But why compost? Landfills and incarceration could be a way to get rid of yard waste, but why bother with composting?  Even though there are government agencies and private companies that collect wastes from homes and industries, landfills and incinerators are not always the best options.

Putting decomposing materials in landfills would be a waste of space and unnecessary.  Yard wastes in landfill produce methane gas, a greenhouse gas that has the potential to explode.  For example in Asia, Latin America and Africa, 40 % of methane emissions or about 37 million metric tons come from landfills.

Incineration or burning is also not a great option. It could result to air pollution, burning yard leaves are even said to have an effect on people’s breathing and even increase the risk of asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and allergies.  In the United States, there are some states that have implemented a ban on burning leaves and other yard wastes. Environmental problems in Asia or any part of globe could really affect other parts of the globe.

To reduce wastes being produced, government agencies are encouraging home owners to do composting at home.  For example, in the United States, Illinois are not collecting any yard wastes.  This regulation is to encourage homeowners to recycle and start composting.

Organic materials can be used as fertilizers to enrich the soil, this is used as composting.  With composting organic materials are sued like yard trimmings, food wastes and animal wastes or manure.  Some would even add bulking agents like wood chips that would hasten the breakdown of organic materials.

What is so good about composting?  Here are some composting benefits:

• The use compost is proved to be better is preventing plant diseases and pests. Using organic materials to enrich the soil is definitely better than using chemical fertilizers.  Using chemical fertilizers could have some effects on crops which could have an effect on the consumer’s health.

• The use of organic fertilizers could also promote higher crop yield and effectively resolve soil problems after being dumped by hazardous wastes.  They can effectively remove oil, grease and heavy metals caused by stormwater runoff.

• They are also proven to be more cost efficient compared with other pollution resolution technologies.

Farmers find compost to be very important with their crops and their yield.  Landscapers also use compost for areas that they are landscaping like golf courses and athletic fields.  They are also great for parks, median strips and other recreational areas.  Homeowners also find compost great for their backyards and vegetable patches at home.

Compost as waste management is a great way to help the environment and reduce wastes.  They also offer economic benefits since they are low-cost alternatives compared to other soil amendments.  They are also a more cost-efficient method of revamping or remediating contaminated soil by different pollutants.

Related posts

• E-Waste Management (0)
• Waste Management And Recycling: The Significance (0)
• Vermicompost And Waste Management (0)
• The Importance Of Waste Management (0)
• Global Waste Management Issues (0)
• Why We Should Start Waste Management (0)
• What Is Waste Management? (0)

Incineration

Incineration is a waste treatment technology that involves burning of waste materials. It converts them into bottom ash, flue gases, particulates, and heat.

In modern incinerators, the by-product of heat is sometimes used to generate electric power. Flue gases are cleaned of pollutants before their release into the atmosphere.

Benefits

One big advantage of incinerators over landfills is the significant reduction of waste matter into 80-85% of the original volume.

One good use for incineration is destroying highly-hazardous clinical and hospital wastes. The same is true with toxic waste water from chemical multi-product plants that cannot be processed in regular water treatment plants.

In countries like Japan where land is scarce, incineration is particularly popular. In Europe, Denmark and Sweden had been using incinerators for a hundred years. Today, they are the leading countries that re-use the heat energy by-product of incinerators into electricity. The Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg are countries that depend largely on incineration in handling their wastes.

Pros

There are several good reasons why incineration is a good waste management system to augment, if not replace other systems like landfills.

In incineration, the volume of burnt waste is reduced by about 90% which increases the life of landfills.

Incinerators can generate electricity from the produced heat and it can supplement current power needs. These incinerating plants generate a biomass-powered energy that offsets the greenhouse emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

The bottom ash residue from incinerators had been found to be non-hazardous solid waste which can be used safely for landfills or recycled into other useful materials.

With modern incinerators having temperatures ranging from 1800 up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, these ashes become vitrified after incineration. In this form, the leaching capacity and toxicity of these solidified remains are drastically reduced, if not eliminated.

Meantime, the fine particles can be efficiently removed from the flue gases with filters. Even without filters, studies from actual plants showed that incinerators emit only about 0.3% of the total particulates.

Incineration prevents the release of methane and carbon dioxide (equivalent to the weight of MSW or municipal solid wastes incinerated) into the air.

Cons

People are still uneasy over dioxin and furan emissions from old incineration plants. Also, incinerators emit varying levels of heavy metals like vanadium, manganese, nickel, cadmium, chromium, mercury, arsenic and lead. All of these are highly toxic even at minute quantities.

If they are not emitted, these heavy metals remain in the bottom ash which is toxic if not reused properly. Added to this concern is the fact that the technology for metal reuse is still in its infancy.

Today, incineration still ranks high in efficiency among the many other waste management system in use today. Maybe, what is needed is fine-tuning the various technologies associated with it to make the whole system of incineration totally efficient, safe and economical.

Related posts

• What Is Waste Management? (0)
• Waste Management And Recycling (0)
• What You Need To Know About Hazardous Waste Management (0)
• Waste Management Through Waste Minimization (0)
• What Is Solid Waste Management? (0)
• Waste Management – A Quick Guide (0)
• Waste Management System In Businesses (0)

Improper disposing of electronic waste could be dangerous since they are made of materials that can be very hazardous.  Electronic materials like computers, televisions, batteries and similar items could cause lead and other chemical contamination on soil and water supply.  These e-toxic components could actually come from the heavy metals, cables and plastic used to create the computers.

Electronic wastes that are not properly distributed have detrimental effects on the environment and human health.  Electronic and electrical wastes produce leachates, especially those that are brought to landfills.  They can cause acidification and chemical contamination of the soil.   They can also cause serious problems to bodies of water where e-waste was dispose.  Acids and sludges can be found in rivers and other bodies of water.

When e-wastes are burned, they produce serious environmental problems.  They release toxic fumes and gases. Landfills that have electronic wastes dumped are very susceptible to uncontrolled fires.  Metals and other chemical substances could be very toxic when exposed to fire and hear.  Landfills and incinerators are strictly monitored by government agencies to ensure that these dangers would not happen to communities surrounding the community.

Government agencies are implementing stricter rules about e-waste disposal.  A kind of waste management strategy would be the use of EPR or extended product responsibility.  In this regulation, the manufacturer would be responsible in collecting and disposing products used by the customers.

Because consumer have to idea on how to manage their wastes, about 75 % of their electronic items are stored because they have no idea what to with it.  They get stored in their garages, offices or warehouses.

There are methods on how consumers could handle their e-waste without compromising the environment:

• Always be aware on the regulations covering e-waste disposal.

• In the first place, shopping green would help you be more environment-friendly.  You could always ask the manufacturers about the “green” component of their products.  There are also third party firms that would label or evaluate electronic items for being environmentally safe.  You could always look for their logos and ratings.

• Re-use or resell your e-wastes, especially if they are still working.  Even if they are not really state of the art technology, there are some people would still be able to use and benefit from them.

• You could look for recycling centers in your area that would readily buy your electrical items.

• You could always donate old but still working electronic wastes like old television set or desktop.

E-waste management is not just a problem of the government or the manufacturer nor the responsibility of the environmentalists.  It is a social issue and everybody would get affected on the long run.  So everybody should participate in addressing this concern.

Related posts

• What Is Waste Management? (0)
• Waste Management: Start Composting (0)
• The Importance Of Waste Management (0)
• Why We Should Start Waste Management (0)
• Waste Management System In Businesses (0)
• Waste Management Career Opportunities (0)
• Waste Management And Recycling (0)