SOLID WASTE
What is Solid Waste?
Solid waste is the unwanted or useless solid materials generated from
human activities in residential, industrial or commercial areas. It may be
categorised in three ways. According to its:
origin (domestic, industrial, commercial, construction or institutional)
contents (organic material, glass, metal, plastic paper etc)
hazard potential (toxic, non-toxin, flammable, radioactive, infectious
etc).
Solid waste includes garbage, construction debris, commercial refuse, sludge from
water supply or waste treatment plants, or air pollution control facilities, and other
discarded materials. Solid waste can come from industrial, commercial, mining, or
agricultural operations, and from household and community activities.
Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)
Construction and Demolition Debris.
Industrial/Commercial Waste.
Hazardous Waste Lamps.
Regulated Medical Waste.
Used Electronic Equipment. ( E waste)
Used Oil.
Waste Tires.
Solid Waste Management reduces or eliminates the adverse impact on the
environment & human health. A number of processes are involved in
effectively managing waste for a municipality. These include monitoring,
collection, transport, processing, recycling and disposal. The quantum of
waste generated varies mainly due to different lifestyles, which is directly
proportional to socio economic status of the urban population.
Types of Solid Waste
It can be classified into different types depending on their source:
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW): It consists of household waste,
construction and demolition debris (CnD), sanitation residue, and
waste from streets, generated mainly from residential and commercial
complexes.
Industrial Solid Waste (ISW): In a majority of cases it is termed as
hazardous waste as they may contain toxic substances, are corrosive,
highly inflammable, or react when exposed to certain things e.g.
gases.
Biomedical waste or hospital waste: It is usually infectious waste
that may include waste like sharps, soiled waste, disposables,
anatomical waste, cultures, discarded medicines, chemical wastes,
etc., usually in the form of disposable syringes, swabs, bandages, body
fluids, human excreta, etc. These can be a serious threat to human
health if not managed in a scientific and discriminate manner.
Solid waste management
1. Centralised method: This method involves collection of municipal
waste from all over the local area and by means of landfilling, dump
outside the city/nagar panchayat limits. This process looks at door-to-
door collection of solid waste by waste pickers who hand over to the
collection team who then discard the collected waste in the landfill.
2. De-centralized method: The waste is collected ward-wise and is
segregated at source into bio-degradable and non-biodegradable. The
biodegradable waste is composted at a nearby facility by different
methods of aerobic and anerobic composting. The non-biodegradable
waste is further categorised into paper, plastic, metal and other waste
and then further collected by recyclers for up-cycling or downcycling of
products
Treatment methods for solid waste
Thermal treatment: Incineration is the combustion of waste in the
presence of oxygen, so that the waste is converted into carbon
dioxide, water vapour and ash. Also labeled Waste to Energy (WtE)
method, it is a means of recovering energy from the waste. Its
advantages include waste volume reduction, cutback on transportation
costs and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, when
garbage is burned, pollutants, such as mercury, lead, dioxins may be
released into the atmosphere, and cause health issues.
Pyrolysis and gasification: In this method, thermal processing is in
complete absence of oxygen or with less amount of air.
Biological treatment methods: This involves using micro-organisms
to decompose the biodegradable components of waste.
The 2 types of processes:
Aerobic: This needs the presence of oxygen and includes different
methods of composting like windrow composting, aerated static pile
composting & in-vessel composting, vermi-culture etc.
Anaerobic digestion: Takes place in the absence of oxygen.
Landfills and open dumping:
Sanitary landfills: It is the controlled disposal of waste on land in
such a way that contact between waste and the environment is
significantly reduced and the waste is concentrated in a well defined
area. Dumps are open areas where waste is dumped exposing it to
natural elements, stray animals and birds. With the absence of any
kind of monitoring and no leachate collection system, this leads to the
contamination of both land and water resources.
Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM):
Recycling
Recycling is when waste is converted into something useful. It reduces the
amount of waste that needs to be treated, the cost of its handling, its
disposal to landfills and environmental impacts. It also reduces the amount
of energy required to produce new products and thus helps conserve natural
resources. Upcycling and downcycling are two common words used when it
comes to recycling. Upcycling implies upgrading of a commodity by different
processes of recycling. An example of upcycling is to make roads out of
cheap plastic. Downcycling implies downgrading a commodity by different
processes of recycling. An example of downcycling is breaking down of high
quality plastics at high temperature into different lower quality plastics.
There are a large set of informal waste collectors in India. They are called
local waste dealers or 'Kabadiwallahs'. They collect and sort dry waste into
aluminium, plastic, paper, glass, etc. Each waste has a price fixed in the
waste market. In some cases, these local waste dealers have tie ups with
waste pickers who supply to them the waste from nearby areas. In addition
to the waste pickers, the dealers also collect dry waste from individuals,
apartments and institutions.
Rules and regulations associated with SWM
Under the 74th Constitutional Amendment, Disposal and managemenf of
Municipal Solid Waste is one of the 18 functional domains of the Municipal
Corporations and Nagar Panchayats. The various rules and regulations for
solid waste management are:
1. The Bio-Medical Waste (Management And Handling) Rules, 1998
2. Municipal Solid Waste (Management And Handling) Rules 2000
3. The Plastic Waste (Management And Handling) Rules, 2011
4. E-Waste (Management And Handling) Rules, 2011
There are some court cases also that find their importance in terms of Solid
Waste Management in India
How each one of us can reduce waste
Waste is everybody's responsibility. A waste reduction strategy can be
incorporated by each of us whether at home or at work by following the 4 Rs
principle. This will not only reduce the amount of solid waste going to
landfill, but turn waste into a resource & also save our fast depleting natural
resources.
Reduce: At home you can begin by purchasing things with lesser packaging,
more durable & refillable items, carry your own shopping bag, avoid
disposable items and reduce the use of plastics. At office one can cut down
on paperwork, use electronic mail for communication.
Reuse: You can donate your old clothes, books, phones and lots more. You
can reuse old bottles, jars as storage bins and buy rechargeable items rather
than disposable ones.
Recycle: Segregate your waste for better disposal and purchase recycled/
green products. A ton of paper from recycled material conserves about 7,000
gallons of water, 17-31 trees, 60 lb of air pollutants and 4,000 KWh of
electricity. You can recycle or compost your organic waste directly at source-
leaving very little waste to reach the landfill. Watch this video of Vani
Murthy, who composts in her own apartment.
Recovery or reclaim: Various mechanical, biological and caloric systems
and technologies can convert, reprocess or break up waste into new
materials or energy. This means turning waste into fuel for manufacturing
processes or equipment designed to produce energy. For example, the
methane caused by rotting materials in dump sites can be recycled. Of
course, this “R” is difficult for individuals to apply and applies more for
industries or towns with a high volume of waste to manage
Satyamev Jayate featured an episode that gives a brief understanding about
the situation of Solid Waste Management in India.
Watch on the link below
[Link]