Waste, is an unwanted or undesired material or substance. A wheelie bin is a type of Waste container and is made in several different types A garbage bag, trash bag, refuse sack, can liner ( American English) or bin bag, swag sack, bin liner ( British It is also referred to as rubbish, trash, garbage, or junk depending upon the type of material and the regional terminology. In living organisms, waste relates to unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from them.
Waste management is the human control of the collection, treatment and disposal of different wastes. Waste management is the collection Transport, processing, Recycling or disposal of Waste materials This is in order to reduce the negative impacts waste has on environment and society.
Waste is directly linked to the human development, both technologically and socially. The composition of different wastes have varied over time and location. With industrial development and innovation being directly linked to waste materials. Examples of this include plastics and nuclear technology. Some components of waste have economical value and can be recycled once correctly recovered. Recycling involves processing used materials into new products in order to prevent the waste of potentially useful materials reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials reduce
Biodegradable waste such as food waste or sewage, is broken down naturally by microorganisms either aerobically or anaerobically. Biodegradable waste is a Type of waste, typically originating from Plant or Animal sources which may be broken down by other living organisms If the disposal of biodegradable waste is not controlled it can cause a number of wider problems including contributing to the release of greenhouse gases and can impact upon human health via encouragement of pathogens.
It is difficult to define specifically what a waste is. Items that some people discard have value to others. It is widely recognised that waste materials are a valuable resource, whilst there is debate as to how this value is best realised. Governments need to define what waste is in order that it can be safely and legally managed. Different definitions need to be combined in order to ensure the safe and legal disposal of the waste. [1]
Contents |
Environmental impact
Many different types of waste have negative impacts upon the wider environment.
Waste pollution is considered a serious threat by many and can broadly be defined as any pollution associated with waste and waste management practices[2]. Typical materials that are found in household waste which have specific environmental impacts with them include biodegradable wastes, batteries, aerosols, oils, acids and fluorescent tubes.
As a nation, Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world with 4. 5 pounds of municipal solid waste (MSW) per person per day, 55 percent of which is contributed as residential garbage. The remaining 45 percent of waste in the U. S. 's ‘waste stream' comes from manufacturing, retailing, and commercial trade in the U. S. economy [3].
Biodegradable waste is of specific concern as breaks down in landfills to form methane, a potent greenhouse gas. If this gas is not prevented from entering the atmosphere, by implication, it contributes to climate change. Climate change is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences [4]
Littering can be considered the most visible form of solid waste pollution[5]. Litter is Waste disposed in the wrong place by Unlawful human action and can vary in size of incident occurrence or items The act of littering for the most part constitutes disposing of waste inappropriately, typically in public places. Littering itself may or may not be an intentional action.
Other forms of pollution associated with waste materials include illegal dumping and leaching[6]. Illegal dumping of flytipping often involves unregulated disposal of materials on private or public land. Remoted sites with road access coupled with limited surveillance often provides the perfect opportunity for this form of dumping which often goes unpunished and leaves others (such as the community or developer) to properly dispose of the waste.
Leaching is a process by which contaminants from solid waste enter soil and often ground water systems contaminating them.
Definitions
The European Union defines waste as an object the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard is waste under the Waste Framework Directive (European Directive 75/442/EC as amended). The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in
Once a substance or object has become waste, it will remain waste until it has been fully recovered and no longer poses a potential threat to the environment or to human health. "[7]
The UK's Environmental Protection Act 1990 indicated waste includes any substance which constitutes a scrap material, an effluent or other unwanted surplus arising from the application of any process or any substance or article which requires to be disposed of which has been broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise spoiled; this is supplemented with anything which is discarded otherwise dealt with as if it were waste shall be presumed to be waste unless the contrary is proved. Scrap is a term used to describe Recyclable materials left over from every manner of product consumption such as parts of vehicles building supplies and surplus materials This definition was amended by the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 defining waste as:
"any substance or object which the producer or the person in possession of it, discards or intends or is required to discard but with exception of anything excluded from the scope of the Waste Directive". [8]
Culture
There is a cultural dimension to waste. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Wasting time, money, or food involves moral judgements that carry a great deal of weight in human interaction. A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an Effect upon one another Attitudes to this wastage differ between different societies. A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions
For example, food may be wasted in one part of the world while there may be famine elsewhere. Chefs from a particular culinary tradition may prize cuts of meat that chefs in other traditions will dispose of. A parent may regard a child's career in a rock band as a waste of their education, though this opinion may not necessarily be shared by the child. The frivolous expenditure of money may be described as "wasting money" independently of the economic underpinning of the transactions concerned. [9][10][11][12]
See also
References
- ^ Torbay Council (2006) Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Torbay, Consultation Draft
- ^ Green Ontario: Solid Waste
- ^ March 2008, Cashing in on Climate Change, IBISWorld
- ^ The Landfill Directive Defra
- ^ http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Environment/Waste/LitterPollution/FileDownLoad,1497,en.pdf ENVIRON. Fly-tipping or dumping is a British term for illegally dumping Waste somewhere other than an authorised Landfill. Environmental dumping is the practice of transfrontier shipment of waste ( Household waste, industrial / Nuclear waste, etc A waste collection vehicle (WCV or colloquially called a 'Garbage Truck' 'Dustcart' or 'Dustbin lorry' is a Truck specially designed to pick up smaller quantities of Waste management is the collection Transport, processing, Recycling or disposal of Waste materials The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for environmental protection IE Publication
- ^ Solid Waste
- ^ The Definition of Waste Waste Definition, Agrarian
- ^ Waste explained CIWM
- ^ Scanlan, John (2005). On Garbage. London: Reaktion Books
- ^ Casper, Monica J. (ed) (2003). Synthetic Planet: Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Life. London and New York: Routledge
- ^ Carrier, James G. (ed) (2004). Confronting Environments: Local Understanding in a Globalizing World. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira
- ^ Douglas, Mary (1966). Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London and New York: Routledge.
External links
Dictionary
waste
-noun
- A waste land; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness.
- A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
- A large tract of uncultivated land.
- A vaste expanse of water.
- A disused mine or part of one.
- The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.
- Large abundance of something, especially without it being used.
- Gradual loss or decay.
- A decaying of the body by disease; wasting away.
- (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; See "to lay waste"
- Excess of material, useless by-products or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
- Excrement (animal waste, human waste).
- (law) A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property against the current owner of that property to prevent the current owner from degrading the value or character of the property, either intentionally or through neglect.
-adjective
- Uncultivated or unhabited; barren; desert.
- Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
- Superfluous; needless.
- Unfortunate; Disappointing.
-verb
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic