Researches in BH, Viçosa and Juiz de Fora show how Science can help with innovative solutions to minimize waste generation and environmental pollution

Transcription

1 NEW TIMES From November 19 to 23, the tenth edition of the already traditional Waste and Citizenship Festival takes place in Belo Horizonte. Between October 27 and 29, people from several countries take part in the first Zero Waste International Meeting of Youths, in Florianópolis (SC). Both events are encouraged by the debate about the proper practices of reduction, reutilization and recycling of solid waste. Waste reduction is directly related to consumption reduction. However, according to a Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) survey, released in June of this year, from early 2003 until May of this year, 39.5 million Brazilians were upgraded to class C, a 46.57% increase. How to educate this mass of people to consume less? Someone can think: Now that I am entitled to consume, you say I should not consume. We defend that, at the first moment of transition, the idea is to raise awareness and not to restrain the access to consumption. But rather to teach how to properly dispose of things, says Carlos Roberto Vieira da Silva Filho, executive director of the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Wastes Companies (Abrelpe), which in 2011 completed 35 years of existence and has recently launched the scientific magazine Conexão Academia. Specific for solid waste topics, the magazine intends to show to the market that there are feasible projects in this field. Abrelpe is part of those segments of the organized civil society that are concerned with the proper destination of solid waste. However, if someone suggests that a correct management of wastes can solve social and even economic problems, Carlos Vieira warns: A little caution is needed with this information. Historically and worldwide, solid waste provides certain sustainability to the business. But, the necessary cycle to collect, dispose of and transport the waste is way more expensive than the value of selling this waste. A complete sustainability was not yet achieved. For the executive director of Abrelpe, the focus should be on the incentive to actions intended to Zero Waste, aiming at reducing the amount of waste, thus reducing the expenditures. The environment is not the enemy, it is the ally, he points out. The concept of Zero Waste (read more in page 12) is new in Brazil. The process of non-generation of waste takes place when people change their habits and, because of that, respecting the particularities of each case, the success of this program does not depend so much on the process, but rather on raising the awareness of stakeholders, evaluates Gustavo Sabatini, from Novociclo Ambiental, one of the organizers of the event in Santa Catarina. To Sabatini, to be aware that you are responsible for your choices, for the impact of your existence, for the wastes resulting from your consumption, and the Education that can make you know methods and practices, allow you to autonomously achieve zero waste. However, by reducing wastes and allowing the collection of recyclables, perhaps the work of waste pickers would no longer make sense. In other words, would the Zero Waste produce the side effect of eliminating the waste pickers work? In Brazil, a whole class of people emerged from the action of picking waste. This tends to be surpassed and this mass of people shall be included in the process, shall become undertakers no longer for waste picking, but for waste appreciation purposes, answers Carlos Vieira, from Abrelpe. Sabatini agrees: The system we propose foresees the eradication of the street waste picking through the professionalization of those pickers and their incorporation into the Zero Waste system, which is much more economically feasible than the current system. Science is not put aside when addressing innovative solutions for waste and environmental pollution minimization, or when approaching waste workers. MINAS FAZ CIÊNCIA has followed up four ongoing or already concluded researches in BH, Juiz de Fora

2 and Viçosa that address this issue in different ways. The coordinators of these projects also gave opinions about the Zero Waste concept. Professor Cláudio Cançado, one of the researchers interviewed, agrees with the fact that it is possible for us having a zero waste society. However, for the researchers, it is still miles away from becoming feasible. The main factor for this delay is the (lack of) education of people. If we don t change the consumption-oriented attitude of the people and their view on the process of transforming matter and energy for making our consumption goods, the other actions of control and treatment of municipal solid waste are pointless, he says. Another researcher, Alisson Carraro Borges, understands that his project can contribute in the long run for a reality where all wastes are reused, recycled and/or reduced. I believe that our mission is to give our grandchildren the opportunity to live in a world just equal or better than ours. A research is only a small part of the whole, but this is how we should work, better understanding the phenomena of nature (with Science), and acting locally: those working in the project certainly select their Forsu (wet waste), because they know the other part should be recycled/reused to not overcrowd the city s landfill. Read in the following pages the complete news report. Researches in BH, Viçosa and Juiz de Fora show how Science can help with innovative solutions to minimize waste generation and environmental pollution

3 Wastes have the power (energetic power) Municipal solid waste can become an endless source of energy, because they are continuously generated. The bigger the municipality and its population are, the bigger the potential of energy generation through wastes will be. The decision on the final disposal system for the wastes of a city shall be made after a careful evaluation of options available. From these assumptions, the researcher and professor Cláudio Cançado, from the Minas Gerais Technological Centre Foundation (Cetec), has proposed the study Research of the energetic potential of Belo Horizonte solid wastes. The utilization of solid waste energetic potential is possible in biogas processes (generated in sanitary landfills and composed of 40 to 55% of methane), pyrolysis (thermal system such as reactors) and plasma arc (special form of gaseous matter which conducts electricity). This research can contribute for the study of the technical and economic feasibility, mainly by evaluating the energetic potential of each region, and of the entire municipality of BH, which seems to be the basis to estimate the energy to generate. It is very important to evaluate whether the investments in those technologies can be sustainable in the long run, because they require a huge initial capital and specialized personnel, says Cançado. According to him, another important point is the charging issue, which encompasses the reception of solid waste and the generation of electric energy, and the investment return. The system shall at least be self-sustainable, and within this scope we should also evaluate the scale issue, that is, the amount of solid waste generated, because the bigger the scale, the higher the undertaking feasibility will be. In BH, approximately 4,300 ton of municipal solid wastes are generated on a daily basis. To conduct the study, the researcher has divided the city into nine regions, from the socioeconomic stratification of five income classes (A, B, C, D, and E). The research raises another important issue: is it feasible to think that the energetic potential of a high class region can be a little different from the class C potential, for instance? In principle, yes, says Cançado. According to the researcher, the purchasing power of the people directly impacts its consumption and, consequently, the generation of solid waste by them. However, in general we observe a large amount of food wasted in every social class. To confirm such statement, from the statistic standpoint, a waste composition study shall be done (gravimetric study) and its energetic potential shall be evaluated to check if there are significant differences among them. We expect that the solid waste of higher classes has a significant different in comparison to that of poorer classes, he says. The work coordinated by Cançado has so far come to the following conclusions: the composition of wastes is directly related to its socioeconomic development. The Superior Calorific Power (SCP) values obtained depend on the composition of municipal solid waste components. In the case of Belo Horizonte, the general average composition of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is mostly formed of organic matter (main), paper and plastic (approximately 85%). The average SCP value obtained for BH was 4,900 kcal/kg, for a humidity of approximately 7%. As these materials are basically formed of carbon and hydrogen, these two elements are those contributing the most to increase the SCP value obtained for MSW in the capital of Minas Gerais state. The SCP value obtained indicates that the MSW energy use in BH can be feasible from the economic viewpoint, with recommendation to conduct deeper technical and economic studies to prove such feasibility. As for this topic, Cançado raises another issue: The evaluation of feasibility shall take into consideration the recycling chain. Some questions should be made when selecting the electric energy generation through MSW: How the

4 recycling chain will become? The potentially recyclable waste shall be removed, which generally has a higher SCP? How the waste pickers situation will become? How to unite the social, environmental and economic issues? The calorific power shows the potential capacity of a matter to release a certain amount of heat when submitted to complete burning. It is divided into Superior Calorific Power (SCP) and Inferior Calorific Power (ICP). SCP is that where the amount of heat is measured by the water generated in the gas phase burning. The ICP is the energy effectively available per fuel mass unit after deducting the losses with water evaporation. Cláudio Cançado: ask yourself when was the last time you have bought something really necessary

5 Biodigestor: energy that cleans the waste Is it possible to develop an organic waste treatment model which is technically and economically feasible to be spread throughout Brazil, providing a correct destination to the biggest fraction of waste present in the municipal solid waste? Luis Felipe Colturato, executive director/ceo of Methanum Resíduo e Energia, an engineering company focused on the energy recuperation of solid wastes and wastewater, believes the answer is yes. In addition to that, upon treating organic wastes, we are benefiting the expansion of other materials recycling, once these are not contaminated by organic matter. Brazil is in a privileged position in the pursuit of a more sustainable society, and we want to help it to show that we develop technologies with strong social, environmental and economic appeal, he says. The main purpose of the project Development and Construction of a Pilot Unit of National Technology of Municipal Solid Waste Methanization Applicable to Small and Middle size Municipalities is to develop a national methanization technology applicable to middle and small size municipalities which represents approximately 90% of the municipalities in Minas Gerais, with less than 50,000 inhabitants. This new technology tries to reduce the environmental and public health problems, while allowing the generation of renewable energy biogas, regarded as the cleanest biofuel currently available, and which can be used in different ways (electric energy, thermal energy, etc.). Methanization is also called anaerobic digestion or biodigestion. The objective of Colturato and his team is to build, operate and monitor a pilot digester, with treatment capacity of one ton per day that will be installed at the Pampulha Campus of Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) to treat organic waste generated at the cafeterias and restaurants of the Campus. The biogas generated will be converted into electric energy to illuminate the area. We have a great expectation about the project, which is the result of a broad technical and scientific investigation on the topic, says Colturato. The digester is expected to be in operation in the first semester of The researcher says he believes in the Zero Waste concept. Of course, lots of things have to be done, especially at the industries level. The main issue of waste is: no generation; but if there is generation, something that can be reused, recycled or treated shall be generated, he points out. Colturato comments that the main focus of his research is the organic matter, which represents more than 50% of the weight of the waste generated in Brazil. This is curious because we see various recycling programs that simply forget this portion of the waste, prioritizing the inorganic waste. It is noteworthy that the organic portion is the one that smells bad, produces greenhouse effect gases and leachate (a liquid resulting from decomposed organic matter) that contaminates soils and water streams, attracting macro and micro vectors that cause diseases. Furthermore, organic matter represents more than half of the waste produced, and in contact with other materials, such as plastic and paper, can hinder their recycling process. What we are doing is to work with the concept of Waste to Energy. We can generate clean energy (biogas), organic compound, carbon credits, jobs and income for the local community if we orient this organic matter to treatment systems via methanization. And this is our main goal. In Colturato s vision, the problem becomes the solution: waste becomes an added value byproduct. It is noteworthy that upon managing to provide a proper destination to the organic fraction, the recycling of other materials (plastic, paper, glass, metal, etc.), as mentioned before, is also benefited, because the waste will be way more clean, allowing recycling.

6 It is important to remember that today s waste was yesterday s product. But, which is even more important is to remember that this waste can be a product again. The bottle of water we drink in a minute, all of a sudden turns into waste. And from that point on, it is perceived as a bad thing. This is wrong, and we are working on this concept, waste is raw material and should be used, he thinks. Anaerobic digesters in pilot scale (200-liter recipients), gasometers to measure biogas (made of white PVC pipes) and leachate collection system (20-liter bottles).

7 Seeds that speed up the fermentation of wastes With its sanitary landfill capacity coming to an end, Belo Horizonte started to make use of the Sabará landfill. In Viçosa, there is the Siriquite landfill, but the area available is depleting. Landfills, however, are exceptions. Unfortunately, in various cities of the State, wastes are still disposed of in inappropriate dumping sites. In Minas Gerais, the State Environmental Foundation (Feam) is the leader of the project Minas sem lixões (Minas without dumping sites), which aims to eradicate the disposal of wastes into dumping sites. According to Feam (2010 data), 36.58% of the 853 municipalities of Minas Gerais use dumping sites, and only 7% make use of regularized sanitary landfills. Currently, in various countries, the trend of imposing reductions to the organic fraction in municipal solid waste (Forsu) to be disposed of into sanitary landfills is being observed. This means that the waste burying technique is limited by the area available. In various countries and cities, environmental agencies are suggesting the treatment and disposal of Forsu in anaerobic digesters, says the researcher Alisson Carraro Borges, from the Department of Agricultural Engineering of the Federal University of Viçosa (DEA/UFV). From 2008 to 2009, Borges coordinated the project Energy recuperation from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste via batch systems: influence of the use of different inocula. The project addressed the co-digestion topic, which would be the use of inocula (something like a seed, a catalyst) to speed up the fermentation of municipal solid waste (our domestic organic garbage ). An interesting byproduct of this process is the methane (CH 4 ), which is a fuel. The researcher explains that anaerobic digesters are reactors designed to treat solid waste in which the operation occurs in the absence of oxygen: Due to the fact that there are no expenditures with aeration, and because of the possibility of reusing the biogas generated in the process, they can be fully economically feasible. And he adds: the word batch means to say that certain amounts are treated in a period of time, without continuous waste coming in or going out, that is, the treatment is done in cycles. According to Borges, the anaerobic digestion also takes places in sanitary landfills. The difference is that in digesters it is possible to implement higher rates, that is, the treatment process can be quicker, and as a result, it can be done in a smaller area. There is a direct relation between digesters and biogas, which is one of the byproducts of anaerobic digestion and is formed of methane, carbonic gas and other gases. As an advantage, we have the possibility to use methane s energy, and to get carbon credits. As a disadvantage, depending on the waste composition, we can see in the biogas composition a small, but corrosive and smelly, amount of hydrogen sulfide, he points out. In his research, Borges has proved that the use of inocula can speed up the fermentation of municipal solid waste. In our project, we have studied the co-digestion of cattle husbandry wastes (manure) along with municipal solid waste. This material in codigestion (inoculums) helped the process, by providing humidity, shutting it up, and a higher biological activity in the reactors. To make this strategy effective, similar amounts of inocula were added in four anaerobic digesters operated at pilot scale. At the end of the experiment, the performance and stability of each of them were evaluated. Wastes were collected from a university restaurant, a vegetables and fruits market, and a popular open-air market in Viçosa. After the survey on the wastes of each of those sites, what are the conclusions made? Borges answers: As a matter of fact, those wastes were

8 mixed, following an international recipe. This was then called simulated Forsu. It sounds strange to buy wastes and mix them to study, but the comparisons with other researches are more precise when we use the same recipe. Wastes collected from the university restaurant, vegetables and fruits market, and from a popular open-air market in Viçosa.

9 Waste Picker: male, illiterate, over 40 years old The way to take care of the waste picker s health should be as careful as stipulated in the Brazilian Constitution (health as a right to every citizen expanded concept of healthdisease). Therefore, it should be conducted equally to each and all Brazilian citizens. Your question already shows how much this worker is discriminated and excluded from the society. This was said by a professor from the Nursing School of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Maria Cristina Pinto de Jesus. She reacted to the question of the reporter: How the health of the waste picker shall be taken care of to contribute to a Zero Waste society (that is, in which all the wastes are reused, recycled and reduced)? Along with two other professors from UFJF, Sueli Maria dos Reis Santos (Nursing) and José Gustavo Francis Abdala (Engineering), Maria Cristina currently develops the research Life Quality of Recyclables Pickers in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. The first phase of the project is already completed. In it, the life quality of a group of recyclables pickers of the city was evaluated. Among the main diseases and symptoms identified among them hypertension, diabetes, alcoholism, smoking abuse, joints pain and tooth pain are highlights. Of the 96 pickers interviewed, 71.9% are men; 66.7% are above 40 years old; 79.2% live alone or with the family, that is, they are not homeless; 58.3% of pickers have no husband/wife; 75% are illiterate or have incomplete fundamental education level; 57.3% only work with recyclables picking; and 49% have up to three children According to the survey, among the factors that have influenced the negative selfperception of life quality of recyclables pickers, some stand out: age, educational background and housing situation. The young pickers evaluated their life quality as bad, and this makes us think that, for being young, they may have the expectation of improving their life conditions. They get involved with this type of work, but they are not pleased or adapted to the activities of picking recyclables, even because they are not appraised as actual workers, is Maria Cristina s evaluation. According to the researcher, the higher education degree of some pickers resulted in a worse perception of life quality, which did not happen with those with lower education degree or even the illiterates. We can conclude that the education degree influences the individual to evaluate his/her life condition as good or bad, considering the social circumstances and the surviving difficulties faced, she says. Despite being limited to a single municipality of Minas, the survey results are subsidies for the review and strengthening of public policies intended to recyclables pickers, insofar as they contribute to think about the need of ensuring their rights as workers and citizens, she says. In the second phase of the project, still ongoing, ten workshops were carried out with recyclables pickers, from March to August of this year. Some topics discussed during the workshops were Health Habits, Picker as a health agent, and Ergonomics and Work. One of the goals of the project is to promote changes in the life conditions of those people, from an educational intervention. Therefore, the study is concerned with the awareness raise of the pickers about their reality, and to bring about solutions to improve their work conditions. How this is done? The issue of allowing behavior changes, in this case, seems to be a long term project; we are providing individual protection equipment and materials to

10 those pickers, however, their life circumstances do not allow them to acquire and consolidate new behaviors beneficial to a better life quality, she points out.

11 Towards to a Zero Waste city Zero Waste. Together, both words may sound a utopia. But not to Rodrigo Sabatini, president of Novociclo Ambiental, of Florianópolis. Zero Waste means to design and manage products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of wastes and materials, preserving and recuperating all the resources, rather than to burn or to bury them, explains the businessman, who along with the Instituto Lixo Zero Brasil (ILZB), of the same city, organizes the International Zero Waste Meeting of Youths, which will take place in October of this year, in the capital of Santa Catarina state. In Sabatini s evaluation, Zero Waste is a goal that ethically, economically, efficiently and an in a visionary fashion guides people to change their life styles and sustainable practices to emulate natural cycles, in which all the discarded materials are designed to become resources that other people can use. In the definition of the Zero Waste International Alliance, the objective is to set a goal for the total deviation of material to landfills and incinerators. In Brazil, the basic concept spread by me and by the Instituto Zero Lixo (Zero Waste Institute) is to stop discarding, and starting to give a use to the wastes resulting from consumption, says Sabatini. The president of Novociclo explains that the Zero Waste concept was published for the first time on behalf of a company, Zero Waste Systems Inc. (ZWS), founded by the chemical engineer Paul Palmer in the 1970 s in Oakland, California. At that time, ZWS had the objective to find new destinations for most of the surplus chemical substances of the emerging electronic industry. Later, based on the ZWS teachings, Paul Palmer has founded the Zero Waste Institute (ZWI). According to Sabatini, Paul Palmer defends that recycling is like an appendix for the creation of waste and for the waste industry, and he also rejects all the attempts to reuse garbage or any type of waste. Instead of that, he calls the attention to the redesign in which all products and processes of the industry and commerce are rethought to increase their life cycles, and to minimize the waste, until reuse and recycling are no longer necessary. In addition to encouraging the non-waste economy, which promotes the development of new markets and industrial technologies for the processing of materials, the Zero Waste works in the beginning of the waste chain, preferably on its non-generation. This action has direct consequences on the extension of landfills useful lives, which is one of the main concerns of the cities nowadays, and on the extinction of impacts resulting from the inappropriate disposal of wastes, notes Sabatini. Of the 67 million ton of wastes that are annually generated in Brazil, only 5% are estimated as not being possible to reuse or recycle, before disposed of in dumping sites or sanitary landfills, and thus the wastes daily produced in the cities could be correctly reused or recycled, thus increasing the life cycle of materials and ensuring the sustainability of this chain. In the whole world, there are various cities adopting the Zero Waste as a goal. According to Zero Waste International Alliance, these are cities of countries such as the United States (especially in California), Canada, New Zealand, Italy, England, South Africa, Philippines, India and Japan. In South America, there is only Buenos Aires, in Argentine. It is important to remember that Zero Waste is a goal and part of a process. Nobody becomes Zero Waste from one day to another, it is necessary to reeducate to change people s habits, along with the provision of adequate infrastructure and services for each one to be able to be a citizen, points out Sabatini. There is not a single city that has adopted Zero Waste in Brazil yet. Except for Florianópolis through the Florimanha NGO and the Instituto Lixo Zero Brasil -, which has

12 embraced the motto Towards Zero Waste. The project foresees the adjustment of public cleaning services, towards the promotion of recycling activities, and the reuse of materials, minimizing the waste disposed of into the sanitary landfill of the city in 30% up to To give a proper destination to any type of waste, it is important to remember that it should be either recyclable or reusable, notes the ILZB executive director, Gustavo Abdalla. In his opinion, when we talk about reuse, we cannot count on a local artisan to give life to a new product, either as art or as an object. In this case, we are talking about returnable packages or those products that can be refilled with a refill, provided that the refill s package is also recyclable. All depends on the awareness of people when shopping. The purchaser should be aware of what to do with that package that eventually will become empty. Therefore, before Science, we need to work with people s awareness, and then consequently the industry and Science will have to adapt to keep the market, says Abdalla. A new cycle of actions

13 Doors open to the future It is a Thursday morning in the middle of September, in this year. Two monitors of the Open Doors program, André Rodrigues Caldeira, 20 years old, and Davi Leonardo Reis da Silva, 19 years old, guide some participants of the initiative of the Centro Mineiro de Referência em Resíduos CMRR (Minas Gerais Waste Reference Center), in the district of Esplanada, western Belo Horizonte. This month, the workshops offered were the following: Tetra Pak Flowerpot, Gift Box, PET bottle Puff, Handmade Paper. The attendance, guided by André and Davi, and formed of youths and some adults, was getting guidance on the conscious consumption through practical environmental education activities. Other purposes of the Open Doors project are to pursue possibilities of nongeneration, reuse and recycling of wastes; to identify the technological alternatives to treat and properly dispose of waste; to get to know the most recent regulations that indicate basic paths for the correct final disposal of municipal waste. Reconditioning and Maintenance of Computers To take part in the course on Reconditioning and Maintenance of Computers, a selection process is conducted, with a test of Mathematics, Portuguese and Basic Computer Skills. For the other courses, the target-attendance is composed of professionals of similar activities, students of technical and superior courses, academic universe, public and business institutions, and the community. André and Davi work for the CMRR since April 2010, and in addition to be monitors, they also work in the CMRR workshops, with recyclables. Nearby, teacher Fernando Souza guides 13 to 29-year old students in the course on PCs 3Rs (intended to reuse electrical and electronic appliances, which are then donated to schools and entities), one of the courses currently offered by CMRR, and which have already qualified 252 youths, until July Currently, there are courses related to organic waste and intended to Associations and Cooperatives of Waste Pickers. There are also three courses of qualification of Recyclables Management: Management of Construction & Demolition Wastes, Management of Medical Wastes, and Course on the National and State Policies of Solid Waste Management. According to the qualification coordinator, Daniel Lima Dias, from 2007 to 2009 CMRR offered the Course of Waste Management and Business, qualifying 339 students. After that, this course was transformed into a Technical Course on Environment, held from September 2009 to August 2010, graduating 54 participants. The CMRR is a program of Minas Gerais State Government and is officially known as the core irradiating information, projects and partnerships with the purpose of encouraging the reflection, citizenship action to face the challenges of integrated waste management, and the articulation between the public, the private and the third sectors in the promotion of the conscious consumption, of reuse and recycling of wastes.

14 Daniel Dias, beside a recycled work, at the CMRR PROJECT: Energy recovery of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste through batch systems: influence of the use of different inocula COORDINATOR: Alisson Carraro Borges MODALITY: Minas Gerais Researcher Program AMOUNT: 31,080 BRL PROJECT: Development and Construction of a Pilot Unit of National Technology of Methanization of Municipal Solid Waste Applicable to Small and Middle Size Municipalities COORDINATOR: Carlos Augusto de Lemos Chernicharo MODALITY: Researches on Climatic Changes in the State of Minas Gerais. AMOUNT: 227,430 BRL PROJECT: Survey of the energetic potential of municipal and urban commercial wastes in the municipality of Belo Horizonte COORDINATOR: Cláudio Jorge Cançado MODALITY: Solid Waste Invitation to Bid AMOUNT: 119,402 BRL Types of Waste Households Commerce Public Health Care Industrial Ports, airports and railway and highway terminals Agricultural Debris Responsible Entity Local Government Local Government Local Government Generator (hospitals, etc.) Generator (industries, etc.) Generator (ports, etc.) Generator (farmer) Generator