Waste Management and Pollution

Biomedical waste includes used menstrual cloth, sanitary napkins, disposable diapers, bandages and any material that is contaminated with blood or other body fluids.

Medical wastes are classified as infectious wastes and non-infectious waste. Most of the biomedical waste is toxic in nature.

Non-infectious waste: It is not harmful and do not result in spread of any infection. Examples include: catheters, colostomy bags etc.

Infectious waste: Needles with pathogens, blood containing swabs etc. are the source of infections.

The maximum amount of hazardous waste that can be held in a satellite accumulation site (excluding acutely hazardous waste) would be 55 gallons.

Hazardous wastes are wastes with properties that make them dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. Hazardous wastes  can be liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges.

When labeling a vessel that contains hazardous waste one must list all hazardous components and their concentrations.

Open dumping means dumping of waste in an open site or low lands or barren stretch of lands. It is harmful to the environment and is prone to burning, pronr to being carried away by air and eaten by stray animals. It is an illegal method of dumping waste which can be seen in many places in developing countries like India.

The landfill is an area of land used to dump the solid waste. It has its advantage as the dumping of waste material prevents the burning of it which is the major cause of air pollution. Rats, pests and other animals cannot breed in it due to the absence of air and decomposing of waste by microorganisms which reduce health problems and it is safe from hazards caused due to fires.

Following method is considered an unacceptable (illegal) means of disposing of hazardous waste:-

• Pouring down the sink
• Placing in the regular trash
• Pouring down the storm sewer

Municipal waste consists of everyday items we use and then throw away, such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint, and batteries. These wastes  comes  from our homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses.

 Any type of containers, including food containers, cannot be used to contain any hazardous wastes.

The moisture content of the waste is considered as a single critical parameter for evaluating the efficiency of the bio-drying process. The moisture content influences microbial activity and biodegradation of the organic component during the bio-drying process. Despite the fact this technology is considered as a zero leachate approach, it is likely that a limited amount of free water may seep through the waste matrix and collected at the bottom of the bioreactor as leachate. Bio-drying has mostly been studied for MSW (municipal solid waste pulp and paper and, garbage residues and sewage sludge with 50–70% as the optimal initial moisture content range for the bio-drying process.

Sanitary landfill is a process of isolating the waste from the environment. The solid waste is buried in the land with proper regard that it does not dissipate in the groundwater for which synthetic sheet is used below. Then it is systematically dumped and covered by earth to prevent its effects on topsoil.

The plastics are the non-biodegradable wastes because they are synthetic polymers which cannot be acted upon by the microbes. The plastics should not be dumped in the soil, river or rubbish dump. The biodegradable plastics should be used which will reduce the pollution and the problems created by the use of plastics. 

Organic material is used as a substrate for the production of a biogas. Organic matters encompasses sewage, kitchen waste, animal and human excreta, etc.