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During the course of history, human activities for survival like consumption and production often linked to solid waste. Solid wastes are the material that arises from various human and economic activities, which tend to increase with sophisticated living standard and changing consumption pattern. It has been produce since the beginning of civilization. Any useless, unwanted, or discarded material that is not liquid or gas can be call solid waste example of mixture of substances including fine dust, cinder, metal, glass, paper and cardboard, textiles, and plastic characterize as solid waste
The characteristics are that the waste remains highly visible in the environment. Accumulation of large quantities of solid wastes is having an adverse impact on the environment. Different sources of wastes are mentioned as follows: ♥ Industrial Waste, ♥ Municipal Solid Wastes, ♥ Agricultural Waste, ♥ Mining Waste, ♥ Energy Production Waste, ♥ Dredging Waste.
Ever increasing population growth, rapid urbanization and industrialization are contributing to the generation of solid waste in huge quantities. With the progress of civilization, the waste generated become of a complex in nature. To illustrate how material becomes a waste a fundamental balance model made by Field M and Field B shown. In the material balance model shown , consumers has a residual and producers on the other hand produces residual to as waste in production. Only a portion of residual is being recycled. In this model, it only foretells that a percentage of the residual is being recycled and the rest of it is discharge or waste. In the material balance model, we can say that a portion of discharge may contain solid waste. This model let us show that too much consumption and production leads to too much waste.
Solid waste as man made problem have been scrutinize for us to understand better what is its effect and impacts in our lives. As humans, it is a challenge for us to solve this problem and this paper envisions tackling what we can do in our own made problem, which is solid waste.
The common thread through these environmental crises is unsustainable consumption. From production, consumption and disposal of goods, humans today-individually and collectively-are asking more of the planet than ever before. On the contrary, humans could live quite well within the Earth's limits. However, we should cultivate a greater understanding as consumers through knowing causes of solid waste.
Population Growth The number of humans on the planet rose dramatically during the 20th century. Human consumers are a major cause of waste. The most populous countries in the world, such as India, China and the United States, produce the most waste, according to the United Nations. As populations in those countries increase, so does the solid waste disposal and its negative impact on the environment. Large populations of consumers buy more goods and therefore dispose of more waste.
Urban Sprawl Population increase also puts pressure on existing housing, raising prices and forcing some people out of the city because they cannot afford to live there. Some people respond to rising prices by moving to the outer fringes of the city, promoting urban sprawl. Generally, these fringe areas poorly served by public transport and other community facilities, so urban sprawl involves additional motor vehicle travel to work and to community facilities. It can also mean that prime agricultural land turned over to residential developments.
Consumption and Production Seeing the exponential way of growth in population, a massive consumption and production caused solid waste as problem. Goods that are being produce by producer and consume by the consumers will become a residual after being sell or use.
DISPOSING Disposing of materials that is not in need or cannot be use causes solid waste in relation with population. Domestic solid waste generated by household’s accounts for one-third to one-half of all solid waste generated in large cities. This amount depends on the numbers of people and the amount of rubbish they each generate. The population issues committee estimates that almost half of the growth in solid waste is due to population growth, and just over half is due to increased resource use per person. The relationship between numbers of people and the garbage generated is significant.
Lack of Enforcement Another reason for solid waste along with its practices by people is cause of lack of effective enforcement. Without enforcement of politicians through ordinances and policies, no fear exists of caught. Those constituents, who might dump wastes for any of the reasons given above, are encouraged through a lack of dissuasion to do otherwise.
TRADEGY OF THE COMMONS Some of the most profound consequences of our consumer culture upon the well-being of people worldwide still loom on the horizon. Our lifestyle choices indirectly affect the livelihoods of people who step lightly upon the earth. Tragedy of the commons is one of the causes of solid waste due to incorrect mind set of humans seeing someone doing an irrational activity (improper disposal) may lead to an influence of another do such wrong doing.
HUMAN ACTIVITIES As part of progress or as human activities will not be absent in day-to-day. Some of these activities cause solid waste like farming, mining, industrial and medical waste.
In early pre-industrial times, waste was mainly composed of ash from fires, wood, bones, bodies and vegetable waste. It was disposed of in the ground where it would act as compost and help to improve the soil. Ancient rubbish dumps excavated in archaeological digs reveal only tiny amounts of ash, broken tools and pottery. Everything that could be was repaired and reused. Populations were smaller.
During the Medieval period people did not understand garbage was a threat until urban populations boomed. As cities began to develop, people burned their personal trash, buried it, or let it pile up. As waste piled up in urban settings, the resulting filth caused stench, harbored rats and other pests, led to contaminated water supplies and perpetuated human disease. Some of the earliest organized waste management techniques developed during this period as a way to stop and prevent further disease.
The Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century in Europe and the Americas. The availability of raw materials, increased trade and growing populations stimulated new inventions and the development of machinery. Growing populations and increased production led to greater amounts of waste. Government officials and the public increasingly became concerned about waste.
Over years we can see that unawareness, lack of education and lack of policy makes the problem of solid waste come into life. In some countries especially those poor ones, the problem of solid waste sprouted when improper management of solid wastes and the lack of seriousness in the enforcement of solid waste disposal code. It is a big challenge for as human beings to protect our planet from destruction such as solid waste that has impact to environment. Solid waste that made by human and only us, human beings can solve such problem.
Human activities lead to catastrophe such as solid waste. These manmade problem leads to serious problems. It therefore becomes important for this study to examine the effects of solid waste. This research intended to provide insights to citizens for realization why solid waste is a crisis.
DISEASE Certain chemicals if released untreated, e.g. cyanides, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls are highly toxic and exposure can lead to disease or death. Some studies have detected excesses of cancer in residents exposed to hazardous waste. Many studies carried out in various parts of the world to establish a connection between health and hazardous waste. This may lead to epidemic outbreaks. Many diseases like cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis, virus attacks mostly children, plague, jaundice, or gastro-intestinal diseases may spread and cause loss of human lives. In addition, improper handling of the solid wastes gives health hazard for the workers who come in direct contact with the waste.
DEGREDATION Solid waste pollutes surrounding and may lead to degradation of natural resources. This degradation makes place .Discourage tourism and other business. The unpleasant odor and unattractive appearance of piles of uncollected solid waste along streets and in fields, forests and other natural areas can discourage tourism and the establishment and or maintenance of businesses.
INCREASE IN PESTS The inappropriate storage and disposal of organic waste attracts rodents and insects, which may increase the frequency of gastro-intestinal and parasitic diseases. One of the most frequent environmental health complaints in some area was relate to mice, rats and bedbug infestations. The garbage becomes breeding grounds for disease-carrying vectors such as flies, mosquitoes, rats and cockroaches. Reports say that about 8,00,000 flies is produced in one cubic meter of garbage, which carry pathogenic organisms, causing dysentery, diarrhea, etc. rats, carriers of insects and bio-organisms, cause plague.
POLLUTION Water pollution resulting from flows of solid waste and urban run-off also related to population levels (although it is also a function of treatment and urban design). River system is already under severe stress because of urban development. Nutrient, bacteria and virus levels are high because of inflows in solid waste and agricultural run-off.
FLOOD Illegal dumping has major impacts across the city especially on open spaces and often occurs in areas with poor service provision floods. Due to a lack of environmental awareness and poor infrastructure, there are large amounts of litter on the streets, on pavements and on unoccupied open or municipal land. Most of the litter ends up in nearby streams or in manholes, which eventually ends up clog in drainage systems.
GLOBAL WARMING Methane and carbon dioxide are two major gases produced from the decomposition of the organic fraction of solid waste most especially in the landfill. Methane gas (CH 4) has a 21-fold global warming potential as compared to carbon dioxide (CO 2). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, such emissions contribute to 18% of the total methane emissions to the atmosphere, ranging from 9 to 70 Tg (megatons) annually. Therefore, landfills have been implicated as the largest source of atmospheric methane in the world, leading to a natural phenomenon called "global warming" (Hansen, 2005a).Due to global warming, changing temperature and rainfall patterns will bring a variety of pressure upon plant and animal life. If temperature rises as projected, one-third of species will be lost from their habitat, either by moving elsewhere or by becoming extinct (Hansen, 2005b).
CLIMATE CHANGE Methane and carbon dioxide that a solid waste emits may lead to climate change. Climate change could result in changes in temperatures, cloud cover, rainfall patterns, wind speeds, and storms: all factors that could affect future waste management facilities development and operation. For instance, landfill sites can be operational for decades and remain active for decades following their closure. There is, therefore, a need to consider potential changes in waste management over significant timescales and respond appropriately.
Waste pickers and waste workers Solid waste somehow has a good effect. It provides job most especially for the poor. As people willing to pay to clean up their mess , waste pickers and waste workers exist. Somehow solid waste has a good impact in humans.
Modernization and progress has had its share of disadvantages and one of the main aspects of concern is the pollution it is causing to the earth – be it land, air, and water. With increase in the global population and the rising demand for food and other essentials, there has been a rise for waste generated daily by each household. This waste ultimately thrown into municipal waste collection centers from where it was collect by the area municipalities to thrown into the landfills and dumps. However, due to either resource crunch or inefficient infrastructure, not all of this waste is collected and transported to the final dumpsites. If at this stage the management and disposal improperly done, it can cause serious impacts on health and problems to the surrounding environment.
Impacts of solid waste to Humans The group at risk from the unscientific disposal of solid waste include – the population in areas where there is no proper waste disposal method, especially the pre-school children; waste workers; and workers in facilities producing toxic and infectious material. Other high-risk group includes population living close to a waste dump and those, whose water supply has contaminate either due to waste dumping or due to leakage from landfill sites. Uncollected solid waste also increases risk of injury, and infection Exposure to hazardous waste can affect human health, children being more vulnerable to these pollutants. In fact, direct exposure can lead to diseases through chemical exposure as the release of chemical waste into the environment leads to chemical poisoning. Many studies carried out in various parts of the world to establish a connection between health and hazardous waste.
Waste from agriculture and industries can cause serious health risks. Other than this, co-disposal of industrial hazardous waste with municipal waste can expose people to chemical and radioactive hazards. Uncollected solid waste can also obstruct storm water runoff, resulting in the forming of stagnant water bodies that become the breeding ground of disease. Waste dumped near a water source also causes contamination of the water body or the ground water source. Direct dumping of untreated waste in rivers, seas, and lakes result in the accumulation of toxic substances in the food chain through the plants and animals that feed on it.
IMPACTS OF SOLID WASTE TO ENVIRONMENT Most adverse environmental impacts from solid waste are rooted in inadequate or incomplete collection and recovery of recyclable or reusable wastes, as well as co disposal of hazardous wastes. These impacts are also due to inappropriate sitting, design, operation, or maintenance of dumps and landfills. Improper waste management activities can an open refuse dump in downtown. During the rainy season, part of the dump was submerged in water, threatening the health and water supply of the surrounding area.
Contaminate ground and surface water. Municipal solid waste streams can bleed toxic materials and pathogenic organisms into the leachate of dumps and landfills. (Leachate is the liquid discharge of dumps and landfills; it is composed of rotted organic waste, liquid wastes, infiltrated rainwater and extracts of soluble material.) If the landfill is unlined, this runoff can contaminate ground or surface water, depending on the drainage system and the composition of the underlying soils.
Garbage is often burn in residential areas and in landfills to reduce volume and uncover metals. Burning creates thick smoke that contains carbon monoxide, soot and nitrogen oxide, all of which is hazardous to human health and degrades urban air quality. Combustion of polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs) generates highly carcinogenic dioxins damage ecosystems.
Waste management processes and climate change operate at similar timescales, so there is a need to understand what the potential climate change impacts may be on waste management in order to begin the process of identifying what changes may be need in waste management operations, regulations, strategy, planning and policy. Climate change is a serious international environmental concern.
In most developed and developing countries with increasing population, prosperity and urbanization, it remains a major challenge for municipalities to solve solid waste, especially in a changing climate. A cornerstone of sustainable development is the establishment of affordable, effective and truly sustainable waste management practices in developing countries. It must be further emphasized that multiple public health, safety and environmental co-benefits accrue from effective waste management practices which concurrently reduce GHG emissions and improve the quality of life, promote public health, prevent water and soil contamination, conserve natural resources and provide renewable energy benefits.
To aid the problems solutions are explained to lessen the problem through understanding the causes and mechanism of the solid waste. And through: • Education about Solid Waste Management • School education • Outreach to the community • Cooperation in public education for awareness • Humans Participation in aiding Solid Waste • Policy and Implementation • Special Campaigns and Drives (Clean-up drives) • Environmental movements incorporating city cleanliness
Solid Waste Management In response to mounting solid waste problems, EPA published The Solid Waste Dilemma: An Agenda for Action in 1989, which presents goals and recommendations for action by the EPA, state and local governments, industry, and consumers to address the solid waste problems facing the United States. The EPA recommends an integrated, hierarchical approach to waste management using four components: Source reduction, recycling and landfills.
This strategy favors source reduction to decrease the volume and toxicity of waste and to increase the useful life of products. After source reduction, recycling, including composting is the preferred waste management approach to divert waste from combustors and landfills. Combustion is used to reduce the volume of waste being disposed as well as to recover energy, whereas landfills are used for the final disposal of non-recyclable and noncombustible material.
Source Reduction Source reduction, also known as waste prevention, is a front-end approach to addressing Municipal Solid Waste problems by changing the way products made and used. It represents an attempt to move away from the traditional "end-of-the-pipe" waste management approach used in the past. Source reduction at the "beginning of the pipe" defined as the design, manufacture, and use of products in a way that reduces the quantity and toxicity of waste produced when products reach the end of their useful lives.
Recycling refers to the separation and collection of wastes and their subsequent transformation or remanufacture into usable or marketable materials. Recycling, including composting, diverts potentially large volumes of material from landfills and combustors, and prevents the unnecessary waste of natural resources and raw materials. Other environmental benefits offered by recycling include a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, energy conservation, and the preservation of biodiversity and habitats that would be exploit for virgin materials. In addition, recycling programs create new manufacturing jobs, boost the economy, and facilitate U.S. competitiveness in the globalmarketplace. RECYCLING
Landfills Even with the use of source reduction, recycling, and combustion, there will always be waste that ultimately must be disposed of in landfills. According to the EPA's Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 1999 Facts and Figures, landfill disposal still remains the most widely used waste management method (accounting for approximately 57.4% of the total). Many communities now face difficulties sitting new landfills largely because of increased citizen and local government concerns about the potential health risks and aesthetics of situating a landfill in their neighborhoods. The EPA issued new technical standards for MSW landfills in 1991. These addressed several aspects of landfill management, including location restrictions, design and operating criteria, and groundwater monitoring. Even with national landfill standards, decreasing landfill capacity and the difficulties associated with the construction of new landfills remain significant issues.
Solid waste is a man made problem and only humans can solve this one. Solid waste cannot be abolish since its part of consumption and production but we can solve this if we do actions to lessen such things. Education is the number one tool because the public cannot be expected to cooperate in matters as complex as Solid Waste Management if they are ignorant of the conditions of solid wastes in their cities, the extent of the problem, and the environmental hazards of poor waste management. The information the public needs is not simply the risks to their own health of not observing hygiene in waste handling, or the difficulties the authorities encounter if wastes are not deposited in the appropriate places. They should know the conditions of the garbage dumps, the total quantities of wastes generated, the proportions that are picked up and treated, the nature of leachates produced at dumps and whether these are contaminating water supplies, and so on.
[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9003 ] AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN ECOLOGICAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, CREATING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND INCENTIVES, DECLARING CERTAIN ACTS PROHIBITED AND PROVIDING PENALTIES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
