Background to Waste Management and Landfill
Waste Management
Waste Management involves the collection and transportation of materials from households, businesses, schools etc. to be processed or disposed of in such a way as individual countries and their legislations’ see fit. Most of these waste materials are produced by and for human activity, and are processed and disposed of in order to reduce harmful effects on human life and local amenity.
Management of waste typically involves the collection and transportation of materials followed by disposal. Following the collection and depending on the type of waste, there may be some processing involved before the disposal stage. This can include; reducing the hazard of waste; producing an energy source from the materials; recovering materials that can be recycled or reduction of the waste volume in order to make the materials easier to dispose of.
With the recognition of sustainability in recent decades, there has been more of an emphasis placed on how these materials are processed and disposed of. In modern times more priority has been given to the reduction of the harmful effects of waste management in order to improve the environment and if possible, to recover useable resources from the processing and disposal of the materials.
It is the responsibility of Local Authorities to manage the disposal of household waste in rural and urban areas while it is the responsibility of the producer to dispose of their own waste if they are in the industrial or commercial sectors. The government oversees the disposal of hazardous waste and there is Legislation relating to the disposal of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
In recent years there has been a trend toward Waste Minimisation and to accomplish this many strategies now involve a Waste Hierarchy.
Waste Minimisation and the Waste Hierarchy
REDUCE – REUSE – RECYCLE
It is the priority of most governments to keep waste levels at a minimum and so they try to accomplish through Waste Hierarchy. This hierarchy classifies waste management techniques into an order of popularity. The strategies themselves have changed over the years but the basic concept has remained the same and follows the above pattern.
Waste itself must be disposed off, it cannot simply be dumped in bins and then transported to sites were it is left to decompose. As well as being terribly unhygienic there is just not simply enough room on the planet to dispose of all household, commercial and industrial waste. Therefore it is common practice to dispose of waste and there are many techniques that can be used. The most common place and traditional technique of disposal is Landfill although there are a number of other systems of disposal that operate with the minimisation and hierarchy principles. These include; Incineration; Volume Reduction methods such as Compaction, Shearing and Grinding; Resource Recovery through Recycling, Composting and Incineration with Energy Recovery (Pyrolysis/Thermal Gasification).
Landfill as a Waste Management Technique
Landfill is the most common method of waste disposal throughout the world and involves dumping waste in unused/unwanted sites such as disused quarries or dry mining pits. If the site is well run and adequately funded it can be a safe and relatively inexpensive method of disposal. These landfills have replaced traditional dumps as they are seen as more sanitary (the waste is deposited in a depression and is then compacted and covered with soil). Traditional dumps are open and cause visual pollution, as well as producing an odour and perhaps encouraging pests and in the extreme, disease.
There are three types of landfill, and they depend on type of material that is to be disposed of;
1. Mono-disposal sites – Only one specific type of waste is disposed here, usually by industries that produce large quantities of one type of waste.
2. Multi-disposal sites – Many different types of waste are disposed of in these sites, usually coming from households, commercial and general industrial firms.
3. Co-disposal sites– These sites use chemical, biological and physical processes to break waste down in controlled landfill sites. These sites are generally used for the disposal of special and non-biodegradable waste materials which could be harmful to the environment (physical and human).
Although Landfill is the most widely used method of waste disposal (due to its cost effectiveness) it is still a controversial form of disposal. If landfill sites are not managed properly they can produce harmful pollutants, called leachates, into the groundwater as well as gas emissions. When the site is at its capacity care should be taken to ensure that it is properly infilled, landscaped and monitored for any possible impacts that it may have on the environment. The detrimental effects of landfill sites have resulted in the European Union trying to encourage member states to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill sites (See Legislation section).
Friends of the Earth have described Landfill as ‘Dumping rubbish in the ground or in waste mountains’, and have set out the drawbacks of landfill as follows:
1. Releases toxins
Rotting rubbish emits explosive gases and polluting liquids. Methane emissions
contribute to
climate change.
2. Threatens our quality of life
Landfill creates problems for local communities. Nuisances include more traffic,
noise, odours, smoke, dust, litter and pests.
(Taken from the Friends of the Earth website - http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/waste/issues/reduce_reuse_recycle/index.html)
Despite the drawbacks of Landfill sites, they will always be needed. Recycling or Incineration will always leave residual matter which itself will need to be disposed of.