Contents

1. Introduction
2. Classification of solid waste
i. Based on their sources of origin
ii. Based on physical nature
3. Engineered systems for solid waste management
4. Methods for solid waste management
i. Open Dumps
ii. Landfills
iii. Anaerobic Digestion
iv. Composting
v. Vermicomposting
vi. Incineration
vii. Encapsulation
5. Management of solid waste.

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 i. Management of non-degradable solid waste
ii. Management of Medical solid waste
iii. Management of Hazardous waste
iv. Management of non-hazardous & biodegradable
solid waste
Vi . Management of electronic waste, “e-waste”
5. Factors affecting solid waste management
6. Conclusion
7. Reference

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1. Introduction:
Waste:
Depending on their physical state they are classified as:

 Liquid wastes
 Gaseous wastes
 Solid wastes.

Solid waste: Solid waste is the unwanted or useless solid materials

generated from combined residential, industrial and commercial
activities in a given area.

[Ref: T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology, www.cyen.org]

4
Solid Waste Management:

Solid waste management is the process of collection, transportation and disposal

of solid waste in a systematic, economic and hygienic manner.

‘Or’

Solid-waste management is the process of the collecting, treating, and disposing

of solid material that is discarded because it is of no longer use.

[Ref: T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology, www.britannica.org]

5
2. Classification of Solid Waste:

Solid wastes are classified as:

 Based on their sources of origin:

 Residential wastes
 Commercial wastes
 Institutional waste
 Municipal wastes
 Industrial wastes
 Agricultural wastes
 Based on physical nature:
 Garbage
 Ashes
 Combustible and non-combustible wastes
 Demolition and construction wastes
 Hazardous wastes

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 Type Description Sources
S. No.

1. Garbage Residual vegetable or animal Houses, Hotels, Dairies, Meat

(Biodegradable wastes resulting from the handling, stalls etc.
food wastes) preparation, cooking and eating of
foods. They are putrescible, and
decompose rapidly, especially in
warm weather.

2. Combustible and Combustible solid wastes, as Households, Offices, Hotels,

non-combustible paper, cardboard, plastics, textile, Markets etc.
solid waste rubber, leather, wood, furniture and
garden trimmings. Non-
combustible solid wastes as glass,
crockery, tin cans, ferrous and non
ferrous metals. 7
3. Ashes Residues remaining after the Fire places and Kitchens of
burning of wood, coal, coke and houses, hotels, hostels etc.
other combustible wastes.

4. Demolition and Inert wastes such as dirt, stones, Demolition and Construction
construction concrete, bricks, pieces of of buildings
wastes plumbing and heating and
electrical parts

5. Industrial wastes They are specific for a specific Different types of Industries,
industry. Their characteristics Thermal power plants etc.
vary widely as inert, highly
biodegradable, toxic, reactive,
odorous, corrosive, hot, cold,
coloured, viscous, inflammable
and dusty

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3. Engineered systems for solid waste management:

Waste collection into dust bins

On-site handling, storage and processing

Transportation

Processing

Disposal.

[Ref: T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology]

9
4. Methods for the treatment of the solid waste:
With different types of wastes, different treatment methods are applied.
These treatment processes has been listed below:

 Open Dumps

 Landfills

 AnaerobicDigestion

 Composting

 Vermicomposting

 Encapsulation

 Incineration

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i. Open Dumps:

• Open dumps refer to uncovered

areas that are used to dump solid
waste of all kinds.
• The waste is untreated, and not
segregated.
• It is the breeding ground for
files, rats, and other insects that
spread disease.
• The rainwater run-off from
these dumps contaminates
nearby land and water, thereby
spreading disease. In some
countries, open dumps are being Open dump site
phased out.

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

11
ii. Landfills:

•A landfill may also refer to the ground that has been filled in with
soil and rocks instead of waste materials, so that it can be used for a
specific purpose, such as for building houses.

•Landfill, also known as a dump or tip, is a site for disposal of waste

materials by burial.

•Older, poorly designed or poorly managed landfills can create a

number of adverse environmental impacts such as wind-blown litter,
attraction of vermin, and generation of liquid leachate.

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology, T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology]

12
 Sanitary landfills:

•Sanitary Landfills are designed to greatly reduce or eliminate the risks that waste
disposal may pose to the public health and environmental quality.

Fig: Main features of a modern landfill (Sanitary landfill)

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology and www.cyen.org ]

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iii. Composting:

Composting is the biological

decomposition of organic waste
under controlled aerobic condition.

Industries as paper,
agricultural and food processing
give out wastes which are almost
100% organic. This organic matter
can be composted to yield good
manure.

Compost is the end

product obtained after subjecting
the organic fraction of solid waste
to aerobic or anaerobic
decomposition to yield humus like
solid, carbon dioxide, water vapour Fig: Compost cycle
and energy.

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology and www.cuesa.org]

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 Different stages of composting:

 Segregation of solid waste

 Processing the compostable matter

 Preparation for compost

 Digestion

 Curing

 Screening

[Ref: T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology]

15
 Mechanism of composting:

• Composting is a very complex process

involving the participation of several
microorganisms like bacteria, actinomycetes
and fungi.

• The bacteria bring out the decomposition of

macromolecule namely proteins and lipids.
Besides generating energy (heat) . Fungi and
actinomycetes degrade cellulose and other
complex organic compounds.

• Composting may be divided into three stages

with reference to changes in temperature: Fig: Growth pattern of microbes
 Mesophilic stage during composting
 Thermophilic stage
 Cooling stage

[Ref: U.Satayanarayan, Biotechnology, and S.V.S Rana, environmental Biotechnology]

16
iv. Anaerobic Digestion:

• Anaerobic digestion is a regulated version of the natural events of landfill,

in that it results in the controlled release of methane-rich biogas, which
offers the potential for a very real form of energy from waste.

• It is carried out in large fermented tanks.

• In these tanks, solid waste is taken in the absence of oxygen and the
anaerobic bacteria convert the large organic molecules mainly into methane
CH4 and carbon dioxide CO2.

• Unlike composting, Anaerobic Digestion occurs at one of three distinct

temperature ranges, namely:
 Cryophilic (<20 ◦C)
 Mesophilic (20–45 ◦C)
 Thermophilic (>45 ◦C)

[Ref: Gareth M. Evans, Environmental Biotechnology, Theory and Application]

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 Micro-organisms involved in Anaerobic digestion:

There are four main groups of bacteria involved in Anaerobic digestion, as

shown below, with some typical examples of each:

 Hydrolytic fermentative bacteria – Clostridium and Peptococcus.

 Acetogenic bacteria – Syntrophobacter and Syntrophomonas.
 Acidogenic bacteria – Methanosarcina and Methanothrix.
 Methanogenic bacteria – Methanobacterium and Methanobrevibacterium.

[Ref: Gareth M. Evans, Environmental Biotechnology, Theory and Application]

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 The digestion process: Complex organic matter
(eg: fat, carbohydrate, protein, lipids etc)

The digestion process involves 4 Hydrolysis Hydrolytic bacteria

steps. They are:
Monomer unit
 Hydrolysis (eg: glucose, fatty acid, glycerol etc)

Fermentative
 Acidogenesis Acidogenesis
acidogenic bacteria

 Acetogenesis Organic acids(acetic, butyric, propionic

acid),alcohol and ketones
 Methanogenesis Acetogenesis Acetogenic bacteria

Acetates, CO2, H2O

Methanogenic
Methanogenesis bacteria
Methane, CO2, H2O

[Ref: Gareth M. Evans, Environmental Biotechnology, Theory and Application] 19

v. Vermicomposting:

• Vermicomposting is a simple biotechnological process of composting,

in which certain species of earthworms are used to enhance the process of
waste conversion and produce a better end product.

• Vermicomposting differs from composting in several ways.

 Utilizing microorganism’s (earthworms that are active at 10–

32°C).
 The process is faster than composting (Because the material
passes through the earthworm gut, a significant but not yet fully
understood transformation takes place, whereby the resulting
earthworm castings (worm manure) are rich in microbial activity and
plant growth regulators).

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

20
 Types of earthworms:
There are nearly 3600 types of earthworms in the world and they are mainly
divided into two types:
 Burrowing earthworm
 Non-burrowing earthworm.

The Indian Species are: Dichogaster bolaui, Drawida willsi, Lampito mauritti,
perionyx excavates, O.Surensis, M.elongata.

Characters Burrowing earthworm Non-burrowing

earthworm
Habitat Live deep in soil. Live in upper layer of
soil
Colour Pale Red, Purple

Length 20-30 cm. 10-15 cm.

Life span 15 years 28 months

Example Pertima elongate, Eisenia fetida,

Pertima asiatica Eudrilus eugenae

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 Vermicomposting process:

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Vermicomposting Process

[Ref: www.icrisat.org]

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 Encapsulation:

Solid particulate waste material is coated with a thermosetting resin which is

compressed and cured to form a rigid core. The rigid core is coated with a
flexible thermoplastic resin to provide a sealed encapsulated waste
agglomerate which can withstand moderate compressive loads.

Encapsulation method are of the types:

 Microencapsulation
 Microencapsulation

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology,

www.google.com/patents/US4234632]
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 Incineration:

•Incineration is the most common thermal treatment process. It is

burning of the waste at a temperature of 1000°C ± 100°C in the
presence of oxygen so as to eliminate all odours and to ensure good
combustion.

•After incineration, the wastes are converted to carbon dioxide,

water vapour and ash.

•It converts hazardous organic substances into less hazardous

components.

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4. Management of Solid waste:

The fundamental objective of waste processing is to reduce the amount

of wastes through recycling and disposal of waste in a way not to impair
environmental conservation.

Four R’s should be followed for waste management:

 Refuse
 Reuse
 Recycle
 Reduce

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

26
The management of the solid waste is done according to
its nature:

i. Management of Medical solid waste

ii. Management of non-degradable solid waste
iii. Management of Hazardous waste
iv. Management of non-hazardous & biodegradable solid
waste
v. Management of electronic waste “e-waste”

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

27
i. Management of Medical solid waste:

• Hospital waste is generated during the

diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human
beings or animals or in research activities in these
fields or in the production or testing of biological.

• Medical solid waste includes both non-hazardous

and hazardous waste constituents.

 The non-hazardous waste

 Hazardous wastes
Medical solid waste
Treatment options:
 Incineration
 Sanitary landfill

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

28
ii. Management of non-degradable solid waste:
• Examples of non-degradable solid wastes are:
 Ferrous & non-ferrous metals: Eg: Iron,
Steel and Aluminium etc.
 Glass

 Plastics

 Textiles

• Treatment options:

 Recycling
 Sanitary landfill
 Incineration

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

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iii. Management of Hazardous waste:

Following process applied in hazardous

waste treatment:

 Physical separation
 Gravity separation
 Dissolved air floatation
 Solvent extraction
 Sorption on activated carbon

Treatment options:
 Thermal treatment Hazardous waste
 Incineration
 Biological treatment

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

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iv. Management of non-hazardous & biodegradable
solid waste:

•Non-hazardous solid waste is total waste including municipal waste, industrial

waste, agricultural waste and sewage sludge.

•Following methods are followed by management of non-hazardous and

biodegradable solid wastes:

 Open Dumps
 Landfills
 Anaerobic Digestion
 Composting
 Vermicomposting

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology,

T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology]
31
vi. Management of Electronic waste, “E-Waste”:

• Electronic waste is of concern largely due to the toxicity and

carcinogenicity of some of the substances if processed improperly. Toxic
substances in electronic waste include lead, mercury and cadmium.
Carcinogenic substances in electronic waste may include polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs).

• A typical computer may contain more than 6% lead by weight.

Capacitors, transformers, PVC insulated wires of polychlorinated
biphenyls.

[Ref: Indu Shekhar Thakur- Environmental Biotechnology]

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 Sources, Constituents and effect of E-waste:
Source of e-wastes Constituent Health effects

Solder in printed circuit Lead (PB)  Damage to central and peripheral nervous
boards, glass panels systems, blood systems and kidney damage.
and gaskets in
 Affects brain development of children.
computer monitors

Chip resistors and Cadmium (CD)  Toxic irreversible effects on human health.
semiconductors
 Accumulates in kidney and liver.

Relays and switches, Mercury (Hg)  Chronic damage to the brain.

printed circuit boards
 Respiratory and skin disorders due to
bioaccumulation in fishes.

Corrosion protection of Hexavalent  Asthmatic bronchitis.

untreated and chromium (Cr)
 DNA damage.
galvanized steel plates, VI
decorator or hardner for
steel housings

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 Treatment options:

E-waste consists of Diverse items like ferrous and non-ferrous metals, glass,
plastics, electronic components and other items. The potential treatment options
based on this composition are given below:

 Encapsulation

 Incineration

 Sanitary landfill

[Ref: T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology]

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Reuse of the electronic waste in the form of a stool:

Designer Rodrigo Alonso created

N+ew Seats to address this -- stools
that are formed of a whole lot of
electronic junk. This was covered
back in 2007.
The idea behind N+EW isn’t the
creation of a recyclable object, but
the way to immortalize and to give a
last use to objects that their only
destination is contamination."

E-Waste Furniture

[Ref: www.treehugger.com]
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5. Factors affecting solid waste management:

There are certain factors that affect the management of solid waste:
management. They are:

 Per capita income and status

 Climate and percentage moisture

 Systematic growth of city

 Status of the municipality

 Resources available

[Ref: T. Srinivas, Environmental Biotechnology]

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6. Conclusion:

Solid waste management is the process of removal of solid waste in such

a manner that it does not cause any problem to environment and the
living organism as well. It is done through different methods as per the
category of the solid waste.

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