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, special wastes (e.g., bulky items, consumer electronics, white
goods, batteries, oil, tires), and household hazardous wastes.).
Industrial
Light and heavy manufacturing, fabrication, construction sites, power and
chemical plants.
Housekeeping wastes, packaging, food wastes, construction and demolition
materials, hazardous wastes, ashes, special wastes.
Commercial
Stores, hotels, restaurants, markets, office buildings, etc.
Paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, food wastes, glass, metals, special wastes,
hazardous wastes.
Institutional
Schools, hospitals, prisons, government centers.
Same as commercial.
Municipal services
Street cleaning, landscaping, parks, beaches, other recreational areas, water and
wastewater treatment plants.
Street sweepings; landscape and tree trimmings; general wastes from parks,
beaches, and other recreational areas; sludge.
Agriculture
Crops, orchards, vineyards, dairies, feedlots, farms.
Spoiled food wastes, agricultural wastes, hazardous wastes (e.g., pesticides).
Treatment
Typical components of municipal systems for source separation and materials
recovery in industrialized countries are:
source separation of different categories of waste from households, offices, shops,
and institutions; collection at the curbside or drop-off by generators at bins or
centers is subsidized by the government or private industries;
collection of organics (kitchen and garden wastes) for large-scale composting;
promotion of backyard composting through education and sometimes the
provision of a small compost bin; and
public subsidization of extensive and varied educational campaigns to sustain
participation in all aspects of waste reduction.
Developing countries
Most urban places in the developing world have yet to experience the decline of
traditional recovery of recyclables and the corresponding increase in post-
consumer wastes, which, together with scarcity of dump space, have led many
affluent cities to sponsor materials recovery.
The engines of waste recovery and recycling in the poorer countries include:
scarcity or expense of virgin materials, the occurrence of absolute poverty, the
availability of workers who will accept minimal wages, the frugal values of even
relatively well-to-do households, and the large markets for used goods and
products made from recycled plastics and metals. Wastes which would be
uneconomical to recycle or of no use in affluent societies have a value (e.g.,
coconut shells and dung used as fuel). If one takes into account the use of compost
from dumps sites as well as materials recovery, in countries like India, Vietnam,
and China, the majority of municipal wastes of all kinds are ultimately utilized.
This tumbler is used for making pulp from waste paper. This small recycling
facility is typical of many others throuthout India.
(credit: Warmer Bulletin)
In offices and institutions, cleaners and caretakers organize the sale of paper,
plastics, etc. At the household level, gifts of clothes and goods to relatives,
charities, and servants are still significant in waste reduction. All cities and towns
have markets for used goods. The greatest amount of materials recovery is
achieved through networks of itinerant buyers, small and medium dealers, and
wholesaling brokers. The extent to which the waste trading enterprises are
registered (ÒformalizedÓ) varies in developing regions: in Latin America and
Asia there is more formal registration than in Africa. The system is adaptive to
market fluctuations, as the lowest level workers form a dispensable labor cushion:
they must find other work, if they can, when there is reduced demand for the
materials they sell.
The accompanying box shows the main paths traveled by wastes in Bangalore,
due, in large part, to the activities of informal traders and recyclers.
When economic motivations for separation and sale decline, public education
should foster environmental and charitable motives for waste reduction.
Landfills may include internal waste disposal sites (where a producer of waste
carries out their own waste disposal at the place of production) as well as sites
used by many producers. Many landfills are also used for other waste
management purposes, such as the temporary storage, consolidation and transfer,
or processing of waste material (sorting, treatment, or recycling).
A landfill also may refer to ground that has been filled in with soil and rocks
instead of waste materials, so that it can be used for a specific purpose, such as for
building houses. Unless they are stabilized, these areas may experience severe
shaking or liquefaction of the ground in a large earthquake.