Waste, for us, is anything that we feel is of no significant use to us. It is, therefore, a pejorative term to describe unwanted materials. Solid wastes are such wastes which are generated as a result of our regular domestic, industrial, social and commercial activities. This class of wastes becomes a problem when they are simply disposed without any treatment and left to the environment to deal with resulting in potential environmental hazard.
Solid waste management blends a set of technical
and managerial efforts to tackle solid wastes and reduce the environmental
costs that arise from their presence in it. This waste management process
should be regular and systematic and involves monitoring, collection,
segregation, transport, treatment and disposal of the solid wastes. This can be
summarized by the famous Four-R concept of reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse.
· Reduction of solid wastes means preventing or eliminating their generation. This includes methods like using products with minimal packaging, less use of polythene and other plastic substances, limiting sale and use of ‘use and throw’ materials. Such simple methods can go a long way in significantly reducing the yearly generation of solid wastes.
· Reuse goods as much as possible. With the increase in our financial capabilities, our need for luxury is also growing. A large portion of wastes that we generate consists of materials that we dispose without considering their reusability. One striking example of this is the electronic wastes. When an electronic device malfunctions, we simply throw it away and buy a new one. Instead we can throw away the faulty part and reuse the others. E.g. Phone chargers.
· Recycling of wastes is easier than preventing their generation. We might not be able to avoid certain activities in order to generate less waste but we can always take few intelligent measures to convert the wastes we generate into goods of importance. For example, instead of throwing away the domestic organic wastes, we can biodegrade them to form a nutritious compost for our gardens and eliminate use of harmful fertilizers.
· Finally, refuse to be party to activities which are unsustainable to the environment.
Management of solid wastes is
largely effected by the garbage removal services and policies of the local municipalities. Besides
collecting the local wastes using roll-off containers and ensuring their proper disposal, it is
the duty of municipalities and other government bodies to educate the masses
regarding the pressure that these wastes exert on the environment and how that
would subsequently harm us.
Industrial wastes form one of the
largest fragments of solid wastes and most of it is highly toxic. This includes
chemical wastes, debris, nuclear wastes and also the waste generated in mills
and mines. The high magnitude as well as hazardous potential of these wastes,
necessitates careful industrial waste management for which several stringent rules and regulations
exist.
Management of solid waste is a grave affair because it addresses major dangers to the environment like greenhouse effect, pollution and global warming which must be checked if we have to ensure that the Earth we live in is safe and sustaining for our future generations too.
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