Environmental Science
EVS 101
Md. Iftakharul Muhib
Assistant Professor
Department of GE
Chapter-5d
What are Wastes?
Waste (also known as rubbish, trash,
refuse, garbage, junk, litter, and ort) is
unwanted or useless materials. In biology,
waste is any of the many unwanted
substances or toxins that are expelled from
living organisms, metabolic waste; such as
urea and sweat.
Kinds of Wastes
Solid wastes: wastes in solid forms, domestic, commercial an
industrial wastes
Examples: plastics, Styrofoam containers, bottles,
cans, papers, scrap iron, and other trash
Liquid Wastes: wastes in liquid form
Examples: domestic washings, chemicals, oils, waste
water from ponds, manufacturing
industries and other sources
Classification of wastes according to their origin and type
• Municipal Solid wastes: Solid wastes that include household garbage, rubbish,
construction & demolition debris, sanitation residues, packaging materials, trade
refuges etc. are managed by any municipality.
• Bio-medical wastes: Solid or liquid wastes including containers, intermediate or
end products generated during diagnosis, treatment & research activities of
medical sciences.
• Industrial wastes: Liquid and solid wastes that are generated by manufacturing &
processing units of various industries like chemical, petroleum, coal, metal gas,
sanitary & paper etc.
• Agricultural wastes: Wastes generated from farming activities. These substances
are mostly biodegradable.
• Fishery wastes: Wastes generated due to fishery activities. These are extensively
found in coastal & estuarine areas.
• Radioactive wastes: Waste containing radioactive materials. Usually these are
byproducts of nuclear processes. Sometimes industries that are not directly
involved in nuclear activities, may also produce some radioactive wastes, e.g.
radio-isotopes, chemical sludge etc.
• E-wastes: Electronic wastes generated from any modern establishments. They
may be described as discarded electrical or electronic devices. Some electronic
scrap components, such as CRTs, may contain contaminants such as Pb, Cd, Be or
brominated flame retardants.
Sources of Wastes
Households
Commerce and Industry
IMPACTS OF WASTE IF NOT MANAGED WISELY
•Affects our health
•Affects our socio-economic conditions
•Affects our coastal and marine environment
•Affects our climate
•GHGs are accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human
activities, causing global mean surface air temperature and subsurface
ocean temperature to rise.
•Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea levels and change
precipitation and other local climate conditions.
•Changing regional climates could alter forests, crop yields, and water
supplies.
•This could also affect human health, animals, and many types of
ecosystems.
•Deserts might expand into existing rangelands, and features of some of
our national parks might be permanently altered.
Waste hierarchy
Waste hierarchy refers to 3 Rs
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Impacts of waste on health
Chemical poisoning through chemical inhalation
Uncollected waste can obstruct the storm water
runoff resulting in flood
Low birth weight
Cancer
Congenital malformations
Neurological disease
Impacts of waste on health
• Nausea and vomiting
• Increase in hospitalization of diabetic
residents living near hazard waste sites.
• Mercury toxicity from eating fish with high
levels of mercury.
Effects of waste on animals and aquatics life
• Increase in mercury level in fish due to
disposal of mercury in the rivers.
• Plastic found in oceans ingested by birds.
• Resulted in high algal population in rivers and
sea.
• Degrades water and soil quality.
Impacts of waste on Environment
• Waste breaks down in landfills to form
methane, a potent greenhouse gas
• Change in climate and destruction of ozone
layer due to waste biodegradable
• Littering, due to waste pollutions, illegal
dumping, Leaching: is a process by which solid
waste enter soil and ground water and
contaminating them.
• U.S. Environment Protection Agency (2009)
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
• Reduce Waste
- Reduce office paper waste by implementing a formal policy to duplex
all draft reports and by making training manuals and personnel
information available electronically.
- Improve product design to use less materials.
- Redesign packaging to eliminate excess material while maintaining
strength.
- Work with customers to design and implement a packaging return
program.
- Switch to reusable transport containers.
- Purchase products in bulk.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
Reuse
- Reuse corrugated moving boxes internally.
- Reuse office furniture and supplies, such as interoffice envelopes,
file folders, and paper.
- Use durable towels, tablecloths, napkins, dishes, cups, and
glasses.
- Use incoming packaging materials for outgoing shipments.
- Encourage employees to reuse office materials rather than
purchase new ones.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
Donate/Exchange
- old books
- old clothes
- old computers
- excess building materials
- old equipment to local organizations
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
Employee Education
- Develop an “office recycling procedures” packet.
- Send out recycling reminders to all employees including
environmental articles.
- Train employees on recycling practices prior to
implementing recycling programs.
- Conduct an ongoing training process as new technologies
are introduced and new employees join the institution.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
Employee Education
- education campaign on waste management
that includes an extensive internal web site,
quarterly newsletters, daily bulletins,
promotional signs and helpful reference labels
within the campus of an institution.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
Conduct outreach program adopting an ecologically
sound waste management system which includes:
• waste reduction
• segregation at source
• composting
• recycling and re-use
• more efficient collection
• more environmentally sound disposal
Residents may be organized into small groups to carry out the following:
1. construction of backyard compost pit
2. construction of storage bins where recyclable and reusable
materials are stored by each household
3. construction of storage centers where recyclable and reusable
materials collected by the street sweepers are stored prior to
selling to junk dealers
4. maintenance of cleanliness in yards and streets
5. greening of their respective areas
6. encouraging others to join
