Using wastes as an input material to create valuable products as new outputs
Resource recovery
is using
wastes
as an input material to create valuable products as new outputs. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste generated, thereby reducing the need for
landfill
space, and optimising the values created from waste.
[1]
Resource recovery delays the need to use
raw materials
in the manufacturing process. Materials found in
municipal solid waste
,
construction
and
demolition
waste,
[2]
commercial waste and industrial wastes can be used to recover resources for the
manufacturing
of new materials and products.
Plastic
,
paper
,
aluminium
,
glass
and
metal
are examples of where value can be found in waste.
Resource recovery goes further than just the
management of waste
. Resource recovery is part of a
circular economy
, in which the extraction of
natural resources
and generation of
wastes
are minimised, and in which materials and products are
designed
more sustainably for durability,
reuse
,
repairability
,
remanufacturing
and
recycling
.
[3]
Life-cycle analysis
(LCA) can be used to compare the resource recovery potential of different treatment technologies.
Resource recovery can also be an aim in the context of
sanitation
. Here, the term refers to approaches to recover the resources that are contained in
wastewater
and
human excreta
(urine and feces). The term "toilet resources" has come into use recently.
[4]
Those resources include: nutrients (
nitrogen
and
phosphorus
), organic matter, energy and water. This concept is also referred to as
ecological sanitation
. Separation of waste flows can help make resource recovery simpler. Examples include keeping urine separate from feces (as in
urine diversion
toilets) and keeping
greywater
and
blackwater
separate.
Sources of recovery
[
edit
]
Resource recovery can be enabled by changes in government policy and regulation, circular economy
infrastructure
such as improved 'binfrastructure' to promote
source separation
and waste collection,
reuse
and
recycling
,
[5]
innovative circular
business models
,
[6]
and valuing materials and products in terms of their economic but also their social and environmental costs and benefits.
[7]
For example, organic materials can be treated by
composting
and
anaerobic digestion
and turned into energy, compost or
fertilizer
.
[8]
Similarly, wastes currently stored in industrial
landfills
and around old
mines
can be treated with
bioleaching
[9]
and engineered nanoparticles
[10]
to recover metals such as
lithium
,
cobalt
and
vanadium
for use in
low-carbon
technologies such as
electric vehicles
and
wind turbines
.
[11]
A limiting factor of resource recovery is the irrevocable loss of raw materials due to their increase in
entropy
in our current linear business model.
[12]
Starting with the production of waste in manufacturing, the entropy increases further by mixing and diluting materials in their manufacturing assembly, followed by corrosion and wear and tear during the usage period. At the end of the life cycle, there is an exponential increase in disorder arising from the mixing of materials in landfills.
[12]
As a result of this directionality of the entropy law, the potentials of rescource recovery are diminishing. This further motivates a
circular economy
infrastructure and business model.
Solid waste
[
edit
]
Steel crushed and baled for
recycling
Recycling is a resource recovery practice that refers to the collection and reuse of disposed materials such as empty beverage containers. The materials from which the items are made can be reprocessed into new products. Material for recycling may be collected separately from general waste using dedicated bins and collection vehicles, or sorted directly from mixed waste streams.
The most common consumer products recycled include
aluminium
such as beverage cans,
copper
such as wire,
steel
food and aerosol cans, old steel furnishings or equipment,
polyethylene
and
PET
bottles,
glass
bottles and jars,
paperboard
cartons
,
newspapers
, magazines and light paper, and
corrugated fiberboard
boxes.
PVC
,
LDPE
,
PP
, and
PS
(see
resin identification code
) are also recyclable. These items are usually composed of a single type of material, making them relatively easy to recycle into new products. The recycling of complex products (such as computers and electronic equipment) is more difficult, due to the additional dismantling and separation required.
The type of recycling material accepted varies by city and country. Each city and country have different recycling programs in place that can handle the various types of recyclable materials.
Wastewater and excreta
[
edit
]
Valuable resources can be recovered from
wastewater
,
sewage sludge
,
fecal sludge
and
human excreta
.
[13]
These include water, energy, and fertilizing nutrients
nitrogen
,
[14]
phosphorus
,
[15]
potassium
, as well as micro-nutrients such as
sulphur
and
organic matter
. There is also increasing interest for recovering other raw materials from wastewater, such as
bioplastics
and metals such as silver.
[16]
Originally, wastewater systems were designed only to remove excreta and wastewater from urban areas. Water was used to flush away the waste, often discharging into nearby waterbodies. Since the 1970s, there has been increasing interest in treating the wastewater to protect the environment, and efforts focused primarily on cleaning the water at the end of the pipe.
[
citation needed
]
Since around the year 2003, the concepts of
ecological sanitation
and
sustainable sanitation
have emerged with the focus on recovering resources from wastewater.
[
citation needed
]
As of 2016, the term "toilet resources" came into use, and encouraged more attention to the potential for resource recovery from toilets.
[4]
The following resources can be recovered:
- Water: In many water-scarce areas there are increasing pressures to recover water from wastewater.
[13]
In 2006, the
World Health Organization
, in collaboration with the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and the
United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP), developed guidelines for safe use of wastewater.
[17]
In addition, many national governments have their own regulations regarding the use of recovered water.
[13]
Singapore for example aims to recover enough water from its wastewater systems to meet the water needs of half the city.
[18]
They call this
NEWater
. Another related concept for waste
water reuse
is
sewer mining
.
- Energy: The production of
biogas
from
wastewater sludge
is now common practice at
wastewater treatment plants
. In addition, a number of methods have been researched regarding use of wastewater sludge and excreta as fuel sources.
[19]
- Fertilizing nutrients: Human excreta contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other micronutrients that are needed for agricultural production. These can be recovered through
chemical precipitation
or stripping processes, or simply by use of the wastewater or
sewage sludge
. However, reuse of sewage sludge poses risks due to high concentrations of undesirable compounds, such as
heavy metals
,
environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants
and other chemicals.
[13]
Since the majority of fertilizing nutrients are found in excreta, it can be useful to separate the excreta fractions of wastewater (e.g. toilet waste) from the rest of the wastewater flows.
[20]
This reduces the risk for undesirable compounds and reduces the volume that needs to be treated before applying recovered nutrients in agricultural production.
Other methods are also being developed for transforming wastewater into valuable products. Growing
Black Soldier Flies
in excreta or organic waste can produce fly larvae as a protein feed.
[21]
Other researchers are harvesting
fatty acids
from wastewater to make bioplastics.
[22]
Organic matter
[
edit
]
An active
compost
heap
Disposed materials that are organic in nature, such as plant material, food scraps, and paper products, can be recycled using biological composting and digestion processes to
decompose
the organic matter. The resulting organic material is then recycled as
mulch
or
compost
for agricultural or landscaping purposes. In addition, waste gas from the process (such as
methane
) can be captured and used for generating electricity and heat (CHP/
cogeneration
) maximising efficiencies. The intention of biological processing is to control and accelerate the natural process of decomposition of organic matter.
There is a large variety of composting and digestion methods and technologies varying in complexity from simple home compost heaps, to small town scale batch digesters, industrial-scale enclosed-vessel digestion of mixed domestic waste (see
mechanical biological treatment
). Methods of biological decomposition are differentiated as being
aerobic
or
anaerobic
methods, though hybrids of the two methods also exist.
Anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of
municipal solid waste
(MSW) has been found to be more environmentally effective, than landfill, incineration or
pyrolysis
.
[
citation needed
]
Life cycle analysis
(LCA) was used to compare different technologies. The resulting biogas (methane) though must be used for cogeneration (electricity and heat preferably on or close to the site of production) and can be used with a little upgrading in gas combustion engines or turbines. With further upgrading to synthetic natural gas it can be injected into the natural gas network or further refined to
hydrogen
for use in stationary cogeneration fuel cells. Its use in fuel cells eliminates the pollution from products of combustion. There is a large variety of composting and digestion methods and technologies varying in complexity from simple home compost heaps, to small town scale batch digesters, industrial-scale, enclosed-vessel digestion of mixed domestic waste (see
mechanical biological treatment
).
Industrial waste
[
edit
]
Waste valorization, beneficial reuse, beneficial use, value recovery
or waste reclamation
[23]
is the process of
waste
products or
residues
from an economic process being
valorized
(given economic value), by
reuse
or
recycling
in order to create economically useful materials.
[24]
[23]
[25]
The term comes from practices in
sustainable manufacturing
and
economics
,
industrial ecology
and
waste management
. The term is usually applied in industrial processes where residue from creating or processing one good is used as a raw material or energy feedstock for another industrial process.
[23]
[25]
Industrial wastes
in particular are good candidates for valorization because they tend to be more consistent and predictable than other waste, such as
household waste
.
[23]
[26]
Historically, most industrial processes treated waste products as something to be disposed of, causing
industrial pollution
unless handled properly.
[27]
However, increased regulation of residual materials and socioeconomic changes, such as the introduction of ideas about
sustainable development
and
circular economy
in the 1990s and 2000s increased focus on industrial practices to recover these resources as
value add
materials.
[27]
[28]
Academics focus on finding economic value to reduce environmental impact of other industries as well, for example the development of
non-timber forest products
to encourage conservation.
Recovery methods
[
edit
]
In many countries, source-separated
curbside collection
is one method of resource recovery.
Australia
[
edit
]
In Australia, households are provided with several bins: one for
recycling
(yellow lid), another for general waste (usually a red lid) and another for garden materials (green lid). The garden recycling bin is provided by the municipality if requested. Some localities have
dual-stream recycling
, with paper collected in bags or boxes and all other materials in a recycling bin. In either case, the recovered materials are trucked to a
materials recovery facility
for further processing.
Municipal, commercial and industrial, construction and demolition debris is dumped at landfills and some is recycled. Household disposal materials are segregated: recyclables sorted and made into new products, and unusable material is dumped in landfill areas. According to the
Australian Bureau of Statistics
(ABS), the recycling rate is high and is "increasing, with 99% of households reporting that they had recycled or reused within the past year (2003 survey), up from 85% in 1992".
[29]
In 2002?03 "30% of materials from municipalities, 45% from commercial and industrial generators and 57% from construction and demolition debris" was recycled. Energy is produced is part of resource recovery as well: some
landfill gas
is captured for fuel or electricity generation, although this is considered the last resort, as the point of resource recovery is avoidance of landfill disposal altogether.
[
citation needed
]
Sustainability
[
edit
]
Resource recovery is a key component in a business' ability to maintaining
ISO14001
accreditation. Companies are encouraged to improve their environmental efficiencies each year. One way to do this is by changing a company from a system of managing wastes to a resource recovery system (such as recycling: glass, food waste, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles etc.)
Education
and
awareness
in the area of resource recovery is increasingly important from a global perspective of
resource management
. The
Talloires Declaration
is a declaration for
sustainability
concerned about the unprecedented scale and speed of environmental
pollution
and
degradation
, and the
depletion
of
natural resources
. Local, regional, and global
air
pollution; accumulation and distribution of toxic wastes; destruction and depletion of forests,
soil
, and
water
; depletion of the
ozone layer
and emission of "green house" gases threaten the survival of humans and thousands of other living species, the integrity of the earth and its
biodiversity
, the security of nations, and the heritage of future generations. Several universities have implemented the Talloires Declaration by establishing
environmental management
and resource recovery programs.
University
and
vocational
education are promoted by various organizations, e.g.,
WAMITAB
and
Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
. Many supermarkets encourage customers to use their
reverse vending machines
to deposit used purchased containers and receive a refund from the recycling fees. Brands that manufacture such machines include
Tomra
and
Envipco
.
In 2010, CNBC aired the documentary
Trash Inc: The Secret Life of Garbage
about waste, what happens to it when it is "thrown away", and its impact on the world.
[30]
The United Nations set 17
Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG) in 2015.
SDG 12
, for "responsible consumption and production", measures progress against 11 targets with 13 indicators. Targets 3, 4, and 5 focus on waste generation across food and chemicals.
[31]
Extended producer responsibility
[
edit
]
Extended producer responsibility
(EPR) is a pricing strategy that promotes integrating all costs associated with a given product throughout its life cycle. Having the market price also reflect the "end-of-life disposal costs" encourages more accuracy in pricing. Extended producer responsibility is meant to impose accountability over the entire lifecycle of products, from production, to packaging, to transport and disposal or reuse. EPR requires firms that manufacture, import and/or sell products to be responsible for those products throughout the life and disposal or reuse of products.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
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cite web
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