Circular Enonomy Trainning
Completed
Focus Area: Waste
This solution is tailored to local governments that have a mandate to approve and enforce municipal building regulations or bylaws that require and/or incentivize the use of SUDS and rain water harvest in private buildings and facilities in the city. It is applicable to new settlements as well as existing residential, commercial and institutional buildings and facilities.
This solution caters to local governments that have the mandate to manage stormwater in a city. It addresses the management of rainfall and runoff from public open spaces and transport infrastructure. The management of runoff from residential, commercial and institutional buildings are covered in a separate Solution as a different approach is required for areas under private ownership.
Over 80% of Local Governments (LGs) worldwide are responsible for residential solid waste collection within their territory [1]. However, solid waste management is a great challenge from an organizational, technical, and financial perspective, and municipalities are often overburdened by the task. This solution focuses on the processes which the LGs can undertake to promote sustainable waste management in their communities through a long-term approach.
Waste incineration with energy recovery, usually named Waste-to-Energy (WtE) is a widely applied technique in developed countries – especially in the European Union, Japan, and the USA. WtE plants process the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and similar wastes that remains after waste prevention, re-use and recycling. WtE plants treat waste hygienically, reduce its volume by about 90%, and enable the recovery of energy contained in the waste through the generation of electricity and /or thermal energy (steam or hot water). The electricity is fed into the power grid to supply the end-users; depending on local infrastructure, the hot water can be used for District Energy network to heat (or cool) homes, hospitals, offices etc.; and the steam can be used by nearby industries for their production processes.
Co-processing is a technology for reusing waste as raw material or fuel, mainly in energy intensive industries, where it combines material/energy reuse and the final disposal/destination of solid waste in a single operation. It can contribute to the conservation of natural resources by replacing conventional energy sources (i.e. fossil fuels) and other raw materials with energy and materials recovered from waste, as well as reducing the waste generated in the manufacturing process, and so its overall environmental impact.
Organic matter present in landfill experiences a biological decomposition under anaerobic conditions with an accompanying production of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) which contribute to the greenhouse effect and climate change. Sanitary landfills install a piping system for the removal of the landfill gas generated, thus minimizing combustion and explosion hazards. Even simple flaring of the landfill gas can minimize the climate change impact of waste disposal by converting methane into carbon dioxide, since the global warming potential of the first is over twenty times larger than the latter`s. Going one step further, the landfill gas can be collected and used for heat and/or electricity production, displacing the use of fossil fuels for the production of the same amount of energy.
Circular City Labs – Testing reusable packaging systems in cities
Active
Rethinking Recyling
Inactive
2024 Circular Pathway Technical Assistance
Completed
Circularity Leading Cities Action for Sustainable Development
Active
Global Local Government Forum in Conjunction with Global Plastic Treart INC-5
Active