Solid waste refers to unwanted materials generated as a result of human activities. It is basically everything that goes out in trash. It can be domestic, industrial or commercial based on its source of origin.
As the human population is increasing, so is the waste produced by them. Solid wastes have a lot of problems attached to them. Not only they result in pollution of varried forms but also cause many diseases by being the breeding grounds for vectors.
It is therefore very important to dispose solid wastes safely. Solid waste management deals with the process of treating solid wastes. Different methods are applied to treat different sorts of solid wastes.
Municipal solid wastes refers to the waste produced at offices, schools, homes etc. It usually comprises of paper, food waste, plastic, metal, glass etc. It is usually collected by the municipality and taken for their treatment.
One way of doing so is burning. This reduces the volume of the waste but this method causes air pollution of course. A substitute for this method is sanitary landfills wherein wastes are dumped in a trench and covered with dirt everyday. This method is less polluting than the former but has its own flaws. It is very effective for biodegradable wastes but when it comes to wastes like plastic, metals or glass, i.e.. non biodegradable wastes, this method can do more bad than good. So separation of wastes before putting them in a sanitary landfill is a must or else there will be soil pollution.
The disposal of biodegradable wastes is quite easy, so the actual problem is non biodegradable wastes. This can be further divided as wastes which can be recycled and the ones which cannot. The most effective solution can be reducing the use of non biodegradable products, as it is their disposal procedure which takes a lot of time and resources.
Another source of solid wastes is hospital. The use of chemicals and disinfectants make the solid wastes produced by hospitals more hazardous than others. It also contains pathogenic microbes. The disposal of such wastes has to be carried out very carefully. These wastes are usually incinerated. Incinerators are furnaces used for burning wastes. It involves combustion of solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. Incinerators, however produce harmful gases which possess a threat to health of workers and nearby community.
Electronic wastes are also difficult to dispose off. Irreparable parts of electronic gadgets are known as e-wastes. In its process of disposal, first metals like iron, copper, silicon etc are recovered and the rest of the junk is incinerated. This procedure usually involves manual participation and therefore possess a risk to human health. The works can be exposed to toxic substances present in the e- wastes or the harmful by-products of incinerators.
The most difficult waste to dispose is radioactive waste. The radiations emitted by nuclear wastes is very harmful for living organisms as it causes mutations which can lead to problems like cancer. Another problem is the fear of accidental leakage. Radioactive waste is usually pre-treated and then buried deep underground inside shielded containers.
As it can be seen that every solid waste disposal method has its own flaws. There is no perfect method for management of solid wastes. Reduction in waste generation should be our prime concern.
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