Transmittal Memo

Date: June 10, 2018

To: Eltisha Wright-Smith
From: Lingli Gong & Sally Abdulahd
Subject: different methods of waste management that can be used in the Toronto region.

Attached is the report discussed different methods that can be used in Toronto region. From the
perspectives of low cost, environmental friendly and building area, there are 3 possible options
provided. The recommendation in this report analyzes the best suitable solution.
The three options of waste management provided in this report are:
1. Landfill. Burying the waste in the land
2. Incineration. Burn waste at high temperatures
3. Gasification. Convers waste at intermediate temperatures
Different types of sources were used as references in this report. The sources are from books,
journals, articles and websites. All the sources used are listed at the end of the report.

It was a great pleasure and honor for us to conduct this

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Different Methods of Waste Management That Can Be Used in
The Toronto Region

Sally Abdulahd
Lingli Gong
Operation Managers

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Table of Contents:

Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………4

1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………..5
2. Background ……………………………………………………………………..5
3. Options ………………………………………………………………………….6
i. Landfill……………………………………………………..........6
ii. Incineration……………………………………………………....6
iii. Gasification……………………………………………………...7
4. Recommendation………………………………………………………………..7
5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………7
References……………………………………………………………………………….8

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Executive summary:
Waste management facility operates to get all the waste from around the city to disposed in land
space far from resident area. Currently the facility uses the Landfill method for waste disposal,
where it buries the waste and cover it with soil. The method has been very successful for many
years but in the near future it might need to be replaced with other methods.
The methods that are proposed in the analytical report are:
1- Landfill
2- Incineration
3- Gasification
These methods are proposed to ensure that if in the future the risk of running out of land space
there are options available to be implemented right away since the research is being conducted
ahead of time to avoid the risk. Therefore, the current method is very successful and the facility
is ahead in managing waste disposal from other provinces, but it is important to prepare for the
future and work towards being the first province that use implement other methods for better
living environment as waste managing is very crucial

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Introduction:
Population growth has been a serious issue for a long time. According to Hoornweg, Bhada-Tata,
and Kennedy, the amount of waste has increased ten times than ten decades ago, due to growth
in population, increasing urbanization and affluent society. What’s more, the amount will be
doubled at the end of 2025. (Hoornweg, D, Bhada-Tata, P &Kennedy, C. 2013). According to
The Word Bank, 4.3 billion residents are going to generate 1.42 kg/capita/day of waste and 2.2
billion tons of waste every year, which will be 9 billion tones more than 2012 (Hoornweg, D, &
Bhada-Tata, P. 2012). There are three main methods of waste management, which are landfill,
Incineration, and gasification.
The most common method of waste disposal that is being applied in the city of Toronto is
landfill, and it has been used for a long time. As the city with the largest population in Canada
and the capital city of Ontario, Toronto’s waste has been a huge problem. Landfill method is to
use space to store the waste. However, with the development of city and growth in population,
more and more land is required for the purpose of building houses, factories, facilities, etc. Thus
the spare space will be lessened for landfill waste disposal. In 2013, Alyshah Hasham discussed
that the landfill would last for 16 years, which means to find a substitution of the landfill is the
most significant goal (Hashem, A. 2013). It is good to find another way to take place of landfill
if it is applicable to do so. We have to compare all the possible methods to find out the best
solution.
Background:
Founded in 1980, The waste management facility is one of the largest and leading waste control
service in Ontario, it is designed to develop the best strategy for better living environment in
Ontario. the facility is focused on finding the ultimate solution such as Landfill where the waste
is buried over with soil, as this method was very effective and sufficient.
Due to the growing population in the city in 2003, we decided to get more land space in other
cities such as Durham, and Vaughan in that way we can control the waste system and look into
different alternative of waste management in Toronto, as the goal is to expand all over the
province of Ontario and we hope to expand all over Canada in the near future. Our goal is to
build strong relationships with our stakeholders where together it will produce long and lasting
work that will stands out.

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Options:
i. Landfill
A landfill site is a structure designed to store the trash and separate it from the outside are. In
other words, landfill is a huge enclosed container used to bury waste. The landfill site can be
designed either under or above ground. There are many advantages of the method of landfill,
which make landfill become the main method of waste disposal around the world as well as the
city of Toronto. The main benefit is that it does not affect the environment since the waste has
already been isolated from the landfill site. There are always some natural decomposition
processes happening in the landfill sites. During the processes, energy will be created and
released. To make use of the released energy is the second advantage of landfill method. To be
more specific, it can be used as fertilizer for crops. “Materials can be salvaged. Landfills offer
many opportunities for salvage and recycling. The potential profitability and benefits for the
environment landfill salvage offers have brought it to the forefront as a way of helping the
planet. It will likely continue to gain acceptance as a solid solution to waste accumulation.”
(Enviro-Solutions, 2014). Those are the three main advantages of landfill approach in waste
management. Every coin has two sides, it does have some disadvantages.
One of the shortcomings is that larger space is needed to contain more waste, however, as the
population is growing and society is developing, land becomes rare and spare space is getting
limited. What is more, landfill method requires people do garbage classification more attentive.
If unrecyclable garbage is mixed together with recyclable garbage, more space is needed for the
landfill.
There are two categories of landfill sites—sanitary landfill and municipal solid waste (MSW)
landfill. Clay liners are used for the purpose of isolating the waste from the outside environment
in a sanitary landfill. Waste is separated from the environment by a synthetic liner in the MSW
landfill. A landfill contains seven parts. The bottom line is the main part used to isolate the trash
from the environment. Waste will be stored in the cells and wait for being shredded and
compacted by heavy compaction machine. The leachate collection system is designed as a sump,
which is always located at the bottom of the landfill to collect the liquids. Storm water drainage
plays an important roles after the rain or a storm, it is designed to control the runoff of water.
Because the landfill is enclosed and no oxygen inside, landfill gas will be produced and methane
will be accumulated. Methane collection system can solve this problem perfectly. The last
component of landfill is a cover.
i. Incineration
Incineration is the main substitution of landfill, which usually applies high temperature to deal
with the waste, and during this process, waste will be converted into gases, dusts and heat. “The
fact that only one incineration facility is still in operation in Ontario shows how hesitant
municipalities have been to consider them as a management option and once again face such
strong opposition” (Carter-Whitney, 2007). One of the advantages of incineration waste
management is that it reduces the volume of solid waste so that less space is needed for waste
disposal. As Stothers mentioned in 2018, volume is possibly reduced by 95 percent and the solid

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mass of the original waste can be reduced by 80% to 85%. The other advantage is that money
will be save through the transportation fee. No need to transport the waste for long distance.
There are many drawbacks of incineration, the top one is the effect of gases and dusts that
produced during the process. Nitrogen oxide and acid gases are released directly into the air and
make the greenhouse effect more seriously. To build an incineration plant is not as cost-effective
as people think. The infrastructure itself is very expensive to be built. What is more, manpower
and professional staff are necessary to keep the incineration plant work properly.
i. Gasification
Besides incineration and landfill, gasification is another option. According to Global Syngas
discussed in 2012, the process of gasification is to transfer the waste into useful resources, which
could be electrical power, fuels and fertilizers. The main benefit of gasification is that people can
make use of different forms of energy. With less pollution created compared with incineration,
the energy can be used right after it is generated. “Gasification is considered a clean alternative to
incineration” (Kay, 2012). The second benefit is that less nitrogen oxide and acid gases are released
so that it has less influence on environment.
However, the major disadvantage of the gasification is the cost. The gasification plant is very
expensive to be built. “The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory indicates that gasifier
refractories typically last about one year to 450 days at most, costing roughly one million dollars
to replace. They also take approximately 21 to 42 days to install, during which the gasification
facility cannot operate.” (Jensen, 2017). Besides, the sizes of the gasification plant is huge. It
also takes up a lot of space to build the plant.
Recommendations:
From the options listed above, landfill is the best choice for current situation. Compared with
other two methods, landfill method creates less harmful gases and has less impacts on
environment. What is more, the process of building a landfill site is less complicated and less
expensive. However, the truth is that the amount of land is finite and is decreasing, so that some
improvements needed to be done. Trash is demanded to be sorted into categories. For example,
recyclable material, biodegradable materials and pyrolysis material. Some of those material can
be recycled for further application. Methane gas can be obtained from the biodegradable
materials, which can be used as an energy source. In one word, the city of Toronto still needs to
rely on landfill method.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to better help the province the three methods such as, Landfill, Incineration, and
Gasification are alternatives for better environment, and the facility has been working hard to
ensure that if any other possible solutions available in the future will make sure to work towards
it. According to the research, looking at other methods other than Landfill, is beneficial because
of the high demand on land space.

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References:

Carter- Whitney, M., & Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. (2007). Ontario’s
waste management challenge: Is incineration an option?. Toronto, Ont: Canadian Institute
for Environmental Law and Policy = L’institut canadien du droit et de la politique de
l’environnement
Enviro-Solutions. (2014). Benefits of Landfills. Retrieved from:
https://www.esiwaste.com/benefits-of-landfills-2/

Global Syngas (2012). Waste to Energy Gasification. Retrieved from:

https://www.globalsyngas.org/applications/waste-to-energy-gasification/
Hasham, A. (2013). Landfill or Incinerator: What’s the Future of Toronto’s Trash?
Retrieved from:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/03/12/landfill_or_incinerator_whats_the_future_
of_torontos_trash.html
Hoornweg, D, Bhada-Tata, P &Kennedy, C. (2013). Environment: Waste Production Must Peak This
Century. Macmillan Publishers Limited, Retrieved from:
https://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/1.14032!/menu/main/topColumns/topLeftColumn/pdf/5
02615a.pdf

Hoornweg, D, & Bhada-Tata, P. (2012). A Global Review of Solid Waste Management

Retrieved from: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17388
Jensen, W. (2017). Advantages & Disadvantages of Coal Gasification. Sciencing. Retrieved from
http://sciencing.com/advantages-disadvantages-coal-gasification-8600565.html

Kay, P. (2012). The Waste To Energy Process of Gasification. Retrieved from:

http://www.renewablegreenenergypower.com/the-waste-to-energy-process-of-gasification/
Stothers, P. (2018). The Advantages of a Solid Waste Incinerator. Sciencing. Retrieved from
http://sciencing.com/advantages-solid-waste-incinerator-8367212.html