials, and are from different parts of the world. Authors present their experience and approaches considering both international and national/local specifics. The book is addressed to the wide range of end-users, decision-makers and professionals involved in environmental and agricultural issues: administration, designers, manufacturers, policy makers, farmers, researchers, academics and university students, and is focused on waste properties, environmental behaviour and management in an environmentally safe way. It was not the intention of the editor/authors to exhaust the subject, which is intensely broad, but to give a general idea with updating trends in the field of solid waste management concerning disposal, monitoring, assessment and remedial options, which are demonstrated also in case studies. The authors hope that this book to some extent will contribute to the trials and efforts for the proper, environmentally safe practices of solid waste disposal, and will provide state-of-the-art information and discussion, monitoring strategies, advanced approaches and methods, techniques and equipment for environmentally safe disposal and remediation of solid wastes.

Solid waste management affects every person in the world. By 2050, the world is expected to increase waste generation by 70 percent, from 2.01 billion tonnes of waste in 2016 to 3.40 billion tonnes of waste annually. Individuals and governments make decisions about consumption and waste management that affect the daily health, productivity, and cleanliness of communities. Poorly managed waste is contaminating the world’s oceans, clogging drains and causing flooding, transmitting diseases, increasing respiratory problems, harming animals that consume waste unknowingly, and affecting economic development. Unmanaged and improperly managed waste from decades of economic growth requires urgent action at all levels of society. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 aggregates extensive solid aste data at the national and urban levels. It estimates and projects waste generation to 2030 and 2050. Beyond the core data metrics from waste generation to disposal, the report provides information on waste management costs, revenues, and tariffs; special wastes; regulations; public communication; administrative and operational models; and the informal sector. Solid waste management accounts for approximately 20 percent of municipal budgets in low-income countries and 10 percent of municipal budgets in middle-income countries, on average. Waste management is often under the jurisdiction of local authorities facing competing priorities and limited resources and capacities in planning, contract management, and operational monitoring. These factors make sustainable waste management a complicated proposition; most low- and middle-income countries, and their respective cities, are struggling to address these challenges. Waste management data are critical to creating policy and planning for local contexts. Understanding how much waste is generated—especially with rapid urbanization and population growth—as well as the types of waste generated helps local governments to select appropriate management methods and plan for future demand. It allows governments to design a system with a suitable number of vehicles, establish efficient routes, set targets for diversion of waste, track progress, and adapt as consumption patterns change. With accurate data, governments can realistically allocate resources, assess relevant technologies, and consider strategic partners for service provision, such as the private sector or nongovernmental organizations. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 provides the most up-to-date information available to empower citizens and governments around the world to effectively address the pressing global crisis of waste. Additional information is available at http://www.worldbank.org/what-a-waste.

Offers step-by-step instructions designed to assist medium & large businesses, governments, & other organizations establish waste reduction programs. An overview on developing & implementing a waste reduction program is followed by a series of worksheets designed to help the waste reduction team conduct a waste assessment & devise a program tailored for its company' specific goals. Appendices include waste reduction ideas, regional EPA & State waste reduction program contacts, a glossary, volume-to-weight conversion tables, & a listing of common recyclable materials.