What is a solid waste?

Any material that we discard, that is not liquid or gas, is solid waste
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW):
Solid waste from home or office
Industrial Solid Waste:
Solid waste produced from Mines, Agriculture or Industry
What is a Hazardous Waste?
Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially
harmful to human health or the environment
Ignitability - Ignitable wastes create fires under certain conditions or are spontaneously
combustible, or have a flash point less than 60 C (140 F).
Corrosivity - Corrosive wastes are acids or bases (pH less than or equal to 2 or greater than or
equal to 12.5) that are capable of corroding metal containers, such as storage tanks, drums, and
barrels.
Reactivity - Reactive wastes are unstable under "normal" conditions. They can cause explosions,
toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when mixed with water.
Toxicity - Toxic wastes are harmful or fatal when ingested or absorbed (e.g., containing mercury,
lead, etc.). When toxic wastes are disposed of on land, contaminated liquid may drain (leach)
from the waste and pollute ground water. Toxicity is defined through a laboratory procedure
called the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP).
Major types: Organics and Heavy Metals, Radioactive wastes
U.S. Scenario
4.6% of world population
50% of toxic wastes
1/3
rd
of solid wastes
Mining (76%), agricultural (13%), industrial (9.5%) = 98.5%
Municipal solid waste 1.5%
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
Waste Management
What are Methods of Dealing with Municipal Waste?
On-site (at home)
Open Dump
Sanitary Landfill
Incineration
Ocean dumping
Open Dump
Unsanitary, draws pests and vermin, harmful runoff and leachates, toxic gases
Still accounts for half of solid waste
Several thousand open dumps in the USA
Sanitary Landfill
Sanitary Landfill
Layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of earth once a day and a thicker layer
when the site is full
Require impermeable barriers to stop escape of leachates: can cause problem by
overflow
Gases produced by decomposing garbage needs venting
1 acre/10,000 people: acute space problem: wastes piling up over 150 million tons/year;
# of landfills down from 8000(1988) to 3091(1996)
Methane Production
Sanitary Landfill
Avoid:
Swampy area/ Flood plains /coastal areas
Fractures or porous rocks
High water table
Prefer:
Clay layers
Heads of gullies
Monitoring of Sanitary Landfills
Gases: Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen sulphide
Heavy Metals: Lead, Chromium in soil
Soluble substances: chloride, nitrate, sulfate
Surface Run-offs
Vegetation: may pick up toxic substances
Plant residue in soil
Paper/plastics etc blown by the wind
Incineration
Solves space problem but:
produces toxic gases like Cl, HCl, HCN, SO
2

High temp furnaces break down hazardous compounds but are expensive ($75 -
$2K/ton)
Heat generated can be recovered: % of waste burnt
Japan 67%, Switzerland 80%, USA 6%
North Little Rock, AK saving $50K in heating cost and reducing landfill requirement by
95%
How many MSW combustors exist in the United States? In 1996, 110 combustors with
energy recovery existed with the capacity to burn up to 100,000 tons of MSW per day.
Ocean Dumping
Out of sight, free of emission control norms
Contributes to ocean pollution
Can wash back on beaches, and can cause death of marine mammals
Preferred method: incineration in open sea
Ocean Dumping Ban Act, 1988: bans dumping of sewage sludge and industrial waste
Dredge spoils still dumped in oceans, can cause habitat destruction and export of fluvial
pollutants
Reducing Waste
Incineration, compacting
Hog feed: requires heat treatment
Composting: requires separation of organics from glass and metals
Recycling and Reusing
Recycle of glass containers: 5 million tons
Plastic: marked by types for easy recycling
Converted into Fibers, trash bags, plastic lumber, fill for pillows, insulation etc
Junked cars: 150 200 kg of plastics: soon to be recycled
What are the Benefits of Recycling?
USA recycled 83 million tons of MSW.
This provides an annual benefit of 182 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions reduced,
comparable to removing the emissions from 33 million passenger cars.
But the ultimate benefits from recycling are cleaner land, air, and water, overall better
health, and a more sustainable economy.
Auto batteries: 99.2%
Office Type Papers: 70.9%
Yard Trimmings: 64.7%
Steel Cans: 62.8%
Recycling: facts and figures
In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about 64 million tons of material
from ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 32 percent of
its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.
50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all plastic soft drink bottles, 45 percent of all
aluminum beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging, and 67 percent of
all major appliances are now recycled.
Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program existed in the United States,
which collected several materials at the curb. By 2005, almost 9,000 curbside programs
had sprouted up across the nation. As of 2005, about 500 materials recovery facilities
had been established to process the collected materials.
What is Liquid Waste?
Sewage
Highly toxic Industrial Waste & Used Oil
Dilute and Disperse
Concentrate and Contain
Secure Landfill
Sealed drums to be put in impermeable holds with monitoring wells to check for
leakage: does not work
Deep well Disposal
Pumping in deep porous layer bounded by impermeable formations, well below
water table
$1 million to drill, $15-20/ton afterwards
Restricted by geological considerations, can trigger earthquakes