SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

BY –
SONAM
A/1979/2007
What is solid waste? 

The definition of "solid waste" is very broad.  In addition to residential

trash, commonly known as "municipal solid waste" (MSW"), it also
includes wastes generated by restaurants, office buildings and similar
business establishments ("commercial waste"), manufacturing
companies and wastewater treatment plants ("industrial waste"), and
waste generated by building or tearing down buildings and other
structures ("construction and demolition debris", also known as "C&D
waste").  Even hazardous and medical wastes are considered to be solid
wastes, but they are more strictly regulated. Technically, solid waste
goes beyond those kinds of wastes to include any solid, liquid, or
contained gaseous material that is discarded by being disposed of,
incinerated, or recycled.

Kinds of waste?

The federal regulations developed under the Resource Conservation

and Recovery Act (RCRA) divide wastes into two broad categories:
hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste.
 Hazardous Waste

Hazardous wastes are solid wastes known to be harmful to human

health and the environment when not managed properly. EPA
hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or
potentially harmful to human health or the environment. The universe
of hazardous wastes is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be
liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges. They can be the by-products
of manufacturing processes or simply discarded commercial products,
like cleaning fluids or pesticides.

Non-Hazardous Waste

Non-hazardous wastes is defined as "any garbage, refuse, sludge from a

waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution
control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid,
semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial,
commercial, mining, and agricultural operations and from community
activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic
sewage."
Examples of such waste include domestic trash and garbage, such as
milk cartons and coffee grounds; other refuse such as metal scrap,
wallboard, batteries and empty containers; and other discarded
materials from industrial operations, such as boiler slag, cement kiln
dust and fly ash; crude oil and gas waste; fossil fuel combustion waste .
 Municipal Solid Waste:

Municipal solid waste (MSW), also called trash, garbage, refuse and
rubbish, is the stuff we throw away everyday. In our trash are
everyday items such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture,
clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspaper, appliances, and batteries that
we don’t need any more. MSW is generated by people and by
businesses. Not counted as MSW are other discarded materials such as
construction and demolition debris, municipal wastewater treatment
sludge, and non-hazardous industrial wastes. Although these
materials often end up in MSW landfills, they can also be sent to non-
MSW landfills for disposal.
 List of Waste and their concentration limit

Ministry of environment and forest, Govt. of India has framed

hazardous wastes (Handing and Management) Rules, 1989 under the
environment (protection act. 1986.
This rule has been amended as Hazardous Wastes amendment Rules,
2000 vide notification in "The Gazette of India", New Delhi,
January 6, 2000. List of waste substances with concentration limits as
specified in the above said rules are given below.

List of waste substances with concentration limits

Class A Concentration Limit : 50 mg/kg
A1 Antimony and antimony compounds
A2 Arsenic and Arsenic compounds
A3 Beryllium and cadmium compounds
A4 Cadmium and beryllium compounds
A5 Chromium (VI) compounds
A6 Mercury and Mercury compounds
A7 Selenium and Selenium compounds
A8 Tellurium and Selenium compounds
A9 Thallium and thallium compounds
A10 Inorganic cyanide compounds (cyanides)
A11 Metal carbonyls
A12 Napthalene
A13 Anthracene
A14 Phenanthrene
A15 Chrysene, benzo
A16 Halogenated fused aromatic
A17 Halogenated aromatic compounds
A18 Benzene
A19 Dieldrin, aldrin and endrin
A20 Organotin compounds
Class B Concentration limit : 5,000mg/kg
B1 Chromium (III) compounds
B2 cobalt compounds
B3 Copper compounds
B4 Lead and Lead compounds
B5 Molylidenum compounds
B6 Nickel compounds
B7 Tin compounds
B8 Vanadium compounds
B9 Tungsten compounds
B10 Silver compounds
B11 Organic halogen compounds
B12 Organic nitro and nitrose compounds
B13 Organic peroxides
B14 Organic nitro and nitrose compounds
B15 Organic azo and azo oxy comopounds
B16 Nitriles
B17 Amines
B18 (ISO-and thio) cyanates
B19 Phenol and phenolic compounds
B20 Mercaptans
B21 Asbestos
B22 Drilling, cutting, grinding and rolling oil or emulsions
B23 Halogen silanes
B24 Hydrazine (S)
B25 Fluorine
B26 Chlorine
B27 Bromine
B28 White phosphorus
B29 Ferro silicon and alloys
B30 Manganese silicon
B31 Halogen
 Class C Concentration limit : 20,000 mg/kg
C1 Ammonia and ammonium compounds
C2 Inorganic perxides
C3 Barium compounds, except barium sulphate
C4 Fluorine compounds
C5 Phosphorus compounds
C6 Bromates (hypo) bromites
C7 Chlorates, (hypo) chlorites
C8 Aromatic compounds
C9 Organic silicon compounds
C10 Organic sulphur compounds
C11 lodates
C12 Nitrates, nitrites
C13 Sulphides
C14 Zinc compounds
C15 Salts of per acids
C16 Acid halides, acid amides
C17 Acid anhydrides
Class D Concentration limit : 50,000 mg/kg
D1 Sulphur
D2 Inorganic – acids
D3 Metal bisulphates
D4 Oxides and hydroxides
D5 Aliphatic and napthenic hydrocarbons
D6 Organic Oxygen compounds
D7 Organic nitrogen compounds
D8 Nitrides
D9 Hydrides
Class E Regardless of concentration limit
E1 Highly flammable substances
E2 Substances which generate cangerous quantities of highly
flammable gases on contact with water or damp air.
 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT is needed because:

•Uncollected wastes often end up in drains, causing blockages which

result in flooding and insanitary conditions.
•Flies breed in some constituents of solid wastes, and flies are very
effective vectors that spread disease.
•Mosquitoes breed in blocked drains and in rainwater that is retained
in discarded cans, tyres and other objects. Mosquitoes spread disease,
including malaria and dengue.
•Rats find shelter and food in waste dumps. Rats consume and spoil
food, spread disease, damage electrical cables and other materials and
inflict unpleasant bites.
•The open burning of waste causes air pollution; the products of
combustion include dioxins which are particularly hazardous.
•Uncollected waste degrades the urban environment, discouraging
efforts to keep streets and open spaces in a clean and attractive
condition. Solid waste management is a clear indicator of the
effectiveness of a municipal administration.
•Polluted water flowing from waste dumps and disposal sites can cause
serious pollution of water supplies. Chemical wastes may be fatal or
have serious effects if ingested, inhaled or touched and can cause
widespread pollution of water supplies.
•Former disposal sites provide very poor foundation support for large
buildings, so buildings constructed on former sites are prone to
collapse.
 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Solid waste management is the collection, transport, processing,
recycling or disposal of waste materials. 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.
 Waste management methods
Waste management methods vary widely between areas for many
reasons, including type of waste material, nearby land uses, and the
area available.

Methods are – Disposal Method

Recycle Method

Disposal Method

Landfill
Disposing of waste in a landfill involves burying waste to dispose it off,
and this remains a common practice in most countries. Landfills were
often established in abandoned or unused quarries, mining voids or
borrow pits. A properly-designed and well-managed landfill can be a
hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of disposing of waste
materials. Older, poorly-designed or poorly-managed landfills can
create a number of adverse environmental impacts such as wind-
blown litter, attraction of vermin, and generation of liquid leachate.
Another common byproduct of landfills is gas (mostly composed of
methane and carbon dioxide), which is produced as organic waste
breaks down anaerobically. This gas can create odor problems, kill
surface vegetation, and is a greenhouse gas.
 Disposal Method

Incineration
Incineration is a disposal method that involves combustion of waste
material. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment
systems are sometimes described as "thermal treatment". Incinerators
convert waste materials into heat, gas, steam, and ash.
Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals and on
a large scale by industry. It is used to dispose of solid, liquid and
gaseous waste. It is recognized as a practical method of disposing of
certain hazardous waste materials (such as biological medical waste).
Incineration is a controversial method of waste disposal, due to issues
such as emission of gaseous pollutants.

Incineration is common in countries such as Japan where land is more

scarce, as these facilities generally do not require as much area as
landfills. waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) are
broad terms for facilities that burn waste in a furnace or boiler to
generate heat, steam and/or electricity. Combustion in an incinerator is
not always perfect and there have been concerns about micro-
pollutants in gaseous emissions from incinerator stacks. Particular
concern has focused on some very persistent organics such as dioxins
which may be created within the incinerator and which may have
serious environmental consequences in the area immediately around
the incinerator. On the other hand this method produces heat that can
be used as energy.
 A landfill compaction
vehicle in action.

Spittelau incineration
plant in Vienna.
 Recycling methods

The process of extracting resources or value from waste is generally

referred to as recycling, meaning to recover or reuse the material.
There are a number of different methods by which waste material is
recycled: the raw materials may be extracted and reprocessed, or the
calorific content of the waste may be converted to electricity. New
methods of recycling are being developed continuously, and are
described briefly below.

Physical reprocessing

The popular meaning of ‘recycling’ in most developed countries refers

to the widespread collection and reuse of everyday waste materials
such as empty beverage containers. These are collected and sorted into
common types so that the raw materials from which the items are
made can be reprocessed into new products. Material for recycling
may be collected separately from general waste using dedicated bins
and collection vehicles, or sorted directly from mixed waste streams.
The most common consumer products recycled include aluminum
beverage cans, steel food and aerosol cans, HDPE and PET bottles, glass
bottles and jars, paperboard cartons, newspapers, magazines, and
cardboard. Other types of plastic (PVC, LDPE, PP, and PS) are also
recyclable, although these are not as commonly collected. These items
are usually composed of a single type of material, making them
relatively easy to recycle into new products. The recycling of complex
products (such as computers and electronic equipment) is more
difficult, due to the additional dismantling and separation required.
 Recycling methods

Biological reprocessing

Waste materials that are organic in nature, such as plant material,

food scraps, and paper products, can be recycled using biological
composting and digestion processes to decompose the organic
matter. The resulting organic material is then recycled as mulch or
compost for agricultural or landscaping purposes. In addition, waste
gas from the process (such as methane) can be captured and used for
generating electricity. The intention of biological processing in waste
management is to control and accelerate the natural process of
decomposition of organic matter.
There are a large variety of composting and digestion methods
and technologies varying in complexity from simple home compost
heaps, to industrial-scale enclosed-vessel digestion of mixed
domestic waste (see Mechanical biological treatment). Methods of
biological decomposition are differentiated as being aerobic or
anaerobic methods, though hybrids of the two methods also exist.
An example of waste management through composting is the
Green Bin Program in Toronto, Canada, where household organic
waste (such as kitchen scraps and plant cuttings) are collected in a
dedicated container and then composted.
 Recycling methods

Energy recovery

The energy content of waste products can be harnessed directly by

using them as a direct combustion fuel, or indirectly by processing
them into another type of fuel. Recycling through thermal treatment
ranges from using waste as a fuel source for cooking or heating, to fuel
for boilers to generate steam and electricity in a turbine. Pyrolysis and
gasification are two related forms of thermal treatment where waste
materials are heated to high temperatures with limited oxygen
availability. The process typically occurs in a sealed vessel under high
pressure. Pyrolysis of solid waste converts the material into solid, liquid
and gas products. The liquid and gas can be burnt to produce energy
or refined into other products. The solid residue (char) can be further
refined into products such as activated carbon. Gasification and
advanced Plasma arc gasification are used to convert organic materials
directly into a synthetic gas (syngas) composed of carbon monoxide
and hydrogen. The gas is then burnt to produce electricity and steam.
 Active compost heap

Steel scrap, sorted

and baled for
recycling
 Avoidance and reduction methods

An important method of waste management is the prevention of waste

material being created, also known as waste reduction. Methods of
avoidance include reuse of second-hand products, repairing broken
items instead of buying new, designing products to be refillable or
reusable (such as cotton instead of plastic shopping bags), encouraging
consumers to avoid using disposable products (such as disposable
cutlery), and designing products that use less material to achieve the
same purpose (for example, lightweighting of beverage cans).
 Waste handling and transport

Waste collection methods vary widely between different countries and

regions. Domestic waste collection services are often provided by local
government authorities, or by private industry. Some areas, especially
those in less developed countries, do not have a formal waste-
collection system. Examples of waste handling systems include:
•In Australia, most urban domestic households have a 240-litre that is
emptied weekly from the curb using a mechanical arm attached to a
truck that lifts the bin upside down on top of the truck where the
rubbish then falls into the container and compacted.
•In few other places around the world, a few communities use a
proprietary collection system known as Envac, which conveys refuse
via underground conduits using a vacuum system.
•In Canadian urban centres curbside collection is the most common
method of disposal, whereby the city collects waste and/or recyclables
and/or organics on a scheduled basis. In rural areas people often
dispose of their waste by hauling it to a transfer station. Waste
collected is then transported to a regional landfill.
•In Taipei the city government charges its households and industries
for the volume of rubbish they produce. Waste will only be collected by
the city council if waste is disposed in government issued rubbish bags.
This policy has successfully reduced the amount of waste the city
produces and increased the recycling rate.
Waste management concepts

There are a number of concepts about waste management which vary

in their usage between countries or regions. Some of the most general,
widely-used concepts include:

•Waste hierarchy - the waste hierarchy refers to the "3 Rs" reduce,
reuse and recycle, which classify waste management strategies
according to their desirability in terms of waste minimization. The
waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimization
strategies. The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum
practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount
of waste.

•Extended producer responsibility - Extended Producer Responsibility

(EPR) is a strategy designed to promote the integration of all costs
associated with products throughout their life cycle (including end-of-
life disposal costs) into the market price of the product. Extended
producer responsibility is meant to impose accountability over the
entire lifecycle of products and packaging introduced to the market.
This means that firms which manufacture, import and/or sell products
are required to be responsible for the products after their useful life as
well as during manufacture.

•Polluter pays principle - the Polluter Pays Principle is a principle

where the polluting party pays for the impact caused to the
environment. With respect to waste management, this generally refers
to the requirement for a waste generator to pay for appropriate
disposal of the waste.
 Education and Awareness

Education and awareness in the area of waste and waste management

is increasingly important from a global perspective of resource
management. The Talloires Declaration is a declaration for
sustainability concerned about the unprecedented scale and speed of
environmental pollution and degradation, and the depletion of natural
resources. Local, regional, and global air pollution; accumulation and
distribution of toxic wastes; destruction and depletion of forests, soil,
and water; depletion of the ozone layer and emission of "green house"
gases threaten the survival of humans and thousands of other living
species, the integrity of the earth and its biodiversity, the security of
nations, and the heritage of future generations. Several universities
have implemented the Talloires Declaration by establishing
environmental management and waste management programs, e.g. the
waste management university project. University and vocational
education are promoted by various organizations, e.g. WAMITAB and
Chartered Institution of Wastes Management.
Solid Waste Characterization
Physical and chemical compositions of solid wastes vary depending on
sources and types of solid wastes. The nature of the deposited waste in
landfill will affect gas and leachate production and composition by
virtue of relative proportions of degradable and non degradable
components, the moisture content and the specific nature of the
biodegradable element. The waste composition will effect both the bulk
gases and the trace components.

Physical Composition
Information and data on the physical composition of solid wastes are
important in the selection and operation equipment and facilities an
assessing the feasibility and resources and energy recovery and in the
analysis and design of disposal facilities. Waste composition, moisture
content, waste particle size, waste density, temperature and pH are
important as these affect the extent and rate of degradation of waste.
These are determined on components of solid wastes.