Towards Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management: Practical Solutions to Contain Underground Toxic Gases From Landfills

Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM), an engineered waste control system, is a relatively new concept that is applied as a measure to improve the environmental quality on our planet. Toxic gas emissions are associated with improperly managed organic waste, contributing to climate change by trapping the heat and emitting pollutants into the atmosphere. The composition of integrated solid waste management practices differs from one country to another depending on its industries and its environmental regulations. In this research, the waste management practices in Bahrain were assessed following the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) method by analyzing secondary data from literature reviews that showed strong collection coverage but lacked practices in collection, recycling, recovery, and integrating different stakeholders in the waste management planning. Considering mitigation measures of the produced methane gas from Askar landfill (24000 Mg/ year) with the new anticipated closure date (2026), along with the opportunities of implementing different organic waste recovery technologies and practices, give policymakers and future studies insightful information. Recommendations covering sets of practices derived from similar case studies were suggested to meet the integrated solid waste management criteria, with a focus on reducing methane gas emission through the prevention of organic waste and considering the opportunity of transforming the methane gas production into a renewable resource of energy.