Household waste management

Introduction:
Waste has been a major environmental issue everywhere since the industrial revolution.
Besides the waste we create at home, school and other public places, there are also
those from hospitals, industries, farms and other sources. Humans rely so much on
material things and they all (almost) end up as waste. And hey where does the waste
end up?

What is waste?
Waste, or rubbish, trash, junk, garbage, depending on the type of material or the regional
terminology, is an unwanted or undesired material or substance. 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. The material may be discarded or
accumulated, stored, or treated (physically, chemically, or biologically), prior to being discarded or
recycled. It is also used to describe something we use inefficiently or inappropriately.
Did you know?

Europe creates about over 1.8 billion tonnes of waste each year. This means each
person creates about 3.5tonnes on average.
Did you know?

In 2010, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and
composted over 85 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.1 percent
recycling rate (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). On average, we recycled and composted
1.51 pounds out of our individual waste generation of 4.43 pounds per person per
day. EPA, USA.

Types of waste
Generally, waste could be liquid or solid waste. Both of them could be hazardous. Liquid
and solid waste types can also be grouped into organic, re-usable and recyclable waste.
Let us see some details below:
Liquid type:
Waste can come in non-solid form. Some solid waste can also be converted to a liquid
waste form for disposal. It includes point source and non-point source discharges such
as storm water and wastewater. Examples of liquid waste include wash water from
homes, liquids used for cleaning in industries and waste detergents.
Solid type:
Solid waste predominantly, is any garbage, refuse or rubbish that we make in our
homes and other places. These include old car tires, old newspapers, broken furniture
and even food waste. They may include any waste that is non-liquid.
Hazardous type:
Hazardous or harmful waste are those that potentially threaten public health or the

environment. Such waste could be inflammable (can easily catch fire), reactive (can
easily explode), corrosive (can easily eat through metal) or toxic (poisonous to
human and animals). In many countries, it is required by law to involve the appropriate
authority to supervise the disposal of such hazardous waste. Examples include fire
extinguishers, old propane tanks, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment (e.g,
thermostats) and lamps (e.g. fluorescent bulbs) and batteries.
(More on hazardous waste here)
Organic type:
Organic waste comes from plants or animals sources. Commonly, they include food
waste, fruit and vegetable peels, flower trimmings and even dog poop can be classified
as organic waste. They are biodegradable (this means they are easily broken down by
other organisms over time and turned into manure). Many people turn their organic
waste into compost and use them in their gardens.

Recyclable type:

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". Aluminum products (like soda, milk and tomato
cans), Plastics (grocery shopping bags, plastic bottles), Glass products (like wine and
beer bottles, broken glass), Paper products (used envelopes, newspapers and magazines,
cardboard boxes) can be recycled and fall into this category.
WASTE AS A PROBLEM
Waste can be regarded as a human concept as there appears to be no such thing as waste in
nature. The waste products created by a natural process or organism quickly become the raw
products used by other processes and organisms. Recycling is predominant, therefore production
and decomposition are well balanced and nutrient cycles continuously support the next cycles of
production. This is the so-called circle of life and is a strategy clearly related to ensuring stability and
sustainability in natural systems. On the other hand there are man-made systems which emphasize
the economic value of materials and energy, and where production and consumption are the
dominant economic activities. Such systems tend to be highly destructive of the environment as they
require massive consumption of natural capital and energy, return the end product (waste) to the
environment in a form that damages the environment and require more natural capital be consumed
in order to feed the system. Where resources and space are finite (the Earth isnt getting any
bigger) this is ultimately not sustainable.
The presence of waste is an indication of overconsumption and that materials are not being used
efficiently. This is carelessly reducing the Earths capacity to supply new raw materials in the future.
The capacity of the natural environment to absorb and process these materials is also under stress.
Valuable resources in the form of matter and energy are lost during waste disposal, requiring that a
greater burden be placed on ecosystems to provide these. The main problem is the sheer volume of
waste being produced and how we deal with it.

HOW IS WASTE DEALT WITH?

Most contemporary waste management efforts are focused at local government level and based on
high tech / high energy waste disposal by methods such as landfill and incineration. However these
methods are becoming increasingly expensive and energy inefficient. The financial costs of
managing the long-term environmental impacts of waste disposal are many times what is actually
charged for this service and in many cases corrective action is not remotely feasible. The purely
environmental costs such as negative effects on habitat, wildlife and biodiversity are also
recognised. In other words waste disposal is not sustainable and will have negative implications
for future generations.
OBJECTIVES:

To ensure the protection of the environment through effective waste management

measures
To protect the health and wellbeing of people by providing an affordable waste
collection.
Ensure the design of an effective waste management program so as to avoid or minimize
waste generation.
Discourage the amount of waste generation in societies and localities.
Introduce reuse and recycling methods for utilization of waste.
Ensure separation at source
Facilitate the provision of at least a basic level of waste service to all
Develop local awareness amongst members of society on importance of
domestic waste management.
REPORT:

We visited New Prasanna Park Co-operative Housing Society on 26th January, Tuesday. Firstly
we would like to thank Mr. Anil Rathod , Chairman of the society to give us an opportunity to
present our views on the eve of Republic Day. There was a Flag Hoisting ceremony, saluting the
flag we introduced ourselves to the members of the society. Moving ahead we gave them a brief
introduction about our topic Household Waste Management. To begin with, we carried on an
activity to introduce them to the various types of household waste. The activity was carried on
with the most enthusiastic group of people-children,which got successful when the ladies were
able to differentiate between types of waste.
Following the activity we started with our presentation. On the podium we had Shivani Kunjir as
the speech delegator. The main waste is generated at houses at kitchen level. Interacting with the
ladies of the society Divya and Ruchika explained them the waste management should be started
at household level
CONCLUSION:
Getting rid of household waste is everyones problem. Everyone throws away used papers, old
newspapers, bottles, cans, plastic bags, kitchen wastes, such as fruit and vegetables peelings,
residues from fish, meat and left-over, excess or unfinished food. Given the amount of these
household wastes, the problem of household waste management arises. To conclude with, we the
members of the group were satisfied that the people in the society understood the growing
generation of waste from their own houses. They realized the importance of waste management

and on the eve of Republic Day to contribute to Prime Ministers Swach Bharat Abhiyan all the
people took a oath of starting segregation of waste at household level.