Waste - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Waste
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Waste and wastes are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any
substance which is discarded after primary use, or it is worthless,
defective and of no use.
Examples include municipal solid waste (household trash/refuse),
hazardous waste, wastewater (such as sewage, which contains bodily
wastes (feces and urine) and surface runoff), radioactive waste, and
others.
Solid waste being shredded
1 Definitions
1.1 United Nations Environment Program
1.2 United Nations Statistics Division, Glossary of
Environment Statistics
1.3 European Union
2 Types
3 Reporting
4 Costs
4.1 Environmental costs
4.2 Social costs
4.3 Economic costs
5 Resource recovery
6 Energy recovery
7 Education and awareness
8 Gallery
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
United Nations Environment Program
According to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and
their Disposal of 1989, Art. 2(1), "'Wastes' are substance or objects, which are disposed of or are intended to be
disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law".[1]
United Nations Statistics Division, Glossary of Environment Statistics
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"Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is
products produced for the market) for which the initial
user has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes
of production, transformation or consumption, and of
which he/she wants to dispose. Wastes may be generated
during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of
raw materials into intermediate and final products, the
consumption of final products, and other human
activities. Residuals recycled or reused at the place of
generation are excluded."[2]
Schematic illustration of the EU Legal
definition of waste
European Union
Under the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Art. 3(1), the European Union defines waste as "an object
the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard."[3] For a more structural description of the
Waste Directive, see the European Commission's summary (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/legislation
/a.htm).
There are many waste types defined by modern systems of waste management, notably including:
Municipal waste includes household waste, commercial waste, and demolition waste
Hazardous waste includes industrial waste
Biomedical waste includes clinical waste
Special hazardous waste includes radioactive waste, explosive waste, and electronic waste (e-waste)
There are many issues that surround reporting waste. It is most commonly measured by size or weight, and
there is a stark difference between the two. For example, organic waste is much heavier when it is wet, and
plastic or glass bottles can have different weights but be the same size.[4] On a global scale it is difficult to
report waste because countries have different definitions of waste and what falls into waste categories, as well
as different ways of reporting. Based on incomplete reports from its parties, the Basel Convention estimated
338 million tonnes of waste was generated in 2001.[5] For the same year, OECD estimated 4 billion tonnes
from its member countries.[6] Despite these inconsistencies, waste reporting is still useful on a small and large
scale to determine key causes and locations, and to find ways of preventing, minimizing, recovering, treating,
and disposing waste.
Environmental costs
Inappropriately managed waste can attract rodents and insects, which can harbour gastrointestinal parasites,
yellow fever, worms, the plague and other conditions for humans, and exposure to hazardous wastes,
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particularly when they are burned, can cause various other
diseases including cancers. Toxic waste materials can
contaminate surface water, groundwater, soil, and air
which causes more problems for humans, other species,
and ecosystems.[7] Waste treatment and disposal produces
significant green house gas (GHG) emissions, notably
methane, which are contributing significantly to global
warming.[5]
Social costs Waste not the Waste. Sign in Tamil Nadu, India
Waste management is a significant environmental justice
issue. Many of the environmental burdens cited above are more often borne by marginalized groups, such as
racial minorities, women, and residents of developing nations. NIMBY (not in my back yard) is the opposition
of residents to a proposal for a new development because it is close to them.[8] However, the need for
expansion and siting of waste treatment and disposal facilities is increasing worldwide. There is now a growing
market in the transboundary movement of waste, and although most waste that flows between countries goes
between developed nations, a significant amount of waste is moved from developed to developing nations.[9]
Economic costs
The economic costs of managing waste are high, and are often paid for by municipal governments;[10] money
can often be saved with more efficiently designed collection routes, modifying vehicles, and with public
education. Environmental policies such as pay as you throw can reduce the cost of management and reduce
waste quantities. Waste recovery (that is, recycling, reuse) can curb economic costs because it avoids extracting
raw materials and often cuts transportation costs. "Economic assessment of municipal waste management
systems – case studies using a combination of life-cycle assessment (LCA) and life-cycle costing (LCC)".[11]
The location of waste treatment and disposal facilities often reduces property values due to noise, dust,
pollution, unsightliness, and negative stigma. The informal waste sector consists mostly of waste pickers who
scavenge for metals, glass, plastic, textiles, and other materials and then trade them for a profit. This sector can
significantly alter or reduce waste in a particular system, but other negative economic effects come with the
disease, poverty, exploitation, and abuse of its workers.[12]
Resource recovery is the retrieval of recyclable waste, which was intended for disposal, for a specific next
use.[13] It is the processing of recyclables to extract or recover materials and resources, or convert to energy.
This process is carried out at a resource recovery facility.[14] Resource recovery is not only important to the
environment, but it can be cost effective by decreasing the amount of waste sent to the disposal stream, reduce
the amount of space needed for landfills, and protect limited natural resources.[15]
Energy recovery from waste is using non-recyclable waste materials and extracting from it heat, electricity, or
energy through a variety of processes, including combustion, gasification, pyrolyzation, and anaerobic
digestion.[16] This process is referred to as waste-to-energy.
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There are several ways to recover energy from waste. Anaerobic digestion is a naturally occurring process of
decomposition where organic matter is reduced to a simpler chemical component in the absence of oxygen.[16]
Incineration or direct controlled burning of municipal solid waste to reduce waste and make energy. Secondary
recovered fuel is the energy recovery from waste that cannot be reused or recycled from mechanical and
biological treatment activities.[16] Pyrolysis involves heating of waste, with the absence of oxygen, to high
temperatures to break down any carbon content into a mixture of gaseous and liquid fuels and solid residue.[16]
Gasification is the conversion of carbon rich material through high temperature with partial oxidation into a gas
stream.[16] Plasma arc heating is the very high heating of municipal solid waste to temperatures ranging from
3,000-10,000 °C, where energy is released by an electrical discharge in an inert atmosphere.[16]
Using waste as fuel can offer important environmental benefits. It can provide a safe and cost-effective option
for wastes that would normally have to be dealt with through disposal.[16] It can help reduce carbon dioxide
emissions by diverting energy use from fossil fuels, while also generating energy and using waste as fuel can
reduce the methane emissions generated in landfills by averting waste from landfills.[16]
There is some debate in the classification of certain biomass feedstock as wastes. Crude Tall Oil (CTO), a
co-product of the pulp and papermaking process, is defined as a waste or residue in some European countries
when in fact it is produced “on purpose” and has significant value add potential in industrial applications.
Several companies use CTO to produce fuel,[17] while the pine chemicals industry maximizes it as a feedstock
“producing low-carbon, bio-based chemicals” through cascading use.[18]
Education and awareness in the area of waste and waste management is increasingly important from a global
perspective of resource management. The Talloires Declaration is a declaration for sustainability concerned
about the unprecedented scale and speed of environmental pollution and degradation, and the depletion of
natural resources. Local, regional, and global air pollution; accumulation and distribution of toxic wastes;
destruction and depletion of forests, soil, and water; depletion of the ozone layer and emission of "green house"
gases threaten the survival of humans and thousands of other living species, the integrity of the earth and its
biodiversity, the security of nations, and the heritage of future generations. Several universities have
implemented the Talloires Declaration by establishing environmental management and waste management
programs, e.g. the waste management university project. University and vocational education are promoted by
various organizations, e.g. WAMITAB and Chartered Institution of Wastes Management.
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Vegetable waste being Weapon scraps Agobox; Bio-medical Hospital waste
dumped in a market in Waste
Hyderabad
Waste collected in a
tricycle
Biological hazard
Chemical hazards
Environmental dumping
Fly-tipping
Garbage truck
Global waste trade
Human waste
List of waste management acronyms
Litter
Midden
Waste by country
Waste collection
Waste converter
Waste Atlas
1. “Basel Convention.” 1989. [1] (http://www.basel.int/Portals/4/Basel%20Convention/docs/text/con-e-rev.pdf)
2. “Glossary of Environment Statistics.” 1997. UNSD. 1997. unstats.un.org (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environmentgl)
3. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32008L0098
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4. "Solid Waste Management." 2005. United Nations Environment Programme. Chapter III: Waste Quantities and
Characteristics, 31-38. unep.or.jp (http://www.unep.or.jp/Ietc/Publications/spc/Solid_Waste_Management/index.asp)
5. “International Waste Activities.” 2003. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 12 Oct 2009. epa.gov
(http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/international/index.htm)
6. "Improving Recycling Markets." OECD Environment Program. Paris: OECD, 2006. oecd.org (http://www.oecd.org
/document/14/0,3343,en_2649_34395_37757966_1_1_1_1,00.html)
7. Diaz, L. et al. Solid Waste Management, Volume 2. UNEP/Earthprint, 2006.
8. Wolsink, M. "Entanglement of interests and motives: Assumptions behind the NIMBY-theory on Facility Siting."
Urban Studies 31.6 (1994): 851-866.
9. Ray, A. "Waste management in developing Asia: Can trade and cooperation help?" The Journal of Environment &
Development 17.1 (2008): 3-25.
10. “Muck and brass: The waste business smells of money.” The Economist. 2009 02 28. pp. 10-12.
11. Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005): 253-263.
12. Wilson, D.C.; Velis, C.; Cheeseman, C. "Role of informal sector recycling in waste management in developing
countries." Habitat International 30 (2006): 797-808.
13. USEPA (2012). "Frequent Questions".
14. Government of Montana (2012). "Resource Recovery".
15. Grand Traverse County (2006). "What is Resource Recovery?".
16. IGD (2007). "Energy Recovery and Disposal".
17. "Biofuels: Wasted Energy". Oliver, Christian, Financial Times. April 15, 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
18. "Crude tall oil feed stocks cannot be considered 'waste' ". Moran, Kevin, Financial Times. April 30, 2014. Retrieved
2014-07-03.
Media related to Waste at Wikimedia Commons
Wikiquote has quotations
Medical waste disposal (http://www.securewaste.net/) related to: Waste
Waste (https://www.dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Environment
/Waste_and_Recycling/) at DMOZ Look up waste or
Cambio verde: waste-food exchange project in Curitiba, Brazil wastefulness in
(http://member.clintonglobalinitiative.org/Page.aspx?pid=3633) Wiktionary, the free
Waste area (http://www.atiksahasi.com) dictionary.
Resource Productivity and Waste (http://www.oecd.org/topic
/0,3699,en_2649_34395_1_1_1_1_37465,00.html) at the OECD
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