10-04-2017, 09:00 PM
Sources of Solid Waste
MSW, Municipal Solid Waste, is the primary focus of this course, which excludes industrial,
mining and agricultural wastes.
A. Residential and Commercial
Residential:Generated by me and you: Organic (combustible) and inorganic (noncombustible),
food, paper, garden trimmings, glass, white goods, waste oil, spent cans of
insecticide.
Commercial: stores, restaurants, hotels, car repair: paper, plastic.
Commingled. Mixed wastes, not separated at the source.
Putrescible, wastes that will decompose rapidly primarily food.
Plastics, contain a numerical code, 1 through 7, which is stamped on the bottom of the
container inside a small triangle.
- Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE/1), 2-liter soda bottle
- High-density polyethylene (HDPE/2), milk bottles
Special Wastes:
- Bulky items: furniture, lamps.
- Electronics
- Major appliances (white goods)
- Batteries, oil and tires
Household hazardous wastes:
- paint
- cleaners
- bug and garden sprays
B. Institutional and others
Generated by government buildings, schools, prisons and hospitals.
Does not include medical wastes which are typically incinerated and manufacturing wastes
from prisons.
Construction and Demolition. Road repair, sewer jobs, renovations: wood, concrete, steel,
shingles, electrical parts.
Municipal Services. Street cleaning, parks, catch basins: trimmings, food, paper, sweepings,
dead animals, abandoned vehicles.
Treatment Plant Sludges.
C. Industrial Wastes
SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes. Excludes process and hazardous wastes
SIC 32 - Stone, clay and glass products from the manufacture of flat glass etc., yielding glass,
gypsum (sulfur source) abrasives, etc.
D. Agricultural Wastes
Enormous quantities from planting, harvesting from row, field, tree and vine crops and
animal husbandry, feedlots.
2. Briefly explain the inter-relationship of different functional elements in a solid waste
management system (Dec 12/Jan 13)
1. Waste generation
2. Handling, storage and processing
3. Collection
4. Transfer & transport
5. Processing & recovery
6. Disposal
3. Define Solid Waste Management. Explain the different sources of Solid waste
(Dec12/Jan13)
Solid wastes are the wastes arising from human activities and are normally solid as opposed to
liquid or gaseous and are discarded as useless or unwanted.
Solid waste management is the control of :
- generation, materials are identified as being no longer value
- storage, management of wastes until they are put into a container
- collection, gathering of solid wastes and recyclable materials and the transport of these
materials where the collection vehicle is emptied. 50% or higher of the total cost.
- processing, source separated (at the home) vs. commingled (everything together) is a big issue.
Includes: physical processes such as shredding and screening, removal of bulky material, and
chemical and biological processes such as incineration and composting.
- transfer and transport, small trucks to the biggest trucks allowable
- disposal of solid waste, landfilling with or without attempting to recover resources.
in a manner that is in accord with:
- public health
- economics
- engineering
- conservation
- aesthetics
- public attitudes
Final disposal at the turn of the century included:
dumping o)n land in
- dumping water
- plowing into soil
- feeding to hogs
- incineration