Solid Waste Management

Course name: Environmental Studies

Course Code: WPE 407

Course Teacher:
Tabassum Ferdous Jenny
Lecturer, Department of Wet Process Engineering
Bangladesh University of Textiles
Solid waste

• Solid waste refers to the range of garbage materials arising from animal and human
activities—that are discarded as unwanted and useless. Solid waste is generated from
industrial, residential, and commercial activities in a given area, and may be handled in a
variety of ways.

• Waste can be categorized based on material, such as plastic, paper, glass, metal, and
organic waste. Categorization may also be based on hazard potential, including radioactive,
flammable, infectious, toxic, or non-toxic wastes. Categories may also pertain to the origin
of the waste, whether industrial, domestic, commercial, institutional, or construction and
demolition.

• Regardless of the origin, content, or hazard potential, solid waste must be managed
systematically to ensure environmental best practices. As solid waste management is a
critical aspect of environmental hygiene, it must be incorporated into environmental
Types of Solid waste
Non-hazardous solid wastes
• Municipal: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage, includes all
everyday thrown away items from households, commercial and institutional entities,
horticulture, and road sweeping. This includes items such as packaging, paper, cardboard,
food scraps, plastic bags & containers, glass bottles, grass clippings, furniture, tires,
electrical & electronic items, and metals.

• Agricultural and animal:

✔Agricultural wastes include primary crop residues that remain in fields after harvest and
secondary processing residues generated from the harvested portions of crops during food,
feed, and fiber production.

✔Animal wastes are wastes generated from farms and feedlots, consisting of leftover feeds,
manure and urine, wastewater, dead animals, and production operation wastes. They produce
large amounts of waste in small areas.
Non-hazardous solid wastes (cont..)
• Industrial:

Industrial waste consists of a significant amount of solid waste. Here waste generated from
industrial manufacturers of organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, iron and steel, plastics and
resins, stone, clay, glass, concrete, pulp and paper, food etc.

• Construction and demolition:

C&D waste includes debris generated during the construction, renovation, and demolition of
buildings, roads, and bridges. This can be often bulky and heavy building materials consisting of
concrete, building wood waste, asphalt from roads, metals, bricks, blocks, glass, plastics,
building components like doors, windows, and fixtures, and trees, stumps, earth, and rock from
construction and clearing sites.
Non-hazardous solid wastes (cont..)
• Treatment:

Treatment waste consists of sludge, byproducts, co products, or metal scraps resulting from a
facility or plant.

• Medical Waste:

Medical waste and biomedical waste consist of all waste materials generated at health care
facilities including hospitals, clinics, offices of physicians, dentists, and veterinarians, blood
banks, home health care facilities, medical research facilities, and laboratories etc.
Non-hazardous solid wastes (cont..)
• Special :

Six categories of waste were given deferral from hazardous waste requirements by EPA
(Environmental Protection Agency) under proposed hazardous waste management regulations. This
special category of wastes was maintained until further human health and environmental risk
assessments could be completed. As per this deferral, the six categories of special waste are

1) Cement kiln dust,

2) Mining waste,

3) oil and gas drilling muds and oil production brines,

4) beneficiation and processing waste from phosphate rock mining,

5) uranium waste, and

6) utility or fossil fuel combustion waste.

Characteristics of Hazardous Wastes:
Wastes are classified as hazardous if they exhibit any of four primary characterizes based
on physical or chemical properties of toxicity, reactivity, ignitability and corrosiveness.

1. Toxic wastes:

Toxic wastes are those that are poisonous in small or trace amounts. Some may have acute
or immediate effect on human or animals. Carcinogenic or mutagenic causing biological
changes in the children of exposed people and animals. Examples: pesticides, heavy metals.

2. Reactive wastes:

Reactive wastes are those that have a tendency to react vigorously with air or water. These
are unstable to shock or heat, generate toxic gases or explode during routine management.
Examples: Gun powder, nitro glycerin.
Characteristics of Hazardous Wastes (cont..):
3. Ignitable waste:

Are those that burn at relatively low temperatures (< 60 °C) and are capable of spontaneous
combustion during storage transport or disposal. Examples: Gasoline, paint thinners and
alcohol.

4. Corrosive wastes:

Are those that destroy materials and living tissues by chemical reactions. Examples: acids
and base.

5. Infectious wastes:

Included human tissue from surgery, used bandages, hypodermic needles and other hospital
wastes.
Solid Waste Management
• Solid waste management is defined as the discipline associated with control of generation,
storage, collection, transport or transfer, processing and disposal of solid waste materials
in a way that best addresses the range of public health, conservation, economic, aesthetic,
engineering, and other environmental considerations.

• Solid waste management practices can differ for residential and industrial producers, for
urban and rural areas, and for developed and developing nations.

• The administration of non-hazardous waste in metropolitan areas is the job of local

government authorities.

• On the other hand, the management of hazardous waste materials is typically the
responsibility of those who generate it, as subject to local, national, and even international
authorities.
Goals of solid waste management
The main goal of solid waste management are:

1. To protect the health of the urban population, particularly that of low income groups
who suffer most from poor waste management.

2. To promote environmental conditions by controlling pollution (including water, air, soil,

and cross-media pollution) and to ensure the sustainability of ecosystems in the urban
region.

3. To support urban economic development by providing the required waste management

services and guaranteeing the efficient use and conservation of valuable materials and
resources.

4. To generate employment and income.

Functional Elements of the Waste Management System
There are six functional components of the waste management system, as outlined below:
Functional Elements of the Waste Management System (cont..)
1. Waste generation:

This encompasses any activities involved in identifying materials that are no longer usable
and are either gathered for systematic disposal or thrown away.

2. Onsite handling, storage, and processing:

This relates to activities at the point of waste generation, which facilitate easier collection.
For example, waste bins are placed at sites that generate sufficient waste.

3. Waste collection:

A crucial phase of waste management, this includes activities such as placing waste
collection bins, collecting waste from those bins, and accumulating trash in the location
where the collection vehicles are emptied. Although the collection phase involves
transportation, this is typically not the main stage of waste transportation.
Functional Elements of the Waste Management System (cont..)
4. Waste transfer and transport:

These are the activities involved in moving waste from the local waste collection locations to
the regional waste disposal site in large waste transport vehicles.

5. Waste processing and recovery:

This refers to the facilities, equipment, and techniques employed to recover reusable or
recyclable materials from the waste stream and to improve the effectiveness of other
functional elements of waste management.

6. Disposal:

The final stage of waste management. It involves the activities aimed at the systematic
disposal of waste materials in locations such as landfills or waste-to-energy facilities.
Waste Hierarchy
• The waste management hierarchy indicates an order of preference for action to reduce
and manage waste, and is usually presented diagrammatically in the form of a pyramid.

• The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefits from
products and to generate the minimum amount of waste.

• The proper application of the waste hierarchy can have several benefits. It can help
prevent emissions of greenhouse gases, reduces pollutants, save energy, conserves
resources, create jobs and stimulate the development of green technologies.
Waste Hierarchy (cont..)
Waste Hierarchy (cont..)
Prevention:

• This concept focuses on the measures to be taken so as not to create any type of wastes in
the first place. This is given the top priority in the waste management program. According
to this principle, the manufacturing industries should make use of less hazardous materials
in the design and manufacturing of the products. They should develop strategies to have a
cleaner and environment friendly production.

Reduction of Wastes:

• The reduction of wastes or source reduction is the second preferred option of the waste
management hierarchy. According to this concept, the companies should take action to make
changes in the type of materials that are being used for the production of the specific
products, so as to ensure that the by-products are of the least toxicity.
Waste Hierarchy (cont..)
Reuse:

• Reuse is another effective Solid waste management strategy, in which the waste is not
allowed to enter into the disposal system. The wastes are collected in the middle of the
production phase and are again fed along with the source to aid in the production process.
This process helps in minimizing the amount of wastes produced as end product, saves the
natural resources and reduces the costs associated with the production and manufacturing.

Recycle:

• In the recycling strategy, the waste materials are implemented in the production of a new
product. In this process, the waste materials of various forms are collected and then
processed. Post processing, they enter into the production lines to give rise to new
products. This process prevents pollution and saves energy.
Waste Hierarchy (cont..)

Energy Recovery:

• The energy recovery process is also called as waste to energy conversion. In this process;
the wastes that cannot be recycled are being converted into useable forms of energy such
as heat, light and electricity etc. This helps in the saving of various natural resources.
Various processes such as combustion, anaerobic digestion, landfill gas recovery,
pyrolization and gasification are being implemented to carry out the conversion process.

Treatment and Disposal:

• The disposal process holds the last position in the waste management hierarchy. Landfills
are the common form of waste disposal..
Solid waste handling and transport
• Waste collection varies from country to country, region to region. Usually the local
government arranges for the waste handling and transportation in most countries though
in some places it is handled by private players. Again, in many rural areas of developing
countries there is no formal waste collection method.

• In some advanced countries including those in Europe a vacuum based system is used to
collect the refuse through underground conduits known as Envac. Here the refuse is
transported to a designated area through a vacuum pump system, eliminating the need for
manual handling of garbage. Metro Taifun is another vacuum based solution of single or
ring line systems.
Solid waste handling and transport (cont..)

Fig: Envac System

Solid waste handling and transport (cont..)

• In many cities such as in Canada wastes are

collected from the curbside in neighborhoods.
Here the garbage bins are designated as wastes
or recyclable materials and people are
encouraged to segregate their waste before
they drop them into the bins.

• These are then collected based on a daily

schedule. In rural areas people need to transfer
their garbage to a transfer station from where
it is transported to a landfill area. Fig: Curbside
Solid waste handling and transport (cont..)
• Many Asian countries face problem of huge volumes of solid waste management. In many
such countries such as Taipei, the government charges taxes as per the volume of garbage
produced and issue garbage bags in which the waste needs to be collected and deposited by
the city people. Such initiatives have helped to reduce the waste accumulation and
encouraged people to recycle and reuse.

• The ArrowBio system is commonly used in many countries such as Australia, Greece,
Mexico, UK or California. Here the trash is collected in trucks and by mechanical methods
such as gravitational screening, settling and hydro mechanical shredding. Huge volumes of
wastes are segregated, salvaged for recyclables and then turned into biogas or compost.
Solid waste handling and transport (cont..)

Fig: ArrowBio System

Solid waste disposal
There are usually three main methods which are used for solid waste management-

i. Accumulating waste in landfills,

ii. Use of incinerators and

iii. Reuse and recycle.

i. Landfills:

Landfills are the main methods for waste disposal in all modern societies. These are
designated areas of the government whereby solid wastes are accumulated but the land needs
to be sanitized so that the pollutants cannot seep into the soil and water, air and cause
damage to the environment.
Solid waste disposal (cont..)
ii. Incineration:

Burning or incineration is another efficient method of waste disposal since it helps to reduce
the staggering volume of trash which accumulates. However, many of the gases which are
released into the air and the by products of many non degradable substances prove harmful
to the environment.

iii. Reuse and recycle:

Recycling and composting are other ways of solid waste disposal. These methods not only help
to enrich the natural supply of earth’s resources but also help to conserve energy in the
different manufacturing and mining industries. Steel from scraps and aluminum recovered
from cans are widely used in many recycled projects.
Any Question?
Thank You