Waste Management and Economies

Waste Definition and Types

• Waste is leftover, redundant items/materials of little or no value to the owner, intended for disposal.
• Factors influencing waste categorisation include time, context, recycling potential, location (urban/rural access to disposal), socio-economic conditions (affordability), and resource availability.
• What constitutes waste is subjective; one person's trash can be another's treasure.

Traditional vs. Circular Economy Approach

• Traditional approach: Extract, use, dispose (resulting in minimal recycling).
• Circular economy approach: Aims to eliminate virgin raw materials, prioritize resource recovery, reduce raw material use, and increase resource recovery.

Waste Management Overview

• Municipal solid waste encompasses household, commercial, and institutional waste.
• High per capita waste generation observed in wealthier countries.
• Key issues include:
  • Single-use products: Often discarded carelessly, contributing significantly to waste streams (e.g., sachet packaging, food wrappers).
  • Planned obsolescence: Items designed for frequent replacement (e.g., electronics, clothes) rather than durability. This happens in three ways: Companies design products for shorter lifespans; products are made difficult to fix or maintain; and consumer trends promote the replacement of items.
  • Consumer obsolescence: Technological advancements lead to rapid replacement of items.

Waste Disposal Methods and Environmental Impacts

• Landfill (30%): While a current disposal method, contributes to pollutants.
• Open dumping (33%): Common in developing countries, significant problem, especially with third-world countries doing open dumping and burning (93% of waste). Generation of toxic pollutants.
• Recyclable waste resources: Significant value in waste products, potentially recovering raw materials.
• E-waste: Huge potential raw material resource, yet often discarded improperly.

Air Pollution Overview

• Types of pollutants:
  • Trace gases: (e.g., methane, hydrogen), very low concentrations within the atmosphere.
  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): Carbon-containing substances that evaporate easily. Both human and natural sources (e.g., flowers, paint).
  • Particulate matter (PM): Solid or liquid particles in the air. PM2.5 (smaller) and PM10 (larger) particles are hazardous, inhalable, and result in respiratory issues.
  • Persistent organic pollutants (POPs): Pollutants that persist and accumulate in the environment (and food chains).
  • Heavy metals: Released from industrial processes that can have significant health impacts. Often are both air and soil pollutants.
• Types of pollutant origins:
  • Primary pollutants: Released directly into the atmosphere.
  • Secondary pollutants: Formed through reactions in the air.
  • Photochemical pollutants: Formed through sun-catalyzed reaction in the atmosphere
• Air pollution transport: Air patterns, diffusion, and wind patterns affect the distribution of pollutants.
• Inversion layer: An atmospheric layer where air pollutants accumulate due to less dispersed air. Higher emission height generally results in further transport of pollution.
• Atmospheric lifetime: The time a pollutant remains in the atmosphere and can result in an overall impact.

Connecting Waste to Environmental Impacts

• Widespread plastic waste, including microplastics, is affecting marine ecosystems and food chains.
• Increased plastic usage has altered ecosystems in negative ways.
• Excessive waste disposal is a major environmental concern.

Responses to Waste Problems

• Individual and collective actions: Plastic purges and community initiatives.
• Technological solutions: Research on compostable and plastic-eating bacteria.
• Corporate initiatives: Companies (e.g., Unilever, Coca-Cola) exploring reuse and reduction strategies.
• Waste diversion: Converting and repurposing waste materials into viable resources.