An assignment on “Solid Waste”

Course name: Environmental Geology

Course title: GS-410

SUBMITTED BY
MD. ASHIKUR RAHMAN
EXAM ROLL:150404
CLASS ROLL:2459
REG. NO:41392
SESSION:2015-16

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES

JAHANGIRNAGAR UNIVERSITY
SAVAR, DHAKA-1342
 Solid waste
Introduction: Solid waste means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution
control facility and other discarded materials including concrete, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial,
commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or
solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges. Waste is defined as unwanted and unusable materials and is regarded
as a substance of no use. Waste that we see in our surroundings is also known as garbage. Garbage is mainly considered as a solid waste that
includes wastes from our houses (domestic waste), wastes from schools, offices, etc. (municipal wastes), and wastes from industries and factories
(industrial wastes).

Fig: solid waste

Examples of solid wastes include the following materials when discarded:

• waste tires
• waste tires
• septage
• scrap metal
• latex paints
• furniture and toys
• garbage
• appliances and vehicles
 • oil and anti-freeze
• empty aerosol cans, paint cans and compressed gas cylinders
• construction and demolition debris, asbestos

Causes of Solid Waste Pollution:

Solid wastes are categorized as municipal waste, industrial waste, and hazardous wastes. Municipal waste arises from the domestic activities of
human beings. Industrial waste arises from industrial activities, and hazardous wastes are the substances that cause a hazard to plants, animals,
and human beings. Few of the common hazardous waste is radioactive substances, chemicals, biological wastes, flammable wastes, and explosives
[4,5]. Overpopulation Is a Great Factoring Which Influences the Rise in Pollution. Urbanization Solid waste is an urban problem where people have
the habit of using various commodities and discarding them afterward. Affluence In an affluent society, the per capita consumption is very high,
and people discard many items regularly, which increase solid waste to a large extent. Technology It has changed the culture of using things. It is
distinctly apparent in the package industry for most economic goods. There is a shift in technology from returnable packaging to non-returnable
packaging. For example, the returnable glass container or bottles are replaced by non-returnable cans, plastic containers, plastic bottles, etc. Since
packaging materials like those made from plastic and non-biodegradable, they are mostly responsible for causing substantial waste pollution.

Sources of Waste:
Sources of waste can be broadly classified into four types: Industrial, Commercial, Domestic, and Agricultural.

Fig: sources of waste

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.
Wastes which will be generated during the construction phase include the following:
(i) vegetation and demolition waste from site clearance;
(ii) excavated materials from earthworks (e.g. cuttings, pile foundations, regrading works);
(iii) general construction waste (e.g. wood, scrap metal, concrete);
(iv) bentonite slurries from pile construction;
(v) chemical wastes generated by general site practices (e.g. vehicle and plant
maintenance/servicing); and
(vi) municipal wastes generated by site workers
Example: plastic, glass, etc.

Commercial Waste:
Commercial 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.

Management and recycling of solid waste:

In terms of pricing for solid waste disposal, Scheinberg et al. reported that there are indications that high rates of recovery for recycling are
associated with tipping fees at the site of disposal. High disposal pricing has a positive effect on recovering the generated solid waste. This goes to
the beneficial reuse or the value chains of solid waste. Gonzalez-Torre and Adenso-Diaz mentioned that social influences, altruistic and regulatory
factors are essential reasons why specific communities can develop healthy recycling habits. The author also reported that people who frequently
go to dispose of their general refuse in the bins are more likely to recycle certain products at home.
In most cases, as the distance to the recycling bins decreases, the number of fractions that people separate, sort, and collect their solid waste at
home increases. Minghua et al. added that to increase recycling rates, the local government must encourage recycled materials and increase
recycling. Other vital factors were mentioned by other scholars, including financial support for different recycling projects to support the recycling
companies' infrastructure in their country. Other investigators suggested that drop-off and bought back centers. Sharholy et al. suggested
organizing the informal sector for concrete waste recycling.
Objectives for the waste management assessment:
(i) to assess the construction activities involved for the proposed works and determine the
type, nature, and where possible, estimate the volume of waste to be generated;
(ii) to identify any potential environmental impacts from the generation of waste associated
with the works;
(iii) to categorize waste materials where practical, i.e., suitability for re-use/recycling,
disposal to public filling areas, disposal to landfill, and any pre-treatment requirements
before disposal;
(iv) to recommend appropriate waste management options (including waste minimization
on-site, re-use or recycling opportunities and off-site disposal options);
(v) to identify site management/mitigation measures that should be implemented to
minimize any potential impacts from the generation, handling, storage, and disposal
measures/routings of waste, by the current legislative and administrative
requirements.
Control of Solid Waste Pollution:
Disposal of solid waste:
It has been reported that improper bin collection practices, collection, transfer, and transport systems have a significant effect on reliable waste
characteristics. Besides, the low route of planning, lack of information concerning the collection schedule [33], number of vehicles for solid waste
collection, and poor roads [34] and insufficient infrastructure [35] can also affect the characteristics' of the solid wastes. The effective ways and
affordable waste collection services were studied and reported by Sharholy et al. [36]. To organize the informal sector and promoting micro-
enterprises. Knowledge of authorities' treatment is one of the critical factors affecting reliable waste handling [37]. Factors that influence
household waste disposal were analyzed by Tadesse et al. [38]. Their results indicated that the supply of waste facilities significantly affects the
choice of waste disposal. They reported that the inadequate supply of waste containers and the longer distance of transporting these containers
increases the possibility of dumping such wastes in open areas and roadsides along the trip. Pokhrel and Viraraghavan [39] mentioned that
insufficient financial resources, absence of legislation, well equipped, and engineered landfills all contribute to the limitation of solid waste safe
disposal.
Plastics waste disposal:
Plastics waste disposal is a major global environmental problem. An amount of 50 million tons of post-consumer plastic waste are generated
annually by Europe, the USA, and Japan. Disposal of these plastic wastes in landfills is considered a non-sustainable from the environmental point
of view. Moreover, landfill sites and their capacity are decreasing rapidly. On the other hand, legislation is stringent worldwide. USA legislation and
several European directives are concern with plastic wastes disposal and management.
Plastics are essentially hydrocarbons; they possess a calorific value ranging between 30 and 40 MJ/kg. Thus, they can be burned or incinerated in
the municipal or other dedicated wastes with power and heat generation. They can also serve as additional fuel to replace the fossil fuels in several
production processes such as blast furnaces and cement kilns. Such thermal applications can achieve the destruction of these plastics wastes. This
application of burning plastic waste, thus, is replacing fossil fuels. However, this leads to additional advanced pollution control measures [41].
Nevertheless, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by efficient waste management. Several reports are published concerning the
environmental impact of incineration and/or landfill practice. These studies emphasized that plastics and other non-biodegradable materials will
persist in the landfill. In contrast, the biological solids (bio-solids) will be transformed anaerobically into landfill biogas as energy resources.
Therefore, the impact of incinerating the plastics and other non-biodegradable materials is hazardous due to the release of more greenhouse gases
than landfills.
Disposal of municipal solid waste:
One of the major environmental problems is the collection, management and disposal of the MSW in the urban areas. Lack of MSW management
and disposal is leading to significant environmental problems. This includes soil, air water, and aesthetic pollution. Such environmental problems
are associated with human health disorder, due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The waste streams originating from industrial sources are different than the hazardous substances in household waste. The household hazardous
wastes (HHW) are disposed of in landfills along with general household waste (HW). The amounts, quality and significance of such disposal are
poorly understood. It is, generally, assumed that the amount of HHW’s are small, thus, risks of disposal are negligible. Nevertheless, the separate
disposal of industrial, MSW, and other wastes raises the importance of the toxic and hazardous element contained in such wastes. There are great
concerns about the presence of several chemicals in the household products . The consequences and the impact to the environment resulted from
the disposal of HHW are also of concern. Thus the disposal of such HHW to landfill should, therefore cope with the current legislation in order to
decrease the risk to the environment.
Globally, about 71% of MSW’s are disposed of in landfills. MSW contains, mostly, hazardous substances including some batteries, paints, mercury-
containing waste, pharmaceuticals, vehicle maintenance products, and many other products. On the other hands, more than 53% of the landfilled
wastes consist of hard board paper, yard waste, papers and food that are biodegradable by the anaerobic bacteria. This makes the land filling as
the primary method of disposing waste in the Europe and USA.
Most of MSW’s as well as many other solid wastes are disposed of in landfills. Thus, a basic understanding of the landfill design is helpful. For
example, in the USA, the design and operation of landfills is regulated by the New Source Performance Standards of the Clean Air Act, and Subtitle
D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as well as the other related state regulations. Therefore, landfills have evolved from just open
dumps to highly engineered facilities and site that are designed to contain waste. They are separated from the environment, capture polluted
water that contacts the waste (i.e. leachate), and control gas migration. A landfill site is designed as typically excavated and lined with a system
that includes layers to protect groundwater by minimizing the migration of leachate to the ground layers and to collect such leachate for
treatment.

Fig: solid waste management ideas

Problems of solid waste disposal within rural communities in developing countries:
Disposal of garbage as solid waste is an astringent and widespread problem in urban and rural areas in several developing countries. Several Canals
and drains as open places are widely used to dump garbage varieties as a source of domestic organic and inorganic waste. Due to the absence of
continuous garbage-collection systems, convenient landfills, open canals, and drains are being blocked by dumping vast amounts of concrete and
garbage wastes. Thus, they are no longer in function. These garbage wastes are mostly plastic and paper and little toxic materials. However, such
toxic materials represent a hazard impact on the environment due to the breakdown of their degradable constituents, a matter that adds
significant loads of the BOD to the local eco-system.
Many people and most organizations did not arrange for on-site treatment and safe disposal of the solid wastes to cope with the environmental
preservation measures. Disposal of solid garbage waste and untreated effluent into the nearby drains by people is irresponsible and unaware of the
sequences of their health hazard. There are no financial incentives to stop them from such practice and encourage them to alter their habits.
Individuals see that the way they dispose of their wastes is effective and cheap. It is a severe disaster for the surrounding communities and to the
country. The fact is that small volumes of effluent induce pollution to a huge volume of water bodies. Meanwhile, laws are not sufficient to prevent
the environment from such hazardous practices unless a better solution could be achieved.
Incineration:
It is the process of burning municipal solid waste in a properly designed furnace under suitable temperature and operating conditions. It reduces
the municipal solid waste by about 90% and 75% by weight.
Composting:
Bacterial decomposition of organic components of the municipal waste result in the formation of humus or compost and the process is known as
composting. It helps in disposal of solid waste, disposal of night soil, and production of valuable manure for crops, it is also termed as
biodegradation [10].
Recycling:
It means reusing some components of the waste that may have some economic value. Recycling conserves resources, reduce the energy used
during manufacture and also reduce pollution.
Source recovery (pyrolysis):
It is a kind of destructive distillation in which the solid wastes are heated in pyrolysis reactor at 650-1000 degree centigrade in oxygen depleted
environment. By this process, the chemical constituents and chemical energy of some organic wastes are recovered. The organic constituents split
up into gaseous liquid and gaseous fractions like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, tar, methane, charred carbon etc.

Source reduction:
It is one of the fundamental ways to reduce waste. This can be done by using less material when making a product, reusing products, designing
products packaging to reduce their quantity. Individually one can reduce the use of unnecessary items which causes solid waste

Conclusion:
The above study concludes that it is an immense need for present times to eliminate substantial waste pollution. It can be controlled effectively
through solid waste management. Its main objectives are to reduce the harmful effects and find ways for their utilization as it is a difficult task.
Solid waste is harmful to the environment, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous. Substantial waste pollution is caused mainly by urbanization and
industrial waste. It causes various diseases like bacillary dysentery, diarrhea, and amoebic dysentery, plague, salmonellosis, trichinosis, endemic
typhus, cholera, jaundice, hepatitis, gastroenteric diseases, etc. Hence, solid waste management is essential; it reduces substantial waste pollution
and creates a pollution-free and clean environment.
References:
• https://www.sciencedirect.com
• L.A. Guerrero, G. Maas, W. Hogland (article)
Waste Manage. (Oxford)
• Z. Minghua, F. Xiumin, A. Rovetta, H. Qichang, F. Vicentini, L. Bingkai, A. Giusti, L. Yi (article)
J. Waste Manage.
• https://juniperpublishers.com/
• www.byjus.com
• www.wikipedia.com