Waste treatment technologies - invention born of necessity

If you were to be shipwrecked on a deserted island, would you send a message in a bottle? Probably. But is this a means of communication or generation of waste?

With increasing affluence in our societies, consumption and ease of lifestyle have given rise to accelerated waste generation.

For some years this went by either unnoticed or else, if noticed, it was laughed off. In the late Sixties, with the Flower Power youth culture, the establishment dubbed environmentalism as a youth fad. But those youths shed their locks, adjusted the hemlines but kept the Petal Power going.

Malta, if a late developer, is no exception. Over the past two decades our country has grown by leaps and bounds. Some of us still remember a time when throwing away material such as old clothing and glass bottles was just not done.

It is unfortunate that today, when we consider ourselves to have progressed, we have not kept the same habits - not out of frugality perhaps but certainly out of love for the environment. Waste treatment and management is one of the greatest challenges our society is facing.

Technology has been defined as the practical application of knowledge. Regulations, public concern and increased industrial commitment to a clean environment have boosted technology in this field into a multibillion Euro business.

The technological knowledge of 'better housekeeping' is therefore available.

The main problems, normally cited, of implementing these technologies are:

¤ that it is difficult to disseminate the knowledge and that the resources to be used by skilled employees responsible for the improvements are large, especially in the first stages of improvements. In other words, industry has to invest in their future production in order to gain market share.

¤ secondly, the awareness of the economic benefits from better housekeeping among managing directors is often scarce and incentives to initiate projects from authorities/private funds may be needed to push forward the process. Such incentives could be of an economic nature or it could be done by providing skilled manpower to be able to implement better house-keeping.

In all European countries environmental protection has become the basis of future activities. Companies' success will increasingly depend on whether and to what extent they are able to adapt their production and products to environmental requirements.

In the last decade several European countries have made an effort to use a common strategy to reach these improvements.

The waste directives of the European Union require the adoption of particular environmental precautions aimed at minimising environmental impacts, in particular emissions to air, water and land from contaminated sites and waste management facilities, and for the recovery of materials and energy from waste.

The requirements bring with them technological implications. One can mention a few examples:

¤ the Landfill Directive requires the site to be rendered impervious and that the waste be treated before placing. Leachates and gasses are to be managed, biogegradable waste going to the landfill must be reduced and groundwater monitored.

¤ the Waste Incineration Directive engenders a strict operating regime with recycling and treatment of residues and monitoring of emissions.

¤ packaging and waste packaging must be collected separately and end-of-ilfe packaging, according to the directive, must be recovered.

¤ the Urban Wastewater Directive requires, among other things, wastewater to be collected and treated to a specific standard before discharge.

Other related directives, such as the IPPC Directive, mandate the use of Best Available Techniques (BAT).

The EU has established the IPPC Bureau in Seville precisely to catalyse an exchange of technical information on best available techniques in specific industrial sectors to inform operators in these sectors and the relevant decision-makers on what may be technically and economically available to industry to improve their environmental performance.

These requirements and activities have created an economic driving force that has sparked the development of a growing market for innovative solutions to waste handling, and pollution prevention and control.

This economic driving force has increasingly brought about technological advances in response to the growing demand. In fact, the proliferation of advanced treatment methods, products and processes adds up to new opportunities, including jobs in the design and construction of treatment plants and in their operation, and not least in research and development.

Never has the saying "necessity is the mother of invention" been so true. Traditionally, waste treatment technologies were typically end-of-pipe, aimed at reducing the environmental impact of waste that had already been generated.

Such end-of-pipe technology is exemplified by the application of a sulphur-abating technology on the flue gases of a power plant, in contrast for example to proactive measures like operating the power plant on low-sulphur fuel.

While end-of-pipe technologies remain valid up to this day, we are now witnessing a shift to more proactive technologies where the aim is to minimise waste production, and to reintroduce material that would otherwise end up in the waste stream, into the economical cycle. Here too the practical application of knowledge may be seen.

With the remit to regulate both land use planning and the environment, MEPA has to ascertain that it makes the best use of our country's limited natural resources. Across the country, construction and demolition activity appears to be on the rise as markets for new developments emerge.

At the moment MEPA (the Malta Environment and Planning Authority) is dealing with this waste stream by infilling exhausted quarries. Given that the availability of these quarries is limited, alternative and better solutions have to be found.

Other waste streams, such as municipal and hazardous waste need to be accommodated in adequate and appropriate facilities. Until recently we used to do things differently - now Maghtab's days as our national waste bin are over.

Deconstruction has often been described as "construction in reverse" and may also be regarded as a waste treatment technology as it treats a potential source of pollution at the very start.

Deconstruction was actually the norm for many centuries, as people made use of old building materials to renovate and rebuild. Whereas demolition yields a mixed pile of debris from which some items (for example, scrap metal and glass) may be picked out for recycling, deconstruction involves the selective and systematic disassembling of buildings with the specific goal of generating a supply of materials suitable for reuse.

The health and safety aspects of deconstruction are still being documented, but deconstruction has numerous potential environmental benefits over demolition and, being more labour-intensive, it can provide more jobs in industry.

Land reclamation has, over the past few years, been played down as a way forward for the treatment of inert waste. We know well enough that these operations will always create an impact on the marine environment but we cannot take a simplistic stance on the matter.

Work on assessing this option has started and will be dealt with on a national level - considering in a holistic way both the benefits and any problems based on comprehensive scientific studies.

Another aspect of waste treatment is that of Clean Technologies which aim at controlling pollution at source. They are perfect examples of proactive technologies which minimise the impact on the environment by a more environment-conscious design of products, by reducing the consumption of materials and energy, and by substituting more hazardous mater-ials with less hazardous ones.

The result is less pollution and waste. Such technologies are more environmentally sound and also more cost effective - truly win-win technologies.

May I remind you that Government has been financially supporting the Cleaner Technology Centre whose aim is promoting least polluting technologies in industry by transferring relevant knowhow. The centre also offers assistance in the analysis of existing systems thereby facilitating the identification of feasible solutions for pollution prevention.

The recent rapid development of waste treatment technologies is likely to continue. Waste treatment technologies of the future will most likely promote sustainable development. They will also contribute to improvement of both social systems and technical development.

All this is going to mean a substantial change in lifestyle and culture. The three Rs - reduce, reuse and recycle - are quite well known but they are just the beginning of the story.

Other Rs include reclaim, refurbish, recover, regenerate and, finally, refuse. This last R means to reject or not accept a lifestyle that is wasteful and detrimental to the environment.

This is not an easy option but, I think, one which sub-consciously, Malta has already chosen.

Recovery of materials and energy from waste will continue to be important, but more emphasis will be given to reducing waste discharge volumes both at the individual level through lifestyle changes and at the corporate level through the adoption of clean technologies.

Mr Calleja is chairman, MEPA.