According to The World Bank, in 2016, 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid wastes generated with 33 percent was not properly environmentally managed.
Waste generation is one of the main phenomenon related to modern life, the average daily generation varies according to the level of income, the life style and the daily consumption habits.
While in high income countries, the level could skyrockets to 4.5 kilograms, in low income countries, waste generation per capita daily could be 1.1 kilogram.
Nevertheless, and regardless the income, waste generation quantities is expected to increase in the future, with levels nearly three times from now up to 2050.
The Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa are regions which expect to see growing levels of waste generation.
This surge in waste generation is due to three reasons, improving quality of life, increased population and rapid economic growth.
If these high levels of waste generation are not monitored and controlled, they could pose several environmental threats ranged from accelerating the rate of climate change due to uncontrolled emissions of greenhouse gases, increased water pollution due to leachate from organic wastes and uncontrolled fires resulting from open dumps, which unfortunately is considered the main pathway of waste management in several countries in Africa.
While waste generation may be considered an environmental threat, it may also be considered an opportunity to improve sustainable energy generation and utilisation in Africa. How is this possible?
Energy is the main driving force for development all over the world and African countries need more energy that will supply these forms of developments such as infrastructure projects, manufacturing plants and new cities that will contain millions of residents need safe, reliable and sustainable source of energy.
According to the annual World Energy Trilemma Index, issued by World Energy Council, which assesses the energy performance of countries, in terms of energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability, African countries ranked at least in the three measures.
Energy is the main driving force for development all over the world and African countries need more energy that will supply these forms of developments such as infrastructure projects, manufacturing plants, and new cities that will contain millions of residents need safe, reliable, and sustainable source
of energy.
For sustainability, Benin, Niger and Nigeria were ranked the least, Under energy equity, Niger, The DRC, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Benin, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia, Senegal and Mauritania are the least ranked, and for energy security Niger, Benin, The DRC, Ethiopia, and Senegal are the least ranked.
Waste to energy or WtE is one of the main strategies that could offer Africa an innovative approach to improve the three measures of energy trilemma index.
WtE is a recovery process that converts generated waste into heat and electricity using conversion technologies and these technologies could be applied on several kinds of wastes, organic and inorganic, non-reusable and non-recyclable waste materials.
Several technologies could be deployed to convert waste to energy, of these technologies conventional incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification.
WtE incineration is the process of continuous controlled burning of waste in the presence of oxygen at temperatures of 850°C and above, attached with mechanisms to recover heat and energy and another mechanisms to clean flue gas
According to EPA, A typical waste to energy plant generates about 550 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy per ton of waste.
The main benefits of controlled waste incineration are volume reduction and disease control, and it is an applied way to manage municipal solid waste in large or condensed cities as it can be localised in an urbanised zone. WtE incineration also introduces the benefit of using waste as a reliable resource to produce energy
This technology of incineration also reduces carbon emissions by offsetting the need for energy from fossil fuel sources and reduces methane generated from landfills and uncontrolled open burning if used as an alternative to landfilling.
In a country like Benin, the municipal solid wastes MSW generated annually is 685,936 ton, so if Benin could reach 100 % conversion of MSW , it could add 377,264.MWh of sustainable energy, improving all dimensions of energy trilemma index.
While in Niger, the MSW generated annually is 1,865,645.67 ton, so in the case of 100% conversion of MSW into energy, this could supply Niger with 1,026,105.12 MWh of sustainable and reliable energy.
Finally, to ensure successful transformation of waste to energy, African countries need to overcome several barriers, first, the high capital cost CAPEX needed to construct these plants and provide them with the cutting edge technologies needed to convert waste to energy.
Second, the operation of these plants will need highly skilled technical teams responsible for the operation and maintenance of these plants to ensure safe and reliable operations minimising the risks that could arise from such technologies.
Third, a legal framework that organise waste collection from the source of generation, waste transportation from points to collection to treatment plants and ensuring connection between sources of energy generation and utilisation.
Fourth, and this is the most significant, a high political commitment supported with a clear vision that aims to transform all the waste generated into a clean and sustainable source of energy.
