Any material that we discard, that is not liquid

or gas, is solid waste

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW):

Solid waste from home or office

Industrial Solid Waste:

Solid waste produced from Mines, Agriculture or

Industry

Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or

potentially harmful to human health or the environment
Ignitability - Ignitable wastes create fires under certain conditions or
are spontaneously combustible, or have a flash point less than 60 C
(140 F).
Corrosivity - Corrosive wastes are acids or bases (pH less than or
equal to 2 or greater than or equal to 12.5) that are capable of
corroding metal containers, such as storage tanks, drums, and barrels.
Reactivity - Reactive wastes are unstable under "normal" conditions.
They can cause explosions, toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when mixed
with water.
Toxicity - Toxic wastes are harmful or fatal when ingested or absorbed
(e.g., containing mercury, lead, etc.). When toxic wastes are disposed
of on land, contaminated liquid may drain (leach) from the waste and
pollute ground water. Toxicity is defined through a laboratory
procedure called the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure
(TCLP).
Major types: Organics and Heavy Metals, Radioactive wastes

4.6% of world population

50% of toxic wastes
1/3rd of solid wastes
Mining (76%), agricultural (13%), industrial
(9.5%) = 98.5%
Municipal solid waste 1.5%

On-site (at home)

Open Dump
Sanitary Landfill
Incineration
Ocean dumping

Unsanitary, draws pests and vermin, harmful

runoff and leachates, toxic gases
Still accounts for half of solid waste
Several thousand open dumps in the USA

Sanitary Landfill
Layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of
earth once a day and a thicker layer when the site is
full
Require impermeable barriers to stop escape of
leachates: can cause problem by overflow
Gases produced by decomposing garbage needs
venting
1 acre/10,000 people: acute space problem: wastes
piling up over 150 million tons/year;
# of landfills down from 8000(1988) to 3091(1996)
Methane Production

Avoid:

Swampy area/ Flood plains /coastal areas

Fractures or porous rocks
High water table

Prefer:

Clay layers
Heads of gullies

Gases: Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen

sulphide
Heavy Metals: Lead, Chromium in soil
Soluble substances: chloride, nitrate, sulfate
Surface Run-offs
Vegetation: may pick up toxic substances
Plant residue in soil
Paper/plastics etc blown by the wind

Solves space problem but:

produces toxic gases like Cl, HCl, HCN, SO2
High temp furnaces break down hazardous
compounds but are expensive ($75 - $2K/ton)
Heat generated can be recovered: % of waste burnt

Japan 67%, Switzerland 80%, USA 6%

North Little Rock, AK saving $50K in heating cost and

reducing landfill requirement by 95%
How many MSW combustors exist in the United
States? In 1996, 110 combustors with energy recovery
existed with the capacity to burn up to 100,000 tons of
MSW per day.

Out of sight, free of emission control norms

Contributes to ocean pollution
Can wash back on beaches, and can cause death
of marine mammals
Preferred method: incineration in open sea
Ocean Dumping Ban Act, 1988: bans dumping of
sewage sludge and industrial waste
Dredge spoils still dumped in oceans, can cause
habitat destruction and export of fluvial
pollutants

Incineration, compacting
Hog feed: requires heat treatment
Composting: requires separation of organics
from glass and metals
Recycling and Reusing

Recycle of glass containers: 5 million tons

Plastic: marked by types for easy recycling
Converted into Fibers, trash bags, plastic lumber, fill
for pillows, insulation etc
Junked cars: 150 200 kg of plastics: soon to be
recycled

USA recycled 83 million tons of MSW.

This provides an annual benefit of 182 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions reduced,
comparable to removing the emissions from 33
million passenger cars.
But the ultimate benefits from recycling are
cleaner land, air, and water, overall better
health, and a more sustainable economy.

Recycling in USA
Aluminum Beer and Soft Drink Cans: 48.2%
Tires: 35.4%
HDPE Natural (White Translucent) Bottles: 29.3%
Glass Containers: 28.0%
PET Bottles and Jars: 27.2%

In 1996, recycling of solid waste in the

United States prevented the release of
33 million tons of carbon into the air
roughly the amount emitted annually by
25 million cars.
1 ton of newspaper=18 trees, 3 m3 of
landfill, 60% less energy. Govt recycling
saving 223,000 tons, 4 million trees, $7.4
million

Auto
Steel
Aluminum Paper & Yard
Glass
Plastic
Tires Batteries Cans Packaging
Paperboard waste container
container

In 1999, recycling and composting activities

prevented about 64 million tons of material from
ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this
country recycles 32 percent of its waste, a rate that
has almost doubled during the past 15 years.
50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all plastic soft
drink bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum beer and
soft drink cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging,
and 67 percent of all major appliances are now
recycled.
Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling
program existed in the United States, which
collected several materials at the curb. By 2005,
almost 9,000 curbside programs had sprouted up
across the nation. As of 2005, about 500 materials
recovery facilities had been established to process
the collected materials.

Sewage
Highly toxic Industrial Waste & Used Oil

Dilute and Disperse

Concentrate and Contain
Secure Landfill
Sealed drums to be put in impermeable holds with

monitoring wells to check for leakage: does not work

Deep well Disposal

Pumping in deep porous layer bounded by impermeable

formations, well below water table

$1 million to drill, $15-20/ton afterwards
Restricted by geological considerations, can trigger
earthquakes