Financial sustainability of modern composting: the economically optimal scale for municipal waste composting plant in developing Asia

Abstract

There is a widespread interest in converting organic waste into compost fertilizer to extend the life of landfills, create economic and environmental benefits, and ultimately reduce the pressure on local governments in managing the ever-increasing complexity of municipal solid waste. However, composting is still seldom considered as a strategic element. There is also very little evidence available of its economic feasibility. This study, therefore, aims to analyze key factors that influence the economic feasibility of municipal composting plant and identify a range of plant capacity or scale where a composting project could have higher opportunity to be financially sustainable. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) was carried out using the data gathered from five composting plants in Asia, including Surabaya, Bali and Bekasi in Indonesia, Beijing in China, and Matale in Sri Lanka. The results identified that the medium-scale and lower largescale composting plants have an optimal opportunity for being financially feasible as compared with the smaller and larger capacity plants. The study also identified that the economic viability of the composting plants depends on the number of factors, such as selection of suitable processing methods, technologies, scale, quality of product and marketing strategies. The advantages of the medium and lower large-scale composting plants are (1) waste input and product quality are easier to control than larger scale compost plants, and (2) there are extra income opportunities such as tipping fees and carbon credits that are limited in the case of small-scale composting plants. The scale of composting plant is one of the key factors to be considered at the initial stage of planning composting plants.

Treatment technologies for urban solid biowaste to create value products: a review with focus on low- and middle-income settings

“…The first focus, mainly related to low-and middleincome settings, pertains to case study descriptions of specific locations implementing composting schemes as waste management strategies ). This typically includes application of life cycle analysis methods as well as economic assessments (Karagiannidis et al 2010;Lim et al 2016;Pandyaswargo and Premakumara 2014;Sán-chez et al 2015) and the analysis of climate change mitigation measures (Dedinec et al 2015). Besides the typical case study descriptions, such research is usually not only about composting, but rather tackles the comparison and selection of waste management options, of which composting is one (Van Fan et al 2016).…”

Development of a Superstructure Optimization Framework for the Design of Municipal Solid Waste Facilities

“…raw materials, government incentives, and skilled labor. Gasification I * 1,000 ----- [22] Gasification Fertilizer $70 USD/ton [37] Recycled paper $66.67 USD/ton [39] Recycled plastic $90 USD/ton [40] Recycled glass $53 USD/ton [39] Bioethanol $971 USD/ton [41] 5. Results and discussion…”

Understanding the Stakeholders’ Involvement in Utilizing Municipal Solid Waste in Agriculture through Composting: A Case Study of Hanoi, Vietnam

“…Increased municipal solid waste, which is associated with a burgeoning urban population and economic growth, proves challenging to both developed and developing countries in the region. Waste collection rates remain well below full-service coverage, despite many Asian cities' estimated spending of 20-50% of their annual budget on the management of municipal solid waste [67], for which the composition is usually dominated by organic waste [4]. The practice of shopping in traditional markets and the importance accorded to family meals in the vast majority of Asian countries explains the dominance of organic waste in this region.…”

“…This unfortunately leads to excessive waste generation, as dischargers do not have to pay for any extra units of waste. More than half of the regional counties' budgets are spent on urban waste management, most of which, however, goes to the collection of waste [67].…”