Preferred Options (Material Recovery)
- Reuse: Pre- or post-consumer wastes reused to make new or second hand products without modification or additional manufacturing steps before using the waste.
- Recycle (including Upcycle): Pre- or post-consumer wastes reprocessed to produce new items of equal (or better) quality, such as textile to textile recycling or processing plastic bottles into fabric.
- Downcycle: Pre- or post-consumer wastes recycled and processed to produce material or products of lesser economic value, such as recycled textiles used for rags, carpet padding, or sound insulation products.
Less Preferred Options (Energy Recovery or Non-valorized Disposal)
- Incineration with Energy Recovery for Non-Recyclables only: Energy recovery from the process of incinerating non-recyclable waste. Note: Recycling infrastructure and capabilities may differ among regions and countries.
- Energy Recovery – Residual Management (e.g., Physical / Chemical / Biological Treatment): Energy recovery as a form of residual management. For example, sludge treatment that leads to biogas generation, heat generation from biological treatment (composting), or energy generation from any such activity that does not include incineration.
- Onsite Incineration Without Energy Recovery for Non-Recyclables: Incineration of non-recyclable wastes onsite at the facility that does not recover energy from the incineration process.
- Offsite Incineration Without Energy Recovery for Non-Recyclables: Incineration of non-recyclable wastes offsite at a third-party facility that does not recover energy from the incineration process.
- Non-Valorized Disposal – Other Treatment: Any disposal method that does not recover usable materials or attributes of the waste, such as converting them into more useful by-products like raw materials, fuels, or other sources of energy.
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Non-Valorized Disposal – Responsibly Managed Landfills (for waste that cannot be managed in any of the options under Preferred Options or Less Preferred Options):
- According to the ZDHC Sludge Reference Document Version 1.0, responsibly managed landfills are landfills with significant control measures, control both leachate and gas produced from the materials placed in the landfill,and are engineered to store waste in a manner that is safe to the surrounding environment.
- Significant control measures are defined as:
- Lined landfill such that the permeability of no more than 1 x 10-7 cm/sec is achieved. This is most often achieved using a synthetic composite liner on top of a packed natural clay liner but can also be achieved through two synthetic liners.
- Leachate is collected above the liner and removed for proper treatment and disposal. Leak detection and collection is implemented beneath the primary liner and above the secondary liner.
- Gas produced from aerobic and anaerobic decomposition is collected and safely used or disposed of. This gas is primarily carbon dioxide or methane but can include sulphurous compounds. Depending on the content of the gas, carbon dioxide can be vented directly to the atmosphere or collected, filtered, and used beneficially.
- Monitoring and documentation are maintained for the life of the landfill.
- Landfills with limited control measures are landfill types that do not meet the description requirements specified in the Landfill with Significant Control Measures section. The documentation for permeability, leachate, and gas control are generally less restrictive. Leachate control may be non-existent or consist of simple collection and drain to local sewer lines. Gasses may be vented versus stored, treated and used. Monitoring requirements for these types of landfills are less stringent – requiring less frequent sampling, inspections, and records for a shorter time depending on the local laws and regulations.
Least Preferred Options
- Energy Recovery (e.g., Incineration with energy recovery for Recyclables): Energy recovery from the process of incinerating of recyclable waste. Note: Material recovery is the preferred method for recyclable wastes. Recycling infrastructure and capabilities may differ among regions and countries.
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Landfill/Dumping with No Control Measures: According to the ZDHC Sludge Reference Document Version 1.0, these are landfills with Limited Control Measures that do not meet the description requirements specified in the Landfill with Significant Control Measures section. The documentation for permeability, leachate, and gas control are generally less restrictive. Leachate control may be non-existent or consist of simple collection and drain to local sewer lines. Gasses may be vented versus stored, treated and used. Monitoring requirements for these types of landfills are less stringent – requiring less frequent sampling, inspections, and records for a shorter time depending on the local laws and regulations.
- Landfills with No Control Measures are landfills constructed with no control measures. Any landfill that has not been designed to contain waste, limit percolation, or control leachates from exposure or entering the environment is considered a landfill with no control measure. This includes dump piles and holes with no lining or packing to limit waste exposure to the ground and/or groundwater. There may be few or no monitoring requirements for these types of landfills. In many cases, these types of landfills are constructed by simply digging a hole and then filling the hole with waste, or it may consist of filling a naturally occurring depression with waste.
- Onsite Incineration Without Energy Recovery for Recyclables: Incineration of recyclable wastes onsite at the facility that does not recover energy from the incineration process.
- Offsite Incineration Without Energy Recovery for Recyclables: Incineration of recyclable wastes offsite at a third-party facility that does not recover energy from the incineration process.
- Other: Any other waste disposal method that does not fit the description of the above noted methods. Note: A detailed description of the other methods should be provided.