Solid Waste Management: Issues and Opportunities

• By: AWMA
• On: 03/05/2025 12:22:00
• In: EM Articles
• Comments: 0

by Stephen Zemba

The concept of solid waste management has evolved in recent years to emphasize limiting the use of natural resources through disposal, recycling, and recovery, and to finding effective solutions for the rapid depletion of natural resources, increases in energy consumption, and escalating costs. This month, we include three articles that reflect the diversity of environmental issues and opportunities within the realm of solid waste management.

In the first article, “The Importance of Manure Waste Management in Reducing Hazardous Algal Blooms in Lake Erie,” Peter F. Hess identifies the need to reduce nutrient loadings to Lake Erie to avoid the repeated formation of hazardous algal blooms (HABs), such as the event that closed the drinking water supply of 500,000 people in 2014.

Next, in “PFAS Releases from Landfills: Consideration of Air Emissions in Mass Balances,” my colleagues, Matthew Estabrooks and Meghan Close, and I call attention to recently reported measurements of volatile per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill gas.

Last but not least, Miquel Carbó reminds us of the opportunities that innovative waste management provides when waste streams are viewed as potential resources in “Turning Waste Streams Into Revenue Streams”.

Taken together, we are reminded that waste management continues to evolve as we recognize both new challenges and new opportunities for managing waste responsibly and promoting a more sustainable future.

Continue reading the full March 2025 issue of EM.