WASTE MANAGEMENT

WASTE MANAGEMENT
• Includes the activities and actions required to manage waste
from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the
collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together
with monitoring and regulation of the waste management
process.
• Waste can be solid, liquid, or gas, and each type has different methods of
disposal and management. Waste management deals with all types of waste,
including industrial, biological and household. In some cases, waste can
pose a threat to human health. 

• Waste is produced by human activity, for example, the extraction and

processing of raw materials. Waste management is intended to reduce
adverse effects of waste on human health, the environment or aesthetics.
• Waste management practices are not uniform among countries (develop and
developing countries; regions (urban and rural areas), and residential and
industrial sectors can all take different approaches.

• A large portion of waste management practices deal with municipal solid

waste  (MSW) which is the bulk of the waste that is created by household,
industrial, and commercial activity.
WASTE HIERARCHY

• The waste hierarchy refers to the "3Rs“ (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle) which

classifies waste management strategies according to their desirability in
terms of waste minimization. The waste hierarchy is 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 end
waste. 
• The waste hierarchy represents the progression of a product or material through the
sequential stages of the pyramid of waste management. 
• Solid waste management remains a major challenge in the Philippines especially in
urban areas like Metro Manila.
• Improper waste disposal, inefficient wastes collection and lack of disposal facilities
are among the dominant concerns in the country’s solid waste management. Unless
these are addressed, the wastes generated from various sources will continually lead
to health hazards and serious environmental impacts such as ground and surface
water contamination, flooding, air pollution and spread of diseases.
 WASTE DISPOSAL
• COMPOSTING - is a process of nature by which organic matter breaks down under
bacterial action. This process recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded
as waste products and produces a soil conditioner (the compost). Compost is rich in
nutrients. It is used, for example, in garden, landscaping, horticulture, urban
agriculture and organic farming. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many
ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer addition of vital humus or humic
acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil. Compost is useful for erosion control, land
and stream reclamation, wetland construction, and as landfill cover.
• OPEN DUMP - is defined as a land disposal site at which solid wastes are disposed
of in a manner that does not protect the environment, are susceptible to open burning,
and are exposed to the elements, vectors, and scavengers.

• Open dumping can include solid waste disposal facilities or practices that pose a
reasonable probability of adverse effects on health or the environment. It is also
called fly dumping or fly tipping, is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an
authorized method such as kerbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump.
It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto land, including waste dumped or tipped on a
site with no license to accept waste.
• INCINERATION - is a waste treatment process that involves the
combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. Incineration and
other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as thermal
treatment. Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas and
heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste and may
take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases
must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into
the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat that is generated by incineration can be used
to generate electric power.
• SANITARY LANDFILL - are sites where wastes are confined to the smallest
practical area, reduced to the smallest volume and covered with soil everyday,
isolating the wastes to the environment until it is safe. It is considered when it has
completely degraded biologically, chemically and physically. In high-income
countries, the level of isolation achieved may be high. However, such an expensive
high level of isolation may not be technically necessary to protect public health.
Four basic conditions should be met before a site can be regarded as a sanitary
landfill.  The ways of doing this should be adapted to local conditions. The
immediate goal is to meet, to the best extent possible, the four stated basic sanitary
landfill conditions, with a longer term goal to meet them eventually in full.
FOUR BASIC CONDITIONS THAT SHOULD
BE MET BY ANY SITE DESIGN AND
OPERATION BEFORE IT CAN BE
REGARDED AS A SANITARY LANDFILL
• Full or Partial Hydrogeological Isolation: if a site cannot be located on land
which naturally contains leachate security, additional lining materials should be
brought to the site to reduce leakage from the base of the site (leachate) and help
reduce contamination of groundwater and surrounding soil. If a liner - soil or
synthetic - is provided without a system of leachate collection, all leachate will
eventually reach the surrounding environment. Leachate collection and treatment
must be stressed as a basic requirement.
• Formal Engineering Preparations: designs should be developed from local
geological and hydrogeological investigations. A waste disposal plan and a final
restoration plan should also be developed.
• Permanent Control: trained staff should be based at the landfill to supervise
site preparation and construction, the depositing of waste and the regular
operation and maintenance.

• Planned Waste Emplacement and Covering: waste should be spread in

layers and compacted. A small working area which is covered daily helps
make the waste less accessible to pests and vermin.
 EFFECTS OF WASTE TO HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENT
• Waste that is not properly managed, especially excreta and other liquid and
solid waste from households and the community, are a serious health hazard
and lead to the spread of  infectious diseases. Unattended waste lying around
attracts flies, rats, and other creatures that in turn spread disease. Normally it
is the wet waste that decomposes and releases a bad odor. This leads to
unhygienic conditions and thereby to a rise in the health problems. 
• The plague outbreak in Surat in India is a good example of a city suffering
due to the callous attitude of the local body in maintaining cleanliness in the
city.
• Plastic waste is another cause for ill health. Thus excessive solid waste that is
generated should be controlled by taking certain preventive measures. 
• Organic domestic waste poses a serious threat, since they ferment, creating
conditions favorable to the survival and growth of microbial pathogens.
Direct handling of solid waste can result in various types of infectious and
chronic diseases with the waste workers and the rag pickers being the most
vulnerable.
• Disposal of hospital and other medical waste requires special attention since this can
create major health hazards. This waste generated from the hospitals, health care
centers, medical laboratories, and research centers such as discarded syringe
needles, bandages, swabs, plasters, and other types of infectious waste are often
disposed with the regular non-infectious waste.
• Waste treatment and disposal sites can also create health hazards for the
neighborhood. Improperly operated incineration plants cause air pollution and
improperly managed and designed landfills attract all types of insects and rodents
that spread disease. Ideally these sites should be located at a safe distance from all
human settlement. Landfill sites should be well lined and walled to ensure that there
is no leakage into the nearby ground water sources.
• Recycling too carries health risks if proper precautions are not taken.
Workers working with waste containing chemical and metals may experience
toxic exposure.

• Disposal of health-care wastes require special attention since it can create

major health hazards, such as Hepatitis B and C, through wounds caused by
discarded syringes. Rag pickers and others who are involved in scavenging in
the waste dumps for items that can be recycled, may sustain injuries and
come into direct contact with these infectious items.
EFFECTS OF WASTE IN OUR
ENVIRONMENT
 CLIMATE CHANGE
• The way we dispose of waste is troubling. What is worse, in this decade alone, it
would seem that waste disposal has become more careless. What we have failed to
do is to put into action the ideas we believe will help us mitigate or adapt to
climate change. The trash that is dumped in landfills releases methane gas. Taken
one step further open landfills were found to represent 91% of all landfill methane
emissions. The burning of large, open piles of trash in various parts of the world
emits dangerous levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is heating up our
planet. Researchers have calculated that posing large-scale risks to both our
atmosphere and the people that live near these burning sites.
WILDLIFE
• Ecosystems vary widely from location to location. However, one of the most outsize
consequences of our global waste problem manifests itself in relation to our marine life
and waterways. It affects the people who depend on the ocean for their livelihoods.
They cannot distinguish between what is or isn’t food. They consume the trash, which
results in death because the aquatic animal could not process it. This affects fish, seals,
turtles, whales, and many other aquatic animals, as scientists have also found many
plastic fragments in over a thousand species. Due to ingestion of trash or plastics,
starvation is usually the next step because some species do not have high acidic levels in
their stomach to break down the object that they ingested. There are some animals that
do but plastic fragments have been known to be able to last 100 years.
REFERENCE USED FOR THE PICTURES
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdTz1aRr-tk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAbCMM0WjLI
• https://www.ecofarmingdaily.com/build-soil/humus/humus-how-is-it
-formed
/
• https://www.slideshare.net/akashtk/incineration-and-pyrolysis