3. INTRODUCTION
Waste minimization is a process of elimination that involves reducing the amount of waste
produced.There are many opportunities for farmers to make financial savings and help the
environment through efficient use of resources and improved waste management. Waste
minimisation (the reduction of waste at source) should be fundamental to decisions on farm
waste management and can reduce the risk of pollution from agricultural activities
WHAT IS WASTE?
Waste is the unwanted or useless materials generated from activities in a given area.It may be
categorized according to its origin (domestic, industrial, commercial, construction or institutional).
According to its contents (organic material, glass, metal, plastic paper etc.).According to hazard
potential (toxic, non-toxin, flammable, radioactive, infectious etc.).
WASTE MINIMISATION
Waste minimization can be defined as "systematically reducing waste at source".
It means:
• Prevention and/or reduction of waste generated
• Efficient use of raw materials and packaging
• Efficient use of fuel, electricity and water
• Improving the quality of waste generated to facilitate recycling and/or reduce hazard
• Encouraging re-use, recycling and recovery
Benefits of Waste Minimization
Minimizing waste will help the business to:
Keep waste disposal costs down.
Keep raw material costs down.
Comply with legislation.
Reduce impact on the environment.
Perhaps support other businesses – one business’s waste may be another business’s
resource.
4. WASTE HIERARCHY
Waste minimisation can be divided to:
Avoid
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle.
Energy recovery
Disposal
1) Avoid
Disposal of an item must be considered before you purchase it.Source Reduction of
waste or stopping waste before it starts is a way to enhance environmental cleanliness.
Source reduction is also known as waste prevention or pollution prevention, is the
elimination of waste before it is created. Source reduction is decreasing the amount of
materials or energy used during the manufacturing or distribution of products and
packages. Source reduction means stopping waste before it happens.
2) Reduce
The easier method of waste management is to reduce creation of waste materials
thereby reducing the amount of waste going to landfills. Waste reduction can be done
through recycling old materials like jar, bags, repairing broken items instead of
buying new one, avoiding use of disposable products like plastic bags, reusing second
hand items, and buying items that uses less designing
3) Reuse
Using of 2nd hand goods, refillable containers. Repair an item and extend its life.
Make an old item into something useful in a new way.
4) Recycle
Recycling is the process of converting waste products into new products to prevent
energy usage and consumption of fresh raw materials. Recycling is the third
component of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle waste hierarchy. The idea behind recycling
is to reduce energy usage, reduce volume of landfills, reduce air and water pollution,
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and preserve natural resources for future use.
5) Energy recovery
Energy or Resource recovery is the process of taking useful discarded items for a
specific next use. These discarded items are then processed to extract or recover
materials and resources or convert them to energy in the form of useable heat,
electricity or fuel.eg: - biogas production
5. 6) Disposal
Waste must be treated prior to disposal to reduce its hazardous nature. For those
things that cannot be reduced, reused or recycled, we ensure that they are disposed of
responsibly.
WASTE REDUCTION TECHNIQUES
There are 4 major waste minimization techniques:
1. Inventory management
2. Production process modification
3. Volume reduction
4. Recovery
1) Inventory management
Inventory management is divided into two:
• inventory control
• materials control
a) Inventory Control
It involves techniques to reduce inventory size and hazardous chemical use while
increasing inventory turnover. Proper inventory control help reduce wastes.Method
that can be used are purchasing in small quantities, purchasing in appropriate
container sizes and just-in-time purchasing.
b) Materials Control
Proper control over the storage of raw materials, products and process waste and the
transfer of these items within the process and around the facility.Minimize the losses
through spills, leaks or contamination. Ensure the material is efficiently handled and
used in the production process and does not become waste.
2) Production process modification
3 techniques for production process modification:
a) Operation and maintenance procedures
b) Material change
c) Equipment modifications
6. a) operation and maintenance procedures
Corrective and preventive maintenance can reduce waste generation caused by
equipment failure.This can help spot potential sources of release and correct a
problem before any material is lost.
b) material change
The replacement of materials used in either a product formulation or in a production
process, can either result in elimination of a hazardous waste or facilitate recovery of
a material.
c) equipment modifications
Installation of more efficient equipment or modification of equipment can reduce the
generation of waste.Installation of completely new equipment may be involved.
3) Volume reduction
a) Source segregation
b) Concentration
a) Source segregation
Segregation of wastes allows them to be more readily removed or recovered.
b) Concentration
Concentrate waste through separation processes such as filtration, centrifugation,
membrane separations and evaporations.
4) Recovery
a) on-site
b) off-site
a) On-site Recovery
Reduce possible handling losses and allow the management of the waste to remain
within the compass of the producer. Recovered material can be reused as raw
material.
b) Off-site Recovery
If on-site recovery is not feasible, for economic or other reasons, off-site recovery
should be considered.Waste may be transferred to other company for use as a raw
material in the other company’s manufacturing process.
7. CONCLUSION
There are a number of good reasons for minimizing waste. Source reduction comes at
the top of the waste hierarchy. Factors which influence waste minimisation include
regulations, technological feasibility, economic viability and management support.
There are both incentives and barriers; some opportunities widely applicable - and
valuable experience from demonstration
REFERENCE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_minimisation
http://www.slideshare.net/ymadhusudhanreddy/waste-minimization-14630551
http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/waste/minimisation/
