Global Review Of Solid Waste Management

Too Good to Waste

Discuss About The A Global Review Of Solid Waste Management.

Waste is a byproduct of modern lifestyle. It is something which people throw away when they consider it unwanted.  It has been reported that people are creating more waste than before. So, Government of Australia along with many other countries has identified the issue of waste disposal arising as a result of current consumption habits of people. They have decided to either adopt the zero waste policies or reduce the creation of wastage. This article focuses on solid waste arising out of the households and the policies adopted by Australia regarding waste management (SUEZ, 2018) .

Solid waste can be dealt with in various ways. The methods adopted for its management will entirely depend upon the source from which it has arisen and type of waste involved. Due to increased population, it is becoming increasingly important to create waste management facilities particularly the landfills. The concept of recycling has become popular in Australia from the last 20 years (Walga ,n.d.) 

(Source: Ivanovic, 2015)

There are various categories of waste. Organic waste including garden waste, kitchen waste, bio solids, agricultural waste and other kinds of waste have been composted using various methods.  The hose hold hazardous waste is another kind of waste arising due to leftover household items including toxic, corrosive, ignitable and reactive products. The E-waste includes outdated electric waste. Plastic bags and oils and waste tiers are another type of wastes have become a challenge for the community as it has to bear huge costs. They litter the landscapes and waterways and consume the scarce landfill space (Ghadban ,  Shames and Mayaleh, 2017).

Waste can generally be described as any product which cannot be used further by the individuals and organizations that generated it and are to be disposed by them. Hence it excludes the substances which can be recycled. Waste can be generated at any stage of manufacturing activities such as extraction of raw materials, processing them and during the creation of final products.

In Australia, the waste generated by individuals had increased from 1.23 tons in 1996-97 to 1.62 tons in the year 2002-03. Due to the growth and development of the income and wealth in Australia, there has been an increase in the waste generation also. It has thus resulted in waste toxicity, complexity and diversity. The governments of various countries including Australia have identified the effect which it creates to the environment arising to the present consumption patterns and have adopted the policies targeting to reduce the waste and creation of zero wastage (Giurco et al., 2015).

Solid Waste and its composition

Waste can be gaseous, solid and liquid. It can be hazardous or nonhazardous. Each of the material which is generated as waste has a unique life arising from the raw material to the final product and lastly the creation of wastage. So, depending upon the nature of the product, it affects the environment in a different way. It can lead to air, water and land pollution including the greenhouse emissions during the various stages of product generation and development (Kawai and Tasaki, 2016). 

(Source: The Hans India, 2018)

There are various categories of solid waste viz. municipal, construction and destruction and industrial. The municipal waste comprises of domestic waste and waste arising from beaches, parks, street litter bins and parks. It arises from household waste resulting from the kitchen and hard wastes. It also includes paper and garden waste. The  construction and destruction waste results from timber, plaster cut offs ,concrete, bricks, wood , steel and dug earth .The industrial waste arises due to metals , plastics and timber which have become waste products.

The management of the different kinds of nonhazardous waste products have implications on their collecting, handling, disposing and recycling processes (Thyberg and Tonjes ,2015).

There are various components of a solid waste management systems viz. waste generation comprises of the material which can no longer be used and are disposed of. It is where the waste elements enter into the waste stream. The handling of waste and its separation, storage and processing comprises of activities relating to its management until it is collected .For example, the waste products are sorted and kept in bags and stored and transported to the collection point.

The waste and recyclable products are collected from households, businesses, industries, institutions and are transported to the location where they are transferred to the collection vehicle. It can be a transfer station, material recovery vehicle and landfill dumping site. The processes of separation and processing enables the waste to be separated   thereby recovering and separating the recyclable material and it is further processed at transfer stations, landfills, incinerators and MRFs (Randell Environmental Consulting, 2014).

Lastly, the non-recyclable materials are dumped into landfills. Thy comprise of residues of domestic waste, MRFs, combustion of solid wastages and other leftover materials  arising from various solid waste processing  amenities.

(Source: Syscool , 2016)

The hierarchy of waste considers the waste management options against the given priorities:

Components of solid waste management systems

Disposal includes the dealing of all the disposal items according to the most ecofriendly manner. Resource recovery includes recycling, reuse and energy recovery which is consistent with the effective use of the recovered sources. Avoidance means reducing the amount of waste generated by houses, industries and all the administrative levels.

In this case, the avoidance is given highest preference and it motivates the society to reduce the waste generated by it and be more efficient in the utilization of resources. It is an important factor of the waste management strategies. The main aim of this strategy is to make the removal easier by decreasing the amount of waste generated. It also helps in reducing the hazardous substances present in the waste. It is associated with developing the manufacturing methods and creating an impact on the consumers so that they demand for ecofriendly products with less packing (Essuman, 2017).

Resource recovery is targeted towards increasing the alternatives to reuse, reprocess and recover the energy of the product in order to increase its efficiency. It will help in supporting the principles of enhanced environmental results with ecologically sustainable development. It can also be used for    developing new and better technologies for waste management. Disposal aims at managing the waste in an ecofriendly way which comprises of waste treatment options in order to reduce the hazardous waste arising at the site of generation.

The first one is Reuse which can be explained as recovering the value from the disposed product without recreating or recycling it. It will comprise of the reused item without changing its shape or function.

The second one is Reduce which suggests reducing the amount of waste. Every year the amount of waste increases resulting in the increased cost to the society in both environmental and financial manner. The majority of the waste created cannot be recycled so it is advisable to create less waste.

Recovery of energy from waste resources can be executed by the accumulation and utilization of  heat  which is generated through regulated combustion processes of waste materials . Energy can be generated through the methane which is released from the decomposition of waste in the landfill.

Recycling can be defined as the recovery of used goods and their regeneration for the use of raw materials for manufacturing new products (Miezah et al., 2015).

(Source: Indiamart, 2018

(Source: Oway Australia, 2016)

Australia is largely dependent upon landfills for its waste management systems. They have very less operating costs and they have been placed  nearer to the urban centers they serve. They differ from old style dumping stations and are designed to regulate the emission of gases. They are   carefully placed considering the natural conditions of the area. They take into account the hydrology, topography, soil conditions, environmental issues, distances and usage of land (Berisa  and Birhanu,2015).

The hierarchal approach of waste

However, there can be certain disadvantages of landfills such as traffic, noise pollution, dust and fumes, odors and leachate which form the basis for strong community oppositions. These aspects create the need to optimize the use of landfill space which is already approved by the government. The problems arising due to landfills may be dependent upon the nature of landfill controls, the dumped material and the sites. The higher density materials are likely to be low costly and can led to less environmental impacts. They are followed by less impacts on environment, less intense and biodegradable materials along with more dangerous wastes arising from households which are likely to have severe impacts ( Anestina, Adetola and Odafe, 2014).

The product behavior of timber and wood products in the landfills is associated with biodegradable methane emissions along with treated timber contributing to copper chrome arsenate which may lead to emission of leachate. The plastic bags and films may contribute to creating wastage and harming wildlife and having impacts on the farms.

The environmental concerns arising due to modern landfills may result in emission of greenhouse gases, specially methane  and the long term leakage in the  natural environment through leachate arising because of household chemicals, heavy metals, rechargeable  batteries ,  electric goods etc. Some of these materials can be highly concentrated at the levels of food chain. It may also led to use of energy in transporting waste and noise a, fumes and odors which can pollute the environment . The transportation of waste to landfills can also create a severe impacts on the ecosystem (Tisserant et al., 2017).

The biodegrading waste in landfills produce the gas which is a mixture of carbon di oxide and methane with small quantities of oxygen and nitrogen and traces of benzene, vinyl chloride and toluen. These components may be explosive or poisonous in nature. They might include ammonia, organo- sulphur compounds and hydrogen sulphide which produce bad smell in the environment. The generation of landfill gas may be dependent upon the waste composition i.e.  more gas is produced by bacterial decomposition if the material is  more organic. The other factors may comprise of content of moisture, temperature and age of the waste . The Degradation procedure happens  at a slow pace and methane is emitted long after the waste is dumped into the landfill (Iyamu, Anda  and Ho,2017).

Most of the landfills comprise of gas capture mechanisms, yet not all the methane is captured. It has been estimated that about 55% is captured out of total emitted gas. Out of the rest 45% which is not captured, 10% of the gas is escaped through the landfill cap all over its total lifecycle. In some circumstances, the landfill gas is widened to reduce its foul smell and to transform methane into carbon dioxide which is a less powerful greenhouse gas. The landfill gasses can be utilized as a substitute fuel and to generate electricity (Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, 2016).

Environmental monitoring is essential for landfill gases during their operation and after their closure. The landfills are covered to eliminate entry of water, to prevent the development of growth of disease spreading germs and to restrict the leakage of gasses. They are an important constituent of solid waste management (Denney, 2016) .

(Source: Airwell Group, 2018)

Leachate comprises of water and dissolved solids and is generated as a result of passing of water through waste materials and its collection at the bottom of the landfill. The exact composition of leachate is dependent upon the variants of waste and its level of decomposition but in general it may contain various toxic and contaminating constituents.  If it is not managed in a proper way, it may pollute the ground and surface level water. Most of the landfills in Australia are covered with non-porous membranes; the quality of leachate collection and their treatment may vary and can be a threat to nature. So, uncovered rural landfills may lead to leakage of leachate in the surface or ground level water (Mohamed et al., 2016).

(Source: The District Bulletin, 2018)

Recycling involves the accumulation, sorting and processing of materials for their manufacturing into raw materials or finished products. It may be collected and separated before it is transacted further. The contamination of recycled materials decrease the quality of the  products. The councils across Australia acquire waste for recycling by accumulating them from the recycling centers. The recyclable material is then sorted after its collection. There are large differences in rural and urban recycling as the implementation of kerbside recycling programs is costlier for its introduction and management in the rural areas (The World Bank,2012).

The level of material recycled varies from year after year. It is influenced by the fluctuating economic factors such as growth in income and consumption levels and the price of raw and recyclable material. Additionally, the fluctuations in recycling programs and commitment of the industry and awareness amongst the public can influence the amount of recycled material. These are accumulated from the households   through kerbside collections or by public recycling bins and or can be provided by the households directly to the recycled depots (Amugsi et al., 2016).

The industries  and commercial establishments including the construction and destruction sector which are large producers of waste  arrange for private  accumulation  and transportation of waste which is to be reprocessed further. In the process of recycling, collection is the first process. The waste collected is reprocessed by people whom have gained specialization in recycling. It includes a range of materials comprising of glass, metals, paper and plastics which are cleaned, sorted and recycled for further use as raw materials in the creation of new materials. Other items such as garden waste, food and other wastes are sorted and transformed with the help of some form of compositing into nutrients for parks, agriculture and gardens. There is a necessity for existence of markets for recyclable products and buyers for purchasing the materials generated through recycling (Kolekar, Hazra   and Chakrabarty ,2016)  .

The reasons for the growth in the recycling rates comprise of the improvement in the accessibility to kerbside recycling since 1990s.The collection methods have become more advanced with the facility of wheel bins for collection of the waste. The ease of use of wheel bins has increased the profits of recycling materials. With the increase in the levies of landfills in many of the states of Australia have led to many incentives for the construction and destruction sectors as well as for commercial and industrial establishments to search for alterative options to landfills. Additionally, the commodity pricing for many of the m recycled material have increased in the recent years which have to creation for incentives for material to be recovered (Gupta, Goel and   Rupa, 2016).

Some of the materials can be recycled more efficiently than others. The highest recycling rates which are greater than 50% pertain to batteries of automobiles, packaging for beverages, cables, cars and iron used for roofing. The medium recycling rates which range from 20% to 50% are for small appliances, hot water systems, gas cylinders, clothing, food packaging, bricks and roofing tiles and plastic freight packing. The lowest recycling rates range to less than 20% and these are for power tools, mobile phones, mattresses, foot wears, carry bags, grocery packaging, computers, fluorescent tubes, ni-card batteries, road materials, piping  and glasses used for  windows and office fittings. There are some materials for which the recycling options are not available. These include treated timber, fixed line phones, CDs, TVs , DVDs , toys , video cassettes , batteries , printers and  computer peripherals .Although , some of their constituents are exported for recycling (Bhat et al.,2017).  

The alternative option for waste management is thermal treatment which includes incineration, pyrolysis and gasification which can be used with or without recovery of energy. Incineration comprises of a wide variety of practices ranging from low technology open burning system which produces lot of pollution directly into the air, mass burn systems  to control the combustion processes and the refuse derived fuel systems and other types of incinerators   which use pollution control mechanisms. At present, there are no large scale thermal treatment amenities used for the dumping of non-poisonous municipal solid waste in Australia (Palanivel and Sulaiman, 2014).

(Source: Sustainable table, 2015)

Compositing is a procedure in which the organic wastes are decayed by microorganisms  like bacteria and fungi , worms and  small insects. They consume the carbon and nitrogen elements in organic waste materials .As soon as the waste is digested, heat is emitted which helps in killing the pathogens. The final product is the leftover humus or compost which can be utilized for gardening, landscaping and for agricultural purposes. The organic waste comprising of kitchen, garden and agricultural waste and other bio solids can be decayed using various methods.

In Australia, centralized composition amenities have become more common and some of the commercial and industrial sectors use the on-site compositing facilities. Australia transports about 21 million tons of solid waste to the landfills in a year and over 40% i.e. 8.4 million tons is decomposed which includes the organic and food waste. However, there are large numbers of factor which restrict this industry from developing at the national level. Some of them are firstly, there are lack of suitable and common standards relating to products and procedures which led to suspicion amongst the consumers and lack of product definition (Seltenrich, 2016).

Secondly, high cost is incurred for transporting the recycled organic material to the areas where it can do the most benefits. Thirdly there are lacks of industry consistencies which restrict the lowering of the cost of technology transfers. Fourthly, lack of training facilities for the staff leads to environmentally undesirable processing practices and generation of poor products.

So, if composition is poorly managed it may lead to emission of foul smell and can attract pests which may pollute the eco system. Also, it must not be allowed to enter groundwater and at the surface level (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2016).

Conclusion

So, to conclude, this article, it can be said that the municipal waste arises from household domestic waste which is kept aside for kerbside  accumulation of  or which is to be delivered by the households directly to the waste collection depots. The other type of solid waste comprise of waste generated through  activities of the local council, other type of domestic waste and commercial waste generated through food preparation practices  and through commercial establishments. So, it is the responsibility of the local councils to manage, dispose and treat the solid waste in a proper manner.

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