Management of Municipal Solid Waste, Hazardous Nature of Garbage, and Strategies for Dealing with Garbage Menace - Essay Example

Management of Municipal Solid Waste/Garbage Poor waste disposal is one of the major environmental concerns in the present day society. As the world population increases, so is the amount of hazardous waste that is disposed to the environment (Orloff and Falk 2003, p. 292). With the increased urbanization, most cities are currently struggling with how to cope with the large amount of waste that is discarded by residents. Such a huge task of dealing with hazardous waste has been seen even in major Australian cities, such as Melbourne and Sidney in which the increase in population has resulted in increased amount of hazardous waste. Waste is defined as anything that is discarded after use and can be in the form of solid, liquid, gaseous or chemical form. Hazardous waste is that type of waste that posses a significant threat to both the environment and public health (Ramachandra 2006, p. 551). Domestic garbage, trash or rubbish is one of the major types of hazardous wastes that the municipality has a responsibility of managing to ensure environmental sustainability and good public health. This report will discuss domestic garbage as a hazardous waste and explore the techniques used in dealing with this waste using Germany as a case study. Garbage Garbage or municipal solid waste or trash or rubbish is one of the major classes of hazardous waste that all towns and cities are struggling to manage. Garbage refers to any solid item that people use and discard after use (Vaughn 2009, p. 3). These include among other things furniture, cloths, food scrap, newspapers, paints, product packaging, batteries, bottles and appliances. Garbage usually originates from many different sources, such as homes, businesses, hospitals and schools. Australia is one of the countries with the largest production of solid waste per person in the world. Reports indicate that, in 2006-2007, about 44 million tons of garbage was generated by Australians (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010). This translates to about 2,080 kilograms of solid waste per person. The number is expected to have increased because of the increased urbanization, incomes and population. In Australia, the main items that end up being discarded as waste in the form of garbage include food organics (35), garden organics (16.5%), other organics and residuals (7.5%), paper and cardboard (13%) and metals, plastics, glass and other inner materials (28%) (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010). This is shown in the figure below. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010) Hazardous Nature of Garbage Garbage is hazardous because of a number of reasons. Firstly, garbage is considered a hazardous waste because of its ignitability nature. Ignitability means that they can easily catch fire when subjected to certain conditions. For instance, used solvents and waste oils that are discarded into the landfills as waste can easily catch fire at a flash point of just less that 60 0C (Lone Star College 2015). Secondly, garbage is considered a hazard to the environment and public health because of their corrosive nature. For instance, large amounts of batteries do end up in the landfills in the form of waste. These batteries have acids and bases that are capable of corroding items, such as drums, storage tanks and other things. Thirdly, garbage is also classified as a hazardous waste because of their toxic nature. Use foods for example discompose very fast. However, when poorly disposed of, someone might end up ingesting the pieces thereby resulting in intoxication and even death (Orloff and Falk 2003, p. 292). For instance, there are many instances where people have been intoxicated and developed diseases, such as diarrhea and rushes because of coming into contact with garbage that has been poorly disposed. Additionally, some garbage is also hazardous because they can easily explode when compressed, thereby resulting in serious injuries. Moreover, as earlier stated, garbage is not just a hazard to public health, but also to the environment. Presently, global warming is a major environmental issue worldwide. Unfortunately, gasses from the garbage landfills have been cited as among the main polluters of the environment. McKinney, Schoch and Yonavjak (2012, p. 549) noted that, once garbage have been discharged into the landfills and decomposed, they produce a variety of gases, such as methane that are released into the environment, thereby causing air pollution that impacts negatively on the environment. Further, garbage is a nuisance to the environment as it makes the residential places where people live and do businesses dirty and stinking. Strategies for Dealing with Garbage Menace Garbage is a hazard that needs to be properly managed and controlled to ensure environmental sustainability and the good health of the people. Currently, the Australian government spend colossal amount of money on garbage disposal and management. However, there are a number of strategies that can be employed in dealing with garbage problem in homes and cities across the country. The first and most appropriate way of dealing with garbage is source reduction otherwise called waste prevention. In this respect, O'Leary (1999, p. 5) observed that garbage or municipal solid waste can be reduced to a low level if people adopt ways of ensuring that waste is not created in the first place. There are many ways that people and businesses can adopt to ensure that garbage that ends up in the landfills is minimized. Firstly, people are to buy products that use less packaging. As such, the first point to begin this is to advise manufacturers to ensure that they make products that use less packaging as this would help reduce the quantity of wastes (Ramachandra 2006, p. 553). Secondly, the quantity of items that end up in the landfills in the form of garbage can be minimized by using packaging that can be reused again and again. For instance, instead of packaging products in polythene that consumers would find of no much value and throw away, manufacturers can adopt a strategy of packaging products in bags that consumers would find of value and reuse time and again, thereby minimizing the amount of trash that is thrown in the landfills. The same applies to items in which people should be advised to buy durable and reusable items as this would minimize the amount of items that are thrown as trash. Other source reduction strategies to employee include maintaining and repairing products, such as clothing, home appliances and tires and borrowing or renting items that are not frequently used. Other than source reduction, the problem of garbage can is dealt with effectively through recycling. Recycling is the process of turning trash, such as plastics, paper, glass, and metals into new products that can be used again (EPA 2016). A noted above, there are a number of items that make up garbage that can be recycled. In Australia, for example, it emerged that about 28% of household garbage are made of recyclable items, such as plastics, metals and glasses among other inert materials. Therefore, to minimize the amount of garbage that ends up in the landfills, the best strategy is to recycle the items by converting them into new items that are of value to individuals and businesses. Last is the compositing method which is an approach in which all organic waste, such as food items are put together in a condition that allows them to decompose naturally. The decomposed organic waste is then use as a natural fertilizer. Garbage Management Case Study: Germany Germany is a good case study for this paper as the country has been very successful in its fight against the increasing garbage heaps in the country. The country is using all the three strategies described above, which include source reduction, recycling and composting in managing its garbage. Studies conducted in Germany indicate that the country reduces more than 30 million tons of garbage every year through source reduction strategies (Fishbein 1996, p. 100). To achieve this, Germany created the Green Dot system, which is both a source reduction and recycling system whose aim is to encourage responsible waste management by German citizens, businesses and manufacturers. Under the system, retailers and manufacturers are required to pay for a “Green Dot” on items, such that, the more packaging a retailer or a manufacturer uses, the higher the “Green Dot” fee (Fishbein 1996, p. 100). This innovating system has resulted in less metal, paper and thinner glasses being used in packaging, which in turn has resulted in less garbage being discarded or recycled in the country This system alone has resulted in a reduction of the amount of garbage by about one million tones every year. The Green Dot system has also been a great success as far as waste management is concerned because it has ensured proper sorting of garbage in Germany. To make garbage management easy, all the garbage are sorted dropped in designated bins (World Wildlife Fund (U.S.) 1991, p. 25). For instance, each glass is sorted by color. The garbage bins are strategically located in various points in the city and here homesteads where people and businesses are expected to drop their trash to prevent littering. Each of the garbage bin is has distinct color and written to allow easy sorting of garbage. For instance, no one is expected to drop organic waste in a bin designated for recyclable items, such as bottles notes Epstein (2015, p. 27). Once the garbage bins are full, they are collected by trucks that takes the once that are recyclable to recycling plants that exists in all the cities and towns throughout Germany. The organic materials, such as food trash are also taken to a separate place where they are allowed to decompose naturally into fertilizers that are used in farms. Conclusion Garbage management is one of the major challenges facing most countries. Every year, millions tons of garbage are made in various towns and cities across the globe. Australia is one of the countries struggling with the management of municipal solid waste. However, as highlighted in the paper, garbage can be managed effectively by employing the three existing strategies, such as source reduction, recycling and composting. For a country like Australia to manage their garbage effectively, they should emulate the strategies that Germany has employed over the years in managing its garbage as the country currently has the best solid waste management system in the world. References Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010, Waste generation and disposal, viewed 25 March 2016 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/392265C4C12E1E39CA25773700169C2E?opendocument EPA 2016, Municipal solid waste, viewed 25 March 2016 https://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/ Epstein, E 2015, Disposal and management of solid waste: Pathogens and diseases. Taylor & Francis, New York, NY. Fishbein, B. K 1996, Germany, garbage and the Green Dot: Challenging a throwaway society. DIANE Publishing, Berlin. Lone Star College 2015, About hazardous and non-hazardous waste, viewed 25 March 2016 http://www.lonestar.edu/16715.htm McKinney, M. L., Schoch, R., & Yonavjak, L 2012, Environmental science. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, Mason, OH. O'Leary, P. R 1999, Decision-maker's guide to solid-waste management. DIANE Publishing, Sidney. Orloff, K., & Falk, F 2003, “An international perspective on hazardous waste practices.” International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health vol. 206, no. 4-5, pp. 291- 302. Ramachandra, T. V. 2006, Management of municipal solid waste. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Cambridge, MA. Vaughn, J 2009, Waste management: A reference handbook. ABC-CLIO, London. World Wildlife Fund (U.S.) 1991, Getting at the source: Strategies for reducing municipal solid waste. Island Press, Los Angeles. Read More