3r practices for municipal solid waste management in Asia

Abstract

Extraordinary emerging consumption statistics from the developing Asian countries has
clearly indicated the increase waste generation over the past decades. Most of the developing
Asian countries are experiencing solid waste management problem in terms of collection
efficiency, disposal facilities, limited financial resources and weak policy interventions.
Unlike developed nations, final disposal of solid waste in developing Asian countries is
usually a matter of transporting the collected waste to the nearest available space for disposal.
Moreover, sustainability of landfills has become a challenge in Asia due to various
considerations such as availability of space, technologies for gas capture and leachate
treatment, tropaical climatic condition and waste characteristics. Plastic and paper wastes are
dominating due to rapid economic development. Treating waste as a resource is the first step
towards sustainable waste management and conserving resources. As for the biodegradable
waste, feasible treatment technologies such as composting and anaerobic digestion with
attractive results have been established. The non-biodegradable waste fractions are to be
managed by implementing the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. This article attempts to give
a picture of the ongoing 3R implementation in urban municipal solid waste management in
Asian countries. It was observed that in most of Asian countries, informal activities highly
dominate due to lack of funding, government initiation, lapse in policy and public ignorance
on waste management issues.