Waste Management
Impact of waste accumulation
Spoilage of landscape
Meaning of this term is accumulation of garbage and waste that is dumped everyday on the land and
left to decompose. This spoils the natural beauty of the land also helps in breeding different disease. It
also gives out a foul smell and creates pollution.
Pollution : An unfavourable modification of the natural surrounding caused due to direct or indirect
actions of human beings. Different types of pollution occur due to different reasons.
Air pollution caused by automobiles, burning of garbage, forest fires etc.
Water pollution caused due to sewage, industrial waste, chemical industries, offshore drilling and oil
spills.
Soil pollution caused due to domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and industrial wastes.
Radioactive pollution cause due to nuclear weapons, radiation from X rays, radioactive isotopes.
Eutrophication is the process of depletion of oxygen from water bodies either naturally or due to
human activities. It generally occurs due to chemicals that gets discharged from domestic sewage,
industrial regions, from agricultural fields. When nutrients become abundant due to waste accumulation
growth of phytoplankton and algae increases that reduces the amount of oxygen light and heat in the
water body. The aquatic plants cannot carry on photosynthesis which causes death to most of the
aquatic organisms.
Health hazards: waste that is not properly managed is a serious health hazard. Domestic waste
undergoes fermentation and can lead to coughing, different insects living in the waste spreads various
diseases like plague diarrhoea etc. Drains get choked resulting in waterlogging specially during rainy
season which breeds mosquitoes spreading malaria and dengue. Lead is a harmful toxin harming the
development of a child's brain, from asbestos respiratory disease called asbestosis occurs while mercury
attacks the nervous system and can cause brain damage and even death. Radioactive materials are
extremely harmful that causes environmental problem as well as can be fatal to the human beings for
many generations.
Effect on terrestrial life
Aquatic life both freshwater and marine animals and organisms can be harmed due to waste
accumulation like pesticides industrial and domestic wastes that are not properly disposed off. Plastic
waste is the most harmful material for the aquatic life, Marine turtles are mostly affected by it. Drilling
of oil or oil spillage can cause aquatic life lot of danger. Biomagnification which means increase of toxic
substances along the food chain is another threat to the marine organisms. Mercury in water leads to a
fatal illness called minamata disease. This took place in Japan specifically in the Minamata area which
killed a huge number of human beings when they consumed fishes that lived in mercury contaminated
water.
Need for waste management
1. Waste on land this encourages spread of various diseases and epidemics as waste is a breeding
ground for flies mosquitoes rhodents which are vectors.
2. Waste in water Industrialisation and urbanisation are the 2 major causes of water pollution,
sewage, industrial and commercial waste, fertilizers and pesticides are all responsible for water
pollution which affects the human beings when they drink the contaminated water. some water
borne diseases are cholera, diarrhoea, viral hepatitis etc.
Waste management or safe disposal of waste
Segregation: when the waste gets divided into different categories like dry and wet or
biodegradable and non biodegradable then it is called segregation. Biodegradable waste:
Biodegradable waste like kitchen waste, vegetables, fruits flowers etc. Whereas non biodegradable
waste like plastics, paper, glass, chemicals, hospital waste etc. Sorting of reusable waste material is
important and requires lot of manual labour, India being a densely populated country, there are
many rag pickers who earn their living by doing this job. Proper segregation of waste will help in
managing the waste effectively and keeping the country protected from various diseases.
Dumping
Open dumping is where waste material is openly dumped on lowlands away from the city.
Advantages : a. Cheapest method.
b. Can be done anytime anywhere.
Disadvantages:
a.Creates pollution
b. Breeding ground of different insects.
c. Spread of diseases.
d. Foul smell.
e. Spoils the natural beauty of the place.
Sanitary landfill: in this method the waste is packed and dumped daily at a particular site and is
covered to prevent insects or rodents from entering into the waste. The waste then undergoes
bacterial decomposition where physical chemical and biological reactions take place generating
different gases like carbon dioxide methane ammonia etc. These gases can be recovered and used
constructively to generate power. In a sanitary landfill 5 phases take place:
1. Temperature increases when aerobic bacteria depletes the available oxygen.
2. Evolution of hydrogen and carbon dioxide occurs when anaerobic conditions are established.
3. Production of methane from decomposition of organic matter.
4. Production of methane gets stabilised.
5. Organic matter gets reduced and the system returns to aerobic state.
Advantages of sanitary landfill:
1. Free from air pollution
2. less health hazardhazard
3. Mostly free from fire hazards.
A few conditions should be followed for plantation at landfill site: non edible drought resistant
plants should be planted.The roots of the plant should not penetrate more than 30 cms. Plants
should be able to live on less fertile soil with minimum nutrition.
Composting: It is an aerobic method of decomposing solid waste. There are 2 main methods
Indore method and Bengaluru method
Indore method: It is Manual method, practiced mainly in the rural areas, The mixture of
vegetable waste and night soils are constantly turned for 3 months to provide air to the mixture.
Bengaluru method: it is a mechanical Method mainly practiced in urban areas. In this method
no turning of compost takes place.
Advantages of composting
1. Enhances soil nutrients
2. Reduces plant disease
3. Reduces foul smell and toxic organic compounds
4. Check soil erosion
5. Cheap
Reduce Reuse Recycle Waste
REDUCE: Changing the production process in industries can reduce waste generation.
Using scientific techniques like precipitation and evaporation liquid waste can be
reduced. non hazardous waste should be separated from hazardous waste.
REUSE: a number of discarded materials in the house and industries can be reused to
make different other products for example glass, rubber, wood, paper etc. Rock gardens
in Chandigarh have been created by waste products. Flyash from power plant is used to
manufacture cement and also to make bricks.
RECYCLE: Recycling of different waste products has been in use for a long time in India.
For example bagasse from sugarcane is used to manufacture paper while paper industry
recycles throwaway wood from furniture industry. Plastics are also recycled, however
they are harmful because melting of plastic and plastic products break the polymer
chains into smaller units which are toxic.
An important example of reuse recycle and reduce is roads made from plastic waste. It
has a number of advantages like no new machinery is required reduces the amount of
bitumen used improve the quality of flexible pavements and these roads are better
resistant towards rainwater and cold weather.
