Waste Disposal

WHAT IS WASTE?
• Waste is an unwanted
or undesired material
or substance. It was
commonly referred as
rubbish , trash,
garbage or junk
depending upon the
type of material and
the regional
terminology.
• Waste is directly linked
to the human
development, both
technologically and
socially. With
industrial development
and innovation being
directly linked to waste
materials, examples are
plastics and nuclear
technology.
Types of Wastes
• Waste can be divided into
different types. There are many
different kinds of waste, including
solid, liquid, gaseous,
hazardous, radioactive, and
medical.
SOLID WASTES
• Solid wastes are
waste materials
that contain less
than 70% water
 “Solid” wastes include:

• forest and
wood
processing
residues;
• agricultural
crop
residues;
• municipal solid
wastes (MSW), which
is domestic refuse,
commercial wastes
and industrial wastes,
such as pallets,
paper, cardboard and
plastics.
Methods of disposing Solid
Wastes
•
LANDFILL
- a waste disposal site in which
each day’s accumulation of debris
is covered by a blanket of
sediment.
• - trucks bring in days waste, place
it in active area where it is
compacted
• and at the end of the day covered
by layer of sediment
• - Each day’s accumulation unit is
called a cell.
• Fill is capped with impervious clay
to prevent infiltration and
percolation of water through the
fill. Fill bottom is lined and
provided with a drainage system
to contain and remove any
leakage or leachate that occurs.
Monitoring wells provide a final
check.
 Problems of Landfills
• Leachate generation
and groundwater
contamination
• Methane production
• Incomplete
decomposition
• Settling
 INCINERATION

• A disposal method that involves

combustion of waste material. It is
sometimes described as "thermal
treatment" and usually convert waste
materials into heat, gas, steam, and ash.
 Incineration Hazards
• There are arising economic problems because trash is
not an ideal fuel.
• The incineration of certain waste products produces
acidic gases that corrode the furnace walls. Polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) is notorious, a plastic used in the
manufacture of rainwear, toys, containers, garden hoses,
and records. Hydrogen chloride gas were produce when
PVC are burned. This gas reacts with water to produce
hydrochloric acid, a strongly corrosive liquid.
• What’s threatening is the fact that some of the PVC
decomposes before it burns completely. Decomposition
products such as vinyl chloride, or suspected ones such
as, dioxin are known carcinogens. Most of these can be
removed from the exhaust stream if proper air pollution
controls are installed, but these measures are never 100
percent effective and so expensive.
 RECYCLING
• Reclaiming ( waste
materials, as newsprint,
bottles, etc.) by using in
the manufacture of new
products.
• Environmentally
favorable way of
reducing waste for it
conserves material
resources.
 You buy you wash and squash
something in a your empty bottle and
plastic bottle. take it to a plastic
bottle recycling bank,
or you may be able to
The new plastic put it in your
items are sold in recycling box/bin at
shops. home.

The plastic
flakes are The plastic
melted down bottles are
and can be taken to a
made into factory for
new items. recycling.

The sorted plastic is The bottles are sorted into

washed and shredded into different types of plastic to
small flakes. be recycled separately.
Various Recycling Routes for Some Common
Wastes
Waste Recycling Possibilities
Paper Repulp to reclaim fiber
Compost
Glass Crush and remelt for glass manufacture
Shred and use for manufacture of new
Tire tires
Grind and use as additive in road
construction

Sterilize and use as a hog food

Food scraps
Compost
LIQUID WASTES
 “Liquid” wastes include:
• sewage sludge and effluent;
• animal wastes;
• food processing residues; and
• industrial effluents.
Methods of disposing Liquid
Wastes
Deep-Well Injection
THEORY Practice
A well is drilled 1. Wastes spill or
in a dry porous leak at surface.
layer and wastes 2. Corrosion of
are pumped in. casing allows waste
Contamination to escape.
of groundwater 3. Inadequate seal
is prevented by permits waste to
the casing and back-flow
seal around the
portion of the 4. Fractures existing
well that or caused by
penetrates earthquakes or the
groundwater. introduction of fluids,
allow wastes to
escape into
groundwater.
Surface Impoundments
THEORY PRACTICE
Wastes in 1.Leaks in transport pipe
large volumes 2.Exceptional rainfall
of water are put causes overflow.
into 3.Bottom of impoundmet
impoundments may be inadequately
sealed or lack plastic
(ponds), where
liner and/or sufficient
water clay.
evaporates and
4.Plastic liner is ruptured by
wastes freezing or
accumulate. deteriorates.
5.Many hazardous wastes
are volatile. Hence this
method allows them to
evaporate and become
dispersed in the
environment
Landfills
Theory PRACTICE
Wastes are carefully 1.Burrowing animals
contained to prevent make holes in clay cap.
cross-mixing of reactive 2.Freezing
substances. Fill is temperatures shrink
capped with impervious and tear liner.
clay to prevent
3.Error in storage
infiltration and
allows reactive
percolation of water
chemicals to mix,
through the fill. Fill
triggering an explosion.
bottom is lined and
provided with a 4.Chemicals corrode
drainage system to collection pipes,
contain and remove preventing effective
any leakage or withdrawal.
leachate that occurs. 5.Plume of leaking
Monitoring wells wastes bypasses
provide a final check. monitoring well.
RADIOACTIVE WASTE
• Radioactive waste (or nuclear waste) is a material
deemed no longer useful that has been
contaminated by or contains radionuclides.
• Radioactive wastes are waste types containing
radioactive chemical elements that do not have a
practical purpose.
• Radioactive waste can contain radionuclides of
very light elements, such as radioactive hydrogen
(tritium), or of very heavy elements, such as
uranium.
• Radioactive waste is classified as high,
intermediate, or low level. Depending on the
radionuclides contained in it,
 Disposal of Radioactive Wastes

• *Short term containment (a few years) to allow

the radioactive decay of short lived isotopes.
Wastes can be handled much more easily and
safely after this occurs.

*Ultimate long-term containment ( tens of

thousands of years) to provide protection from
the long lived isotopes.
MEDICAL WASTES
• Medical waste, are known as clinical
waste, normally refers to waste products
that cannot be considered general waste,
produced from healthcare premises, such
as hospitals.
• Medical waste is generated by medical
research and by the medical treatment of
human beings and animals.
 Medical waste “includes”

• soiled bandages
• culture dishes
• surgical gloves
• instruments (including
needles)
• and as well as
human tissue.
Treatment of Medical Wastes
 INCINERATION

• Incineration is the
burning of waste in
temperatures
ranging from
1,800ºF to 2,000ºF
(982ºC to 1093ºC).
 Advantages of using incineration

• The process of incineration provides the

advantage of volume reduction as well as
the ability to dispose of recognizable
waste and sharps.
• On site incinerators provide a quick and
easy way of disposing medical waste. The
ash that results from combustion can be
sent to a sanitary landfill.
 Disadvantages of using incineration

• The disadvantage
lies in the
incinerator
emissions. These
emissions may
contain gases that
are toxic.
• We have to be our own leaders in the
battle versus waste disposal, because we
are the only ones who care about our
future on this earth………