Waste Management: Policies and Actions
The article presents key policies and recommendations from the WHO and UN for solid waste management
Policies and Actions
- Implement a solid waste management system prioritizing actions according to the waste management hierarchy (Figure 1)
- Waste prevention should be prioritized, and subsequent steps are to reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and implement controlled disposal.
2. Develop or update policies and actions across relevant sectors that reduce the harmful exposure of all waste-workers to all types of waste.
- Implement standards and practices to use personal protective equipment, safe working practices and regular health check-ups.
3. Implement international accords such as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
- Implement Rotterdam Convention, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Minamata Convention on Mercury
4. Eradicate child labour within all facets of waste management
- Eradicating child labour in the waste and recycling sectors is an urgent global imperative. Child labour is especially prevalent in the management of e-waste.
5. Promote screening for and biomonitoring of harmful waste exposure in at-risk populations, and accompany this with environmental monitoring of water, soil and air quality.
- Biomonitoring and surveillance of communities exposed to health risks can aid in assessing chemical exposure levels, particularly among children and pregnant women.
6. Plan for sufficient financial resources to sustain waste management systems and services, from waste prevention to segregation, collection, transportation, and recovery and disposal.
- Operating costs make up a large part of total waste management costs and need to be ensured. Coverage of universal collection services, appropriate recovery and recycling systems and controlled disposal facilities should be prioritized.
7. Consider the use of economic instruments to diversify revenue streams and incentivize waste prevention and landfill diversion
- Economic instruments may include landfill and incineration taxes, unit-based waste-pricing schemes (“pay-as-you-throw”) for households, general consumption taxes, advance disposal fees (i.e. product-based fees added at the point of sale).
Understand Waste Stream to Optimize Management
8. Conduct an assessment of waste quantities, composition and material flows through the system to determine any gaps in waste management services.
- To collect data on waste quantities and characteristics at local and national levels to effectively plan and implement the required steps to strengthen and optimize existing waste management systems.
9. Implement systems for separate waste collection at source
- Separate collection systems include the use of distinct containers or drop-off points for different materials, adapted collection vehicles and equipment, and economic incentives and behavioural change campaigns to encourage the adoption of habitual practices. Waste separation can occur before or after collection (e.g. at the household level) or after waste collection.
Reduce and Reuse
10. Introduce policies that help to stimulate the diversion of waste from landfill
- Phase out unnecessary single-use plastics, such as plastic bags, plastic cutlery or Styrofoam products. Promote durable and reusable goods that can be locally reused or recycled.
Recycle
11. Apply a circular economy approach and Health Impact Assessments to waste management.
- A reuse-recycle-recover approach should be adopted, shifting away from disposal, maximizing a product’s lifetime and the return of secondarily recovered materials into the economy, and reducing the extraction of virgin resources.
12. Understand the economics of the health implications of waste management when applying a circular economy approach.
- Shifting to a waste management system that is more sustainable and transitioning to a circular economy have economic consequences and can bring significant benefits. The transition reduces the environmental impacts associated with waste management and subsequently can have a positive impact on public health.
13. Divert as much waste from landfills as possible, for example through waste segregation and recycling.
- Common materials that can be recycled include organics, plastics, aluminium, glass and paper.
- Separation at the household, commercial and industry levels can assist in optimizing recoverable waste streams; reduce waste flowing to disposal sites; and improve health and safety for those generating, handling, collecting and working with waste.
14. Bring in organic waste management systems to recover and return nutrients to the environment.
- Implement separate collection systems for food and green organic waste, and their associated recovery facilities.
- Utilize appropriate methods to recover organic waste, return nutrients to the soil and enhance local agricultural value chains.
Energy Recovery
15. Consider waste incineration with energy recovery (i.e. waste to energy) for solid waste that is otherwise not recyclable and where landfills pose challenges due to the availability of land or other issues.
- Where incineration facilities are deployed, they should be equipped with pollution controls and operated professionally to minimize environmental emissions, reducing risks to workers and neighbouring communities.
Disposal
16. Restrict and discourage open dumping of waste by providing regular and reliable collection services and incentivizing (or requiring) site managers to operate waste disposal sites to at least basic levels of control.
- The reduction and elimination of the open dumping and open burning of waste are urgent global priorities. These actions will reduce the environmental hazards and potential adverse health outcomes for waste workers and communities.
17. Establish controlled disposal facilities with adequate measures to avoid environmental contamination from waste. Ensure basic minimum standards are met, and subsequently seek to reach the full standard for environmentally sound management of sanitary landfills.
- A basic level of control should be ensured at all disposal facilities. This entails allocating a sufficient budget to:
- ensure fencing and access control, perimeter drainage, compaction and cover;
- maintain slope stability;
- ensure there are no fires on site; and
- record waste types and quantities.
- Full-time staff are needed at disposal facilities to observe environmental health and safety protocols and progressively plan for the ongoing development of the site.
18. Clean up and remediate contaminated sites or hot spots
- Historical disposal sites should be remediated before closure to reduce contamination in the environment.
19. Ensure sufficient financial resources for landfill closure and rehabilitation of the site
Ongoing responsibilities after a landfill has been closed include:
- maintaining the final cover of the landfill (e.g. soil, vegetation); maintaining and operating the leachate collection system; monitoring groundwater and surrounding freshwater; maintaining and operating the landfill gas monitoring and collection system.
Capacity Building and Awareness Raising
20. Train workers at formal and informal waste settings, such as disposal or recycling sites, about good practices in waste management, including with regards to hazardous waste and e-waste.
- Providing education to workers in both formal and informal sectors about the potential health risks associated with their roles can equip them with the necessary knowledge and tools to protect themselves.
21. Raise awareness among the general population about the importance of reducing waste and properly segregating waste, and about the adverse health impacts of exposure to harmful waste, such as e-waste.
- Implement waste reduction campaigns, for example to encourage people to avoid single-use plastic bags.
22. Increase awareness of the polluter pays principle – including the need for polluters to contribute to the full cost of waste management, from collection to disposal – as well as of environmental externalities and their associated costs.
- Launch behavioural change campaigns using online media and posters to educate and shift the waste generation and -management mindset of political leaders, communities and businesses.
23. Implement regulations to prevent the discharge of toxic chemicals into the environment, such as by ensuring corporate legal liability to finance any rehabilitation or clean up required following any prohibited or accidental discharge.
- Place responsibility on those who generate or improperly manage waste. This aligns financial incentives with implications and ensures polluters remediate the environmental contamination generated by their actions.
E-Waste Policies and Actions
24. Identify e-waste streams, and formalize and regulate waste management and recycling to ensure safe treatment of e-waste.
- Identify e-waste streams, and formalize and regulate waste management and recycling to ensure safe treatment of e-waste.
