Essay On Solid Waste Management

1302 Words3 Pages

Introduction

Solid waste can be classified as all waste materials except hazardous waste, liquid waste and atmospheric emissions (Liu & Liptak, 2000). The world consumption of non- renewable sources of energy as raw materials are predominantly getting depleted and on the contrary waste produced is increasing massively, solid waste is one of the major problems faced by the world and the construction industry today. In New Zealand, construction and demolition waste produced constitutes a high percentage of the total solid waste produced in the country. The Ministry for Environment reports around 1 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste goes to landfills each year and about 40% of that originates from residential construction.
The …show more content…

According to Ministry for Environment 2007-2008 survey, the construction waste together forms about 36% of the total waste diverted to landfills, out of which about 40%is direct from residential constructions.
Waste Disposal

A solid waste management system needs to ensure human health and safety. They must be safe for workers and should also safeguard public health. In addition to these, a sustainable system for solid waste management must be environmentally effective, economically affordable and socially acceptable (McDougall, White, Franke, & Hindle, 2003).
Construction waste disposal in New Zealand is done by commercial firms by means of rubbish skips these skips are also known as fills. Disposed off waste material can be classified into two – Landfill and cleanfill
Cleanfill
Cleanfill as definition given by Ministry for Environment, ‘Are materials which when buried will have no adverse effect on the environment.’ In common terms, inert …show more content…

These drivers towards solid waste have led Engineers to think on alternatives to minimise waste diverted to landfills. As, the amount of waste reduction on a small site may not seem quantitative but, if all the levels in construction i.e. from suppliers to site workers contribute then the impact will be significant. Waste minimisation should begin at the design stage, starting from the choice of building materials used on site, Accurate estimating procedures should be used while ordering materials. Designers can choose modular sizes of materials and prefinished materials wherever appropriate as they will produce less waste on site at the time of installation. The excavation produces on site can be calculated and estimated to be used as landfill for landscaping on sites. Reduce materials waste by centralising timber cutting off location, materials should be stored according to their shapes and sizes. Simple measures like mixing materials to a quantity which can be fully used. Planning can also play vital role in waste minimisation, plan for materials to be delivered to reduce the storage and transportation cost, and by making sure that everyone is well aware of the materials stored on site in order to prevent any double

Open Document