Solid Waste Work at the Bank – My Personal Journey since 1978

1. Solid Waste Work at the Bank – My Personal Journey since 1978 By Sandra Cointreau Solid Waste Management Advisor The World Bank, Washington DC January 2006

2. My Journey with the Bank • 1978 - Tunisia - Franglish • 1979 – Nigeria – Proving Ground with Ed Motte and Randolph Anderson • 1979 - India – Handy work,palmist okays my role in urban mission • 1980 - John Courtney – my Brother typewriter and park benches to write strategic plan guide • 1981 - John Kalbermatten – A leap of faith and support for role in UN decade efforts • 1981 - Faxing and Word Processing – Wow!! • 1982 - Charles Gunnerson – Co-authoring • 1983 - Saul Arlosoroff – The fine of advocacy for recycling • 1986 - Everywhere - Looking for Printers

3. Hunting White Elephants

4. My Journey with the Bank • 1987 – Dumbing down and institutional insanity, where are all my mentors going?!! • 1988 – Lotus and Costing of Options • 1990 – Linked lotus spreadsheets for costing– Euphoria!! • 1991 – Privatization madness • 1993 – Have Equestrian Helmet will Travel • 1995 – Computers end BTO time

5. Happiness Is a Horse…

6. My Journey with the Bank • 1997 – Trust funds and tied consultants • 1998 - Carl Bartone - Global collaboration • 2000 – Email madness – endless “communication” • Somewhere in here – end of very dumb marriage • 2001 – 911 and a new Go Slow in my consulting • 2003 – Iraq – Utilities for the south – the satisfaction of working in the danger zone • 2004 – Climate Change – a new driver for operations funding of disposal improvements • 2005 – Avian Influenza – another new driver to fixing dumpsites

7. Life in Iraq

8. Methane – 21 times CO2 as GHG

9. 3 Decades of Bank Transition • 75-83 – community systems and user charges as part slum upgrading, compost trials. • 83-90 – new collection fleets and workshop improvements, institutional and financial strengthening, dumpsite upgrading. • 90-98 – stakeholders, strategic planning, private sector collection trials, cost recovery expectations, sanitary landfills with environmental assessments.

10. 3 Decades of Bank Transition • 99-01 – waiting on decentralization of financial authority and private sector investment. • 01-03 – sanitary landfills and transfer stations, medical waste source segregation and treatment, upgrading waste picking. • 04-06 – sanitary landfills with gas recovery, composting, anaerobic digestion, transfer systems to regional sites, all with carbon finance and inter-municipal agreements

11. On the Horizon 2006+ • continued regional climate change disposal/treatment systems, • policies on economic incentives, • slaughter and livestock waste segregation and treatment, • source segregation of recyclables, holistic decision modeling of transfer and disposal technology options considering emissions, consumables, and costs.

12. What Have We Learned:First – What are the health and environmental concerns?

13. Environmental Concerns: • Greenhouse gases from solid waste activities – Landfills are top sources of methane GHG; refuse fleets are significant sources of CO2 and N2O. • Wasted recyclable materials have lost inherent energy from production. • Volatilized heavy metals (e.g., mercury and lead), dioxins and furans from open burning dumpsites and low-standard incinerators. • Leachate from unlined and uncovered dumpsites contaminates ground and surface waters. • Bioaerosols and dust from handling. • Smoke particulates from open dumping.

14. Health Concerns: • Infection – contact with human fecal matter, blood, and diseased tissue; contact with diseased dead animal matter and manure. • Animal diseases – foraging of animals/birds at open dumps; recycling of slaughter waste into animal feed. • Respiratory disease -- particulates and bioaerosols reduce pulmonary function. • Cancer -- volatilized refractory organics from uncontrolled landfill gases; heavy metals, dioxins and furans from poorly controlled burning. • Headaches – lack of oxygen and excessive CO from dumpsite decomposition and burning. • Injury – wounds from sharps, traffic accidents.

15. Direct Contact with Waste: Bombay, India, 1995 Significant contact during loading, no shoes or gloves Tema, Ghana, 1998 Children playing in an area of uncollected waste

16. Animals Raised and Fed on Raw Waste: Dominican Republic, 1998, Pigs living on dumpsites El Salvador, 1998, Cows and pigs searching for food

17. Dumpsite Linkage to Animal and Poultry Diseases: • Avian Influenza H5N1–virus in bird secretions and excreta are long-lived. Present in bedding and slaughter wastes, able to last weeks. Wild and domestic birds are carriers. Humans susceptible through contact and ingestion of poultry. • Encephalopathies (Mad Cow, Sheep Scrapie) -- prion proteins in brain and spinal materials are long lasting, even after composting, or thermal processing into animal feed. Humans susceptible through ingestion of meat. • Cattle, Sheep and Goat Foot-and-Mouth -- virus in secretions and excreta. Present in bedding and slaughter wastes. Dogs, rats, and birds are carriers. • Bovine TB – bacterium in secretions and excreta. Present in bedding and slaughter wastes. Infective to all mammals. • Rabbit Viral Hemorrhagic Fever –virus in rabbit blood and excreta. Present in bedding wastes and slaughter wastes, able to last weeks. Surviving rabbits are carriers.

18. Bio-aerosol Levels: • 10-1000 times Higher near the truck loading hopper. (Switzerland, Denmark local studies) • 2-10 times Higher inside materials recovery plants. (USA, Finland local studies) • 2-4 times Higher at sanitary landfills. (Italy local studies) Izmir, Turkey, 1994

19. Particulates High at Burning Dumps: Mauritius, 1998 Dominican Republic, 1998

20. Pulmonary Function: • 23% Dumpsite Workers with Abnormal Pulmonary Function. (India local study) • 40% Dumpsite Waste Pickers with Abnormal Pulmonary Function. (Thailand local study) • 53% Dumpsite Child Waste Pickers with Abnormal Pulmonary Function. (Philippines local study)

21. Blood Lead Levels: • 70% Dumpsite Children Pickers above WHO lead guideline --children pickers mean lead was 2.5 times higher than in control slum children. (Philippines local study) Quezon City, the Philippines, 1995

22. What Have We Learned:Second – How do we achieve cost-effective technical designs?

23. Waste Character: • Vegetable/putrescible material 2-3 times higher -- 40% to 80% by weight. • Recyclable paper, plastic, metal, glass 2-5 times lower -- 5% to 15%. • Inert fines 2-5 times higher -- 20% to 40%. • Moisture content 2-4 times higher -- 40% to 70%. • Density 2-3 times higher -- 350 to 400 kg/cu.mtr., uncompacted in collection truck. • Calorific values 2-3 times lower -- 800 to 1,300 kg/cal.

24. Waste Differences affect Technical Choices: • Compaction is not always justified. • Composting is technically viable, but farmers may not afford to pay the difference in cost above sanitary landfill. • Sanitary landfill gas generation is technically viable, but gas escapes quickly in warm tropical climates and requires extra investment to contain. • Incineration is rarely self-sustainable, since supplemental fuel is needed for low-calorie waste.

25. Strategic Planning is Essential: • Collection options vary widely in cost and quality of service, must fit the local setting. • Transfer facilities can dramatically cut costs. • Disposal systems have large economies-of-scale, must fit the local waste character. • Holistic modeling is available to comparatively assess costs, consumables, and emissions.

26. Collection Vehicle Types: • Small – power tiller, hand cart, mini-truck. • Slow moving – tractor and trailer, animal cart. • Fast moving – open tipper truck, rear loader truck. • Container lifting – roll on, skip, mechanical arm for carts. Accra, Ghana, 1997 Kukkattpally, India, 2001

27. Collection Vehicle Types: Liftable Container, Izmir, Turkey, 1994 Arm-Roll Container, Sekondi, Ghana, 1997

28. Collection Vehicle Types: Market Skip Lift Containers, Tema, Ghana, 1994 Arm Roll Container, Ahmedabad, India, 2001

29. Collection Vehicle Types: Open Tipper Lifts Hand Carts, Hue, Vietnam, 1996 Mini Private Truck, Bangalore, India, 2001

30. Cost Comparison of Vehicle Types

31. Public versus Private Operator: • Different financing costs. • Different overhead costs. • Different salaries and benefit costs. • Different insurance, tax, registration, and marketing costs (also corruption costs). • Different length of hours of work and productivity per worker. • Different vehicle availability. • Different accountability – per contractual specifications.

32. Private Sector Service: Woman-Owned Micro-Enterprise, Quito, Ecuador, 1998 Women-Owned Cooperative, Kukkattpally India, 2001

33. Public versus Private Costs: • Total costs for private versus public were so close in Quito, it was decided to maintain a balance of each, and gradually decrease government to about 30% through natural attrition.

34. Transfer Systems enable reducing Collection Haul Distance, Vehicle Emissions and Costs by 20 To 50 percent.

35. Determine Transfer Breakpoints: • Each type and size of collection vehicle has a different transfer breakpoint. • Traffic speed affects the transfer breakpoint. • Consider transfer for hauls over 30 minutes.

36. Typical 2-Level Transfer Stations Quito, Ecuador, 1998 Manila, Philippines, 1993

37. Direct Unloading to Transfer Truck Hyderabad, India, Skip Container Lift Collection Truck, Unloads to Open Tipping Truck, 2001

38. Transfer Systems: • Enable implementation of regional Treatment/Disposal activities that achieve Economies-of-Scale. • Treatment/Disposal facilities should be at least 300 tonnes/daily shift to have bulldozers, wheeled loaders, windrow turners fully utilized. • Roads, fences, weighbridges, gatehouses, utilities and maintenance components are fixed costs that should be applied to large waste quantities to lower cost/tonne.

39. Landfill Economies-of-Scale:

40. Composting: • Compost plants are safe and clean and technically appropriate for clean organic waste. • Product quality is key to success. • Market demand may not be adequate to cover costs. Ahmedebad, India, 2001

41. Neighborhood Composting: • Lessen the need to transport waste to disposal. • Enable neighborhood revenues and employment. • Require motivated public support. Dakha, Bangladesh, 2001

42. Materials Recycling at Source: • Source segregation obtains cleanest reusable materials. • Source segregation requires extra collection systems. • Registration and route assignment upgrades the status and security of waste pickers. • Source segregation minimizes occupational and environmental health risks. Bangalore, India, 2001

43. Protective Gear for Workers: Khulna, Bangladesh (syringes), 2001 Tema, Ghana, 1998

44. Segregate Special Wastes: • Licensed private operators to safely handle segregated biomedical wastes. Hyderabad, India, 2001

45. What Have We Learned:Third – How do we arrange financial sustainability?

46. Solid Waste Service is Costly: • Total cost for solid waste collection, transfer, and disposal is typically $40-80/tonne. • Per capita waste generation is 0.2-0.3 tonnes/year. • 60-70% of total cost is for collection. • Full solid waste service requires 1-2% of GDP.

47. Adequate Cash Flow is Essential: • 50-70% of total cost is for recurrent expenditure – labor, fuel, tires, oil, spare parts. • Labor and fuel are priority expenditures. • If there aren’t enough recurrent funds, spare vehicles are cannibalized for parts.

48. Sources of Capital Funds: • Municipal bond issues for facilities, including intergovernmental tax credits that recognize externalities. • Municipal borrowings for vehicles, such as from national development banks. • Renewal funds replenished by special taxes, user charges, tipping fees. • Intergovernmental transfers. • Private sector investment.

49. Private Involvement raises Recurrent Budget Requirements: • Recurrent budget must be higher to involve the private sector. • Contractors have to pay monthly for their debt service for investment, and they borrow from short term notes at high commercial interest rates. • Few municipalities could afford to support private sector investment. • Mostly old non-specialized private vehicles are hired.

50. Economic Instruments for Regional or Global Externalities: • Intergovernmental transfers to upgrade disposal to desired national standards. • Intergovernmental transfers to encourage compost as a carbon sink and means of upgrading land for agriculture. • International transfers to encourage emission reductions to reduce climate change.