A survey and a preliminary comparison were conducted between the waste management systems and schemes implemented in the Region of Umbria (Italy) and the West Bank (Palestine). The Region of Umbria operates in a wider political legal and economic supporting scheme, i.e., the one promoted by EU Directives. The West Bank showed all the typical economic, legal and political features of a developing country. From the economic point of view the incidence of the cost for waste collection and management with respect to the per capita GDP was 0.82% for the Region of Umbria and 1.2% for the West Bank. Although the incidence for the West Bank was higher, it was not enough to support the budget necessary for efficient waste management. A relevant aspect was the practically similar amount of organic waste generated per capita and per year in the two areas. The West Bank lacks infrastructures and adequate collection systems and there are no composting facilities. The number of mechanical sorting facilities was 0.034/10 5 inhabitants. The current recycling rate for the West Bank is about 6%. Some criticism about the sustainability of recycling and composting rates for the Region of Umbria are also highlighted. Some benefits for the West Bank, such as the introduction of home composting, are identified. This will affect both the amount and the costs of waste collected allowing the municipalities to allocate more money for separated collection of recyclables.

The municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash is being increasingly used to construct landfill covers in Sweden. In post-closure, owing to increased cover infiltration, the percolating water can add external organic matter to bottom ash. The addition and subsequent degradation of this external organic matter can affect metal mobility through complexation and change in redox conditions. However, the impacts of such external organic matter addition on bottom ash stability have not been fully evaluated yet. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of external organic matter on bottom ash respiration and metal leaching. The samples of weathered bottom ash were mixed with oven dried and digested wastewater sludge (1%-5% by weight). The aerobic respiration activity (AT4), as well as the leaching of metals, was tested with the help of respiration and batch leaching tests. The respiration and heavy metal leaching increased linearly with the external organic matter addition. Based on the results, it was concluded that the external organic matter addition would negatively affect the quality of landfill cover drainage.

No abstract