Municipal Solid Waste Management in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: Systems Analysis

Abstract

Abstract:Research was conducted in Ulaanbaatar (UB), Mongolia with a view of finding ways of making its municipal solid waste management (MSWM) more efficient by minimizing the negative impact of waste on the environment and public health whilst increasing its resource efficiency in a manner that is economically and financially viable. In this study, "Wasteaware" benchmark indicators were applied to assess the current system for MSWM in UB according to its physical and governance features. Data were obtained from site visits, interviews with the key stakeholders, and consulting of official documents and reports. The results of benchmark indicators showed that, in terms of Public Health, Environmental Control and Institutional Aspects, UB had surpassed the levels of low-and lower-middle-income countries and sufficed the prerequisites for modernizing its waste management system. However, there are still some major steps ahead to fully transition to a modern system. Our study brought significant contributions by filling the existing literature gaps for UB and identified its key strengths and areas for improvement. We conclude that an improvement in data collection and reporting, and widespread consultation with all stakeholders would impact positively on the improvement of the efficiency of the MSWM in UB and other developing countries.

The Early Palaeozoic mega‐thrusting of the Gondwana‐derived Altay–Lake zone in western Mongolia: Implications for the development of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and Paleo‐Asian Ocean evolution

“…The Lake zone of Mongolia (Figure ) is a major zone of ophiolite and arc complexes within the CAOB (Byamba, ; Kovach et al, ; Kovalenko et al, ; Kröner et al, ; Rudnev et al, ; Rudnev, Izokh, Borisenko, & Gas'kov, ; Rudnev, Izokh, Kovach, Shelepaev, & Terent'eva, ; Ruzhentsev & Burashnikov, ; Tomurtogoo, ; Yarmolyuk et al, ). The Lake zone consists mainly of Cambrian volcano‐sedimentary rocks and ophiolites (Byamba, ; Dergunov, Luvsandanzan, & Pavlenko, ; Kovalenko et al, ; Ruzhentsev & Burashnikov, ; Tomurtogoo, ; Zonenshain & Kuzmin, ). The main sections of ophiolites are located along the west margin, bordering with Precambrian crystalline basement of the CMM.…”

“…The Tavan Bogd zone is located in the western Mongolian Altay and extends to the west into Russia and China (Badarch et al, ; Byamba, ; Dergunov et al, ; Dergunov, ; Dobretsov, Berzin, & Buslov, ; Tomurtogoo, ). It predominantly contains a thick metamorphosed middle Cambrian–lower Ordovician succession of clastic and volcaniclastic rocks and intermediate–mafic volcanic rocks.…”

Driving Forces of Air Pollution in Ulaanbaatar City Between 2005 and 2015: An Index Decomposition Analysis

“…Figure 2 shows the decomposition results of SO 2 concentration. We can see that the most important factor that contributed to the increase of SO 2 Figure A3). Normally, economic growth can result in high energy consumption [50].…”

“…Now, it is estimated that 1.4 million residents are living in Ulaanbaatar [1]. With its increasing population, this city has experienced rapid economic growth [2]. In particular, this city relies on fossil fuels (see Appendix A, Figures A1 and A2) to achieve its gross domestic product (GDP) growth and to support its rapid urbanization, leading to concerns of both air quality deterioration and climate change.…”

Mongolia Systematic Country Diagnostic

“…DH coverage has not been able to keep up with the population increase because (i) heat tariffs, which are kept low for affordability reasons, makes it very difficult for the DH sector companies to recover investments, 60 (World Bank 2014) 61 In our benchmarking exercise -using indicators of access to improved water and sanitation, both in urban and rural areas-Mongolia ranks at either the bottom 50 or 25 percent of the distribution when compared to peers and to the World (see Figure A1 5). 62 See (2030Water Resources Group 2014 63 See (Byamba and Ishikawa 2017). and (ii) it is technically and economically unfeasible to expand heat networks into areas with widely-spread, scattered housing units which rarely conform with building codes.…”