Municipal solid waste scenarios for Ulan-Ude City (Russia)

Abstract

The municipal solid waste management system in Ulan-Ude city is faced with significant environmental issues according to fulfillment of landfills and dramatically increasing of greenhouse gases (GHG) in a region. In these circumstances, insalubrious emissions which landfills produce, negatively affect on people's lifestyle. This Master's thesis evaluates scenarios which could become a solution for treatment of current problems in a region. The objective of this study is to design an optimal alternatives which tackle the environmental policy of a city. To determine which alternative is the best, three scenarios are considered. Baseline Scenario represents the current situation in a region, where all waste fractions are going to landfill. Scenario 1 simulate the waste management, where biowaste fraction is composted for soil enrichment production. Glass, metal and plastic are going to material recovery. And only RDF are used for energy use. In Scenario 2, biowaste, and RDF are going to energy production from CHP facility. Other waste fraction like glass, plastic and metal are transported to recycling plant. As a environmental impact for comparison of scenarios are chosen climate change. For climate change, Global Warming Potential (GWP100) is an indicator of GHG influences on global environment. The results of study show that Scenario 2 has the most significant reduction of GHG emissions. In the case of this study incineration of waste is the most optimal alternative to solve the environmental problems in the city. Also, material recovery reduces the GHG emissions in a region and could be a good opportunity to minimize the costs of producing materials.