MUNICIPAL WASTE DISPOSAL

MUNICIPAL WASTE DISPOSAL the depositing, discharge or placing of waste collected

from a town, city or community into or on any suitable area.
A. SOLID MUNICIPAL WASTES
1. Methods of Collection
a. Manual Collection garbage collectors go to each house to gather solid wastes by
hand and deliver them to a roving open garbage truck.

b. Mechanical Collection solid wastes are collected by specially designed

sanitation trucks that have closed air-tight compartments and equipped with
special compacting machinery.

2. Methods of Disposal
a. Incineration controlled burning of solid wastes which effectively reduces waste
volume by 90-95%. However, environmental laws, such as RA 9003 (Ecological
Solid Waste Act of 2000) and RA 8749 (Clean Air Act of 1999), prohibit this
method because it causes air pollution.

b. Sanitary Landfill method wherein solid wastes are dumped at a pre-planned site,
compacted and covered with a layer of earth. There are two approaches in sanitary
landfill:
Trench Method primarily used in areas with level ground. A tractor/
bulldozer digs a trench and trucks dump wastes into the trench. Then the
tractor/bulldozer compacts the wastes and covers them with excavated
earth that was dug from the trench.

Area Method generally used in rolling terrain or low-lying areas. Trucks

dump wastes over a selected area and tractors/bulldozers with special
compacting wheels press down on the wastes. The compacted wastes are
then covered with earth hauled from other sites.

B. LIQUID MUNICIPAL WASTES

1. Methods of Collection
a. Manual no longer practiced right now. In the olden times, in some parts of Asia,
community collectors went to homes to collect human wastes, carried them in
carts and used as fertilizers for crops.

b. Sewers wastewater is carried from buildings through large pipes or conduits and
brought to a sewage treatment plant before being released to natural bodies of
water.

Two methods of sewer collection are being practiced:

Old or Combined System a combined system designed to carry all forms

of wastewater.

New or Separated System designed to carry BLACK WATER (toilet

water) and GREYWATER (any other forms of wastewater) separately.

2. Disposal Before being released to natural bodies of water, wastewater is put through
a series of treatment stages to remove any biological and chemical contaminants that
can harm human health or ecological systems. The three standard treatments are:
a. Primary remove large floating or suspended particles, grit (heavy particles such
as sand or gravel) and any excessive amounts of grease or oil from the sewage
through a series of screen grit chamber and sedimentation tanks. If no further
treatment is performed, the wastewater is disinfected by the addition of chlorine
and discharged into natural bodies of water. If further treatment is needed, the
wastewater goes to secondary treatment.
b. Secondary - employs anaerobic microorganisms to break down organic matter left
in the sewage in a process called BIOLOGICAL OXIDATION or BIOLOGICAL
AERATION. This process involves the use of a Trickling Filter, wherein sewage
is mixed with air by allowing it to pass through an air spray and cause it to trickle
slowly through a filter or coarsely-crushed rocks, causing the organic material to
break down into harmless substances. Unless it goes next to the Tertiary
Treatment, the wastewater is disinfected with chlorine and discharged.
c. Tertiary also called Advance Wastewater Treatment, it produces drinking
quality water. In this stage, chemical treatment is used to remove undesirable
elements, such as nitrates, nitrogen and phosphorous, that remain after the
Secondary Treatment.