Zero Waste and Sustainable Development Goals

• Introduction to Sustainable Engineering

Sustainable Development

• It's a process that fosters growth, progress, and positive change in society and the environment.

Sustainability

• Sustainability is maintaining a process or state at a certain rate or level.
• Involves studying how natural systems function, remain diverse, and provide everything needed for the ecosystem to stay balanced.
• Sustainability includes living in harmony with nature and protecting the natural world from harm.

Sustainable Development

• Sustainable development refers to growth and progress without depleting natural resources.
• It's about meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

Challenges for Sustainability

• Growth in the scale of human population size
• A mismatch between short-term needs and long-term societal well-being
• Pollution of land, water, and air
• Overfishing
• Erosion of soils
• Deforestation
• Climate change from greenhouse gases
• Ozone depletion
• Exhaustion of non-renewable resources
• Sea level rise

The Three Pillars of Sustainability

• Social, Environmental, Economic
• Society: standard of living, education, jobs and equal opportunities
• Economics: growth, profit, cost saving and R&D
• Environment: natural resource use, pollution prevention and Bio-diversity

Social- Environmental and Economic Sustainability Concepts

• The three pillars of sustainability are a powerful tool for defining the complete sustainability problem.
• The three pillars are economic, social, and environmental.
• The system becomes unsustainable if any supporting pillar is weak.

Importance of Sustainability

• Environmental Quality (Healthy), clean air, and nontoxic environment
• Growth (Population): As it increases, there is need for more resources such as energy, water, and space.
• Healthcare: Sustainability and healthcare go together because the environment impacts public health. Many health issues relate directly to air, water, and soil quality.
• Available Resources: The Earth's resources are limited.
• Economic Growth: Economic growth and rapid industrialization lead to reckless exploitation of natural resources.
• Economic growth can damage the environment and ecology, creating insecurity for humans.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all".
• In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly set the SDGs to be attained by 2030, as detailed in UN Resolution 70/1, the 2030 Agenda.
• The SDGs consist of 17 global goals.
• 17 SDGs:
• End poverty
• End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
• Ensure healthy lives at all ages
• Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education
• Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
• Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy
• Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work
• Build resilient infrastructure, promote industrialization and foster innovation
• Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Ensure consumption and production patterns
• Take urgent action to combat climate change
• Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
• Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems
• Promote peaceful and inclusive societies
• Strengthen the means of implementation

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

• The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a United Nations-run carbon offset program.
• CDM allows countries to fund greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects in other countries, and count the saved emissions toward their international emissions targets.

Linking Technology to Sustainable Development

• Improve productivity and soil and water conservation, while maintaining reasonable costs for food and fiber.
• Enhance soil fertility.
• Improve water availability and efficiency of use.
• Reduce food losses.
• Enable farmers to adopt modern farming practices.
• Provide and improve energy services for developing world populations.
• Use efficient biomass stoves to reduce fuel use and hazardous smoke emissions.
• Employ simple motor-driven systems for pumping water or grinding grain to ease demanding tasks on women.
• Increase agricultural productivity with energy-efficient pumps, fertilizers, and mechanical traction.
• Provide basic water, sewer, and refuse disposal services in developing countries.
• Increase sanitary services in both rural and urban areas in developing countries.

Air Pollution

• Air pollution is introducing harmful particulates or gases into the Earth's atmosphere.
• It can cause disease and death in humans
• Damages living organisms like food crops

Types of Air Pollution

• Air pollution can originate from anthropogenic (human) activity or natural sources.
• Air
• Water
• Land
• Noise
• Pollutants

Major Air Pollutants

• Carbon dioxide: A gas that is created during fuel combustion.
• Sulfur dioxide: It is produced by burning coal in power plants and automobiles. It causes eye irritation, plant necrosis, and respiratory issues like asthma.
• Carbon monoxide: Results from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum, and wood charcoal, with automobiles being major contributors.
• Fluorides: Heating rocks with fluorides released hydrogen fluoride gas. Creates hydrofluoric acid when dissolved in water.
• Oxides of nitrogen: Thermal power plants, factories, and automobiles produce nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Nitrous oxide can lead to death through prolonged inhalation.

The Effects of Air Pollution

• Effect on certain materials:
• Air pollution causes deterioration of building material, corrosion of metals, discolouration of paints, and a reduction in the strength of materials.
• Effect on plants:
• Air pollution injures plants, damaging leaves by clogging stomata and reducing photosynthesis, affecting leafy structures.
• The adverse effects range from reduced growth rate to death.
• Some effects are quality decreases and dried up plants.
• Effect on animals:
• Air pollutants accumulate on plants. This can lead to poisoning of animals by fluorine, arsenic and lead.
• Effect on human health:
• Ear, nose and throat imitation. respiratory tract irritation, asthma, etc
• Causes cancer.
• Causes respiratory disease is caused by dust particles.
• Lead and Carbon monoxide posioning.
• Increases death rate
• Effects on physical features on the atmosphere:
  • Affects visibility, weather conditions, and atmosphere constituents.

Water pollution

• Water pollution is any change to the physical, chemical, and biological properties of water, as well as potential contamination from foreign substance that may present a health hazard.
• May be defined as addition of excess of undesirable substance to water that make harmful to man, animal, and aquatic life.

Indicators of Water Pollution

• Bad taste in drinking water.
• Offensive odors from bodies of water.
• Unchecked growth of aquatic weeds.
• Decreasing fish populations.
• Oil and grease on water surfaces.
• The above conditions disturb the normal consumption of water such as drinking, fish/aquatic life, agricultural and industry.

Causes of Water Pollution

• Sewage
• Agricultural Pollution
• Oil Pollution
• Radioactive Substances
• River and marine dumping

Point Source vs. Nonpoint Source Pollution

• Point source water pollution stems from a single, identifiable discharge point like a pipe or ditch.

• Examples include sewage treatment plant discharges, factory outflows, and city storm drains.

• Nonpoint source pollution comes from diffuse contamination rather than single location.

• A common example is the leakage of nitrogen compounds from fertilized agricultural lands.

Types of Water Pollutants

• Organic pollutants
• Pathogens
• Nutrients and agriculture excess
• Suspended solids and sediments (organic and inorganic)
• Inorganic pollutants (salts and metals)
• Thermal Pollution
• Radioactive pollutants

Levels of Wastewater Treatment

• Wastewater treatment is classified into one of 3 categories (depending on intended effluent quality): primary (mechanical), secondary (biological), or tertiary (advanced).

Conventional Remediation Techniques

• Adsorption
• Absorption
• Chemical reactions
• Photocatalysis
• Filtration

Solid Waste

• Solid waste includes garbage, junk, sludge from treatment plants, discarded materials from various operations, and community activities. Includes things like waste tires, scrap metal, furniture, garbage, appliances, and construction debris.

Sources of Solid Waste

• Residential: from single and multi-family homes, which produces food, paper, plastics, textiles, leather, glass, metal, ash, and batteries.
• Industrial: light to heavy manufacturing which produces construction materials, ashes, packing materials, and food waste.
• Commercial: Stores, hotels, restaurants and office buildings produce paper, cardboard, food and plastic wastes
• Institutional: Schools, hospitals, prisons which are the same as commercial Construction and demolition: New construction, road repair and all related demolition sites produce wood, steel, concrete and dirt.
• Municipal services: Street cleaning and landscaping produces street sweeping waste, trimming waste and general sludge from recreational areas.
• Processes from manufacturing to extraction, chemical plants, and refineries will produce manufacturing wastes, mineral tailings, scrap waste, industrial waste.
• Agriculture from crops, orchards, and farms produce spoiled food wastes, agricultural wastes, or hazardous wastes.

Impacts of Solid Waste

• Hazardous gas emissions
• Water Quality/Contamination
• Energy Consumption
• Natural Habitat Degradation
• Disposal Costs

Zero Waste

• Zero Waste is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary in changing lifestyles and practices.
• Zero Waste allows for emulation of sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use.
• It designs and manages products to systematically eliminate the toxicity of waste and materials to conserve all resources.
• With the elimination of pollution, will be a promotion of planetary, human and plant health. Land, water, and air wont be effected.

3R

• The "3R" concept refers to reduce, reuse, and recycle within production and consumption.
• "Reduce" means using fewer resources in the first place and is the most effective step of the three.
• Reuse:
• To reuse is to use an item again after it used. This includes conventional reuse is when an item is used for the same function and reuse for a different function.
• Recycling:
• Recycling is breaking down waste materials into new products helps to:
• Prevent waste of useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air and water pollution, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental Degradation

• Environmental degradation is the depletion of resources such as air, water, and soil, the destruction of ecosystems, and the extinction of wildlife.
• The Greenhouse Effect:
• Burning large amounts of fossil fuels in cars, power plants, and industry releases carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These trap heat, causing the greenhouse effect. Other greenhouse gases include methane (CH4).

Global Environmental Issues

• Global warming is the rise in Earth's average surface temperature from increased greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide emissions, deforestation) that trap heat.
• Ozone depletion: Is the wearing out (reduction) of the amount of ozone in the stratosphere

Main Consequences of Global Warming

• Rise in sea level
• Climate change
• Change in global climate causes drying of bodies, ground water table and creates serious shortages
• Change in climate causes vast amounts of deserts, change in crops patterns, weeds and insects
• Melting of polar ice results in flooding of coastal areas and increases severe storms
• It can cause Saltwater intrusion in groundwater zones

Control of Global Warming

• Use alternative, lower-emission sources of energy to cut CO2 emissions.
• Conserve energy and use mass transportation in cities.
• Develop energy efficient devices.
• Cut transmission losses in electric lines.
• Minimize release of greenhouse gases by upgrading industrial processes.

This lesson covers the principles of zero waste, including reduce, reuse, and recycle, and their impact on the environment. It also touches on hazardous waste in agriculture and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Evaluate your knowledge of waste management practices.