Solid Waste Management

Solid Waste Management

Waste management is the collection, transportation, processing or disposal of waste materials, usually ones produced by human activity, in an effort to reduce their effect on human health and communities. Focus in recent decades has been to reduce waste materials' effect on the natural world and environment, and to recover resources from them through waste management (Miller, 2005). Municipal solid waste is the most common form of waste often referred to as trash or garbage. It consists of everyday items such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint, and batteries. In 2003, U.S. residents, businesses and institutions produced more than 236 million tons of municipal solid waste, which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day. This totals to 1,624 pounds of waste per year (Miller, 2005). As more countries develop and population growth rates increase around the world, the amount of waste produced will become a major environmental issue. Landfills, incineration and more traditional forms of waste management will have to give way to the widespread use of environmentally friendly techniques such as recycling, composting and source reduction.

The municipal waste management system was established a century ago to protect public health in America’s growing industrial cities. At the dawn of the 20th century the earliest municipal waste managers characterized municipal refuse using three categories: ashes, garbage and rubbish. Ashes were the residue of coal and wood used primarily for space heating and cooking (Spiegleman, 2006). Garbage was the waste from food preparation and rubbish was a miscellaneous category made of various worn out products and packaging. In addition to the wastes collected from households and businesses, municipal waste managers faced a staggering quantity of organic wastes generated by horses that served as the main means of transport in cities. Not surprisingly municipal refuse was seen as an urgent public health problem. Waste that was improperly managed, especially from households and communities, was a serious threat to the spread of infectious diseases. It only made sense to provide for the prompt removal of waste as a community service. This was one of the Progressive Era reforms instituted to make life more bearable in the growing industrial cities of North America. Over time the development of municipal crews in uniform who hauled the communities’ refuse to an official disposal site became the urban waste management standard (Spiegleman, 2006). By the 1960’s, municipal solid waste was beginning to be viewed as an environmental problem as well as a threat to public health. Ground water impacts from landfills and air pollution from waste incinerators were a continuing concern, but there was also a growing policy emphasis around resource conservation and materials recycling. In 1969, the National Environmental Policy Act made a commitment for the federal government to enhance the quality of renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources (Spiegleman, 2006). In pursuit of this policy the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) produced annual reports characterizing the municipal solid waste in the country. The reports divided municipal waste into two basic categories: products and other wastes. Products are other manufactured goods and packaging, what was earlier called rubbish. Other wastes are primarily food scraps and yard trimmings. Insignificant a century ago, products are now the largest category of municipal solid waste. In an effort to conserve resources, the municipal solid waste management system in North America was enhanced during the mid 1980’s with the introduction of new municipal recycling services for certain recyclable products (Spiegleman, 2006). Paired with new technology recycling and source reduction was hoped to be the answer to growing waste management problems. Despite significant public investment, management programs have not yet achieved the desire for significant reduction of waste.

States and communities nationwide are now actively pursuing an integrated solid waste management approach because no single management option alone can handle all of our nation’s waste. It is important to use a combination of techniques in order to provide the most cost-effective, efficient and safest solutions for each community and the environment. The EPA has ranked the most environmentally sound strategies for municipal solid waste. Source reduction (including reuse) is the most preferred method, followed by recycling and composting, and lastly, disposal in incinerator facilities and landfills. Currently in the United States, 30 percent of solid waste is recovered and recycled or composted, 14 percent is incinerated and 56 percent