We can observe that midst all the wonderful discoveries and economic growth; consumerism is also in progress. As a result, there will always be garbage. It is sad to think that there are plenty of solid and biological wastes we accumulate in this world. It was said that if city areas are joined together, solid wastes would amount to 1.3 billion tonnes of solid wastes every year. Moreover, this might increase up to 2.2 billion tonnes per year in the year 2025, a 70 percent increase (2013, World Bank). Waste management has long been a very expensive project for many governments that could affect budget money for providing basic social needs, infrastructures, and health care. This is why in most developing countries; solid waste management has long been an issue, a problem that is related to public health, pollution, economy, and the quality of life. Some waste management designs end up in landfills producing non-segregated waste to pile up.
In the end, it pollutes and disturbs land areas, ecosystems and even water systems.
Since this is such a major issue, waste management should be well-planned and systematic. Practices brought about by waste management are ought to be cost-effective, could lessen green-house emissions, lessen flooding, and even become income-generating.
Many waste management plans have given very efficient results of preserving the environment and becomes very beneficial for consumers as well. One of this ways is turning waste material into energy. There are many ways to do that but I will focus on is the technology that Quezon City and Pangea Green Energy Inc. used.
[(C) Quezon City Government http://www.quezoncity.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&id=207%3Athe-payatas-dumpsite-from-tragedy-to-triumph&Itemid=235&showall=1]
Quezon City, Philippines has a “Waste to Energy” facility, a bio-gas powerplant in Payatas. This city accumulates 1,979 tons of garbage everyday and 1,200 tons from it is dumped in the Payatas landfill. The “Waste to Energy” facility is said to help in lessening the accumulation of too much garbage and landfills and make it very useful in making electricity. A bio-gas powerplant makes use of animal wastes, crops, food wastes to be transformed as biogas. It makes electricity from cleaner and more environmentally-friendly way. Bio-gas plants use the fermentation of organic wastes by using anaerobic digesters where the broken down organic wastes and are set in very high temperatures without oxygen. The wastes decompose quickly and an end product is methane. Methane gas is trapped and is converted to become fuel for cars and electricity.
This technology in a long term process, will not only help in reducing trash in by 90% but it will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their landfills said the Quezon City government. At the same time, it helps in subsidizing the cost of electricity in Quezon City. The facility produces 200 kW of renewable energy. Half of this becomes free for the local governments’ use and for their nearby projects and currently the 100 kW left is for the use of Meralco for business purposes. It is indeed a technology that Science helped us discover to help in advancing quality of life.
Sources:
Quezon City Projects:
Meralco to purchase Electricity from Waste to Energy facility in Quezon City
www.quezoncity.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&id=730:waste-to-energy-from-quezon-city&Itemid=362 (retrieved March 8, 2014)
QC Explores Waste to Energy (WTE) option : Local Government of Quezon City
www.quezoncity.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1145:qc-explores-waste-to-energy-wte-option&catid=1&Itemid=362 (information published 2012) (retrieved March 8, 2014)
Bio-gas Plants:
Bio-gas Powerplants: Renewable Energy for the future by Oswald and Bauer (Michigan State University, 2013)
msutoday.msu.edu/news/2013/biogas-power-plants-renewable-energy-producers-of-the-future/ (retrieved March 8, 2014)
Waste Management and Waste to Energy:
Waste to Energy
www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/garbage-energy/ (retrieved March 8, 2014)
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/garbage-generated-around-the-world/268109-55.html
(retrieved March 8, 2014)
Urban Development: Solid Waste Management by World Bank (World Bank, 2013)
http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/brief/solid-waste-management
(retrieved March 8, 2014)
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