HASLER WOWO

BSCE V

Refuse Disposal

Waste management, waste refuse (or waste disposal) is the activities and actions required to manage
waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and
disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process.

Waste can be solid, liquid, or gas and each type have different methods of disposal and management.
Waste management deals with all types of waste, including industrial, biological and household. In some
cases, waste can pose a threat to human health. Waste is produced by human activity, for example, the
extraction and processing of raw materials. Waste management is intended to reduce adverse effects of
waste on human health, the environment or aesthetics.

Waste management practices are not uniform among countries (developed and developing nations);
regions (urban and rural areas), and residential and industrial sectors can all take different approaches.

A large portion of waste management practices deal with municipal solid waste (MSW) which is the bulk
of the waste that is created by household, industrial, and commercial activity.

Waste hierarchy

The waste hierarchy refers to the "3 Rs" reduce, reuse and recycle, which classifies waste management
strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste minimization. The waste hierarchy is the
cornerstone of most waste minimization strategies. The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the
maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of end waste; see:
resource recovery. The waste hierarchy is represented as a pyramid because the basic premise is that
policies should promote measures to prevent the generation of waste. The next step or preferred action
is to seek alternative uses for the waste that has been generated i.e. by re-use. The next is recycling
which includes composting. Following this step is material recovery and waste-to-energy. The final
action is disposal, in landfills or through incineration without energy recovery. This last step is the final
resort for waste which has not been prevented, diverted or recovered. The waste hierarchy represents
the progression of a product or material through the sequential stages of the pyramid of waste
management. The hierarchy represents the latter parts of the life-cycle for each product.

Life-cycle of a product

The life-cycle begins with design, and then proceeds through manufacture, distribution, and primary use
and then follows through the waste hierarchy's stages of reduce, reuse and recycle. Each stage in the
life-cycle offers opportunities for policy intervention, to rethink the need for the product, to redesign to
minimize waste potential, to extend its use. Product life-cycle analysis is a way to optimize the use of the
world's limited resources by avoiding the unnecessary generation of waste.
Resource efficiency

Resource efficiency reflects the understanding that global economic growth and development cannot be
sustained at current production and consumption patterns. Globally, humanity extracts more resources
to produce goods than the planet can replenish. Resource efficiency is the reduction of the
environmental impact from the production and consumption of these goods, from final raw material
extraction to last use and disposal.

Polluter-pays principle

The polluter-pays principle mandates that the polluting party pays for the impact on the environment.
With respect to waste management, this generally refers to the requirement for a waste generator to
pay for appropriate disposal of the unrecoverable material.

Disposal methods

A landfill site (also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump or dumping ground and
historically as a midden) is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial. Landfill is the oldest form
of waste treatment, although the burial of the waste is modern; historically, refuse was simply left in
piles or thrown into pits. Historically, landfills have been the most common method of organized waste
disposal and remain so in many places around the world.

Some landfills are also used for waste management purposes, such as the temporary storage,
consolidation and transfer, or processing of waste material (sorting, treatment, or recycling). Unless
they are stabilized, these areas may experience severe shaking or soil liquefaction of the ground during a
large earthquake.

Incineration

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 both municipal
solid waste and solid residue from waste water treatment. This process reduces the volumes of solid
waste by 80 to 95 percent. 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. It is used
to dispose of solid, liquid and gaseous waste. It is recognized as a practical method of disposing of
certain hazardous waste materials (such as biological medical waste). Incineration is a controversial
method of waste disposal, due to issues such as emission of gaseous pollutants.

Incineration is common in countries such as Japan where land is more scarce, as the facilities generally
do not require as much area as landfills. Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) are broad
terms for facilities that burn waste in a furnace or boiler to generate heat, steam or electricity.
Combustion in an incinerator is not always perfect and there have been concerns about pollutants in
gaseous emissions from incinerator stacks. Particular concern has focused on some very persistent
organic compounds such as dioxins, furans, and PAHs, which may be created and which may have
serious environmental consequences.

Recycling

Recycling is a resource recovery practice that refers to the collection and reuse of waste materials such
as empty beverage containers. The materials from which the items are made can be reprocessed into
new products. Material for recycling may be collected separately from general waste using dedicated
bins and collection vehicles, a procedure called kerbside collection. In some communities, the owner of
the waste is required to separate the materials into different bins (e.g. for paper, plastics, metals) prior
to its collection. In other communities, all recyclable materials are placed in a single bin for collection,
and the sorting is handled later at a central facility. The latter method is known as "single-stream
recycling."

The most common consumer products recycled include aluminum such as beverage cans, copper such
as wire, steel from food and aerosol cans, old steel furnishings or equipment, rubber tires, polyethylene
and PET bottles, glass bottles and jars, paperboard cartons, newspapers, magazines and light paper, and
corrugated fiberboard boxes.

PVC, LDPE, PP, and PS (see resin identification code) are also recyclable. These items are usually
composed of a single type of material, making them relatively easy to recycle into new products. The
recycling of complex products (such as computers and electronic equipment) is more difficult, due to the
additional dismantling and separation required.

The type of material accepted for recycling varies by city and country. Each city and country has
different recycling programs in place that can handle the various types of recyclable materials. However,
certain variation in acceptance is reflected in the resale value of the material once it is reprocessed

Re-use

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/cogeneration) maximizing efficiencies. The intention of
biological processing in waste management is to control and accelerate the natural process of
decomposition of organic matter.

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.

The energy content of waste products can be harnessed directly by using them as a direct combustion
fuel, or indirectly by processing them into another type of fuel. Thermal treatment ranges from using
waste as a fuel source for cooking or heating and the use of the gas fuel, to fuel for boilers to generate
steam and electricity in a turbine. Pyrolysis and gasification are two related forms of thermal treatment
where waste materials are heated to high temperatures with limited oxygen availability. The process
usually occurs in a sealed vessel under high pressure. Pyrolysis of solid waste converts the material into
solid, liquid and gas products. The liquid and gas can be burnt to produce energy or refined into other
chemical products (chemical refinery). The solid residue (char) can be further refined into products such
as activated carbon. Gasification and advanced Plasma arc gasification are used to convert organic
materials directly into a synthetic gas (syngas) composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The gas is
then burnt to produce electricity and steam. An alternative to pyrolysis is high temperature and
pressure supercritical water decomposition (hydrothermal monophasic oxidation).

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is often used to convert many types of domestic and industrial residues into a recovered fuel.
Different types of waste input (such as plant waste, food waste, tyres) placed in the pyrolysis process
potentially yield an alternative to fossil fuels. Pyrolysis is a process of thermo-chemical decomposition of
organic materials by heat in the absence of stoichiometric quantities of oxygen; the decomposition
produces various hydrocarbon gases. During pyrolysis, the molecules of object vibrate at high
frequencies to an extent that molecules start breaking down. The rate of pyrolysis increases with
temperature. In industrial applications, temperatures are above 430 °C (800 °F). Slow pyrolysis produces
gases and solid charcoal. Pyrolysis hold promise for conversion of waste biomass into useful liquid fuel.
Pyrolysis of waste wood and plastics can potentially produce fuel. The solids left from pyrolysis contain
metals, glass, sand and pyrolysis coke which does not convert to gas. Compared to the process of
incineration, certain types of pyrolysis processes release less harmful by-products that contain alkali
metals, sulphur, and chlorine. However, pyrolysis of some waste yields gasses which impact the
environment such as HCl and SO2

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.
Resource recovery (as opposed to waste management) uses LCA (life cycle analysis) attempts to offer
alternatives to waste management. For mixed MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) a number of broad studies
have indicated that administration, source separation and collection followed by reuse and recycling of
the non-organic fraction and energy and compost/fertilizer production of the organic material via
anaerobic digestion to be the favored path.

As an example of how resource recycling can be beneficial, many items thrown away contain metals that
can be recycled to create a profit, such as the components in circuit boards. Wood chippings in pallets
and other packaging materials can be recycled to useful products for horticulture. The recycled chips can
cover paths, walkways, or arena surfaces.

Application of rational and consistent waste management practices can yield a range of benefits
including:

Economic – Improving economic efficiency through the means of resource use, treatment and disposal
and creating markets for recycles can lead to efficient practices in the production and consumption of
products and materials resulting in valuable materials being recovered for reuse and the potential for
new jobs and new business opportunities.

Social – By reducing adverse impacts on health by proper waste management practices, the resulting
consequences are more appealing civic communities. Better social advantages can lead to new sources
of employment and potentially lifting communities out of poverty especially in some of the developing
poorer countries and cities.

Environmental – Reducing or eliminating adverse impacts on the environment through reducing,

Inter-generational Equity – Following effective waste management practices can provide subsequent
generations a more robust economy, a fairer and more inclusive society and a cleaner environment.

Sustainability

The management of waste is a key component in a business' ability to maintain ISO14001 accreditation.
The standard encourages companies to improve their environmental efficiencies each year by
eliminating waste through resource recovery practices. One way to do this is by adopting resource
recovery practices like recycling materials such as glass, food scraps, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles
and metal. Recycled materials can often be sold to the construction industry. Many inorganic waste
streams can be used to produce materials for construction. Concrete and bricks can be recycled as
artificial gravel.