According to IPCC, the waste sector (wastewater + solid waste management) accounts for 2.7% of global Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, this does not reflect the whole truth as IPCC calculatations only take into account end-of-pipe waste management strategies neglecting the potencial of reducing, re-using or recycling waste (which applies mainly for solid waste management but also for innovative sanitation tecnologies such as anaerobic digestion and ecosan approaches).
For this reason it is important to investigate the contribution of the waste sector to GHG emissions and integrate the mitigation potential in waste management. Besides many interesting papers presented at conferences worldwide about the importance of an integrated organic waste and wastewater management and its influence on climate change, GHG emissions and the potential of CDM-projects in this field, instruments are needed that show the potential of emission reduction in the waste sector. Continue reading “Sanitation, solid waste and climate change”
UN Habitat recently published a new “Global Atlas of Excreta, Wastewater Sludge, and Biosolids Management” with a focus on “Moving Forward the Sustainable and Welcome Uses of a Global Resource”.