GARBAGE DISPOSAL The increasing production of waste materials has been a by-product of industrialization.

Factories produce waste during manufacturing; mining and agriculture generate leftovers that must be disposed of; and containers and packaging used and discarded in everyday life become waste. Refuse, or solid waste, consists of solid or semisolid materials with two ma or components! garbage, or food wastes, and trash, or solid waste without garbage. Refuse is considered separately from sewage, which includes mostly li"uid wastes with a high percentage of organic components unsanitary practice created a fertile environment for disease that was carried by insects and rodents. #t eventually led to the outbreak of the plague $utbreaks of disease in a significant proportion of a population are called epidemics The plague is mainly a disease of rodents. #n humans the disease is contracted by contact with the fleas of infected rodents. #t safeguards a community%s water supply by removing water-carried wastes including microscopic dissolved material, solid matter such as human waste, and harmful chemicals and bacteria. generation of highly to&ic wastes that pose special health hazards pollution e&poses people all around the globe to new risks from disease #n general there are only two means of disposing of solid waste! it is either converted into something else, or it must be stored. The first option involves such technologies as incineration, composting, recycling, or partial reclamation. 'torage is generally limited to storage on land, though the dumping of unpolluted solid waste into the sea is still occasionally practiced.

A landfill is an area designated to receive solid wastes, such as municipal solid waste household trash!, construction de"ris, and sludge #rom sewage treatment and other processes$ %o reduce smells, vermin, and other health hazards, a la&er o# soil, usuall& an impermea"le clay, is spread over each la&er o# gar"age, usuall& at the end o# each operating da&$ %his is called the dail& cover$

'odern, well(run land#ills are also lined with plastic or bentonite cla& to prevent to)ic leachate #rom entering the groundwater$ %he& also usuall& have gas wells to sa#el& e)tract methane #rom the deepest parts$ In man& large land#ills, this methane is piped to a generator to ma*e electricity, "ut it is sometimes #lared without energ& production$ A #ew land#ills gas have tried to ma*e conditions more #avora"le #or methane production, primaril& "& increasing the moisture level o# the gar"age$ +owever, the embodied energy o# the waste can "e recovered much more e##icientl& "& directl& com"usting waste or using anaerobic digestion to produce methane, which is then "urned to produce electricit&$ %he modern plants are designed to "urn cleanl& and have pollution control measures as well$ %here will still "e some pollution, "ut it is compara"le to other energ& sources$ +owever, the grossl& polluting gar"age incinerators o# the past have made the pu"lic war& o# an& waste com"ustion whatsoever$ Some local land#ill authorities have #ound it di##icult to locate near"& land#ill areas$ %hese authorites ma& charge a ,tippage #ee, in order to discourage waste or recover the cost o# shipping waste to another area$ 'ost areas in most countries do not have this pro"lem$ -or man& areas, a well(run land#ill is a h&gienic, ine)pensive solution to gar"age disposal$ Poorl& run land#ills can pollute "oth air and groundwater$ Environmental activists disli*e land#ills not onl& "ecause o# the potential #or pollution, "ut "ecause the& permanentl& remove various raw materials #rom economic use$ All o# the energ& and natural resources such as water! that were used to process the items ,wasted, are also not conserved$ %his is said to contri"ute to damage o# #orests and agricultural areas, including in less(developed countries that derive a ma.orit& o# their e)port revenues #rom raw materials$ +owever, recycled materials compete in the mar*etplace with new materials$ 'ost o# the discarded materials are low in value, ma*ing it di##icult to pro#it #rom their sale$ %his in tu Living close to a land#ill is considered "& man& people to "e ver& undesira"le, there#ore most land#ills are "uilt a reasona"le distance awa& #rom settled areas, starting #rom /$01 o# a mile$ (nvironmental pollution o# land, air, and water created "& the world2s poorl&(managed land#ills is enormous$ In eras "e#ore the mid()*th century, land#ills were the main method o# waste management$ In the late(0/th centur&, alternative methods to waste disposal have "een suggested, including recycling, converting to biodegradable products, incineration and cogeneration #acilities, and sustainable development, all o# which assist in reducing glo"al pollution$ %he ,-resno 'unicipal Sanitar& Land#ill,, opened in Fresno, +alifornia in ,-./, is considered to have "een the #irst modern, sanitar& land#ill in the 0nited 'tates, innovating the techni3ues o# trenching, compacting, and the dail& covering o# trash with dirt$ It has "een designated a 1ational 2istoric 3andmark, underlining the signi#icance o# waste disposal in ur"an societ&$

Some countries with a high population density, such as the 04, ta) the use o# land#ills$

Vermin is a term given to

nuisances, most associated with the carrying of

animals which are considered by humans to be pests or disease. Disease-carrying rodents and

insects are the usual case but the term can also apply to larger animals, on the basis that they exist out of ecological balance with their environment, consuming excessive
resources. The term is also used as an extremely pejorative characterization of a particular

class or

group of people as being inferior and subhuman. Application of the term can be wide,
having been applied over the centuries in different languages! to various groups, and its use

perception that the target group"s views are #disease-li$e,# or that such groups exist out of sociological balance with the common society.
is usually based on a

Out of balance
%ntroduced species can develop into vermin in the regions where they were introduced if they

enemies there. %n such predator to limit the danger to nature. A prime example of vermin are goats on 5alapagos. Rats are common urban and suburban
find favourable living conditions, and if they face few or no natural cases, humans often choose to fill the role of the vermin.

water found below the land surface. %t is found in a"uifers, in the pore spaces of roc$s, in unconsolidated sediments, as permafrost, and as soil moisture. &roundwater flows to the surface naturally at springs and seeps and can form oases or swamps. %t may also be tapped artificially by the digging of wells.
Groundwater is any 'ollution can ta$e two major forms( local pollution and global pollution. %n the past, only local pollution was thought to be a problem. )or example,

coal burning produces smoke, which in

sufficient concentrations can be a health hazard. *ne slogan, taught in schools, was #The solution to pollution is dilution#. The theory was that sufficiently diluted pollution could cause no damage. %n recent decades, awareness has been rising that some forms of pollution pose a global problem. )or example, human activity primarily raised the levels of

nuclear testing! has significantly background radiation all over the world, which may lead to human

health problems. Awareness of both $inds of pollution, among other things, has led to the

environmentalism movement, which see$s to limit the human impact on the environment. algae and the resultant eutrophication of la$es and coastal ocean is considered pollution when it is fueled by
+hether something is pollution can depend on context. ,looms of nutrients from industrial, agricultural, or residential runoff.

+arbon dio&ide emissions are sometimes referred to as pollution, on the basis that these
emissions have led, or are leading, to raised levels of the gas in the atmosphere and,

furthermore, to harmful changes in the -arth"s climate. .uch claims are strongly disputed, particularly by political conservatives in +estern countries and most strongly in the

0nited

'tates. Due to this controversy, in many contexts carbon dioxide from such sources are labelled neutrally as #emissions.# .ee global warming for a very extensive discussion of this
topic. Cogeneration also combined heat and power or CHP! is the use of a simultaneously generate both than conventional generation, potentially reaching an to produce the same amount of energy. Thermal power plants including those that use

power station to

heat and electricity. /0' allows a more total use of energy efficiency of 12-324, compared with

approximately 524 for conventional plants. This means that less fuel needs to be consumed

uranium or burn coal, petroleum, or

natural gas! do not convert all of their available energy into electricity. %nevitably, a large
amount of heat is released as a by-product. /onventional power stations emit this heat into the environment through Biodegradation is the

cooling towers, as flue gas, or by other means.

decomposition of material by microorganisms. %t is often used in relation to sewage treatment and to plastic materials although biodegradation is perhaps
better regarded as the closing of the loop commencing with photosynthesis. +hereas photosynthesis is the process of creating growing matter through the conversion of /*6 and 06* into plant material through the action of sunlight, biodegradation is the process of converting organic materials bac$ into /*6 and 06* though miocrobial action Biodegradable matter is material that will biodegrade. )or example, most not biodegradable, but

plastic bags are

paper bags are in a general sense. 0owever, paper is usually not

biodegradable according to the principal world standards 7.v.! because paper generally contains too much heavy metal to comply. %n managing waste disposal, degradability can ma$e an important difference, because plastic bags stay around forever if left as litter, whereas paper bags will eventually decompose. There is a third category of materials, biodegradable plastics, such as 8ater,i, which will biodegrade, while others such as '9A will compost. 0owever, in anaerobic of the lac$ of

landfills, whether a material is

biodegradable ma$es little difference: biodegradable matter usually does not decay, because

o&ygen re7uired by the microorganisms. 0owever, if biodegradation does occur

it is li$ely to be through an anaerobic process thus giving rise to methane production as opposed to /*6. 8ethane has approximately ;2 times the global warming potential of /*6. A difficulty is that the term biodegradable has both a general meaning and a precise meaning given by different standards bodies. The -uropean .tandard -<;=>=6, ?apanese &reenpla standard and @.A A.T8 DA>22-33 standards all define biodegradability in repect of a time period of A months. %n the case of -< ;=>=6 a material is deemed biodegradable if it will brea$down to the extent of at least 324 to 06* and /*6 and biomass within a period of A months. A.T8 DA>22-33 and A.T8 DA>22-33 also impose a time period of A months. -ach of the named standards sets limits for the amounts of heavy metals that the material may

contain. <ote that D%< B>3222 sets the highest standards, that is it permits the lowest value of heavy metal contamination!. There are plastic materials that claim biodegradability, but are more often and possibly more accurately! described as "degradable" or oxy-degradable, these usually utilize one or more heavy metals to promote oxidation and thus disintegration of the polyethylene. %t is claimed that this process causes more rapid brea$down of the plastic materials into /*6 and 06* although there appears to be no scientific evidence to support this claim. The @.-based ,iodegradable 'roducts %nstitute has found alarming levels of heavy metals in some such products. The following table should be read with the above comments in mind and care should be ta$en before accepting claims of biodegradability in view of the dubious claims being made