Geography - Waste Management

What is waste management?

We live in a throw-away society. Often, people do not consider what will happen to the packaging of products and their possessions once they are finished with them. It is very easy to simply squash the garbage lid down over the banana peels and milk cartons, and trudge the wheelie bin out to the kerbside once a week. On average, Australians produce about 700 kg of WASTE PER PERSON EVERY YEAR. While we do recycle some of our rubbish, 20% of what goes into recycling is waste, because many people do not understand what can and what can't go into the bins. Garbage collection is organized by local councils. Waste management can involve solid, liquid, gaseous and radioactive substances, with different methods and fields of knowledge for each.

How does waste impact Rockdale?

There are many issues that surround about waste impacting Rockdale. It is most commonly measured by size or weight, and there is a severe difference between the two. For example, organic waste is much heavier when it is wet and plastic or glass bottles can have different weights but be the same size. The environmental problems of landfills are difficult issues to fix. As more waste is put into landfills, the bigger the problem gets.

Waste that could be recycled such as metal, glass, paper and plastic, take products out of the consumer stream and require more raw materials to be converted to usable materials. Waste that is reusable, such as old clothes, shoes, books, and the like could all be repurposed, saving consumer money and reducing the amount of waste in a landfill. The reason landfills are unwanted mainly lies in the fact that insects and other creatures breed rapidly in landfills and can spread diseases. Add to that the fact that they smell, are amazingly ugly, and can leach harmful chemicals unto nearby water reserves and they become even more of a problem.

That is a lot of avoidable waste. By switching to rags, sponges, or other such alternatives all that waste can be avoided. Using paper towels made from recycled paper also reduces waste and sends a message to companies that we don't want to lose more of our natural resources, and that we don't want to use paper towels that have been treated with bleach.

All in all waste takes up land that could be better used elsewhere, leaches chemicals into ground water near the dump site and takes products out of the consumer stream, requiring companies to use more virgin materials. Since a lot of waste is unnecessary and easy to avoid there is no reason to leave current habits in place and continue to produce the amount of waste each day that we currently produce.

Any waste could be harmful if it is managed badly or disposed of illegally. Strict laws control hazardous waste management because of the risks it can pose to health and the environment. The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) in 2003 concluded that being exposed to flying viruses in the air, bacteria and fungi released from composting does not cause breathing related health problems.

Recycling mostly affects