Waste management is essentially the systematic handling of garbage. It involves the proper way of collection, transportation, and disposal of waste materials. Waste management has been a significant issue addressed in the modern and industrialized generation largely owing to the fact that more waste materials are produced today than during the early generations, a critical increase resulting from population explosion and industrial revolution.

While it seems to be a modern response to waste production, waste management is not at all a new practice. Records from all over the world showed that early people had a way of managing and regulating their garbage. One of the common ways of waste management before was digging pits to contain solid wastes. As the civilization progressed, waste management practices became more regulated. As far back as 500 BC, for instance, there were existing policies in Athens Greece that required people to dispose of their waste materials in areas at least one mile from city limits. In 1388, the English Parliament in England banned waste disposal into the water systems. And in 1885, the United States built its first incinerator.

Waste management methods and procedures have improved since then, with emphasis on their relevance to modernity and quantity of produced waste. Incineration, for instance, is still a common process of waste disposal. With the use of incinerators, waste materials are combusted and are converted to energy. This waste-to-energy benefit is proven helpful to many industries, although there have been environmental and health concerns over the creation and emission of dangerous pollutants and chemicals during the burning process.

Using landfills is also a common method of waste disposal. Landfills are basically a big piece of lot where truckloads of waste are gathered and buried. In some countries, using landfills is the most common way of waste disposal primarily because they are relatively cheap and don’t require intricate machineries. Since landfills can potentially attract vermin and emit dangerous landfill gas, landfills have to be well-designed and credibly managed.

Waste management is also targeting to minimize waste, an effort that eventually gave way to the global campaign to recycle. Recycling means reprocessing some or all parts of an item to make a new or completely different product. Scrap metals and papers are two of the most recycled materials today. To date, several people and organizations are committed to recycling, whose collaborated efforts are contributing to proper waste management.

Solid waste management is the proper monitoring, sorting, transportation, and disposal of solid waste. In modern society, solid waste management efforts are backed up by different legislations and campaigns. For instance, collection programs, in which waste management companies pick up solid waste from households, are instituted by local governments and carried out in different communities. In places where there are no collection programs, residents are required to drop off their solid waste at locally established waste facilities.

But because a considerable percentage of solid waste comes from other sources than households, trash bins are scattered in areas with high passerby traffic such as parks and streets, to name a few. Industrial waste, on the other hand, is usually managed by the generators themselves. They usually have their own facilities for treatment and disposal of waste.

Once collected, a great bulk of solid waste goes to incinerators and landfills. These disposal methods, however, have negative impact on the environment, thus a significant percentage of solid waste is turned over to different treatment facilities. Recyclable solid waste, which often includes scrap metals, papers, glass, and bottles, undergo certain processes to make new products. To encourage people to recycle, recycle bins are usually made available in many parts of communities. Biodegradable or organic waste materials, on the other hand, are made into compost. Composting in some areas is mandated by legislation and in such communities, compost bins are provided to residents. Hazardous waste, or that which is potentially dangerous when disposed of like battery and fluorescent light, is also usually recycled.

Modernity paved the way to the massive production of solid waste. And this has become one of the many gripping environmental issues faced by the world today, especially because the problem in solid waste transcends the “now” generation. Whatever is done, or not done, to solve the problem affects the heritage of the next generation. In developed countries, solid waste management has become a priority and certain systems are fully operational. Same is true with some developing countries. However, many other countries need to catch up.

Truth be told, hardly anyone thinks of garbage. Once something graduates from its intended use, it is immediately considered trash, thrown off, and then forgotten. But solid waste management is everyone’s responsibility. It is not solely for governments to practice. Not only for businesses. And not for a few individuals.

Everyone makes waste and it is only necessary that everyone takes part in properly handling solid waste.

Benefits of waste management system
Aside from having an orderly working environment, an active waste management system generates other benefits. One: Your business will promote environmental and social responsiveness and will therefore create a better image. Some companies are more interested working with businesses that are environmental advocates, and such businesses are generally offered various opportunities. Two: A waste management system boosts your employees’ morale.

It is given that employment benefits up the employees’ mood and morale, but environmental and social awareness does so even more. In an employee’s mind, environmental and social responsiveness speaks of the company’s integrity. Three: There will be savings and profits from establishing a waste management system. You can save and generate income by selling your old office tools or have the broken items repaired instead of throwing them away and buying new ones. Also, by having waste management policies, you are decreasing your chances of incurring law violations and therefore fines.

Waste reduction: A practical way of managing wastes
Businesses are generally huge waste generators, but you can contribute to waste management on a larger scale by incorporating waste reduction in your waste management policies. In essence, waste reduction efforts focus on the prevention of creating new waste by reusing and recycling materials. There are several ways to reduce waste in the office setting, and here are some of them:

1. Reduce the use of paper. If, for instance, you issue double invoice, you can probably try to settle with just one. You can also ask everyone in the office to print and write on the two sides of papers. Businesses use a lot of papers in a day, and if they are reused, there will be a considerable decrease in the amount of papers that are sent to landfills or incinerators. You can also cut down on your paper expenses.

2. Find new use for potential waste materials. The plastic water bottle can probably work as a vase. The cardboard can probably be some form of a décor. The thing is, before you label something as a trash, consider first if there is another use for it.

3. Repair office equipment, tool, or appliance. If a certain item, however, is beyond repair, you can dismantle it and get the parts that you can still use, recycle, or sell.

As you look around your office, you can come up with more ideas in waste management. For them to be more relevant, you can involve your staff and ask for their own ideas. After all, waste management system in businesses is not the sole endeavor of the employer; it should be a team effort.

Each of these methods has its own good and bad points in terms of efficiency, cleanliness in relation to the environment, and economic feasibility. There has not been a total winner in any of these waste disposal methods.

Recycling comes nearest because it is clean (no harmful emissions or toxic waste discharges) it is efficient (does not need big spaces) and cheap (little or no investments).

What is recycling, and what are its advantages over the other waste disposal methods?

Recycling

In absolute terms, recycling is actually not a disposal system. It is the reuse of materials that had been disposed of as waste. Theoretically, recycling is the continued use of materials for the same purpose.

In practice, recycling is the extension of the useful life of the material, but it can be in some other form. Most of today’s recyclable materials are post-consumer waste (empty glass and plastic bottles, used paper and cartoons, etc.)

The most common items that are recycled in industrialized nations are aluminum soda cans, aerosol cans, plastic and glass bottles and jars, old newspapers and magazines, and cardboards or used carton boxes.

New materials

When paper is recycled, the fibers lose their length, thereby making it less useful for high grade paper (book or bond paper, etc). Most of them are used to make cartoons, low-grade newsprint and other low-grade paper products. Some types of plastic are composed of the same type of materials and are relatively easy to recycle into new products.

As an alternative to plain garbage disposal, recycling is useful in the sense that it does not add to the waste in landfills, and it becomes another material resource.

Resource recovery

Today, experts and the enlightened populace have acknowledged that simply disposing of waste materials is unsustainable in the long run. The supply of raw materials from nature is finite and cannot last.

In waste management, there is a new idea that considers waste materials as a resource to be exploited and used, and not the old concept of looking at them as a challenge to be managed or disposed of. It is called resource recovery.

Resource recovery can take different forms. One is the materials might be extracted and recycled accordingly, or some of them are to be converted into energy (electricity).

Costs and economics

Used materials have to compete with new materials in manufacturing. Most often, collection costs of recyclables are higher than costs of new materials.

However, not many are aware that it usually requires less energy, less water, and less other resources to recycle materials than produce the product from new materials. (Recycling 1000 kilos of aluminum cans save 5000 kilos of bauxite ore to be mined, and 95% of the energy to refine it.)

The economics of a successful recycling process depends on manufacturers making products from recovered materials and consumers buying these products.

Recycling is one method of waste management that is nearest to the ideal – less or no actual physical wastage, low costs, and no environmental damage.

Solving waste management problems do not have to take you anywhere else, you could start solving trash problems at home.  Small contributions like this could go a long way.  About 25 percent of our wastes are yard trimmings or food scraps.  Although, a lot of people are learning to recycle and reuse plastic, metal, glass and other similar items, biodegradable stuff are nearly not recycled at all.

A great way to recycle food scrap is having a compost bin or by vermicomposting.   Vermicomposting is another way of composting.  Worms are used in the process to produce vermicompost, a rich soil which is a great way to fertilize a garden.  There are different kinds of worms used in vermicomposting, like the red worms, white worms, and earthworms.   These worms would produce vermicast which are worm castings or worm humus.  Worms used in vermicomposting can be available from vermicompost enthusiasts or from a supplier.

Worms can be eat a lot of your food scraps and wastes, like vegetables, fruits, coffee grounds, tea, and even eggshells.  However, avoid feeding them with bones, dairy products, spicy food, oily food and animal manure.  Beddings for vermicompost bins can also be made out of household materials like newspaper and cardboard.

Different type of containers could work, as long as they would protect the worms from too warm or cold weather conditions.  Worms are comfortable in temperatures ranging from 55 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Most commonly used bins are those made of wood or plastic.  A 12-inch deep compost bin can accommodate about a pound or 1,000 worms.   Odour does not have to be a problem.  A vermicompost bin which is done properly will not give out any smell.

There are many benefits associated with vermicompost.  The vermicast is 10 to 20 higher in nutrients compared with other organic material used to enrich soil.  It can also improve the soil’s water holding capacity.  Enriching the soil could enhance plant growth and the crops yielded.  If you have a vegetable patch, this would be a great way to reduce food waste and increase productivity from your patch using chemical-free fertilizers.

In the United States, there are states like Illinois, who are banning landscape waste in landfills.  Vermicomposting is a great way to address disposal of these kinds of waste. Aside from that, there are some who would use vermicomposting as another source of income.  They would sell vermicast, it is often times called “Black Gold” because of its high nutrient content.  Others would supply worms to fishermen or become a local supplier.

Using vermicomposting as a waste management method for food scraps and other biodegradable materials at home is surely a win-win solution.  You get to reduce waste and benefit from it, whether it is short term or in the long run.

Humans naturally know what to do with their waste as evidenced by the instituted waste management systems in the pre-modern and modern forms. However, along with global industrialization and population explosion, waste production blew out of proportion, endangering the environment and threatening humans and other living things. With the environmental issues raised here and there, there seems to be a need to remind humans of the importance of waste management.

Education and awareness campaigns play a great part here. Not all people after all are aware that the one piece of waste material they are sending to landfills or incinerators constitutes a greater threat to the environment. Presently, calls to recycle and waste reduction are widely active. And various projects and campaigns are launched everyday, adding more noise to the earlier advocacies on proper waste management.

The good news is that a good number of the population is increasingly becoming aware of the importance of waste management and is getting involved. However, more need to be tapped. There are still who remain passive. This segment of the population probably knows that proper waste management benefits the Earth and consequently everyone and everything living in it. But only vaguely. The finer and more intricate details are probably not known to them.

Waste does a lot of things. When brought to the landfills, they emit greenhouse gas in the form of methane. Although methane can be used to make energy, it is generally hazardous to health. Wastes buried in landfills also tend to leach chemicals that can contaminate groundwater. Wastes can be incinerated, though. The problem with incinerators, however, is that they also produce greenhouse gas and other forms of toxin such as dioxin. Dioxin is found to cause cancer. Whether waste is brought to a landfill or incinerator, it seems like it is a potential source of pollution and threat to health.

Although indirectly, waste causes resource depletion. This is due to the common buying pattern: buy, throw, and then buy again. As the waste piles up high, the demand for more products also rises, almost exhausting the natural resources. This has a spiral effect, mainly involving threats to biodiversity, deforestation, pollution, and other environmental problems.

Waste management can be part of the solution in two ways: one is through waste reduction, and two through recycling. Consistent waste reduction and recycling activities mean there will be less waste materials to be sent to landfills and incinerators. As such, the emission of greenhouse gas and other forms of pollutant will be reduced by a large percentage. Reusing and recycling of used items will also result in less production of new products. And this helps in the conservation of natural resources.

There is a great need in understanding the importance of waste management because unless it is acknowledged by all people, waste management efforts will not progress to further heights.

Recycling efforts are in place to deal with existing waste, but to solve the problem with future waste, what needs to be done is to hit the core of the problem: waste reduction. In the household setting, there are a lot of ways you can contribute to waste reduction—from as simple as sorting waste to as habit-forming as changing shopping activities. In the long run, waste reduction is not only beneficial to the environment, it also favors your pockets.

“How can I reduce waste?”
Reducing waste should be a lifetime habit, and a good way to start is finding out how much waste your household produces. This can help you measure your progress and perhaps bring closer to home the reality of massive waste production. You might be surprised by your findings, but they should give you the motivation to reduce waste.

The next thing you should do is get to the actual waste reduction. And here’s a few of what you can do.

1. Repair instead of throwing stuff away. If you go and look into your trash bin, could you identify how much of your waste could actually be fixed and still be useful? The sad thing is that many people have this habit of getting rid of things even if they are repairable. The next time you have a damaged item, think first if it deserves to be in the trash bin or in the hands of a repairman.

2. Buy only what is necessary. This way you can avoid keeping things that in the end will only graduate into waste. When shopping, you can also purchase products, such as detergent and soap, in bulk sizes, so you need to dispose of just a few containers or packaging. If you don’t want to bring home any plastic or packaging at all, bring your own containers to supermarkets and grocery stores.

3. Use a reusable shopping bag. Plastic bags constitute a large percentage of household waste and take a lot of years to decompose. Although you can take advantage of the for-life shopping bags offered by many retailers, you can look through your own things and find if there is something you can use as a shopping bag. Now that’s recycling.

4. Avoid using disposable items. You can use washable cups instead of their plastic counterparts and rags in place of paper towels. You can also use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones. Look around your house. Do you keep disposable items that you can replace with better alternatives?

5. Limit your purchase of packaged foods. By doing so, you can reduce your waste by a great percentage as packaging and wrappers make up a bulk of household waste. Buy fresh products instead. Not only can you manage household waste effectively, you can also eat healthy.

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.

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.