2.

2 Definition of Waste and Waste Management

The definition of waste used in this thesis is the one found in Article 3 in the
European Union (EU) Directive 2008/98/EC.
1. Waste means any substance or object which the holder discards or
intends or is required to discard;
2. Hazardous waste means waste which displays one or more of the
hazardous properties listed in Annex III; (Appendix 1)
9. Waste management means the collection, transport, recovery and
disposal of waste, including the supervision of such operations and the aftercare of disposal sites, and including actions taken as a dealer or broker;
2.2.1 Definition of Municipal Waste
The definition of municipal waste used in this thesis is the one from the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2012).
"Municipal waste is collected and treated by, or for municipalities. It covers
waste from households, including bulky waste, similar waste from commerce
and trade, office buildings, institutions and small businesses, yard and
garden, street sweepings, contents of litter containers, and market cleansing.
Waste from municipal sewage networks and treatment, as well as municipal
construction and demolition is excluded".
Appendix 1
PROPERTIES OF WASTE WHICH RENDER IT HAZARDOUS
H 1 Explosive: substances and preparations which may explode under the
effect of flame or which are more sensitive to shocks or friction than
dinitrobenzene.
H 2 Oxidizing: substances and preparations which exhibit highly exothermic
reactions when in contact with other substances, particularly flammable
substances.
H 3-A Highly flammable
liquid substances and preparations having a flash point below 21 C
(including extremely flammable liquids), or
substances and preparations which may become hot and finally catch fire
in contact with air at ambient temperature without any application of energy,
or
solid substances and preparations which may readily catch fire after brief
contact with a source of ignition and which continue to burn or to be
consumed after removal of the source of ignition, or
gaseous substances and preparations which are flammable in air at normal
pressure, or
substances and preparations which, in contact with water or damp air,
evolve highly flammable gases in dangerous quantities.
H 3-B Flammable: liquid substances and preparations having a flash point
equal to or greater than 21 C and less than or equal to 55 C.

H 4 Irritant: non-corrosive substances and preparations which, through

immediate, prolonged or repeated contact with the skin or mucous
membrane, can cause inflammation.
H 5 Harmful: substances and preparations which, if they are inhaled or
ingested or if they penetrate the skin, may involve limited health risks.
H 6 Toxic: substances and preparations (including very toxic substances and
preparations) which, if they are inhaled or ingested or if they penetrate the
skin, may involve serious, acute or chronic health risks and even death.
H 7 Carcinogenic: substances and preparations which, if they are inhaled or
ingested or if they penetrate the skin, may induce cancer or increase its
incidence.
H 8 Corrosive: substances and preparations which may destroy living tissue
on contact.
H 9 Infectious: substances and preparations containing viable microorganisms or their toxins which are known or reliably believed to cause
disease in man or other living organisms.
H 10 Toxic for reproduction: substances and preparations which, if they are
inhaled or ingested or if they penetrate the skin, may induce non-hereditary
congenital malformations or increase their incidence.
2.4 Environmental and Health Effects
Improper management of solid waste is one of the main reasons for
environmental pollution and degradation in towns and cities, of the third
world especially. Many of these cities do not have enforced solid waste
regulations and proper solutions for disposal of waste, including for hazardous
waste. The hazardous waste can bring several severe health effects (Table 1)
to residents due to its characteristics as infectious, toxic or radioactive.
Other environmental effects (Table 1) are destruction of the ecosystems
through pollution of water, air, land and vegetation. This poor management of
waste poses a great risk to public health (UNEP, 2007).
A research initiated by UNEPs Urban Environmental Unit and Njoroge G.
Kimani on environmental pollutants and the impacts of public health at the
Dandora municipal dumping site, Nairobi, linked environmental pollution to
public health. High levels of heavy metals and showed health effects (Table 2)
can exemplify this when those could be found at the dump site and a medical
evaluation of the residents close by the dump site showed respiratory
ailments and blood lead levels that exceeded the international acceptable
toxic level of 10 g/dl of blood (UNEP, 2007). Table 1 shows what waste was
dumped at Dandora, the environmental pollutants, how the toxicants reached
the residents and the health effects that arouse from them.

Health Effects

Skin Disorders fungal infection, allergic dermatitis, pruritis and skin cancer
Respiratory Abnormalities bacterial upper respiratory tract infections
(pharyngitis, laryngitis and rhinitis), chronic bronchitis and asthma
Abdominal and Intestinal Problems bacterial enteritis, helminthiasis,
amoebiasis, liver cancer, kidney and renal failure
Dental Disorders dental carries and dental pain
Ear Infections otitis media and bacterial infections
Skeletal Muscular Systems back pain
Central Nervous System impairment of neurological development,
peripheral nerve damage and headaches
Eye Infections allergic conjunctivitis, bacterial eye infections
Blood Disorders Iron deficiency anemia
Others malaria, chicken pox, septic wounds and congenital abnormalities,
cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer
Regarding the definition of waste management there were always more of an
explanation to the answer. Often the explanation included some examples of
how waste could be managed; burnt, placed in the ground, re-used, recycled
or composted (figure 8, Appendix 4). The following quote is from one of the
participants and highlights the definition.
The community members had lots of ideas about hazardous waste. The word
needed a bit of explanation and then several diverse answers were given.
They mentioned batteries, used bottles for kerosene, pesticides and
herbicides, plastic bottles, broken glass bottles and sharp metallic waste. One
participant thought industrial waste might be the most dangerous.
A lot of concern for children health was raised during all interviews, with an
explanation that children play around in dump sites and injure themselves on
the waste. Worries about animal health were also brought up during the
interviews, due to the plastic bags that are consumed by cattle and animals
in the streets
Asking about health effects that could occur through improper disposal
resulted in mostly similar answers. Every participant mentioned cholera,
malaria and physical effects. Some of the participants also mentioned other
health effects like dysentery and respiratory disease. One participant
mentioned the danger of walking around barefooted, as many children do and
also some adults, this because of all broken glass and the risk of catching
parasites on the feet.

While it is generally under- stood that proper waste management helps

protect human health and the environment and preserve natural resources,
many do not realize that solid waste also impacts climate change. The
manufacture, distribution,

and use of productsas well as the disposal of the resulting wasteall result
in emissions of atmos- pheric gases called greenhouse gases that affect the
Earths climate. When organic waste decomposes in landfills and uncontrolled
dumps, it produces methane, one of the
major greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. Waste generation
increases with population expansion and industrialization. Countries in
Asia, Latin America, and Africa account for nearly 40 percent of annual
methane emissions from landfills, which is equal to 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) or the amount of air emissions
from more than 102 million automobiles. You can
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, however, through proper solid waste
management (for a more detailed explanation of
the relationship between climate change and solid waste
Solid waste should be managed through a number of activitieswaste
prevention, recycling, composting, controlled burning, or landfilling. Using a
combination of these activities together in a way that best protects
your community and the local environment is referred to as integrated solid
waste management (ISWM). An ISWM program can help reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and slow the effects of climate change. This folder and its
accompanying fact sheets are designed for government officials, nongovernmental organizations, and others involved in
planning and communicating the benefits of
ISWM programs. The fact sheets will introduce you to impor- tant issues you
will need to address in planning a successful
ISWM program. These fact sheets also assist you in planning an ISWM
program by providing guidelines for recycling and composting,
waste collection and transport, and waste disposal (landfilling and
combustion).
WASTE PREVENTION Waste preventionoften called source reduction
means reducing waste by not producing it. Examples of waste prevention
would include purchasing durable, long-lasting goods and seeking products
and packaging that are as free of toxic substances as possible. It can be as
simple as switch- ing from disposable to reusable products, or as complex as
redesigning a product to use fewer raw materials or to last longer. Because
waste prevention actually avoids waste generation, it is the preferred waste

man- agement activity. Overall, waste prevention conserves resources,

protects the environment, and prevents the formation of greenhouse gases.
RECYCLING Recycling makes use of materials that otherwise would become
waste by turning them into valuable resources. Recycling helps reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, in part, by diverting waste from land- fills. In some
countries, a great deal of recycling occurs before the waste reaches the
landfill. Scrap dealers buy directly from households and businesses,
wastepickers or scavengers collect materials from waste bins, and waste
collectors separate materials that can be sold as they load their trucks.
Governments can build on these practices by providing support to organize
and improve recycling efforts.
COMPOSTING Another form of recycling is compostingthe controlled
aerobic biological decomposi- tion of organic matter, such as food scraps and
plant matter, into humus, a soil-like material. Compost acts as a natural
fertilizer by providing nutrients to the soil, increasing beneficial soil
organisms, and suppressing certain plant diseases, thereby reducing the
need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides in landscaping and agricultural
activities. Organic materials often comprise a large portion of the solid waste
stream, particularly in communities that rely heavily on tourism. Composting
can be particularly helpful to communities manag- ing their waste and thus
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
COMBUSTION Combustion is the controlled burning of waste in a designated
facility to reduce its vol- ume and, in some cases, to generate electricity.
Combustion is an ISWM option for wastes that cannot be recycled or
composted, and is sometimes selected by communities where landfill space
is limited. While the combustion process can generate toxic air emissions,
these can be controlled by installing control equipment such as acid gas
scrubbers and fabric filters in combustors. Combustion of solid waste can
help reduce amount of waste going to landfills. It also can reduce reliance on
coal, one of the fossil fuels that produces greenhouse gases when burned.
LANDFILLING Uncontrolled dumping of waste can contaminate groundwater
and soil, attract disease- carrying rats and insects, and even cause fires.
Properly designed, constructed, and managed landfills pro- vide a safe
alternative to uncontrolled dumping. For example, to protect groundwater
from the liquid that collects in landfills (leachate), a properly designed landfill
has an earthen or synthetic liner. As waste decom- poses, it emits methane, a
greenhouse gas that can also cause fires. To prevent fires, a properly
designed landfill should have a way to vent, burn, or collect methane. Landfill
operators can also recover this methanethereby reducing emissionsand
generate electricity from the captured gas.
Waste generation increases with population expansion and economic
development. Improperly managed solid waste poses a risk to human health
and the environment. Uncontrolled dumping and improper waste handling
causes a variety of problems, including contaminating water, attracting
insects and rodents, and increasing flooding due to blocked drainage canals

or gullies. In addition, it may result in safety hazards from fires or explosions.

Improper waste management also increases greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, which contribute to climate change (for more information on
climate change and the impacts from solid waste, see next page). Planning
for and implementing a comprehensive program for waste collection,
transport, and disposalalong with activities to prevent or recycle waste
can eliminate these problems.
Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) is a comprehensive waste
prevention, recycling, composting, and disposal program. An effective ISWM
system considers how to prevent, recycle, and manage solid waste in ways
that most effectively protect human health and the environment. ISWM
involves evaluating local needs and conditions, and then selecting and
combining the most appropriate waste management activities for those
conditions. The major ISWM activities are waste prevention, recycling and
composting, and combustion and disposal in properly designed, constructed,
and managed landfills (see Figure 1). Each of these activities requires careful
planning, financing, collection, and transport, all of which are discussed in
this and the other fact sheets.
Waste Prevention. Waste preventionalso called source reduction
seeks to prevent waste from being generated. Waste prevention strategies
include using less packaging, designing products to last longer, and
reusing products and materials. Waste prevention helps reduce handling,
treatment, and disposal costs and ultimately reduces the generation of
methane.
Recycling and Composting. Recycling is a process that involves
collecting, reprocessing, and/or recovering certain waste materials (e.g.,
glass, metal, plastics, paper) to make new materials or products. Some
recycled organic materials are rich in nutrients and can be used to
improve soils. The conversion of waste materials into soil additives is
called composting. Recycling and composting generate many
environmental and economic benefits. For example, they create jobs and
income, supply valuable raw materials to industry, produce soil-enhancing
compost, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the number of
landfills and combustion facilities.
Disposal (landfilling and combustion). These activities are used to
manage waste that cannot be prevented or recycled. One way to dispose
of
waste is to place it in properly designed, constructed, and managed landfills,
where it is safely contained. Another way to handle this waste is through
combustion. Combustion is the controlled burning of waste, which helps
reduce its volume. If the technology is available, properly designed,
constructed, and managed landfills can be used to generate energy by
recovering methane. Similarly, combustion facilities produce steam and water
as a byproduct that can be used to generate energy.

Developing a Plan for Integrated Solid Waste Management

Planning is the first step in designing or improving a waste management
system. Waste management planners should, for example, take into
consideration institutional, social, financial, economic, technical, and
environmental factors (see Table 1). These factors vary from place to place.
Based on these factors, each community has the challenge of selecting the
combination of waste management activities that best suits its needs.
Because integrated solid waste management involves both short- and longterm choices, it is critical to set achievable goals. While developing your
ISWM plan, you should identify goals or objectives (e.g., protect human
health, protect water supplies, eliminate open dumping, increase recycling or
composting). The ISWM plan will help guide you through the implementation
process. Do not neglect to ask for the communitys input in developing your
plan, so as to ensure an informed public and to increase public acceptance.
Impacts of solid waste on health
The group at risk from the unscientific disposal of solid waste include the
population in areas where there is no proper waste disposal method,
especially the pre-school children; waste workers; and workers in facilities
producing toxic and infectious material. Other high-risk group includes
population living close to a waste dump and those, whose water supply has
become contaminated either due to waste dumping or leakage from landfill
sites. Uncollected solid waste also increases risk of injury, and infection.
In particular, organic domestic waste poses a serious threat, since they
ferment, creating conditions favourable to the survival and growth of
microbial pathogens. Direct handling of solid waste can result in various types
of infectious and chronic diseases with the waste workers and the rag pickers
being the most vulnerable.
Exposure to hazardous waste can affect human health, children being more
vulnerable to these pollutants. In fact, direct exposure can lead to diseases
through chemical exposure as the release of chemical waste into the
environment leads to chemical poisoning. Many studies have been carried out
in various parts of the world to establish a connection between health and
hazardous waste.
Waste from agriculture and industries can also cause serious health risks.
Other than this, co-disposal of industrial hazardous waste with municipal
waste can expose people to chemical and radioactive hazards. Uncollected
solid waste can also obstruct storm water runoff, resulting in the forming of
stagnant water bodies that become the breeding ground of disease. Waste
dumped near a water source also causes contamination of the water body or
the ground water source. Direct dumping of untreated waste in rivers, seas,
and lakes results in the accumulation of toxic substances in the food chain
through the plants and animals that feed on it.

Disposal of hospital and other medical waste requires special attention since
this can create major health hazards. This waste generated from the
hospitals, health care centers, medical laboratories, and research centers
such as discarded syringe needles, bandages, swabs, plasters, and other
types of infectious waste are often disposed with the regular non-infectious
waste.
Waste treatment and disposal sites can also create health hazards for the
neighborhood. Improperly operated incineration plants cause air pollution and
improperly managed and designed landfills attract all types of insects and
rodents that spread disease. Ideally these sites should be located at a safe
distance from all human settlement. Landfill sites should be well lined and
walled to ensure that there is no leakage into the nearby ground water
sources.
Recycling too carries health risks if proper precautions are not taken. Workers
working with waste containing chemical and metals may experience toxic
exposure. Disposal of health-care wastes require special attention since it can
create major health hazards, such as Hepatitis B and C, through wounds
caused by discarded syringes. Rag pickers and others who are involved in
scavenging in the waste dumps for items that can be recycled, may sustain
injuries and come into direct contact with these infectious items.
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
Three terms are often used to describe municipal solid wastes:
Garbage usually consists of highly decomposable products, such as food
waste products.
Trash comprises various bulky waste items, such as a tree stump or
branches, discarded mattresses, and old or nonworking appliances.
Rubbish is nonputrefying or slowly decomposable or combustible items,
such as paper, glass, metal cans, wooden products.
Municipal solid wastes include everyday trash items, such as packaging, yard
wastes, glass, paper, food scraps, appliances, and batteries. It should be
noted too that this category of waste refers to trash from both urban and
rural areas and city and county jurisdictions. MSW does not include debris
from construction or demolition, wastewater treatment sludge, or
nonhazardous industrial wastes.

Solid Waste Management Dilemmas and Decisions

Many solid waste management practices in the United States are changing.
Technical requirements for operating MSW facilities and their placement have
increasingly stringent mandates. Simply placing solid waste products in
selected areas to fill voids, e.g., using the out of sight - out of mind
approach, or burying items are no longer environmentally or socially
acceptable. Guidelines stressing that governments (federal, state, local) buy
and use products made from recycled materials have stimulated progressive
communities to find ways to reduce landfill loads and to offset certain
expenses of waste management programs. Other methods are under
consideration as attention is drawn to the issue and municipalities address
solid waste management challenges.
Landfill OperationsLandfill Hazards
Nonhazardous solid waste landfills provide for the environmentally sound
disposal of waste that cannot be reduced, recycled, composted, combusted,
or processed in some other manner. Even with the practices mentioned
above, a landfill is needed to dispose of the residues of those processes. The
federal government sets minimum national standards applicable to municipal
solid waste landfills, and these federal regulations are then implemented by
the states. For board of health members, the guidelines may vary at county
and/or municipal levels but should always meet or exceed federal mandates.
It should be stressed that good design and operation will also limit the effort
and cost necessary for maintaining the landfill after final site closure.
Building a landfill requires large sums of money and long periods of time, so
careful planning by the developers of new or expanding landfills is important.
Some of the cost elements and time periods include siting, design, and
construction, operation, monitoring, and administration, and eventually
closing and the post- closure maintenance for a minimum of 30 years with
possible remedial actions.

But the problem is not simply one of institutional and financial constraints. As
in other parts of the country, the lifestyle and consumption patterns of
Abbottabads residents have changed dramatically in recent years. More

goods made of non-biodegradable materials are now commonly in use, not

just among relatively prosperous groups but in middle- and low-income
households as well. Plastic bags and bottles, disposable diapers, and
packaging materials not only increase the volume of waste produced but also
alter its composition, making disposal more difficult. This is compounded by
the habits and attitudes of communities, where it is common practice to
throw waste into the street, in open drains, on empty plots of land, or to
simply burn it in the open.

Inequity
There is a marked inequity in Pakistan with regard to budget allocations for
municipal services. In remote rural areas, there is no system of waste
collection. There is a general and dangerous misconception that rural areas
require few or no waste collection and disposal facilities because open spaces
exist where garbage can be dumped. Although organic waste can certainly be
disposed of by composting, non- biodegradable materials remain in the
countryside, with long-term detrimental effects on rural ecosystems.
The situation in densely populated urban localities is no different, where
garbage collection is abysmal. In prosperous neighbourhoods, meanwhile,
collection can be as high as 90% (Government of Pakistan 2005).
As with most environmental issues and development concerns, it is always
the poor who are the most severely affected. In the case of solid waste
management, they suffer from the effects of living in squalid conditions. The
threat of disease is ever-present, robbing workers of their productivity and
keeping children out of school. Chronic disease, repeated bouts of illness,
lowered resistance and malaise are common in poor households, putting such
families under severe financial strain and depriving them of opportunities to
improve their standard of living.
Community perceptions
A survey was conducted of 455 households in selected areas of the district.
The results show that while large segments of the population are not served
by solid waste management agencies, most communities are acutely aware
of the issues associated with the improper disposal of solid waste.
Only 12% of the overall sample is served by door-to- door solid waste
collection services. Just 47% of urban households and 3% of rural households
report that municipal workers collect garbage in their areas. As a result, 59%
of urban households dispose of their garbage in open spaces or on the street,
and 12% dump refuse outside their houses. There is no door-to- door
collection in rural areas, where 67% of sampled households dump waste in
empty plots of land, 19% in garbage dumps and 11% just outside their door.
Equally troubling is the risk that is posed to children, given that 39% of rural

households participating in the survey and 35% of urban families report that
their children play in or around garbage dumps.
What is perhaps surprising is that the survey did not identify a difference in
behaviour between poor and non-poor households in terms of the manner in
which they dispose of domestic waste. Relatively well-off households use
more or less the same methods as low-income groups. The only significant
difference is that poorer households tend to dump their waste closer to their
places of residence.
Overall, 78% of surveyed households are aware of the issues related to poor
waste management, with similar figures in both urban (80.5%) and rural
(73.4%) households. But awareness is higher among the non- poor (67.9%),
compared to poor families (9.9%). There is, however, a high degree of
awareness regarding the risks of disease, with 86% of those surveyed
indicating an understanding of the link between poor health and improper
garbage disposal.
What is encouraging is that communities are willing to pay for improved solid
waste disposal services, although there is a dramatic difference between the
responses of urban and rural households. The survey revealed that 82% of
respondents in urban areas are willing to pay a fee of 50 rupees a month for
garbage collection services, while only 28% in rural areas respond positively
to this option.
Understandably, the variations in responses between poor and non-poor
households are even more dramatic, with 90% of the non-poor willing to pay
a 50 rupee fee, and only 10% of poor households similarly inclined. Fewer
households overall are willing to pay a higher rate of 100 rupees monthly
(49% urban, 32% rural) but the responses are not discouraging, since 95.8%
of the non-poor are willing to pay the higher rate of 100 rupees.

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(5306W)
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
May 2002 www.epa.gov/globalwarming