feature waste management
Trends transforming the waste management industry in 2022 With an increase in population comes an increase in waste products that must be managed. The United States and other countries used to ship tonnes of waste to China every year; however, China no longer imports discarded plastics, yarn, cotton, ash, waste wool, slag from steelmaking, or paper. Traditional disposal methods fail miserably to adequately and properly handle the increasing load. Waste dumped into our oceans is polluting the planet and harming marine, animal, and human life.
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he good news is that in 2022 the United States will continue to make headway in efforts to crush some of the country’s mounting trash problems. This will be accomplished through the implementation of cuttingedge technology and through an unprecedented level of co-operation and co-ordination between recyclers, designers, packagers, manufacturers, businesses, municipalities, governments, and others, according to an overview by trend analysts, Linchpin.
1. Computer technology will be used in various ways to aid in waste management. Computerised methods will continue to be created to aid with and enforce the division of waste from recycled materials. This includes using robots at recycling facilities to sort the waste; GPS-operated compactors; chipped recycle bins that record which households are recycling whenever the hauler tips the bins; and other methods. Researchers will develop new technologies to locate unconventional recyclables such as wasted food onsite. Waste and recycling solutions will involve the collection of data to meet sustainability and energy goals. Products will be tracked throughout their lifetimes. Business models will be created based on product lifecycle data so as to prevent the generation of waste.
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African Cleaning Review November/December 2021
2. Composting initiatives will take place along with more recycling programmes. Green waste is another term for discarded food and other forms of biowaste. It is an overlooked type of waste that makes up billions of tonnes of material. Alliance Bio-Products recycles green waste using a cellulose-to-sugar (CTS) process to turn green waste into biofuels. In 2022, compost infrastructure will expand in many areas, especially in areas that have food-waste-recycling laws. The state of California has already created a law that requires food-wasting businesses such as restaurants, hospitals, and hotels to recycle wasted food. Private and public sector partnerships will join forces so that the necessary finances will be available to create facilities that will divert organics away from landfills. In late 2015, the USDA and the EPA used a holistic approach to make the first attempt to cut the nation’s food waste in half. In 2022, continued efforts in concert from every entity will make better use of resources and prevent huge amounts of wasted food from ending up in landfills. Composting has been implemented across the nation, but it has by no means reached its full potential, especially when it comes to its diversion potential. Currently, organics such as paper make up 66 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. Many states push
composting programmes, as many of the states look at higher waste diversion rates. Promoting organics recycling isn’t always an easy task, even where many composting facilities exist.
3. We will see plastic waste made into a high-quality resin that will replace the current greenhouse gas-emitting prime resin that is used in the plastic industry. This is currently one of the biggest advancements in high-end technology that is happening in the management of solid waste. Ecological and economically efficient plastic waste is turned into a high-quality resin. The process emits less greenhouse gas than is emitted when making prime resin. Though currently ahead of the game, this is one area that the industry will need to continue to stay on top of.
4. Researchers will look at ways that waste can be converted to energy (WTE). These include circular economy measures, on-demand service, and anaerobic digesters. Circular economy measures include purchasing wasted food’s ‘energy’. Technologies will soon be able to treat food waste onsite. Char Technologies has a waste-toenergy process that turns anaerobic digestate into activated carbon. The company then sells the activated carbon to renewable natural gas companies.
