Sustainable Waste Management System and Reverse Logistic Network Design in Plastic Industry: A Case Study of Turkey

2. Sustainable Waste Management

The term of waste including solid, liquid, and gaseous emissions is defined unwanted by-products of human activities. In the last century, waste production has been one of the most important problems in all countries (Al-Salem, 2009; Al-Salem et al., 2009). Among the produced wastes in communities, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is the most complex solid waste stream due to resulting from households, industrial or agricultural activities. According to European Union (EU) reports, MSW generation per capita in the EU-27 had been increasing until 2006 (from 499 kg in 1997 to 523 kg in 2006), but since 2006 appears to be stabilizing at between 523 and 525kg (EC, 2010). In Turkey, MSW generation per capita has been as 420 kg (1.15 kg/d.ca) in municipalities based on Turkish Statistical Institute 2008 data (TURKSTAT, 2008). In Kayseri, the waste generation per capita is 498 kg (1.15 kg/d.ca). The waste composition comprises 68.5% organics, 10% paper and cardboard, 11% plastics, 3.8% glass, 0.4% metal, 2.9% textile, 1.7% yard waste, and 1.7% others (Personal Communication with Municipality authorized). Composition and generation rate of MSW depend on many factors such as social pattern, income, level of life-style, education and so on. Even a slight increase in income can cause consumption patterns of people to change, which results in amount and composition of MSW that lead a greater challenge for the municipalities to handle (Troschinetz and Mihelcic, 2009). However, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) interpret waste as not to be faced a problem, actually waste should be considered as resource to be managed properly, ‘‘The increasing volumes of waste being generated would not be a problem if waste was viewed as a resource and managed properly” (UNEP, 2001).

The major categories of MSW management systems are