Open Burning of Waste in Oman - Case Study Example

Topic: Open burning of waste in Oman [Name] [Professor Name] [Course Table Contents Topic: Open burning of waste in Oman 1 [Name] 1 [Professor Name] 1 [Course 1 Table Contents 1 Introduction 3 Burning electronic waste 4 Plastic waste 4 Organic waste 4 Environmental impact 5 Health impacts 7 Impact on other living things 8 Conclusion 8 Introduction The issues related to waste management in Oman has been a challenge due to the high amount of waste that is generated in the country. This has been worsened by scarcity of disposal sites and lack of a planned system for waste disposal and recycling. The disposal sites in the country are almost full and use dilapidated equipments. Oman is rated among the highest rankings in waste generation around the world (Asfari, 2002). This implies that the country waste generation is high. The country solid waste consists of papers, plastics, metals and glass which are sent to dumpsites without separation. Effects of poor waste management are evidenced through dump sites which release clouds of smoke while burning. The country does not recycle the waste produced leading to a high rate of pollution and wastage. In the dump sites, the waste is burned in the open air which has led adverse effects on the environment. Use of open air burning of waste material leaves direct admissions of toxins into the air. This leads to emission of greenhouse gases which include methane, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide. Open air burning of solid waste has led to negative impacts on public health, plants and the environment. Most of the Oman’s resident reside near the dumpsites within a proximity of 5 Km. This poses health risk to them form the waste emissions. Smoke when inhaled may accumulate in the respiratory system and lead to health problems. The toxic which are contained in smoke mixes with rain water which leads to the destruction of the environment (Alaa El-Zawahry, Abulbasher Ramzi and Turki Al-Busaidi, 2001). This report will look at the open burning of waste in Oman and the associated effects on air. Burning electronic waste Electronic wastes include equipments such as old damaged household electronics, computers phones and electrical circuitry. These are some of highly discarded wastes in Oman dumpsites due to change in technology. Electronic waste contains contaminants which include lead, beryllium as well as brominates flame retardants (Betts, 2008). The dumpsites in Oman do not separate the waste before burning which means that the toxic materials are released into the air. The main worry lies in computer wastes which consist of a high level of lead (Pb) and phosphorus (P). The rapid growth and reduced cost of electronics have contributed to the rapid disposal of electronic waste (Ramesh, Parande & Ahmed, 2007). Plastic waste The highest percentage of the waste in the Oman dumpsites consists of plastics. These are a threat to human and environment. The main concern of the plastic waste is the content which is released. The disposal of plastics releases polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Most of the pipes also consist of PVC and adequate measures to dispose them are not followed in the country. Disposal of plastic waste into open dumpsites poses serious health and environmental effects in Oman and the world in general (Alaa El-Zawahry, Abulbasher Ramzi and Turki Al-Busaidi, 2001). Organic waste The dumpsites in Oman have a high content of organic waste. These are composed of once living things such as plant and animals’ microbes as well as waste generated from the living things. Organic waste is composed of carbon, hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). The dumpsites do not categorize this waste but burns them in combination. The survey of the dumpsites reveals three categories of organic waste, industrial, household and agricultural waste. The main adverse effects from organic waste lie in bad smell and release of carbon (C) into atmosphere. Some of the organic waste in the dumpsites is volatile which makes them more dangerous. These are organic compounds that have more than one carbon atom (Alaa El-Zawahry, Abulbasher Ramzi and Turki Al-Busaidi, 2001). Environmental impact After open air burning in the Oman’s dumpsites, electronic waste releases heavy metal into the air. The released gases mix with air which leads to effects such as acid rain and climate change. Acid rain occurs from sulphur and nitrogen that is released from the burning of waste and other industrial and automobile emissions. In the case of Oman, open air burning of toxic is a major contributor to the situation. The acidity of the rain is determined through pH level ranges below the scale of 5.3. The main cause of acid rain is the carbon (2) emission that comes from these dumpsites. The carbon dioxide (CO2) combines with water in the air and forms a compound through reaction. This compound is the carbonic acid (H2CO3) and is classified as weak acid (Asfari, 2002). H2O (l) + CO2 (g) = H2CO3 (aq) The rain can also be caused by reactions involving sulphur dioxide which is also a by-product of open air burning of dumpsites. In this case, gas chemistry eventually leads to the formation of acidic rain using the following formula (Ahmed & Ali, 2004). NO2(g) + OH(g) =HNO3(aq) The rain has corrosive effects on structures and damage to the aquatic animals. At pH lower than 5, most of freshwater animals cannot survive. Some types of aquatic animals have become extinct due to the acidic nature of their habitat caused by acidic rain. Another area that the environment is affected by the toxics released from open air burning in dumpsites is soil. The acidity nature of rain causes damage to the soil nature. The soil contains some microbes which act in making it suitable for activities. In an event there is acid rain, some of these microbes are killed while others are deformed. Some of the important soil nutrients are leached such as magnesium which affects the soil chemistry. These changes affect the type of vegetation cover in the soil as some species may become eliminated (Shekdar, 2009). Plastic waste can release PVC which is the main cause of toxic water and air contamination. Burning of plastic which contain PVC leads to release of harmful gases such as dioxins. The byproduct which is the main cause of cancer through inhalation and contact with the food chain. The toxics are also leached into the ground water from the plastics through rain. The burning of these plastics in open air is the major cause of pollution as the emissions released mixes with air (Vikelsoe & Johansen, 2000). Organic wastes lead to pollution of the environment through the litter which produces a foul smell. Organic compounds are also liable to release of carbon gas (Cg) into the atmosphere which leads to green gas effects. The gas emitted to the environment eventually contributes to formation of acidic rain (Shekdar, 2009). Health impacts The open air burning of waste leads to release of chemicals such as dioxins (C4H4O2). Dioxins are rated to be among some of the most hazardous organic chemicals. The main cause of this chemical is unprotected waste burning. After open air burning, dioxins settle in plants which are later consumed by animals. They then settle on the fatty tissues of the animals such as cows, by consuming the products of these animals, human beings are exposed to the effects. The main problem with dioxins is that they can settle for a long time in the environment. By affecting the animals’ fatty tissues, it becomes unavoidable to reduce its health effects. The health effects associated with dioxins are cancer, reduced immune and suppressed growth (Vikelsoe & Johansen, 2000). Open air burning releases particles which affect the breathing system. The particles are small in that they can easily penetrate the lungs leading to health problems. Continuous inhalation of these particles leads to respiratory related complications. These complications include asthma and bronchitis. The particles also increase the possibility of other health problems such as heart attack (Vikelsoe & Johansen, 2000). The ash from the dumpsites contains toxic metals. These metals include lead (Pb), arsenic (H3AsO4) and mercury (Hg) in form of residue. When ingested, these metals have an adverse effect on health. Long term effects include kidney damage as well as brain effects. Carbon monoxide (CO) has long term effects on the human body as it leads to fatigue and nausea (Asfari, 2002). Impact on other living things Release of toxics affects aquatic and wild life in a great way. Contaminated air causes acidic rain which leads to their extermination. Another effect occurs in plants due to rain water which has a high pH. Vegetation starts getting degraded which can lead to extinction. Birds are also affected through inhaling contaminated air. The effects are manifested in thinning of the egg shells and low reproduction levels. In advanced stages, the toxics get accumulated in bird’s body which leads to death. This leads to a reduction in the population of birds (Robinson, 2009). Conclusion The waste disposal method in Oman is in a worrying situation. The adverse effects that are brought about by open air burning of waste require that the country takes measures to come with better policies. The first step toward reducing the effects is for the county to come up with environmental rules. Management of waste in Oman should be looked into and improved. This would include coming up with an environmental management policy that would cater for all the waste being generated in the country. This policy should address waste generation, disposal and recycling. There is also need for the country to come up with environmental protection policy. This will make sure that the environment is looked at and maintained in the right way. Air quality should be maintained throughout the county to avoid airborne diseases. Electronic waste poses a great danger to the country. There should be laws which regulate electronic waste disposal and also separation. The Oman waste disposal system should make sure that all the solid waste is separated before disposing. After separating, there should be incinerators that are supposed to process the waste. Though waste disposal may be costly to the country, advantages associated with proper waste management are worth investing. References Alaa El-Zawahry, Abulbasher M. S., Ramzi T. and Turki Al-Busaidi 2001, An Assessment of Solid Waste and Landfilis in Muscat Area, Oman, Science and Technology, vol 1, no. 6. Pp, 1-11. Asfari, A.F. 2002, Municipal Solid Waste Management in the Arab World with Particular Reference to GCC Countries, Proceedings of Oman International Conference on Wastes Management. Betts, K 2008, Producing usable materials from e-waste, Environment Science & Technology, 42, pp. 6782-6783. Ramesh, B,. Parande, A & Ahmed, B 2007, Electrical and electronic waste: A global environmental problem, Waste Management Resources, Vol. 25, No.3, pp.307-18. Robinson, B 2009, E-waste: An assessment of global production and environmental impacts, Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 408, No.1, p. 183-191. Shekdar, A 2009, Sustainable solid waste management: An integrated approach for Asian Countries, Waste Management, Vol. 29, No.3, pp.1438-1448. Vikelsoe, D & Johansen, E 2000, Estimation of dioxin emissions from fires in chemicals.’Chemosphere, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp.165-175. Read More