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Solid waste management in our locality
Solid waste management in our locality
Essay on urban solid waste management
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Research Title: Municipal solid waste management challenges in South Africa
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Research questions
What are challenges that are currently faced in managing municipal solid waste?
What can be done to minimise the challenges experienced in managing municipal solid
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Looking at how great the challenge is, it is therefore important that society act sustainably on how it deals with its waste at all time. The challenge of managing municipal solid waste is also faced by the environmental protection agencies. By definition, municipal solid waste is more commonly known as trash or garbage and consists of different items that are used and are thrown away. These include project packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspaper, appliances, paint, and batteries. These solid wastes come from different sources such as homes, schools, businesses and hospitals. Municipal solid waste is said to increase each and every day as a result of high global economic growth, increasing levels of population growth, rapid urbanisation and standard of living which keep on rising day by day. All these has been observed to contribute in generation of higher volumes of municipal solid waste which end up leading most municipalities grappling with a challenge of managing such waste properly. Challenges that are experienced by municipality to manage solid waste lead some waste to be disposed in open areas and water sources, practices which is known to cause environmental and social …show more content…
The public must be educated and encouraged to participate in recycling programs and to practice the re-use of domestic solid waste. Recycling programs and the re-use of domestic solid waste are viewed as a good practice of managing waste at the house level. Community should be encouraged to participate in waste management at all time as it helps them to have a sense of responsibility towards their health and environment (Modebe et al.,
Landfill is the most frequent waste disposal method all around the world. The present of landfill is recognised as being an important in this days as well as future, especially in low and middle income countries since it is the easiest way to build. Generally, there is two types of landfill can be classified, dry-tomb and bioreactor.
In many countries the term municipal solid waste (MSW) has different means. Now here in the United States it is commonly known as trash or garbage but in the United Kingdom it would be called refuse or rubbish. It is a waste type consisting of everyday items that people use and then throw away. These things consist of grass clippings, furniture, clothing, batteries, newspapers, food scraps and many other things that are used in our homes, schools, hospitals and businesses (EPA, 2014). It was reported that in 2012 Americans generated almost 251 million tons of trash and only recycled and composted almost 87 million tons (EPA, 2014). Therefore, municipal solid waste is the things we throw away every day.
Research conducted by Lillianna Guerrero et al. at the Built Department at Eindhoven University of Technology in Den Dolech showing the challenges of waste management challenges for cities in developing countries that waste management comes at a high cost that most countries don’t have the money to set aside for in the annual budget (1). They found that even when the money is set aside, failure to follow guidelines hurts the budget even more. This is important because they must figure out how to make sure guidelines are followed so they can make planned budget costs. Budgeting for a smaller country with no money can be tough especially when there is another factor in their country that needs as much resources as it can get, such as food and water supply for their countries people. Worsening the problem can be avoided if they inform their people on how to properly dispose of their waste and recycle item that could be used in place of another object that will potentially end up as harmful waste. According to Guerrero’s research the outcomes are a comprehensive list of stakeholders that are relevant in the waste management systems and a set of factors that reveal the most important causes for the systems’ failure. For example, failure to educated the public causes incorrect disposal techniques to
Outer islands have dumpsters that are used for trash generated by workers. Most outer island work is occasional and involves few individuals; therefore waste generation is minimal. Dumpsters from Illeginni, Legan and Carlos are replaced at least quarterly, and more frequently if barge transportation is available. Wastes are shipped to the Kwajalein Solid Waste Management Yard for segregation, incineration, and/or landfilling as needed. Dumpsters from Gagan are transported to Roi-Namur for disposal. When special projects take place on these or other outer islands, additional dumpsters and waste receptacles are delivered and used as needed. Wastes from construction projects are removed from the islands at the conclusion of the projects or during the project as needed. No wastes are disposed on these islands with the exception of green wastes which are left to decompose naturally.
Solid waste management, the compilation, managing, and disposing of solid items that are neglected because they have failed to function or are no longer effective. Incorrect removal of municipal solid waste can create contaminated conditions, and these conditions in turn can lead to corruption of the surroundings and to outbreaks of vector-borne disease—that is, diseases caused by animals and insects. The tasks of solid waste management present complicated technical obstacles. The local government is responsible for collecting reusable, recyclable and non-biodegradable waste materials from the material recovery facilities and transporting them to the recycling centers and or to the municipal material recovery facility.
To implement a recycling program requires a collection process that includes the containers to gather the materials, the trucks to transport them to the processing site, and the manpower to manage the program. Unfortunately, recycling is more of a business than an attempt to save the environment. The value of the material being recycled overshadows the negative impact of dumping items into the landfill. At a point in time, the demand for recycled paper declined, so recyclers stored the material in hopes that values would increase. “The hope is that eventually the markets turn around and that the materials is sold, but I have heard of instances where it gets landfilled, because a community doesn’t have the demand or the space or the company to deal with it, “ says Gene Jones, the executive director of Southern Waste Information Exchange (Westervelt,
umans generate millions of tons of waste which goes to who knows where. In 2013, the United States alone accumulated 254-million tons of trash. (EPA, 2013) Unfortunately, this massive amount of garbage does not just go away. Instead, it goes somewhere else. Many developed countries, such as the European Union, resort to “environmental dumping”. This is when trash from a developed country is literally dumped onto the territory of undeveloped countries, like Africa. Although there are agreements between countries, illegal dumping still occurs. (Syeda et al., 2013)
This waste should not be pressured upon a geographical area if they do not create it. A clean and healthy environment is the only thing many lesser-developed countries have to cherish.
Solid waste can be classified in different types, depending on their source, household waste is generally classified as municipal waste; industrial waste as hazardous waste or hospital waste as infections waste. It quite obvious that South Africa environment is deteriorated by the illegal dumping area that around here. Solid waste is a major problem this country is facing at the moment. The province that is experience this major problem is Gauteng province, this an urban area am taking about, and since it’s clear that over population is the cause of the problem. Gauteng province is an over populated than rural area .solid waste pollution is refuse or garbage that people use in their everyday life in their house, such as plastic
Policy is needed to regulate which course of action should be taken and how it should be implemented. Because of this, many plans and policies revolving around the management of solid waste have been put in place. Sometimes however, a particular policy can have its shortfalls, potentially resulting in its negative aspects outweighing the positive ones. According to the Conference Board of Canada Report, “Canadians dispose of more municipal solid waste per capita than any other country” (2013). Solid waste management in particular, involves many aspects, ranging from packaging waste, food waste, etc. (White & Franke 1999), hence, the following analysis revolves around household and commercial waste – referred to as Municipal Solid Waste (White & Franke. 1999) – in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Municipal waste is a major health and environmental concern as it contributes to numerous problems like habitat destruction, surface groundwater pollution, and other forms of air, soil, and water contamination. Waste disposal methods like incineration create toxic substances, and landfills emit methane, which contributes to global warming. According to the Zero Waste Objective Report, “The impact of climate change and the increasing awareness of the role of “waste” and “wasting” in the production of greenhouse gas emissions is a constant environmental pressure… (2009). This leads to an increasing limitation of government to prevent and control the volume and toxicity of products in the waste stream and a growing need to shift responsibility to the product manufacturer.
Traditional methods of waste disposal have proven to be ineffective and have caused harmful effects on the environment. The most popular and inexpensive way to get rid of garbage is burial, but burying your problems does not necessarily mean getting rid of them. Landfill sites pose as severe ecological threats as these mass garbage dump yards overflow with trash and frequently contaminate our air, soil and water with hazardous wastes. About 400 million tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year1. A large-scale release of these materials can cause thousands of deaths and may poison the environment for many years. For example many industrial companies around the world cannot afford to enforce the strict pollution regulations set by many developed countries. This usually forces these types of companies to move to developing countries where pollution regulations are very lenient. These developing countries knowingly accept environmentally hazardous companies usually because they are in desperate need of employment. The harmful effects of these companies were clearly illustrated in the 1960s and 1970s when residents living near Minamata Bay, Japan, developed nervous disorders, tremors, and paralysis in a mysterious epidemic. The root was later found to be a local industry that had released mercury, a highly toxic element, into Minamata Bay. The disaster had claimed the lives of 400 people1. Since 1970 you can bet that a lot more than 400 people have died as a result of waste disposal. If the type of waste disposal were cheaper and effective we wouldn’t have to deal with waste problems, which still plague mankind today.
Due to the fact that there is a huge problem with garbage disposal, government representatives must contribute to resolving this issue. Efficient waste management approaches help with reducing and avoiding unpleasant impacts on the environment and human health, while allowing for financial development and progress in the quality of people’s lives. People do not even imagine the size and capacity of their activities and the impact they produce on the environment. Garbage is an important ecological problem. It seems amazing that approximately all of the citizens of the world identify rubbish as a major environmental problem and yet these people still litter.
Many ethical dilemmas develop from the fact that while hospitals act as the primary ‘stations’ that provides health services for individuals and the community, there is a negative impact of hospital waste on the environment and the public health. The lack of proper acknowledgment and management of these ethical issues could lead to violation of human rights, along with poor outcomes in terms of waste management strategies or interventions.
Wastes are the products of our consumptions in our daily life routines such as lunch, work, school and other things we do. Little things such as throwing out a piece of paper, we are producing waste by the seconds. After we consume a product we usually throw out what’s left that can’t be consumed any further. Results in producing waste, substance that are born after it’s been use or consume by us. At the end of each day we throw out a bag full of garbage, all of the materials in that bag (paper towels, cans, leftover foods and many other material’s) all of these are waste. Hospitals produce medical waste such as use needles for treating patients. Corporations produce papers, plastics, tires, steels, cans and many other type of solid waste which contribute to the pollutions that cause health risk and other environmental issues.
Recycling is such a fantastic way for us to reuse the waste we once throw. Yet, not everything is easy to be done in this world. There many difficulties that face recycling process economically and socially. Usually In order to recycle, waste paper needs to be sorted and treated from any Impurities. Which means that companies will loss finance because there must be someone or something that could sort or treat these papers. Another problem is that to start recycling, companies needs a lot of good recyclable supply to pick it up; after all, they need good economic benefits (Problems with Recycling, 2014). According to the Waste and Resources Action Program, there are some barriers p...