What comes after cleaning – waste management

Apart from the reduction of waste, the waste management issue is a central challenge in large cities.

[box type=”shadow” ]The Smart City Challenge in India: What is smart?
What are the key issues for cities wishing to apply to become a Smart City? The Smart Cities Mission sets out ten central issues: adequate water supply, secured power supply, municipal cleaning including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, affordable living, above all for the disadvantaged, robust IT connectivity and digitalisation, functional administration including e-Governance and civic participation, sustainable environmental policies, safety of citizens, in particular women, children, the elderly as well as health and education.. New technologies and innova
tive concepts are to be used to make improvements in these areas. A total of 100 cities will be submitting concepts explaining how they envisage meeting these challenges. The winners in the first selection process will start implementation, the remaining applicants will be supported in the further development of their concepts. The programme is initially set to run for five years.[/box] 

For smart cities, innovative concepts are planned – from the use of the sewerage system for waste removal through to an underground pneumatic tube system. However, at the end of this process, there is still the disposal of the collected waste. There is a clear connection to the municipal cleaning issue: What happens to the collected waste? Philipp Röhrle explains: “Distinction must be made between the differentmaterials. Dust and sand cannot be recycled, no more than compacted leaves – which must be incinerated. But fresh leaves can be recycled in biogas plants.” This is already the case today, however Röhrle is of the opinion that there is potential to improve the recycling process. “In combination with demand-orientated cleaning, leaves could be collected and recycled sooner than is the case today, for example.”