WASTE

MANAGEMENT

by
Yazan Muqbel
Odai Dweikat

This Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of Principles of

Scientific Research and Technical Writing Course (64300)

Faculty of Engineering

An Najah National University

March 15th

2011

Instructor: T. Haya Samaa’neh

 ABSTRACT

This project is presented on waste and waste disposal. We are to discuss the
conventional methods of waste handling and disposal, the amount of waste per
person and the effect of waste on the environment. There will be a household
plan that would help reduce the effect of waste on the environment.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures and Tables ................................................................................................. ii

Glossary................................................................................................................................ iii
Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
Statement of Problem ................................................................................................. 1
Related Work ................................................................................................................ 2
(Motivation)Purpose of Study ................................................................................... 2
Chapter 2: Methodology................................................................................................... 4
CMD’s and Their Effects ........................................................................................... 4
Household Waste Per Capita ..................................................................................... 5
Waste Prevention Hierarchy ...................................................................................... 5
Organic Waste Management ...................................................................................... 6
Municipal Regulations ................................................................................................. 7

Chapter 3: Tests and Conclusions .................................................................................. 8

Hypothesis Test ............................................................................................................ 8
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 71
References........................................................................................................................... 75

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Number Page
1. Carbon Flows ........................................................................................................ 4
2. Waste Per Capita ................................................................................................... 5
3. Waste Prevention Hierarchy ............................................................................... 6

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 GLOSSARY

Household Waste. Solid waste, composed of garbage and rubbish, which

normally originates in a private home or apartment house.

GHG. Greenhouse Gas.

Conventional Methods of Disposal (CMD). The methods common all over

the world for waste disposal, especially in developing countries.

Waste generation. The process of producing waste.

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 1. CHAPTER ONE

1.1. Introduction:
The management of solid waste from households is important for various
reasons. One of these is that landfill space and dumps are becoming a scarce
resource.

There is also a huge concern for ecological damage from hazardous components
in the waste collected. We should not also forget the cost of constructing
landfills, dumps and incinerators. The costs also include handling and collecting
waste. In this project, only the problem of household waste will be discussed and
we will try to construct an affordable plan for houses in order manage waste
more properly and reduce the amounts of waste produced.

1.2. Problem
The conventional methods of disposal of solid waste are a problem. The effects
of this problem continues to grow as the growth of population increases.
Disposal of solid wastes on land is the most common method specially in
developing countries. Why is this considered a problem?

Household waste contains many harmful components, The large scale production
and improper disposal of waste has become a source of pollution and further
accumulation of garbage has resulted in serious deterioration in quality of life and
the ecological balance. Building waste pits and landfills has taken many lands that
could have been used for more useful purposes, the main problems with waste
disposal are:

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  GHG emissions from waste –mainly carbon monoxide and methane-
which causes air pollution. GHG emissions come from burying waste in
landfills.

 Aesthetic effects; destroying the habitats of some valued species and

turning beautiful lands into lands filled with heaps of waste.

 Scarcity of lands; due to the increasing of turning more lands into

landfills.

 The amount of energy used to burn or dump waste into landfills.

1.3. Related Work

Most of the studies available rely explicitly or implicitly on utility theory of the
consumer or household production. There have been many empirical studies
that linked waste generation to age. The idea of making a billing system per
weight has been tried in many of the EU countries (see Thomas Sterner and
Helen Bartelings work, University of Göteborg).

1.4. Motivation (Purpose of Study)

We use household deleterious products every day in cleaning, decorating

our homes, car maintenance and personal grooming. After experiments
and observations we have noticed that every house contains a wide range
of household products bearing hazardous symbols. The reason why we
did this work is that we want to help find a simple plan that would help

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with the reduction of amount of waste disposed and raise awareness of
the dangers of household waste among people and the correct ways to
deal with it.

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 2. CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY

2.1. Conventional Methods of Disposal (CMD) and Their Effects

 Incinerators: GHG emissions into the atmosphere.

 Landfills: GHG emissions, huge amount of energy used for

digging land and burying waste. Destroying useful lands is also a
problem of landfills.

Figure 1: Carbon flows through major waste management systems

including C storage and gaseous C emissions.

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 2.2. Household Waste Per Capita
The table below show waste production per capita. Ages of people
(12-50) years.

Type Weight (g) Percentage

Metal 25 3.5%
Carton and Paper 200 28.0%
Food Leftovers 365 51.0%
Plastic 40 5.6%
Glass 35 4.9%

Garden Trimming 50 7.0%

Table 2: Waste per capita

Total waste per person= 715 grams

Organic waste= 415 grams which is 58% of total waste per person.

We have also found that waste generation depend on age, younger people tend to
generate more waste than old people do.

2.3. Waste Prevention Hierarchy

For better management of waste, waste must go through these stages:

First of all, waste should be reduced, otherwise recycled, next incinerated
and, only if nothing else works, landfilled. Landfilling is often considered
to be the worst option because it consumes a lot of space and runs a
high risk of leakages to air, water and soil.

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 Figure 3: Waste Prevention Hierarchy

2.4. Organic Waste Management

Organic waste makes the majority of household waste. Up to 50% of

waste can be reduced by removing the organic waste (food leftovers,
garden trimmings and sometimes paper), since organic materials are
biodegradable we can process them by letting the material decompose.
Burial pits located in houses backyards can be used for decomposing
organic material with help of micro-organisms. After the process of
biodegradation has been complete, the organic waste can be added to the
soil which would make it more fertile.

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2.5. Municipal Regulations

The municipality could make some laws regarding household waste

disposal. In some municipalities in Sweden, a team from the University
of Göteborg found that there was a significant reduction in waste
collected and that there was an increase in recycling because the
municipality started a weight-based billing system for household waste
charging 1Kr/kg = 0.16$/kg, and they also recycling centers were set
up.

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 3. CHAPTER THREE: TESTS AND CONCLUSIONS

3.1. Hypothesis Test

The solution that suggests that people should start watching over their
generation through the process of waste prevention hierarchy is very
reasonable and applicable, it is actually the start point of waste reduction
that will reduce the amount of pollution.

Organics waste management does not need high technology and can be
applied everywhere but it needs space for the waste pit. If most people
started using this method, the amounts of waste collected will drop
dramatically.

Municipal laws would work too, especially if the municipality has enough
money for such projects, if the municipality starts paying people or
separation of waste (metal, glass, organic) and at the same time billing
per weight of waste, there will be good movement toward recycling.

3.2. Conclusion

We have discussed a simple and applicable household plan for waste

management because we think it is the best thing to start with since the
behavior of people plays is a major rule in amounts of waste generated.
People should change their buying habits and try to make use of
everything before throwing it away. A household plan does not require a

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big budget, so it would work everywhere regardless of the economic
situation.

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 REFRENCES

Huber-Humer 2004. .
Thomas, Sterner. Household
Waste Management in a
Swedish Municipality. 1998.

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