A NEW APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE MSW MANAGEMENT IN EMERGING COUNTRIES. APPLICATION OF BEST TECHNOLOGY TO THE IRANIAN MARKET

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1 Nettuno_Montana SpA_ Venice 2016_BEST Iran - Final.docx A NEW APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE MSW MANAGEMENT IN EMERGING COUNTRIES. APPLICATION OF BEST TECHNOLOGY TO THE IRANIAN MARKET A. Basharzad *, L. Conti *, L. Nettuno*, G. Moro **, P Simone * * Montana S.p.A. - Via A. Fumagalli 6, Milan (Italy) ** Unità di Misura S.r.l. Via Montebello 30, Milan (Italy) Abstract: Iran is facing a strong combined growth of population, concentration towards large cities and per capita consumption of goods with rapidly increasing fluxes of MSW. Most of the system is still directly managed by municipalities with a relevant lack of specific expertise and strategic view on sustainable Municipal Solid Waste ( MSW ) management. Typical technological practices and actual management models are analyzed in relation to the recent positive evolution of foreign investment attractiveness of the Country which has come to a tilting point in the approach to MSW management. Since 2014 Montana has been widely assessing and testing the implementation of the BEST Artificial Mines solution on different real cases, locations and conditions to assess local sustainability in term of costs VS performances, and also from the cultural point of view. The article describes the results, drivers and challenges of the adaptation of the technological option BEST approach to the Iranian contest for a new deal for environmental protection, innovation and implementation of a green economy on MSW in Iran. 1 INTRODUCTION The I.R. of Iran, is facing a strong combined growth of population, concentration towards large cities and per capita consumption of goods. The combination of these 3 elements is leading to rapidly increasing fluxes of MSW on the demand side which has not been satisfied on the offer side for many years now creating a cumulated heavy environmental hazard overall the Country. Despite a direct responsibility of the Public System, the existence of basic environmental regulation and the good cultural and technical level of the country it is clear that the long term solution on the problem must be found through the combination of private/foreign investment, application of sustainable technologies and new business models between the actors. In this framework the authors have been extensively assessing for over 2 years the effective potential solution options for a transition toward modern MSW management practices on many practical business cases of different scale, geographical and social context.

2 2 GENERATION OF MSW IN IRAN The demography 1 of Iran is characterized by the three key aspects: Strong population growth High (and growing) level of urbanization Young population Total population of Iran Population Average annual growth was 79 million at the end of ( ) 2015, is comparable to that IRAN % of Germany and 20% larger Germany (reference) % than the United Kingdom. United Kingdom (reference) % The population has been steadily growing, even if some doubts are raised on the overestimation of data for political purposes, at more than 1% per annum for the last 15 years, without showing signs of slowdown. Expressed in total numbers, this equals to an increase of to units every year. Iranian population is significantly young compared to European standards. The large number of young Iranians has the potential to fuel the growth of GDP and consumption for the next decades. Median Age 2 % of population below age 15 years IRAN 28.3 years 23.6% Germany (reference) 46.5 years 12.9 % United Kingdom (reference) 40.5 years 17.8% The third important trend is a strong, growing, urbanization. Every year around 1 million Iranians moves into cities, which must manage the resulting growing needs for infrastructures, services and MSW management. Urban population as % of total Average annual growth ( ) IRAN 73.4% 2.3% Germany (reference) 75.1% 0.1% United Kingdom (reference) 82.5% 1.1% Based on the data from the national Census, in 2011 Iran had: 8 cities with more 1 million inhabitants (for a total of approximately 20 million inhabitants) 15 further cities with a population above (for a further 7 million inhabitants) The economic indicators Per capita GDP Per capita GDP growth for Iran provide a mixed (2010 US$) picture. On one hand, the IRAN % value creation in the country Germany (reference) % is still a fraction of that of United Kingdom (reference) % European countries. On the other hand, the economy is growing, both if measured in local currency and in US$. Figures for the consumption of goods show similar trends. It is important to consider that all the economic indicators for Iran are affected by the devaluation of the national currency (Iranian Rial), which in 1 Unless where otherwise specified, the data in this chapter refer to year 2015 and are derived from the World DataBank (World Bank). Accessed in September CIA Factbook, accessed September 2016

3 September 2013 lost approximately half of its value against the main international currencies (Euro, US$, GBP). The trends just described all converge in predicting a strong growth in the generation of MSW in the country, considering that: overall the population is growing, increasing in life standards and in more waste generating social habits per capita production of MSW is typically correlated with levels of disposable income and consumption of goods. despite some restrictions to foreign technology and goods the country is accessing to global market consumables and rapidly moving to use and throw habits typical of the consumerist era. In addition, due to the urbanization trend we expect that MSW will be generated more and more in urban settings. Primary sources of information on the waste sector in Iran are rare: only a few peer-reviewed articles in English language have been published in international journals. The following MSW statistics are reported from available sources. MSW generation (kg / person / day) Notes IRAN average Tehran average including waste from businesses Tehran range household only Tehran average including waste from businesses Municipality of Karaj 0.60 Waste composition (% in weight) Organic 42.1% 74.10% 73.20% Paper and cardboard 22.1% 9.90% 8.58% Various inert materials 13.2% 3.80% 8.93% Plastics 11.2% 7.50% 4.50% Metals 9.0% 1.50% 0.73% Glass 1.7% 1.90% 1.34% Textiles 0.7% 1.30% 2.72% Context Tehran, non-households 6 Tehran, households 6 Karaj (2008) The data available present significant ranges of variation, which are typically caused by different characterization methodologies and sampling approaches, as well as statistic variability. However, a common characteristic of Iranian MSW is the high organic content: from all sources available, the average organic content of household MSW is reported to be comprised in the range 57% - 75%. 3 R. Nabizadeh, M. Heidari, MS. Hassanvand, Iranian Journal of Health and Environment, H. Norabi Heravi, M. Sabour, A. Mahvi, Municipal solid Waste Characterization, Tehran Waste Management Organization (TWMO) 6 Alireza Ashori, Waste Management February 2009

4 3 MSW PRACTICES IN IRAN The authors through their direct experience in Iran since 2014, have developed a solid understanding of the structure of the MSW sector in the country having analyzed over 10 different cases by size, climatic and socio-economical contexts; our findings are consistent with the picture presented by the academic sources and summarized in the following. MSW collection The municipalities are typically responsible for the collection of MSW. The collection services are generally managed by a dedicated public waste company, in which the municipality is typically sole. The collection activities are typically carried out as follows: - the households dispose waste in road-side metallic bins. There is no evidence of any doorto-door service but in some cities incipits of separate flux collection approach is starting; - the roadside bins are designed to receive unsorted MSW (no separate collection bins for recycling of materials); - there is a very limited road-side collection of recyclable fractions (plastic and metal): handpicking from waste bins before official collection is common on streets even in large cities; - the waste management companies empties the roadside bins, using collection vehicles generally in good service state but aged and of different sizes non optimized for the service; - transportation is often through short term collection service contracts with private transportation companies; - the collected waste is sent either directly to a the final treatment/disposal site (see below) but in large cities its common to use dedicated transfer stations where the waste it is loaded on large truck. MSW Treatment/ disposal MSW is typically disposed to a single controlled landfill site with other accessory facilities. Disposal activities are averagely managed as follow: - external collection vehicles, or large waste trucks, deliver the waste to the landfill site without any quality control; - waste/trucks are weighted at the site gate only in large sites/cities; - in medium large cities some Mechanical Biological Treatment facilities are present based on a standardized local design and characterized by a low efficiency in quantity and quality and poor labor safety conditions; - in some cases, there is a limited sorting and recovery of materials (metals and plastics) while the organic fraction is stabilized in and typically abandoned in the surroundings od the site with high environmental impact; - more commonly, the waste is disposed in the active landfill without any treatment; - typically the disposed site is managed by the same public authority that manages the collection; - very frequently short term contracts with local companies are assigned with private negotiations to manage some of the fluxes by recovering only the most valuable recyclable parts with very low efficiency and poor health & safety standards. Landfilling practices vary a lot in the country but are in general very poor on the whole nation. on the different technical and management features of MSW landfills, we observed the following: - typically the sites are in very long term operation and with spread of waste on large surfaces due to space abundance and low precipitation levels; - preparation of the landfill site: the bottom and sides of the cells are typically not

5 waterproofed with lining and / or clay: MSW is still disposed directly on the ground although generally the site is geologically chosen with reasonable criteria (low permeability soil, distance from aquifers and cities ecc). - MSW is not adequately managed in the landfills in terms of overall disposal configuration (eg surface vs volumes, amount of temporary covers, level of compaction); - MSW is not covered daily at all sites. Also, in several cases the final landfill cover (typically with local soil) is absent or does not meet the common landfill engineering best practices; - leachate and biogas collection systems are very rarely present. This creates significant environmental issues, such as odor control and risk of groundwater contamination; - typically the sites are controlled and no scavenging/waste picking uncontrolled activity is present as in many other countries. Regulatory and market Framework Despite the long term isolation Iran has developed since several years a proper regulatory framework on environmental issues, including MSW. The regulation system is largely based on EU and US EPA standards which refers in particular to air and water emission for industrial activities and are based on emission limits which are already sufficiently strict considering the overall cultural and industrial situation of the country. On the other side the country faces a diffused lack of technical norms able to guide and force the market of SWM to a significant standard improvement. This situation also reflects on the difficulty of governmental control authorities such as the DOE (Department of Environment) to enforce the system to a real improvement of performances and to environmental impacts reduction. On MSW management there is yet no technical regulation on the specific waste streams and on the standards to be applied to MSW treatment and disposal facilities. On this matter the authorities are currently working intensively and the release of more precise and stringent rules is expected in the next years with promising positive effects. This includes also the recent regulation issued in 2015 regarding incentives for energy production through renewable energy technologies which considers dedicated power purchase tariffs, in the range between 80 and 100 /Mwh, for the following specific kind of waste streams based on 20 years Power Purchase Agreements: 1. Biomass-landfill 2. Biomass- anaerobic digestion 3. Biomass- incineration and waste gas storage Regarding the tariff system in the MSW sector, generally the costs of collection and treatment/disposal are charged on to the municipality budget and no modern tariff system (eg. pay by production) is forecasted at least in the short term. On some secondary special waste streams some taxation system is being developed to reduce production and incentivize recycling. Overall costs of MSW management are still very low, typically below /t including collection not only due to the quality of the service but also in relation to the very low costs of local Capex, and opex (mainly labor and energy).

6 4 THE BEST OPTION: A POTENTIAL BREAK THROUGH APPROACH IN EMERGING COUNTRIES In Europe, traditional landfills have always been considered as a technology for the "ultimate" disposal of waste, which is stored in one or more basins specifically designed to minimize the ingression of water and to reduce the formation of leachate and biogas. Traditional landfills have been recently developed according to the concept of dry tomb ; this approach does not consider that a proper management of the pilot parameters of degradation processes (i.e. waste moisture, ph, availability of macro and micro nutrients, temperature and presence of microorganisms) considerably accelerates the stabilization of waste, which otherwise may last several decades (from 30 to 200 years), reducing the potential hazard caused by the landfill to the surrounding environment. The result is a generally safe storage condition for the waste but a long term hazard for future generations and a progressive reduction of available space. BEST is a combination of the bioreactor and landfill mining concepts which reflects a completely new philosophy according to which, in optimal conditions of the above mentioned parameters, the biodegradation process of municipal solid waste or, more generally, of waste containing degradable organic matter can be stimulated and accelerated so as to reduce long-term risks (Bioreactor Phase). As the level of impacts of the waste is reduced to desired values in range of only 6 to 8 years and green energy production is maximized, a further step (LandFill Mining- LFM- Phase, based on the concept of Miniere Artificiali : i.e. Artificial Mines) is applied and the stabilized waste is extracted from the bioreactor and mechanically re-processed to obtain new materials and fuel in the form of Refuse Derived Fuels (RDF) or Solid Secondary Fuel (SSF). The effect of segregation of materials after the bio-stabilization and not before reflects also into a much higher sorting efficiency and into a better quality of the recovered materials. BEST treatment technology is based on a cyclical process where MSW of any kind is disposed, biodegraded, extracted, treated and finally enhanced through material and energy recovery, while the empty space inside the cells can be reused for the cultivation of more waste. The main especially designed steps part of BEST processing system, are depicted in Figure 1.

7 Waste pre-treatment Bioreactor cell preparation Waste disposal and installation of Bioreactors s facilities (leachatebiogas) Cell sealing (anaerobic phase) Leachate recirculation Massive production of biogas with large volume and weigh reduction Production of green energy, with reduced environmental impact Cyclical process thanks to the realization of more cells Bioreactors s cells final stabilization and progressive reopening Mining of residual stabilized matter (LFM) and delivery to the selection plant Separation of recyclable fractions with production of valuable materials and energy products (RDF SSF). Final confinement of residual non recoverable stabilized materials Note: Rendering realized for dissemination purposes Geometries in the illustrations are not standard reference for design. Figure 1. Graphic illustration of the phases of BEST process. The Bioreactor using BEST treatment system can be integrated in multipurpose platforms for the integrated management of kinds of biodegradable waste not only from household but also from manufacturing sector (eg. Textiles, food waste ecc), and consists of the facilities and process steps depicted in Figure 2

8 Figure 2. Typical Process Diagram of the BEST process 5 OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES TOWARDS MODERN MSW MANAGEMENT IRAN The Iranian context presents several interesting opportunities for the introduction of innovative the technologies such as BEST as sustainable solutions for MSW management but at the same time, important specific challenges must be addressed. Opportunities: A. after many years of embargo the release of international sanctions in Jan 2016 is slowly but gradually opening the Iranian market to know how and investment suppliers. The lifting of the restrictions will allow the return of Iran on the stage of international trading as a large and attractive market, able to attract capitals, technologies and investments. B. Environmental standards, in particular for MSW disposal in landfills, are currently low (as described in the previous chapter). However, there is a growing environmental awareness in the civil society, municipalities and government agencies, which demand higher standards for waste collection and disposal, which could act as driver to facilitate the introduction of modern technologies. On the other side the lack of technical standards leaves more space to promote new technologies with less regulatory constraints respect to the complex and often excessively rigid set of European national norms.

9 C. Waste characteristics: MSW in Iran has typically a high organic content, up to 70% with very low separated source collection. While this can create issues when MSW is disposed in non-sanitary landfills (odors, leachate, uncontrolled biogas emissions), or sorted in MBT plants, this type of waste is optimal for the BEST technology which is able to leverage its profitability and efficiency on the organic matter, with an accelerated production of biogas; D. The presence of an open market for recoverable materials fractions such as plastics and metals in Iran make investments in intensive material recovery technologies (such as BEST ) interesting and potentially profitable in the mid long term; E. The Iranian renewable energy incentive schemes is supporting the efficient production of biogas from organic matters in landfilling with fair values respect to combustion technologies in comparison with an important additional revenue stream for a BEST plant. F. National industry: Iran enterprises and workforce have good levels of skills and capabilities, also as a consequence of the strong Oil & gas, heavy industry and mining sectors. The development and operation of open source solutions such as the BEST system can therefore benefit from the availability of local suppliers and labor since only some specific equipment is not yet available locally but could be soon be realized in the country under licence. G. Land Availability: the country has 5 times the size of Italy with similar population and large part of the territory is desert or not useful for agricultural purposes. Therefore the application of more surface intensive technologies such as BEST is facilitated respect to countries with high population density. Challenges A. Structure of the current waste management systems: in Iran, waste collection and disposal costs are covered by the municipality, using funds from general tax revenues. The consequences are: a. no specific waste Gate Fee; b. generally low budgets, resulting in a rather low-tech approach (no daily covers, no leachate / biogas collection systems ecc); c. no formal separate collection or recycling schemes, which leaves space for informal recovery and black market trading of materials; B. Time pressure: the rapid growth of urban population and MSW production requires quick win-win solutions, able to effectively tackle the increasing environmental pressure. The introduction of waste source sorting and recycling is a good a mediumterm goal, but the adoption of such instruments is typically slow, as it requires redesigning the whole MSW management process and change citizens cultural behaviors; C. Experience and culture in financing deals in the waste sector: the waste sector, as a result of its fully publicly-owned nature, did not typically involve private investors up to now. Therefore there is a lack of significant experience in arranging such financing deals in addition to the lack of adequate instruments safeguard investors (e.g. internationally accepted bank guarantees); D. Climatic factors: the climate in several regions of Iran is hot and dry for a significant part of the year but also turning to very cold in winter due to the high average altitude of the country. This can adversely impact the performance of a BEST since in hot weathers, the organic content of MSW can start degrading quickly and the management of MSW in a BEST requires a certain level of moisture; in dry climates,

10 the system might lack of water in the balance, which then needs to be sourced externally. 6 SUITABILITY OF BEST IN THE IRANIAN CONTEXT Thanks to its innovative features, the BEST solution has shown to be able to address many of the challenges described above. In particular, we highlight the following major aspects. - Technical and environmental performance: BEST technology features an accelerated, optimized anaerobic degradation of the organic waste, which reduced odour problems and enhances the production of biogas, which is then used for electricity generation, with significant reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions ( GHG ). In addition, MSW in the BEST system is stored and managed with high standards, including high-tech covers and system for collection, extraction and full treatment of leachate. The application of BEST is also fully suitable in industrial areas also in brown field conditions, even in combination with old open dumps which could be used for future full remediation through landfill mining operations. - Flexible solution with rapid implementation times: BEST system can be build and start operating in a short time frame (typically, from 4 to 6 months from when the site is made available for preparation). Processed waste will be available for mining and recovery of valuable recyclable materials (such as plastics) in much shorter terms respects to landfills (6-8 years for completion of Bioreaction on each cell). Thanks to this solution, BEST will allow the recycling even of current undifferentiated MSW, long before waste sorting schemes become common practice in Iran. - Cost effectiveness: the BEST technical solution is designed to be fully scaled case-bycase and in time to match the Iranian budgets and MSW current and future amounts of the specific project. This can be achieved first, thanks to step-wise investment, where the plant and its components are added over time; secondly, by leveraging of local suppliers and related lower costs; thirdly by adapting specific parts of the process to local needs (eg level of manual employment or technologies for waste bio-insulation in the disposal phase in the bioreactor). Based on the typical investment breakdown for a BEST solution in Europe, we estimate that the overall CAPEX of a typical BEST installation would imply Gate Fees which can be at least 40-50% lower than European equivalent with Capex split in: o 40-50% for civil works, which would be fully sourced in Iran, with significant saving opportunities and active involvement of local contractors; o 25-30% for technical equipment which could be sourced in Iran (e.g. piping, metal carpentry), with saving opportunity; o 25-30% for technical equipment which cannot be sourced locally and would need to be imported (e.g. biogas engines, technical membranes for bioreactor cover and bottom lining) with small cost increase due to shipment and import costs, or eventually built in the country under licence with further savings. 7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION From the several feasibility studies performed by the authors by direct long term experience in the Iranian context BEST has shown to be a sustainable solution for the proper and efficient

11 management of Municipal Solid Waste, respect to other modern technical solutions as schematically summarized in the following table. MSW technology Main limitations Key BEST advantages Traditional landfill of - No material recovery - Material recovery (without the unsorted MSW - Varying environmental need to set up separate Waste sorting + mech.-biological treatment + final landfill Incineration + final landfill for ashes performance - Long time to introduce MSW separate collection schemes - Technical and environmental performances depend on the quality of input material - Very high investment (upfront) - Low energy efficiency source collection schemes) - Fast implementation (without the need to set up separate collection schemes) - Capability to adapt of rapidly changing contexts - Optimal recovery of materials - High efficiency in green energy conversion The comparison above and the extensive economical and financial analysis show that the BEST solution can perform better than alternative technologies, in particular in countries such as Iran, characterized by a medium level of environmental maturity and medium-low income. As we see in the process description (also refer to Figure 1 and 2) the advantage of the BEST option is to supply an overall solution by keeping internal and external costs as low as per the country s needs providing high environmental performances compared to the status quo and also to other current modern technologies. The regulatory framework in the country, due to the lack of complex and technical restrictions, combined with the thirst of modernization opens the opportunity for the implementation to innovative solutions such as BEST with a much easier and straightforward implementation process respect to mature economies. On the important issue regarding the cooperation between public and private operators and investors the different analyzed business cases have shown that the system is culturally and economically ready to implement modern approaches such as PPP or BOT models to MSW as already applied to other business sectors. The application of low investment density technologies such as BEST is the suitable solution for the needed medium term transition from the actual very low budget dedicated to MSW management respect to compromise intermediate options such as modern landfilling. 8 CONCLUSIONS After over two years of direct interaction with local and central authorities and MSW managers in I.R. of Iran the authors have assessed the challenges and opportunities for a potential positive R- evolution to sustainable MSW management in the country. It is clear that local technical and social culture, feasibility of adaptive technological transfer, acceptance levels of innovative low cost technologies such as BEST, together with the strategic need of foreign investments are important positive drivers toward the implementation of long term PPP or DBOT projects able to give long term solution to the MSW management problem. On the other side main residual hurdles to be faced, related to the still sufficient stability of the

12 country, are the need of adequate investment protection guarantees from the Public side or, alternatively, a higher remuneration expectation of the investment to adequately cover the risk. Considering the overall clear strategy of the I.R. of Iran to promote intensive foreign investments on all country s strategic sectors and the rapidity of the changes occurring in the country after the end of sanctions, we believe that in short terms the public system will be ready to rapidly implement such modern business models (as DBOT) with modern technologies at large scale with substantial benefits for the country s environmental performances and with interesting business opportunities for international MSW operators and investors. REFERENCES Ashori A. (2008). Municipal Solid Waste as a Source of Lignocellulosic Fiber and Plastic for Composite Industries. Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering Ashori A., Nourbakhsh A. (2009). Characteristics of wood fiber plastic composites made of recycled materials. Waste Management 29 (2009) Atefeh Mir and Sedigheh Sadat Nabavi (2015), OPTIMIZATION OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences CIA Factbook Iran (accessed September 2016) Condorelli M., Ghidorzi A., Moro G., Nettuno L., Simone P. (2014). BEST Technology: an advanced efficiency based comparison with traditional Municipal Solid Waste disposal systems. Proceedings SUM 2014, Second Symposium on Urban Mining. Bergamo, Italy; May 2014 Condorelli M., Moro G., Nettuno L., Simone P. (2013). Waste: a resource of material and energy the first implementation case of BEST processing system. 14 th international waste management and landfill symposium - Sardinia - Proceedings. International Waste Working Group. Damghani A., Savarypour G., Zand E., Deihimfard R. (2008). Municipal solid waste management in Tehran: Current practices, opportunities and challenges. Waste Management 28 (2008) Nabizadeh R., Heidari M., Hassanvand MS. (2008). Municipal Solid Waste Analysis in Iran. Iranian Journal of Health and Environment, 1 (2008) Norabi Heravi H., Sabour M., Mahvi A. (2015). Municipal solid Waste Characterization, Tehran- Iran. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 16 (16): World DataBank (World Bank). Accessed in September 2016