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Torleif Bramryd.

Torleif Bramryd

Professor emeritus

Torleif Bramryd.

Reimagining urban waste management : Addressing social, climate, and resource challenges in modern cities

Author

  • Jutta Gutberlet
  • Torleif Bramryd

Summary, in English

Governments worldwide are seeking better solutions for solid waste management. Thermal treatment projects are presented as quick fixes for rising waste challenges, without addressing the limitations of incineration. Currently, there is a rise in proposals for thermal treatment technologies in developing countries. Scrutiny of the risks and impacts of these alternatives is necessary due to social, climate, and resource considerations. Energy from waste incineration is considered fossil energy since about half of the CO2 emissions come from fossil polymers in the waste. From a sustainability perspective, landfilling is a short-term option for materials currently unsuitable for recycling. Landfills act as bioreactors, producing valuable biogas, and serve as “resource banks,” storing unrecyclable resources until better recycling techniques are developed. In developing countries manual labor is abundant and material sorting and landfilling are more valuable and have a lower climate and resource footprint. This paper offers a novel, integrated perspective of waste management in view of poverty reduction, climate change and resource conservation.

Department/s

  • Department of Service Studies

Publishing year

2025-01

Language

English

Publication/Series

Cities

Volume

156

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Environmental Sciences

Keywords

  • Biogas
  • Climate change
  • CO2-sequestration
  • Developing countries
  • Recycling
  • Waste management
  • Waste pickers
  • Waste-to-energy

Status

Published

Project

  • Service Studies Sustainability

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0264-2751