Solid waste
refers to any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water
supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded
materials including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material,
resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and
from community activities. But it does not include solid or dissolved materials
in domestic sewage or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows.
Example of solid waste include waste
tires, garbage, scrap metal, empty aerosol cans, latex paints, furniture and
toys, oil and anti-freeze, paint cans and compressed gas cylinders.
There are two
kinds of solid waste which is biodegradable material and non-biodegradable
material. A biodegradable material is a material that can be broken down by
living things into simpler chemicals that can be consumed by living things
while non-biodegradable material are synthetic materials, or materials created
in a laboratory such as plastics. Plastics are made up of mostly carbon and
hydrogen, but these elements are put together differently than how they are
found in nature. Microorganisms have ways to break down things in nature, but
not man made things. Plastics may last for hundreds of years before they are
able to start the process of being broken down.
One way to
combat the use of plastics and other forms of non- degradable material is to
reduce and reuse the materials. Reuse is using an item more than once. Reuse
can have financial and environmental benefits, either of which can be the main
motivation for it. The financial motivation historically did, and in the
developing world still does, lead to very high levels of reuse, but rising
wages and consequent consumer demand for the convenience of disposable products
made the reuse of low value items such as packaging uneconomic m richer
countries, leading to the demise of many reuse schemes.
Biodegradable
material such as food waste, glass, paper, aluminium, asphalt, iron and
textiles can be recycle. Recycle is the reprocessing of materials into new
products. Recycle generally prevents the waste of potentially useful materials,
reduces the consumption of raw materials and reduces energy usage, and hence
greenhouse gas emissions, compared to virgin production. It is also recyclable
with the assistance of micro-organisms through composting or anaerobic
digestion. Recyclates are sorted and separated into material types.
Contamination of the recylates with other materials must be prevented to
increase the recylates’ value and facilitate easier reprocessing for the
ultimate recycling facility.
In conclusion,
it is very important to take care of our earth. Land and resources are limited
and the health of the plant can only be hurt to a limited extent. As more and
more waste is generated yearly, it is evident that this increasing trend is
unacceptable in the long run. However, if the problem of solid waste is to be
truly addressed, the root of the issue must be looked at first. If less waste
is generated in the first place, the challenge of finding environmentally
feasible ways of disposing of waste will be much easier.
