There is significant increase in solid waste generation over the last decade in Jamaica; this is largely as a result of population growth and to an extent economic growth within the country. The per capita municipal solid waste generation is approximately 1 kg across the island. Municipal solid waste generation on the island has increased from 240,748 tons in 2011 to 290,501 tons in 2012. This can be ascribed to changing lifestyles, food habits and change in living standards.

1. The Growing Complexities and
Challenges of Sol!d Wa$te
Management in Jamaica- Searching
for a Sol!d Wa$te Management
Solution.
MR. PERCIVAL STEWART
PE, MJIE, MSc Civil Engineering,
MSc Environmental Science, Dipl. Solid Waste Management.
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS,
THE NATIONAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY

2. OVERVIEW
What is solid waste and solid waste management?
 History of solid waste management in Jamaica.
 Collection systems and methodologies.
 How is solid waste financed?
 The Parks and Markets Limited.
 Act of 2001- functions and responsibilities of the NSWMA.
 Challenges to Solid Waste Management.
 Components of Integrated Solid Waste Management.
 The economics of solid waste management
 Searching for a Renewable Energy Solution


3. WHAT IS SOLID WASTE?

Solid Waste means any garbage,
refuse, sludge from a waste water
treatment plant, water supply
treatment plant, air pollution control
facility and other discarded materials
including solid, liquid, semi solid or
contained gaseous material, resulting
from
industrial,
commercial,
agricultural and mining operations
and from community activities but
does not include solid or dissolved
materials in domestic sewage or solid
or dissolved materials in irrigation
returns flow or industrial discharges.

4. WHAT IS SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT?
o
o
o
Solid Waste Management is the collection, transport,
processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste
materials.
Currently, Jamaica generates approximately 778,471.5
tons of wastes per year, 2012. This is projected to reach
xxxx by 2013 and xxxx by 2020.
Future projections estimate that the world’s
waste production could reach up to 27 billion
tons by 2050.

5. HISTORY THE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN
JAMAICA

The Ministry of Local Government and Community
Development, then the Ministry of Local Government, Youth
and Community Development, had the responsibility for the
formulation of a Solid Waste Management Policy.

The Parish Councils/Local Authorities by law had the
responsibility for Solid Waste Management at the parish/local
level.

As a result of this, for many years the Parish Council and the
Kingston & St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) had the
responsibility of solid waste management at the parish level.

6. HISTORY CONT’D
o
Since colonial days, solid waste in Jamaica has been collected by the
Public Cleansing Departments of the parish councils - a very expensive
and inefficient process.

In the 1980’s five (5) Parks & Markets Companies were created to carry
out solid waste management functions, which includes collection,
transportation and disposal.

Until 1985, Solid Waste Management was controlled by public cleansing
departments of the Parish Councils

In 1986 & 1987 the government divested local government of its
responsibility of solid waste management.

These companies were also responsible for the maintenance of markets
and public parks.

7. TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITY

The legislation for transfer of
responsibility from the Parish
Councils to the Parks and
Markets Agencies was never
established and the 1990’s
saw
the
responsibility
reverting to the Parish
Councils with the Parks and
Markets operating as their
agents.
Company
Parishes Served
Metropolitan Parks St Catherine,
& Markets
Kingston & St
Andrew, St
Thomas
Southern Parks &
Markets
Manchester, St
Elizabeth,
Westmoreland
Western Parks &
Markets
Hanover, St
James, Trelawny
North Eastern
Parks & Markets
St Ann, St Mary,
Portland

8. DISPOSAL SITES IN JAMAICA

Jamaica has no sanitary landfills but unofficially small
dumpsites across the island and over the years there
has been a reduction from twenty-six (26).

The number of such sites have been reduced to as
little as eight (8), this was due to sanitation and
environmental problems.

Also, these dumps did not had the benefit of
appropriate equipment or sufficient funding for
adequate management to be sustained.

9. COLLECTION SYSTEMS & METHODOLOGIES
Then
Dumping
locations
at
Curbside Collection
Yard Collection
Recent
designated Skip Containers
Shared Containers
Presently
House-to-House collection
Skip/Community Containers
Shared Containers
Curbside Pick-Up
Self Delivered
Contracted Service

10. HOW IS SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT FINANCED??
Funding for solid waste management has primarily come from
property taxes and from Central Government Grants.

11. THE PARKS AND MARKETS LTD.

The largest of these Parks and Gardens companies is MPM,
50 per cent of the solid waste generated in the country is
attributed to the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA).

Having solid-waste collection and management under five
separate entities was inefficient and fragmented, in 2001, the
National Solid Waste Management Act was passed. It
replaced the Anti-Litter Act of 1985. The new act established
an agency of the same name - the National Solid Waste
Management Authority (NSWMA) - as the primary body
responsible for solid waste management in Jamaica.

12. THE NATIONAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT
OF 2001

The National Solid Waste Management Act 2001, has led to the
establishment of a new entity called the National Solid Waste
Management Authority (NSWMA) as a statutory body, to manage the
collection, treatment and disposal of solid waste in Jamaica.

This Agency subsumes all the Parks and Markets Companies that were
previously existed namely:





Metropolitan Parks and Markets Ltd
Southern Parks and Markets Ltd
North-Eastern Parks and Markets Ltd
Western Parks and Markets Ltd.
Central Parks and Markets

13. FUNCTIONS OF THE NSWMA





To safeguard public health and the environment
Ensuring solid waste is collected, stored, transported,
recycled, reused or disposed of in an environmentally sound
manner.
Enforcing the National Solid Waste Management Act 2001, to
guarantee full compliance.
To effectively manage solid waste in all ways and forms
throughout the entire island on an everyday basis, the
Authority also acts in times of national disasters or
emergencies.
Promote public awareness through public education.

14. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE NSWMA
1. Establishing the standards and criteria that must be
attained by operators in the solid waste sector.
2. Licensing of solid waste companies, collection vehicles
and disposal site operators.
3. Contracting solid waste collectors for municipal garbage
collection.
4. Establishing collection zones in collaboration with the
Parish Councils, the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation
(KSAC) and the Town Planning Authority.

15. RESPONSIBILITIES CONT’D
5. Establishing tipping fees structures and rates for
industrial and large commercial entities disposing of
waste at the approved disposal sites, and
6. Operating solid waste disposal sites in the medium
term while preparing them for divestment to the
private sector.
7. Any other matter under the Act required to be
prescribed

16. THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Licensing of companies to collect and transport
types of waste.
all

Licensing trucks to collect and transport waste.

Tipping fees structures and rates.

Standards for storage containers, collection vehicles,
disposal site and transfer stations
operations
and
recycling.

Developing fines for illegal dumping and littering.

17. THEN AND NOW……SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

At Independence, Jamaica's solid waste was piled on the
surface of garbage dumps.

Today, we speak of landfills because its the new approach to tip
some garbage, spread, compact, cover it with soil, add compact
again.

Landfills are a vast improvement over dumps, but they are not
without their own problems. They are expensive to operate
properly: hundreds of truckloads of soil have to be brought in,
and heavy earth-moving equipment has to be bought, or hired,
to move it around.

18. BEST PRACTICES IN WASTE MANAGEMENT





Compacting of wastes
Recycling/Recovery
Composting
Transfer Stations
House to house collection

19. CHALLENGES TO SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Due to financial constraints the Authority finds it difficult to:
 Adequately and effectively manage its disposal sites.
 To frequently undertake covering of landfills.
 Maintain landfill equipment to reduce downtime.
 One of the major challenges of waste management is
created by the ever increasing volume of waste that is
generated and the new varieties of goods that are
discarded.
 Dumps poorly located around the country;
 Uncontrolled scavenging;

20. CHALLENGES TO SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
CONT’D
Inadequate budgetary allocation by Central
Government to the responsible line ministry
 Inappropriate and inadequate vehicular
equipment
 Inadequate management of hazardous waste
 Low public education and awareness of
SWM issues
 Populations underserved with collection
service
Other problems on the landfill includes but not limited to  Frequent Landfill Fires.


21. SOLID WASTE AND CLIMATE CHANGE…

Landfills provide ideal conditions for methanogenesis.

Solid waste affects climate change through the emission of
landfill gas – methane, which is well known to be a powerful
greenhouse gas and so contributes towards climate change.

The source of manmade methane gas is from landfills which
occurs when organic waste is left to decay anareobically.

Significant landfill gas production starts 1-2 years after waste
disposal and continues for up to 10-60 years or longer (EPA)

22. LANDFILL GASES - PRODUCTION PHASES
Figure 1. Production phases of a Landfill
Source: EPA

23. LANDFILL FIRES
Landfill bacteria breaks down
trash in the absence of oxygen. A
byproduct of this breakdown is
landfill gas, containing mainly
methane and CO2
o
This presents a fire hazard as
methane can explode/ burn. If this gas
remains in the landfill it can easily be
set ablaze.
o
o Also,
there are persons who will
deliberately set landfill fires.
Over the years, the most dominant
landfill to be set ablaze is the Riverton
landfill.
o

24. STORM WATER CALCULATION
Engineering calculations justifying the size
of the
proposed storm water drainage works:
Percolation equivalent = 100mm per month
-3
Hydraulic conductivity of KD=10 m/s
Bottom of landfill slope 1:50 distance between
pipes = 100m
2
h max = L/2 [(tan a +N/KD) 0.5 – tan a]

25. STORM WATER CALCULATION CON’T
Where :
KD = 1.10-3 m/s
N= 100mm/month, i.e. 3.86 x10-8 m 3/(m2 x s)
L=100m
Tan a= 0.02
hmax=100/2x[ (0.022 x 3.86x10-8) 0.5 -0.02]
hmax=0.05

26. RATIONAL METHOD FOR LEACHATE PRODUCTION
Assumption:
Average precipitation (I) = 272 mm/year
Average transpiration (E) = 136mm/year
Calculation:
Q=Q1+ Q2= I/1000x(C1xA1=C2xA2)
Q= the leachate production (m3/year)
Q1=the leachate production from the part of
the landfill still in use (m3/year)

27. LEACHATE PRODUCTION CONT’D
Q2= the leachate production from the part of
the landfill not in use (m3/year)
A1= the area of the part of the landfill still in
use (m2/year)
A2= the area of the part of the landfill not in
use (m2/year)

28. LEACHATE COLLECTION FOR RIVERTON
Calculation of the leachate coefficient for the uncovered
part of the landfill:
C1= 1-E/I= 1-136/272=1-0.5=0.5
Calculation of the leachate coefficient for the
covered part
of the landfill:
C2=0.6xC1=0.6x0.5=0.3
Leachate production:
Q=Q1+ Q2= I/1000x (C1xA1=C2xA2)
Q= 272/1000x (0.5x28+0.3x0)
Q=0.272 (0.5x280, 000 + 0.3x0)
Q= 0.272 (140,000)
Q= 38,080 (m3/year)

29. WHAT ON EARTH CAN WE DO…?

30. WHAT IS INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE
MANAGEMENT?

Integrated Solid Waste Management
(ISWM) is a comprehensive waste
prevention, recycling, composting,
and disposal program.

An effective ISWM system considers
how to prevent, recycle, and manage
solid waste in ways that most
effectively protect human health and
the environment.

It involves evaluating local needs and
conditions, and then selecting and
combining the most appropriate
waste management activities for
those conditions.

The major ISWM activities
are waste prevention,
recycling and composting,
and
combustion
and
disposal
in
properly
designed, constructed, and
managed landfills.

31. RECYCLING, A GREAT POSSIBILITY
Four problems that would be solved:
1. Less money will be spent cleaning the streets and other
public places of plastic waste.
2. Less money would be spent on contracting garbage trucks
to transport plastic waste.
3.Less solid waste would end up at landfills, requiring less soil
to cover it, and fewer tractors would be needed and millions
of dollars would be saved in the process.
4. There would be an opportunity for the private sector to get
involved in solid-waste processing and management.
Charging a refundable deposit on plastics can reduce the
tonnage of garbage trucked to the landfill.

32. WASTE PREVENTION
 Waste
prevention is often called source reduction
which means reducing waste by not producing it.

Waste prevention actually avoids waste generation, it is
the preferred waste management activity.

Overall, waste prevention conserves resources,
protects the environment, and prevents the formation of
greenhouse gases.

33. COMPOSTING



This is the controlled aerobic biological decomposition of
organic matter, such as food scraps and plant matter, into
humus, a soil-like material.
Compost acts as a natural fertilizer by providing nutrients to the
soil, increasing beneficial soil organisms, and suppressing
certain plant diseases, thereby reducing the need for chemical
fertilizers and pesticides in landscaping and agricultural
activities.
Organic materials often comprise a large portion of the solid
waste stream. Composting can be particularly helpful to
communities managing their waste.

34. COMBUSTION

Combustion is the controlled burning of waste in a
designated facility to reduce its volume and, in some
cases, to generate electricity.

Combustion is an ISWM option for wastes that cannot
be recycled or composted, useful where landfill space
is limited. While the combustion process can generate
toxic air emissions, these can be controlled by installing
control equipments.

Combustion of solid waste can help reduce amount of
waste going to landfills.

35. LANDFILLING: LAST RESORT

Presently, most of Jamaica’s waste is landfilled.

Uncontrolled dumping of waste can contaminate
groundwater and soil, attract disease carrying rats and
insects, and even cause fires.

This method can have problems however, properly
designed, constructed, and managed landfills provide a
safe alternative to uncontrolled dumping.

36. STRATEGIC PLANS







Upgrading
disposal
sites
islandwide.
Designing a series of Regional
Landfills & a network of Transfer
Stations.
Improving Service Delivery
islandwide.
Developing ways to reduce waste
generation.
Public Education Programme.
Training of Landfill personnel.
Increasing fines and breaches




Reviewed existing collection
systems
islandwide
and
establishing
new
collection
system
The establishment and operation
of regional transfer stations to
reduce fuel costs.
Taking all necessary enforcement
steps to guarantee compliance
adherence to all established
systems.
Taking initiative for proposals for
solid waste management.

37. THE ECONOMICS OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Scrap metal exports from Jamaica moved
from US$13.3 million in 2005 to US$99.58
million in 2006, registering an increase of
over 600% in one year. (Jamaica Exporters'
Association)

US$14M was registered for 2010 but the
growth rate accelerated in the first half of
2011, with US$14M worth of exports from
January to May alone.

38. SCRAP METAL EXPORTS IN JAMAICA
Scrap Metal Export,
Jamaica
Figure xx displays the monthly trend from January 2009 to May 2011

39. ECONOMICS OF RECYCLING PLASTICS IN
JAMAICA

Jamaica currently has no recycling plant, however, the
newly formed Jamaica Recycles, hopes to grow capacity
by 50 per cent over the next two to three years, which
would push the capacity from the current 60,000 tons of
recyclable material per annum.

This would divert 20,000 tons of garbage per year from
the Riverton landfill.

The current cost is US$100 per ton of material.

In less than 8 months since December 2009, more than
32,500 plastic bottles from Caribbean Estates have been
recycled!

40. LANDFILLS: EXCEEDING THEIR LIFE SPANS

The Riverton waste shed receives the largest
volume of waste and has currently exceeded its
life span/cycle.

Therefore, its of utmost importance that other
efficient waste management solutions be
explored to minimize the volumes of wastes
entering the landfill.

Non-sanitary landfills cause land degradation
as a result of leachates.

41. A SEARCH FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

The Government of Jamaica has invited relevant persons to
submit requests for proposal via the Office of Utilities
Regulations, in search of finding renewable energy sources.

The Authority, is currently in the process of accepting
proposals to convert waste to energy thus, reducing the
amount of wastes entering into landfills

The OUR has made several changes to its Requests for
Proposals for the supply of up to 115 MW of electricity
generation from Renewable Energy Based Generation facilities
on a Build , Own, Operate (BOO) basis.

42. WASTE TO ENERGY PROPOSALS

The NSWMA, has approximately twenty (20) unsolicited
proposals for Waste to Energy.

This is an attempt to manage the amount of solid waste
generated daily.

These include technologies such as bio-fuels, managed
recycling facility, refuse derived fuel, gasification, waste rubber
and plastic fuel conversion plants, mass burn and pyrolysis.

43. WASTE TO ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES

44. WTE & MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

The long-term availability of a cost-effective,
reliable
and
sustainable
solid
waste
management system is an important component
of the infrastructure needed by a local
community to spur economic development.

In this regard, municipal solid waste
management (MSW) systems that utilize wasteto-energy (WTE) facilities to process nonrecycled waste for energy recovery provide a
number of noteworthy economic development
benefits.

45. GASIFICATION

It is a manufacturing process that converts any material
containing carbon such as coal, petroleum coke (petcoke), or
biomass into synthesis gas (syngas). The syngas can be
burned to produce electricity or further processed to
manufacture chemicals, fertilizers, liquid fuels, substitute
natural gas (SNG), or hydrogen.

Gasification helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil and
natural gas, and can provide a clean alternative source of base
load electricity, fertilizers, fuels, and chemicals.

46. GASIFICATION PLANT

47. HOW DOES IT WORK?


Feedstock
:Gasifers
capture the values from a
low-grade
hydrocarbon
materials. Gasifers can be
design to use one or more
of the following feed
stocks-solid, liquid, gas.
Oxygen
Plant:
Most
gasification systems use
oxygen to facilitate the
reaction in the gasifer. The
oxygen is then sent into
the gasifer.

48. HOW DOES IT WORK?
CONT’D

Gasifer: Before entering the
gasifer solid feedstock are
ground into smaller particles,
while liquid and gasses are fed
directly.

Then a controlled amount of
steam or air enters the gasifer,
temperatures within ranges
from 1,400-2,8000 F. The heat
and pressure break apart the
chemical
bonds
of
the
feedstock forming syngas.

Currently gasifers are capable
of processing up to 3,000 tons
of feed stock per day,
converting 70-85% into syngas.

49. HOW DOES IT WORK?
CONT’D

Gas Clean-up : trace
minerals such as sulpur and
mercury
are
and
unconverted carbon are
removed to very low levels
using processes common to
chemical
and
refining
industries.

Clean Syngas: Before being
used to create power
syngas is cleaned to remove
sulfur, mercury and trace
minerals.

50. SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS

Gasification plants produce
significantly lower quantities
of criteria air pollutants.

Gasification can reduce the
environmental impact of
waste disposal
Gasification
plants
use
significantly less water than
traditional
coal-based
power generation, and can
be designed so they recycle
their
process
water,
discharging none into the
surrounding environment.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) can
be
captured
from
an
industrial gasification plant
using commercially proven
technologies.



Gasification
offers
the
cleanest,
most
efficient
means
of
producing
electricity and the lowest
cost option for capturing
CO2 from power generation

Gasification's
byproducts
are non-hazardous and are
readily marketable

51. REFUSE DERIVED FUEL

Refuse Derived Fuel is a fuel produced by shredding and
dehydrating municipal solid waste with a waste converter
technology. RDF consists largely of combustible components
of municipal waste such as plastics and biodegradable.

Non-combustible materials such as glass and metals are
removed during the post-treatment processing cycle.

RDF can be used in a variety of ways to produce electricity.

52. THE PROCESS




Crushing Process -refuse is crushed to the appropriate size for
drying.
Drying Process -high temperature blast dries and deodorizes
refuse
Sorting and Crushing - Process-unsuitable substances for fuel
such as iron and stone are removed, refuse is then crushed to
the appropriate size for forming RDF.
Solidifying Process -additive is supplied to prevent corruption.
Substances are formed to produced high-density and high
strength RDF that is suitable for transportation, storage and
combustion.

53. REFUSE DERIVED FUEL PLANT

54. MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY
This is a specialized plant that receives, separates and
prepares recyclable materials for marketing to end-user
manufacturers. There are two different types: clean
and dirty MRFs.
 A clean MRF accepts recyclable commingled materials
that have already been separated at the source from
municipal solid waste generated by either residential or
commercial sources.
 A dirty MRF accepts a mixed solid waste stream and
then proceeds to separate out designated recyclable
materials through a combination of manual and
mechanical sorting.


55. MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITY

56. MASS BURN

Mass Burn plants generate electricity and/or steam from waste
by feeding mixed municipal waste into large furnaces
dedicated solely to burning trash and producing power.

This waste management method avoids the expensive and
unpleasant task of sorting through the garbage for unburnable
materials.

All waste received at the facility is shredded into small pieces
and fed into the incinerator.

Steam produced in the incinerator's boiler can be used to
generate electricity or to heat nearby buildings.

57. MASS BURN
CONT’D
The residual ash and unburnable materials, representing about
10-20 percent of the original volume of waste, are taken to a
landfill for disposal.
Advantages
 Approximately 90% reduction
Mass burn incineration also has
in trash volumes
several drawbacks. Since the waste is
unsorted, it often generates more
polluting emissions than sorted waste.  Power generation
Disadvantages



It is more likely to corrode burner
grates and chimneys.
The residual ash and unburned
materials may be toxic and require
special treatment.

Pollution control

58. MASS BURN PLANT

59. STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

The Agency is in the process of drafting regulations
and standards for operations.
 There
is also a draft regulation waiting to be promulgated.
 Standards
 Waste
currently being drafted are:
Haulers
 Waste to Energy
 Containerization
 Maritime Waste Haulers
 Hazardous Waste Haulers

60. CONCLUSIONS
The principles of sustainable MSW management
strategies are to:
(i) minimize MSW generation
(ii) maximize waste recycling and reuse, and
(iii)ensure the safe and environmentally sound
disposal of MSW.
With limited land space for continuous disposal,
the search is on.

61. The End….
Thanks you for your
attention.