Land pollution /

Solid waste
Management
 Basics

• Waste?
• Solid waste: All wastes from human and animal activities that
are normally solid and discarded as useless or unwanted
• Municipal wastes
• Industrial wastes
• Hazardous wastes
Type Example Source
Municipal food wastes, rubbish, residential,
ashes and residues, commercial, open
demolition and areas, treatment
construction wastes, plants
special wastes,
treatment plant
wastes
Industrial rubbish, ashes, metal finishing shop,
demolition and photo laboratory,
construction wastes, electroplating shop,
special wastes, and paint shop,
hazardous wastes automobile
manufacturing plant,
etc
Hazardous wastes that are hospitals and
ignitable, corrosive, biological research
react with other facilities, munition
materials, or are plants, nuclear
 Properties of solid wastes

• Important in evaluating the alternative equipment needs,

systems, and management programs Componen Percent
and plans by
,Especially when
t
considering resource and energy recovery Mass
options
Food 15
• Physical Properties Wastes
• Individual components Paper 45
Cardboard 10
• Particle size Plastics 10
• Moisture content Garden 10
• Density of solid wastes Trimmings
Wood 5
Tin Cans 5
Chemical composition/ Properties
Important if the solid wastes are to be used as fuel
Proximate analysis
a. Moisture (loss at 105oC for 1 hr)
b. Volatile matter (additional loss on ignition at 950 oC)
c. Ash (residue after burning)
d. Fixed carbon (remainder)
Ultimate analysis
a. percent of C (carbon)
b. H (hydrogen)
c. O (oxygen)
d. N (nitrogen)
e. S (sulfur)
Chemical composition/ Properties

Energy content - Heat of combustion released when the waste

is burned

a. Higher heat of combustion - includes the heat of the

water vaporization
b. Lower heat of combustion - does not include water
vaporization
 Municipal waste management

• Each person generates between 3 and 5 pounds per day

• Equates to roughly one billion pounds of waste requiring disposal each
day
• Waste management - Reaching crisis levels in highly urbanized areas
• Problems with solid waste disposal
• Siting a disposal facility
• Transporting the waste
• Cost of operations
 Regulatory Status
• In the early 1997, EPA reviewed federal and state solid waste regulatory
programs to identify areas of inadequacy
National Strategy for solid waste management
• Describes wide range of activities for government, industry, and the
general public
• Cornerstone of the strategy is called "Integrated Waste Management"
• Involves complete waste life-cycle:
• Source reduction
• Recycling
• Combustion
• Land filling

• Strongly encourages source reduction (both in quantity and toxicity

 Strategic goals

• Increase source reduction and recycling

• Increase disposal capacity and increase secondary material
markets
• Improve the safety of solid waste management facilities
 Estimating Waste Generation
• Before developing a solid waste management plan - need data on
quantity
• Necessary to size and design the facility
• Composting
• Recycling
• Resource recovery
• Landfill facility

• In addition to quantity of solid waste:

• Estimate of costs of implementing and operating the facility
• Amount of labor needed
• Anticipated increase in generation

• Methods to estimate quantity:

• Weigh all waste for a period of time at a transfer or disposal facility (periodicity of
waste generation, day of week, time of year, etc.)
• Determine volume of waste and use known density factors (kg/m 3)
 4R’s

Reuse
• Encourage individuals to reuse rather than purchase new (aluminum, plastic bags,
plastic food containers, etc.)
• Plastic and paper bag return
• Use of cloth sacks for shopping
• Repair electronics and major appliances
• Donate used clothing and furniture
• Donate used books to libraries
• Reuse construction materials
 Reduce

• Purchase in bulk quantities

• Reduce packaging
• Replace disposables with reusables (sometimes may have
other adverse environmental consequences, e.g. disposable
diapers)
 Recycle
Recyclable materials include:
• Aluminum Metals
• Batteries Newspaper
• Cardboard Paper
• Glass Tin cans
• Tires

• Many states have a "Bottle Bill" to encourage recycling of glass

and aluminum
• Separation greatly improves the economics
• At the point of generation
• At the disposal facility
Rethink
Mechanical devices at municipal
separation facilities

• Conveyors - move waste past workers who pick out specified

recyclables
• Magnetic drums or conveyors - removing ferrous material
• Air classifiers - separate out heavy and light material
• Lighter - paper and plastic
• Heavier - glass and textiles

• Trommels - sort materials by size

 Composting
• Another process associated with recycling
• Microbiological decay of organic materials in an aerobic environment
• Possible waste types:
• Agricultural waste
• Grass clippings
• Leaves and yard waste
• Food waste
• Paper products
• Municipal sludge

• Leaf composting is popular but land intensive

Example: For the pile method one acre of land for every 8,000-
10,000 yd3 leaves
 Problems with recycling

• Public perception of cost

• People believe that recycling is "free"
• Costs associated with every aspect of the program
• Costs associated with collection of materials, processing,
residue disposal, advertising, etc.
• Not enough market for recycled products
 Combustion
• Generally viewed as unfavorable by the public
• Significant reduction of volume and weight
• Can provide steam and electricity
• High capital and operational expenditures
• Requires highly skilled operators
• Air emissions must be handled (Changing form of the pollution)
• Burn in bulk or reduced form
• Shredded waste is called Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) - combined w/ fuel
• Gross electric output from a resource recovery system ranges from 340 to 600 kw-hr
per ton of solid waste
• In-house power requirements - 10 to 15 percent
• The remaining 85 to 90 percent can be sold back to the local utility
• Incineration gases :99% - CO2, Oxygen, nitrogen and water vapor
• Nitrogen and sulfur oxides are produced
• Low as compared with fossil fuel plant
 Landfilling

• Used for centuries

• Municipal Solid Waste Landfill (MSWLF) is a discrete area of land or an
excavation that receives household waste
• (Also subtitle D wastes under RCRA, e.g commercial waste, nonhazardous
sludge, etc.)
• No hazardous waste allowed
• Bird hazard to airports
• loodplain - must not restrict the flow of the 100-yr storm
• Not in wetlands
Municipal Solid Waste Land Fill Design
Considerations
• Composite liner and leachate collection system
• 6" of earthen cover
• Concentration of methane < 25% of explosion limit
• Open burning is prohibited
• Upon facility closure - final cover system must be installed that is
designed to minimize infiltration and erosion (Post closure care is
required for 30 years)