ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

AND ENGINEERING
CE102
 Unit - IV
Solid waste management
What is Solid Waste?
Solid waste comprises of all the wastes arising from human and
animal activities that are typically solid and that are discarded as
useless or unwanted. It is all-inclusive of the heterogeneous mass
from the urban community as well as more homogeneous
accumulation of agriculture and industrial wastes
Some of the commonly used synonyms for solid wastes are:
 Refuse: This is a more appropriate term for solid waste as most waste can
be utilized as a raw material for some other purpose
 Garbage: It consist of kitchen/wet waste
 Rubbish: Those wastes with high ash content
 Scrap: Wastes that have high metal content
 Debris: Bulky wastes such as construction waste
Materials Flow And Waste Generation
Secondary
manufacturing
Raw materials Manufacturing Consumer Disposal

Waste materials Processing &

recovery

waste
Why

solid waste: A consequence of life
The relationship between public health and improper storage, collection and
disposal of solid waste is quite clear.
 The consequences of improper disposal of solid waste can be very well
highlighted with the following examples.

Impro p er d isp o sal Improper land lling of Improper land lling of solid
causes plague because solid waste at tributes waste at tr ibutes to air
of breeding of rats, f lies to water pollution pollution by release of
and other d isease greenhouse gases. In Fig:
vectors
Image source: google images Kolkata’s permanently
 Plastic dumped in ocean causes harm to marine species, threatens food
safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate
change

The e ects of technological advances: Increasing use of

plastics, packaging of goods, use of frozen foods
TYPES OF SOLID WASTES
Solid waste can be broadly classi ed as:
a) Municipal wastes which includes garbage or food wastes, ashes and
residues, construction and demolition wastes, treatment plant wastes,
special wastes
b) Industrial wastes which includes all types of liquid or solid waste generated
from di erent types of industries
c) Hazardous wastes are waste (liquid, solid, gaseous or sludge) that is
dangerous or potentially harmful to our health or environment. They can be
discarded commercial products, byproducts from industries, or from
households

a) Municipal Waste b) Industrial Waste c) Hazardous

 CLASSIFICATION OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE
BASED ON SOURCE

Residential wastes are Commercial wastes Insti tuti o nal waste

waste generated from includes solid wastes consists of paper, plastic,
that originate in of fices, glasses, etc., generated
household activities and wholesale and retail f ro m e d u c a t i o n a l ,
consists of leftover food, stores, restaurants, administrative and public
paper, plastic, clothes, hotels, markets, buildings such as schools,
cardboards, metal cans, warehouses and other colleges, of fices, prisons,
ashes, etc.
Contd.

Industrial wastes consists of discarded

Municipal waste includes wastes resulting solid materials of manufacturing
from municipal functions and services processes and industrial operations. It
such as street wastes, road sweeping, could be dry or wet depending on the
dead animals and abandoned vehicles operation
Contd.

Construction and Demolition waste are Agricultural waste consisting of spoiled

g enerated by the co nstructio n, food grains and vegetables, agricultural
refurbishment, repair and demolition of remains, li er, etc., generated from elds,
houses, commercial buildings and other orchards, vineyards, farms, etc.
structures. They mainly consists of wood,
steel, concrete, dirt etc.
Waste Characteristics: Physical
Compositional Analysis
 The wastes are separated on the basis physical properties such as dry, wet,
paper, glass, metal, household hazardous, construction and mixed/
miscellaneous
 They are weighed and represented as a fraction of total waste

Importance of compositional analysis

 Selection and operation of equipment and facilities
 Design of disposal facility
Municipal solid waste (MSW) characteristics of few cities in India
as perPaper
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB, 2000)
(%) Textile Plastic Glass Metal (%) Inert materials Biodegradable
City (%) (%) (%) (%) ma er (%)
Ahmedabad 6 1 3 - - 50 40
Bangalore 8 5 6 6 3 27 45
Bhopal 10 5 2 1 - 35 45
Mumbai 10 3.6 2 0.2 - 44 40
Kolkata 10 3 8 3 - 35 40
Coimbatore 5 9 1 - - 50 35
Delhi 6.6 4 1.5 1.2 2.5 51.5 31.78
Hyderabad 7 1.7 1.3 - - 50 40
Indore 5 2 1 - - 49 43
Jaipur 6 2 1 2 - 47 42
Cont..City Paper Textile Plastic Glass Metal (%) Inert materials Biodegradable
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) ma er (%)
Kochi 4.9 - 1.1 - - 36 58
Lucknow 4 2 4 - 1 49 40
Ludhiana 3 5 3 - - 30 40
Madras 10 5 3 - - 33 44
Madurai 5 1 3 - - 46 45
Nagpur 4.5 7 1.25 1.2 0.35 53.4 30.4
Patna 4 5 6 2.0 1 35 45
Pune 5 - 5 10 - 15 55
Surat 4 5 3 3 - 45 40
Vadodara 4 - 7 - - 49 40
Varanasi 3 4 10 - - 35 48
It is estimated that solid waste generated in small, medium and
large cities and towns is about 0.1 kg, 0.3-0.4 kg and 0.5 kg per
capita per day respectively
Compositional
It depends on:
variation
1. Location: The commercial Compositional variation of MSW in
Biodegradables India Paper
activity present, the food Plastic and rubber Metal
type, hilly or plane, and 60
50 42.21 45.13 47.43
warm or cold 42.51
2.Season: One of the key 40

egatnecreP
30 25.16
factors af fe cting the 20 17
generation and 10 3.630.60.490.6 8.193.22 9.610.
3 11
composition of residual 0
0.51.01 0.60.96
3
waste 1996 2005
Year
2011
3.Economy: Fraction of dry Source: Planning Commission Report, 2014
waste generated from HIG
Speci

c Weight
It is def ined as the weight of a
material per unit volume
 Generally, higher waste density Typical speci c weight values of
(400-600 kg/m3) is observed in Asian countries
India may be because of high
amount of inert material
 It is helpful to know the collection
vehicle capacity and landf il l
capacity also
 It is often reported as loose, as
found in containers, uncompacted,
or compacted
 It varies with season of the year,
geographic location and length of
Particle Size
 The size and distribution of the waste material are an important
consideration in the recovery of materials, especially with mechanical
means such as trommel screen and magnetic separator
 h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=8ZJlKix7s9c

Trommel screen (front and Schematic labeled diagram of a

inside view) trommel screen
 h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=GfBzLnHH6Jk

Pictorial representation of a suspended

Working principle of a magnetic magnetic separator
separator
Field Capacity
 The f ield capacity of solid waste is the total amount of moisture that can
be retained in the waste sample subject to the downward pull of gravity
 It is very important in determining the formation of leachate in land ll
Water in excess of the eld capacity will be released as leachate
 The f ield capacity varies with the degree of applied pressure and the state
of the decomposition of the wastes
Waste Characteristics: Chemical
Information on the chemical composition of the components that constitute
MSW is important in evaluating alternative processing and recovery options
Proximate analysis
The proximate analysis is important in evaluating the combustion properties
of waste or waste derived fuel (refuse derived fuel). The fractions of greatest
interest are:
Moisture content:
Loss of moisture occur when heated to 104oC for 24 h
Moisture adds weight to the waste/fuel without increasing its heating
value and the evaporation of water reduces the heat released from the
fuel
Ash:
Volatile ma er
 Additional loss of weight on ignition at 700-950oC in a covered crucible
 Volatile mat te r is that portion of the waste that is converted to gas
before and during combustion.
Fixed carbon
 Combustible residue left after volatile ma er is removed
 Fixed carbon represents the carbon remaining on the surface of grates
as char. Waste or fuel with a high proportion of f ixed carbon requires a
longer retention time on the furnace grates to achieve complete
combustion than does waste/fuel with a low proportion of xed carbon
Moisture (%) + Ash (%) + Volatile (%) + Fixed carbon (%) = 100%
Ultimate analysis
Ultimate analysis of waste is carried out to determine the proportion of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur (C, H, O, N and S)
The ultimate analysis is useful during mass balance calculation for chemical
and thermal process
The results are used to characterize the chemical composition of organic

ma er of MSW
Also used to def ine proper mix to achieve suitable C/N ratio for biological
conversion processes
It can be analyzed by using CHONS analyzer
Energy Content (Calori c Value)
The energy content of the organic
components in MSW can be determined
by:
 using a full scale boiler as a calorimeter
 using laboratory bomb calorimeter
 Calculation, if elemental composition is
known BOMB CALORIMETER
Because of dif ficulty in instrumenting a full-
scale boiler, most of the data on the energy 1 BTU = 1055.06 J
2.326 BTU/lb = 1
Energy content
content (BTU/lb):components
of the organic 2-1/8 O2 ) + 40 S + 10 kJ/kg
145 C + 610of(HMSW
areC,based N
H2, O2,onS, the
N – results of bomb
percentage by weicalorimeter
ght
Metal content (Trace elements)
The metal content (i.e. Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Zn, Mn, Pb, As etc.) should also be
determined because of its potential harmful environmental e ects

Atomic absorption Principle of AAS

spectroscopy
Waste Characteristics: Biological
The most important biological characteristic of the organic fraction of solid
waste is that all of the organic components can be converted biologically to
gases and relatively inert organic and inorganic solids. The production of odor
and generation of ies are also related to the putrescible nature of the organic
Volatile
materials Solids
 Volatile solids content is often used as a
measure of the biodegradability of the
organic fraction of solid waste
 It is not an exact indicato r of Low
biodegradability,
biodegradability high volatility
Biodegradable Fraction (BF) Biodegradable fraction of a typical MSW of
Alternatively, the lignin content a city in India
of a waste can be used to
estimate the biodegradable
fraction,BFusing
= 0.83
the–formula:
0.028
LC
BF = biological fraction
expressed on a VS basis,
0.83 & 0.028 = empirical
constants
LC = lignin Content of the VS
Breeding of Flies
 During warm climates, breeding of f lies is an
important factor to be considered for the on-
sight storage of wastes
 Flies can mature in less than two weeks after
the eggs are laid
 The larval (maggot), once developed, is very
di cult to remove from the containers
Odor
Typically, the formation of odors indicates the
anaerobic decomposition of the readily
decomposable organic components found in
solid waste are emptied
Functional Elements of
The activities associated with
SWM
the management of solid
waste from the point of Waste generation
generation to f inal disposal
have been grouped into the Primary collection
six functional elements Waste handling, storage

Secondary Collection

Transfer and transport Processing and transformation

Disposal
1. Waste generation: Waste generation encompasses activities in which
materials are identif ied as no longer being of value and are either thrown
away or gathered together for disposal
2. Waste handling and storage: They involve the activities associated
with management of wastes until they are placed in storage container for
collection

DRY WASTE WET WASTE

3. Collection: It includes the gathering of solid wastes and recyclable
materials but also the operation of collection vehicle to land ll or disposal sites

COMMUNITY LEVEL COLLECTION DOOR TO DOOR COLLECTION

4. Processing and transformation of solid wastes: It is a very
important function of solid waste management but it is often ignored

RECYCLING OR TRANSFORMATION
5. Transfer and transport: Two steps:
a) The transfer of wastes from the smaller collection vehicle to the larger
transport equipment
b) The subsequent transport of the wastes to disposal sites

PNEUMATIC REFUSE
COLLECTION
WATER TRANSPORT
(Figure
MOTOR
(In Suitable in
HYDRAULIC
RAIL Northern
gure, a bargeTRANSPORT
on RiverSpain)
TRANSPORT
TRANSPORT Thames)
for high density
areas feeding a central
6. Disposal: Today the disposal of wastes by landf illing is the ultimate
destiny of all solid waste
3R concept
PROCESSING OF SOLID WASTES AT RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS
Waste processing is used to
i. Reduce the volume
ii. Recover usable materials
iii. Alter the physical form of the solid wastes
The most common onsite processing operations used at residential
dwellings (apartment or community level) include
 Component separation and compaction Dry waste
 Incineration (combustion)
 Composting/vermi-composting
Wet waste/ biological waste
 Anaerobic digestion
Component

separation
The separation of solid waste components at the source of generation is
one of the most ef fective ways to achieve the recovery and reuse of
materials
 This operation is necessary in the recovery of resources from dry wastes
 At household levels, component separation is
and recovery of energy and conversio n products
basically achieved by source segregation (in- from wet wastes
house segregation)
 This operation has aesthetic issues, requires
large space and manpower, and is highly time-
consuming making it uneconomical at small
scale
 Therefore, from economical point of view, this
operation can be made possible at community
-level, by engaging labor who can work as
Compaction
The t wo p r inc ip a l t y p e s o f
compactors used for the processing
of wastes at residual dwellings are:
a. H o m e c o m p a c t i o n u n i t s :
Compactors can reduce the original
volume of wastes placed in them by
up to 70 percent. However, they
b. can be used onlfory for
Compactors
ofbuildings:
solid wastes
a small
large
generated.
portion
apartment
To reduce the volume of
solid wastes that must be handled,
compaction units commonly are Trash compactors at home
installed in large apartment Heavy-duty trash compactors for
buildings, typically, at the bot tom large apartments
Combustion/Incineration
 Household hazardous waste consisting of paints,
cleaners, bat teries and toilet wastes (e.g., sanitary
napkins, diapers, bandages, used tissues, etc.,)
should be incinerated
 This process cannot be performed in houses
 These wastes should be collected by household
hazardous waste collectors to be incinerated at
designated places
Yellow bin

Incineration plant Source: BBMP, India

Composting h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1o4y8tCaw0A&t=7s
 An ef fective way of reducing the volume and altering the physical
composition of solid wastes while at the same time producing a
useful by-product (compost) which can improve the soil fertility as
well as its structure
 Household/community-level composting involves the following
 Both these process can be done either at household level or
three stages:
community level
a)Waste preparation: chopping the waste into small pieces, adjusting
moisture content (50-60%), or addition of lit tle mature compost or
e ective microorganisms to speed up the composting process
b)Degradation of waste: degradation process should be controlled by
maintaining adequate temperature, moisture and aeration. There are
dif ferent types of composting at this stage: composting in pits,
composting in piles, in-vessel composting and vermicomposting
In-vessel composting (household-
level)
 Compost is made in bags or bins
 Holes are made in the bin or bags
to allow aeration
 For proper aeration, the bin is
normally divided into two sections
with a grill separating the two
sections
 Organic waste is put into the top
section and allowed to degrade and
onceservices-and-products/a
Source: the compost is prepared
h ps://sswm.info/sswm-solutions-bop-markets/a it is
ordable-wash- A compost bin in a household in
removed from the bo om section
ordable-technologies-and/%28co-%29-
composting-%28small-scale%29
Original source: Bhushan Tuladhar (Environment and Public Health
AKarnataka,
compost barrel
India
household in
in a
Vermi-composting (Both household and community-level)
 Involves use of special types of
earthworms to convert organic
waste into wo r m c ast ing
(vermicompost) which improves
soil’s structure and fertility
 Vermicomposting is a simple and
e ective process that can be done
indoors in the kitchen itself as it
requires very lit tle space and does re ,
not cause problems such as odour V a n i M u r t hy fro m B a
la
n
r
g
b
a
y
lo
t h e
 Some common worm species ia b e c a m e p o p u u e e n ”
I n d Q
used for vermicomposting are Vermicomposting e o f “
nain2mftKathmandu,
practiced
C om p o st in
Xr2acftticXin2g fthoNepal
vermi
u
g
s
in
e
a lhousehold
d bins
hcoompost .
Eisenia foetida, Eudrilus eugeniae biny ap househol
r m ic o m o st ind
g , iBangal
n 2 f
p The Hindu (14-05-19)
Source:
t b i
on s
re, India
and Perionyx excavatus ve
Some community-level vermi-composting plants

vermi c o mp o st
Pit composting (Majorly community-level)
 Another method for composting organic
waste is to put it in pits and let it turn into
compost over a period of six months or more
 This process requires more space and time
but the main benef it is that the waste is not
visible as it is buried in the pit

A compost pit in a Delhi park,

Some compost pits in rural India India
Pile composting (Community-level)
 The waste is put in piles on
the ground and regularly
turned to allow aeration
 The size of the pile may
vary depending on the
amount of waste and
available space. In general,
it should be 1 to 2 m on
each side and not more
than 1.5 m in height
 Chicken wire or wooden
planks can be used to A community-level pile composting plant in rural
Germany
Some advantages and disadvantages of household-level
Advantages
composting
 Household compost production encourages the use of organic
farming and reduces the need for chemical fertilizers
 Household composting reduces the amount of waste that needs to
be collected and managed
 Separation of organic waste and composting at the household level
ensures that
Disadvantages the remaining waste is clean and easier to recycle
 Household composting can cause problems such as odour, leachate,
ies and rodents, if not done properly
 In-vessel composting requires lit tle space, compared to compost
pits
 Household composting is mainly useful for gardening
Some advantages of community-level
Composting at community-level composting
yields many bene ts:
 Social inclusion and
empowerment
 Greener neighborhoods
 Improved local soils
 Enhanced food security
 Less truck traf fic hauling
garbage
 More local jobs  In “Swachh Bharat Mission”, ef forts are being
 Increased composting know- made towards composting awareness under the
how and skills within the local campaign “compost banao, compost apnao”.
 SBM has been stepping up ef forts to encourage
workforce that is reinforced in conversion of biodegradable waste into compost,
the next generation Source: h ps: to be used as fertilizer reducing the amount of
Community-level composting in Alappuzha, Kerala, India: A case study
 In 2012, Alappuzha began a
campaign of ‘clean home,
clean city’ which involved
each one of the community
members to manage their
wet wastes
 Aerobic composting units
were set up in various parts of
the city, in places where
people would dump their
waste for collection by the
municipality
 Most of the municipality
workers were made Aerobic compost unit in Source:
Alappuzha Municipality, Kerala,
climatesouthasia.org
Anaerobic Digestion
 It is a biological processes in which
microorganisms break down biodegradable
material in the absence of oxygen at the
same time producing biogas, which can be
used as an energy source (cooking fuel/
production of electricity)
 A biogas digester is an anaerobic tank where
biogas is produced through anaerobic
digestion process
 There are currently more than 30 million
household biogas digesters in China, followed A semi-automatic household
by India with 3.8 million, 0.2 million in Nepal, Abiogas
woman cooking
digester with
of biogas
50-100L in
and 60,000 in Bangladesh capacity Bolivia
of MS body
 It is always dif ficult to adopt one particular Source: Karthik Rajendran, Solmaz Aslanzadeh and
Mohammad J. Taherzadeh, 2012. Household Biogas
type of digester for household purposes. Digesters—A Review, Energies, 5(8), 2911-2942
Household biogas digesters in a city in South India
Community-level biogas digesters
 In any biogas digester, the waste is
mixed with water to create the right
environment for the bacteria to
decompose the biomass
 This takes place in an airtight tank
 The biogas accumulates at the top of
the tank where it is collected and taken
by pipe to the user
 The slurry has to be removed regularly
from the tank. It can be used further as
agricultural fertilizer
 Digesters sizes may range from 1 m 3 A community –level oating drum
(small household unit) to some 10 m3 type biogas plant in India
for a typical farm plant (community-
A community-level balloon type biogas digester in
Kenya A community-level oating drum biogas
digester in India
 Starting A
Zero Waste
Lifestyle
h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
What Is A Zero Waste Lifestyle?
Zero waste is a philosophy that encourages recycling, minimizing waste,
reducing consumption and trying to f ind sustainable, reusable, and
environmentally-friendly solutions to how one lives. The four golden R’s of a
zero waste lifestyle are:
 Refuse
 Reuse
 Recycle
Why IsRepurpose
A Zero Waste Lifestyle Important?
Plastic is terrible for the environment. This isn’t
an opinion, it’s a fact. Plastic can’t biodegrade
and it never fully degrades either – meaning it
simply breaks down into smaller and smaller
pieces of plastic over time – but the plastic itself
never disappears. Most of it ends up in the Garden Veggie Pesto Pizza
Did you know that plastic trash is found
in 90% of marine birds? It’s not just
birds though, every animal in the ocean
is eating plastic. Birds eat tiny pieces of
broken down plastic thinking they’re
bugs
jellyf or f
ish– andi
s h, and
aalso then
plastic feed it to their
bag . Can you tell
young who
which one is which? die.
Sea turtles eat tons of plastic bags
thinking they’re jellyf ish and instead
poison themselves or choke to death.
When plastic breaks dow n to
microscopic levels Plankton eat that
microplastic, then small f ish eat the
plankton, then big f ish eat those small
f ish, and so on, and the toxins from all
that plastic bioaccumulate up the food
Few Swaps!!

 Reusable Straws
 Reusable Produce
Bags
 Create a system