WASTE MANAGEMENT

WASTE
WASTE
any material thrown away
regarded as useless and unwanted (at a certain time
and place)

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
change the natural cycle of materials
use more and more materials
produce an ever increasing amount of waste

PROBLEMS

We loose our non-renewable natural resources

We throw away a lot of material and energy present

in waste

We produce waste having a changed composition

and characteristics as the raw materials used

We pollute and poison the environment

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY IMPROPER

DISPOSAL OF WASTE
Threat to public health
rodents, insects = vectors of diseases (transmit pathogens)
typhoid, plague

poisonous materials
flammable materials

Irreversible environmental damage in ecosystems

terrestrial and aquatic
air pollution (incineration)
water pollution (land burial)

Technical and environmental difficulties + administrative,

economic and social problems

PROBLEMS WITH LAND DISPOSAL OF WASTE

too little space for disposal

costs
harm to the environment and public health
landfills are unreliable in long run
aesthetics
public opposition

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT IS NEEDED

source reduction
reuse
resource recovery
composting
Incineration
landfill

WASTE MANAGEMENT
Solve the technical and environmental difficulties,
administrative, economic and social problems
Tasks to be done:
Planning
Design
Construction
Operation of facilities for

In the field of:

Collecting,
Transporting,
Processing,
Disposing of the waste material

TYPES OF WASTES
residential

commercial

Municipal solid waste

agricultural
mining
construction

industrial

Hazardous waste

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

Refuse (municipal solid waste)
All non-hazardous solid waste from a community
Requires collection and transport to a processing or disposal site
Ordinary refuse: garbage + rubbish

Garbage
Highly decomposable food waste
Vegetable + meat

Rubbish
Glass, rubber, tin cans
Slowly decomposable or combustible material paper, textile, wood

Trash
Bulky waste material that requires special handling
Mattress, TV, refrigerator
Collected separately

Municipal solid waste

Ordinary refuse

Trash

Garbage (15%)
Rubbish (85%)
Routine collection

Special collection

Treatment or processing
Final disposal

Resource recovery
and recycling

USA:
300 million t/yr refuse (1990?) = 1.2 million
tons/person/year
= 4000 km long convoy of 10-ton trucks

Hungary:
Total waste: 84 million t/yr (2001)
Municipal solid waste: 4 million t/yr (2001)
Population: 10.2 million (8.2 t/pe/yr; 0.4 t/pe/yr)

COMPOSITION OF URBAN SOLID WASTE

paper
hard waste
plastics
metals
food waste
glass
wood
other

0,6 1,2 m3 waste / day / person

120 250 kg / m3 without compaction
40-50% is paper

HAZARDOUS WASTE
can cause serious illness, injury, death
serious threat to the environment
TOXIC WASTE
Generated by industry
Poisonous even in small amount
Arsenic, asbestos, heavy metals, dioxin, chloroform, etc

HAZARDOUS WASTE
REACTIVE WASTES
Unstable, tend to react vigorously with air, water, etc.
Reaction causes explosions, form toxic vapour and fumes
IGNITABLE WASTE
Organic solvents benzene, toluene
Burn at relatively low temperatures
Present an immediate fire hazard
CORROSIVE
Strong alkaline and acidic substances
Destroy materials and living tissues by chemical reaction

HAZARDOUS WASTE

reactive wastes
ignitable waste
corrosive
Can cause immediate harmful effects on living
organisms or on the physical environment
Problems related to transport, storage and disposal
Must be managed with special care

HAZARDOUS WASTE
INFECTIOUS
Biological waste material
Human tissue from surgery, used bandages and
hypodermic needles, microbial materials
Waste from hospitals and biological research centers

RADIOACTIVE
Ionizing radiation harms living organisms
Persist in the environment for thousands of years before
decay appreciably
Separated from other wastes

COLLECTION AND TRANSPORT

80% of the cost of waste management is spent for
collection and transport
PROPER STORAGE PRIOR TO COLLECTION

To protect public health (rodent, insects, odor)

Aesthetic reasons
Municipal waste containers with tight lids
Containers and storage areas have to be washed
Waste has to be removed at least weekly
Individual residences galvanized metal or plastic
containers
Apartment residences larger portable containers can be
removed and emptied into collection trucks

COLLECTION OF WASTE
responsibility of the local municipality
refuse collection vehicles
enclosed, compacting type with a capacity of 15 m3
compaction: 50% reduction

frequency of collection and the point of pickup depends:

type of community
population density
land use in the collection area

combined collection of garbage and rubbish is cheaper

for recycling it is essential to separate
separated collection!!! (paper, metal, plastic, glass,
organics, chemicals, batteries)

TRANSPORT VEHICLES AND TRANSFER STATION

WASTE TREATMENT AND RESOURCE

RECOVERY
Goals:
1. Reduce the total volume and weight of material
that requires disposal
Help to conserve land resources

2. Change the form or characteristic of waste

Composting, neutralizing, shredding, incineration

3. Recover natural resources and energy in the

waste material
Recycling and reuse!!! (it takes 17 trees to make 1 ton of paper)

Requiring extra costs!

REDUCE, RECYCLE, AND REUSE

Reduce waste production:

consuming and throwing away less partly proactive!
better design of packages:
10%
recycling programs:
30%
composting:
10%
integrated waste management:
50%

Reuse
Usage of the product itself without changing its form and
composition. Works rather for trash than for daily garbage
(old cloths, machinery, bottles, jars, boxes, tools)

REDUCE, RECYCLE, AND REUSE

Recycle
Usage of the resources (matter and energy) stored in the
waste by processing it.

Recyclable garbage
newsprint (paper: 50% by weight, 70% by volume)
glass
aluminum cans and other metals
rubber
plastic
organic material food waste

REDUCE, RECYCLE, AND REUSE

We have to separate recyclables in the households
Packaging has to be minimized
Recycled products has to be preferred
Lot of people dont care
Extra attention is needed
Not enough information available for public

Not enough appropriate recycling centers

No separated transport (cost is high)

RECYCLING
Not yet economical (regulations can help)
Does not eliminate the waste disposal problem
non recyclable residue
Requires selection
Recycled paper is never as good as new but can be used
+
Protection of environment (eg. less harvesting of trees)
Save our resources (they are less and less)
Al cans, glass, rubber, plastic more and better
technologies for recycling
Energy saving (96% of E is saved by recycling Al cans)

SOLID-WASTE DISPOSAL

On-site disposal
Composting
Incineration
Open dumps
Sanitary landfills

ON-SITE DISPOSAL
MECHANICAL GRINDING OF KITCHEN FOOD WASTE
devices in the ww pipe system from a kitchen sink
ground and flushed into the sewer system

- reduces the amount of handling food waste

- easy and quick

- problem is transported (wwtp has to dispose)

- hazardous liquid chemicals

- illegal dumping in urban sewers

COMPOSTING
biochemical process
organic materials decompose to a humuslike
material
aerobic organisms
in mechanical digesters
presence of oxygen
T can reach 65 c because of aerobic microbial action
V reduction = 50%
end product is compost or humus utilizable
like potting soil
earthy odor
can be used as soil conditioner

COMPOSTING

stabilize the organic material

agricultural use
no air pollution
we save land
need for separation of organic waste

COMPOSTING
1. Sorting and separating

Isolate the organic, decomposable part

2. Size reduction

Shredding and pulverizing

Relatively uniform mass of material
Optimize biological activity
Better handling, moisture control, aeration

3. Composting
4. Product upgrading
5. Marketing (low market need)

COMPOSTING
Open field composting
5-8 weeks
pile of solid waste (<3 m wide, < 2 m high)
mixed at least twice a week aeration
65 C destroy most of pathogens
require large areas (250 000 pe 24 ha)

COMPOSTING
Enclosed composting
Faster 1 week
Requires less land
One or more enclosed tanks equipped with stirring
devices rotating flows for mixing and aeration
Air can be used (blown into the waste)

INCINERATION
Reduction of combustible waste to inert residue by
burning at high temperatures (900-1000 C)
Chemical process
Combustible part is combined with O2 CO2 + H2O (oxidation)
Releases energy

For complete oxidation

waste must be mixed with air
proper temperature for a certain length of time

INCINERATION
Residue

Ash
Glass
Metal cans
Other unburned substances
20% of the original waste volume
Gaseous products
Fly ash (cinders, mineral dust, soot)

INCINERATION

- effective conversion of large volumes of combustible

waste
- Simple and robust process
- Heat produced can be recovered
- Stream or electricity
- Existing fossil fuels are preserved
- Good in densely populated urban areas where large
sites suitable for landfilling are not available
- May destroy certain types of hazardous waste material

INCINERATION

- need for separation of organic waste

- air pollution
- toxic ash
- devices to trap the pollutants expensive
- incineration itself is very expensive
- adequate chimney heights are needed
- suitable temperature is needed
- high level technical supervision and skilled emloyees
- use only in larger towns

AIR POLLUTION FROM INCINERATION

nitrogen oxides
sulfur oxides
carbon monoxide
heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Hg)
dust

INCINERATION

Burning 25% of USAs waste = recycle and compost 75%

Economic viability depends on the sale of energy
produced by burning
volume reduction with 75-95%
maintenance and waste supply problems 50%
525 incineration plants in Europe in 1991
Lots of them are simple mass burning systems without
energy recovery