Name Avisek Shaw B.Com 3rd Year (Hons.) Registration no.

. (Calcutta University) : 235-1121-0192-10 College roll no - 74 Tara Devi Harakh Chand Kankaria Jain College. EVS Project. Year-2012-13

Date Signature -

Solid Waste

What is solid waste?

The sight of a dustbin overflowing and the stench rising from it, the all too familiar sights and smells of a crowded city. You look away from it and hold your nose as you cross it. Have you ever thought that you also have a role to play in the creation of this stench? That you can also play a role in the lessening of this smell and making this waste bin look a little more attractive if you follow proper methods of disposal of the waste generated in the house? Since the beginning, humankind has been generating waste, be it the bones and other parts of animals they slaughter for their food or the wood they cut to make their carts. With the progress of civilization, the waste generated became of a more complex nature. At the end of the 19th century the industrial revolution saw the rise of the world of consumers. Not only did the air get more and more polluted but the earth itself became more polluted with the generation of no biodegradable solid waste. The increase in population and urbanization was also largely responsible for the increase in solid waste. Each household generates garbage or waste day in and day out. Items that we no longer need or do not have any further use for fall in the category of waste, and we tend to throw them away. There are different types of solid waste depending on their source. In todays polluted world, learning the correct methods of handling the waste generated has become essential. Segregation is an

important method of handling municipal solid waste. Segregation at source can be understood clearly by representation. One of the important methods of managing and treating wastes is composting. As the cities are growing in size and in problems such as the generation of plastic waste, various municipal waste treatment and disposal methods are now being used to try and resolve these problems. One common sight in all cities is the rag picker who plays an important role in the segregation of this waste. Garbage generated in households can be recycled and reused to prevent creation of waste at source and reducing amount of waste thrown into the community dustbins.

Types of solid waste

Solid waste can be classified into different types depending on their source: a) Household waste is generally classified as municipal waste, b) Industrial waste as hazardous waste, and c) Biomedical waste or hospital waste as infectious waste.

Municipal solid waste

Municipal solid waste consists of household waste, construction and demolition debris, sanitation residue, and waste from streets. This garbage is generated mainly from residential and commercial complexes. With rising urbanization and change in lifestyle and food habits, the amount of municipal solid waste has been increasing rapidly and its composition changing. In 1947 cities and towns in India generated an estimated 6 million tones of solid waste; in 1997 it was about 48 million tones. More than 25% of the municipal solid waste is not collected at all; 70% of the Indian cities lack adequate capacity to transport it and there are no sanitary landfills to dispose of the waste. The existing landfills are neither well equipped nor well managed and are not lined properly to protect against contamination of soil and groundwater.Over the last few years, the consumer market has grown rapidly leading to products being packed in cans, aluminum foils, plastics, and other such no biodegradable items that cause incalculable harm to the environment. In India, some municipal areas have banned the use of plastics and they seem to have

achieved success. For example, today one will not see a single piece of plastic in the entire district of Ladakh where the local authorities imposed a ban on plastics in 1998. Other states should follow the example of this region and ban the use of items that cause harm to the environment. One positive note is that in many large cities, shops have begun packing items in reusable or biodegradable bags. Certain biodegradable items can also be composted and reused. In fact proper handling of the biodegradable waste will considerably lessen the burden of solid waste that each city has to tackle. There are different categories of waste generated, each take their own time to degenerate (as illustrated in the table below).
The type of litter we generate and the approximate time it takes to degenerate Type of litter Organic waste such as vegetable and fruit peels, leftover foodstuff, etc. Paper Cotton cloth Wood Woolen items Tin, aluminum, and other metal items such as cans Plastic bags Glass bottles Approximate time it takes to degenerate the litter a week or two. 1030 days 25 months 1015 years 1 year 100500 years one million years? undetermined

Hazardous waste
Industrial and hospital waste is considered hazardous as they may contain toxic substances. Certain types of household waste are also hazardous. Hazardous wastes could be highly toxic to humans, animals, and plants; are corrosive, highly inflammable, or explosive; and react when exposed to certain things e.g. gases. India generates around 7 million tons of hazardous wastes every year, most of which is concentrated in four states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

Household wastes that can be categorized as hazardous waste include old batteries, shoe polish, paint tins, old medicines, and medicine bottles.Hospital waste contaminated by chemicals used in hospitals is considered hazardous. These chemicals include formaldehyde and phenols, which are used as disinfectants, and mercury, which is used in thermometers or equipment that measure blood pressure. Most hospitals in India do not have proper disposal facilities for these hazardous wastes. In the industrial sector, the major generators of hazardous waste are the metal, chemical, paper, pesticide, dye, refining, and rubber goods industries. Direct exposure to chemicals in hazardous waste such as mercury and cyanide can be fatal.

Hospital waste
Hospital waste is generated during the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals or in research activities in these fields or in the production or testing of biological. It may include wastes like sharps, soiled waste, disposables, anatomical waste, cultures, discarded medicines, chemical wastes, etc. These are in the form of disposable syringes, swabs, bandages, body fluids, human excreta, etc. This waste is highly infectious and can be a serious threat to human health if not managed in a scientific and discriminate manner. It has been roughly estimated that of the 4 kg of waste generated in a hospital at least 1 kg would be infected. Surveys carried out by various agencies show that the health care establishments in India are not giving due attention to their waste management. After the notification of the Bio-medical Waste (Handling and Management) Rules, 1998, these establishments are

slowly streamlining the process of waste segregation, collection, treatment, and disposal. Many of the larger hospitals have either installed the treatment facilities or are in the process of doing so.

Effects of solid waste on environment and health.

On environment:The safety and acceptability of many widely used solid waste management practices are of serious concern from the public health point of view. Such concern stems from both distrust of policies and solutions proposed by all tiers of government for the management of solid waste and a perception that many solid waste management facilities use poor operating procedures. Waste management practice that currently encompasses disposal, treatment, reduction, recycling, segregation and modification has developed over the past 150 years. Before that and in numerous more recent situations, all wastes produced were handled by their producers using simple disposal methods, including terrestrial dumping, dumping into both fresh and marine waters and uncontrolled burning. In spite of ever-increasing industrialization and urbanization, the dumping of solid waste, particularly in landfills, remains a prominent means of disposal and implied treatment. Major developments have occurred with respect

to landfill technology and in the legislative control of the categories of wastes that can be subject to disposal by land filling. Even so, many landfills remain primitive in their operation. Alternative treatment technologies for solid waste management include incineration with heat recovery and waste gas cleaning and accelerated composting, but both of these technologies are subject to criticism either by environmentalists on the grounds of possible hazardous emissions, failure to eliminate pathogenic agents or failure to immobilize heavy metals, or by landfill operators and contractors on the basis of waste management economics, while key questions concerning the effects of the various practices on public health and environmental safety remain unanswered. The probable and relative effects on both public health and environmental safety of tradition and modern landfill technologies will be evaluated with respect to proposed alternative treatment technologies.

On Health:Modernization and progress has had its share of disadvantages and one of the main aspects of concern is the pollution it is causing to the earth be it land, air, and water. With increase in the global population and the rising demand for food and other essentials, there has been a rise in the amount of waste being generated daily by each household. This waste is ultimately thrown into municipal waste collection centers from where it is collected by the area municipalities to be further thrown into the landfills and dumps.

However, either due to resource crunch or inefficient infrastructure, not all of this waste gets collected and transported to the final dumpsites. If at this stage the management and disposal is improperly done, it can cause serious impacts on health and problems to the surrounding environment. Waste that is not properly managed, especially excreta and other liquid and solid waste from households and the community, are a serious health hazard and lead to the spread of infectious diseases. Unattended waste lying around attracts flies, rats, and other creatures that in turn spread disease. Normally it is the wet waste that decomposes and releases a bad odour. This leads to unhygienic conditions and thereby to a rise in the health problems. The plague outbreak in Surat is a good example of a city suffering due to the callous attitude of the local body in maintaining cleanliness in the city. Plastic waste is another cause for ill health. Thus excessive solid waste that is generated should be controlled by taking certain preventive measures.

Impacts of solid waste on health

The group at risk from the unscientific disposal of solid waste include the population in areas where there is no proper waste disposal method, especially the pre-school children; waste workers; and workers in facilities producing toxic and infectious material. Other high-risk group includes population living close to a waste dump and those, whose water supply has become contaminated either due to waste dumping or leakage from landfill sites. Uncollected solid waste also increases risk of injury, and infection. In particular, organic domestic waste poses a serious threat, since they ferment, creating conditions favorable to the survival and growth of microbial pathogens. Direct handling of solid waste can result in various types of infectious and chronic diseases with the

waste workers and the rag pickers being the most vulnerable. Exposure to hazardous waste can affect human health, children being more vulnerable to these pollutants. In fact, direct exposure can lead to diseases through chemical exposure as the release of chemical waste into the environment leads to chemical poisoning. Many studies have been carried out in various parts of the world to establish a connection between health and hazardous waste. Waste from agriculture and industries can also cause serious health risks. Other than this, codisposal of industrial hazardous waste with municipal waste can expose people to chemical and radioactive hazards. Uncollected solid waste can also obstruct storm water runoff, resulting in the forming of stagnant water bodies that become the breeding ground of disease. Waste dumped near a water source also causes contamination of the water body or the ground water source. Direct dumping of untreated waste in rivers, seas, and lakes results in the accumulation of toxic substances in the food chain through the plants and animals that feed on it. Disposal of hospital and other medical waste requires special attention since this can create major health hazards. This waste generated from the hospitals, health care centers, medical laboratories, and research centers such as discarded syringe needles, bandages, swabs, plasters, and other types of infectious waste are often disposed with the regular non-infectious waste.

Waste treatment and disposal sites can also create health hazards

for the neighborhood. Improperly operated incineration plants cause air pollution and improperly managed and designed landfills attract all types of insects and rodents that spread disease. Ideally these sites should be located at a safe distance from all human settlement. Landfill sites should be well lined and walled to ensure that there is no leakage into the nearby ground water sources. Recycling too carries health risks if proper precautions are not taken. Workers working with waste containing chemical and metals may experience toxic exposure. Disposal of health-care wastes require special attention since it can create major health hazards, such as Hepatitis B and C, through wounds caused by discarded syringes. Rag pickers and others, who are involved in scavenging in the waste dumps for items that can be recycled, may sustain injuries and come into direct contact with these infectious items.

Conclusion
Causal of increase in solid waste
Population growth Increase in industrials manufacturing Urbanization Modernization Modernization, technological advancement and increase in global population created rising in demand for food and other essentials. This has resulted to rise in the amount of waste being generated daily by each household. 158 million tons of municipal solid waste is produced annually in U.S.

Groups at risks due to solid waste

The groups at risk from the unscientific waste disposal include: Populations in areas where there is no proper waste treatment method. children Waste workers Populations living close to waste dump Animals

SOURCES OF HUMAN EXPOSURES

Exposures occurs through Ingestion of contaminated water or food Contact with disease vectors Inhalation

Points of contact
Soil adsorption, storage and biodegrading Plant uptake Ventilation Runoff Leaching Insects, birds, rats, flies and animals Direct dumping of untreated waste in seas, rivers and lakes results in the plants and animals that feed on it

Impacts of solid waste on health

Chemical poisoning through chemical inhalation Uncollected waste can obstruct the storm water runoff resulting in flood Low birth weight Cancer Congenital malformations Neurological disease Nausea and vomiting Increase in hospitalization of diabetic residents living near hazard waste sites. Mercury toxicity from eating fish with high levels of mercury

Effects of Solid Waste on Animals and Aquatics life

Increase in mercury level in fish due to disposal of mercury in the rivers.

 Plastic found in oceans ingested by birds Resulted in high algal population in rivers and sea. Degrades water and soil quality

Impacts of solid waste on Environment.

Waste breaks down in landfills to form methane, a potent greenhouse gas Change in climate and destruction of ozone layer due to waste biodegradable Littering, due to waste pollutions, illegal dumping, Leaching: is a process by which solid waste enter soil and ground water and contaminating them.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES
Proper management of solid waste Involving public in plans for waste treatment and disposal Provide the public accurate, useful information about the whole projects, including the risks and maintain formal communication with public Educate people on different ways of handling waste.

 Waste Minimization is a process of reducing waste produce by individuals, communities and companies, which reduces the impact of chemical wastes on the environment to the greatest extent. Household level of proper segregation of waste, recycling and reuse. Process and product substitution e.g. use paper bag instead of plastic bags.

Bibliography
www.google.com www.wikipedia.com U.S. Environment Protection Agency (2009). Proposed Revision to Definition of solid waste- frequent Questions. Retrieved July17, 2009 from http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm Goorah, S., Esmyot, M., Boojhawon, R. (2009). The Health Impact of Nonhazardous Solid Waste Disposal in a Community: The case of the Mare Chicose Landfill in Mauritius. Journal of Environment Health, 72(1) 48-54 Kouznetsova, M., Hauang, X., Ma, J., Lessner, L. & Carpenter, D. (2007). Increased Rate of Hospitalization for Diabetes and Residential Proximity of Hazardous waste Sites. Environmental Health Perspectives, 115(1)7575 Barlaz, M., Kaplan, P., Ranjithan, S. & Rynk, R. (2003) Evaluating Environmental Impacts of solid Waste Management Alternatives. BioCycle, 52-56.

Acknowledgement
For doing this tedious work, I received direct and indirect help from many corners of the world. First, I would like to thank our EVS faculty for providing this opportunity to work o this project and without whose guidance this project would have been incomplete. Secondly, I would to thank WWW (World Wide Web) for providing all the relevant information which was necessary for the completion of this project. And lastly, I would like to thank my friends who have been a great support to me all through the duration of the project work. I am thankful to them from the bottom of my heart. Thank You.

List of solid waste treatment technologies

Composting Incineration Landfill Recycling Windrow composting

Compost
Compost (pron.: /kmpst/ or /kmpost/) is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At the simplest level, the process of composting simply requires making a heap of wetted organic matter (leaves, "green" food waste) and waiting for the materials to break down into humus after a period of weeks or months. Modern, methodical composting is a multi-step, closely monitored process with measured inputs of water, air and carbonand nitrogen-rich materials. The decomposition process is aided by shredding the plant matter, adding water and ensuring proper aeration by regularly turning the mixture. Worms and fungi further break up the material. Aerobic bacteria manage the chemical

process by converting the inputs into heat, carbon dioxide and ammonium. The ammonium is further converted by bacteria into plant-nourishing nitrites and nitrates through the process of nitrification. Compost can be rich in nutrients. It is used in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, and agriculture. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil. In ecosystems, compost is useful for erosion control, land and stream reclamation, wetland construction, and as landfill cover (see compost uses). Organic ingredients intended for composting can alternatively be used to generate biogas through anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is fast overtaking composting in some parts of the world including central Europe as a primary means of down cycling waste organic matter.

Incineration
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials.[1] Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas, and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste, and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power. Incineration with energy recovery is one of several waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies such as gasification, plasma arc gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion. Incineration may also be implemented without energy and materials recovery.

In several countries, there are still concerns from experts and local communities about the environmental impact of incinerators (see arguments against incineration). In some countries, incinerators built just a few decades ago often did not include a materials separation to remove hazardous, bulky or recyclable materials before combustion. These facilities tended to risk the health of the plant workers and the local environment due to inadequate levels of gas cleaning and combustion process control. Most of these facilities did not generate electricity. Incinerators reduce the solid mass of the original waste by 8085% and the volume (already compressed somewhat in garbage trucks) by 95-96%, depending on composition and degree of recovery of materials such as metals from the ash for recycling.[2] This means that while incineration does not completely replace land filling, it significantly reduces the necessary volume for disposal. Garbage trucks often reduce the volume of waste in a built-in compressor before delivery to the incinerator. Alternatively, at landfills, the volume of the uncompressed garbage can be reduced by approximately 70% [citation needed] by using a stationary steel compressor, albeit with a significant energy cost. In many countries, simpler waste compaction is a common practice for compaction at landfills. Incineration has particularly strong benefits for the treatment of certain waste types in niche areas such as clinical wastes and certain hazardous wastes where pathogens and toxins can be destroyed by

high temperatures. Examples include chemical multi-product plants with diverse toxic or very toxic wastewater streams, which cannot be routed to a conventional wastewater treatment plant. Waste combustion is particularly popular in countries such as Japan where land is a scarce resource. Denmark and Sweden have been leaders in using the energy generated from incineration for more than a century, in localized combined heat and power facilities supporting district heating schemes.[3] In 2005, waste incineration produced 4.8% of the electricity consumption and 13.7% of the total domestic heat consumption in Denmark.[4] A number of other European countries rely heavily on incineration for handling municipal waste, in particular Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany and France.[2]

Landfill
A landfill site (also known as tip, dump, rubbish dump or dumping ground and historically as a midden) is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment. Historically, landfills have been the most common methods of organized waste disposal and remain so in many places around the world. Some landfills are also used for waste management purposes, such as the temporary storage, consolidation and transfer, or processing of waste material (sorting, treatment, or recycling). A landfill also may refer to ground that has been filled in with rocks instead of waste materials, so that it can be used for a specific purpose, such as for building houses. Unless they are stabilized, these areas may

experience severe shaking or liquefaction of the ground in a large earthquake.

Recycling
Recycling is a process using materials (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to plastic production.[1][2] Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste hierarchy. There are some ISO standards relating to recycling such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management control of recycling practice. Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable wastesuch as food or garden wasteis not typically considered recycling.[2] Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing. In the strictest sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the same materialfor example, used office paper would be converted into new office paper, or used foamed polystyrene into new polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or too expensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so "recycling" of many products or

materials involves their reuse in producing different materials (e.g., paperboard) instead. Another form of recycling is the salvage of certain materials from complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (e.g., lead from car batteries, or gold from computer components), or due to their hazardous nature (e.g., removal and reuse of mercury from various items). Critics dispute the net economic and environmental benefits of recycling over its costs, and suggest that proponents of recycling often make matters worse and suffer from confirmation bias. Specifically, critics argue that the costs and energy used in collection and transportation detract from (and outweigh) the costs and energy saved in the production process; also that the jobs produced by the recycling industry can be a poor trade for the jobs lost in logging, mining, and other industries associated with virgin production; and that materials such as paper pulp can only be recycled a few times before material degradation prevents further recycling. Proponents of recycling dispute each of these claims, and the validity of arguments from both sides has led to enduring controversy.

Windrow composting
In agriculture, windrow composting is the production of compost by piling organic matter or biodegradable waste, such as animal manure and crop residues, in long rows (windrows). This method is suited to producing large volumes of compost. These rows are generally turned to improve porosity and oxygen content, mix in or remove moisture, and redistribute cooler and hotter portions of the pile. Windrow composting is a commonly used farm scale composting method. Composting process control parameters include the initial ratios of carbon and nitrogen rich materials,

the amount of bulking agent added to assure air porosity, the pile size, moisture content, and turning frequency.

Index
01 02 03 04 05 06 What is solid waste? Types of solid waste. Effects of solid waste on environment & health. List of solid waste treatment technologies. Conclusion Bibliography