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Problems of global waste

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Environmental Studies
Wordcount: 1258 words Published: 2nd May 2017

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The caring for and management of global waste is a global concern for the Earth as the population of Earth grows, and places where waste is deposited becomes a problem. Waste of various kinds is a danger to human health, wildlife preservation, and the environment in a broad range of aspects including how waste affects water supplies, soil contamination, and hazardous environments that remain or become uninhabitable. As the human population grows, so does consumption, and with that consumption huge amounts of waste are formed. concerning the management and the future of how waste is handled locally and globally, as it is a global problem not just local. How people and wildlife can cope with or without a world filled with hazardous material left over from various human activities caused from their disposal of waste. municipal solid waste of most human households affect how we live and how we affect the environment. How medical waste that is thrown in places where it may come into contact with the human population and how it can spread disease. How hazardous waste that is perceived by the public as the most potentially dangerous waste, can prove to be fatal if left untreated in populated areas . Is the future of waste management that of recycling or turning waste into usable energy such as electricity and other powered devices.

Waste problems do not only affect local environments but the global environments as a whole. Unfortunately when waste is put into landfills the waste does not disappear just because the human eye can no longer see it does not mean the earth and global habitats don’t feel the consequences. There are many kinds of waste that effect the world. they are classified by their physical, chemical and biological characteristics of their compounds . Solid waste materials can contain less than 70% water. Solid waste can be materials as household garbage, industrial wastes, mining wastes, and oilfield wastes. Liquid wastes contain less than 1% solids. Liquid waste can contain high concentrations of salts and metals. Sludge is what’s in between liquid and solid. Sludge is usually made up of 3% and 25% solids, everything else is water dissolved materials. Landfills affect pollution levels of the environment the contamination of groundwater and aquifers that are used for consumption by humans and animals the leakage of waste and soil contamination methane gas caused by decaying organic wastes methane which is a greenhouse gas more potent and deadly than carbon dioxide it can cause severe problems for the local environment around the waste site they can also be disease zones can cause outbreaks of certain diseases to the surrounding area and problems of annoyance and health risks such as dust, pests, bad odor, and other problems. Alternative methods can help the environment such as waste reduction and recycling incineration of waste can also reduce waste problems but when waste is burned harmful substances affect our air quality and health. When Waste is burned in incinerators It is a more expensive alternative way of disposal than landfills. In the united states the EPA reported 118.5 million tons or 57 percent of the united states total waste were managed in landfills. Today’s incinerators are capable of destroying around 99.9% of the organic waste material that are put into the furnaces. Also this can produce a form of usable energy for Numerous thermal processes that recover energy from the burnt solid waste. waste organizations burn wastes in incinerators to produce steam for energy and is cleaner. Garbage as plastic and other non organic substances burned in incinerators poisons water soil and the air. Areas of life that are near incinerators have objected to them because of fears of harmful pollution. There are drawbacks to the use of incinerators but it is one of the measures that can reduce organic waste problems. In the United states 33.5 million tons of waste or 16 percent total were combusted at high temperatures. Recycling methods are becoming more popular worldwide. Recycling can also be a way to gather energy through thermal treatment from using waste as a way to use for appliances, and too make boilers to produce steam and electricity in a turbine. When items that would be waste if not recycled can be reused and prevent waste of reusable materials, lowers the need to keep making more items that would be more waste, and keeps the environment safer than use of other waste management methods like incineration and to prevent water pollution from landfills. recycling has also lower greenhouse gas that is a major concern for our planet. Recyclable products are many items from glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics that are refurbished cleaned and gone through different checks to make sure they are safe for re-consumption. unfortunately recycling methods tend to be very expensive alternatives to traditional waste management and for this reason they are turned away for much more environmental damaging solutions. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that 56 million tons or 27 percent of Americas total waste were recovered by recycling. The EPA is encouraging recycling and that recycling in the united states has reduced the country’s total carbon emissions. Recycling has caused some controversy by critics as they often say that the practice is too expensive and not as effective as other methods as incineration which produces energy that is used more than the reused products that are saved from recycling and how landfills are becoming more organized and more environmentally friendly than in the past. To Methods to turn waste into energy as discussed with how incinerators create energy are called Waste-to-energy and is becoming increasingly popular as it turns harmful waste into energy in the form of heat of electricity from the incineration of the waste materials. This form of waste management produce electricity in the form of combustion or produce a combustible fuel in the form of ethane methanol methane and also synthetic fuels that can power various equipments. There are also some very new and developing technologies that produce energy from waste and other fuels without direct combustion like that of incinerators. These new forms of energy producing waste deduction have the potential to produce more electric power amount of fuel than would be by direct combustion. The converted fuel produce a higher combustion temperatures. A modern form of waste management is Plasma arc gasification it uses a very high electrical energy and the extreme temperatures created by an electrical arc gasifies. The arc converts waste into elemental gas and solid waste in a plasma converter. this method has been intended to be a generator of electricity, depending what the composition of input wastes are and to reduce the volumes of waste being sent to landfill mounds. Another method of making waste or other products into energy is gasification which converts carbon materials like coal and petroleum into carbon monoxide and hydrogen by placing the materials in a high temperature within a controlled setting of oxygen and steam. This forms synthesis gas and is a fuel. mechanical biological treatment system facilities is a sorting facility that takes care of biological treatment such as anaerobic digestion and composting . mechanical biological treatment facilities are designed to process household wastes along with commercial and industrial wastes.

 

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