Solid waste includes glass containers such as bottles, crockeries, plastic polythene, and other packing materials used and thrown away as garbage. These pile up in public places and obstruct daily life. Besides these, other used things like automobile spares, machines, cycle parts, etc., are thrown as junk. The wastes from building materials (during construction and demolition), sludge, dead animal skeletons, and heaps of crop residues also contribute to solid waste. You will know the control on solid waste and its causes.
Solid Waste Management
Solid wastes are causing many problems in affluent developed countries such as the U.S.A. and European countries. There have been regular voluntary companies for cleaning the environment of solid wastes. A crusade for a cleaner environment could collect the following from merely a 1-mile stretch of a highway in Kansas, U.S.A.
In India, several million tones of solid waste are dumped along highways and other places in large cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, etc. On average, over 2 million tons of solid state is generated in Class I cities per year, whereas in Class II cities, about 0.25 million tons/per year.
According to CPCB, the waste profile of some Indian Metro cities is as follows:
Disposing of those wastes is problematic, especially in developed countries where labor is very expensive. In India, most junk is purchased by hawkers and resold after profit. Used vehicles are creating many problems in the western world. In New York, police could find as many as 40,000 abandoned cars in 1966.
General Causes of Solid Wastes
Most disposable wastes are in the form of solids, liquids, or slurries. The main causes of solid wastes are as follows:
1. Domestic Waste
Sewage, wastewater contaminated by detergents, dirt, or grease, household garbage, and bulky waste, including packaging material, appliances, furniture, office equipment, and used cars.
2. Industrial Waste
Solids and effluents are from factories of all types; the worst polluters are slaughterhouses, breweries, tanneries, textile mills, paper mills, steel mills, and most chemical industries; power plants discharge coolant water, which causes thermal pollution.
3. Waste Oil Industry
Oil spills, oil leaks, water used for cleaning tankers, etc.
4. E-waste
A new form of waste from discarded computers. E-waste is one of the causes of solid wastes.
5. Construction Waste
Materials from demolished or renovated buildings and materials discarded after completing an installation.
6. Waste from Extractive Industries
Mining, quarrying, and dredging create solid waste (during extraction) and slurries (during processing).
7. Agricultural Waste
Different kinds of waste related to agriculture can be seen in villages. This includes dung, woot of crops, shoots, remains of animal food, chaff, and husk.
8. Waste from Food Processing
Organic solid and liquid waste from discarded food material. It is one of the causes of solid wastes.
9. Biomedical Waste
It originates mainly in hospital clinics and includes blood, diseased organs, poisonous medicines, etc.
10. Nuclear Waste
Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Apart from these regular sources, waste also comes from special events:
11. Waste from Natural Disasters
Rubble from the earthquake, slag and ash from volcanoes, and waste left behind by floods, cyclones, and typhoons.
12. Waste from Wars and Conflicts
Besides dead bodies and destroyed buildings, wars leave behind exploded and live shells, landmines, etc. In some cases, deadly material used in weapons of war has effects lasting decades. Agent orange used in Vietnam and depleted uranium used in the 1991 Gulf War are examples.
Control on Solid Waste
We have to move from waste management to waste prevention. We should design clean production technologies or zero-discharge systems that use minimum amounts of raw materials, energy, and water and do not generate waste.
The life cycle of a product should be such that at no stage is any ecosystem adversely affected. It will also help in control on solid waste. This should apply to raw material extraction, design, manufacture, material transport, actual use, and disposal, clean production technologies do exist, and they will be cost-effective if the true environmental costs are taken into account.
Even as we move to clean technologies, there is another way out of the industrial waste problem. If the industries in an area cooperate, they could design a system in which the waste from one industry becomes an input for one or more industries in the neighborhood.
Role of an Individual in the Prevention of Pollution
It is the responsibility of the human race, which has occupied the commanding position on this earth, to protect the earth and provide a conducive environment for itself and innumerable other species which evolved on it. A small effort made by each individual in his place will have a pronounced effect at the global level. It can be done by following some of the following suggestions:
- Use the chemicals derived from peaches and plums to clean computer chips and circuit boards instead of CFCs.
- Lay greater emphasis on pollution prevention than pollution control.
- Do not use polystyrene cups with chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) molecules that destroy the ozone layer.
- Cut down the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as they beat the ozone layer.
- The CFC-free refrigerators.
- Use eco-friendly products.
The manufacture and operation of such devices should be encouraged so they don’t pollute. If they cost more, their higher prices may be offset by including environmental and social pollution costs in the price of products that pollute the environment.
- Save electricity by not wasting it when not required because electricity saved is electricity generated without polluting the environment. Put on warm clothes rather than switching on a heater.
- Use a mass transport system. For short visits, use a bicycle or go on foot. Decrease the use of automobiles.
- Improve energy efficiency. This will reduce the amount of waste energy, i.e., more is achieved with less power.
- Reduce your dependency on fossil fuels, especially coal or oil.
- Adopt and popularize renewable energy sources.
- Use low-phosphate, phosphate-free, or biodegradable dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, and shampoo. This will reduce the eutrophication of water bodies.
- Use pesticides only when necessary, and that too in the right amounts. Wherever possible, integrated pest management should be used, including alternate pest control methods (biological control).
- When building a home, save (don’t cut) as many trees as possible in the area.
- Do not litter polythene bags. These do not degrade in the environment and choke sewers, spoil soil quality after they mix up with soil on becoming brittle, and cause the death of cows that consume these along with their garbage.
- Air pollution can be prevented using clean fuel, i.e., hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen, for that matter, should not be produced by passing current in water as for generation of this present, again the environment will be polluted. So solar-powered hydrogen fuel is the need of the hour.
- Use less hazardous chemicals wherever their application can be afforded. Banking soda, vinegar, and borax can help clean, bleach and soften. Baking soda can replace modern deodorants.
- Check population growth so that the demand for materials is under control.
- The solid waste generated during one manufacturing process can be used as a raw material for other functions.
- Do not put pesticides, paints, solvents, oils, or other harmful chemicals into the drain or groundwater.
- Use rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable batteries will reduce metal pollution.
- Use organic manure instead of commercial inorganic fertilizers.
- Plant more trees, as trees can absorb many toxic gases and can purify the air by releasing oxygen.
- Use only the minimum required amount of water for various activities. This will prevent fresh water from pollution.