Resource Recovery to Approach Zero Municipal Waste

Current development results in a linear flow from raw material to waste, which cannot be sustainable in the long term. Plus, a global population of 7 billion people means that there are 7 billion waste producers in the world. At present, dumping and landfilling are the primary practices for getting rid of municipal solid waste (MSW). However, this waste contains resources that we’ve yet to utilize. To create sustainable societies, we need to approach zero waste by recovering these resources.

There are cities and countries where zero waste is close to becoming a reality. Landfilling of organic waste is forbidden in Europe, and countries such as Sweden, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland have developed a variety of technologies to recover resources from MSW.

Resource Recovery to Approach Zero Municipal Waste explores the solid waste management laws and regulations of different countries, comparing the latest resource recovery technologies and offering future perspectives. The book tackles the many technical, social, ecological, economical, and managerial aspects of this complex subject while promoting the development of sustainable societies to achieve a greener global environment.

Mohammad J. Taherzadeh is a research leader at the Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Boras, where he is working on waste biorefinery for converting wastes and residuals to ethanol, biogas, animal feed, and biopolymers and focusing on fermentation development using bacteria, yeast, and filamentous fungi. He is also the main supervisor of more than 10 Ph.D students and several postdoctoral fellows. Professor Taherzadeh holds a Ph.D in bioscience and an M.Sc in chemical engineering. He has been a professor of bioprocess technology since 2004. He has to his credit more than 170 publications in peer-reviewed science journals, 12 book chapters, and 3 patents. Professor Taherzadeh collaborates with several companies, and some of his research results have been industrialized. More information about him is available at www.adm.hb.se/~mjt/.

Tobias Richards has been a professor in energy recovery since 2010 at the Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Boras. He is the leader for the group working on combustion and thermal treatment. Professor Richards’ focus area is treatment by thermal processes of different materials, especially mixed materials such as waste. His aim is to get valuable products like electricity, heat, synthesis gas, and pyrolysis oil, and when necessary, destroy potential harmful substances. Professor Richards has to his credit 30 peer-reviewed and published articles and 2 book chapters and is currently supervising 5 Ph.D students.