ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

1. According to EPA regulations, SOLID WASTE is
Any garbage or refuse (Municipal Solid Waste)
Sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water
supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility
Other discarded material
Solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material
from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural
operations, and from community activities

2. Any material which is not needed by the
owner, producer or processor.
Classification
• Domestic waste
• Factory waste
• Waste from oil factory
• E-waste
• Construction waste
• Agricultural waste
• Food processing waste
• Bio-medical waste
• Nuclear waste

4. Classification of Wastes according to their
Properties
Bio-degradable
can be degraded (paper, wood, fruits and others)
Non-biodegradable
cannot be degraded (plastics, bottles, old machines,
cans, styrofoam containers and others)

5. Solid waste Management techniques
• Incineration
– Non incinerators
• Auto clave
• Steam sterilization
• Chemical disinfectant
• Land Filling
– Open Dumping
– Sanitary Filling
• Composting
– Vermicomposting
– Coirpith
– pressmud

6. Incineration
• Solves space problem but:
– produces toxic gases like Cl, HCl, HCN, SO2
– High temp furnaces break down hazardous compounds but
are expensive ($75 - $2K/ton)
– Heat generated can be recovered: % of waste burnt
• Japan 67%, Switzerland 80%, USA 6%
– North Little Rock, AK saving $50K in heating cost and
reducing landfill requirement by 95%
– How many MSW combustors exist in the United States? In
1996, 110 combustors with energy recovery existed with the
capacity to burn up to 100,000 tons of MSW per day.

7. Open Dump
• Unsanitary, draws pests and vermin, harmful
runoff and leachates, toxic gases
• Still accounts for half of solid waste
• Several thousand open dumps in the USA

8. • Sanitary Landfill
– Layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of earth
once a day and a thicker layer when the site is full
– Require impermeable barriers to stop escape of leachates:
can cause problem by overflow
– Gases produced by decomposing garbage needs venting
– 1 acre/10,000 people: acute space problem: wastes piling
up over 150 million tons/year;
– # of landfills down from 8000(1988) to 3091(1996)
– NIMBY, NIMFYE, NIMEY, NOPE
– NJ ships >5 million tons of waste every year

9. VermiCompost

10. Coirpith Composting

11. Bio gas Production

12. Pressmud

13. Story of Love Canal
• A ditch 20m wide, 3m deep and 1km long
• 1890: Built near Niagara falls for hydro-power
• 1905: Hooker Electrochemical established
• 1942: Hooker buys the site for waste disposal, 20,000 tons of toxic
chemical dumped in 10 yr
• 1953: site bought by Niagara School board for $1, Hooker absolved of any
future damage
• 1977: study shows toxic effects in adjoining homes,>40 toxic chemicals
identified
• 1978: Health advisory, 100 families to be shifted
• 1980: remedial measures taken, EPA study shows chromosome defects in
residents, President Carter declares emergency, provides federal aid
• 1981: Over 500 families moved out, hundreds waiting for aid
• EPA estimate: 30,000 hazardous waste sites in US, only 10% of hazardous
wastes properly disposed, 300 million tons generated each year

15. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: EMS
What is an EMS?
An EMS is a formal set of policies and procedures that define how an
organization will evaluate, manage, and track its environmental impact. It
follows the basic model:
Plan > Do > Check > Act
This facilitates cost-effective environmental performance by defining and
continuously improving the process and actions that an organization undertakes
to meet its environmental goals.

16. WASTE MINIMISATION
Prevention of waste being created is known as waste
reduction which is an important method of waste
management.
The modern concepts based on the three ‘R’s are: Reduce,
Reuse and Recycle.
Methods of avoidance include reuse of second hand
products, designing products to be refillable or reusable,
repairing broken items instead of buying new etc.

17. Bio-Medical Waste Disposal

18. CONCLUSION
The technique of Integrated Solid Waste management (ISWM)
can be practiced with short term training about the
fundamentals involved by the public.
The cost involved in establishing this technique is very cheap
and it is easy to install and maintain the process.
As it is very effective in managing the solid waste, it will provide
a better solution when implemented.
Thus, ISWM can be readily adopted for solid waste problem at
municipal level.
Use eco-friendly products