Iqbal Asif, Yasar Abdullah, Nizami Abdul-Sattar, Sultan Imran Ali, Haider Rafia, Tabinda Amtul Bari, Kedwii Aman Anwer, Chaudhary Muhammad Murtaza, Ghori Muhammad Usman
Sustainable Development Study Center (SDSC), Government College University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
Civil Services Academy, Government of Pakistan, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
Heliyon. 2024 May 21;10(11):e31235. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31235. eCollection 2024 Jun 15.
Municipal solid waste management is a major concern in developing economies, requiring collective international efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by diverting waste from disposal facilities. This study aims to highlight the importance of the waste sector as it has the potential to significantly contribute to climate change and its toxicity impact on the local ecosystem. Out of the total municipal solid waste generated, only 78 % is collected, either open dumped or thrown in sanitary landfills. The waste sector's ecological impact value is calculated for the Earth's regions, and it is very high at >50 % in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. This sectoral impact value is mainly responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and degradation of the local ecosystem health. Current business‒as‒usual practices attribute 3.42 % of global emissions to the waste sector. Various scenarios are developed based on waste diversion and related emissions modelling, and it is found that scenarios 3 and 4 will support the policymakers of the regions in attaining zero carbon footprints in the waste sector. Our findings conclude that cost-effective nature-based solutions will help low‒income countries reduce emissions from disposal sites and significantly improve the local ecosystem's health. Developed economies have established robust waste‒handling policies and implementation frameworks, and there is a need for collaboration and knowledge sharing with developing economies at the regional level to sustain the sector globally.
城市固体废物管理是发展中经济体的一个主要关切问题，需要国际社会共同努力，通过将垃圾从处理设施中转运来实现碳中和。本研究旨在强调废物部门的重要性，因为它有可能对气候变化及其对当地生态系统的毒性影响做出重大贡献。在产生的城市固体废物总量中，只有78%被收集，要么露天倾倒，要么扔进卫生填埋场。计算了地球各区域废物部门的生态影响值，在非洲、亚洲、拉丁美洲和加勒比地区，该值非常高，超过50%。这一部门影响值主要是造成温室气体排放和当地生态系统健康退化的原因。目前的照常业务做法将全球3.42%的排放归因于废物部门。基于废物转移和相关排放模型制定了各种情景，发现情景3和情景4将有助于各区域的政策制定者在废物部门实现零碳足迹。我们的研究结果表明，具有成本效益的基于自然的解决方案将有助于低收入国家减少处置场的排放，并显著改善当地生态系统的健康状况。发达经济体已经建立了强有力的废物处理政策和实施框架，需要在区域层面与发展中经济体开展合作和知识共享，以在全球范围内维持该部门的发展。
