Lecture No: 1

1.1.Waste materials: sources and quantities and characterization

Solid waste materials are handled by what is termed the waste management system.
Waste management is a tradition that goes a long way back as solid waste has existed for
about as long as the human race and waste management has now become a complex task as
the amounts and complexity of solid waste materials have increased dramatically especially
during the 20thcentury. Optimal waste management depends upon the quantities of waste but
also on the composition of the waste materials. This chapter discusses the sources, quantity
and quality of solid waste materials.
1.2. The role of solid waste management.
Human activities invariable involve the consumption of matter (food, water, metal
etc.) and the production of waste products (waste water, air pollution, solid wastes, etc.).
Seen in a greater perspective, the human society may be viewed as a device that transforms
natural resources into undesirable waste products under the production of desirable products
such as energy, food, consumer goods etc. as illustrated in Fig.1.1.

Natural resources Waste products

Disposal

Solid waste
management

Fig.1.1. The role of waste management in the turnover of matter in the human society

These products, however, ultimately end up as waste at some point n time such that
the overall process is that of converting natural resources into waste. The depletion of natural
resources is undesirable as it reduces the possibility fir future generations to have access to
the same resources as we have now. The production of waste products also has negative side
effects in terms of environmental degradation and pollution. The role of sustainable waste
management is therefore to reduce the amount of waste that is discharged into the
environment by reducing the amount of waste generated and to transform the waste that is
generated into a form where it can be recycled to the input side of the society thus, reducing
the need for extraction of new natural resources. In other words the purpose of waste
management is in addition to provide sanitary living conditions to reduce the amount of
matter that enters or leaves the society and encourage the reuse of matter within the society.
Of course as it is not practically possible to recycle all f the waste generated or to rely
solely on recycled products, one other important aspect of waste management is to dispose of
the non-recyclable waste products in an environmentally safe manner. This is discussed
further in the next sections.
1.3 The solid waste management system
The whole set of activities related to handling, treating, disposing or recycling solid
wastes is termed the waste management system. The purpose of the waste management
system is to make sure that the waste materials are removed from the source or location
where they are generated and treated, disposed of or recycled in a safe and proper manner.
The system consists of several steps as illustrated in Fig.1.2.
The waste management system consists of four main parts: (1) generation e.g.,
wasteproduction, (2) collection e.g., collection systems and transport of waste materials, (3)
treatment e.g., transformation of the waste materials into useful products, and (4) final
disposition e.g., the use of recyclable products or the placement of on-recyclable materials in
landfills. Each of these steps is again comprised of several subparts. The following sections
focus on the generation of solid waste materials including sources, types, impact of sources,
separation, and materials production rates. The remaining steps in the waste management
system in will be discussed in further detail in subsequent chapter.
 Waste sources

Waste types

Production of waste materials Source separation

Internal collection
Production rates

Collection
Collection and transport Transport
Transfer

Shredding
Physical treatment Sorting
Compaction
Treatment Thermal treatment Incineration
Gasification
Anaerobic digestion
Biological treatment Aerobic composting
Anaerobic digestion

Final disposition Recycling

Land filling
Fig. 1.2. Components of waste management system.
1.4.The waste management priority list
Advanced waste management systems are often based on a prioritized list of
management strategies to minimize environmental problems and preserve resources. Waste
management strategies are categorized into four areas with respect to their final disposition of
the waste.
1) Minimization or prevention of waste generation.
2) Recycling of waste.
3) Thermal treatment with energy recovery
4) Landfilling
Minimization of waste has the top priority anti is generally the responsibility of the
waste producer. Environmental certification of industrial production processes is being done
by several industries partly because law in several countries requires it and partly because it
may be used to promote the products as being environmentally friendly. Often there is also an
economic advantage connected to waste minimization (reduced taxes on waste or less
consumption of expensive raw materials.
Recycling has second priority as it results in the recovery of materials that can be used
as raw materials for other purposes than the one where it was generated. Recycling has long
been practiced in many regions. The types of waste recycled; however, have been limited to
certain easily reusable materials such as metal, glass and paper. In special cases an industry
with a specific waste would have an agreement with another industry that would use this
waste as input to production with economical gain for both. In countries with advanced waste
management more and more categories of waste are now being recycled and legislation to
enforce and Increase recycling is being developed.
Despite waste minimization and recycling there will always be waste that cannot be
recycled either due to significant economical loss or because there is no process at present
where it can be used. In such cases an option is to incinerate .the waste and produce energy.
Even though the material is lost there is at least energy production, which will save some of
the fossil fuels that would otherwise be used.
Landfilling of waste is only used as a last resort and is considered the least optimal
solution. In special cases wastes that cannot be recycled today but may be recycled in the
future are placed in landfills for storage until they can be recycled. This is the case for
several types of plastic and wood that is impregnated with copper based chemicals.