Preface

Recycling is easy, valuable, and eco-friendly and reduces the need to extract raw materials from the environment. The environmental problems of waste accumulation go beyond irritating odors and unpleasant scenery to leakage of toxins and the creation of fertile environments for the spread of many diseases and epidemics. In addition, typical waste disposal operations increase carbon dioxide emissions through burning fossil fuels or through emissions of methane, ammonia, and sulfur dioxide waste directly, which contributes to the intensifying of global warming. The recycling process is complex because the process itself consumes energy and resources, but at the same time, it reduces the use of raw materials that save up to two million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Recycling ultimately plays a role in reducing emissions and protecting the climate by preserving natural environments.

Waste is currently the third greatest renewable energy resource worldwide, after solar and wind energy. Along with biomass energy, it contributes to more than half of the renewable energy used globally. This is why many countries have researched and developed plans to separate and recycle the garbage or convert it into compost. Now, due to the tremendous development in the science of solid waste management, more than half of the garbage is incinerated and converted into liquid or gaseous fuels. The extraction of energy from solid waste is an encouraging option for large cities due to the lack of space allocated for landfills and the high material and environmental costs of transporting garbage. In several industrialized countries, burning waste is one of the heat sources needed for heating and generating electric power. The emission of dust, acids, metals, and organic matter from old and modern incinerators is well monitored in most of the world's large cities. Plastic waste causes a lot of devastating environmental damage, especially when burned. Declining plastic recycling rates, along with an increase in plastic pollution on the Earth's surface and the oceans, is very concerning. Given the volume of waste on a global level due to the sharp increase in population numbers and changing lifestyles, the high cost of solid waste treatment technologies and the limited energy yield resulting from them are barriers that limit the spread of these technologies in developing countries. The steady increase in waste production rates represents an urgent global environmental problem, with dangerous environmental consequences, especially for major cities.

This book focuses on recycling strategies and technologies to find solutions to manage waste and benefit from it for the sustainability of the environment. Written by researchers and scientists in the field, it includes nine chapters that provide background on the culture of recycling and present alternatives to typical waste management methods. Each chapter is a comprehensive review of the positive impact of recycling and waste management on biological systems. The idea of converting waste into sources of energy is very interesting and represents a future challenge that must be focused on and developed by all possible means.

The chapters are organized into two parts covering important research aspects of recycling and waste management techniques. The first section, "Recycling, Waste Management and Sustainable Utilization", includes six chapters.


The second section, "Circular Economy and Waste Challenges", includes three chapters.


We wish to thank all the participating authors for their valuable contributions. We are also grateful to the staff at IntechOpen, especially Author Service Manager Ms. Dolores Kuzelj for her continuous assistance in finalizing this work.

> **Hosam M. Saleh and Amal I. Hassan** Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt

Section 1

Recycling, Waste

Management and Sustainable

Utilization

Section 1
