Unit III a.

Solid waste engineering and management: Types: Hazardous and non-hazardous, characteristics, management of solid waste: collection, reception, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal. 02 Hrs b.
Energy and environmental engineering: Conventional and non-conventional fuels, per capita and global consumption pattern, their environmental impacts, alternative energy sources, vehicular emission standards of fuel consumption, green buildings and rating systems. 03 Hrs

What is Solid Waste?

Solid wastes may be defined as the organic or inorganic solid substances produced by various activities of the society which have lost their value to the first user Solid wastes are any discarded (abandoned or considered waste-like) materials. Solid wastes can be solid, liquid, semi-solid or containerized gaseous material. (Solid waste means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded materials including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to permit under 33 USC 1342, as amended (86 Stat. 880), or source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 923) except as may be provided by existing agreements between the State of New York and the government of the United States (see section 360-1.3 of this Part). A material is discarded if it is abandoned by being: disposed of (Discharged, deposited, injected, dumped, spilled, leaked or placed into or on any land or water so that such material or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into groundwater or surface water); burned or incinerated, including being burned as a fuel for the purpose of recovering usable energy; or accumulated, stored or physically, chemically or biologically treated (other than burned or incinerated) instead of or before being disposed of.) Examples of solid wastes: waste tires septage scrap metal latex paints furniture and toys domestic refuse (garbage) discarded appliances and vehicles uncontaminated used oil and anti-freeze empty aerosol cans, paint cans and compressed gas cylinders construction and demolition debris, asbestos

1. Types of solid waste

Solid waste can be classified into different types depending on their source: Household waste is generally classified as municipal waste, Industrial waste as hazardous waste, and Biomedical waste or hospital waste as infectious waste. 1.1 Non-Hazardous/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 tonnes of solid waste, in 1997 it was about 48 million tonnes. 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 or 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, aluminium foils, plastics, and other such nonbiodegradable 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 Approximate time it takes to degenerate the litter

Organic waste such as vegetable and a week or two. fruit peels, leftover foodstuff, etc. Paper Cotton cloth Wood Woolen items 1030 days 25 months 1015 years 1 year

Tin, aluminium, and other metal items 100500 years such as cans Plastic bags Glass bottles one million years? undetermined

1.2 Hazardous waste A waste or combination of wastes of a solid, liquid, contained gaseous, or semisolid form which may cause, or contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness, taking into account the toxicity of such waste, its persistence and degradability in nature, its potential for accumulation or concentration in tissue, and other factors that may otherwise cause or contribute to adverse acute or chronic effects on the health of persons or other organisms. Waste exhibiting one or more of the following four characteristics is considered hazardous: Toxicity. Corrosivity. Ignitability. Reactivity. Toxicity: Waste that exhibits the Toxicity Characteristic (TC) poses a substantial threat to human health and the environment. Waste toxicity is measured by using the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) (40

CFR 261.24). The TCLP extract is analyzed for lead (or other constituents) to determine if it is above or below the allowable TC regulatory threshold, which for lead is 5 ppm (milligrams/ liter). Leachable lead analysis differs from total lead analysis, which is typically performed on paint chips during a risk assessment or inspection, in that leachable lead is dependent on the type of lead compound present and the size of the particle (that is, its solubility). Because total lead analysis does not determine the specific lead compound present, it is difficult, if not impossible, to predict how much of the lead will be leachable. Therefore, XRF or paint-chip analysis (by the usual hot nitric acid digestion/ atomic absorption spectroscopy methods) are unlikely to help determine leachability. The total lead levels determined by a paint-chip analysis are usable in two circumstances: total lead level that is very low (e.g., less than 100 ppm), indicates that waste should not exceed the TC regulatory threshold; and total lead levels can be used in combination with total waste volume estimates to determine whether recycling for lead recovery is feasible. Corrosivity: Corrosive waste has a pH that is either less than or equal to 2 (highly acidic) or greater than or equal to 12.5 (highly basic), or which can corrode steel at a certain rate (40 CFR 261.22). Unneutralized caustic paint strippers and acidic paint strippers (including the resulting sludge) may be corrosive. Ignitability: Ignitable waste generally includes liquids with flash points below 140F (60C), flammable solids and compressed gases, and oxidizers (40 CFR 261.21). Certain solvents from paint strippers (e.g., xylene) and the resulting sludge or slurry waste may be ignitable. Reactivity: Lead-based paint hazard control projects are unlikely to produce reactive waste. Reactive waste includes substances that are capable of easily generating explosive or toxic gases, especially when mixed with water (40 CFR 261.23). These also include waste that is unstable and undergoes violent change without detonating. 1.3 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 biologicals. 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.

Impacts of Solid Wastes:

Due to accelerated economic development in recent decades and a rapid urbanization and an uncontrolled population growth coupled with changes in the consumption patterns of the urban dweller have resulted in an excessive generation of municipal solid waste (MSW). To date, landfill is the most commonly employed for MSW disposal worldwide. Landfill can be in the form of an uncontrolled open dump or of a full containment site engineered to protect the aquatic environment. Unlike engineered landfills, open dumps do not have bottom liners to prevent the seepage of leachate or top cover to retain moisture within the fill. Nor do these traditional landfills have a top cover or other preventive measures to reduce methane emission into the atmosphere. Methane and carbondioxide are the principal gases produced from the decomposition of the organic fraction of solid waste in the landfill. Methane gas (CH 4) has a 21-fold global warming potential as compared to carbon dioxide (CO 2). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, such emissions contribute to 18% of the total methane emissions to the atmosphere, ranging from 9 to 70 Tg (megatonnes) annually. Therefore, landfills have been implicated as the largest source of atmospheric methane in the world, leading to a natural phenomenon called "global warming" (Hansen, 2005a).

Due to global warming, changing temperature and rainfall patterns will bring a variety of pressure upon plant and animal life. If temperature rises as projected, one-third of species will be lost from their habitat, either by moving elsewhere or by becoming extinct (Hansen, 2005b). In addition to global warming, open dumps pose a serious threat to the aquatic environment. One of the greatest environmental concerns associated with MSW landfilling is the generation of leachate. Depending on rainfall conditions, the color of leachate varies from black to brown. A landfill site may still produce leachate with a high concentration of NH 3-N for over 50 years after filling operations have ceased. Unless properly treated, leachate that seeps from a landfill can infiltrate the surface water, posing potentially serious hazards not only to aquatic organisms, but also to public health in the long-run. For this reason, landfill leachate represents a potentially serious environmental threat with regard to the pollutants introduced into the aquatic environment. Considering the consequence of excessive MSW generation worldwide, an integrated solid management plan and its implementation needs to be undertaken consistently. The outcomes of the scheme may provide inputs for local government and relevant stakeholders such as landfill operators to formulate and implement integrated MSW in a holistic manner. These strategies may provide a policy framework to accomplish the target of reducing MSW generation worldwide by 1% annually.

2. Management of solid waste

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal of waste materials, usually ones produced by human activity, in an effort to reduce their effect on human health or local aesthetics or amenity. A focus in recent decades has been to reduce waste materials' effect on the natural world and the environment and to recover resources from them. Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations, for urban and rural areas, and for residential, industrial, and commercial producers. Waste management for non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.
2.1 Principles of SWM: Four Rs (Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Reduce) to be followed for waste management 1. Refuse. Instead of buying new containers from the market, use the ones that are in the house. Refuse to buy new items though you may think they are prettier than the ones you already have. 2. Reuse. Do not throw away the soft drink cans or the bottles; cover them with homemade paper or paint on them and use them as pencil stands or small vases. 3. Recycle. Use shopping bags made of cloth or jute, which can be used over and over again [will this come under recycle or reduce?].Segregate your waste to make sure that it is collected and taken for recycling. 4. Reduce. Reduce the generation of unnecessary waste, e.g. carry your own shopping bag when you go to the market and put all your purchases directly into it.

2.2 Functional Elements of SWM: The activities associated with the management of Solid Waste can be grouped into six functional groups;

2.2.1- Waste Generation.

This step is simply identification step.

2.2.2- Waste handling and separation, storage, and processing at the source.
Handling and separation activities until placed in storage containers. From the stand point of materials specifications and revenues from the sale of recovered materials, best place to separate for reuse and recycling.

2.2.3- Collection
Gathering of the solid waste and recyclables. Waste collection is the component of waste management which results in the passage of a waste material from the source of production to either the point of treatment or final disposal. Waste collection also includes the kerbside collection of recyclable materials that technically are not waste, as part of a municipal landfill diversion program.

2.2.4- Separation and processing and transformation of solid wastes.

Separation and processing usually occurs at materials recovery center (MRF), transfer station, combustion facilities, disposal sites. Waste transformation is supplied by altering the waste physically, chemically, and biologically (decreases the amount to be landfilled) 2.2.4.1 Pulverization 1. To reduce to powder or dust, usually by crushing, pounding or grinding. To break up into tiny particles: bray, crush, granulate, grind, mill, powder, triturate. See help/harm/harmless. 2.2.4.2 Hammer mill A type of impact mill or crusher in which materials are reduced in size by hammers revolving rapidly in a vertical plane within a steel casing. Also known as beater mill. A grinding machine which pulverizes feed and other products by several rows of thin hammers revolving at high speed. 2.2.4.3 Baling A technique used to convert loose refuse into heavy blocks by compaction; the blocks are then burned and are buried in sanitary landfill.

2.2.5- Transfer and transport.

Proper transport means to be used with trem cards with detailed disclosure.

2.2.6- Disposal

Waste Disposal Methods Disposal methods for waste products vary widely, depending on the area and type of waste material. For example, in Australia, the most common method of disposal of solid household waste is in landfill sites, as it is a large country with a low-density population. By contrast, in Japan it is more common for waste to be incinerated, because the country is smaller and land is scarce. Other waste types (such as liquid sewage) will be disposed of in different ways in both countries.

2.2.6.1 Landfill
Disposing of waste in a landfill is one of the most traditional method of waste disposal, and it remains a common practice in most countries. Historically, landfills were often established in disused quarries, mining voids or borrow pits. A properly-designed and well-managed landfill can be a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of disposing of waste materials in a way that minimises their impact on the local environment. Older, poorlydesigned or poorly-managed landfills can create a number of adverse environmental impacts such as wind-blown litter, attraction of vermin, and generation of leachate where result of rain percolating through the waste and reacting with the products of decomposition, chemicals and other materials in the waste to produce the leachate which can pollute groundwater and surface water. Another byproduct of landfills is landfill gas (mostly composed of methane and carbon dioxide), which is produced as organic waste breaks down anaerobically. This gas can create odor problems, kill surface vegetation, and is a greenhouse gas. Design characteristics of a modern landfill include methods to contain leachate, such as clay or plastic lining material. Disposed waste is normally compacted to increase its density and stablise the new landform, and covered to prevent attracting vermin (such as mice or rats) and reduce the amount of wind-blown litter. Many landfills also have a landfill gas extraction system installed after closure to extract the landfill gas generated by the decomposing waste materials. Gas is pumped out of the landfill using perforated pipes and flared off or burnt in a gas engine to generate electricity. Even flaring the gas is a better environmental outcome than allowing it to escape to the atmosphere, as this consumes the methane, which is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Many local authorities, especially in urban areas, have found it difficult to establish new landfills due to opposition from owners of adjacent land. Few people want a landfill in their local neighborhood. As a result, solid waste disposal in these areas has become more expensive as material must be transported further away for disposal (or managed by other methods). This fact, as well as growing concern about the impacts of excessive materials consumption, has given rise to efforts to minimise the amount of waste sent to landfill in many areas. These efforts include taxing or levying waste sent to landfill, recycling the materials, converting material to energy, designing products that use less material, and legislation mandating that manufacturers become responsible for disposal costs of products or packaging. A related subject is that of industrial ecology, where the material flows between industries is studied. The by-products of one industry may be a useful commodity to another, leading to a reduced materials waste stream. Some futurists have speculated that landfills may one day be mined: as some resources become more scarce, they will become valuable enough that it would be economical to 'mine' them from landfills where these materials were previously discarded as valueless. A related idea is the establishment of a 'monofill' landfill containing only one waste type (e.g. waste vehicle tyres), as a method of long-term storage.

2.2.6.2 Incineration

Incineration is a waste disposal method that involves the combustion of waste at high temperatures. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". In effect, incineration of waste materials converts the waste into heat, gaseous emissions, and residual solid ash. Other types of thermal treatment include pyrolysis and gasification. A waste-to-energy plant (WtE) is a modern term for an incinerator that burns wastes in high-efficiency furnace/boilers to produce steam and/or electricity and incorporates modern air pollution control systems and continuous emissions monitors. This type of incinerator is sometimes called an energy-from-waste (EfW) facility. Incineration is popular in countries such as Japan where land is a scarce resource, as they do not consume as much area as a landfill. Sweden has been a leader in using the energy generated from incineration over the past 20 years. Denmark also extensively uses waste-to-energy incineration in localised combined heat and power facilities supporting district heating schemes. Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals, and on a large scale by industry. It is recognised as a practical method of disposing of certain hazardous waste materials (such as biological medical waste), though it remains a controversial method of waste disposal in many places due to issues such as emission of gaseous pollutants. Breaking down complex chemical chains such as dioxin through the application of heat usually cannot be done by simply burning the material at the temperatures seen in an open-air fire. It is often necessary to supplement the combustion process with gas or oil burners and air blowers to raise the temperature high enough to result in molecular breakdown. Alternately, the exhaust gases from a natural air fire may pass through tubes heated to sufficiently high temperatures to trigger thermal breakdown. Thermal breakdown of pollutant molecules can indirectly create other pollution problems. Dioxin breakdown begins at 1000C, but at the same time poisonous nitrogen oxides and ozone begin to form when atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen break down at 1600C. This undesired oxide formation may require further catalytic treatment of the exhaust gases.

2.2.6.3 Resource recovery

A relatively recent idea in waste management has been to treat the waste material as a resource to be exploited, instead of simply a challenge to be managed and disposed of. There are a number of different methods by which resources may be extracted from waste: the materials may be extracted and recycled, or the calorific content of the waste may be converted to electricity. The process of extracting resources or value from waste is variously referred to as secondary resource recovery, recycling, and other terms. The practice of treating waste materials as a resource is becoming more common, especially in metropolitan areas where space for new landfills is becoming scarcer. There is also a growing acknowledgement that simply disposing of waste materials is unsustainable in the long term, as there is a finite supply of most raw materials. There are a number of methods of recovering resources from waste materials, with new technologies and methods being developed continuously. In some developing nations some resource recovery already takes place by way of manual labourers who sift through un-segregated waste to salvage material that can be sold in the recycling market. These unrecognised workers called waste pickers or rag pickers, are part of the informal sector, but play a significant role in reducing the load on the Municipalities' Solid Waste Management departments. There is an increasing trend in recognising their contribution to the environment and there are efforts to try and integrate them into the formal waste

management systems, which is proven to be both cost effective and also appears to help in urban poverty alleviation. However, the very high human cost of these activities including disease, injury and reduced life expectancy through contact with toxic or infectious materials would not be tolerated in a developed country.

2.2.6.4. Recycling
Recycling means to recover for other use a material that would otherwise be considered waste. The popular meaning of recycling in most developed countries has come to refer to the widespread collection and reuse of various everyday waste materials. They are collected and sorted into common groups, so that the raw materials from these items can be used again (recycled). In developed countries, the most common consumer items recycled include aluminium beverage cans, steel, food and aerosol cans, HDPE and PET plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, paperboard cartons, newspapers, magazines, and cardboard. Other types of plastic (PVC, LDPE, PP, and PS) are also recyclable, although not as commonly collected. These items are usually composed of a single type of material, making them relatively easy to recycle into new products. The recycling of obsolete computers and electronic equipment is important, but more costly due to the separation and extraction problems. Much electronic waste is sent to Asia, where recovery of the gold and copper can cause environmental problems (monitors contain lead and various "heavy metals", such as selenium and cadmium; both are commonly found in electronic items). Recycled or used materials have to compete in the marketplace with new materials. The cost of collecting and sorting the materials often means that they are equally or more expensive than virgin materials. This is most often the case in developed countries where industries producing the raw materials are well-established. Practices such as trash picking can reduce this value further, as choice items are removed (such as aluminium cans). In some countries, recycling programs are subsidised by deposits paid on beverage containers. However, most economic systems do not account for the benefits to the environment of recycling these materials, compared with extracting virgin materials. It usually requires significantly less energy, water and other resources to recycle materials than to produce new materials. For example, recycling 1000 kg of aluminum cans saves approximately 5000 kg of bauxite ore being mined (source: ALCOA Australia) and prevents the generation of 15.17 tonnes CO2 greenhouse gases; recycling steel saves about 95% of the energy used to refine virgin ore.

2.2.6.5 Composting and anaerobic digestion

Waste materials that are organic in nature, such as plant material, food scraps, and paper products, are increasingly being recycled. These materials are put through a composting and/or digestion system to control the biological process to decompose the organic matter and kill pathogens. The resulting stabilized organic material is then recycled as mulch or compost for agricultural or landscaping purposes. There are a large variety of composting and digestion methods and technologies, varying in complexity from simple windrow composting of shredded plant material, to automated enclosed-vessel digestion of mixed domestic waste. These methods of biological decomposition are differentiated as being aerobic in composting methods or anaerobic in digestion methods, although hybrids of the two methods also exist. Examples The Green Bin Program, a form of organic recycling used in Toronto and surrounding municipalities, makes use of anaerobic digestion to reduce the amount of garbage shipped to landfills in the United States. This is the newest facet of a three-stream waste management system has been implemented in the city and is a step towards the goal

of diverting 70% of current waste. Green Bins allow organic waste to be composted and turned into nutrient rich soil. Examples of accepted waste products for the Green Bin are food products and scraps, soiled papers and sanitary napkins. Edmonton has adopted large-scale composting to deal with its urban waste. Its composting facility is one of the largest in the world, representing 35 per cent of Canada's industrial composting capacity. The $100 million cocomposter and various recycling programs enable Edmonton to recycle 60% of its residential waste. The cocomposter itself is 38,690 square metres in size, equivalent to 8 football fields. It's designed to process 200,000 tonnes of residential solid waste per year and 22,500 dry tonnes of biosolids, turning them into 80,000 tonnes of compost annually. The BIOBIN is an on-site in-vessel organic waste management solution for small industrial and retail organic waste (primarily food waste and small green waste). The BiobiN is used to collect food waste at shopping centers, schools, hospitality sites, etc, and the bin has a built in aeration and biofiltration system, that blows air through the waste, initiating the composting process and effectively managing any odor. The end product is then transported to a larger organics recycling facility for final processing into soil conditioner. The BiobiN reduces the need for frequent pickups and reduces waste going to landfill. Uses of biodegradable waste Biodegradable waste is a little recognised resource. Through correct waste management, often using the two key processes of anaerobic digestion and composting, it can be converted into valuable products. Anaerobic digestion converts biodegradable waste into several products, including biogas, which can be used to generate renewable energy or heat for local heating, and soil amendment (digestate). Composting converts biodegradable waste into compost.

2.2.6.6 Source Reduction (Waste Prevention)

Source reduction can be a successful method of reducing waste generation. Practices such as grasscycling, backyard composting, two-sided copying of paper, and transport packaging reduction by industry have yielded substantial benefits through source reduction. Source reduction has many environmental benefits. It prevents emissions of many greenhouse gases, reduces pollutants, saves energy, conserves resources, and reduces the need for new landfills and combustors.

2.2.6.7 Recycling
Recycling, including composting, diverted 79 million tons of material away from disposal in 2005, up from 15 million tons in 1980, when the recycle rate was just 10% and 90% of MSW was being combusted with energy recovery or disposed of by landfilling. Typical materials that are recycled include batteries, recycled at a rate of 99%, paper and paperboard at 50%, and yard trimmings at 62%. These materials and others may be recycled through curbside programs, drop-off centers, buy-back programs, and deposit systems. Recycling prevents the emission of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants, saves energy, supplies valuable raw materials to industry, creates jobs, stimulates the development of greener technologies, conserves resources for our children's future, and reduces the need for new landfills and combustors.

Recycling also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions that affect global climate. In 1996, recycling of solid waste in the United States prevented the release of 33 million tons of carbon into the air-roughly the amount emitted annually by 25 million cars.