As with smog, the fight against nuisance waste is on the minds of many people, including architects and urban planners. Without proper regulations and laws, architects, however much they want to, will not be able to implement their solutions to the problem. Garbage is increasing. Those legal, illegal, Polish and secretly smuggled in from abroad. How to organize the space of cities in accordance with sustainable waste management, when it simply does not exist?
ugly topics
The problem of waste flooding us is growing, and it's worth reminding ourselves that involvement in solving it, precisely of architects, is crucial. And without undermining the motivation for pro-environmental actions, in the design and implementation of spaces such as precisely landfills or the infrastructure of power plants, sewage treatment plants or waste treatment plants, the role of architects is still negligible. Why?
Mass production and "industrialized systems" have accelerated rapid construction, and for years architects have been more willing to deal with creative concepts than with designing and acting on such "ugly" topics as waste disposal. Designers and developers have turned their attention away from industrial and infrastructure projects. The development of other disciplines has given rise to engineers and project managers who have rightly claimed to be able to produce buildings rather than "design" them, further weakening the role of the architect. And unfortunately, this is where we got lost, because such a line of thinking, does not give satisfactory results.
the role of architects
Architects bring a lot to the conception and creation of such projects, starting with a holistic approach that goes beyond functionality to include the social and environmental roles that influence each project. Creative developers are also distinguished by thinking about a project in the context of a city's development, or social changes in the future. This skill in particular plays an important role in our contemporary landscape. It turns out that even such negatively characterized urban spaces as landfills and garbage disposal plants do not have to deter, they can be thoughtful and, on top of that, not ugly at all. A great example is the project of the Center for Environmental Education, which will be built in Gliwice on the premises of the local Waste Management Company, in the immediate vicinity of the reclaimed waste disposal site. The landfill has been transformed into a green area. However, taking into account the educational aspect, even if the Silesian landfill were still in operation, this does not preclude the existence of a well-designed facility there.
More and more garbage, less dumps?
As urbanization continues, we are seeing a crazy increase in solid waste production. Last year, urban residents generated about 1.3 billion tons of solid waste. The World Bank estimates that by 2025, this number is likely to rise to 2.2 billion tons. How do we deal with the growing amount of waste? This question becomes all the more pressing when we consider that landfills - currently (and historically), the revered most common way of disposing of waste - are rapidly becoming less reliable due to space constraints, environmental concerns, closure orders and regulations that prevent the creation of new ones. And so come the illegal ones, of which we have an abundance in Poland.
illegal and dangerous
Last week (January 2021), the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection revealed information about 768 illegal landfills. Their location remains top secret.
- What is important is that waste is also dumped in places where it poses a very high risk to human health and life due to its proximity to public facilities, such as schools, kindergartens or workplaces, as well as in places where it can lead to the contamination of various elements of the environment, such as water bodies, warns Deputy Minister Jacek Ozdoba in Gazeta Wyborcza.
Examples cited by the minister include the industrial waste dump of the former Boruta dye factory in Zgierz, or the so-called mazut pits after the former kerosene refinery in Gorlice.
The cost of removing one illegal dump is up to tens of millions of zlotys. The Ministry estimates that cleaning up all of them would cost more than two billion zlotys. But who is to bear them, if the garbage appears on its own - "from no one knows where"?
Hazardous waste, no one knows where, no one knows where from? "One can panic (I recommend the film directed by J.L. Ramsey).
Alternatives? WASTE TO ENERGY
The waste management hierarchy is an internationally recognized ranking of various waste management practices in order from most to least preferred with respect to greenhouse gas emissions. Priority is given to waste prevention and reuse, followed by recycling, energy recovery and disposal.
In line with this hierarchy, more and more waste-to-energy plants are being built. And not, those kick-ass large-scale processing plants, but green power plants that recycle waste. Strategically placed near or in urban areas, these power plants can generate alternative energy for local use and eliminate the need to transport waste to rural areas or to (our favorite!) illegal landfills.
solutions
There is no doubt that as the world's population grows, the construction of power plants will become increasingly necessary. And this is where architects are indispensable. Power plant infrastructure is encroaching on cities, so only through the involvement of architects can we achieve not only their functionality, but also a socially correct and aesthetically pleasing design. A handful of highly qualified and famous (including Bjarke Ingels) architects have become involved in waste-to-energy projects , thus signaling a shift in thinking about architects' involvement in such projects.
But while such alternatives are safer and more efficient, the public does not necessarily consider them healthier. Around the world, residents are vehemently opposing plans to store waste - whether alternative systems or landfills - in their immediate surroundings. And why shouldn't they object? How can we trust something we don't know?
And here, as with any problem (especially in Poland), we fall back on public education, which is simply lacking.
An interdisciplinary approach
Architecture, however, cannot operate in a vacuum. Waste management is an interdisciplinary problem. However, when we have reached the day that we don't want any more landfills (and these are best when they can't be seen, located far from the city) then locating a sewage treatment plant or a power plant, waste treatment in an urban environment has benefits. And architects hold the key to making these solutions more attractive to the public. But for such an interdisciplinary approach to materialize, policies and regulations must change. Looking forward.
