Decision making for selection

of appropriate SW treatment
Antonis Mavropoulos
President of Hellenic SWM Association
CEO EPEM SA
amavrop@epem.gr
Contents
• Integrated Waste Management and Sustainable
Planning
• Treatment technologies and their evolution
• Environmental challenges
• Product – market issues
• Financial issues
• Decision making: the art of integration
 Defining waste

• “Unwanted” for the

person who discards it
• Product or material
that has no further
value for the owner or
user
A common mistake

• “Waste management
is something about
public works,
equipment and
money”
 Integrated Sustainable Waste
Management (ISWM)

• Technical appropriate –
environmentally safe
• Economically viable
• Socially acceptable
The 4 principles of ISWM

• Equity: safe • Efficiency: maximizing

environment and benefits, minimizing
health as a global costs, optimizing use of
right for all citizens resources
• Sustainability:
• Effectiveness: the
capable to maintain
WM model must itself over time without
meet its objectives exhausting the
resources upon which it
depends
The whole ISWM system
STAKEHOLDERS
• Waste producers •Municipality
• Waste buyers •Government
• Recycling enterprises •NGOs
• Waste Management Authorities

Generation &
Collection Transfer & Treatment &
separation
transport disposal

Reduction Re-use Recycling Recovery

ASPECTS
• Environmental • Social – cultural
• Political / legal • Financial – economics
• Institutional • Technical - performance
 GDP and waste management
50

45

40
gdp/capita

35

30

25

20

15
0,00 10,00 20,00 30,00 40,00 50,00 60,00 70,00 80,00 90,00
% inc or land

landfill incineration Power (landfill) Poly. (incineration)

 Practically…
Sustainability
+ Resource
Integration
+ Prevention

+ Treatment
Landfills +
recycling
Dumpsites + Time, money, energy
scavengers
GDP/ CAP

Environmental
degradation
Understanding how to move
Targets

Waste
Treatment

Landfill

Time or
energy
Waste Hierarchy / Real Evolution
Conclusion 1

No global solution for

waste management

Waste treatment solutions

should be tailored to the needs
of countries and not
of waste industry
 Treatment targets
‰Reduction of environmental impacts of
waste generation
‰Recovery of material and energy
‰Increase of lifetime and reduction of
impacts from landfills
‰Minimization of natural resources depletion
 Treatment as a part of a chain
Generation & Collection
separation

Transfer &
transport
Treatment Disposal

Recycling

Recovery

Re-use
 Environmental impacts - 1
Cumulative EI

Collection Transfer & Treatment Disposal

transport
Environmental impacts - 2
 New technologies demand
new scientific tools

Pyrolysis
chamber
Gasification
facility Rotary kiln
incinerator
 New technologies produce
new end products

RDF
Cooper, rubber
and plastic recovery
 The role of MBT
MBT PRODUCTS
PROCESS
RECYCLATES MARKET

STABILISED FUEL ENERGY

AND UTILISATION
RESIDUAL
WASTE ENERGY USERS

MBT
LANDFILL CLO USES
What type of landfill?
Putting the right questions
Steps to do
Planning is not just your work!

• The planner as motivator

• The planner as
communication center
• Network thinking
• Who must me
motivated?
• Influence / Importance of
stakeholders
The importance of baseline

• Create a complete picture

• Find key issues and
critical paths
• Identify problems and
opportunities
• Be aware of cost
structure
• Predict the future as
scenario 0 (where we go /
as it is)
Analyze this! Provide
conclusions
Strategic framework

• Provide a vision
• Define the exact scope of
the plan
• Explain the changes that
will come in terms of
environmental and
financial issues
• Set targets and
objectives
Create power around strategic
framework

• Strategy is not just your work

• Share your ideas – be flexible
• Try to include stakeholders’ contributions
• Use the power of drivers and avoid the
problems of barriers
Provide alternatives

• Options must have

the form of scenarios
• Scenarios must be
described by
indicators
• Indicators must be in
accordance with
evaluation criteria
 Scenario development
1st step: generation of profiles
• Area profile
• Waste treatment technologies profiles
2nd step: Screening
• Technical screening (limits of feasibility)
• Financial limit (levels of affordability)
• Utilization of end products – market issues
Scenarios passed
Detailed scenarios
screening tests
Indicators

• Climate change indicators

• Air pollution indicators
• Transport indicators
• Water indicators
• Land-use indicators
• Waste minimization / treatment indicators
Combine environmental and
financial issues
• Quantify environmental impacts
• Try to be accurate with cost analysis
• Be aware of operational costs
• Use externalities or LCA if possible
• Describe the changes to all the waste
components
• Give emphasis to qualitative issues
e.g.competition between different components
 A typical approach
SCENARIO 1 SCENARIO 2 SCENARIO 3
ENVIRONMENTAL
CRITERIA 90,17 100 92,48
FINANCIAL
CRITERIA 100 90 75

SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

ENVIRONMENTAL WEIGHT FACTOR

SCENARIO 1 SCENARIO 2 SCENARIO 3
Remember dimensions of
ISWM

• Stakeholders
• Waste systems elements
• ISWM aspects
Remember ISWM aspects

• Environmental • Social – cultural

• Political / legal • Financial – economics
• Institutional • Technical - performance
Developing the strategy

• Results of step 3 +
results of step 4 Æ
Strategy content
• Give practical
solutions to practical
problems within
specific time horizon
Real answers

• Provide a clear direction, not just targets

• Outline the vision in terms of a business
strategy model
• Describe the changes in all ISWM model
• Link the possible gaps
SOS: Action plan

• Main Activities
• Time horizon
• Funds
• Support Activities
• Project management
Implementation

• Monitoring
• Feedback
• Review
• Market issues
Product and market issues

• Compost like output

• Secondary fuels
• Recyclates
Compost
 Compost like output

• Restricted application - subject to licensing

• Non food and fodder crops
– Land reclamation / brown soils
– Road construction
– Anti-noise barriers
– Etc.
• Maximum loads
– 200 tonnes/ha
– Once in ten years
 Solid Recovered Fuels (SRF)

Advantages Disadvantages
• Substitution of primary • Market development
fossil fuels not attractive
• Solution for non • Uncertainty for the
recyclable part future
• Reduction of CO2 • Trust of public
emissions
• Lack of standardization
• Link with Renewable
Energy
 SRF and environment
High
A common denominator of
Level of environmental risk of the untreated waste

these fuels is that they

contribute to sustainable Substitute
development... fuel from
hazwaste
WI directive

SRF
Landfill WI(2) directive
Biomass biogas
RES-E(1) RES-E
directive directive

Low Complexity of required pre-treatment

 Decision – making for SRF

• Local and acceptable waste arising

- Commercial & Industrial Waste capable
of providing SRF of
high quality and calorific value
- National level of development in sorting /
selective collection
• Price levels of competing treatment
- Landfill gate fees (including landfill tax)
- Incineration / co-incineration gate fees
(competition or outlets)
• Strict & consistent quality criteria to meet client
needs
- Level of pollutants
- Physical / chemical properties, granulometry
etc.
The main driver for SRF
 Recyclates

• Global and local markets

• Prices based on demand and availability of
resources
• Unstable market
• End of waste criteria in Europe?
Market issues
The cost driver / barrier
A toolkit for decision - making
Treatment
technology References
Case studies
Excluding criteria

Process Input waste Produced Produced

end-products Residues

Impacts

Mass balances SWOT Analysis Financial issues

Technology Results
 Applications

• Strategic planning – master plans

• Evaluation of the feasibility of already
proposed Solid Waste treatment and/or
disposal scenarios
• Development and comparison of different
Solid Waste treatment and/or disposal
scenarios
…and users

•Decision and/or policy makers

•Beneficiaries - PIUs
•Consultants
•NGO’s
•Environmental Planners
Conclusions
• Planning is a way of thinking as a part of
a network
• Planning = motivator + communication
center
• Sustainable planning needs an integrated
approach to all ISWM issues
• Sustainable results are the results that
are well established between all the
involved parties