EXPLORING THE MITIGATION OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM THE CURRENT MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE SYSTEM OF KAZAKHSTAN: CASE STUDY OF NUR-SULTAN CITY
Date
2022
Authors
Temireyeva, A
Zhunussova, K
Aidabulov, M
Shah, D
Sarbassov, Y
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
Abstract
As we move forward, municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, particularly in
developing countries, contribute notably to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Therefore, the MSW sector plays a key role in planning strategies for developing countries
such as Kazakhstan to decrease GHG emissions. With respect to the Paris Agreement,
Kazakhstan has set the target of reducing GHG emissions to 15-25% by 2030 compared to the
level of 1991, which will undoubtedly require certain measures in the field of MSW
management. Several recent articles have been published on the waste management sector of
Kazakhstan; however, none have explicitly focused on the impact of greenhouse gas emissions
and possible pathways towards sustainable management. Thus, this paper describes the existing
MSW system in Nur Sultan city as representative for the rest of the country. The quantitative
evaluation of GHG emissions from the existing MSW system in the capital is carried out based
on the IPCC methodology using the SWM-GHG calculator developed by the Institute for
Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU). An assessment and cost analysis of a set of
several suitable MSW management scenarios, such as scenario 1: existing case (15% recycling
rate and 85% disposal), scenario 2: 30% recyclable materials, and 70% sanitary landfill with
gas collection; scenario 3: 30% recyclable materials and 70% biological stabilization and
landfill without gas collection; scenario 4: 30% recyclable materials, 20% composting and 50%
waste to be sent to the WtE plant (incineration). The level of GHG emissions decreases with
the introduction of more integrated waste management methods, but requires more financial
investments. Therefore, Scenario 3 is the most efficient to implement in terms of the
combination of cost of €19.4 million/year and magnitude of GHG emissions of 48 kt of CO2
eq/year. The outcomes of this work will help to extrapolate the model to other large cities in
Kazakhstan
Description
Keywords
Type of access: Open Access, MSW, GHG emissions, recycling, landfilling
Citation
Temireyeva, A., Zhunussova, K., Aidabulov, M., Shah, D., & Sarbassov, Y. (2022). Exploring the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from the current municipal solid waste system of Kazakhstan: case study of Nur-Sultan city. IOP Conference Series, 1074(1), 012031. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1074/1/012031