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Preliminary essay on waste management
Solid waste management in our locality
Solid waste management in our locality
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Recommended: Preliminary essay on waste management
SCI201 Unit 4 Individual Project
Introduction
What is municipal solid waste (MSW)? Well, MSW is trash that consists of everyday things that we throw away. These come from Schools, hospitals, homes, and other businesses. Prior to Industrialization waste was dealt with by dumping it in a landfill people would dig holes and cover the garbage with dirt. Others would just dump their garbage in a designated area away from the city or designate someone to take the garbage to that land fill. This process as not very safe because back then nobody understood how diseases worked so animals that rummaged through that landfill ended up causing outbreaks of the plague.
Body of Paper
An open dump is piles of garbage that have been gathers at a specific location where they shouldn’t be. Open dumps are illegal and have a negative impact on our environment. Dumps such as this one tends to invite wild animals causing vector-borne diseases. So, this is illegal and a clear danger to public health.
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There have been known issues in the past from landfills such as leachate and methane. Leachate is what happens when you have all this waste in one locations it’s going to be the liquid runoff from the waste. As for the methane that’s the gas that is created when the waste decomposes. Leachate should be handled with caution since if it flows freely it could end up in groundwater. Methane gasses should be prevented at all costs as well because it is known to be the foremost contributor to global
The Lowry Landfill Superfund Site is located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, approximately 2 miles east of Aurora. It consists of approximately 507 acres of waste disposal area and is operated by Waste Management of Colorado, Inc. The land surrounding the site consists of native prairie grass and a wetland located along a local creek. Sections around the site are zoned for agricultural use including cattle grazing and non-irrigated wheat farms. 1 The area is home to numerous endangered species including the bald eagle and peregrine falcon. Due to the large amounts of wastes disposed on the site between 1965 and 1980, it became extremely contaminated with a variety of inorganic and organic contaminants. From 1984 to 1993, the EPA oversaw remedial investigation and feasibility studies that were performed by all responsible parties. Since its listing as a superfund site in 1984, multiple remedial actions have been performed in order to rehabilitate the site. These include clay barrier walls around the site, a groundwater collection system, a soil cover for the main landfill, as well as a landfill gas collection system. Groundwater that is collected on the site is treated at an onsite water treatment facility. In 2007, construction began on an onsite gas to energy plant that utilizes the methane produced by the landfill site. The electricity produced by the plant is enough to power 3000 households. 1 Today, use of land and groundwater on and near the site is still restricted by the state of Colorado.1
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.
It is important to realize that this situation was very unusual to the local residents, because the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADM) cleared the landfill to proceed, fully aware
That is an appalling amount of landfills that are in the United States. They retire landfills because a leakage breaks out into the ground or into a body of water. The majority of landfills are close by or right next to some type of body of water. When the landfill begins to leak the disgusting leakage goes into the water and starts to kill the living organisms in the water as well as affecting us humans. Many people do not know but they just might be swimming, tubing, or etc… in the extremely contaminated water. There are many toxins that could be in the water or the in the ground, a few of them are “mercury, arsenic, cadmium, PVC, solvents, acid, lead, and… leachate which is a liquid formed when waste breaks down in the landfill and water filters through that waste. It is highly toxic” (EnviromentVictoria). The most lethal toxins in the group that I just listed are mercury, lead, and leachate. A small dose of that could possibly kill you imagine that being leaked into the ground and our waterways and coming to areas that us humans use day in and day out. Another problem is greenhouse gases being released into the
Each and everyday people look for a way to help the community and environment around them. It could either be picking up trash around the local park, or cleaning up destructed areas, it could even be simply turning off the lights after you exit a room. How much does one really need? How might this affect the environment? One professor at Huston-Tillotson University, Jeff Wilson, took it a step further to answer that question. Wilson constructed an experiment called ‘The Dumpster Project’. Wilson moved from a large home into a dumpster. When journalist James Hamblin heard about this project he wanted to share it with the world. Hamblin uses the technique of in depth examination and expression to show the environmental impact and inspiring
b. Another myth about landfills is that they are poisoning the soil and our water supply. Even the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, says modern landfills pose little to no risk to humans. Modern landfills are built on a thick foundation of clay and plastic liners. Also, the methane gas produced in biodegradation is often...
In old batteries, there is a toxic lead that is causing health problems for the Taiwan people who are disposing these batteries (Gay, 12). Space is becoming a landfill from the excess of space flights and the radioactive supplies from nuclear reactors, which could come to our atmosphere and explode (Gay, 13). When businesses run out of space to dump their toxic trash they go to poor nations because they do not have strict safety regulations (Gay, 31). The landfills on Earth are not the only place trash is getting put. The ocean is being trashed with plastic bags, soda can holders, and large fishnets, which are harming dolphins, turtles, sea lions, and others (Gay, 69). Military bases in the U.S have more hazardous waste and are responsible for contamination in soil and waters (Gay, 83). There are other hazards happening because we are throwing away so much stuff that companies have to remake all of those products. Incinerators are places where waste is burned to ashes and if we recycle these can go away. Incinerators cause sulfur dioxide, carbon m...
Solid waste pickup services will exist, preventing litter and garbage accumulations. Large fines will be issued if improper garbage and recycling activities are noticed and reported. Almost everything will be recyclable and taken to nearby cities to their recycling plants. Garbage will also be sent out to a nearby dump.
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.
...or lakes (Weber 2). When people just dump waste products instead of recycling, it is a misuse of the soil and can contribute to serious health conditions in animals, plants and humans.
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.
Efficient waste managing approaches help with reducing and avoiding unpleasant impact on the environment and human health, while allowing financial development and progress in the quality of people’s life. People do not even imagine what is the size and capacity of their activities and the impact they produce on the environment. Garbage is an important ecological problem. It is seems amazing that approximately all of the citizens of the world identify rubbish as a major environmental problem and yet these people still litter. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (2008), an American produces 250 million tons of garbage per year (para.2). There are different circumstances that are based on the society, environmental conditions, occupation and size of each of the different family. As Richmond (2010) stated, if no administration organizations has the responsibility or resources to concentrate their efforts on the waste disposal, then the responsibility to do that is on ...
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
America and Europe are at the top of the list for most waste generated according to Waste (4). This is very visible because there’s litter on every street in the towns and cities, as well in lakes, beaches, and rivers. The book Waste by Rob Bowden states that the amount of waste produced is increasing at a rate faster than population growth. About 1.5 million computers, in the U.K, are thrown away each year and most end up in landfills. There are 3 types of waste which are Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Waste, and Hazardous waste. MSW includes waste from public garbage cans and local dumpsters. Industrial Waste includes massive amounts of waste water that is contaminated with chemicals. Hazardous waste is the most dangerous as it presents a danger to human health and the environment. Solutions for waste disposal take time because people need to consider their lifestyle and limit the amount of waste they generate. A good start is to recycle items such as paper, cans, plastic, and clothes. This way they don’t end up in landfills, beaches, or streets. Another solution is to join organizations that go around places to recycle, or organizations that demand the reduction in the amount of products that are being
The solid wastes are produce not only by households; it’s contributed by hospitals and corporations. Hospitals throw away bandages, use needles and latex gloves, these items hospitals throw away daily all the time because they can’t be reuse for the safety of its patients. Corporations throw away a lot of waste as well such as papers that they use whether in writing or in projects. All of these leftovers after consumptions are waste that is produced by our daily actions.