Assessing the feasibility of waste management solutions based on sorting at source and recycling

Abstract

The lack of a proper waste management system in Lebanon resulted in a major waste management crisis starting from July 2015. Arcenciel, a non-governmental organisation, started a pilot project in Bekaa and Mount Lebanon aiming at studying the feasibility of carrying out a waste management system centred on a source waste sorting and recycling process. Waste sorting was feasible. However, sorting into two categories would be more efficient than sorting into three categories. The waste generation rate was between 0.83 and 0.88 kg/capita/day. The major errors in waste sorting proved to be centred on non-organic waste sorting, whereas organic waste sorting only indicated small error percentages. The major composition of waste was found to be organic (62.10%), the percentage of recyclable waste being small (8.43%). More than 80% of the non-recyclable and non-organic waste proved to be suitable for energy recovery as refused derived fuel. Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.