Waste Management Gives Significance to Rubbish

Waste management aims in collecting, transporting, processing, recycling and monitoring the waste materials that are produced by the different human activities and is usually undertaken to reduce the effect of these activities on different aspect of life. Waste management is beneficial to recover useful resources from the wastes we produce. These wastes involve all solid, liquid and gaseous substances which are managed with different methods and expertise is required for them.

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Classification of wastes:

In order to understand the severity of the problem and to work towards a solution, one must understand the types of wastes being generated.

• Biodegradable Wastes - The biodegradable wastes are those that can be decomposed by the natural processes and converted into the elemental form.           (For example, kitchen garbage, animal dung, etc.)
• Non-biodegradable Wastes - The non-biodegradable wastes are those that cannot be decomposed and remain as such in the environment. They are persistent and can cause various problems. For example, plastics, nuclear wastes, glass, etc.

Sources of Wastes:

• Domestic wastes
• Commercial wastes
• Ashes
• Animal wastes
• Bio-medical wastes
• Construction wastes
• Industrial Solid Wastes
• Sewer
• Biodegradable wastes

Common problems encountered in waste management are:

• ·        We produce too much waste
• ·        Improper waste disposal
• ·        Most of our waste are toxic

Ways or Solutions in handling these Problems:

11.   Landfill- disposing of waste in a way of burying it under the ground which is a common practice in most countries of the world. Landfills are often established in abandoned or unused quarries, borrow pits or mining voids. If a landfill is properly designed and well-managed it can become a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of disposing of waste materials. 

2.  Plasma Gasification- plasma is a highly electrically charged or ionized gas.A gasifier vessel is one which utilizes proprietary plasma torches operating at more than 10,000 °F or 5,540 °C which is the surface temperature of the Sun, so as to order to create a gasification zone of up to 3,000 °F or 1,650 °C which will convert solid or liquid wastes into a sun gas.

When the municipal solid waste is subjected to this intense heat within the vessel, the molecular bonds of the wastes break down into elemental components. The process results in elemental destruction of waste and hazardous materials which were originally present. Plasma gasification offers states new opportunities for waste disposal, and more importantly for renewable power generation in an environmentally sustainable manner.

      3.   E-waste management- "Electronic waste" is defined as all the secondary computers, entertainment devices, mobile phones, all other items like television, refrigerators, whether they are sold or donated or discarded by their original owners or users.

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        4.   Recycling- "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" aka 3 R's of the waste hierarchy. Recycling involves processing used materials to make a new product which prevents waste of potentially useful materials that will reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials and reduce the energy usage, water pollution and reduce air pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower the greenhouse gas emissions as compared to original and fresh production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction, saves money, energy, trees in the planet Earth.

   5.   Incineration- is a disposal method in which solid organic wastes are subjected to combustion so as to convert them into residue and gaseous products. This method is useful for disposal of residue of both solid waste management and solid residue from waste water management. The process reduces the volumes of solid waste to 20 to 30 percent of the original volume. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are sometimes described as "thermal treatment". Incinerators convert waste materials into heat, gas, steam, and ash. Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals and on a large scale by industry. 

    6.   Sustainability- involves making decisions and taking action that are in the interests of protecting the natural world, with particular emphasis on preserving the capability of the environment to support human life.Environmental sustainability is about making responsible decisions that will reduce your business' negative impact on the environment. 

7. Biological reprocessing- Recoverable materials that are organic in nature, such as plant material, food scraps, and paper products, can be recovered through composting and digestion processes to decompose the organic matter. The resulting organic material is then recycled as mulch or compost for agricultural or landscaping purposes. In addition, waste gas from the process (such as methane) can be captured and used for generating electricity and heat (CHP/co-generation) maximizing efficiency. The intention of biological processing in waste management is to control and accelerate the natural process of decomposition of organic matter.

     8.Energy recovery- Energy recovery from waste is the conversion of non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity, or fuel through a variety of processes, including combustion, gasification, pyrolyzation, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery. This process is often called waste-to-energy. Energy recovery from waste is part of the non-hazardous waste management hierarchy. Using energy recovery to convert non-recyclable waste materials into electricity and heat, generates a renewable energy source and can reduce carbon emissions by offsetting the need for energy from fossil sources as well as reduce methane generation from landfills. Globally, waste-to-energy accounts for 16% of waste management.

9.   Resource recovery- Resource recovery is the systematic diversion of waste, which was intended for disposal, for a specific next use. It is the processing of recyclables to extract or recover materials and resources, or convert to energy. These activities are performed at a resource recovery facility. Resource recovery is not only environmentally important, but it is also cost effective^. It decreases the amount of waste for disposal, saves space in landfills, and conserves natural resources.

Benefits of Waste Management:

•  With proper waste management, we can save our Mother Earth and at the same time we can receive many benefits not only for the environment but also for us.
• This has allowed cities to make use of organic waste to create compost for public areas. There are even some cities that package and sell the compost to make money. 
• Waste items can be reprocessed and recycled and will be used in producing new products. This method has helped reduce further consumption of natural resources and at the same time lowers the ultimate needs for waste disposal.
• It  is also beneficial to health as well. According to health agencies, when garbage and plastics are being burned, they produce particulate matter that are solid compounds and are suspended in the air which can cause serious ailments to the body and can lead to death. Removing waste from public areas helps reduce risks to overall health, decreases exposure to bio-hazards and reduces infestation of pest.
• There is another advantage of proper waste management that not so many people are aware about. It is in the form of waste energy- derivative of some techniques of waste management. Although incineration releases large amounts of carbon dioxide as well as other pollutants, modern advances have been available to capture the energy being produced in incineration and utilize it to generate electricity.