By Kim Trang

Waste Management

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal, managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics.

Waste management is a distinct practice from resource recovery which focuses on delaying the rate of consumption of natural resources. All waste materials, whether they are solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive fall within the remit of waste management.

What is Waste Management?

Landfill Disposal of waste in a landfill involves

burying the waste, and this remains a common practice in most countries. A properly designed and well-managed landfill can be a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of disposing of waste materials. Many adverse impacts may occur from landfill operations. Damage can include infrastructure disruption, pollution of the local environment, off gassing of methane generated by decaying organic wastes and harboring of disease vectors such as rats and flies.

Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials so as to convert them into residue and gaseous products. This method is useful for disposal of residue of both solid waste management and solid residue from waste water management. Incinerators convert waste materials into heat, gas, steam and ash. In some cases, the heat generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power.

Methods of DisposalIncineration

Recycling Recycling is a process to change waste

materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution from incineration and water pollution from landfills by reducing the need for conventional waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to plastic production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste hierarchy.

Disposed materials that are organic in nature, such as plant material, food scraps, and paper products, can be recycled using biological composting and digestion processes to decompose the organic matter. The resulting organic material is then recycled as mulch or compost for agricultural or landscaping purposes. In addition, waste gas from the process such as methane can be captured and used for generating electricity and heat thus maximising efficiencies. The intention of biological processing is to control and accelerate the natural process of decomposition of organic matter.

Resource RecoveryBiological processing

1 Bligh Street is a skyscraper in Sydney, designed by Ingenhoven Architects of Germany and Architectus of Australia as an ecologically sustainable development being able to self sustain. Green features include a basement sewage plant that recycles 90 percent of the building waste water, solar panels on the roof and air conditioning by chilled beams. It is Australia’s first major high-rise building with a full double-skin façade with external louvers. These conserve energy, eliminate sky glare and optimise user comfort. The angle of the louvers blades is automatically adjusted depending on their orientation to the sun. A naturally ventilated, full height atrium, on the southern side of the building, maximises natural light to each office level.

1 Bligh Street

Thank you for your time