Waste management is all about collecting, transporting, processing, recycling and disposing waste materials. Proper waste disposal is always needed to make sure that their harmful effects to the human population or environment are reduced. There are different kinds of waste management procedures when handling solid, liquid, gas and radioactive wastes. Aside from that, different fields like agriculture, mining, and healthcare have strict regulations to follow for waste disposal.

There are studies conducted showing that about 90 percent of wastes disposed every year mainly come from industrialized countries, which is about 325-375 million tons of toxic and hazardous waste. Countries are expressing their concern about the rising number of wastes being disposed every year. According to the United Nations, there are 60 percent of countries worldwide expressing their waste concern in the 1992 Earth Summit.

Improper waste disposal can cause big problems to human health. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) states that there are about five million fatalities every year because of diseases related to improper waste disposal. For example, stagnant water and pile of wastes in the backyard could actually be a source of dengue, tetanus or vermin related disease like leptospirosis.

Not all management practices are the same, industrial waste management would of course be different from household waste disposal. Urban and rural waste management are also different. Which why there are people who are primarily employed as waste specialists officers and whose job is to ensure that wastes are properly disposed.

Every county would also have their own waste disposal method. There are government agencies and local government units that provide waste collection services, they would often have partnerships with private waste management companies. For example, in Australia, every curb would have three collection bins like one for the recyclables, general and garden wastes. Households are encouraged to start composting to reduce wastes. This is the same waste collection done in Canada. In Taipei, households and industries are charged for the volume of their wsastes produced.

In waste management there is something known as the waste hierarchy or the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. This 3 Rs remains to be the basis of waste management programs, technologies and strategies being developed. Government programs implemented are based on these principles, for example in the United States there are states that would implement regulations of non-collection of yard wastes to encourage households to recycle.

Another program implemented by the government would be the extended product responsibility or the EPR. This is a strategy that would ensure that manufacturers would be responsible for their products after they were disposed by the consumers. The method used in Taiwan is also known as the Polluter Pays Principle. The polluter would pay for the impact of their waste on the environment.

Some industries find waste management and environmental responsibility good business opportunity for their own businesses. They report increased efficiency, energy reduction costs and even getting local and national government incentives since the government offers tax rebates for industries that would use “green” technology.

Waste management is something that every household, business, education and medical institutions should learn or implement. In the United States, a study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that an American would produce about .75 tons of waste every year. About 90 % or 325-375 million tons of toxic wastes are being dumped by industrialized countries every year. United Nations received reports of waste management problems from about 60 % of countries in the 1992 Earth Summit.

It is not about just the environment that we would have to worry about. Wastes not properly disposed can cause huge health risks to people or communities surrounding the area where the wastes were disposed. The United Nations Development Programme estimates that there are five million fatalities every year because of not properly disposing wastes.

Improper waste disposal could increase dangers of increasing vermin and pests. They could spread in the community, a common disease called dengue brought by mosquito bites is very dangerous disease often times associated with stagnant water and piles of garden wastes. People could also be vulnerable to leptospirosis or infection that you could get from vermin urine and feces. Litters like broken glasses or scrap of metals can also cause tetanus.

Another danger about improper waste management, would be hazardous materials and poison which could affect the environment and the community. Medical or health care wastes can have radioactive isotopes which could get into water and result into polluted bodies of water where your kids swim. Aside from health care wastes, human wastes can also be very dangerous when disposed improperly, especially if they come from people who are suffering from certain diseases. This could also contaminate sources of water.

Unkempt yards and streets could also give an impression about the people who live in the area. It could affect the economy of the community, it is unlikely that entrepreneurs would like to invest in a community that does not invite security and safety.

Most people think that waste management is all about spending sizeable amount. Actually, it does not have to be like that. Not managing and dumping wastes irresponsibly tends to be more costly. Think about the loss of income from not trying to save on equipment and appliances.

Disposing hazardous wastes is another major problem. Hazardous wastes are actually very much present in our household. According to U.S. EPA, there are about 1.8 million tons of household hazardous waste being disposed every year. And most homeowners are not even conscious that they are storing hazardous chemicals in their cupboards.

Waste management could actually be summed up in three simple words: reduce, reuse and recycle. In United Kingdom, the country’s recycling efforts was able to help reduce 10-15 million tonnes of CO2 emission every year. Homeowners and other institutions could start by segregating trash, monitoring quantities and kinds of wastes being disposed, and making sure that they are being transported out of your site properly.

Waste management training could be given to employees, workers and staff. Having a waste management plan and people committed in carrying it out, will make the plan successful.

Hazardous. The word seems to conjure a threatening feeling and is sometimes automatically associated with death. Even when using hazardous to describe waste, it is done so not with relative ease. The picture of poisonous chemical-waste materials then comes to mind, whose warnings—often represented by the proverbial skull and bones—are even more threatening. But the truth is, these kinds are not the only hazardous waste people have to deal with. There are, in fact, safe materials (such as household products) that, after use, can qualify as hazardous waste. Hazardous waste is anything that has potentially dangerous ingredients and properties, and that which may put to great risk public health and the environment if an effective hazardous waste management system is not in place.

With that description in mind, hazardous waste can be anything from the oil generated by factories and industries to the cleaning chemicals used at home and the pesticide used by gardeners. Generally, these are the products that are corrosive, flammable, radioactive, explosive, toxic, and reactive. As products, careful use is necessary, and as waste materials, proper storage and disposal is likewise important. Failure to establish hazardous waste management may result in health problems and, in some serious cases, death.

Managing hazardous wastes
Because of the associated risks, the government in general and households and companies in particular should institute appropriate hazardous waste management. And every effort should begin with distinguishing which products end up as hazardous waste. This is important to properly separate them from all the other waste materials and to have a secure place for storage. Hazardous waste is usually stored in containers—some use drums—and should be labeled. Pouring hazardous waste down the sink is not encouraged as doing so can contaminate the groundwater and may harm surface plants, animal life, and the water systems at large.

Businesses, especially those that are big hazardous waste generators, hire agencies and individuals to help them manage, transport, and dispose of their hazardous waste. Households, on the other hand, normally rely on the services and facilities established by local governments. In some cities, for instance, collection programs are enacted where hazardous waste materials are picked up door-to-door. The core principle here is that every entity, whether a household or a company, is responsible for its own waste and is taking every measure to properly manage and keep it from harming the environment and many lives.

Once collected and transported, hazardous waste materials would be then disposed of. One common method of disposing them is through incineration. Commonly done with medical waste, incineration involves burning the waste. Another method of hazardous waste disposal is waste injection, which means depositing the waste deep down the ground.

The success of hazardous waste management lies in the enactment of legislations, which gave way to the creation of facilities and agencies that would ensure proper hazardous waste management is taking place. Assuming individual responsibility also plays a big role. Although compliance is a major factor, concern for lives and the environment usually encourages accountability.

Everyday activities—down from the mundane to the complicated—play a major part in waste production. It is estimated that people produce 4.3 pounds of daily waste individually, and if taken together, they can account for the heaps and tons of produced waste materials each year around the world. In the United States alone, an estimate of 208 millions tons of solid waste is produced every year. That excludes the liquid, gaseous, and other forms of waste materials, which are also considerably high in amount. As the global population booms, waste production is expected to increase in speed and measure, and unless proper waste management is practiced in households, companies, universities, industries, and practically everywhere, Earth will eventually turn into one big garbage planet, where pollution and waste-induced diseases are widespread.

Waste management is essentially the systematic handling of garbage. It involves the proper way of collection, transportation, and disposal of waste materials. Waste management has been a significant issue addressed in the modern and industrialized generation largely owing to the fact that more waste materials are produced today than during the early generations, a critical increase resulting from population explosion and industrial revolution.

While it seems to be a modern response to waste production, waste management is not at all a new practice. Records from all over the world showed that early people had a way of managing and regulating their garbage. One of the common ways of waste management before was digging pits to contain solid wastes. As the civilization progressed, waste management practices became more regulated. As far back as 500 BC, for instance, there were existing policies in Athens Greece that required people to dispose of their waste materials in areas at least one mile from city limits. In 1388, the English Parliament in England banned waste disposal into the water systems. And in 1885, the United States built its first incinerator.

Waste management methods and procedures have improved since then, with emphasis on their relevance to modernity and quantity of produced waste. Incineration, for instance, is still a common process of waste disposal. With the use of incinerators, waste materials are combusted and are converted to energy. This waste-to-energy benefit is proven helpful to many industries, although there have been environmental and health concerns over the creation and emission of dangerous pollutants and chemicals during the burning process.

Using landfills is also a common method of waste disposal. Landfills are basically a big piece of lot where truckloads of waste are gathered and buried. In some countries, using landfills is the most common way of waste disposal primarily because they are relatively cheap and don’t require intricate machineries. Since landfills can potentially attract vermin and emit dangerous landfill gas, landfills have to be well-designed and credibly managed.

Waste management is also targeting to minimize waste, an effort that eventually gave way to the global campaign to recycle. Recycling means reprocessing some or all parts of an item to make a new or completely different product. Scrap metals and papers are two of the most recycled materials today. To date, several people and organizations are committed to recycling, whose collaborated efforts are contributing to proper waste management.

By definition, solid waste is a waste material that is composed of less than 70% water. It can be anything from kitchen waste to electrical waste. A huge part of produced waste is made up of solid waste. In fact, according to statistics, each person produces around four pounds of solid waste everyday. This enormous production has greatly concerned a lot of people primarily because if not managed well, solid waste will worsen pollution, spread diseases, and cause danger to human health and other living species. For this reason, the call to practice solid waste management has become more persistent over the years.

Solid waste management is the proper monitoring, sorting, transportation, and disposal of solid waste. In modern society, solid waste management efforts are backed up by different legislations and campaigns. For instance, collection programs, in which waste management companies pick up solid waste from households, are instituted by local governments and carried out in different communities. In places where there are no collection programs, residents are required to drop off their solid waste at locally established waste facilities.

But because a considerable percentage of solid waste comes from other sources than households, trash bins are scattered in areas with high passerby traffic such as parks and streets, to name a few. Industrial waste, on the other hand, is usually managed by the generators themselves. They usually have their own facilities for treatment and disposal of waste.

Once collected, a great bulk of solid waste goes to incinerators and landfills. These disposal methods, however, have negative impact on the environment, thus a significant percentage of solid waste is turned over to different treatment facilities. Recyclable solid waste, which often includes scrap metals, papers, glass, and bottles, undergo certain processes to make new products. To encourage people to recycle, recycle bins are usually made available in many parts of communities. Biodegradable or organic waste materials, on the other hand, are made into compost. Composting in some areas is mandated by legislation and in such communities, compost bins are provided to residents. Hazardous waste, or that which is potentially dangerous when disposed of like battery and fluorescent light, is also usually recycled.

Modernity paved the way to the massive production of solid waste. And this has become one of the many gripping environmental issues faced by the world today, especially because the problem in solid waste transcends the “now” generation. Whatever is done, or not done, to solve the problem affects the heritage of the next generation. In developed countries, solid waste management has become a priority and certain systems are fully operational. Same is true with some developing countries. However, many other countries need to catch up.

Truth be told, hardly anyone thinks of garbage. Once something graduates from its intended use, it is immediately considered trash, thrown off, and then forgotten. But solid waste management is everyone’s responsibility. It is not solely for governments to practice. Not only for businesses. And not for a few individuals.

Everyone makes waste and it is only necessary that everyone takes part in properly handling solid waste.

Today’s waste management has developed several ways of waste disposal methods in trying to contain the ever-growing size of civilization’s refuse materials. Waste management through minimization of waste materials shows great promise.

This is because in waste minimization, control and management would go back to the waste producers themselves (individual persons, companies, manufacturers, factories) and not only on the waste materials.

Minimization

Traditionally, waste management processes the waste material after it had been created. From there, other waste management systems take place: re-use, recycling, composting, incineration, energy conversion, etc.

Waste minimization takes the process one step further back. It actually is one system that includes the process itself and the policy of simply reducing the amount of waste generated to the barest minimum by the primary producer itself – a single person or a company.

Waste sources

The main sources of waste vary from country to country. In developed countries in Europe, most waste comes from the manufacturing industry, agriculture, construction and demolition industries. In developing or under-developed countries, a big part of waste comes from the households and society at large.

Waste minimization processes

The following are some of the waste minimization processes at work these days.

• Both waste minimization and resource maximization of products can begin at the design stage. A product’s number of components can be reduced to make it easier to take apart for repairs or recycling. At the design stage, a product may be steered away from using toxic materials, or reduce its volume.

• Minimization of waste and maximization of resources again go hand-in-hand in optimizing the use of raw materials. Patterns for a dress can be cut in such a way that there is a minimum of unused portions in the clothing materials.

• Another way is the reuse of scrapped materials back into the production process. In industries like paper manufacture, damaged rolls and other scraps are returned and incorporated again to the paper-making process. In plastics manufacture, cut-offs and other scraps are re-incorporated into new products.

• This is for products specifically designed for its intended use. Packaging materials will be a waste if for reasons of, say cost-cutting, the quality is reduced and the food it is intended to protect is spoiled instead.

• Through improved quality control and monitoring, the number of product rejects is kept to a minimum. Increasing inspection frequency and the number of inspection points via automated and continuous monitoring equipments is now integrated into existing systems.

• Shipping raw materials directly to the places of manufacture reduces accidents, less protective wrappings and enclosures and other safety measures and devices designed for long circuitous handling and shipment.


Benefits and other considerations

Waste minimization is related to the efforts of minimizing the use of resources and energy by way of fewer materials and efficient designs, for instance.

This also entails thorough knowledge of the production process, continuous tracking of the material’s life cycle from cradle (extraction/creation) to grave (waste). This is feasible in large manufacturing industries starting from the plants to the stores all the way to the consumer.

Today, waste management is employing waste minimization as yet another reliable ammunition in the fight against pollution and environmental hazards in the complex business of waste disposal and management.

In businesses, waste management is believed to be at the lowest part of the priority list, if at all it is a priority. But if you want your business to make an impact on the society and on the environment specifically, waste management should be part of your business priorities. In its own capacity, waste management system in businesses boosts profile, integrity, and profits.

Benefits of waste management system
Aside from having an orderly working environment, an active waste management system generates other benefits. One: Your business will promote environmental and social responsiveness and will therefore create a better image. Some companies are more interested working with businesses that are environmental advocates, and such businesses are generally offered various opportunities. Two: A waste management system boosts your employees’ morale.

It is given that employment benefits up the employees’ mood and morale, but environmental and social awareness does so even more. In an employee’s mind, environmental and social responsiveness speaks of the company’s integrity. Three: There will be savings and profits from establishing a waste management system. You can save and generate income by selling your old office tools or have the broken items repaired instead of throwing them away and buying new ones. Also, by having waste management policies, you are decreasing your chances of incurring law violations and therefore fines.

Waste reduction: A practical way of managing wastes
Businesses are generally huge waste generators, but you can contribute to waste management on a larger scale by incorporating waste reduction in your waste management policies. In essence, waste reduction efforts focus on the prevention of creating new waste by reusing and recycling materials. There are several ways to reduce waste in the office setting, and here are some of them:

1. Reduce the use of paper. If, for instance, you issue double invoice, you can probably try to settle with just one. You can also ask everyone in the office to print and write on the two sides of papers. Businesses use a lot of papers in a day, and if they are reused, there will be a considerable decrease in the amount of papers that are sent to landfills or incinerators. You can also cut down on your paper expenses.

2. Find new use for potential waste materials. The plastic water bottle can probably work as a vase. The cardboard can probably be some form of a décor. The thing is, before you label something as a trash, consider first if there is another use for it.

3. Repair office equipment, tool, or appliance. If a certain item, however, is beyond repair, you can dismantle it and get the parts that you can still use, recycle, or sell.

As you look around your office, you can come up with more ideas in waste management. For them to be more relevant, you can involve your staff and ask for their own ideas. After all, waste management system in businesses is not the sole endeavor of the employer; it should be a team effort.

Waste management is all about waste hierarchy or the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. There are too much waste being produced around the world, that different organizations and countries are being alarmed. Improper waste management could cause chemical spill, gaseous pollutants and pests.

But why compost? Landfills and incarceration could be a way to get rid of yard waste, but why bother with composting? Even though there are government agencies and private companies that collect wastes from homes and industries, landfills and incinerators are not always the best options.

Putting decomposing materials in landfills would be a waste of space and unnecessary. Yard wastes in landfill produce methane gas, a greenhouse gas that has the potential to explode. For example in Asia, Latin America and Africa, 40 % of methane emissions or about 37 million metric tons come from landfills.

Incineration or burning is also not a great option. It could result to air pollution, burning yard leaves are even said to have an effect on people’s breathing and even increase the risk of asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and allergies. In the United States, there are some states that have implemented a ban on burning leaves and other yard wastes. Environmental problems in Asia or any part of globe could really affect other parts of the globe.

To reduce wastes being produced, government agencies are encouraging home owners to do composting at home. For example, in the United States, Illinois are not collecting any yard wastes. This regulation is to encourage homeowners to recycle and start composting.

Organic materials can be used as fertilizers to enrich the soil, this is used as composting. With composting organic materials are sued like yard trimmings, food wastes and animal wastes or manure. Some would even add bulking agents like wood chips that would hasten the breakdown of organic materials.

What is so good about composting? Here are some composting benefits:

• The use compost is proved to be better is preventing plant diseases and pests. Using organic materials to enrich the soil is definitely better than using chemical fertilizers. Using chemical fertilizers could have some effects on crops which could have an effect on the consumer’s health.

• The use of organic fertilizers could also promote higher crop yield and effectively resolve soil problems after being dumped by hazardous wastes. They can effectively remove oil, grease and heavy metals caused by stormwater runoff.

• They are also proven to be more cost efficient compared with other pollution resolution technologies.

Farmers find compost to be very important with their crops and their yield. Landscapers also use compost for areas that they are landscaping like golf courses and athletic fields. They are also great for parks, median strips and other recreational areas. Homeowners also find compost great for their backyards and vegetable patches at home.

Compost as waste management is a great way to help the environment and reduce wastes. They also offer economic benefits since they are low-cost alternatives compared to other soil amendments. They are also a more cost-efficient method of revamping or remediating contaminated soil by different pollutants.

Waste management is all about pickup, transporting and disposing wastes coming from households, industries and other institutions. Waste management has become an industry on its own. There are companies that offer services and haul your junk away. There are different jobs that different waste management companies offer.

Different waste management businesses would offer jobs as salesmen, customer service representatives, drivers, pickup personnel and field waste characterization specialists. They are very important in completing the kind of waste management services that homeowners and industry owners need.

What exactly do each waste management staff do? Just like in any kind of business, sales personnel makes sure that company services would be able to reach target customers. Sales personnel can promote waste management services online, on foot or through mail. Companies should also ensure that there are customer service representatives that would be readily available to help customers. Big waste management service providers and companies would have a number of customer service reps that would handle complaints, service changes, and upgrades.

Mechanics, drivers and service pickup personnel are also indispensable in a waste management company. There is a need to maintain trucks and deal with repairs and inspections. Again, the number of mechanics, drivers and other personnel would depend on the scope and size of the company and its service area.

There are waste management specialists who ensure that the business is following regional, state and national laws. There are different regulations that would ensure that waste management businesses would dispose wastes properly and would not pose any dangers to the environment and the community.

Waste management jobs are not only available in waste management businesses. Institutions like hospitals, medical clinics, and pharmaceutical laboratories would employ a waste management officer. Waste management officers would organize and manage waste disposal. They would also be responsible in monitoring waste quantities and at times spearhead a project on reducing and recycling wastes.

Government agencies would also have waste management officers. In the United States about .75 tonnes of waste is generated by an average American every year. In a city, imagine how many tonnes of waste is generated every year? There is definitely a need for an officer to implement trainings and programmes about waste disposal in communities.

A waste management officer would also need to have knowledge in collating statistics and compiling reports that would be submitted to senior managers or government agencies. His task would also involve budget formulation and control for waste disposal. They would also have to deal with investigating any claims about illegal waste dumping. Part of their responsibilities is spearheading research and developing environmental technologies that would help in reducing wastes.

It can sometimes be difficult to find west management jobs, you could start looking jobs in different waste management websites. Online employment sites are great places to look for job opportunities. You could also start contacting the local waste management department and ask if there are any waste management positions available. You could ask about the hiring processes and the requirements that are needed for the position.

In the past, when life and the environment were simpler, all of life’s processes were taken care of by nature itself, including the processing and elimination of natural wastes. When man and society evolved, life became more complicated.

People’s needs for survival became competitive. As population grew, needs became more heightened, and material resources for everything had to be increased. Waste became an important item to be solved.

Disposal methods

Waste management is the collection, transport, and processing of waste materials. Generally, this is to reduce the ill-effects on health, the environment or maybe simple aesthetics.

The ill-effects of random and indiscriminate waste disposal had impacted on people’s health and the environment. This led to other practices of disposal that includes recycling and the recovering of resources.

Landfill

In most countries, landfill is the most commonly-practiced of all the waste disposal systems. This is because it is the most inexpensive among all others. Properly managed and designed, the practice can be sanitary and safe.

Poorly managed landfills, however, produce adverse byproducts: leaching of toxic fluids into the ground, noxious odor caused by organic breakdown, destruction of surface vegetation, and the production of greenhouse gases.

Incineration

This waste disposal method involves the combustion of waste materials (sometimes called “thermal treatment”) producing heat, gas, steam and ashes. Usually, this is used to dispose of hazardous waste materials (like dangerous wastes from hospitals). What makes it questionable is the fact that it releases gas pollutants.

In some countries, the heat generated in incinerators is used as energy to generate in turn steam and electricity.

Recycling

Plastics, glass, PVC and those made of the same materials are collected and recycled into new products. In progressive countries like Australia, recycling is successfully implemented by the government and the cooperation of more than 90% of the population.

Composting

In composting, organic waste materials (food scraps, paper, and other bio-degradable materials) are decomposed in a controlled environment. Organic end-products are used as fertilizers, mulch soil, etc. Waste gas (methane) is captured to generate electricity.

Waste reduction

This campaign is being vigorously pushed in many industrialized countries. People are encouraged to reuse second-hand products, repair broken items, avoiding disposable products, and designing new products that can be refillable or reusable.

Waste hierarchy

This is the three Rs in waste management concept – reduce, reuse, recycle. Today, it still remains a potent cornerstone in waste minimization strategies. The simple concept is to maximize a product’s benefits and generate the most minimum of waste from it.

Awareness campaign

Seen from a global perspective, educational awareness campaigns in waste management are becoming crucial. Several schools and universities have adapted the Taillories Declaration into their curricula.

The Tailloires Declaration is about the speed of environmental degradation caused by pollution and depletion of natural resources. It details the perils as well as the means to combat this very imminent global danger.

Other waste management concepts

These include EPR or extended producer responsibility which means they are also responsible for their products not only during manufacture but also after use.

The PPP (Polluter Pays Principle) means the producer of a pollutant will have to pay. In waste management, this is the requirement of a waste generator for the proper disposal of waste.

As the world becomes more and more industrialized and consumption of resources increases, so will the production of waste increases. Waste management is a crucial concern for everyone.

Tons of waste are produced every year and are sent to someplace where they will either be buried or burned. But according to reports, 75% of produced waste can actually be recycled. Recycling, which is the process of creating new products from used materials, can be traced back from the time of Plato, when resources were scarce.

The practice was carried on to war periods until it became a significant part in the modern approach to waste management. But unlike before, recycling efforts today are not pushed by the scarcity of resources; rather, they are a decent response to environmental issues. Waste management and recycling, specifically, are attempts to preserve the environment and protect all living things. And as the environment is continuously being threatened by massive waste production, recycling is hoped to be a global endeavor.

Why recycle?
Landfills and incinerators are the most common destinations of collected waste. Although proven helpful in waste disposal, these two have been widely criticized for their environmental effects. Burying waste in landfills particularly allows for the release of methane gas, a type of greenhouse gas that is even more dangerous than carbon dioxide. Aside from that, landfills can leach other hazardous materials and may cause water pollution. And because waste materials are known to take many years to decompose, with some requiring hundreds to thousands of years, more landfill space are needed, which are becoming expensive and scarce. Incinerators, meanwhile, similarly emit greenhouse gas and other toxic chemicals that endanger human health and trigger global climate changes. Recycling responds to these problems by decreasing the volume of waste sent to landfills and incinerators. Rather than disposed of, waste materials are turned into something more useful.

By making new products out of used products, recycling contributes to the conservation of energy. Generally, it takes less energy to process an already processed material. For instance, the production of paper using recycled materials uses 40% less of the time needed to make the same product from virgin materials. This energy conservation also provides small openings for water and air pollution. In the same way, recycling significantly reduces the consumption of raw materials, which naturally contributes to the conservation of resources. Recycling a ton of newspaper, for instance, saves 12 trees.

But aside from the environmental benefits, the economical benefits of recycling are also one reason it has been practiced in many countries. On a national scale, recycling can create a lot of jobs that offer decent wages. And with the recycling industry becoming even more successful, more businesses are expected to grow and provide more job opportunities. Individuals, on the other hand, can make small business through recycling projects. They can create new products, such as bags and cards, from scraps and sell them for a small price. Selling scrap materials to certain organizations and individuals, who in turn will make recycled items for reselling, is as well a good way to earn money.

Buying recyclable and recycled products is also encouraged to support the recycling industry and as a whole to protect the environment. The symbol of three moving arrows on a product signifies it is recyclable. Such arrows represent the process of recycling: from becoming a waste to reprocessing to reselling. And this symbol coined the term “close the loop,” an accurate representation of waste management and recycling.

Burning or incineration had always been the old reliable in waste disposal since time immemorial. Today, we already have waste management systems and several methods of disposing wastes: landfills, incineration, minimization, composting, and recycling.

Each of these methods has its own good and bad points in terms of efficiency, cleanliness in relation to the environment, and economic feasibility. There has not been a total winner in any of these waste disposal methods.

Recycling comes nearest because it is clean (no harmful emissions or toxic waste discharges) it is efficient (does not need big spaces) and cheap (little or no investments).

What is recycling, and what are its advantages over the other waste disposal methods?

Recycling

In absolute terms, recycling is actually not a disposal system. It is the reuse of materials that had been disposed of as waste. Theoretically, recycling is the continued use of materials for the same purpose.

In practice, recycling is the extension of the useful life of the material, but it can be in some other form. Most of today’s recyclable materials are post-consumer waste (empty glass and plastic bottles, used paper and cartoons, etc.)

The most common items that are recycled in industrialized nations are aluminum soda cans, aerosol cans, plastic and glass bottles and jars, old newspapers and magazines, and cardboards or used carton boxes.

New materials

When paper is recycled, the fibers lose their length, thereby making it less useful for high grade paper (book or bond paper, etc). Most of them are used to make cartoons, low-grade newsprint and other low-grade paper products. Some types of plastic are composed of the same type of materials and are relatively easy to recycle into new products.

As an alternative to plain garbage disposal, recycling is useful in the sense that it does not add to the waste in landfills, and it becomes another material resource.

Resource recovery

Today, experts and the enlightened populace have acknowledged that simply disposing of waste materials is unsustainable in the long run. The supply of raw materials from nature is finite and cannot last.

In waste management, there is a new idea that considers waste materials as a resource to be exploited and used, and not the old concept of looking at them as a challenge to be managed or disposed of. It is called resource recovery.

Resource recovery can take different forms. One is the materials might be extracted and recycled accordingly, or some of them are to be converted into energy (electricity).

Costs and economics

Used materials have to compete with new materials in manufacturing. Most often, collection costs of recyclables are higher than costs of new materials.

However, not many are aware that it usually requires less energy, less water, and less other resources to recycle materials than produce the product from new materials. (Recycling 1000 kilos of aluminum cans save 5000 kilos of bauxite ore to be mined, and 95% of the energy to refine it.)

The economics of a successful recycling process depends on manufacturers making products from recovered materials and consumers buying these products.

Recycling is one method of waste management that is nearest to the ideal – less or no actual physical wastage, low costs, and no environmental damage.

Numbers will show you how much the world has gone to the dumps. An average American would have about .75 tons of trash every year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Most of the world’s waste came from industrialized countries. These countries have waste management laws, especially for hazardous wastes, but still experience problems with dumpsites and waste disposal.

Solving waste management problems do not have to take you anywhere else, you could start solving trash problems at home. Small contributions like this could go a long way. About 25 percent of our wastes are yard trimmings or food scraps. Although, a lot of people are learning to recycle and reuse plastic, metal, glass and other similar items, biodegradable stuff are nearly not recycled at all.

A great way to recycle food scrap is having a compost bin or by vermicomposting. Vermicomposting is another way of composting. Worms are used in the process to produce vermicompost, a rich soil which is a great way to fertilize a garden. There are different kinds of worms used in vermicomposting, like the red worms, white worms, and earthworms. These worms would produce vermicast which are worm castings or worm humus. Worms used in vermicomposting can be available from vermicompost enthusiasts or from a supplier.

Worms can be eat a lot of your food scraps and wastes, like vegetables, fruits, coffee grounds, tea, and even eggshells. However, avoid feeding them with bones, dairy products, spicy food, oily food and animal manure. Beddings for vermicompost bins can also be made out of household materials like newspaper and cardboard.

Different type of containers could work, as long as they would protect the worms from too warm or cold weather conditions. Worms are comfortable in temperatures ranging from 55 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Most commonly used bins are those made of wood or plastic. A 12-inch deep compost bin can accommodate about a pound or 1,000 worms. Odour does not have to be a problem. A vermicompost bin which is done properly will not give out any smell.

There are many benefits associated with vermicompost. The vermicast is 10 to 20 higher in nutrients compared with other organic material used to enrich soil. It can also improve the soil’s water holding capacity. Enriching the soil could enhance plant growth and the crops yielded. If you have a vegetable patch, this would be a great way to reduce food waste and increase productivity from your patch using chemical-free fertilizers.

In the United States, there are states like Illinois, who are banning landscape waste in landfills. Vermicomposting is a great way to address disposal of these kinds of waste. Aside from that, there are some who would use vermicomposting as another source of income. They would sell vermicast, it is often times called “Black Gold” because of its high nutrient content. Others would supply worms to fishermen or become a local supplier.

Using vermicomposting as a waste management method for food scraps and other biodegradable materials at home is surely a win-win solution. You get to reduce waste and benefit from it, whether it is short term or in the long run.

The numbers are increasing. The United Nations Development Programme estimates that there are five million people who die each year because of diseases related to inappropriate waste disposal. It is the developed countries who are generating more wastes. About .75 tons of trash is being produced annually by an individual in the United States, that is according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency or US EPA. It can be reduced through waste management.

Home waste management is not just about less trash, it is about protecting and saving the environment. You could start by monitoring what you actually throw and how much waste is hauled from your home. Monitoring what you dispose would help you deal with them using other methods. Waste management could be summed in three important words: reduce, reuse, recycle.

• Reducing wastes. Buying food in packs will add to your waste, try buying food loose like vegetables and fruits. You could also get your home appliances regularly maintained or repaired. This would give your appliances longer life and avoid throwing away equipments.

• Reusing items. Appliances or home equipment that are not being used can be donated to charity. You could also use a cotton bag for shopping, this would reduce paper or plastic bags that you will be taking home. There are different methods on how you can reuse or repurpose old items in the house. There are different websites that can give you different ideas. Also buy reusable items rather than disposable items. You could get water bottles or a coffee mug instead of frequently buying plastic water bottles or disposable coffee cups.

• Recycling. You could start having a composting bed at home. This would be great for the environment and for your garden, too. Vermiculture or worm farming is also another way to recycle your waste and even earn extra income. Look for recycling centers near your home to bring items that you would like be recycled.

Another source of household wastes is food waste. How do you reduce your food wastes? Then start by buying food that you would really consume and need. There are studies showing that about 74% of people will be making purchase decisions after entering the grocery store, which is why you need a shopping list.

But before you start shopping, check your household supplies first and identify which food should be consumed immediately. Be a smart shopper, think about what will happen to the food, its containers and packages before you go ahead and buy. Food could be stored in the refrigerator for longer life and fruit and vegetable peelings could go to your compost bin.

Another waste management concern is about hazardous materials found in our home. The United States government categorized about 500 hazardous wastes and how it should be disposed. These hazardous materials are very much present in our home like house cleaners, paint and pesticides. And hazardous wastes are not disposed just like any other trash. We could start using organic and chemical free cleaners. For paints, make sure that we are buying enough and not too much. For example, in Minnesota hazardous waste sites, in 1998, about 4 million pounds of excess paint was collected.

You are not only saving the environment, you are also making your home safer for your children.

Archeological evidence said that humans had a way of managing their waste even before landfills and incinerators were developed. In many archeological sites, dumping pits were discovered where early people were believed to throw in their waste. In the course of history, waste regulations were enacted. This suggests that waste management is not a modern principle but in fact a natural response to existence.

Humans naturally know what to do with their waste as evidenced by the instituted waste management systems in the pre-modern and modern forms. However, along with global industrialization and population explosion, waste production blew out of proportion, endangering the environment and threatening humans and other living things. With the environmental issues raised here and there, there seems to be a need to remind humans of the importance of waste management.

Education and awareness campaigns play a great part here. Not all people after all are aware that the one piece of waste material they are sending to landfills or incinerators constitutes a greater threat to the environment. Presently, calls to recycle and waste reduction are widely active. And various projects and campaigns are launched everyday, adding more noise to the earlier advocacies on proper waste management.

The good news is that a good number of the population is increasingly becoming aware of the importance of waste management and is getting involved. However, more need to be tapped. There are still who remain passive. This segment of the population probably knows that proper waste management benefits the Earth and consequently everyone and everything living in it. But only vaguely. The finer and more intricate details are probably not known to them.

Waste does a lot of things. When brought to the landfills, they emit greenhouse gas in the form of methane. Although methane can be used to make energy, it is generally hazardous to health. Wastes buried in landfills also tend to leach chemicals that can contaminate groundwater. Wastes can be incinerated, though. The problem with incinerators, however, is that they also produce greenhouse gas and other forms of toxin such as dioxin. Dioxin is found to cause cancer. Whether waste is brought to a landfill or incinerator, it seems like it is a potential source of pollution and threat to health.

Although indirectly, waste causes resource depletion. This is due to the common buying pattern: buy, throw, and then buy again. As the waste piles up high, the demand for more products also rises, almost exhausting the natural resources. This has a spiral effect, mainly involving threats to biodiversity, deforestation, pollution, and other environmental problems.

Waste management can be part of the solution in two ways: one is through waste reduction, and two through recycling. Consistent waste reduction and recycling activities mean there will be less waste materials to be sent to landfills and incinerators. As such, the emission of greenhouse gas and other forms of pollutant will be reduced by a large percentage. Reusing and recycling of used items will also result in less production of new products. And this helps in the conservation of natural resources.

There is a great need in understanding the importance of waste management because unless it is acknowledged by all people, waste management efforts will not progress to further heights.

There is the white-collar sector, and then there is also the blue-collar. With the growing concern over the environment, there rose another sector: the green-collar industry. An official definition of green-collar is yet to be established, but the various definitions formed by different organizations and individuals share a common explanation, that green-collar jobs are those that contribute to the upkeep of the environment by addressing issues that include but are not limited to conservation, global warming, pollution, and waste disposal. While this definition may constitute green building architects, engineers, and other professionals, green-collar industry also includes people assuming waste management jobs.

Waste management has itself become a successful industry. Presently, waste management agencies and firms are proliferating, whose services primarily focus on collection, transportation, and disposal of residential and industrial waste, and are providing decent jobs to a lot of people. There are various jobs available in the waste management industry, which are all important in keeping the environment clean and orderly. Following are some of them.

1. Garbage Collectors. The most visible and perhaps the most popular of all waste management workers, garbage collectors are responsible for picking waste at a predetermined route and schedule. Although there is no required special education for garbage collectors, they have to be physically fit since they need to drag and carry loaded containers. In cases when they use automated trucks, meaning the vehicles can haul and lift the garbage into the truck, garbage collectors, also called trash collectors, can work alone and drive their own truck. This, therefore, means they should be licensed and skilled drivers.

2. Service Drivers. They work as the garbage collectors’ partners, driving the service truck to the designated area. While the garbage collector does the entire picking job, the service driver is responsible for transporting the waste to the destination safely and securely.

3. Street Sweepers. Their main job is to keep the streets and roads clean. They traditionally use brooms and dustbins, although it is more common to see them working with sweeping machines, which help them complete their job faster and more efficiently.

4. Truck Mechanics. They work behind the limelight, leaving the garbage collectors and drivers at the forefront. However, their work is very important since they make sure that every truck used for collecting and transporting waste is functioning properly. Their job includes repair, inspection, and maintenance.

5. Sales and Marketing Staff. They may not take part in the actual handling of waste and may work in offices, but their job is equally important. These people are responsible to bring the services of waste management firms and agencies to the attention of individuals and businesses. The sales and marketing team come up with advertising and marketing strategies to generate more clients.

6. Analysts and Researchers. Their job is more inclined to the science of waste management. They may be more involved in recycling methods, waste classification, studies on conservation and waste treatment, among other things. Because of the nature of these waste management jobs, they are required to have special education.

When you look under your kitchen sink, in your cupboard, or out in your garage, there are products that will end up as hazardous waste once you get rid of them. Some of them are hazardous in nature such as pesticide, cleaner, thinner, and paint. Others, however, take on a relatively safe form such as battery and fluorescent light. Household hazardous waste (HHW) is that which is corrosive, toxic, reactive, and flammable that if not disposed of properly can create havoc in human health and the environment in general.

Pour it down the drain, and you risk contaminating the groundwater. If you let it sit in the common trash can, you allow its ingredient particles to float in the air. You also put to risk the safety and health of sanitation workers who will deal with your HHW as soon as you dispose of it. Because of these risks, effective household hazardous waste management has been established.

Household hazardous waste management is nothing more than a set of practices in the proper handling of HHW. Done regularly, and you protect human health and promote the cleanliness and wellness of the environment. Here’s what you can do:

1. Use up the products. When you use them up, you don’t have anything to throw away. And that means you decrease the amount of HHW to dispose of in your own little way. Around the world, tons of HHW are produced each year. In the United States alone, an average household generates around 100 pounds of HHW, eventually contributing to the 1.6 million tons the country produces every year.

2. Share the leftover products with someone you think might need them. Or find charities or groups that accept donations. You can also swap the excess products or sell them if you want.

3. Never mix HHW with another HHW. Some of these products may react, explode, or ignite if mixed. Store them in their original containers, with the labels still attached, and place in areas where children can’t reach them.

4. Find out if your community has HHW collection programs. Every year, many communities run a collection program where HHW are picked up from households. Collection days are set early on, and some cities provide kits where bags, labels, and instructions are included.

5. Hand your HHW to local business collection groups if your community doesn’t host a collection program. For instance, you can give your discarded batteries to battery collection agencies for recycling. Some battery retailers, in fact, participate in battery recycling programs and accept used batteries. The same is true with fluorescent light retailers.

6. Check your medicine cabinet and see if there are old, used, and expired medications. Although some medications are not necessarily hazardous, careful disposal is necessary since they may have health-threatening ingredients and properties. For pills, you can crush and mix them with coffee grounds or kitty litter and thrown them in the trash can. Liquid medications, on the other hand, should be absorbed by rags or paper towels before throwing in the trash can. Sharps and needles should be disposed of as regular HHW. Some cities accept expired medications during their HHW collection, so this service should be taken advantage of.

Household hazardous waste management is largely directed toward disposing of HHW, but the part of it that deals with waste reduction should not be ignored. To reduce the amount of HHW produced every year, it would help to use products with organic or non-toxic materials. Look for these products the next time you head to the supermarket.

There are too many wastes being disposed every year, an average American would generate about .75 tonnes of wastes annually. However, disposing wastes is never easy. The government has implemented stricter regulations that will limit the wastes being disposed and eventually encourage individuals and homeowners to come up with better waste management systems in their homes, like recycling or waste reduction.

A waste management business has the responsibility of helping companies address waste collection, disposal and recycling of disposed items. Why is there a need for this kind? For example, there are legislations and regulations stating that manufacturers of waste electrical and electronic materials are responsible for the collection and recycling of old products. With this kind of rule, manufacturers would often look for waste specialists that would handle waste control for them.

Starting a waste management business will help you address the demands of waste disposal. But it is important to identify it there is indeed a need in the area for a business in this nature. If there is indeed a need, then you should also know if there is competition and if you would be able to compete with them. Waste management and collection industry is a competitive field.

Starting a business would always require sufficient market research. However, waste management business is not about doing research on the needs and competition. You would also have to put a lot of time researching and studying local, federal, state and environmental regulations.

Also, just choose a subsection of waste management. It is difficult to have a company that would deal will all kinds of waste. You could just choose one field, like disposal of waste electrical and electronic materials.

You would also need a solid waste management business plan. A good waste management business plan would be able to help you set goals, gather all your bright business ideas, map out the future of your business and at the same time sets realistic and achievable goals. A waste management business plan would ensure that you are communicating your business goals to your business partners, clients and employees. This would help you create a business strategy, like marketing strategies and methods that would help you monitor your business development.

Just like in making any other business plan, having the objectives, mission and vision of important. When writing a waste management business plan you would also need to develop marketing, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies. Having a solid waste management business plan would also help you get company clients.

If you are not confident with your writing skill, then there are certain websites that offer softwares in helping you write business plans. While there are other online sites that offer pre-written business plans and documents.

Before you go ahead and look for clients, you should start working on the getting permits and license for your operation. There are different and quite a number of agencies that you are required to acquire approval and permit. So know the process. You could ask the local waste management officer or department to assist with this.

Even if waste management business deals with trash, it is still a profitable and beneficial endeavour. As a business owner, ensure that you are abreast about different environmental legislation and issues. You do not want to get entangled with the law.

Health care wastes are among the most important waste management programs that state or city government should pay attention to. Health care wastes or HCW are objects both sharp and non-sharp, body parts, chemicals, drugs, medical devices and radioactive materials that health care institution dispose. In the United States about 7000 tons of waste everyday or 2 million tons annually is collected from hospitals and health clinics.

Hospital wastes are mainly solid wastes. There are bio-hazardous materials, flammable and toxic materials. There are also radioactive or isotopes which very dangerous to handle. Medical wastes would also include batteries, fluorescent lamps, e-wastes like computers, and corrosive dangerous items like those drugs used in anaesthesiology.

Hospital or health care wastes are divided into categories. This would help in properly using waste disposal methods based on the nature of the waste materials. There is the general trash which refers to recyclable materials. Regulated medical wastes are also referred to as infectious waste since they are capable of causing infectious disease. While hazardous wastes may pose serious problems to human health and environment. There are specific disposal regulations that each category should follow, specially hazardous waste.

Any health care institution generates this kind of medicate waste. Other institutions that produce medical wastes are laboratories, blood banks, morgues and funeral parlors, medical schools and even research institutions. It is important for each of this institution to have and implement a waste management plan.

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides programme activities that would help hospital and health care institutions develop programs and technical materials for assessing their wastes, creating action plans, and developing management guidelines for medical institutions.

Hospitals should have waste management teams that would enhance or develop waste management plan. Most of the times, the waste management team is comprised of the hospital staff, like the head of hospital and the hospital departments, pharmacists, infection control officer, and hospital manager or administrator. Normally, there would be a waste management officer that would oversee the implementation of the plan on daily operation.

When making a waste management plan (WMP), the waste management should be prepared to address different issues like the existing waste disposal practices and the quantity of waste being disposed. The WMP should be able to come up with different plans and strategies that could minimize waste through recycling and reusing. It should also cover training health care professionals, staff about waste disposal.

Forming a waste management team and drafting a waste management plan is not the last step. The waste management plan should go through evaluation and maybe some changes depending on the result of the evaluation. Updating the system may be needed especially when the institution is undergoing some major changes or renovation in their system. There are also national government agencies requiring hospitals and medical institution to submit records of their waste management and disposal methods.

Health care institutions are not only responsible in making people in communities get the proper health care. They are also responsible for ensuring that the community is safe from materials that would be detrimental to the health of the people. Having a waste management plan would surely help in ensuring that health care institutions would make the community safe.

Waste management and disposal issues are not just problem of a certain country or a continent. It is a global issue which should be addressed immediately. Countries and governments are expressing concern over problems with their waste disposal. According to the United Nations, there are about 60% of countries worldwide expressed their concern about disposing solid wastes and other environmental concerns in the 1992 Earth Summit.

Waste management is important since it has a major impact of human and community health. There could be chemical spills which could pose danger to water supplies. Poor landfills and incinerators could release cancerous carcinogen in the air and other pollutants. They could also be causes of pests, vermin, flies and other similar carriers of communicable diseases.

People would often associate that implementing waste management plans and policies is about protecting human health and the environment. Other than that, waste disposal could also have an impact on different environmental aspects such as climate change. Waste disposal can also be attributed in producing more greenhouse gases that makes the Earth’s climate warmer. Landfills in Asia, Latin America and Africa are to blame for about 40 % of methane emissions every year. That 40 % is equal to about 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

Experts approximate that developed and industrialized nations produce more waste compared to developing countries. In the United States, each American will produce an average of .75 tons of trash every year. Those in Europe are estimated to accumulate almost half a ton of trash annually. In Asia, an average person would produce .2 tons of trash annually.

Although, Asia has the lowest waste average, it does not mean that they have better waste management system. There are studies and surveys conducted in Asia about waste disposal procedure. According to World Bank, China’s whopping 190 million tons of waste every year is not totally properly disposed. Only less than 50 % of China’s solid waste are treated properly, whether it is through landfill or incineration. China is not alone. Other Asian countries, like India, Indonesia and the Philippines also have poor waste disposal methods.

Regardless of territories and boundaries, pollution affects everybody. Environmental problems in Asia could still affect North America, Europe and Africa. This is why there are efforts among different countries in helping each other resolve environmental and waste problems.

An example would be the efforts between European and Asian countries. Europe is leading in environmental technologies, about 60 % of environmental discoveries and technologies came from them. They would play a major role in helping Asian countries become aware of different environmental damage happening in their nations. Asian countries mostly would have to deal with issues of water and air pollution, waste management for both households and industries, deforestation and loss of biodiversity.

Countries, like the United States and Canada, are encouraging more individuals to go back to the basics of waste reduction: reduce, reuse and recycle. The government are passing laws, state regulations about trash disposal that would help homeowners to start smart and proper waste management at home.

Environmental issues are not just an issue of a specified country. We should be more away that by starting waste management in our homes, workplace or school, we get to reduce the impact of pollution and climate change.

The numbers of electronic and electrical wastes being disposed are increasing every year. In the United States, the National Safety Council estimates that about 63 million computers were disposed in 2005 which is about 5.3 billion pounds of electronic wastes. Electronic wastes are mounting every year, which is why electronic and electrical waste management is very important.

Improper disposing of electronic waste could be dangerous since they are made of materials that can be very hazardous. Electronic materials like computers, televisions, batteries and similar items could cause lead and other chemical contamination on soil and water supply. These e-toxic components could actually come from the heavy metals, cables and plastic used to create the computers.

Electronic wastes that are not properly distributed have detrimental effects on the environment and human health. Electronic and electrical wastes produce leachates, especially those that are brought to landfills. They can cause acidification and chemical contamination of the soil. They can also cause serious problems to bodies of water where e-waste was dispose. Acids and sludges can be found in rivers and other bodies of water.

When e-wastes are burned, they produce serious environmental problems. They release toxic fumes and gases. Landfills that have electronic wastes dumped are very susceptible to uncontrolled fires. Metals and other chemical substances could be very toxic when exposed to fire and hear. Landfills and incinerators are strictly monitored by government agencies to ensure that these dangers would not happen to communities surrounding the community.

Government agencies are implementing stricter rules about e-waste disposal. A kind of waste management strategy would be the use of EPR or extended product responsibility. In this regulation, the manufacturer would be responsible in collecting and disposing products used by the customers.

Because consumer have to idea on how to manage their wastes, about 75 % of their electronic items are stored because they have no idea what to with it. They get stored in their garages, offices or warehouses.

There are methods on how consumers could handle their e-waste without compromising the environment:

• Always be aware on the regulations covering e-waste disposal.

• In the first place, shopping green would help you be more environment-friendly. You could always ask the manufacturers about the “green” component of their products. There are also third party firms that would label or evaluate electronic items for being environmentally safe. You could always look for their logos and ratings.

• Re-use or resell your e-wastes, especially if they are still working. Even if they are not really state of the art technology, there are some people would still be able to use and benefit from them.

• You could look for recycling centers in your area that would readily buy your electrical items.

• You could always donate old but still working electronic wastes like old television set or desktop.

E-waste management is not just a problem of the government or the manufacturer nor the responsibility of the environmentalists. It is a social issue and everybody would get affected on the long run. So everybody should participate in addressing this concern.

Today’s growing problem of waste had given way to many waste management systems. In industrialized countries, waste disposal via landfills is expensive and spaces for them are getting scarce. Incineration then becomes an attractive alternative.

Incineration

Incineration is a waste treatment technology that involves burning of waste materials. It converts them into bottom ash, flue gases, particulates, and heat.

In modern incinerators, the by-product of heat is sometimes used to generate electric power. Flue gases are cleaned of pollutants before their release into the atmosphere.

Benefits

One big advantage of incinerators over landfills is the significant reduction of waste matter into 80-85% of the original volume.

One good use for incineration is destroying highly-hazardous clinical and hospital wastes. The same is true with toxic waste water from chemical multi-product plants that cannot be processed in regular water treatment plants.

In countries like Japan where land is scarce, incineration is particularly popular. In Europe, Denmark and Sweden had been using incinerators for a hundred years. Today, they are the leading countries that re-use the heat energy by-product of incinerators into electricity. The Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg are countries that depend largely on incineration in handling their wastes.

Pros

There are several good reasons why incineration is a good waste management system to augment, if not replace other systems like landfills.

In incineration, the volume of burnt waste is reduced by about 90% which increases the life of landfills.

Incinerators can generate electricity from the produced heat and it can supplement current power needs. These incinerating plants generate a biomass-powered energy that offsets the greenhouse emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

The bottom ash residue from incinerators had been found to be non-hazardous solid waste which can be used safely for landfills or recycled into other useful materials.

With modern incinerators having temperatures ranging from 1800 up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, these ashes become vitrified after incineration. In this form, the leaching capacity and toxicity of these solidified remains are drastically reduced, if not eliminated.

Meantime, the fine particles can be efficiently removed from the flue gases with filters. Even without filters, studies from actual plants showed that incinerators emit only about 0.3% of the total particulates.

Incineration prevents the release of methane and carbon dioxide (equivalent to the weight of MSW or municipal solid wastes incinerated) into the air.

Cons

People are still uneasy over dioxin and furan emissions from old incineration plants. Also, incinerators emit varying levels of heavy metals like vanadium, manganese, nickel, cadmium, chromium, mercury, arsenic and lead. All of these are highly toxic even at minute quantities.

If they are not emitted, these heavy metals remain in the bottom ash which is toxic if not reused properly. Added to this concern is the fact that the technology for metal reuse is still in its infancy.

Today, incineration still ranks high in efficiency among the many other waste management system in use today. Maybe, what is needed is fine-tuning the various technologies associated with it to make the whole system of incineration totally efficient, safe and economical.

In today’s complicated world where everything is connected (from manufacturing to consumption to disposal), waste management takes on several disposal methods (landfills, incineration, recycling, pyrolysis, etc.) because there is as yet no ideal disposal system.

One of these processes is composting.

Composting

Composting happens in nature all the time. These days, composting takes on a new meaning as it becomes one additional method of waste disposal under the bigger umbrella of waste management.

Composting is controlling the decomposition of organic matter in a more scientific manner. The product is compost (humus), and is used in gardening and farming (the industrial kind) by mixing it with the soil. This improves the soil quality, soil structure and brings back the nutrients.

Compost or humus is the end-product of decomposed organic matter as performed primarily by microbes, fungi, molds, and other microorganisms. They are helped by larger creatures like the earthworms, ants, snails, millipedes, sow bugs, slugs and others who consume and break down the organic matter.

To encourage the microbes, the compost heap should have the correct mix of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and water. If the heap is too wet, it will block the oxygen needed by the bacteria. If the pile is too dry, the bacteria do not have the moisture to survive and reproduce. Nitrogen is needed for the proteins the microbes need.

Decomposition still works even if some ingredients are missing, but not as quickly as is planned. This mix of biodegradable materials is still capable of being completely broken down from the action of microorganisms into carbon dioxide, water and biomass.

Industrial composting

Together with other advanced processing systems, progressive cities and many urban centers around the world are now installing large-scale composting systems as part of their total urban waste management. In landfills, mechanical sorting of mixed wastes is done along with in-vessel composting called mechanical biological treatment.

Today, biodegradable waste materials are treated before it is dumped into landfills, making it industrial-sized compost pits. This is to help reduce global warming. Untreated materials break down anaerobically and produce gas that includes the greenhouse gas methane.

The size of waste materials is also a significant issue in compostability. Big pieces of wood may not make up for fast composting while saw dust is a good one. Contaminating materials are also dealt with bioremediation and other special composting approaches.

Techniques

There are two composting techniques – active (hot) and passive (cold) composting.

Active composting allows the most effective decomposing bacteria to flourish, killing most pathogens and seeds, and producing usable compost quickly. This is used by most commercial and industrial composting ventures because not only this ensures a higher quality, it also produces fast results.

Most home composters usually employ the passive kind unconsciously – just throw in everything in there and leave it for about a year or two. Some, of course, are extra-religious in their home composting endeavor – monitoring temperatures, regularly turning the soil, adjusting the heap, etc.)

Community action

Organic materials included in waste sent to landfills produce the dreaded greenhouse gas methane during decomposition. In suburban areas, organic waste materials can be removed from the total stream from the very start – at household levels.

Promoting backyard composting to the community at large can help reduce organic materials (kitchen scraps, other biodegradable materials) thrown out to landfills. This goes a long way in helping decrease the production of greenhouse gases.