Closing Waste Loops

Because human societies have not closed solid waste loops in the production and consumption of gaDds,methods of solid waste treatment are still necessary. In this work the author examines two modem methods of municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment as employed in Sweden. These methods are waste treatment in a bioreactor cell and MSW incineration. The investigation analyzes the critical economic components of each method-arguing thai the method of MSW treatment thai mimics nature's maTe closed ecological systems is not only a maTesustainable method of solid waste treatment, it is also maTecost-effective. The components examined in this investigation are construction and operational costs of each treatment method, process by-product treatment costs, postclosure bioreactor cell care costs, and revenues received through the sale of energy obtained through each treatment system. The sites used in this comparison are thai of Filborna, in Helsingborg, Sweden, operated by the NSR Company to thai of general numbers for a newly constructed facility in Sweden incinerating approximately 200,000 tons ofwaste per year. Results from this economic comparison reveal thai the cosi for treating MSW in a landfill bioreactor cell are 89 SEK/ton with the employment of a vegetation filter for leachate purification purposed, and 101 SEK/ton if leachates are treated by a conventionai wastewater treatment facility. The investigation also demonstrates thai MSW wastes treated by incineration costs are 335 SEK/ton-substantially greater than thai of treatment in a bioreactor cell. Further findings reveal thai the significant gains from the employment of a vegetation filter are not the revenues received from the sale of the biornass fuel source, hut rather the cosi savings of the leachate purification.