What is waste treatment technology? Why waste disposal?

The method of landfill is gradually outdated and no longer effective. Even burying garbage consumes land resources and negatively impacts the environment and people’s health. In Vietnam, the landfill rate is up to 70% [1]. Meanwhile in developed countries, this rate is only about 25% in Belgium, 1% in Sweden [2]. Therefore, there is a need for optimal and effective treatment solutions for all types of waste. That is why advanced garbage treatment technologies are born. So “What is waste treatment technology? Why is waste disposal necessary?”. The following article RX Tradex will analyze in detail!

What is waste treatment technology?

These are advanced inventions and inventions in the field of environment to support the efficient and thorough waste treatment, reducing the negative impacts of waste on human health and ecosystems on earth.

Technologies will often use thermal, biological, aerological, physical, chemical or combined combustion methods to treat waste.

Find out what waste treatment technology is? Waste treatment technologies are advanced inventions and inventions in the field of environment to support the efficient and thorough waste treatment, helping to reduce the negative impacts of waste on human health, as well as ecosystems on earth. Therefore, people often use some common waste treatment technologies including: Thermal combustion, biological, aerological, physical, chemical methods or combine them together.

The benefits of waste treatment technology.

These technologies bring many environmental, economic and social benefits in waste management. For example:

· Reduce air and water pollution.

· Reduce the rise of the greenhouse effect causing climate change.

· Save raw materials and natural resources.

· Create jobs for workers.

· Help prevent the harmful effects of garbage on people’s health.

Current situation of waste in Vietnam.

What is the current situation of waste in Vietnam? Faced with the demands of life increasing, people increasingly buy bluffs, regardless of whether they use such utensils or not. Therefore, garbage is dumped everywhere, with all kinds of garbage. It is no exaggeration to say that it seems that we live among huge mountains of garbage, whose annual statistics startle everyone:

· Mr. Tran Viet Anh, Chairman of Vietnam Waste Recycling Association said: “Every day the country generates more than 64,000 tons of domestic waste. In which, urban areas account for 55%, rural areas account for 45%.” [3]

· In Vietnam, each year it is estimated that about 3.1 million tons of plastic waste are generated on land, while dumping into the ocean ranges from 0.28 – 0.73 million tons [4]. This situation makes our country ranked among the top countries that generate the largest plastic waste in the world (According to a report of the World Bank – World Bank).

· The country generates more than 64,000 tons of waste every day, but of that only 15% is recycled or reused. According to the report on the current state of the national environment in the period of 2016 – 2019, the details of each year the amount of waste generated is as follows:

· Domestic solid waste amounts to 23.3 million tons / year.

· Industrial solid waste 25 million tons/year.

· Hazardous waste 1.1 million tons/year.

· Solid waste of agricultural by-products 93 million tons/year.

· Medical solids 96 thousand tons/year.

· Volume of pesticide packaging 438,032 kg [5].

Why is waste disposal necessary?

What if such a huge amount of garbage existed in the environment with no control and no treatment? The following are some of the issues that we need to face, including:

· Garbage is present on roads and in large and small landfills, causing unsanitation and urban aesthetics. At the same time, it affects the tourism industry, reducing the number of visitors and national economic benefits.

· Pollutes the air, creates an unpleasant odor. Garbage decomposes or reacts to create toxic substances that affect health, increase the greenhouse effect, and make global warming worse.

· Groundwater pollution is caused by leachate, which contains many pathogens or toxic substances, seeping through the rocky soil layers. From there, it indirectly affects the water supply for humans.

· Detergents, garbage, chemicals spill into canals, ponds and lakes polluting natural areas, causing living organisms to be threatened and destroyed. Natural ecosystems are imbalanced and affect the environment and food chains of species on earth.

· Manufacturing activities, especially agriculture and food, are affected. The quality of supply deteriorates due to waste pollution. Poor quality finished output causes incomes and economic benefits to decrease, which can also lead to an increase in social evils.

· Direct or indirect effects on human health and survival. Toxic gases, hazardous substances, pollutants affect food, air and water sources that people use. Besides, the ecosystem is difficult to restore due to prolonged pollution. Natural disasters and epidemics constantly occur, causing people to struggle to resist, deteriorate health and damage wealth.

Therefore, it is extremely urgent to treat waste before dumping it into the environment. And should it be a top concern and priority for both individuals and businesses? We need adequate awareness and intervention to protect the very environment and the future of people and generations to come.

Current advanced waste treatment technologies in Vietnam and the world.

The purpose of the technologies is to support better waste management, minimize the harmful effects of garbage on the environment and people. Currently, there are many waste treatment technologies on the market that  are suitable for each type of garbage, as well as have different capacities, helping to save time and human resources. Within the scope of this article, RX Tradex would like to introduce the top 5 advanced waste treatment technologies below:

Incineration technology of electricity generation in Vietnam.

Garbage electricity is a popular method, with a great technological advance compared to other countries in the region, helping to convert waste into resources. According to this technology, leachate from garbage will be separated to treat wastewater, gases and odors, while by-products such as ash and exhaust fumes ,… is also reduced toxins before being released into the environment. Garbage electricity technology is applied by many countries around the world, because it can thoroughly treat a large amount of garbage, helping to reduce environmental pollution.

Biotechnology recycles Austrian PET plastic.

Many countries are struggling with the problem of plastic waste, because this type of waste is difficult to decompose, they both take up a lot of area and destroy the natural environment. We can understand, PET is  a thermoplastic, which is often recycled by burning or crushing, so the resulting product is of very poor quality. But a small country like Austria, has a breakthrough in treating this type of waste with PET plastic recycling biotechnology. A company in Austria uses enzymes taken from a fungus to recycle PET plastic, under the influence of enzymes, the plastic will be broken down into small molecules and then transformed into high-quality plastic. While this enzyme is completely free of toxins, it is easy to break down and can produce large quantities.

Water treatment technology with ZeeWeed ultrafiltration membrane.

ZeeWeed ultrafiltration membrane is one of the advanced technologies chosen in the water treatment industry today in the world as well as in Vietnam. ZeeWeed uses ultra-filtration hollow fiber technology, which can treat virtually any quality of water, including raw water, drinking water, wastewater as well as industrial water,… used in thousands of municipal, industrial and commercial applications worldwide.

Japanese CFB fluidized bed liquefaction combustion technology.

CFB treatment technology is considered very effective by burying garbage in a layer of sand, then using air flow during furnace heating and some other chemicals to destroy garbage. CFBs can burn even the most difficult materials to process at a fast pace and at a cheaper cost than many other ways. In addition, harmful emissions such as NO and SO2 are much less than other incinerators because the combustion chamber temperature is low, only about 800 degrees Celsius, and the heat emitted can be used to produce electricity.

Monsal Biotechnology of American Veolia.

Monsal Biotechnology is a renewable energy production and waste treatment solution developed by Veolia Environmental Services in the US. Monsal uses anaerobic decomposition to turn organic waste into biogas (biogas for energy), and solids into fertilizer. In addition, the treatment of sludge both helps create clean compost and kills harmful bacteria, avoiding waste and environmental pollution. The good news for local agencies and organizations is that Suez Veolia (the company that owns Monsal Solutions) will participate in  the first International Exhibition on Waste and Recycling Technology Vietnam 2023 (WRV23).

Summary

Thus, through the content of the article “What is waste treatment technology and the reasons why waste treatment is needed?”, RX Tradex hopes to provide a lot of information and new perspectives on the current situation of waste treatment in Vietnam. If you are interested in the field of environment and waste management, you can refer to the new industry trends, along with advanced technologies at WRV23. The exhibition will be an ideal destination to meet many leading international brands in waste treatment technology and useful solutions suitable for each business. Moreover, WRV23 also provides the opportunity to exchange and directly ask questions to leading experts about the status of waste treatment in their businesses. In addition, RX Tradex will also organize other International Exhibitions in 2023 such as  Vietnam Manufacturing Expo, METALEX  Vietnam,  NEPCON Vietnam for similar purposes.