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Natural and man - made disasters
Short note on hazardous waste
Natural and man - made disasters
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It is imperative to note that both the man made and the natural activities that take place in the world are susceptible to disasters. The disasters and hazards that take place are normally categorized into several divisions. They include the technological, regional, and the man made events that can interfere with the composition of the environment (Doody, 2014). At that point, it was necessary for the disposal of these hazardous wastes to take place thus leading to the pollution of the environment. As such, it was important for the hazardous waste to be managed in an appropriate manner to minimize these effects. Under this process, the reuse of hazardous wastes in civil engineering applications was one of the ways that would be useful in minimizing the effect on the environment. The objective of the paper is to study various methods that can be used in the management of hazardous wastes in civil engineering applications.
Introduction
According to (Gupta, 2012), the hazardous waste refers to any form of waste or a combination of several wastes that normally pose substantial danger to the environment. In this case, the environment is comprised of animals, human beings, and plants. In addition, the hazardous waste can only be disposed using specific conditions such as taking the necessary protective measures. Under the disasters and hazards, the
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As such, it is important that they adopt and implement a strategy that will be useful in reducing the wastes, and reusing it at any given time (Saxena, 2013). Moreover, it is paramount that they adopt a recycling strategy that will help them to handle their waste in an appropriate and environmentally stable manner. One of the ways of doing this is by reduction of wastes at the initial source point using a suitable civil engineering
Minimise waste generation, enhance recovery and recycling of material and develop eco-friendly waste disposal practices.
Environmental hazards arise as well from hazardous materials and waste. Hazardous materials concerns could arise from spills of gasoline, diesel fuel, oil, or solvents from containers or vehicles. Spills could contaminate soils or leach into ground or surface water. And environmental hazards could adversely affect humans, wild life, vegetation and water supply.
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
Hazardous materials come in many forms and include: explosives, flammable and combustible substances, poisons and radioactive materials. These dangerous substances are usually released during a transportation accident or through accidents or chemical spills in plants and factories. Since hazardous materials are shipped or transported through a variety of ways including l, waterways, and major highways and the release of these chemicals could cause serious harm. They can enter our water ways from oil rig spills or enter the environment from a train derailment or a container truck accident. The affects of a hazardous materials incident can include serious injury or death, serious health effects and property damage and environmental damage including bodies of water.
Hazardous waste can be defined as any waste that is likely to cause danger to the environment or heath whether in isolation or in a combination with other wastes or substances by virtue of its physical, toxic, reactive, chemical, explosive, flammable or corrosive characteristics. Characteristics of hazardous wastes are:
Hazardous material is any material that may cause hazard to human health or environment. Hazardous material can be solid, liquid or gas. There is 9 classes of hazardous material are known in the United Nation. The solid hazardous material can cause hazard to human by contacting or by dust form so the human will inhale it. The liquid hazardous material can cause hazard to human by flowing into draining system and waterways so it will affect the person by the drinking water and it will also affect the wildlife. There is 2 main ways that hazardous material can get in human body and cause harm, one of them is inhalation so it will damage the lungs and respiratory system, and also ingestion so the material will enter the body with the food or water and it will damage the digestive system.
Paying attention on the sectors which consume major portion of natural resources, construction can be put as number one in the world. Therefore, the need for effective construction waste management is growing in importance, with the increasing generation of construction waste and to its adverse impacts on the environment (Freitas & Magrini, 2017). Furthermore, construction activities consume a large quantity of materials and energy as well as generating unacceptable level of solid waste. Accordingly, energy- demanding manufactures materials such as steel, copper, glass, iron, synthetic materials and cement, construction is identified as the largest consumptions materials from the natural products. The construction industry consumes 25% of virgin
Responsible management of waste is an essential aspect of sustainable building. In this context, managing waste means eliminating waste where possible; minimizing waste where feasible; and reusing materials which might otherwise become waste. Solid waste management practices have identified the reduction, recycling, and reuse of wastes as essential for sustainable management of resources. Dispose of millions of tons of building-related waste in solid waste landfills each year. Increasingly, significant volumes of construction related waste are removed from the waste stream through a process called diversion. Diverted materials are sorted for subsequent recycling, and in some cases reused. Volumes of building-related waste generated
Therefore, many countries in the developed world have adopted recycling policies for disposal Of waste. The benefits of the recycling process include the following. Maintaining the cleanliness of the environment in the first place from the damage of burying and burning the waste or leaving it exposed Reduce the pollution of sea, ocean and river waters from dumping solid waste, threaten marine life, and reduce groundwater pollution from the waste of
From the two definitions proper channelization and transportation of waste were emphasized which are key factors to be considered for inception of waste management in a country. Processing, treatment and recycling can only be talked about when proper waste collection system is in place. The effect of waste disposal and poor management on the environments health cannot be over emphasized. Drainage systems are blocked causing flood during heavy down pour of rain due to improper was...
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.
As humanity develops new technology, the magnitude and severity of waste increases. When computers were developed, it widely was believed that the need for paper would be eliminated. On the contrary this was widely proven false and we are now utilizing more paper than ever. Canada is not an exception as the typical Canadian generates an average of three pounds of solid waste each day1. This alone shows what a careless species we have become- using and disposing materials without even considering the damage we are causing. With half a trillion tones of waste around the world, only 25% may be reused for a second or third time and less than 5% can be renewed limitlessly1. These facts are true only in developed countries. Since these traditional waste reduction methods have been proven inefficient, we must endorse new innovative technology to arrive at a solution.
The average resident produces seven and a half pounds of garbage every day that is buried down in landfills and litter lands, costing a great amount of money. Nowadays, people face no more critical problem than the need to save the weakening environment, mainly in urban areas, where solid wastes are uselessly dumped. It has been observed that cities have no controlled structure for garbage disposal. Each year, millions of dollars are spent picking up litter and more is thrown away in valuable materials that could be recycled. As humanity develops new technology and equipment, the level of waste increases every day.
There are also several long term benefits of recycling. For example, “collecting and processing secondary materials, manufacturing recy...
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...