Turning solid waste into resources

Solid waste is one of the important challenges human civilization deals with today, while environmentalists consider that as one of the significant resources. With rapid increase in population and urbanisation, improper disposal and poor management of solid waste generated in Bangladesh.  We would be able to minimise these adverse effects arising out of unscientific disposal of solid waste if we can properly manage and use it as a resource.  Recovery of energy from solid waste can be of one of the important aspects of sustainable solid waste management and eco-friendly society. Biogas from biodegradable solid wastes such as food waste, cattle and poultry manure, agricultural waste, human waste etc. is an effective way to recover energy from solid waste. Biogas, rich in methane, has the same characteristics as natural gas with no adverse environmental impacts which has drawn the attention of many researchers and is the most used form of renewable energy globally bigger than hydro wind energy.

Bangladesh has recognised the energy value of biogas from cattle manure at some extent, especially for the rural people who use biogas for cooking.  Biogas can be used as fuel for vehicles and also used to produce heat and electricity as well without depleting non-renewable resources of the Earth. The biogas process also gives bio-fertiliser as byproduct which can replace the use of harmful chemical fertilisers while optimising agricultural production. However, we are not giving importance on solid waste, whereas we are treating it as a burden or problem instead of potential energy resource.

In other sides, European countries and cities have set up biogas as vehicle fuel projects. It is the case of Sweden, France, Switzerland, Iceland and Italy who started in the 90’s for country’s public transportation. In the United Kingdom, biogas is estimated to have the potential to replace around 17 per cent of vehicle fuel. Pollution from fossil fuel burning takes an estimated cost of more than US$100 billion annually in health expenditure. An arguably more realistic estimate of US$100 per ton of CO2 would bring global fossil fuel subsidies to over US$4 trillion per year, with US$3.2 trillion due to climate change. On the other hand, bio fuels cause low or zero pollution to the environment and the cost of production can also be reduced by reducing the cost of waste processing techniques and production technologies and also conducting cutting-edge research on this sector.

 

Turning solid waste into resources

Solid waste is one of the important challenges human civilization deals with today, while environmentalists consider that as one of the significant resources. With rapid increase in population and urbanisation, improper disposal and poor management of solid waste generated in Bangladesh. We would be able to minimise these adverse effects arising out of unscientific disposal of solid waste if we can properly manage and use it as a resource. Recovery of energy from solid waste can be of one of the important aspects of sustainable solid waste management and eco-friendly society. Biogas from biodegradable solid wastes such as food waste, cattle and poultry manure, agricultural waste, human waste etc. is an effective way to recover energy from solid waste. Biogas, rich in methane, has the same characteristics as natural gas with no adverse environmental impacts which has drawn the attention of many researchers and is the most used form of renewable energy globally bigger than hydro wind energy. Bangladesh has recognised the energy value of biogas from cattle manure at some extent, especially for the rural people who use biogas for cooking. Biogas can be used as fuel for vehicles and also used to produce heat and electricity as well without depleting non-renewable resources of the Earth. The biogas process also gives bio-fertiliser as byproduct which can replace the use of harmful chemical fertilisers while optimising agricultural production. However, we are not giving importance on solid waste, whereas we are treating it as a burden or problem instead of potential energy resource. In other sides, European countries and cities have set up biogas as vehicle fuel projects. It is the case of Sweden, France, Switzerland, Iceland and Italy who started in the 90s for countrys public transportation. In the United Kingdom, biogas is estimated to have the potential to replace around 17 per cent of vehicle fuel. Pollution from fossil fuel burning takes an estimated cost of more than US$100 billion annually in health expenditure. An arguably more realistic estimate of US$100 per ton of CO2 would bring global fossil fuel subsidies to over US$4 trillion per year, with US$3.2 trillion due to climate change. On the other hand, bio fuels cause low or zero pollution to the environment and the cost of production can also be reduced by reducing the cost of waste processing techniques and production technologies and also conducting cutting-edge research on this sector.