Waste management

Contents
 1. Introduction
 2.Types of waste
 3. Basic principles of solid waste management
 4.Waste collection in India
 5. Waste management initiatives in India
 6. Disposal of solid waste
 7. Categories of health care waste
 8. Disposal of health care waste
 9. Waste production in India
 10. Integrated solid waste management
 11. Indian Laws concerning waste management
 12. Conclusion
Introduction

According to The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD): (UN Statistics Division, 2011)
“Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is products produced for the
market) for which the generator has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes of
production, transformation or consumption, and of which he/she wants to dispose”.
 Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal of
waste materials.
 The term”solid waste” includes garbage, rubbish(paper, plastics),demolition
products(bricks), sewage and other discarded materials.

Waste production in India

Partner JE. Waste: Concern, Impact & Solution

Types of waste
• Solid waste- vegetable waste, kitchen waste, household waste etc.
• E-waste- discarded electronic devices such as computer, TV, music systems etc.
• Liquid waste- water used for different industries, tanneries, distilleries, thermal power
plants
• Plastic waste- plastic bags, bottles, bucket, etc.
• Metal waste- unused metal sheet, metal scraps etc.
• Nuclear waste- unused materials from nuclear power plants

Raveesh A, Mona C, Jayveer S. Waste management initiatives in India for human well being.
Eur Sci J. 2015 Jun;7881:1857-7881

Wet waste (Biodegradable) includes the following:

• Kitchen waste including food waste of all kinds, cooked and uncooked, including eggshells
and bones
• Flower and fruit waste including juice peels and house-plant waste
• Garden sweeping or yard waste consisting of green/dry leaves
• Sanitary wastes
• Green waste from vegetable & fruit vendors/shops

Dry waste (Non-biodegradable) includes the following:

• Paper and plastic, all kinds
• Cardboard and cartons
• Containers of all kinds excluding those containing hazardous material
• Packaging of all kinds
• Glass of all kinds
• Metals of all kinds
• Rags, rubber
• House sweeping (dust etc.)
• Ashes
• Foils, wrappings, pouches, sachets and tetra packs (rinsed)

Solid waste

Main sources of solid waste generation

• Residential (domestic or house hold)
• Commercial
• Institutional
• Construction Demolition
• Treatment plant sites
 • Industrial
Agricultural

Basic principles of Solid Waste Management

1) 4Rs: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
• Refuse: Do not buy anything which we do not really need.
• Reduce - Reduce the amount of garbage generated. Alter our lifestyle so that minimum
garbage is generated.
• Reuse - Reuse everything to its maximum after properly cleaning it. Make secondary use
of different articles.
• Recycle – Keep things which can be recycled to be given to rag pickers or waste pickers
(Kabadiwallahs).Convert the recyclable garbage into manures or other useful products.

2) Segregation at source
3) Different treatments for different types of solid wastes
4) Treatment at nearest possible point

Raveesh A, Mona C, Jayveer S. Waste management initiatives in India for human well being.
Eur Sci J. 2015 Jun;7881:1857-7881.
Integrated solid waste management
According to The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Intergrated Solid Waste Managemnet (ISWM) as a holistic waste reduction process, which
includes collection, composting, recycling, and disposal system.
ISWM is the strategic approach to sustainable management of solid wastes covering all
sources and all aspects, covering generation, segregation, transfer, sorting, treatment,
recovery and disposal in an integrated manner, with maximum efficiency.

Tier approaches of integrated solid waste management

WASTE COLLECTION IN INDIA

Primarily by the city municipality
 •No gradation of waste product eg bio-degradable, glasses, poly bags, paper shreds etc.
• Dumps these wastes to the city outskirts
Local raddiwala / kabadiwala (Rag pickers)
• Collecting small iron pieces by magnets
• Collecting glass bottles
• Collecting paper for recycling
In Delhi - MCD- Sophisticated DWM (Delhi Waste Management) vehicle

• Public sector: this comprises of local authority and local public departments at city level;
• Private-formal sector: this constitutes large and small registered enterprises doing
collection, transport, treatment, and disposal and recycling;
• Private-informal sector: this constitutes the small-scale, non recognized private sector and
comprises of waste-pickers, dump pickers, itinerant-waste buyers, traders and non-
registered small-scale enterprises; and
• Community representatives in the form of NGOs, etc

Disposal of solid waste

 1.Dumping
 Refuse is dumped in a low lying area.
 Refuse decreases in volume and changes into humus.
 Drawbacks-
 1. Exposure to flies and rodents
 2. Source of nuisance because of smell
 3. Loose refuse can be dispersed by wind

2.Controlled tipping(sanitary landfill)

 3 methods-
 1. TRENCH METHOD
 Used where level ground is available.
 6-10 feet deep and 12-36 feet wide trench is dug out,
 refuse is compacted and covered with soil.
 2. Ramp method-
 Used where terrain is sloping.
 Some excavation is done to secure the covering material.

 3. Area method-
 Used for filling land depressions.
 Refuse is deposited and sealed on its exposed surface.
 3.INCINERATION

 Refuse can be disposed off hygienically. It requires separation of dust or ash from the
refuse.
 It involves heavy outlay and expenditure.Disposal requires lot amount of manure
because of burning so used mainly in health care waste disposal.

4. Composting

 It is a natural process of humus formation where matter breaks down under

bacterial action.
 By products are carbon dioxide,water and heat of 60degree C.
 It is a good soil builder.
 The methods of composting are-bangalore method, mechanical composting.

Bangalore method
 Developed by ICAR, at Indian Institute of Science,Banglore.
 Trenches are dug depending upon the amount of refuse.
  Depths greater than 3 feet not recommended because of slow decomposition.Pits
should be located at least 800m away from the city.
 First a layer of refuse is spread, over it night soil followed by alternate layers of the
two, till the heap rises above 1 feet the ground level.
 Top layer should be of refuse 9 inches wide then heap is covered with earth.
 Intense heat of 600 degree C is produced after 7 days in the compost mass which
persists for 2-3 weeks.
 At the end of 6 months, decomposition is complete and the results g material is well
decomposed.
Mechanical composting

 In this aerobic method, compost is manufactured in large scale.

 The refuse is first cleared of salvageable materials like rags, bones, glass, etc. It is
then pulverised in a pulverising equipment to less than 2 inches.
 Pulverised refuse is mixed with sewage, sludge or nightsoil in a rotating machine and
incubated.
 The whole process needs 4-6 weeks.

5. Manure pits

 They are dug by individual householders to dump garbage,cattle dung, straw.

 They are covered with earth, in 5-6 months.

 refuse is converted into manure which can be returned to the field.

6. Burial

 Trench is excavated and at the end of each day trench is filled with earth and
compacted.
 This method is suitable for small camps.

Liquid waste
 The pollution caused by the discharge of wastewater is one of the most widespread
forms of pollution and the most damaging to all coastal marine ecosystems of the
planet.
Most often, these waters are released near the coast in subtidal and can affect
marine fauna.
Their release into the natural environment is often associated with disorders at the
cellular level and/or physiological level in organisms, and the disruption of habitats
caused irreversible changes in community structure.

Liquid waste sampling for analysis

For the purpose of minimizing possible contamination, the collection and handling of
samples must be done using polyethylene bottles for the sampling process.
These should be cleaned to remove all traces of any detergent.
The sample is preserved in cold to be analyzed later.
The length of transporting cylinders must not exceed 30 min, and the analyses are
made once they arrive at the laboratory.

Treatment of liquid waste management

Physical treatments
They consist of physical or mechanical operations.
• Screening that eliminates the coarse elements through grids
• Grit that decanted from the heavier elements
• Oiling laceration
Chemical treatments
They consist in adding to the effluent a chemical reagent for converting an
unfavorable substance into a harmless compound.
Further involves neutralization, coagulation, flocculation, dechromatation, cyanide
removal, metal precipitation.

Biological treatments
These processes use living organisms (bacteria) to degrade organic matter.
Impurities must be biodegradable and contain no toxic.
The biological purification reproduced in specific reactors a phenomenon that would
naturally be in place in rivers.
At the end of this process, bacteria are the “sludge” that must
be separated from the purified water.
Redouane F, Mourad L. Pollution characterization of liquid waste of the factory complex
Fertial (Arzew, Algeria). Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. 2016 Mar
3;66(3):260-6.

E waste
EEE also contains potentially hazardous substances that may be directly released or
generated during the recycling process, generating what is known as e-waste.
E-waste is one of one of the fastest growing source of waste worldwide.1
The 2012 UN report projected that by 2017 global e-waste will increase a further 33% from
49.7 million to 65.4 million tons per annum.

Formal e-waste recycling entails specially constructed facilities with proper equipment that
allow for the safe extraction of the salvageable mate- rials.

“Informal” e-waste recycling is typically characterized as being beyond the reach of official
governance, unregu- lated, lacking structure, unregistered, and illegal.

Official e-waste recycling facilities should conduct environmentally sound management

(ESM).
There are designated ESM criteria:
risk prevention and minimization;
1. legal requirements;
2. awareness, competency, and performance measure-
ment;
3. corrective action; and
4. transparency and verification.1

List of Common E-waste Items:

Home Entertainment Devices

• DVDs
 • Blu Ray Players
• Stereos
• Televisions
• Video Game Systems
• Fax machines
• Copiers
• Printers
• Electrical Cords
• Lamps
• Smart Lights
• Night Lights

Electronic Utilities
• Massage Chairs
• Heating Pads
• Remote Controls
• Television Remotes

E waste management

Initiatives such as Extended Producer Responsibility;

Design for Environment; (3Rs) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle technology platform for linking the
market facilitating the circular economy aim to encourage consumers to correctly dispose of
the e-waste, with an increased reuse and recycling rates, and also adopt sustainable
consumer habits.
The government plays an important role in bringing together various stakeholders in a
system. We have a few measures that can be considered to move forward.

GREAT LAKES CORPORATION

PLASTIC WASTE
It is evident that plastics bring many societal benefits and offer future technological and
medical advances.
However, concerns about usage and disposal are diverse and include accumulation of waste
in landfills and
in natural habitats, physical problems for wildlife resulting from ingestion or entanglement
in plastic,
the leaching of chemicals from plastic products and the potential for plastics to transfer
chemicals to wildlife and humans.

PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT

1.From a waste management perspective, the three R's—reduce, reuse and recycle are
widely advocated to reduce the quantities of plastic and especially plastics packaging the
waste we generate.
2.We need to consider the three R's in combination with each other and together with a
fourth ‘R’, energy recovery. Indeed we also need to consider a 5th ‘R’, molecular redesign, as
an emerging and potentially very important strategy.
3.Hence, the three R's become five: ‘reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and redesign’. There are
opportunities to ‘reduce’ usage of raw material by down gauging and there are also some
opportunities to ‘reuse’ plastics.

A time-bound action points as per the provisions of Plastic Waste (Management &
Handling)is mentioned alongside:-
Bhawan P, Nagar EA. Central Pollution Control Board.

Nuclear waste
All nuclear wastes are particularly hazardous or difficult to manage as compared to other
toxic industrial wastes.
The recent technological developments in India realize the recovery of valuable radionuclide
from radioactive waste for societal application.
Low and Intermediate Level Waste (LILW) radioactive waste are generated in radiation
facilities and nuclear fuel cycle operations ranging from uranium processing, fuel fabrication,
nuclear power plants.
High level radioactive liquid waste (HLW) containing most (~99%) of the radioactivity in the
entire fuel cycle is produced during reprocessing of spent fuel.

All nuclear wastes are particularly hazardous or difficult to manage as compared to other
toxic industrial wastes.
The recent technological developments in India realize the recovery of valuable radionuclide
from radioactive waste for societal application.
Low and Intermediate Level Waste (LILW) radioactive waste are generated in radiation
facilities and nuclear fuel cycle operations ranging from uranium processing, fuel fabrication,
nuclear power plants.
High level radioactive liquid waste (HLW) containing most (~99%) of the radioactivity in the
entire fuel cycle is produced during reprocessing of spent fuel.
Management of nuclear waste

No waste in any physical form is released / disposed to the environment unless the same is
cleared, exempted or excluded from regulations.
The primary objective of protecting human health, environment and future generations for
safe management of radioactive wastes in India, is based on the concept of
1. Delay and Delay
2. Dilute and Disperse
3. Concentrate and Contain
4. Recycle and Reuse
Effective management involves segregation, characterization, handling, treatment,
conditioning and monitoring prior to final disposal.

Nuclear waste management

The management of high level waste in the Indian context, is carried out in the following
three stages:
1. Immobilisation of high level liquid waste into inert vitrified borosilicate glasses
through process called 'vitrification'.
2. Engineered interim storage of the vitrified waste for passive cooling & surveillance
over a period of time, qualifying it for subsequent disposal.
3. Disposal of the vitrified waste in a deep geological repository.

In our existing plant at Trombay vitrification process is essentially batch operation consisting
of heating and fusing of pre-concentrated waste and glass forming additives and is carried
out in Induction Heated Metallic Melter .
Cold Crucible Induction Melter (CCIM) is for vitrification of high level liquid waste. In-cell
equipment, it offers flexibility, susceptibility to treat various waste.
The CCIM is manufactured from contiguous segments forming a cylindrical volume, but
separated by a thin layer of electrically insulating material.
The vitrified product is encapsulated in suitable containers and over packs and stored for
dissipation of radioactive decay, heat and surveillance for a period of 15-20 years.

Alwaeli M, Mannheim V. Investigation into the current state of nuclear energy and nuclear
waste management—A state-of-the-art review. Energies. 2022 Jun 10;15(12):4275.

Categories of health care waste

 1. Infectious waste:eg-lab cultures,equipment with infected patients.
 2. Pathological waste:eg-body parts,blood.
 3.Sharps:eg-needles,blade.
 4.Pharmaceutical waste:eg-expired drugs
 5.Genotoxic waste:eg-cytotoxic drugs,vomit or urine of patient.
 6.Chemical waste:eg-Lab reagents, solvents, disinfectants.
 7.Wastes with high content of heavy metal:mercury
 8..Pressurized containers:Gas cylinders, aerosol cans.
  9.Radioactive waste:eg-unused liquid from radiotherapy, contaminated glassware.

Disposal of health care waste

 1. Incineration
 2. Chemical disinfection
 3. Wet thermal treatment
 4. Microwave irradiation
 5. Encapsulation
 6.Safe burying
 7.Inertization
1. INCINERATION
 Incineration is a high temp dry oxidation process that reduces organic and
combustible waste to inorganic, incombustible matter.
 Types of incinerators-
 1.Double chamber pyrolytic incinerators

 2.Single chamber furnaces with static grate

 3. Rotary kilns

Pyrolytic incinerators

 It comprises of a pyrolytic chamber and a post combustion chamber.

 The waste is thermally decomposed through an oxygen deficient medium temp(800-
900 degree C) producing solid ashes and gases.
 The waste is loaded in suitable waste bags or containers. The gases produced are
burned at high temp(90-1200 degree C)in post combustion chamber.

Single chamber incinerators

 This treats waste in batches. Loading and dishing are performed manually.
 A 210 litre stell drum with both ends removed is used with fine screen on top to
prevent ashes to move out.A fine grate on bottom.
 Waste is lowered into drum with fire to be put on bottom.Ashes to be collected from
waste and burnt wood.

Rotary kiln

 It comprises of a rotating oven and a post combustion chamber with the axis inclined
at 3-5degree angle.
 The kiln is rotated 2-5 times per minuend charged with waste from top. Ashes to be
collected from bottom.
 The gases produced are heated to high temp to burn off gaseous organic compounds
for 2sec.
 This is designed to treat toxic wastes should preferably be operated by specialist.

2. Chemical disinfection

 This method is most suitable for treating liquid waste such as blood, urine, stools, or
hospital sewage.
 The effectiveness of disinfection is estimated from the survival rates of indicator
organisms in standard microbiological tests.
 Types of chemical disinfectants-Formaldehyde, Ethylene oxide,Glutraldehyde,
sodium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide.

3. Wet thermal treatment

 It is based on exposure of shredded infectious waste to high temp, high pressure
steam.
 It inactivates most types of microorganisms.
 The process is inappropriate for the treatment of anatomical wastes.

4. Microwave irradiation
Most microorganisms are destroyed by the action of microwaves of frequency
2450MHz and a wavelength of 12.24cm.
The water contained within the wastes is rapidly heated by the microwaves and the
infectious components are destroyed by heat conduction.
5. Encapsulation
 It involves filling containers made up of high density polyethylene or metal drums
with waste.
 These containers are filled with plastic former clay and left to dry, sealed and
disposed off in landfills.

6.Safe burying
 This may be used when-
 1.Access to disposal site is authorised.
 2. Burial site lined with clay.
 3. Disposal of hazardous waste only.
 4. No large quantity of chemical waste is disposed.
 5.Covering with earth of burial site to prevent health hazards.

7. Inertization

 It involves mixing waste with cement to avoid health hazards.

 Especially suitable for pharmaceuticals and fir incinerating ashes with a high metal
content.
 Not applicable for infectious wastes.

Indian Laws concerning waste management

1.The water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act., 1974

2. The water (Prevention and control of pollution) Rules, 1975
3. The water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977
4. Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Rules, 1978
5. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
6. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
7. The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989
8. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991
9. The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995
10. The National Appellate Authority Act, 1997
11. The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000
 Conclusion
 Waste management sector has lot of potential to become a resource. Waste
management should be dealt in a holistic manner with sustainable developmemnt
approach. Since waste has been a part of informal sector historically in India, we
need to focus on informal sector and specific policies should be designed. Waste
should be managed in a decentralized approach and in- situ at production site. This
reduces quantity of waste and economic cost of handling.

References
1. Partner JE. Waste: Concern, Impact & Solution.
2.Raveesh A, Mona C, Jayveer S. Waste management initiatives in India for human
well being. Eur Sci J. 2015 Jun;7881:1857-7881.
3. Redouane F, Mourad L. Pollution characterization of liquid waste of the factory
complex Fertial (Arzew, Algeria). Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. 2016
Mar 3;66(3):260-6.
4. HINDRISE, E WASTE MANAGEMENT as accessed on 01-08-2022
5 . https://www.ewaste1.com/what-is-e-waste/ as accessed on 04-08-2022
 7. Bhawan P, Nagar EA. Central Pollution Control Board.
 8.Alwaeli M, Mannheim V. Investigation into the current state of nuclear energy and
nuclear waste management—A state-of-the-art review. Energies. 2022 Jun
10;15(12):4275.

Thank you.