Environmental engineering has become one of the most discussed topics among researchers and authors due to fast developing perspective towards environment as seen in engineering practices. Scope of environment issues includes issues related to aesthetics, public health, pollution control, stormwater management etc. Traditionally, engineering principles application for enhancement and protection of environment quality and public health protection was called as public health engineering or sanitary engineering. However, it was changed to environmental engineering since 1968 and to conceive environmental engineering, considering definition of environmental engineering becomes very significant. Gaur (2008) defines environmental engineering as “the application, under limits of scientific principles for the planning, design, execution, operation and maintenance of structures, equipment and systems for the development and benefit of the society” (p. vii). An environmental engineer maintains, plans, executes, designs and operates solid waste management operations to provide clean, healthy and bacteriologically safer environment. Managing solid and liquid waste is an essential step for healthy living for which environmental engineers’ cares for energy requirements and means through which environment can be protected against pollution and consumption of several goods utilised for comforting people lives. This literature review report will analyse and evaluate key issue identified in engineering environmental management concerning solid waste management as identified in present literature.
The key purpose behind preparing this literature review is to identify, examine and discuss solid waste management concepts, frameworks and components to find issues in waste management as presented by authors and researchers in present literature. This literature review will focus upon management of solid waste, construction and demolition of solid waste emphasising on useful data gathered from industrial, institutional and commercial sectors.
This literature review focuses to expand on key themes, compare and contrast between key findings, methodologies, policies and relevant research concerning solid waste management issue. Information for the same will be sourced from books, peer-reviewed journal articles and publicly available solid waste management plans. Along with it, literature pertaining to solid waste minimalization and waste management will also be searched in online database particularly web and science direct. After gathering relevant information from selected sources, this review will identify and scan for additional articles to expand literature understanding pertaining to recycling and composting of solid waste.
Solid waste is a term that is generally applied for heterogenous gathering of wastes produced in rural and urban areas, characteristics of which differs from area to areas ( ?chiopu, et al. 2007). The quantity and feature of solid waste generated not only depicts the type and abundance of areas natural resources, but also functions of lifestyle and living standards of area inhabitants. Solid waste can further be divided into two components; inorganic and organic. Organic components can further be classified into three subcategories; fermentable, putrescible and non-fermentable. Putrescible waste decomposes quickly and unless controlled properly, produces visual unpleasantness and objectionable odours. Fermentable waste also decomposes rapidly but do not produce unpleasant escorts of putrefaction whereas non-fermentable wastes inclines towards resistance to decompose and thus breakdown sluggishly.
Solid waste generated in nations located at tropical, humid and semitropical regions are usually characterised by highly concentrated plant debris that are subject to seasonal change in temperature or due to wood and coal used for heating and cooking that composes significant amount of ash. Waste generated in metropolitan cities ideally consist of wastes that mostly consists of pathological, abattoir, industrial and similar kinds of waste. According to researchers, these kinds of wastes shall not be mixed with each other that can make handling of the waste management more complex and difficult. In spite various precautions and waste management plants have been developed, few pathological or chemical residues inevitably remains in natural environment that creates environmental issues (Kawai and Tasaki 2016).
The chief reason behind implementing solid waste management program is to prevent pollution as it acts as major threat to mankind and other living organisms on earth. Pollution also damages ecosystem along with disrupting natural cycle and climatic conditions (UNEP 2005). In literature, there are many disposal options mentioned that can be availed depending upon the characteristic of waste and country preferences. Environmental and economic aspects of disposal options and making a choice between disposal technology always remain issue among researchers and engineers. For instance, many developed Asian countries like Singapore, Japan and China are proposing to eliminate landfilling where other Asian countries still faces issues due to open dumping. Although many improvements have been made to make landfilling system and procedures more effective along with segregating wastes that can be treated at landfills, the issue regarding most of landfill operations still shows adaptation of primitive methods ( Halkos and Petrou 2016). Zohoori & Ghani (2017) have listed few issues related to improper management of landfills that includes accidents, health deterioration, pollution at surface, flood occurrence, pest infestation and unpleasant odour. Furthermore, the impacts from landfills remains unknown and thus, other alternative also remains unanswered which makes the solid waste management concept fall under various criticism.
Some researchers have documented different elements that affects waste management systems and according to Gaur (2008), waste generation has become one of the foremost qualms in environmental issues. It is primarily because of metropolitan areas where a rapid growth in population can be seen along with increase in waste generation like never before. Earth population can be estimated to be more then 6.8 billion and almost half of the population inhabits in metropolitan cities (Resource 2017). Waste generation increases proportionally to the population number and their income that further creates necessities for effective waste management. Solid waste management have become a complex issue and according to Singh, et al. (2014), present facilities provided are unable to cope with elevating demands and requirement. Thus, a more enhanced approach is required to be implemented on immediate basis that can consider social, economic and environmental aspects.
The key drivers of sustainable solid waste management have been identified by Zoohori, et al. (2017) who have included economic, institutional, environment and human aspects in waste management systems. The study made by the authors suggests that every driving aspect must be considered under local context for managing waste, however, different society may differ from one another. For instance, African countries waste mangers needs to handle issues that include insignificant financial resources, lack of data, different amount of waste and lack of human and technical resources due to unawareness and cultural aversion concerning waste management. Putting differently, Asian countries faces issues for having two dissimilar groups; one in developing countries and other in developed ones. Where some nations have specific national policies for managing solid waste, others experience issues like increasing population, inadequate resources and scarcity of land (Kawai and Tasaki 2016). The difference in solid waste management varies not only among different nations but also among similar areas within same country. For instance, Istanbul have huge improvement in their waste management systems with established transfer stations, methane recovery system and sanitary landfills, it does nothing for reducing environmental issue beside sea coast of Turkey. This may also be due to complex topography, lower income and weak administration structure of the country (UNEP 2005).
Integrated sustainable waste management was introduced in 1995 for improving earlier management systems that neglected unique characteristics of society, environment and economy. For instance, European nations have applied several assessment tools along with significant engineering models that helps in creating sustainable communities, ensuring prosperity, manage resources efficiently along with protecting environment. Many Asian countries have also given attention by making national and legal frameworks, implementing technology and financial aspects in solid waste management along with creating awareness among public to participate in waste management programs. According to Zoohori, et al. (2017), waste management systems must be dynamic and incessant depending upon new experience and insights like continuous assessment of regulatory framework and current policies.
Waste generation is another significant topic that needs to be looked at to have efficient waste management system. The waste disposals vary considerably among countries based majorly on their culture, management and public awareness. Usually, developed nations produce more waste than developing ones as reported by Filho & Kovaleva (2015). However, another study shows that developed nations are also participating in recycling process to handle waste management issues critically (shown in figure below).
Waste management hierarchy is one among most widespread tools of regional and national policies that is often considered most favourable and fundamental basis of contemporary solid waste management systems. The hierarchy ranks disposal of waste operations according to energy and environmental benefits. In almost every country, as said by Filho & Kovaleva (2015) the hierarchy remain almost similar as shown in above figure where first enters higher priority and others following below it. The basic purpose behind waste management hierarchy implementation is to make managing of waste practices as environmentally friendly as possible. The principle behind its adaptation in major countries is due to easy conventions at international level and protocols, especially for those who deals with management of hazardous and toxic wastes. The above hierarchy also helps regions in attempting to make developments in a coordinated policy for reuse of bi-products in waste management process. The above hierarchy according to Singh, et al. (2014) proves to be a useful tool for conservation of resources, minimising air pollution, dealing with shortage in landfill and minimising water pollution for protecting environment as well as public health and safety. According to Halkos (2016), many countries have already implemented waste management hierarchies since traditional management practices concerning reuse, waste prevention and recycling have become outdated over there. However, Poletto, et al. (2016) argues that all waste management practices have benefits as well as cost issues also. Therefore, hierarchy cannot be followed robustly since in few situation costs may exceed benefits when economic, social and other similar considerations are been made.
The concept of landfill refers to those unit operations where final disposal of solid waste is done on land which is constructed and designed to meet the objective behind providing minimum impact to the environment. Sanitary landfills are provided with a linear or a protective layer along with leachate collection system so that ground water is prevented from getting contaminated. Landfilling process is followed by mixing of wastes that are not hazardous but are also nor suitable for waste recycling and processing. Basically, landfills are the final disposal process and must be adopted for those waste that cannot be recycled and extracted for economic use and energy generation.
In solid waste management, bio-medical waste refers to those solid/liquid waste that includes its container or any intermediate elements that are usually generated during treatment or immunization and diagnosis of human beings and animals or during research pertaining to tests for production etc. The biological nature of the components, potential hazards and toxicity present are different from each other that necessitates implementation of different schemes for their treatment or disposal. To handle the biomedical wastes safely, Gaur (2008) recommends that proper labelling or colour coding techniques must be applied further to specify the category of waste which shall further be disposed within 48 hours’ time period. Furthermore, different countries follow different procedure to treat their bio-medical wastes depending upon the amount and treatment required to dispose them without effecting natural environment.
Conclusion
Waste management processes are based on the principles of protection of environment and primary sources. Greater participation of society and government seems necessary to provide countries with effective waste management services. The above report has made review of present literature to find out issues behind solid waste management. Along with it, this report has also identified alternative measures used successfully by major countries that can be utilised by environmental engineers for taking considerable participation in eliminating the issue. The concepts and discussions presented in above mini literature review, if applied, will not only enhance environmental protection measures, but also assist environmental engineers while dealing with loss of significant resources present in existing discarded solid wastes.
References
Davidson, Gary. 2011. Waste Management Practices: Literature Review. Accessed 10 14, 2018. https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/dept/sustainability/Waste%20Management%20Literature%20Review%20Final%20June%202011%20%281.49%20MB%29.pdf.
Filho, W. Leal , and M. Kovaleva. 2015. “Food Waste and Sustainable Food Waste Management in the Baltic Sea Region.” In Environmental Science and Engineering, 9-29. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Gaur, R.C. 2008. Basic Environmental Engineering. New Age International Publishers.
Halkos, George, and Kleoniki Natalia Petrou. 2016. Efficient waste management practices: A review. 21 05. Accessed 10 14, 2018. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/71518/1/MPRA_paper_71518.pdf.
Kawai, Kosuke , and Tomohiro Tasaki. 2016. “Revisiting estimates of municipal solid waste generation per capita and their reliability.” Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management 18 (01): 1-13.
NSW-EPA. 2017. The waste hierarchy. 21 09. Accessed 10 14, 2018. https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/recycling-and-reuse/warr-strategy/the-waste-hierarchy.
Poletto, Matheus , Paulo R. De Mori, Vania E. Schneider, and Ademir J. Zattera. 2016. “Urban Solid Waste Management Case Sul/Brazil: Practices and Challenges.” Journal of Urban and Environmental Engineering 10 (01): 50-56.
Resource. 2017. Recycling: Who Really Leads the World? 13 03. Accessed 10 13, 2018. https://resource.co/article/recycling-who-really-leads-world-11739.
?chiopu, Ana-Maria, Ion Apostol, Monica Hodoreanu, and Maria Gavrilescu. 2007. “Solid Waste in Romania: Management, Treatment and Pollution Prevention Practices.” Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 06 (05): 451-465.
Singh, Gaurav K. , Kunal Gupta, and Shashank Chaudhary . 2014. “Solid Waste Management: Its Sources, Collection, Transportation and Recycling.” International Journal of Environmental Science and Development 05 (04): 347-351.
UNEP. 2005. Solid Waste Management. Vol. 1. United Nations Environment Programme.
Zohoori, Mahmood, and Ali Ghani. 2017. “Municipal Solid Waste Management Challenges and Problems for Cities in Low-Income and Developing Countries.” International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications 06 (02): 39-48.
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