Social and Environmental Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management Scenarios in Cali: From Landfilling towards Integrated Recycling Schemes

The environmental and social challenges of Solid Waste Management in developing countries have become an increasingly pressing issue. Disparities between the rich and poor continues to increase in many of these regions where growing urban areas often witness the worst signs of maltreatment of human labour and misallocation of waste as a resource. This thesis is a case study of the Municipality of Cali in Colombia, where city managers and the stakeholders involved are wrestling with the challenges referred to. Unsustainable patterns of waste production, inefficient collection methods, unorganized human labour, insufficient coverage of the collection system, lack of awareness and absence of a civic culture on waste handling in concert with improper disposal of municipal solid waste, lack of knowledge and laxity in compliance to policies, are the foremost threats to human health and environmental quality in Cali. The paper focuses on the assessment of environmental and social impacts of the municipal solid waste management in this city, , based on the comparison of four scenarios: landfill with no further treatment, landfill with a social-inclusive recycling system for inorganic materials, sorting plant with compost production and sorting plant with biogas combustion to generate electricity. Key social aspects for evaluating improvements in the system are job creation, freedom of association, human health and equity. Global warming, ecotoxicity, avoidance of abiotic depletion, saved fuel consumption and waste recycling are the main indicators for the environmental assessment. These scenarios allow comparisons and interpretations based on the selection of a mix of priorities in order to motivate potential balanced improvements for the city.