Geography CUE: 3.2.3.6 - 3.2.3.7 Flashcards
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Domestic / residential
Generated from all household activities e.g. cooking, cleaning, hobbies, redecoration etc. Categorized as biodegradable, recyclable or inert
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Municipal
From urban (municipal) activities & services. Includes a huge range from market wastes to abandoned vehicles. This term is commonly applied to include solid domestic & commercial wastes. hence municipal solid waste (MSW) becoming synonymous with urban waste. *
- MSw classification = biodegradable (food), recyclable (paper), inert (construction), electrical (light bulbs), composite (clothing / toys), hazardous (paint), toxic (pesticides), biomedical (drugs)
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Commercial e.g. shops, offices
From offices, retail stores, hotel, restaurants, warehouses etc. Categorised as biodegradable, recyclable or inert
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Animal & vegetable
Handling, storage, sale, cooking & serving of food. Goes putrid attracting rats, flies etc. requires immediate attention for storage, handling & disposal
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Institutional
From schools, universities, hospitals & research institutes. Can be waste considered hazardous to public health & the environmental. Hospital waste can be ‘risk’ or ‘non-risk’. ‘Sharps’, infectious, pharmaceutical, chemical & radioactive waste all require specialist disposal inc. incineration.
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Bulky
Furniture, ‘white goods’, commercial packaging and containers, industrial crates, pallets & metal banding. Requires special collection.
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Ashes
Residue from the burning of wood, coal, charcoal, coke & other combustible material. Fine powdery residue often mixed with small pieces of metal and glass. Classified as industrial when produced in large quantities at power stations / factories etc
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Urban services
Consists of earth, stones, concrete plumbing materials, electrical wires etc and if not recycled can make up a significant proportion of landfill / up to 40% of the MSW stream
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Dead animals
Natural or accidental deaths. If not collected promptly can pose a threat to public health. Waste from slaughterhouses is considered industrial waste.
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Construction & demolition
Consists of earth, strones, concrete plumbing materials, electrical wires etc and if not recycled can make up a significant proportion of landfill / up to 40% of the MSW stream
What is waste in Urban Areas?
Industrial (light & heavy)
Covers a vast range of materials unique to each industry. Major generators include; thermal power plants (coal ash), integrated iron & steel works (slag), pulp & paper industries (lime)
Waste Stream
The complete journey of waste from its source (domestic / commercial / industrial) through to recovery, recycling or final disposal
Waste production and MSW
- Inadequate disposal can be linked to air / ground / water pollution. These can have a negative impact on human health
- On average people in HICs produce 10-30 times more waste than people in LICs
- Waste is estimated to account for almost 5% of total GHG emissions. Methane from landfill represents 12% of the global methane emissions.
- Globally waste increases by about 7% annually. This increase is due due to population ground and economic development. Greater personal waste = increases consumption of goods & services = more waste. Municipal solid waste (MSW) will increase with urbanisation & increased living standards.
- Urban Areas produce 2x MSW as rural areas. This is because urban areas are richer and therefore more store-bought items = more packaging and they higher levels of reuse & recycle.
Waste production and MSW
Year: 2002
Urban Pop: 2.9 Billion
MSW per capita per day: 0.64kg
Year: 2012
Urban Pop: 3 Billion
MSW per capita per day: 1.2kg
Year: 2025
Urban Pop: 4.3 Billion
MSW per capita per day: 1.42kg
Changes in Waste Generation
- Higher in cities Generation
- Waste Generation tends to be greater where disposable incomes & living standards are higher
- Biggest increase in cities in MICs and LICS due to rapid urbanisation & continued industrialization
- Growing fastest in China (overtook the USA as world’s largest waste generator in 2004)
