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.

Explore the definitions and types of waste, as well as the differences between traditional and circular economy approaches. This quiz covers the fundamentals of waste categorization, the impact of socio-economic conditions, and the importance of effective waste management strategies.