 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(October 2017) |
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| Company type | privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Waste Management |
| Founder | A.H.Md. Maqsood Sinha Iftekhar Enayetullah |
| Headquarters | , Bangladesh |
| Services | Solutions for waste management |
Waste Concern is a Bangladeshi Social Business Enterprise (S.B.E) for waste recycling
Waste Concern was found in 1996 with the motto "Waste is a Resource". [1] It was established by A.H.Md. Maqsood Sinha, a professional[ citation needed ] architect-urban planner, and Iftekhar Enayetullah, a civil engineer-urban planner. The enterprise currently has 24 professional[ citation needed ] staff members and 8 consultants. [2] The company started out as a decentralized community model for waste recycling to transform solid waste into organic compost using low cost, low technology, and less labor-intensive methods. [3] It later grew into a Waste Concern Group, comprising both "For Profit" and "Not-for Profit" arms. [1] The work of the group in Bangladesh has led to joint-partnerships with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) with the goal of replicating the model in ten Asian cities. [4] The composting plants are simple, low cost, and not labor-intensive, making them suitable for the socio-economic state and climate of Bangladesh.
In Dhaka, the team from Waste Concern collects trash for recycling. This waste is taken to several processing centers and turns 100 tons of garbage into compost daily.[1] This community-based composting (CBC), in which residents put their food scraps into large composting barrels that sit on concrete bases and can hold up to 400 pounds, has been copied in over 26 cities in Bangladesh.[2] This system of composting reduces greenhouse gases produced by rotting garbage, which prompted World Wide Recycling to invest $8 million into Waste Concern's new facilities.[3]
Door-to-door surveys and data analysis[ citation needed ] were used to come up with a business model to convert organic waste to compost. The data informed investors of the feasibility and sustainability of their Waste Concern. [5]
The firm employs impoverished citizens [ citation needed] to collect organic waste and transport it to the processing center. This involves the creation of several small-scale enterprises in neighborhoods, which acts as part of a decentralized waste management model. Their operations include house-to-house waste collection, composting of the collected waste by sending it to compost plants and marketing of the compost and recyclable materials to interested buyers and businesses. [1] According to the founders, this form of community-run operation establishes Waste Concern as an overarching social organization that not only aims to empower its employees but also increase their quality of life. [2]
The organization uses its technology to help other companies in other industries solve their waste management problems [ citation needed]. Initially, Waste Concern's business model was to market and sell compost to rural farmers. However, with potential market opportunities in the commercial sector and incentives to leverage on economic efficiency, the concern started to increase production, supplying compost to fertilizer companies. [1] In addition, Waste Concern has been asked by a number of poultry farms to develop a poultry manure composting technique. [2] By exporting its services and technologies, Waste Concern can leverage its capability and explore new opportunities and has since attracted the attention of private fertilizer companies.
Since its inception, Waste Concern addresses the twin problems of waste accretion and land infertility by reducing waste and converting it into usable compost as fertilizers for horticulture and agriculture [ citation needed]. From 2001 to 2006, Waste Concern has been able to reduce 17,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions [ citation needed], generate employment for 986 impoverished citizens [ citation needed], and save a landfill area of 33.12 acres with a depth of 1 meter [ citation needed]. During the same period, they processed 124,400 tons of organic waste and produced 31,100 tons of compost [ citation needed]. Their composing activities benefited 60,000 people in Dhaka and an additional 434,290 people from its replication in other parts of the country. [1]
Currently, Waste Concern produces 7,500 tons of compost in Dhaka and 8,087 tons in other parts of Bangladesh each year. [2] Furthermore, the technology used for composting can treat 30,000–35,000 tons of waste per year and reduces carbon emission by 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.[3] The project creates better paid and more hygiene jobs and hence, reduces the unemployment rate in Bangladesh. The project also provides organic alternative to fertilizers in a country where there are so few non-chemical ones.[4] In addition, Waste Concern helps to save the environment through the promotion of recycling activities in the country. Furthermore, there is increased revenue generation through carbon co-financing and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which launched under the Kyoto Protocol, will create the world's first carbon trading based composting project. [5]
During the composting process, both sides of the composting barrel show signs of corrosion after a certain operating time due to the acids produced during the process of decomposition. Although the barrel is painted with anticorrosive paint, it could not withstand the intensity of the acids and hence, undergoes corrosive over time. [6]
There have been concerns over the working conditions of the workers. The high chance of getting infections and diseases due to the high concentration of pathogenic micro-organisms coupled with the high risk of injuries and infections caused by objects such as fragments of broken glass, syringes, metallic and other rough objects contribute to undesirable working conditions. Although safety equipment's have been given to the workers [ citation needed], they do not wear them all the time [ citation needed] and hence, this contributes to higher risk of getting health ailments while working. Furthermore, there have been concerns over the water supply, which is in close distance to the composting piles. This leads to contamination and problems of workers using the contaminated water for personal use. [1]
Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and manure. The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and fungi. Compost improves soil fertility in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture, and organic farming, reducing dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers. The benefits of compost include providing nutrients to crops as fertilizer, acting as a soil conditioner, increasing the humus or humic acid contents of the soil, and introducing beneficial microbes that help to suppress pathogens in the soil and reduce soil-borne diseases.
Vermicompost (vermi-compost) is the product of the decomposition process using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. This process is called vermicomposting, with the rearing of worms for this purpose is called vermiculture.
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process and waste-related laws, technologies, and economic mechanisms.
Sustainable living describes a lifestyle that attempts to reduce the use of Earth's natural resources by an individual or society. Its practitioners often attempt to reduce their ecological footprint by altering their home designs and methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet. Its proponents aim to conduct their lives in ways that are consistent with sustainability, naturally balanced, and respectful of humanity's symbiotic relationship with the Earth's natural ecology. The practice and general philosophy of ecological living closely follows the overall principles of sustainable development.
A composting toilet is a type of dry toilet that treats human waste by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human waste into compost-like material. Composting is carried out by microorganisms under controlled aerobic conditions. Most composting toilets use no water for flushing and are therefore called "dry toilets".
Organic fertilizers are fertilizers that are naturally produced. Fertilizers are materials that can be added to soil or plants, in order to provide nutrients and sustain growth. Typical organic fertilizers include all animal waste including meat processing waste, manure, slurry, and guano; plus plant based fertilizers such as compost; and biosolids. Inorganic "organic fertilizers" include minerals and ash. The organic-mess refers to the Principles of Organic Agriculture, which determines whether a fertilizer can be used for commercial organic agriculture, not whether the fertilizer consists of organic compounds.
Bioconversion, also known as biotransformation, is the conversion of organic materials, such as plant or animal waste, into usable products or energy sources by biological processes or agents, such as certain microorganisms. One example is the industrial production of cortisone, which one step is the bioconversion of progesterone to 11-alpha-Hydroxyprogesterone by Rhizopus nigricans. Another example is the bioconversion of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol, which is part of scientific research for many decades.
Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Most WtE processes generate electricity and/or heat directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels, often derived from the product syngas.
A mechanical biological treatment (MBT) system is a type of waste processing facility that combines a sorting facility with a form of biological treatment such as composting or anaerobic digestion. MBT plants are designed to process mixed household waste as well as commercial and industrial wastes.
Sewage sludge treatment describes the processes used to manage and dispose of sewage sludge produced during sewage treatment. Sludge treatment is focused on reducing sludge weight and volume to reduce transportation and disposal costs, and on reducing potential health risks of disposal options. Water removal is the primary means of weight and volume reduction, while pathogen destruction is frequently accomplished through heating during thermophilic digestion, composting, or incineration. The choice of a sludge treatment method depends on the volume of sludge generated, and comparison of treatment costs required for available disposal options. Air-drying and composting may be attractive to rural communities, while limited land availability may make aerobic digestion and mechanical dewatering preferable for cities, and economies of scale may encourage energy recovery alternatives in metropolitan areas.
Green waste, also known as "biological waste", is any organic waste that can be composted. It is most usually composed of refuse from gardens such as grass clippings or leaves, and domestic or industrial kitchen wastes. Green waste does not include things such as dried leaves, pine straw, or hay. Such materials are rich in carbon and considered "brown wastes," while green wastes contain high concentrations of nitrogen. Green waste can be used to increase the efficiency of many composting operations and can be added to soil to sustain local nutrient cycling.
Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane, compost, humus, and simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. It mainly includes kitchen waste, ash, soil, dung and other plant matter. In waste management, it also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria. Such materials include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple sulfates which can be decomposed by sulfate reducing bacteria to yield hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic land-fill conditions.
Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pollution may come from a variety of sources, ranging from point source water pollution to more diffuse, landscape-level causes, also known as non-point source pollution and air pollution. Once in the environment these pollutants can have both direct effects in surrounding ecosystems, i.e. killing local wildlife or contaminating drinking water, and downstream effects such as dead zones caused by agricultural runoff is concentrated in large water bodies.
Source-separated organics (SSO) is the system by which waste generators segregate compostable materials from other waste streams at the source for separate collection.
The San Francisco Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance is a local municipal ordinance requiring all persons located in San Francisco to separate their recyclables, compostables and landfilled trash and to participate in recycling and composting programs. Passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2009, it became the first local municipal ordinance in the United States to universally require source separation of all organic material, including food residuals.
Resource recovery is using wastes as an input material to create valuable products as new outputs. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste generated, thereby reducing the need for landfill space, and optimising the values created from waste. Resource recovery delays the need to use raw materials in the manufacturing process. Materials found in municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste, commercial waste and industrial wastes can be used to recover resources for the manufacturing of new materials and products. Plastic, paper, aluminium, glass and metal are examples of where value can be found in waste.
Reuse of human excreta is the safe, beneficial use of treated human excreta after applying suitable treatment steps and risk management approaches that are customized for the intended reuse application. Beneficial uses of the treated excreta may focus on using the plant-available nutrients that are contained in the treated excreta. They may also make use of the organic matter and energy contained in the excreta. To a lesser extent, reuse of the excreta's water content might also take place, although this is better known as water reclamation from municipal wastewater. The intended reuse applications for the nutrient content may include: soil conditioner or fertilizer in agriculture or horticultural activities. Other reuse applications, which focus more on the organic matter content of the excreta, include use as a fuel source or as an energy source in the form of biogas.
Fecal sludge management (FSM) is the storage, collection, transport, treatment and safe end use or disposal of fecal sludge. Together, the collection, transport, treatment and end use of fecal sludge constitute the "value chain" or "service chain" of fecal sludge management. Fecal sludge is defined very broadly as what accumulates in onsite sanitation systems and specifically is not transported through a sewer. It is composed of human excreta, but also anything else that may go into an onsite containment technology, such as flushwater, cleansing materials, menstrual hygiene products, grey water, and solid waste. Fecal sludge that is removed from septic tanks is called septage.
Food waste recycling is a process to convert food waste into useful materials and products for achieving sustainability of the environment. Food waste is defined as all parts of food, inedible and edible, created before, during, and after food processing, production, and consumption. Greenhouse gases, especially methane can be reduced by food waste recycling. Food waste recycling can also alleviate the saturation of landfill sites in Hong Kong.
Home composting is the process of using household waste to make compost at home. Composting is the biological decomposition of organic waste by recycling food and other organic materials into compost. Home composting can be practiced within households for various environmental advantages, such as increasing soil fertility, reduce landfill and methane contribution, and limit food waste.
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