8.3 Flashcards
What is Solid Domestic Waste?
Solid Domestic Waste or Municipal Solid waste is the trash, garbage and rubbish generated by urban residential areas. It is a mixture of packaging, papers, plasticsa, glass, textiles, organic waste (food) etc
SDW Disposal Options
- Recycling
- Composting
- Incinerating
- Landfills
What is recycling?
Process of collecting and processing materials that would be otherwise thrownout as trash and turning them into new products.
Advantages of Recycling
Reduced the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.
Helps with the conservation of natural resources and energy because we don’t need new materials extracted and because the recycled materials have been already processed and refined once, manufacturing the second time is much more energy efficient. It also reduces production costs.
Economic Security by tapping into a domestic source of materials through recycling, countries can reduce their dependence on foreign imports. When materials are recycled and reused within the country, it helps to create a more stable and secure supply chain. This reduces the risks associated with trade disruptions, trade taxes etc.
Job Creation: requires a diverse workforce, including individuals involved in collection, sorting, processing, and distribution of recyclable materials. Additionally, the manufacturing industries that rely on recycled materials also generate jobs for engineers, technicians, machine operators, and other skilled workers involved in the production process.
Disadvanatges of Recycling
Not always cost effective. Building up a new waste recycling unit takes up a lot of capital. The accompanying costs include buying different kinds of utility vehicles, recycling containers for the community etc.
Products may not be as durable. The recycled materials are fragile and over utilized. This makes the products of recycled waste less durable.
Example of Plastic: Plastics are good for one or two uses. In many cases it is just delaying, not preventing the eventual trip to the landfill.
What is composting?
Composting is the decomposition of biodegradable material. It recycles organic household waste into a humus-like soil. It returns valuable nutrients to the soil.
Advantages of Composting
Enriches soil → helps retain moisture and surpass plant diseases and pests.
Avoid use of fertilizers which are very polluting.
Reduces waste sent to landfills
Disadvanatges of Composting
Strong + unpleasant smell → Neighbors might complain, making difficult to allocate a composting unit
High costs at first
Quality of compost depends on the ingredients used. Not always offers the same quality.
Large composting plants are often unsuccessful due to contamination and operation costs:
1. Lack of infrastructure: Large composting plants may struggle if they lack the necessary infrastructure or if their infrastructure is not well-designed or maintained. Can hinder the efficient processing and management of organic waste, leading to operational inefficiencies and potential failures.
2. Technological Limitations: Composting processes rely on specific conditions such as temperature, moisture, and oxygen levels to facilitate the breakdown of organic materials. Large composting facilities need advanced technologies and systems to monitor and control these factors effectively.
Solutions to composting
Quality control measures → ensures compliance with quality standards
Advanced sorting technologies → magnetic separators, or manual sorting stations, can enhance the efficiency of contamination removal. These technologies can help identify and separate non-compostable materials more effectively, reducing the labor-intensive process of manual sorting.
Encourage the public to do small scale composting in their own homes.
What is Incinerating?
Incineration is the process of burning waste material in a furnace at high temperatures (up to 2,000o C). In some facilities, waste is pre-sorted to remove recyclable materials.
Advantages of Incinerating
Takes up much less space than landfills
Reduces the volume of waste by 80-90%
Can be used to produce electricity (waste-to-energy plants)
Can function in any type of weather
Produce local heating system Sweden provides 8% of its heating needs.
Disadvantages of Incinerating
Expensive to build and operate
Negative health and environmental impact → sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide being emitted by the process of incineration.
Visual pollution
Causes property devaluation in surrounding areas
Filters do not remove the thinnest particles from air
Solution to Incinerating
Using technology, the dioxin emissions from incineration have been reduced
What is a Landfill?
Landfill is a waste disposal site where solid waste is buried.
Modern landfills are often lined with layers of absorbent material and sheets of plastic to keep pollutants from leaking into the soil and groundwater; the economic status of a country is a major determinant of whether this occurs.
Advantages of Landfills
Cheap method
Countries at any development level can use it because it is a low technology method.
Properly managed landfills can capture the methane produced by decomposition. It can be used for energy production, used for local district heating.
They are close to settlements therefore reducing the cost and impact of transport.
Safer than incinerator
Keep a city clean
