Energy Recovery
Non-recyclable waste can be converted into energy through processes like incineration or anaerobic digestion. While this reduces landfill use, it's crucial to manage emissions and ensure that energy recovery is more beneficial than landfilling.
Disposal
The final stage involves disposing of waste that cannot be recycled or recovered. Landfilling is common, but it poses environmental challenges, including methane emissions and potential groundwater contamination. Modern landfills are engineered to mitigate these issues, but reducing waste generation remains the priority.
Life Cycle Thinking in Waste Management
Life cycle thinking means analyzing environmental impacts from all stages of the waste management practice; it allows us to find opportunities for reducing negative impacts and increasing sustainability. For example, energy used by recycling processes can be gauged and possibly made more efficient.
Challenges and Innovations
Nevertheless, contamination, poor infrastructure, and a lack of public awareness continue to be part of the big challenges facing waste management. The development of distributed recycling and waste-to-energy technologies is one promising intervention. For example, communities will be able to process their waste on-site, which reduces transport-related emissions and further stimulates the circular economy with distributed recycling.