Solid waste management (SWM) strategies offer huge potentials to contribute to climate change mitigation. To assess the potentials of SWM to contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and resource recovery, available technologies and strategies have to be analyzed. In this work, a SWM-GHG calculator was used to compare different potential strategies for waste management considering economic situation, environmental and social awareness in Jordan. Four scenarios representing the current and suggested technologies (increase recovery, biological treatment, and advance biological treatment) were studied. The results showed that a vast reduction of GHG emission of about 63,175 tons CO2-eq/year was observed in the fourth scenario where all the organic waste was recovered. Moreover, this scenario increased the net caloric values in reused waste from 8.4 to 9.6 MJ/kg. The results suggest that the SWM-GHG calculator can offer sufficiently accurate approximation of the GHG impacts of different suggested strategies in the country and can serve as an important contribution to decision makers.
Jordan has seen a large increase in inhabitants over the past five decades as a result of a high population growth rate and forced migrations. Economic and cultural development has improved the standard of living and changed consumer habits, resulting in an increase in the volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) over time. The rate of production of MSW has been estimated at about 1,960,000 tons annually with an average generation rate of 0.95 kg/cap/day in urban and 0.85 kg/cap/day in rural areas [
Landfilling is the simplest and normally cheapest method for disposing of waste [
Despite the intensive efforts that are directed to the recycling and recovery of solid wastes, landfills remain and will remain an integral part of most SWM strategies in the country. The decomposable and recyclable materials in the MSW is about 86%, while the remainder is inert (
Since the waste streams are rich in biodegradable materials, the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is significant. Several gases are generated by decomposition process of organic materials in a solid waste landfill. The composition, quantity, and generation rates of the gases depend on several factors such as refuse quantity, density and composition, placement characteristics, landfill depth, refuse moisture content, temperature, and amount of oxygen present. Most organic materials are biodegradable and can be broken down into simpler compounds by aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms, leading to the formation of gas and leachate [
Climate change is not only a major global environmental problem, but also an issue of great concern to developing country like Jordan [
The last IPCC report puts the contribution made by the solid waste and wastewater management sector to global GHG emissions at 2.7%, which might appear to be comparatively low compared to for example the energy sector. But in fact, improved waste management can contribute indirectly to significantly larger GHG emissions reductions. In the year 2000, GHG emissions to the atmosphere from the waste sector totaled 2713 Gg CO2-eq or 13.5% of Jordan’s total GHG emissions. This can be compared with the energy sector contribution of around 14911 Gg CO2-eq, or 74.0% of the total contribution from Jordan. [
GHG emissions from waste are directly affected by numerous policy and regulatory strategies that encourage energy recovery from waste, restrict choices for ultimate waste disposal, promote waste recycling and re-use, and encourage waste minimization. In developing countries, major policies are aimed at restricting the uncontrolled dumping of waste. Still, these policies don’t integrate with climate policies. However, estimation the costs of reducing GHG emissions tend to vary a lot across different models and studies. Also, it is clear that modeling work in the field of climate policy has its limitation, and there is need for additional research. One of most important limitations of climate policy modeling concerns the long-term potential for technological progress and the evolution of new technological ways [
Globally, most MSW is dumped in non-regulated landfills where landfill gas (LFG) is generated as a by-product. LFG is produced when organic material decomposes anaerobically, consisting of 45% to 60% methane gas, 40% to 60% carbon dioxide, and 2% to 9% other gases which are mostly emitted to the atmosphere. Climate change is caused by an increasing level of GHG in the atmosphere. Methane gas is a GHG that is 23 times more harmful than the same volume of carbon dioxide [
Utilizing the GHG is very important in terms of improving the environment and climate and to help protecting human health. In terms of recovering materials, the proper selection of waste management technologies that will allow for more efficient and cost-effective waste treatment must be consider prior final decision. In this work, a SWM-GHG Calculator has been used for quantification and comparison of GHG emissions of different waste management strategies in the country, through a calculation of the GHG emissions of the different recycled and disposed waste fractions.
The (SWM-GHG) calculator used in this study was developed by IFEU Institute, sponsored by German Financial Development in cooperation with GTZ (German Technical Development Cooperation) and financed with funds provided by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development [
The calculation method used in the SWM-GHG Calculator follows the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. Different waste management strategies can be compared by calculating the GHG emissions of the different recycled and disposed of waste fractions over their whole life. The tool sums up the emissions of all residual waste or recycling streams respectively and calculates the total GHG emissions in CO2-eq. The emissions calculated also include all future emissions caused by a given quantity of treated waste. This method corresponds to the “Tier 1” approach described in [
Scenarios for waste management option and technologies to be chosen were identified considering the economic and environmental constriction in the country. Also to what extent the scenarios could be applied in the field was evaluated. The First scenario is the current situation, referred and designed to assess the present condition in Jordan, where most of the waste is dumped, either in open dump site or in controlled landfills. The formal material composition of municipal solid waste was used. In addition, informal recycling which was estimated in a survey conducted in 2010 was considered (Aljaradin, unpublished data). The purpose of that survey was to identify the role of scavengers in waste management in Jordan. The recovered materials represent 20% of the waste generation in the area of the case study.
Scavengers play a major role in the resource recovery process and environment protection through reducing the volume of waste disposed. The scavengers’ work was found to be very efficient, since they recover high quantities of recyclables materials.
Thus, informal waste recycling that already exists in some part of the country reduce the cost of formal waste management systems as they reduce the quantity of waste for collection, resulting in less money and time spent on collection and transport [22,23]. Therefore, in this scenario we will take into account the scavenger contribution.
In the second scenario, it was assumed that more work is done in separation at the source of waste collection in order to comply with the recycling initiatives, according to the strategies suggested by authorities and country policy for waste management in Jordan [
collection, transfer, and disposal with cost-effective resource recovery and recycling based on the “polluter pays and user pays” principle and also by increasing the awareness among people for environmental, economical and social benefits of recycling.
In the third scenario, it was assumed that the country will adapt a technology which can deal with the organic fractions in the waste through treatment in biogas plants with anaerobic digestion, which not only provides pollution prevention, but also allows for sustainable energy and material recovery. A biogas plant can convert a disposal problem into a profit center in term of reduction and recovery of a renewable fuel and other valuable coproducts [
The fourth scenario assumed the establishment of a fully sanitary landfill where anaerobic composting and digestion are carried out. Up to 60% of the organic fraction of waste is assumed to be processed.