env assingment 1

7/31/2019 ENV Assingment 1

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Assignment NO:01



Managing the Urban Waste in a Sustainable Way

Introduction:

Rising quality of life and high rates of resource consumption patterns have had a unintended and

negative impact on the urban environment - generation of wastes far beyond the handling

capacities of urban governments and agencies. Cities are now grappling with the problems of

high volumes of waste, the costs involved, the disposal technologies and methodologies, and the

impact of wastes on the local and global environment. But these problems have also provided a

window of opportunity for cities to find solutions - involving the community and the private

sector; involving innovative technologies and disposal methods; and involving behavior changes

and awareness rising. These issues have been amply demonstrated by good practices from many

cities around the world. There is a need for a complete rethinking of "waste" - to analyze if waste

is indeed waste.

Fig1: Urban Waste Fig2: Sector wise Waste

There is a clear need for the current approach of waste disposal that is focused on municipalities

and uses high energy/high technology, to move more towards waste processing and waste

recycling(that involves public-private partnerships, aiming for eventual waste minimization -

driven at the community level, and using low energy/low technology resources. Some of the

defining criteria for future waste minimization programmers will include deeper community

participation, understanding economic benefits/recovery of waste, focusing on life cycles (rather

than end-of-pipe solutions), decentralized administration of waste, minimizing environmental

impacts, reconciling investment costs with long-term goals.




The overall goal of urban solid waste management is to collect, treat and dispose of solid wastes

generated by all urban population groups in an environmentally and socially satisfactory manner

using the most economical means available. The environmental and socio-economic impacts of

waste management can be significant and wide-ranging; thus, proper waste management is

central to sustainable development (2). The task of providing solid waste management services

usually lies with local authorities, and most local government laws give them exclusive

ownership over waste and therefore responsibility, once it has been placed outside a home or

establishment for collection. The predominant option is to dispose of municipal waste at a

landfill. In 2004, the majority of EU countries disposed of over 60% of their municipal waste by

landfill. Incineration is another option, though not until recently has there been an increase in the

incineration of municipal waste (1). Current consumption patterns, along with business and

economic activities, constantly increase the amount of solid waste being produced by cities, so

implementing sustainable management solutions for urban waste is vital to a healthy urban

environment.

Waste Prevention and Reduction:

Waste prevention and reduction - generally referred to as waste minimization in the UK - has

been a key concept in the commercial and industrial sector since the 1980s. In the context of

sustainable urban waste management, it can be defined as: a systematic approach to reducing

wastage at the source, through optimization of processes and procedures, excluding reuse and

recycling off-site. As such, it is an ideal waste management solution, since waste that is not

created at the source does not have to be disposed of. It supports sustainable development by

fostering environmentally advantageous changes in production and consumption patterns.

Examples of waste prevention that can reduce landfill and environmental pollution include

donating old cell phones and computers, photocopying on both sides of a sheet of paper, and

using fewer hazardous materials in the manufacturing process. In particular, waste prevention

can help to reduce:

Demands on finite natural resources and the environmental impacts of resource extraction

and harvesting

The transport impacts that are often so significant in overall health and environmental

impact assessments




The need for waste facilities such as landfill sites and incinerators

The cost of waste management, freeing up resources for other priority investments, such

as cleaner technology, public education and health care

The use of the term waste minimization in relation to municipal waste can be misleading.

According to the OECD, much of the industrially developed world uses the term to relate to

diversion from disposal, covering avoidance, reduction at source, reuse and recycling. In some

cases energy recovery through incineration is also treated as waste minimization. The term waste

prevention, however, is used just for the first three of these and excludes recycling and energy

recovery through incineration.

Recycling:

Waste recycling has been proven to have significant

advantages. It reduces the environmental impacts arising

from waste treatment and disposal; it can have significant

energy savings while at the same time extending the life

and maximizing the extracted value of raw materials.

Finally by directly involving the public, it leads to raised awareness of waste as an issue.

However, recycling also presents problems and disadvantages that have to be managed. These

include the costs and environmental impacts of collection, transport and processing; the

instability in markets for recycled materials; and the appearance of recycling banks and centers.

In recent years a number of measures have been taken to promote recycling including: placing

legal responsibility upon local authorities to determine what arrangements can reasonably be

made to recycle waste and provide facilities; introducing a credit system to local authorities for

waste removed from the waste stream for recycling; and placing responsibility upon producers to

recycle packaging materials. Though technology has developed significantly in the past fewyears, it is still impossible to recycle everything (4). The “clean” recyclable constituent‟s amount

to about 40% of the waste stream collected from households.




What influences recycling

behavior:

Although research has shown that manypeople hold positive environmental

attitudes, these do not necessarily

translate into pro-environmental behavior. There are a number of factors that can affect people‟s

behavior and increase recycling rates. Below are measures that can be easily adopted by local

authorities.

Increasing convenience: Making recycling more convenient usually increases

participation and generates a sense of responsibility. One of the important influences

upon recycling is the system provided by local authorities. A reliance on members of

households to take their bottles, newspapers etc. to recycling banks results in lower levels

of recycled materials as not everyone has access to transport or collection points close to

their homes. However, convenient arrangements should be seen as groundwork, not as an

intervention in their own right.

Rewards: Rewards can play a useful role as „foot-in-the-door‟ strategies, but will not turn

people into recyclers by conviction. Benefits are usually limited to the duration of thereward intervention (2).

Prompting and reminding: When residents ask for „more information‟, they often mean

they want clear and concise reminders of what to recycle, how and when. These

reminders help to increase participation, but should be phrased considerately, neutrally

and with reference to communal benefit.

Committing residents: The simple act of asking residents to sign their commitment to

recycling has been found to increase participation. It is a good initial strategy for areas

with poor participation rates. Some monitoring should ensure that the commitment is

honored.

Setting targets: If meaningful targets can be identified, they create a public norm for

recycling. „Street leaders‟ can be used to combine this social influence with instrumental




reminders about recycling. Here, committed residents may agree to motivate neighbors

and remind them to recycle.

Giving feedback on participation: Feedback has consistently been found to increase

participation. There is also evidence that feedback interventions can be effective in the

long term. Comparative feedback may be particularly beneficial.

Previous psychological research suggests that providing services such as convenient regular

kerbside collection may not necessarily be effective in the long term. Rather, they are good foot-

in-the-door strategies for initiating such behavior. Instead, commitment to recycling is better

encouraged with external influences that generate a sense of personal motivation within

individuals. Similarly, recycling behavior may be motivated by external influences such as the

interventions mentioned above. The crucial issue is that providing prompts, offering rewards andsetting targets are all external interventions that serve to encourage individuals to monitor their

own behavior. Essentially, external influences motivate individuals to make changes in recycling

behavior over periods of time

Urban strategic planning:

A comprehensive policy framework begins at the national level to link public health,

environmental, privatization, decentralization and economic instrument policies to the needs of

the solid waste sector so that they are mutually supportive. This framework should include

incentives to municipal authorities to deliver better services, recover more costs from users, and

cooperate with neighboring municipalities. For smaller or weaker municipalities, a focus on

technical and financial assistance is critical.




Strategic planning includes long-term goals based on the local urban needs, followed by a

medium- and short-term action plan to meet them. The strategy and action plan should identify a

clear set of integrated actions, responsible parties and needed human, physical and financial

resources. Opportunities and concepts for private sector involvement are commonly included

among the examined options, as the private sector‟s costs and productivity output require special

consideration. The citywide strategic plan should match service levels to user demand and

affordability, especially for the urban poor.

Local and national action plans should set regional waste management targets for the recycling

and recovery of waste, waste minimization, and alternatives to landfill. The targets should be

consistent with local authorities achieving statutory performance standards for household waste

recycling and composting. In general, it is anticipated that strategic planning should:

Promote the moving of waste up the hierarchy of treatment methods (reduction, reuse,

material recycling and composting, energy recovery, and finally disposal without energy

recovery)

Set indicators for the measurement of progress against targets, which can be regularly

monitored

Specify the number and capacity of the different types of waste management facilities

required, identify their broad locations nationally, supported, where appropriate, by a

criteria-based approach to site identification

Assess the need for any facilities to deal with special/hazardous waste.

The conclusions of local action plans on waste management should be reflected in their

preparation and subsequent reviews of them. Once an Action Plan has been confirmed, following

public examination, its waste management policy should be taken into account in the preparation

of structure plans, local waste plans, and unitary development plans within the locality. The local

and national strategies and any technical findings should be material for considering planning

applications for new facilities.




There are a number of concepts about waste management which vary in their usage between

countries or regions. Some of the most general, widely used concepts include:

Waste hierarchy - The waste hierarchy refers to the "3 Rs" reduce, reuse and recycle, which

classify waste management strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste

minimization. The waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimization

strategies. The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefits from

products and to generate the minimum amount of waste see: resource recovery.

Polluter pays principle - the Polluter Pays Principle is a principle where the polluting party

pays for the impact caused to the environment. With respect to waste management, this

generally refers to the requirement for a waste generator to pay for appropriate disposal of

the waste.

Waste Management in Developing Countries:

In developing countries and countries with

economies in transition, waste management often

emerges as a problem that endangers human health

and the environment. To make matters worse, waste

management usually has a low priority on the

political agenda of such countries, as they are

struggling with other important issues such as

hunger, health problems, water shortages,

unemployment and even civil war. In such

situations, it is easy to understand why waste

problems have a tendency to grow steadily.

Uncontrolled Dumps: Currently, the most common method of waste disposal in

developing countries is some form of land filling. There are many variants of this

method, including uncontrolled dumping to undefined areas, collection and disposal to

unmanaged open dumps, and collection/disposal to controlled landfills. An important

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_management_concepts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduce_(waste)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_minimization


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_recovery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polluter_pays_principle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polluter_pays_principle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_recovery



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduce_(waste)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_management_concepts




focus is therefore the proper closure of unmanaged open dumps, coupled with the

construction and proper operation of controlled landfills

Waste Scavengers: In many rapidly developing cities, considerable numbers of the urban

poor depend on the recycling of waste materials for their livelihood. This was the case in

large cities in nineteenth century Europe and North America, and is still the case in most

cities in developing countries today. In the developed world, these informal sector waste

„scavengers‟ or „pickers‟ largely disappeared as living standards rose — with the side

effect that recycling rates fell, often to near zero. A major focus of Western waste policy

over the past decade has been to build new recycling systems in their place.

Importing Wastes Containing Hazardous Materials: Most developing countries have

local industries that are highly dependent upon the availability of secondary raw materials

for re-processing. These materials include various paper products, plastics and metals.

Unfortunately, the methods used to recover secondary raw materials are often inefficient

and disregard the basic principles of occupational health.

Health Care Wastes: Health care waste is a small but very significant waste stream with

high potential risk for populations in developing countries. Health care wastes carry a

higher potential for injury, infection and pollution of the environment than any other type

of waste. The waste stream contains a wide range of hazardous and infectious materials

(i.e. chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cytotoxics, and radioactive substances). Consequently,even though this waste stream should be given high priority in the manner in which it is

managed, safe reliable infrastructure for the management of health care wasten is not in

place in many countries.




Conclusion: Waste planning in developing countries is facing some other realities where the

most restrictive factor is probably to achieve the most with the limited funds available to the

waste service. But improvements are not necessarily dependent on massive investments.

Developing countries can probably increase their performance by using what they already have

in a more efficient way. Good organizational structure and the quality of management are two

other important factors for efficient waste management. The work on waste planning of necessity

evokes these factors and may help to stress their importance. (Words Count: 2715).

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