Waste generation and management

Waste is an unavoidable by-product of most human active. Waste is any substance which is discarded after
primary use, or it is worthless, defective or no use/
Four major categories of waste: municipal solid waste, industrial waste, agricultural waste and hazardous
waste. Each of these waste types is examined separately below.
1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2.

Domestic waste: generated in households

Kitchen waste: peels, rotten food, leftovers, stale food, shells of nuts, eggs
Plastics: discarded wrappings, packaging
Glass: broken bottles, etc
Rags: old clothes, bedsheets, etc
Paper: newspapers, magazines, bills, etc
Municipal Solid Waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated from households, offices, hotels, shops, schools and other
institutions. The major components are food waste, paper, plastic, rags, metal and glass, although demolition
and construction debris is often included in collected waste, as are small quantities of hazardous waste, such
as electric light bulbs, batteries, automotive parts and discarded medicines and chemicals.
a. Household discharge includes domestic sewage water
b. Discharge from various offices, hospitals, schools, etc
This consists of both degradable and non biodegradable wastes.
3. Industrial Solid Waste Industrial solid waste encompasses a wide range of materials of varying
environmental toxicity. Typically this range would include paper, packaging materials, waste from food
processing, oils, solvents, resins, paints and sludges, glass, ceramics, stones, metals, plastics, rubber, leather,
wood, cloth, straw, abrasives, etc. As with municipal solid waste, the absence of a regularly up-dated and
systematic database on industrial solid waste ensures that the exact rates of generation are largely unknown.
A.
B.
C.
4.

Mining waste- left over after ore processing, mine tailing, water used in processing
Construction waste: Construction leftover, liquid wastes, wash offs. Most waste are dumped in landfills
Refineries: gaseous and liquid waste produced during the refining process
Agricultural Waste and Residues Expanding agricultural production has naturally resulted in increased
quantities of livestock waste, agricultural crop residues and agro-industrial by-products (Spoiled food wastes,
agricultural wastes, hazardous wastes (e.g. pesticides))
Pesticides and fertilizers cause long term ecological damage.
Fertilizer eutrophication
Pesticide, insecticide, etc.- biological magnification
5. e- Waste from electronic equipments: Old electronic gadgets or their parts- TV, radio, mobile phones,
cassettes, tapes, laptops, refrigerators, etc. it may contain valuable elements or metals such as gold, silver,
cooper though their extraction may cause bodily harm to the scrap dealer or workers.
Processing is done by collection, sorting, separation of useful components from others. It may involve
incineration that causes production of dangerous fumes.
6. Hazardous Waste: With rapid development in agriculture, industry, commerce, hospital and health-care
facilities is consuming significant quantities of toxic chemicals and producing a large amount of hazardous
waste. Currently, there are about 110 000 types of toxic chemicals commercially available. Each year,
another 1 000 new chemicals are added to the market for industrial and other uses.
Thousands of tons of toxic waste are being illegally shipped to India for recycling or dumping, despite a New
Delhi court order banning imports of toxic materials.

7. Biomedical Waste: The number of hospitals and health care institutions has been increasing to meet the
medical and health care requirements of the growing population. Although city planners have long taken into
consideration the provision of medical and health care institutions and services, until recent years, they, and
even municipal waste management authorities, have paid very little attention to the wastes generated from
these facilities, which are potentially hazardous to human health and the environment. In recent years,
however, serious concern has arisen regarding the potential for spreading pathogens, as well as causing
environmental contamination due to the improper handling and management of clinical and biomedical
waste.
8. Radioactive Waste:India uses permanent land burial methods for the disposal of radioactive waste
Methods of solid waste disposal
a. Segregation
Waste sorted in reusable, biodegradable and non bio degradable categories
b. Land filling: In many metropolitan cities, open, uncontrolled and poorly managed dumping is commonly
practiced, giving rise to serious environmental degradation. More than 90% of MSW in cities and towns are
directly disposed of on land in an unsatisfactory manner. Such dumping activity in many coastal towns has
led to heavy metals rapidly leaching into the coastal waters. In larger towns or cities like Delhi, the
availability of land for waste disposal is very limited.
c. Aerobic composting: The bacterial conversion of the organics present in MSW in the presence of air under
hot and moist conditions is called composting, and the final product obtained after bacterial activity is called
compost (humus), which has very high agricultural value. It is used as fertilizer, and it is no odorous and free
of pathogens. As a result of the composting process, the waste volume can be reduced to 5085%.
d. Vermicomposting: Vermicomposting involves stabilization of organic waste through the joint action of
earthworms and aerobic microorganisms. Initially, microbial decomposition of biodegradable organic matter
occurs through extra cellular enzymatic activity (primary decomposition). Earthworms feed on partially
decomposed matter, consuming five times their body weight of organic matter per day. The ingested food is
further decomposed in the gut of the worms, resulting in particle size reduction. The worm cast is a fine,
odorless and granular product. This product can serve as a biofertilizer in agriculture. Vermicomposting has
been used in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Faridabad.
e. Anaerobic digestion (biomethanation): If the organic waste is buried in pits under partially anaerobic
conditions, it will be acted upon by anaerobic microorganisms with the release of methane and carbon
dioxide; the organic residue left is good manure. This process is slower than aerobic composting and occurs
in fact naturally in landfills.
f. Incineration: Incineration is the process of control and complete combustion, for burning solid wastes. It
leads to energy recovery and destruction of toxic wastes, for example, waste from hospitals. The temperature
in the incinerators varies between 980 and 2000 C. One of the most attractive features of the incineration
process is that it can be used to reduce the original volume of combustible solid waste by 8090%. In some
newer incinerators designed to operate at temperatures high enough to produce a molten material, it may be
possible to reduce the volume to about 5% or even less
g. Gasification technology Incineration of solid waste under oxygen deficient conditions is called gasification.
The objective of gasification has generally been to produce fuel gas, which would be stored and used when
required.
Methods of waste water disposal
Drainage: Proper sewer system of domestic sewage collection and storm drains are constructed to collect
waste water.

Waste water treatment

a. Introduction. Preliminary treatment of wastewater generally includes those processes that remove debris and
coarse biodegradable material from the waste stream and/or stabilize the wastewater by equalization or
chemical addition.
b. Primary treatment. An important part of any wastewater treatment plant is the equipment and facilities used
to remove items such as rags, grit, sticks, other debris, and foreign objects.
(a) Screening. Screening devices remove materials which would damage equipment or interefere with a process or
piece of equipment.
(b) Grit removal. Grit represents the heavier inert matter in wastewater which will not decompose in treatment
processes.
c. Secondary treatment
Waste water is treated with aerobic bacteria and the sludge is collected to further process with anaerobic
digestion by anaerobes. The effluent is taken for further treatment. Final sludge is used to generate biogas
and manure.
d. Tertiary treatment
Chemical or physical processes are conduced to further purify the waste water before reusing the water or
discharging it.
Methods to control air pollution
Scrubber
Scrubber systems are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove
some particulates and/or gases from industrial exhaust streams.
Wet scrubbing: The exhaust gases of combustion may contain substances considered harmful to the
environment, and the scrubber may remove or neutralize those. A wet scrubber is used to clean air, fuel
gas or other gases of various pollutants and dust particles. Wet scrubbing works via the contact of target
compounds or particulate matter with the scrubbing solution. Solutions may simply be water (for dust) or
solutions of reagents that specifically target certain compounds.
A dry or semi-dry scrubbing system, unlike the wet scrubber, does not saturate the flue gas stream that is
being treated with moisture. In some cases no moisture is added, while in others only the amount of moisture
that can be evaporated in the flue gas without condensing is added. Therefore, dry scrubbers generally do not
have a stack steam plume or wastewater handling/disposal requirements. Dry scrubbing systems are used to
remove acid gases (such asSO2 and HCl) primarily from combustion sources.
Electrostatic precipitator
ESP is a filtration device that removes fine particles, like dust and smoke, from a flowing gas using the force
of an induced electrostatic charge minimally impeding the flow of gases through the unit.