WASTE MANAGEMENT

CDT.VIBHA THOMAS
TN/19/SWA/838507
WHAT IS WASTE?

• Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance which
is discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use.
• A by-product by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste
product may become a by-product, joint product or resource through an invention that
raises a waste product's value above zero.
• 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.
 SOURCES OF WASTE
❖Sources of waste can be broadly classified into four types: Industrial, Commercial,
Domestic, and Agricultural.
• Industrial Waste: These are the wastes created in factories and industries. Most industries
dump their wastes in rivers and seas which cause a lot of pollution. Example: plastic, glass,
etc.
• Commercial Waste: These wastes are produced in schools, colleges, shops, and offices.
Example: plastic, paper, etc.
• Domestic Waste: The different household wastes which are collected during household
activities like cooking, cleaning, etc. are known as domestic wastes. Example: leaves,
vegetable peels, excreta, etc.
• Agricultural Waste: Various wastes produced in the agricultural field are known as agricultural
wastes. Example: cattle waste, weed, husk, etc.
TYPES OF WASTE
❖5 TYPES OF WASTE
❑ Liquid waste: It refers to all grease, oil, sludges, wash water, waste detergents and dirty water that
have been thrown away. They are hazardous and poisonous to our environment and are found in
industries as well as households. Wastewater, as it is often called, is any waste that exists in liquid
form.
o How is liquid waste removed?
The three methods we can remove liquid wastes from wherever they’re located include;
• Containment: This involves storing liquid waste in barrels or tanks so that they can be removed
from our surroundings. Containing liquid waste prevents it from being dumped in our environment.
• Treatment: All liquid wastes do not need to be thrown away. You can treat and reuse them. For
example, organic waste is composted and used to produce fertilizers in various stations in the UK.
• Disposal: If no treatment can be done on liquid waste, then it should be disposed of.
TYPES OF WASTE
❑ Solid waste: Solid waste is any garbage, sludge, and refuse found in industrial and commercial
locations. The five major types of solid rubbish are;
• Glass and Ceramics: Numerous companies readily recycle ceramics and glass. The catch here
is that you have to dispose of them correctly.
• Plastic waste: Plastic waste is any container, jar, bottle, and bag that is found in companies and
houses. Plastics are non-biodegradable, and most of them cannot be recycled. Do not mix
plastic rubbish with regular waste. Instead, sort them out before throwing them away.
• Paper rubbish: This refers to all newspapers, packaging materials, cardboards, and other
paper products. Paper is recyclable.
• Metals and Tins: You can easily find tins and metals in homes because food containers and
household materials are made from them. Most metals are recyclable, so take them to a scrap
yard or recycling depot after use.
TYPES OF WASTE
❑ Organic Waste: It refers to rotten meat, garden and food waste. This type of rubbish is
commonly found in homes. With time, they decompose and turn into manure by the action
of microorganisms on them. But be careful; you should not dispose of them anywhere you
like.
• When decomposing, organic waste produces methane, so, it must not be thrown away with
regular waste. Instead, get a green bin and dispose of this type of waste properly.

❑ Recyclable Waste: All discarded items like metals, furniture, organic waste that can be
recycled fall under this category. Not all items are recyclable, so you have to be careful when
putting things into the recycle bin. If you are not sure whether an item is recyclable or not,
then check the item’s packaging.
TYPES OF WASTE
❑Hazardous Waste: It includes flammable, corrosive, toxic and reactive materials. In a nutshell, they are
wastes that pose a significant or potential threat to our environment.
o The four ways of disposing of hazardous waste are;
• Recycling: A few hazardous wastes can be recycled to form other products. For example, circuit boards
and lead-acid batteries can bind to other pollutants and later used as pavement fillings. Chemical levels
are reduced when hazardous wastes are converted to new products.
• Incineration and Destruction: Another way of disposing of hazardous waste is to destroy or incinerate
them. Incineration reduces the amount of hazardous waste and can also generate energy for use in the
process.
• Pyrolysis: Pyrolysis, in a very high-temperature arc under inert conditions, is an excellent way to
dispose of hazardous waste. This process is used to avoid the dangers of combustion and is preferable
when dealing with PCBs, organic waste and pesticides.
• Disposing in a landfill: A landfill is a disposal facility where rubbish is placed in. Land treatment facilities
are not landfills.
 WASTE MANAGEMENT
❖Waste management (or waste disposal) includes 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.
• The term ‘Waste Management’ collectively means the management of waste from its inception to
the final stage of disposal. Thus, as one single unit, it encompasses right from the collection,
disposal, recycling, to which the processes of monitoring and regulation, respectively belong to,
along with the legal frameworks that enable the occurrence of waste management.
• “Waste management or waste disposal are all the activities and actions required to manage
waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes amongst other things collection,
transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. It also
encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management
encompassing guidance on recycling.”
 WASTE MANAGEMENT
• Waste can be solid, liquid, or gas and each type has 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
 PRINCIPLES OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

❖ Waste hierarchy: refers to the "3 Rs" Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, which classifies waste management
strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste minimisation. It 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, 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
 PRINCIPLES OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

❖ Resource efficiency:
Resource efficiency reflects the understanding that global economic growth and
development can not 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 the 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.
 WASTE SEGREGATION

• This is the separation of wet waste and dry waste. The purpose is to recycle dry waste easily and to use wet
waste as compost. When segregating waste, the amount of waste that gets landfilled reduces considerably,
resulting in lower levels of air and water pollution. It is important to remember that waste segregation should be
based on the type of waste and the most appropriate treatment and disposal. This also makes it easier to apply
different processes to the waste, like composting, recycling and incineration. It is important to practice waste
management and segregation as a community. The process of waste segregation should be explained to the
community.
• Segregated waste is also often cheaper to dispose of because it does not require as much manual sorting as
mixed waste. There are a number of important reasons why waste segregation is important such as legal
obligations, cost savings and protection of human health and the environment
• Recommended colour coding of containers
✓ Yellow- for infectious waste
✓ Brown- for chemical and pharmaceutical waste
✓ Black- for general waste
 DISPOSAL METHODS ❖ 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
❖ Landfill: A landfill is a site for the disposal method is useful for disposal of both municipal solid
of waste materials by burial. Landfill is the waste and solid residue from waste water treatment.
oldest form of waste treatment, although the This process reduces the volumes of solid waste by 80
burial of the waste is modern; historically, to 95 percent.
refuse was simply left in piles or thrown into • Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by
pits. Landfills must be open and available to individuals and on a large scale by industry. It is used to
users every day. While the majority of its dispose of solid, liquid and gaseous waste. It is
customers are municipalities, commercial recognized as a practical method of disposing of
and construction companies, residents are certain hazardous waste materials (such as
also allowed to use the landfill in most biological medical waste). Incineration is a controversial
cases. method of waste disposal, due to issues such as
emission of gaseous pollutants.
DISPOSAL METHODS

❖Recycling: is a resource recovery practice that refers to the collection and reuse of
waste materials such as empty beverage containers. This process involves breaking
down and reusing materials that would otherwise be gotten rid of as trash.
• The materials from which the items are made can be made into new products. Materials
for recycling may be collected separately from general waste using dedicated bins and
collection vehicles, a procedure called kerbside collection.
❖Recovery: 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.
 DISPOSAL METHODS ❖ Composting: Compost is organic
matter that has been decomposed in a
❖ Plasma gasification: is an extreme thermal process process called composting. This
using plasma which converts organic matter into process recycles various organic
a syngas (synthesis gas) which is primarily made up materials otherwise regarded as waste
of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. products and produces a soil
• A plasma torch powered by an electric arc is used to conditioner (the compost).
ionize gas and catalyze organic matter into syngas, • Compost is rich in nutrients. It is used, for
with slag remaining as a byproduct. It is used commercially example in gardens, landscaping,
as a form of waste treatment and has been tested for the horticulture, urban agriculture and organic
gasification of refuse-derived fuel, biomass, industrial farming. The compost itself is beneficial for
waste, hazardous waste, and solid hydrocarbons, such the land in many ways, including as a soil
as coal, oil sands, petcoke and oil shale. conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of
vital humus or humic acids, and as a
natural pesticide for soil. Compost is
useful for erosion control, land and stream
reclamation, wetland construction, and as
landfill cover.

<-
Composting
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DISPOSAL METHODS ❖ Waste Minimisation: Waste minimisation is a set of
processes and practices intended to reduce the
❖ Waste-to-energy (WtE): is the process of amount of waste produced. By reducing or eliminating
generating energy in the form the generation of harmful and persistent wastes, waste
of electricity and/or heat from the primary minimisation supports efforts to promote a more
treatment of waste, or the processing of sustainable society.
waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form • Waste Minimization is a waste management approach
of energy recovery. that focuses on reducing the amount and toxicity of
• Most WtE processes generate electricity hazardous waste generated. In addition to hazardous
and/or heat directly through combustion, or wastes regulated under The Resource Conservation
produce a combustible fuel commodity, and Recovery (RCRA), EPA encourages the
such as methane, methanol, ethanol. minimization of all wastes.
or synthetic fuels.
WHY IS WASTE MANAGEMENT IMPORTANT?

• Its Protects the environment