Integrated Waste Management System for Resort Town

Abstract

Waste is an unused raw material or energy source. The Waste Framework Directive requires applying techniques for minimisation of environmental impact throughout the whole product life cycle, including such stages as product manufacturing and waste processing. During the last decade, all EU courtiers have been making every effort to decrease amounts of landfilled waste, applying different waste treatment techniques with the purpose to efficiently use material and energy potential of waste. Feasibility analysis of all alternatives, including environmental impact assessment and economical evaluation, is very important for selection of the best available option(s). Waste management systems of all resort cities differ from other cities, in the first instance, due to the several times higher volume of generated municipal waste per capita and a number of disturbances for implementation of widely applied techniques, including prevention and source separation. Therefore, individual decisions have to be analysed in detail for each resort town. Palanga municipality – the biggest resort centre in Lithuania – was selected as a research object for detailed analysis. The paper presents the results of primary evaluation of the existing waste management system, including quantity and quality analysis of waste flows, and feasibility analysis of the options of source separation of biodegradable waste, including animal by-products from catering, alternatives of centralist processing of municipal waste after source separation and sewage sludge aerobic treatment. The most suitable solutions were suggested to improve environmental performance of the waste management system of Palanga municipality, applying integrated waste management methods. Only 14% of all the waste, generated in this resort will be disposed in a landfill after the implementation of the suggested options. Approximately 85% of biodegradable waste, including green waste from public territories, food waste or animal by-products from catering and sewage sludge will be used for the compost production for our purposes, growing of energetic plants or for composting parks and other public territories in Palanga resort. Certain solutions of the integrated waste management system can be successfully used in other resorts as well.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.72.2.16183