12. Sustainable Utilization of Municipal Solid Waste

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is considered one of the most important types of waste because of its nature and impact on communities. MSW generation levels are expected to double by 2025. Solid waste composition differs from one community to another according to their culture and socioeconomic level. Regions with higher income, industrialization, and urbanization produce greater amounts of solid waste. Managing MSW is challenging because of its heterogeneous nature. The challenge increases in rural and developing countries because of two factors: the low socioeconomic level of the majority of the population and their lack of awareness, as well as the lack of the technology platform required to manage the solid waste. This chapter recounts the traditional waste management hierarchy and the unsustainable practices of municipal solid waste. Then sustainable practices are explored, and a holistic zero waste strategy is proposed. This strategy ensures that during product design unwanted “zero-waste product” is easily reused and repaired for the extended product life cycle. If none of these options are viable, then a zero-waste management ensures that the discarded waste is easily broken down through natural process, without polluting the environment. The zero-waste strategy is a holistic approach that intends to “eliminate,” rather than “manage” waste. It redesigns the traditional one-way linear flow of resource use to its end-stage disposal, with a circular closed loop. The closed loop allows for the cyclical flow of materials until the optimal level of consumption is reached. Therefore, there are no end-of-life products, but rather resources, which are considered inputs in the metabolism process.