Contemporary Urban Environments - Urban Waste Flashcards
What is landfill?
The disposal of waste material by burying it underground.
What is incineration?
Combustion of organic substances contained in waste.
What are some advantages of landfill?
- Different type of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) accepted.
- Facilities are controlled e.g. in the UK most landfill sites are controlled and the gas produced can generate energy.
What are some advantages of incineration?
- Reduces volume of landfill waste by 90%.
- Reduces toxicity of waste.
- Can be burned to produce energy.
What are some disadvantages of landfill?
- Often opposed by local residents.
- Leaching of chemicals into groundwater stores.
- Decaying matter produces methane.
What are some disadvantages of incineration?
- Located in deprived neighbourhoods e.g. all incineration plants in the UK are located within the top 25% most deprived neighbourhoods like Swansea in Wales.
- Increases air pollution levels.
What is an example of landfill?
Mt Everest of Garbage’, India (Ghazipur Landfill in Delhi).
- 65m in height.
- Rises 10m per year due to continual waste generation.
- Encourages vermin
How is landfill used in Amsterdam?
- In 1995, the government introduced a landfill tax on every tonne of material landfilled.
- A landfill ban covering 35 waste categories was introduced in 1995.
- The amount of waste sent to landfill decreased significantly in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2006, the country had already reached the targets of the Landfill Directive set for 2016.
What is an example of incineration?
AEB, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- 64% of waste is recycled.
- Generates 1 million MWh of electricity.
- Successful due to the ban on landfill (taxed until 2012)
What is trade of waste?
International trade of toxic or hazardous waste between countries for further treatment.
What are some benefits of trading waste?
Led to the creation of the ‘Superfund Act’ and ‘Basel Convention’ and offers employment opportunities (China).
What are some costs of trading waste?
Often not disposed of properly, contamination of surrounding land and in China, this has led to respiratory issues.
What is recycling and recovery?
Materials are reprocessed into new products.
What are some benefits of recycling and recovery?
Recycled aluminium requires 95% less energy than creating from scratch and recycling in present in all areas of development e.g. 1% of the global urban population survive through salvaging recyclables.
What are some impacts of increasing waste generation?
- In LICs, solid waste management is usually a city’s largest budgetary item and it is common for urban authorities to spend 20-50% of their budget on solid waste management.
- Environmentally, waste is a large source of methane, waste also contributes to water, ground and air pollution.
- Untreated or uncollected waste can lead to health problems such as respiratory ailments, diarrhoea and cholera.
What is domestic waste?
Waste generated from household rubbish.
What is commercial waste?
Waste produced by businesses such as offices, manufacturing industries, restaurants, schools.
What is unregulated waste disposal?
Where waste is dumped without any laws, rules or regulations covering its safe disposal.
What is waste management?
The management of garbage through a variety of methods including reduction, recycling, composting, incineration and landfilling.
What is MSW?
Covers household waste and waste similar in nature and composition to household waste consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public
What is waste?
Unwanted or unusable material, substances, or by-products. Solid municipal waste services are provided within urban areas but the quality of those services and the way in which waste is handled varies massively.
What are some sources of waste in urban areas?
Residential, Industrial, Commercial, Institutional, Contruction and Demolition, Municipal/Urban Services
What are some reasons for increasing production of waste?
- Population is increasing globally, so there are more people to produce waste.
- Many countries are industrialising and improving standards of living, wealthier people produce more waste.
- The development of a throw away culture - a human society strongly influenced by consumerism. The term describes a critical view of overconsumption and excessive production of short-lived or disposable items over durable goods that can be repaired.
- Built in obsolescence - when a product is deliberately designed to have a specific life span. This is usually a shortened life span. This means that customers are inclined to replace products rather than repair them.
