SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Solid Waste

• Solid waste includes domestic wastes, commercial wastes and industrial waste collected by a municipality within a area. It is responsible for land pollution in urban and industrial area

Important Sources/Classification

• Domestic Waste: Paper plastic. leather• Industrial Waste: Paper and pulp industries, oil refineries,

chemical industries, metal smelters• Commercial Waste: Paper fibres, plastic,packaging material• Mining Waste: • Radioactive Waste: Nuclear explosions, nuclear testing, use of

radioactiven substances in medical and scientific research• Agriculture Waste: Farms,livestock yards,bagasse from

sugarcane• Hospital Waste: Needles,syringe,blade,bandage,tissues• Electronic Waste (E-waste):

Effects of Solid Waste• Solid waste leads to increase in disease causing

organisms such as mosquitoes, flies etc to thrive freely and increase in population

• It runs off with rain water and mixes with the nearby water bodies causing water pollution

• Burning of solid waste leads to air pollution• Radioactive substance present in solid waste causes a

number of diseases in human being• Solid waste reduces asthetic value of land• Non biodegradable solid waste such as polythene,plastic

release toxic gases when burnt hence carry air pollution.

Treatment of Solid Waste in 3 steps

• Collection of Solid Waste Large number of dustbins should be provided in streets and

along roads which must be cleared at least once or twice a day and to enable proper collection of solid wastes as per their categories. Door to door collection of domestic garbage is a popular practise.

• Transportation of Solid Waste From urban areas to dumping grounds, tractors, trucks are

used. Overloading of wastes should be avoided to prevent spilling.

• Disposal of Solid Waste: 6methods of disposal are:

Disposal of Solid Waste• Open Dumping: Refuse is disposed in open dumps without being covered or protected. This

leads to growth of flies an soil and land pollution.

• Landfill:Waste is covered by a thick layer of soil.It reduces risk of human disease but still contaminates ground water makes the area unfit for agriculture

• Ocean Dumping: Industrial effluents containing poisonous chemicals are dumped in coastal and estuarine area. It adversely effects the marine ecosystems

• Incineration:Combustible waste is burnt at higher temperature such that all combustible substance is reduced to ash. Fly ash is used in construction industry or buried as landfills; it is also used for soil amendment as in increases water retention and aeration of soil. By this volume of waste is reduced by 75% to 95%. The heat-emitted during incineration is used to generate electricity.

• Composting:Biochemical degradation of organic matter to yield a soil supp element .Useful and eco friendly technique. Drawback is it is necessity to separate the organic material from other wastes.

• Source Reduction: Best possible technique. Overconsumption and wastage can be checked by adopting 5 R’S

R’s of Solid Waste

• Refuse : • Reduce• Reuse• Repair: Repair the broken goods and try to repair them and use

for a longer time than discarding them• Recycle: The most effective and popular method of preventing

wastage is to recycle goods