CUE: Urban Waste Sources, Trends And Impacts

Question 1

What is the composition of waste?

Answer 1

It varies according to a number of factors:
- Economic development
- Geographical location
- Cultural norms
- Energy sources
- Climate

Question 2

Why does the wealth of the country affect waste?

Answer 2

• LICs have a higher percentage of organic waste matter- 40-85% of total.
• As the wealth of a country increases, as does their creation of inorganic waste.

Question 3

What’s a residential source of waste?

Answer 3

E.g. households
- foods, paper, cardboard, plastics, etc.

Question 4

What’s an industrial source of waste?

Answer 4

E.g. light and heavy manufacturing, fabrication, construction sites, power and chemical plants
- housekeeping wastes, packaging, food, construction and demolition material, hazardous wastes.

Question 5

What’s a commercial waste source?

Answer 5

E.g. shops, hotels, restaurants, markets, office buildings
- paper, cardboard, plastic, wood, food, glass, metal special waste

Question 6

What’s an institutional waste source?

Answer 6

E.g. schools, hospitals, prisons, gov buildings, offices
- same as commercial

Question 7

What’s a construction and demolition waste source?

Answer 7

E.g. building sites, road repairs, renovation sites and demolition
- wood, steel, concrete, dirt, bricks, tiles

Question 8

What’s a urban services waste source?

Answer 8

E.g. street cleaning, landscaping, parks, beaches, water and wastewater treatment plants
- street litter, tree trimmings, general waste

Question 9

Why is it important for cities to manage their waste effectively to become sustainable?

Answer 9

• Generate vast quantities of waste from homes, offices, industry and construction.
• Rely heavily on landfill but space is limited and expensive.
• 1 tonne of biodegradable waste, in landfill, produces 300-500 m3 of gases include CO2.
• cities have limited ‘carrying capacities’. They can only manage a certain amount of waste.
• a sustainable city is better equipped to grow and develop economically and cope with future population rises
• the EU and the UK gov have all produced targets to reduce ‘throw away’ waste and recycle more.

Question 10

How much do we throw away in Europe?

Answer 10

There is a link, the higher the GDP, the higher the waste volume. E.g. Denmark has the highest at 801 and also has the second highest GDP per capita.

Question 11

What’s the comparison between generated quantities and recycling between countries?

Answer 11

• overall, every country has more quantities generated than there is recycled, however Iceland has the largest quantities generated at over 200kg per person with one of the smallest amount recycled with slightly over 50kg per person

Question 12

What is waste like in the UK?

Answer 12

• at the moment, most of our waste goes to landfill, where former quarries or chalk mines are filled with our residual waste. 8% of waste comes from out homes, 11% comes from shops, businesses and industry but the largest contributor is the construction industry which accounts for 32% of all waste going to landfill.

Question 13

What’s the largest components of waste?

Answer 13

• organic matter (46%)
• paper (17%)
• plastic (10%)
• glass (5%)

Question 14

What is Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)?

Answer 14

• AKA rubbish
• predominately made up of food market and street wastes, plastic containers and product packaging.

Question 15

What is a waste stream?

Answer 15

the flow of waste from its origin through to its eventual disposal – some products can be recycled, others need to be broken down.

Question 16

Why do economic characteristics effect waste streams?

Answer 16

• richer people tend to consume more goods and produce more waste
  —> in developed countries, the main components of waste are paper (31%), organic material (28%) and plastic (11%)
  —> in developing countries the following components are the largest - organic material (64%), plastic (8%) and paper (5%)

Question 17

What do lifestyles effect waste streams?

Answer 17

• urban dwellers produce more waste than rural dwellers
• people are more likely to recycle if facilities are provided
• diet - processed food creates more waste - packaging, etc.

Question 18

How is there no clear pattern of waste streams?

Answer 18

Austria recycles 63% of all waste – Japan only recycles 21%

Question 19

What’s some problems with Bangalore?

Answer 19

It produces 20,000 tonnes of e-waste a year from the dominant IT sector in the city and increasing by 20% year on year. Up to 90% of this waste is removed using the informal sector. Local businesses employ low paid workers to sort and incinerate the e-waste- yet workers are often unaware of the safety measures needed. As a result, lead, mercury and other toxins are released into the environment. Workers use acid to extract precious metals from hardware, with no or very limited specialist clothing. Any remaining waste is then dumped, allowing the remaining pollutants to seep into the groundwater.

Question 20

What’s the waste hierarchy?

Answer 20

Reduce —> reuse —> recycle —> energy recovery —> disposal

Question 21

What is waste reduction?

Answer 21

Businesses are encouraged to reduce the amount of packaging used. Consumers can refuse to accept plastic bags, or opting fro products that have less packaging (e.g. in England - you need to now buy plastic bags)

Question 22

How do we reuse waste?

Answer 22

Homes reusing containers, bags for life or repairing/giving old things to charity

Question 23

How do you recycle waste?

Answer 23

Making something new out of something old. Recycling reduces demand for raw materials , and generally uses less energy.

Question 24

What is some unregulated waste disposal methods?

Answer 24

Waste is dumped in places that aren’t official disposal sites - e.g. waste left on the street, or untreated liquid waste enters water courses. This can damage ecosystems (e.g. chemicals enter the environment, animals and birds can be harmed if they swallow or get tangled in plastic waste)

Question 25

How is recovery a waste disposal method?

Answer 25

Involves using waste instead of new products (e.g waste products can be crushed and used as a base for new roads and buildings- reduces the amount of waste being sent to landfill and means fewer natural resources are exploited.

Question 26

What is submergence?

Answer 26

Dumping waste in oceans is illegal, but still common in some areas. This can release toxic or radioactive substances - damaging ocean ecosystems.

Question 27

What is waste trade?

Answer 27

Waste can be brought and sold by countries. E.g. developed countries may pay developing countries to take their hazardous waste. Yet developing countries may not dispose of hazardous waste safety - so could damage local environments