FACT SHEET

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON INFRASTRUCTURE:
PREPARING FOR CHANGE

Leachate running from a break in a landfill wall following a major storm. Photo Credit: Joe Teixeira, 2011

Climate change impacts on solid waste management infrastructure and

surrounding environment may be temporary or long-lasting. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT INCLUDES:
• Collection
Poor management of solid waste can lead to rodent infestations, disease
• Processing, treatment, and recycling
outbreak, and groundwater contamination.
• Disposal
Solid waste-related adaptation options include protecting critical SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SUPPORTS:
infrastructure, reducing facility needs through recycling and demand
• Urban programs
management, and requiring waste treatment facilities to prepare
• Health programs
adaptation plans.
• Environmental management

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IS

INTEGRAL TO DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES CLIMATE STRESSORS CAN SIGNIFICANTLY
IMPACT SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Solid waste collection, processing, and disposal is critical to development
practitioners’ environment and health sector priorities, including SERVICES
maintaining clean air, soil, and water, particularly in urban settings. Moreover,
Climate stressors can impact solid waste facilities both directly and
most solid waste management helps mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
indirectly. For example, while higher temperatures may directly alter
Trash collection is important for maintaining sanitary conditions, decomposition rates, climate change may also affect access to roads, ports,
particularly in residential and business areas where food debris can attract and energy, indirectly limiting the collection of waste and operation of
rodents and insects while decaying organic matter can cause unpleasant waste management sites.
odors. Once collected, solid waste must be separated and managed by
Flooding poses the biggest threat to solid waste infrastructure. Without
type such as municipal waste; commercial, industrial, and construction
proper water catchment systems around a landfill, heavy rain events can
waste; agricultural waste; and medical and hazardous waste. Medical and
degrade the landfill, causing breaks in the containment structure that
hazardous waste should be treated and/or contained so that it does not
allow debris and leachate to escape from the landfill and contaminate
contaminate people, ground and surface water, soil, or air. Municipal waste
local resources. Flooding from extreme storms may undermine landfill
should be sorted to remove reusable or recyclable material and stored in
foundations, releasing leachate into groundwater or block collection routes,
a landfill designed to contain waste and manage decomposition.
sweep waste into waterways, and cause waste to clog other infrastructure.
While many areas around the world do not yet have established waste Landfills near the coast or in low-lying areas are vulnerable to sea level rise
management systems, it is critical that all new and existing solid waste and storm surge. Water infiltration of the pit can lead to an overflow of
management systems be designed and maintained to be resilient to waste from the landfill. Saltwater infiltration from below can deteriorate
climate change. By supporting programs to reduce waste, increase the impermeable lining of sanitary landfill facilities.
collection, and build and maintain climate-resilient disposal sites,
Temperature increases may necessitate more frequent waste collection
USAID and other development practitioners can contribute to
schedules and rigorous landfill management practices, as odors will be
health and resource management objectives that promote lasting
stronger. Higher temperatures and drought may also increase the risks of
program benefits.
fire at waste facilities.

These and other climate change risks vary in relative importance, with a
range of cost implications, compounding effects, and impacts on development
objectives. Please see Table 1 on the next page for additional examples.

ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON INFRASTRUCTURE: PREPARING FOR CHANGE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 1
 Table 1. Examples of Potential Climate Change Impacts on Solid Waste Management Infrastructure and Services

Collection Processing Disposal

Temperature Change • Increased odor and pest activity • Overheating of sorting equipment • Altered decomposition rates
requiring more frequent waste
• Increased maintenance and
collection
construction costs due to thawing
• Overheating of collection vehicles permafrost
requiring additional cooling capacity,
• Increased risk of fire at disposal
including to extend engine life
sites
• Greater exposure of workers to flies, which are a major cause of infectious diseases (flies breed more quickly in warm
temperatures and are attracted to organic waste)
Precipitation Change • Flooding of collection routes and • Increased need for enclosed or • Increased flooding in/around sites
landfill access roads, making them covered sorting facilities
• Increased leachate that needs to be
inaccessible
collected and treated
• Increased stress on collection
• Potential risk of fire if conditions
vehicles and workers from
become too dry and hot
waterlogged waste
Sea Level Rise • Narrowed collection routes • Damage to low-lying processing • Deterioration of impermeable lining
facilities
• Potentially increased waste in a • Water infiltration of pit leading to
concentrated area as people crowd • Increased need for sorting and possible overflow of waste
into higher elevations within an recycling to minimize waste storage
urban area needs
• Permanent inundation of collection, processing, and disposal infrastructure
Storm Surge • Temporary flooding of and diminished access to roadways, rails, and ports for waste collection, sorting, and disposal
• Closure of facilities due to infrastructure damage
Extreme Wind • Dispersal of waste from collection sites, collection vehicles, processing sites, and landfills
• Reduced access to collection and landfill access routes due to damage and debris

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT-RELATED Through a screening process, adaptation action priorities can be selected
based on local decision-makers’ assessment of the following four key
ADAPTATION CAN BE MAINSTREAMED factors (presented with illustrative questions). Please see the Overview for
INTO EXISTING PROGRAMS more information.
USAID and other development practitioners can identify adaptation action • Criticality – How important is the infrastructure to the community
priorities and integrate them into existing improvement and maintenance or region? How large is the population served by the waste
programs. Waste collection and disposal facilities are critical to protecting management system? Are backup services available?
human health and local resources (particularly water and soil resources).
Regular collection, particularly in residential areas, reduces exposure to • Likelihood – Given climate projections, what is the probability that
contaminated waste and disease-carrying rodents and insects. Properly sited, the collection, processing, or disposal infrastructure will be affected?
constructed, and maintained disposal facilities can minimize the risk of water • Consequences – How significant is the impact? Will the impacts
and soil contamination from the consequences of climate change impacts. complicate solid waste management? Will the impacts have health
implications?
Reducing the amount of solid waste stored in landfills is one of the easiest
ways to reduce their vulnerability. Establishing waste sorting and recycling • Resources available – Can changes be made to collection,
facilities can create local jobs and perhaps provide work for trash pickers processing, or disposal using a reallocation of existing time and
whose livelihoods were compromised by a more robust municipal waste resources? Are additional resources, such as additional workers,
collection system. Recycling also reduces resource use and the amount of required?
waste that must be managed in a landfill.
By understanding the answers to these questions, adaptation actions
Proper siting of landfills is another low-cost adaptation option. Landfills (like those listed in Table 2) can be integrated into the upfront design,
should be sited in areas where there is reliable access to the dumping construction, operation, and maintenance of solid waste management
site but away from bodies of water and areas with high water tables. systems. Integrating adaptation can prevent maladaptive decisions that
Sites should be selected based on the municipality’s long-term planning increase the vulnerability of the infrastructure and people they are trying
objectives and include input from the public. to serve. Table 2 illustrates this approach, aligned with the Climate-Resilient
Development (CRD) Framework. See the Overview for further guidance
on the CRD Framework.

2 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON INFRASTRUCTURE: PREPARING FOR CHANGE
 Table 2. Examples of Solid Waste Management-Related Actions by Project Cycle Stage

Project Cycle Stage Project Cycle Actions

• Identify solid waste-related development goals important to the country, community, or sector you are working with
• Identify inputs and enabling conditions necessary to achieving those goals
• Consider the impacts of climate and non-climate stressors on those inputs
• Assess climate threats, vulnerabilities, and impacts to solid waste collection, processing, and storage to understand adaptation needs
• Evaluate climate-related risks in light of all existing risks to solid waste

Adaptation Options (Examples)

ACCOMMODATE/MANAGE PROTECT/HARDEN RETREAT/RELOCATE
• Properly site landfills away from • Update design standards to elevate • Plan for secure landfill closure and/or
floodplains, wetlands, or areas with and strengthen containment walls to relocation
high water tables accommodate future sea level rise and
• Plan for extreme event evacuation
high winds
• Site landfills away from drinking water
supplies • Design water catchment systems that
Planning can keep pace with projected rainfall
• Develop sites large enough to
Policy Changes patterns
accommodate projected population
Project Development growth and corresponding waste • Update equipment design standards
generation to increase efficiency and reduce
maintenance costs in changing climate,
• Design sites with sorting, recycling, and
particularly for complex, HVAC-
composting facilities to reduce waste
dependent equipment
storage needs
Adaptation Options (Examples)
ACCOMMODATE/MANAGE PROTECT/HARDEN RETREAT/RELOCATE
• Increase financial and technical • Prevent erosion of landfill slopes, • Cover threatened landfills and develop
resources for more frequent covers, and roads into and around new sites in more secure locations
maintenance and repairs landfills
• Train waste sorters and educate the • Maintain storm water catchment
Construction public about separating recyclable systems to ensure proper function
Operation and compostable material from other
Maintenance waste
Program Activities
• Maintain collection vehicles to
minimize disruptions due to
mechanical failures
• Regularly inspect the integrity of water catchment systems and containment walls, particularly following extreme rain or storm events
• Continue to monitor landfills for groundwater contamination and cover erosion

FURTHER READING
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2010. Waste and Climate Change: Global Trends and Strategy Framework. http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/
Publications/spc/Waste&ClimateChange/Waste&ClimateChange.pdf.

United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), 2010. Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities: Water and Sanitation in the
World’s Cities. http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=2918

United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), 2011. Planning for Climate Change: A Strategic, Values-based Approach for Urban
Planners. http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/PFCC-14-03-11.pdf

Questions, feedback, suggestions, and requests for support should be sent to [email protected]. Published: November 2012

ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON INFRASTRUCTURE: PREPARING FOR CHANGE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 3