Municipal Solid Waste to Energy

Azur Waste Management

South East Asia is witnessing an increase in population growth; increases in gross domestic product (‘GDP’); and increases in the concentration of population in urban areas. These factors have led to significant increases in per capita consumption; a change in the pattern of consumption towards supermarkets and convenience stores; and a resulting increase in the generation of municipal solid waste (‘MSW’).

Across the region, waste treatment infrastructure has not kept pace with the increases in consumption and MSW generation, which has resulted in millions of tons of waste being dumped in rural areas and unsanitary landfills every year. This untreated waste emits significant amounts of methane into the atmosphere. In the first two decades after its release into the atmosphere, methane is over 70 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat trapping gas fueling the warming of the planet. When the untreated waste degrades and rain rinses the resulting products out, leachate is formed. The leachate contains organic and inorganic chemicals, heavy metals, and pathogens, which pollutes the surface water and groundwater and presents significant environmental and health risks.

With the increasing energy demand in Asian emerging markets, this has led to a number of opportunities to develop alternative energy infrastructure in the region that will remove the harmful MSW from the environment, and generate clean energy for the local communities.

The Azur Management Team have built 8 MWe of waste to energy infrastructure in South East Asia, capable of treating 200,000 tons of MSW a year, and have 30 MWe of waste to energy infrastructure under development. Azur Waste Management continues to build out its capabilities across South East Asian with a focus on Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.