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Solid Waste Management

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Introduction
Program Considerations
• Supportive Policy Environment
• Choosing Appropriate Technologies
Bibliography
Key Contacts and Useful Websites

Introduction

Proper management of solid waste is critical to the health and well-being of urban residents. In
developing cities, several tons of garbage are left uncollected on the streets each day, acting as
feeding ground for pests that spread disease, clogging drains and creating a myriad of related h
and infrastructural problems. The urban poor - often residing in informal settlements with little o
access to solid waste collection and often in areas that are contiguous with open dumps - are
particularly vulnerable. While urban residents in developing countries produce less solid waste
capita than in high-income countries , the capacity of their cities to collect, process, dispose of,
use solid waste in a cost-efficient, safe manner is far more limited. Municipal SWM efforts often
on expensive 'end-of-pipe' measures, those involving the collection and disposal of solid waste,
many of the 'best practices' for SWM improvement are far more accessible and cost-effective
opportunities involving waste reduction programs and recycling strategies.

The challenges to be faced in collecting solid waste will dramatically increase in the next 30 yea
a result of both the rapid growth of developing cities and increases in per capita waste productio
was once believed that increases in per capita waste went hand-in-hand with economic growth,
recent trends in developed countries show that aggressive efforts to reduce, recycle and reuse
break this link. Environmentally-sound urban SWM strategies should address unsustainable pa
of consumption and production. A framework for improved urban SWM combines the expansion
safe collection and disposal with measures designed to minimize trash production and promote
recycling, reuse or recovery of resources from solid waste. Fortunately for those involved in urb
SWM, there is a great deal of experience represented in the literature on SWM, ranging from
appropriate technologies and financing strategies to sanitary landfill development and the impor
of community participation. (See the UN Best Practices for Human Settlements Database and t
Development Clearinghouse)

Program Considerations
Supportive Policy Environment
The central government (and sometimes regional governments) play an important role in establ
a policy environment that supports good SWM practices at the local level:

• Enabling legislation (to protect public health, the environment and ensure safe handling
practices)
 • Regulations and standards (permits, licenses, inspections for landfills, emissions from
incinerators, etc.)
• Enforcement (financial and criminal penalties)
• Solid waste planning (recycling and waste reduction targets)
• Market incentives for recycling (beverage container deposits, minimum percent recycled
content)

Choosing Appropriate Technologies

All cities must weigh a number of factors in choosing appropriate technologies for collection and
disposal of solid waste.

Collection. Municipalities often spend as much as 70% of their operating budgets for SWM on h
costs alone due to rising transportation costs, outdated, poorly maintained machinery and ineffi
existing collection routes. Although cities are responsible for SWM within their jurisdictions, they
not necessarily have be owners and operators of SWM systems. In developing their own
comprehensive SWM plans, cities should determine the extent of private and community servic
provision. The city can issue franchises or licenses to various firms who will compete for custom
can select one firm per district/area based on a competitive procurement. Experience has show
private sector SWM costs 20-40% less than the same publicly-provided services and that privat
of SWM and facilitating the entry of micro- and small-scale providers contributes to the adaptati
'best-practices' and appropriate technologies. However, SWM authorities must be aware that su
shift usually requires both a decrease in employment in the waste sector [link to: World Bank's U
Waste site: Private Sector Participation] and an institutional shift of focus for public-sector SWM
authorities from service provision to oversight and regulation (both to ensure that companies ar
meeting the relevant standards and that they are not colluding).

Disposal and its alternatives. When planning for the adoption of solid waste technologies, SWM
authorities should consider the following, among other, issues:

• The planning, construction and implementation of new sanitary landfills are costly and le
and small to medium-scale solid waste management practices will be needed in the inter
• The tendency for municipalities to import expensive "end-of-pipe" technologies, such as
collection vehicles and processing plants, often leads to additional unsustainable costs in
training, repair and site maintenance.
• Dump-upgrading, involving such measures as landfill liners, mandated landfill disposal
standards, and low-cost remediation, along with improved waste minimization strategies
prove to be cost-effective alternatives to the development of expensive new SWM sites.

Recycling, composting, resource recovery, and resale of reusable solid waste can be an effectiv
of minimizing waste and contributing to the economic welfare of those living at a destitute fringe
the urban community. For example, co-composting solid waste and sewage sludge produces so
conditioner and shredded automobile tires can be added to soil to increase drought resistance.
helping informal scavengers?who may collect 10-15% of urban solid waste using recycling, reu
"landfill mining" techniques?beecome more efficient and established business, cities can reduce
overall urban solid waste production by up to 30%. This assistance may be in developing
cooperatives or other similar methods of labor organization and providing basic protective healt
safety precautions (e.g. providing gloves and masks) for the avoidable environmental health ris
these workers face.

Effective SWM, particularly when targeting informal settlements, should begin with a consultativ
participatory process involving all stakeholders from slum residents and the informal sector tras
workers to the municipal government and the private sector. Community-based enterprises,
incentives for increased private sector participation and innovative multi-sectoral partnerships a
often used to more effectively implement policy objectives such as:

• Recycling and waste minimization programs

• Resource recovery and commercial/industrial marketing or resale of reusable componen
waste
• Localized appropriate technologies designed to meet economic, environmental and socia
preferences
• Adoption of cleaner production practices
• Separation and control of hazardous waste to reduce the distribution of their environmen
impacts
• Improved institutional management and increased citizen oversight

Health. Most municipal solid waste is haphazardly dumped on public lands or unprepared landf
an unmanaged or unregulated manner. Toxic runoff, pollution of water and soil resources, meth
gas emission from unregulated landfills, and unstable areas subject to settling that often later be
informal settlements are just a few of the environmental and health challenges resulting from po
SWM. Uncontrolled dumping greatly endangers the immediate health of both informal sector wa
workers and nearby inhabitants, typically the poor residents of informal urban settlements, throu
direct hand-to-mouth contamination and inhalation of volatile chemicals and other pollutants.
Additionally, uncontrolled dumping has adverse effects for all urban residents - impacting the pu
health of the city at large through water supply, air and soil contamination. Authorities must con
the public health impact of their current SWM strategies as well as the health benefits and cost-
effectiveness of alternative strategies for upgrading SWM - e.g., whether to emphasize landfill
improvements, expansion of solid waste collection, or other measures as an initial investment p
(See Environmental Health brief)

Bibliography
International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) and United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP); "Waste Management" in the Industry as a Partner fo
Sustainable Development Series, 2002
http://www.uneptie.org/outreach/wssd/docs/sectors/final/waste_management.pdf
Savage, G.M., et.al; 1998 "Guidance for Landfilling Waste in Economically
Developing Countries" US Environmental Protection Agency" EPA-600/R-98-040
http://www.epa.gov/ord/WebPubs/projsum/600sr98040.pdf
Schübeler, Peter et.al; "Conceptual Framework for Municipal Solid Waste Management
 in Low-Income Countries" Working Paper #9, Urban Management Programme, World
Bank/UNDP/UNCHS, 1996
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/External/Urban/UrbanDev.nsf/Attachments/UE_Conceptu
Framework/$File/conceptualframework.pdf
Srinivas, Hari; "Solid Waste Management: A Policy and Programme Matrix"
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/swm-matrix.html United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN-Habitat) "Urban Environment," Chp. 4, section on "Waste" in State of th
World's Cities Report 2001 http://www.unchs.org/istanbul+5/statereport.htm and
http://www.unchs.org/istanbul+5/70.pdf
United Nations Sustainable Development, Agenda 21, "Environmentally Sound Management
of Solid Wastes and Sewage-Related Issues " Section 21
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/agenda21chapter21.htm
World Bank, Urban Waste Management Division; see 'Key-Topics' sections: "Strategic
Services Planning," "Institutional Arrangements," "Private Sector Participation," "Financia
Management," and "Environmental Management"
http://www.worldbank.org/urban/solid_wm/swm_body.htm
World Resources Institute (WRI) "Urban Priorities for Action" Chp. 5 in
The Urban Environment 1996-1997 Oxford University Press, New York. (a joint publicatio
WRI, UNEP, UNDP, and the World Bank) http://www.wri.org/wr-96-97/index.html
Zurbrugg, Christian and Rehan Ahmed; "Enhancing Community Motivation and
Participation in Solid Waste Management" SANDEC News, No. 4, January 1999, Depart
of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries (SANDEC) at the Swiss Federal Institut
Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG)
http://www.sandec.ch/files/sandecnews_4.pdf
Zurbrugg, Christian; "The Challenge of Solid Waste Disposal in
Developing Countries" SANDEC News, No. 4, January 1999, Department of Water and
Sanitation in Developing Countries (SANDEC) at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environm
Science and Technology (EAWAG) http://www.sandec.ch/files/sandecnews_4.pdf

Key Contacts and Useful Websites

Best Practices for Human Settlements Database http://www.bestpractices.org/
United Nations Environmental Programme, International Environmental
Technology Centre (UNEP-IETC), and Urban Issues Division:
http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Issues/Urban.asp
UNEP-IETC Environmentally-Sound Technology Database (maESTro)
http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/database/maestro_intro.asp
WASTE (an NGO that works for organizations that aim at a sustainable
improvement of the living conditions of the urban low-income population and of the urban
environment in general.) http://www.waste.nl/
World Bank, Urban Waste Management Division:
http://www.worldbank.org/urban/solid_wm/swm_body.htm: in particular the sections on "K
Topics" and "Key Readings"
Waste management is the handling of discarded materials. The term most
commonly applies to the disposition of solid wastes, which is often described as
solid waste management. One form of waste management involves the
elimination of undesirable waste products by methods such as landfilling and
incineration. But recycling and composting, which transform waste into useful
products, also are forms of waste management.

The term waste can apply to a wide variety of materials, including discarded food,
leaves, newspapers, bottles, construction debris, chemicals from a factory, candy
wrappers, disposable diapers, and radioactive materials. Civilization has always
produced waste. But as industry and technology have evolved and the world's
population has grown, waste management has become an increasingly difficult
and complex problem.

A primary objective of waste management today is to protect the public and the
environment from potential harmful effects of waste. Some waste materials are
normally safe but can be hazardous if not managed properly. One gallon (3.75
liters) of used motor oil, for example, can contaminate one million gallons
(3,750,000 liters) of water.

Who manages waste? Every individual, business, and industry must make decisions and
take some responsibility regarding its own waste. On a larger scale, government agencies
at the local, state, and federal levels enact and enforce waste management regulations.
These agencies also educate the public about proper waste management. In addition, local
government agencies may provide disposal or recycling services themselves, or they may
hire private companies to perform those functions.

forms of waste

Most solid wastes can be subdivided into one of three major categories:
municipal solid wastes; agricultural, mining, and industrial wastes; and
hazardous wastes. Municipal solid waste is what most people think of as garbage,
refuse, or trash. It is generated by households, businesses (other than heavy
industry), and institutions such as schools and hospitals.

Resource recovery plant

Although we may be very conscious of municipal wastes, they actually represent

only a small fraction of all solid wastes produced annually. Indeed, more than 95
percent of the 4.5 billion tons of solid waste generated in the United States each
year come from agriculture, mining, and industry. These forms of solid waste are
less visible to the ordinary person because they are usually generated at remote
mining sites or in the fields.

Mining nearly always generates substantial waste, whether the material being
mined is coal, clay, sand, gravel, building stone, or metallic ore. Early mining
techniques concentrated on the removal of ores with the highest concentration of
the desired mineral. Because modern methods of mining are more efficient, they
can extract the desired minerals from veins that are less rich. However, much
more waste is produced in the process.

Many of the plant and animal wastes generated by agriculture remain in the
fields or rangelands. These wastes can be beneficial because they return nutrients
to the soil. But modern techniques of raising large numbers of animals in small
areas generate great volumes of animal waste, or manure. Waste in such
quantities must be managed carefully, or it can contaminate groundwater or
surface water.
An employee at a hazardous waste collection site in Santa Cruz County,
California, sorting through household hazardous waste items. (Reproduced by
permission of
Photo Researchers, Inc.
Hazardous waste

Hazardous wastes are materials considered harmful or potentially harmful to

human health or the environment. Wastes may be deemed hazardous because
they are poisonous, flammable, or corrosive, or because they react with other
substances in a dangerous way.

Industrial operations have produced large quantities of hazardous waste for

hundreds of years. Some hazardous wastes, such as mercury and dioxins, may be
released as gases. Many hazardous industrial wastes are in liquid form. One of
the greatest risks is that these wastes will contaminate water supplies.

Pesticides used in farming may contaminate agricultural waste. Because of the

enormous volumes of pesticides used in agriculture, the proper handling of
unused or waste pesticides is a daunting challenge for modern waste
management. Certain mining techniques also utilize toxic chemicals. Piles of
mining waste, known as tailings, may contain hazardous
Hazardous waste being disposed of in special drums. (Reproduced by permission
of
Field Mark Publications
.)

substances. When these substances react with the oxygen in the air, toxic acids
may form and may be washed into the groundwater by rain.

Hazardous wastes come from the home as well. Many common household products
contain toxic chemicals. Examples include drain cleaner, pesticides, glue, paint, paint
thinner, air freshener, and nail polish. Twenty years ago, most people dumped these
products in the garbage, even if the containers were not empty. But local governments do
not want them in the garbage. They also do not want residents to pour leftover household
chemicals down the drain, since municipal sewage treatment plants are not well-equipped
to remove them.

Management of wastes

Throughout history, four basic methods for managing wastes have been used:
dumping; incineration (burning); recycling; and waste prevention. How these
four methods are utilized depends on the kind of wastes being managed.
Municipal solid waste is much different than industrial, agricultural, or mining
waste. And hazardous waste poses such serious problems that it needs to be
handled by specialized techniques, even when it is generated with other types of
wastes.

landfills

. Early humans did not worry much about waste management. They simply left
their garbage where it dropped. But as permanent communities developed,
people began to place their waste in designated dumping areas. The use of such
open dumps for garbage is still common in some parts of the world.

But open dumps have major disadvantages, especially in heavily populated areas.
Toxic chemicals can filter down through a dump and contaminate groundwater.
(The liquid that filters through a dump or land-fill—just as water percolates or
filters through coffee grounds to make coffee—is called leachate.) Dumps also
may generate methane, an explosive gas produced when organic wastes
decompose under certain conditions.

In many parts of the world today, open dumps have been replaced by landfills,
also known as sanitary landfills. The sanitary landfill was apparently invented in
England in the 1920s. At a landfill, garbage is covered at the end of every day with
several inches of soil. Landfilling became common in the United States in the
1940s. By the late 1950s, it was the dominant solid waste disposal method in the
nation.

Early landfills had significant leachate and methane problems. But those have
largely been resolved at landfills built in the past 20 years. Today's landfills are
lined with several feet of clay and with thick plastic sheets. Leachate is collected
at the bottom, drained through pipes, and processed. Methane gas also is safely
piped out of the landfill.

The dumping of waste does not take place on land only. Ocean dumping makes
use of barges that carry garbage out to sea. This technique was once used as a
disposal method by some U.S. coastal cities and is still practiced by some nations.
Sewage sludge, or processed sewage, was dumped at sea in huge quantities by
New York City until 1992, when it was finally prohibited. Also called biosolids,
sewage sludge is not generally considered solid waste but is sometimes
composted with organic municipal solid waste.

incineration

IIncineration has a long history in municipal solid waste management. Some

American cities began to burn their garbage in the late nineteenth century in
devices called cremators. These devices were not very efficient, however, and
cities eventually went back to dumping or other methods. In the 1930s and
1940s, many cities built new types of garbage burners known as incinerators.
Many incinerators have now been shut down, primarily because of the air
pollution they create.

Waste burning enjoyed yet another revival in the 1970s and 1980s. The new
incinerators, many of which are still in operation, are called resource recovery or
waste-to-energy plants. In addition to burning garbage, they produce heat or
electricity that is used in nearby buildings or residences or sold to a utility. Many
local governments became interested in waste-to-energy plants following the U.S.
energy crisis in 1973. But, by the mid-1980s, it had become difficult to find
locations to build these facilities, once again mainly because of air quality issues.

Another problem with incineration is that it generates ash, which must be

landfilled. Incinerators usually reduce the volume of garbage by 70 to 90 percent.
The rest comes out as ash that often contains high concentrations of toxic
substances.

Recycling n waste prevention

Re Municipal solid waste will probably always be landfilled or burned to some

extent. Since the mid-1970s, however, nondisposal methods such as waste
prevention and recycling have become more popular. Because of public concerns
and the high costs of landfilling and incineration, local governments want to
reduce the amount of waste that needs to be disposed.

Even the earliest civilizations recycled some items before they became garbage.
Broken pottery was often ground up and used to make new pottery, for example.
Recycling has taken many forms. One unusual type of recycling, called reduction,
was common in large U.S. cities from about 1900 to 1930. In reduction plants,
wet garbage, dead horses, and other dead animals were cooked in large vats to
produce grease and fertilizer. A more familiar, and certainly more appealing, type
of recycling took place during World War II (1939–45), when scrap metal was
collected to help the war effort. Modern-day recycling has had two recent booms,
from about 1969 to 1974 and another that began in the late 1980s. At the
beginning of the twenty-first century, the recycling rate in the United States had
risen to 28 percent, an increase of more than 10 percent from a decade before.

Reuse and repair are the earliest forms of waste prevention, which also is known
as waste reduction. When tools, clothes, and other necessities were scarce, people
naturally repaired them again and again. When they were beyond repair, people
found other uses for them.

One form of waste prevention, called source reduction, is a reduction in the quantity or
the toxicity of the material used for a product or packaging.

industrial waste management

Industrial wastes that are not hazardous have traditionally been sent to landfills
or incinerators. The rising cost of disposal has prompted many companies to seek
alternative methods for handling these wastes. Often, a manufacturing plant can
reclaim certain waste materials by feeding them back into the production process.

An estimated 60 percent of all hazardous industrial waste in the United States is

disposed of with a method called deep well injection. With this technique, liquid
wastes are injected into a well located in a type of rock formation that keeps the
waste isolated from groundwater and surface water. Other underground burial
methods are also used for hazardous industrial waste and other types of
dangerous waste.

Hazardous wastes are disposed of at specially designed landfills and incinerators. A

controversial issue in international relations is the export of hazardous waste, usually
from industrial countries to developing nations. This export often takes place with the
stated intent of recycling, but some of the wastes end up being dumped.

Urban waste management issues

The conditions, issues and problems of urban waste management in the

industrialized and developing worlds are different. Though the developed
countries generate larger amounts of wastes, they have developed adequate
facilities, competent government institutions and bureaucracies to manage their
wastes. Developing countries are still in the transition towards better waste
management but they currently have insufficient collection and improper disposal
of wastes. Clear government policies and competent bureaucracies for
management of solid wastes are needed urgently especially in countries where
there is rapid population growth through urbanization into peri-urban areas.
Services and programmes that include proper waste disposal for management of
hazardous biological and chemical wastes, minimisation and recycling will be
needed. Disposal of wastes is commonly done by dumping (on land or into water
bodies), incineration or long term storage in a secured facility. All these methods
have varying degrees of negative environmental impacts with adverse
environmental and health risks if wastes are improperly disposed or stored.

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or

disposal, and monitoring of waste materials.[1] The term usually relates to
materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce
their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is
also carried out to recover resources from it. Waste management can involve
solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive substances, with different methods and
fields of expertise for each.
Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations,
for urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial producers.
Management for non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in
metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of local government
authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial
waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.

Advantages of w m
There are several advantages of solid waste management can control and use of mice can
spread other diseases dangerous. One may eliminate habitat for rats and insects through
residential and commercial waste disposal. Rodents and insects can cause health risks, and
waste in the maker of this insect. One of the most miraculous benefits of waste management is
that it includes requirements for burying or burning waste may cause health risks for people
living near the area. Solid will be regarded as a perfect way to recycle waste and convert it in
some useful material.

Industrial waste management is another popular method in each type of waste will be
removed to reduce public health risk is that the solid waste or liquid waste. It is also necessary
to keep the environment pollution free and safe for residents. One can see that dump toxic
waste in industrial areas where industrial wastes are ignored or not properly followed.
Residents in these areas face serious health threats such as asthma.

One of the most unfortunate fact that the most successful industries of negligence required
the appropriate industry. You may feel intimidated by not knowing that the negligent care
industry to regulations made for the waste management industry and continues to gain huge
profit. We are all equally responsible for the areas around us, and we have a white local
authorities in some cases we found trash in the area surrounding us. Recycling of waste to be
important in the present moment continues to increase environmental pollution. Domestic and
industrial wastes pose a threat to our precious ecosystem and so we must begin to waste
management.

Disadvantages of w m

Municipal waste is disposed of in three different ways. As of 2004 it is estimated that 71

percent is land filled, 16 percent incinerated, and 13 percent recycled. Other wastes that
have to be disposed of are nuclear and hazardous wastes. The environmental effects of
different waste management solutions will be discussed as well as ideal ways, in my
opinion, to dispose of different forms of solid wastes.
Landfills are the most commonly used form of disposing wastes today. It is also a form
of disposal that causes many environmental impacts that are in need of addressing. A
major effect of landfills is Leachate, a contaminated liquid that percolates through the
waste in a landfill and probably the most addressed issue. This contaminated liquid can
soak into the ground and cause water contamination according to the Department of
Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State University. Another effect of landfills is air
pollution. Not only can air pollution from landfills