Solid Waste Management

Lilian Giertz

Overview

What is solid waste?

How does this affect us?

Current management practices

Future management possibilities

Discussion

What is solid waste?

Solid waste – anything we throw away or discard

Petruscible waste – animal and vegetable waste

Municipal solid waste (MSW) – garbage

Breakdown of MSW

34%

8%

5%12%

6%

12%

13%

11%

Waste

PaperMetalsGlassPlasticsWoodFoodYard ClippingsOther

How does this affect us?

2.1 kg per capita per day

767 kg per capita per year

Costs money

Land use

Lost resources

Current Procedure

Waste generation

Separation and collection

Central storage facility (if applicable)

Transport and disposal

Waste Generation

Industrial, commercial, and residential

Source Reduction:

Composting

Recycling

Reuse

Education and legislation

Separation

Paper Glass Metals Plastics Wood Clothing0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Amount Recycled

Collection

Curbside collection

Transport to processing facility

Transport

Directly to the landfill from the source

To processing plant for treatment

Shipped to landfill by train or truck

Disposal by Sanitary Landfill

Site selection

Public views

Soil conditions, topography, groundwater

Local roadways, traffic patterns

Cover material availability

Location specifics: seismic activity, flooding, etc

Disposal by Sanitary Landfill

Disposal by Sanitary Landfill

Monitor, collect, and treat leachate

Ammonia

Heavy metals

Hydrocarbons

Inorganic salts

Disposal by Sanitary Landfill

Harness methane gas

Hazardous to environment

Explosive when in contact with oxygen

Collect gas and purify for energy generation

Not 100% efficient

Current Process

Advantages

Low cost

Produce some energy

Relatively safe with monitoring

Current Process

Disadvantages

Land usage

Harmful leachate and gas production

Wasting usable materials

Future Management Possibilities

Incineration

Refuse-Derived Fuel Facilities – separation of the combustible materials from noncombustible parts

Gasification

Partial combustion using less oxygen to create energy

Refuse-Derived Fuel Facilities

Refuse-Derived Fuel Facilities

Future Methods

Advantages

Create energy

Lower land usage

Better sort materials

Future Methods

Disadvantages

Currently inefficient

Costly

More difficult process

Discussion

Should new methods be used for solid waste management?

Is there a way to create a more efficient management practice?

Are there other things we should be doing to solve this problem?