A Load of Rubbish

1
A Load of Rubbish

• A Study of the Nature of Waste

2
Archeology of Waste

• Archeologists construct a lot of evidence about
  the lives of ordinary people in the past from
  looking through ancient rubbish heaps.
• The main conclusion is that there was very little
  non-organic wastebits of broken pots, for
  instance. Early societies did not generate much
  waste.

3
But, What is Waste?

• Again, like pollution it is defined relative to
  ourselvesit is only waste because we have no
  further use for it.
• It is the by-product and unintended consequence
  of our lifestyle of high-mass consumption

4
For Example

• Ash from Power Plants
• Packaging and Disposables
• Construction waste
• But we usually distinguish within the waste
  stream domestic waste (including garden waste)
  and industrial waste.
• Construction waste dominates the landfills of the
  USA

5
For Example

• The Throw-Away World of Disposables.
• Construction waste from our obsession with
  building.

6

• Consumables, like Paperused once and thrown
  away.
• Industrial By-Products

7
In the Good Old Days

• In the past almost all waste was organic and the
  main problem was the threat of disease.
• Cities relied on primitive water drains to move
  it away.

8
But Now

• With the rise of the Chemical Industry, and
  Manufacturing in general, we have the problem of
  waste that is toxic as soon as it is produced.
  This is hazardous or toxic waste, and we have to
  be separated from it.

This HAS to be Controlled
9
What Waste do We Produce?

• The average household weekly garbage looked like
  this
• 8 lbs food and garden waste
• 3.2 lbs plastics
• 2.3 lbs metals
• 1.8 lbs glass
• 13 lbs paper
• .25 lbs hazardous waste
• 5.3 lbs other (old sneakers etc).

Australian domestic waste
10
Solid Waste Comparison Rich and Poor

• In Industrialized countries, typically the waste
  stream is heavily dominated by
• Construction material
• Paper
• Vegetable waste from unconsumed food

11
Low Income Countries

• Overwhelmingly, the dominant element is organic,
  because, quite frankly, there is not too much of
  anything else.
• However, as poor countries become richer, then
  the follow the patterns of the rich, and their
  waste streams merge. Paper is an insignificant
  element in the waste of the poor countries.

12
What Should We Do?

• The standard trio of responses is Reduce, Re-Use
  and Recycle. We will look at this in more detail
  later, but let us look at the key moments in the
  History of Waste.

This shows our options, and in the desired
proportions, with disposal at the bottom.
13
The options

• Dump it, except for hazardous or toxic
  substances, in the landfill

The problem is that this is the throwaway
option, and cities run out of space, cannot find
new sites because no-one wants something like
this in their back yard. This is purely disposal.
Then there is the problem of what might leach
out of this unsorted mess into the groundwater
14
The options 2

• Send it far awaya variant on the landfill
  option. Sometimes as far as Africa, where small,
  poor countries like the income.
• This is controlled by international law now.

15
The options 3

• Incineration.

• The advantage is that
• You reduce the bulk of the waste
• You can use the heat to drive a turbine and
  create electricityputting the waste to work.
• It is considered by the industry to be clean.

The problems People do not trust this new
technology and fear such emissions as dioxin The
new generation of incinerators require a critical
minimum throughput, and therefore serve areas
larger than the location at which they are sited.
16
The Options 3

• The problems here are
• Separating the re-usables from the total waste
  stream. Ideally this would be done at the source.
• The economics of re-use versus using virgin
  material.
• The quality of the re-use product.

• Reuse.
• By extracting materials from the waste stream and
  reprocessing them into something useful reduces
  the amount of new material that has to be mined,
  manufactured or made
• It also reduces the volume of material going into
  the landfill.

In Germany now, for instance, manufacturers must
take back the packaging they use for their
products.
17
The Options 4

• The best option is to reduce the amount of waste
  entering the waste stream at the source.

See this site for options
www.sustainablesarasota.com/WasteReduction.aspx
Right click
18
According to the EPA

• The total waste arisings in 1998 were just over
  80 million tonnes. The percentages of this
  arising from various sources were as
  followsWaste Category()
• Agricultural 80.7Manufacturing 6.1Energy, Gas
  Water Supply 0.6Mining Quarrying 4.4Hazardous
  Waste 0.5Municipal Waste 2.6End-of-Life
  Vehicles/ Scrap Metal 0.2 Construction
  Demolition Waste 3.4Urban Wastewater Sludges
  0.6Dredge Spoils 0.9