The challenges and opportunities of
post-disaster waste management
Charlotte Brown
charlotte.brown@canterbury.ac.nz (until 30 November 2012)
lottiebrown@gmail.com
presentation outline
•
background
•
existing plans and guidelines
•
waste characteristics
•
operational strategies
•
management considerations
background
disaster waste management
background
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
Photo credit: Erica Seville, University of Canterbury
background
2005 Hurricane Katrina
Photo credit: Tim Townsend, University of Florida
background
2009 Victorian Bushfires
background
2010/2011 Christchurch
earthquakes
Year
Event
Waste Quantities
2011
Japanese tsunami
estimated 25 million tons (on land)
2011
Christchurch earthquake
estimated 8 million tonnes
2010
Haiti earthquake
estimated 23 - 60 million tonnes
2009
L’Aquila earthquake, Italy
estimated 1.5-3 million tonnes
2008
Sichuan earthquake , China
20 million tonnes
2005
Hurricane Katrina, US
76 million cubic metres
2004
Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, Florida, US
3 million cubic metres
2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami
10 million cubic metres (Indonesia)
2004
Hurricane Charley, US
2 million cubic metres
1999
Marmara Earthquake, Turkey
13 million tonnes
1995
Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Kobe, Japan
15 million cubic metres
social impact
economic impact
environmental impact
background
Why is good disaster waste management
important?
2008 USEPA Planning for Natural Disaster Debris
http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/imr/cdm/pubs/pndd.pdf
existing plans and guidelines
2011 UNOCHA Disaster waste management guidelines
www.ochanet.unocha.org/p/Documents/DWMG.pdf
existing plans and guidelines
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current planning focusses on operational aspects.
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it is challenging to plan for a very wide spectrum of
disaster impacts.
•
a possible approach is to use disaster waste ‘indicators’
(see Brown, 2012 thesis, for more detail)
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disaster scale
number of displaced persons
geographical extent of damage
duration of hazard event
damage to road network
volume of waste
human & environmental health hazards
movement of the waste (from point of origin), and
difficulty in handling the waste.
existing plans and guidelines
typical types of waste
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vegetative
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construction and demolition
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personal property / household items
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household hazardous wastes
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white goods
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soil, mud and sand
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vehicles and vessels
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putrescent
waste characteristics - composition
how much waste?
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varies widely between different disaster types and built
environments.
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FEMA have developed some waste estimation tools (FEMA,
2010, Debris Estimating Field Guide and FEMA, 2009,
Multihazard loss estimation methodologies).
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UNEP are currently developing some debris estimating tools.
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some models have also been developed in Japan.
waste characteristics - quantity
Photo credit: Tim
Townsend, University of
Florida
waste characteristics
- hazards
operational strategies
operational strategies - collection
Hurricane Katrina kerbside collection
http://www.ees.ufl.edu/homepp/townsend/disaster/DD_Overview.pdf
Photo credit: Tim
Townsend, University of
Florida
operational strategies - collection
2009 Samoan tsunami clean-up
operational strategies – handling
Temporary storage in rice paddies
and mangroves, following the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
operational strategies – handling
Space needed: 50ha per 1,000,000 cu.m debris
2007 FEMA Debris Management Guide
operational strategies – treatment
reuse / recycling
waste to energy
incineration
Lyttelton Port Reclamation
Christchurch, 2011
operational strategies – final disposal
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overall management and coordination: link with
recovery authority
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human resources: skilled and unskilled work,
livelihood and capacity building opportunities
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public participation
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public communication
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human health and environmental risk management:
accept there will be higher risks
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laws and regulation: flexible and bounded
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funding – public vs private
management considerations
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disaster waste has a significant impact on a
community's social, economic and environmental
recovery.
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flexible planning is needed.
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both operational and management aspects need to be
considered.
summary
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UNOCHA, 2011. Disaster Waste Management
Guidelines, January 2011, Emergency Preparedness
Section, Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit.
•
USEPA, 2008. Planning for Natural Disaster Debris
EPA530-K-08-001, Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response, Office of Solid Waste, USEPA.
•
Brown, C., 2012. Disaster Waste Management: a
systems approach. PhD thesis. University of
Canterbury. (in particular, Appendix N)
http://ipac.canterbury.ac.nz/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=BIB&
term=1793295#focus
•
Brown, C., Milke, M. & Seville, E., 2011. Disaster Waste
Management: a Review Article. Waste Management,
31, 1085-1098.
key references
charlotte.brown@canterbury.ac.nz
thank you and questions?