Chapter 10.

Solid Waste Management

 Defining "Waste"
• Definition of Waste: unwanted, useless, damaged, discarded, harmful substances
from human activities
• It may consist of the unwanted materials left over from a manufacturing process
(industrial, commercial, mining or agricultural operations,) or from community and
household activities.
• It is also used to describe something we use inefficiently or inappropriately.
• Can have various physical forms (solid – solid waste, liquid– effluent, gaseous –
emission)
• Solid Waste: Non-liquid, non-soluble materials ranging from municipal garbage to
industrial waste that contain complex and sometimes hazardous substances.
Annual municipal solid waste generated per capita
(kilograms/capita/day)
Types of Waste
Solid Waste
• Waste material that cannot be easily passed
through a pipe
• Comprises a very wide range of materials that
come from a variety of sources
• When solid wastes accumulate, water may
pass through and pick up soluble components;
as a result, the distinction between solid and
liquid waste may become blurred
Solid Waste
Nature and abundance in different countries depend
on :
• Geographic location
• Climate
• Degree of Industrialization
• Available resources
• Socio-economic conditions
• Religious custom
• Lifestyle
• Behavior of consumers
• Season of the year
 Liquid Waste
• One that can be passed
through a pipe i.e. sewage or
watery mud
• May become separated or
concentrated into a more solid
form as a result of treatment
procedures or natural settling
processes.
Hazardous Waste
• Hazardous or harmful waste are those that
potentially threaten public health or the
environment.
• Such waste could be inflammable, reactive,
corrosive or toxic
• In many countries, it is required by law to involve the
appropriate authority to supervise the disposal of
such hazardous waste.
Organic Waste
• Organic waste comes from plants or animals sources.
• Commonly, they include food waste
• They are biodegradable
• Many people turn their organic waste into compost and use them in their gardens.
 Recyclable Waste
• Recycling is processing used
materials (waste) into new, useful
products.

• This is done to reduce the use of raw

materials that would have been used.

• Waste that can be potentially recycled

is termed "Recyclable waste".
 Sources of Solid Waste
Source Typical waste generators Types of solid wastes
Residential Single and multifamily dwellings Food wastes, paper, cardboard, plastics, textiles,
leather, yard wastes, wood, glass, metals, ashes,
consumer electronics, white goods, batteries, oil,
tires, and household hazardous wastes.
Industrial Light and heavy manufacturing, fabrication, Housekeeping wastes, packaging, food wastes,
construction sites, power and chemical construction and demolition materials, hazardous
plants. wastes, ashes, special wastes.
Commercial Stores, hotels, restaurants, markets, office Paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, food wastes, glass,
buildings, etc. metals, special wastes, hazardous wastes.
Institutional Schools, hospitals, prisons, government Same as commercial.
centers.
Construction New construction sites, road repair, Wood, steel, concrete, dirt, etc.
and demolition renovation sites, demolition of buildings
Municipal Street cleaning, landscaping, parks, Street sweepings; landscape and tree trimmings;
services beaches, other recreational areas, water general wastes from parks, beaches, and other
and wastewater treatment plants. recreational areas; sludge.
Agriculture Crops, orchards, vineyards, dairies, Spoiled food wastes, agricultural wastes, hazardous
feedlots, farms. wastes (e.g., pesticides).
Composition of Solid Waste generated in Dhaka
Metal Other After partition of DCC,
Glass
1% 9% all garbage of DSCC is
Leather and Rubber 1%
1% transported to Matuail
Textile and Wood landfill site while
5% DNCC uses Amin Bazar
landfill site for waste
disposal.
Paper
13%
Organic
55%

Plastic
15%
https://www.bip.org.bd/admin/uploads/bip-publication/publication-15/paper/20170119110116.pdf
 Early Concepts of Waste Disposal

Early concept of waste disposal was “dilute and disperse”

Factories were located near rivers- easy disposal of waste into the river

With a few factories and sparse population, volume of waste produced was relatively
small- dilute and disperse seemed to remove the waste from the environment

As industrial and urban areas expanded, the concept of dilute and disperse became
inadequate

“Concentrate and contain”- a new concept on managing materials and eliminating

waste; but not always achieved
 Modern Trends
Environmentally preferable concept is to consider wastes as Secondary resources.

Economically feasible to reuse and recycle more resources

Waste, if produced, would be a resource to be used again

This is referred to as the “Zero waste” movement

Waste from one part of the system would be a resource for another part

In developing countries, waste management programs involve simply moving waste

from one site to another and not really managing it; this is a problem
 Effects of Poor Solid Waste Management
• Air, water, and soil pollution.
• Attraction of rodents and vector insects.
• Breed of flies, rats, and mosquitoes.
• Spread and causes of disease.
• Creates aesthetic nuisance.
• Unhygienic condition.
• Degradation of the built environment.
• Economic effects of municipal well-being.
• Poses danger particularly to children and people who are engaged in sorting and
handling the dangerous items such as broken glass, razor blades etc.

http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/jerr/2021/v20i117247
 Integrated waste management

The major concept of IWM is 3Rs

(also, National 3R Strategy for Waste Management):
Reuse
Reduce
Recycling

At least 50% reduction of solid waste can be achieved through

Better design of packaging to reduce waste (10% source reduction).
Establishment of recycling programs (30% reduction), and
Large-scale composting programs (10% reduction).
Waste Management Plan
Defined as a set of management alternatives that combine different strategies to
properly reduce and/or dispose of waste

The steps of Integrated Waste Management are:

1. Sorting
2. Storage
3. Collection of Waste
4. Disposal of Solid Waste

Solid disposal processes include:

1. Composting or Anaerobic Digestion
2. Incineration or Pyrolysis
3. Open Dump
4. Landfill
Sorting
Storage

Collection of Waste
 Composting
The organic fraction in MSW is rich in soil nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc).
Composting is a process in which organic materials such as lawn clippings and
kitchen scraps decompose to a rich, soil-like material. This method not only reduces
the load on landfills but also proves to be an essential recycling tool for meeting crop
nutrient requirements.

Disadvantage: necessary to separate organic material from other waste. Otherwise,

carries the risk of an increase in metal content of the soil and groundwater
contamination, and the mineralization of the organic matter may also release
ammonium that can oxidize to nitrate, contaminating the surface and groundwater.

Probably economically advantageous only when organic material is collected

separately from other waste.
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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq18xVf9lAk

Anaerobic Digestion (AD)

In AD, microorganisms are used to transform biomass (isolated from MSW) into
biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide). It involves the participation of
different types of bacteria.

The organic fraction of the waste is segregated, and through a complex process of
degradation, biogas is generated that can be utilized for energy production (heat,
electricity, transportation fuels, and more). The digested materials can be used as
compost/biofertilizer, which allows recycling of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus).

AD is superior to composting due to less odor and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
AD can be economically favorable at large scale with high-value products such as
bio-CNG.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S13 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10265
64032118301023
 Incineration
Incineration can be carried out by mass combustion or co-combustion with coal
or biomass. During combustion, the combustible materials in the waste come into
contact with oxygen at high temperatures (usually 850 °C to 1450 °C) and go
through an oxidation reaction, releasing heat energy. This heat energy can be
converted to electricity.

Pre-processing solid waste before incineration (separation, biological and

thermal waste treatment, etc.) increases the efficiency of the incineration
process. Screening solid waste allows for the separation of reusable materials
(plastics, paper fibers, and metals) as well as the reduction of the presence of
hazardous or toxic materials in the waste.

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Botkin and Keller
Environmental Science
 Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is the process of thermal decomposition of materials at elevated
temperatures, often in an inert atmosphere without access to oxygen. Pyrolysis requires
sorting and pretreating the raw MSW and separating inert materials. Large chain
hydrocarbons (primarily from plastics and polymers in MSW) can be cracked in the
absence of oxygen at temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 600 °C. This method produces
combustible gas (syngas CO+H2), liquid bio-oil, tar, and char. The high heating value of
the produced gas and the more recently discovered utilities of biochar (as fertilizer) and
bio-oil (as fuel) make pyrolysis an attractive method.

Waste that cannot disintegrate naturally, either biologically or chemically, is referred to as

inert waste. Examples of inert waste include glass, plaster, drywall, insulation, metal,
wood, bricks, asphalt or cement concrete, and other building construction materials. Inert
trash typically does not threaten the environment, the health of people or other animals,
or the condition of waterways.

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 Open Dump
In the past, solid waste was usually accumulated in open dumps, where the
wastes were piled up without being covered or otherwise protected.

Although open dumps have been closed in recent years and new open dumps are
discouraged, many are still being used worldwide

Dumps have been located wherever land is available, without regard to safety,
health hazards and aesthetic degradation

Common sites are natural low areas, such as swamps or floodplains; and hillside
areas above or below towns
Sometimes waste is ignited and allowed to burn or leveled and compacted

Generally open dumps:

• create a nuisance by being unsightly
• provide breeding grounds for pests
• create a health hazard
• pollute the air, groundwater and surface water

Fortunately, open dumps are giving way to the better planned and managed
landfills
Open Dumping
 Landfill
Landfilling is a common MSW disposal technique in which waste is buried in large
empty areas for further treatment and utilization. Landfills are categorized into
three types, e.g., open dumps, semi-controlled, and sanitary landfills.

Semi-controlled landfills have some regulations to ensure proper waste

separation from the environment, such as topsoil on the landfill, lining at the
bottom of the landfill, and so on. However, semi-controlled landfills lack the
collection, segregation, and utilization facilities of Landfill Gas (LFG) and leachate.

In developed countries, sanitary landfills are prevalent in which proper facilities

are included for collecting and segregating the energy-generating resources
produced by the appropriate treatment of the MSW. It is the most cost-effective
technique because the LFG and leachate can be utilized for energy generation
through proper implementation.

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 Landfill
Landfills are locations for continuous biochemical reactions and solid waste
degradation. The landfill leachate is the liquid that enters the landfill site, such as
rainwater, seeps through the wastes, collects various chemicals generated within
the landfill, and collects at the bottom lining. Leachate leakage into the ground
underneath is prevented by using durable landfill liners in properly designed
landfills.

Landfill gases (LFG) of high energy potential are released due to the chemical,
thermal, and microbial reactions that occur within the waste in a landfill. The
primary components of LFG are methane and CO2. In sanitary landfills, these gases
are recovered for energy generation. Energy recovery is made by
(i) direct combustion in heaters or furnaces,
(ii) conversion into bio-diesel, methanol, etc. and
(iii) introduction into the national natural gas grid for electric energy generation

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 Landfill
Waste disposal sites are engineered and monitored to contain wastes within the
site. Typical procedure is to compact waste as much as possible and regularly
cover it with a compacted layer of soil and/or clay. Soil layer isolates the waste
from birds and rodents and prevents infiltration.

Modern landfills are engineered to include multiple barriers (double-lined) i.e.

• clay and plastic liners to limit movement of leachate
• surface and subsurface drainage to collect leachate
• system to collect methane gas produced as waste decomposes
• groundwater-monitoring to detect leaks or leachate below and adjacent
to the landfill