Dredged Material and Mine Tailings are two of the same thing once they are deposited on land: they must be safe-guarded, wash-out must be prevented, and they must be protected by a plantcover. This comprehensive two-volume treatise covers both important aspects of their management: Environmental Management of Solid Waste turns to the practical applications, such as prediction, restoration and management, while in Chemistry and Biology of Solid Waste the principles and assessment are scientifically studied and discussed. Previously, dredged material was a commodity, it could be sold as soil, e. g. to gardeners. In the meantime, dredged material from the North Sea (e.g. the Rotterdam or Amsterdam harbor) must be treated as hazardous waste. Many environmentalists, managers and companies do not know how to solve the inherent problems. This new work deals with the chemical, physical and biological principles; the biological and geochemical assessment; the prediction of effects and treatment; and finally, with restoration and revegetation. It is written by many leading scientists in the various fields, and will prove invaluable for managers and politicians who are concerned with the present environmental situation.
Solid waste management issues are a highly emotive topic. Disposal costs need to be balanced against environmental impact, which often results in heated public debate. Disposal options such as incineration and landfill, whilst unpopular with both the public and environmental pressure groups, do not pose the same environmental and health risks as, for example, recycling plants. This book, written by international experts, discusses the various waste disposal options that are available (landfill, incineration, composting, recycling) and then reviews their impact on the environment, and particularly on human health. Comprehensive and highly topical, Environmental and Health Impact of Solid Waste Management Activities will make a strong contribution to scientific knowledge in the area, and will be of value to scientists and policy-makers in particular.
Solid waste was already a problem long before water and air pollution issues attracted public attention. Historically the problem associated with solid waste can be dated back to prehistoric days. Due to the invention of new products, technologies and services the quantity and quality of the waste have changed over the years. Waste characteristics not only depend on income, culture and geography but also on a society's economy and, situations like disasters that affect that economy. There was tremendous industrial activity in Europe during the industrial revolution. The twentieth century is recognized as the American Century and the twenty-first century is recognized as the Asian Century in which everyone wants to earn ‘as much as possible’. After Asia the currently developing Africa could next take the center stage. With transitions in their economies many countries have also witnessed an explosion of waste quantities. Solid waste problems and approaches to tackling them vary from country to country. For example, while efforts are made to collect and dispose hospital waste through separate mechanisms in India it is burnt together with municipal solid waste in Sweden. While trans-boundary movement of waste has been addressed in numerous international agreements, it still reaches developing countries in many forms. While thousands of people depend on waste for their livelihood throughout the world, many others face problems due to poor waste management. In this context solid waste has not remained an issue to be tackled by the local urban bodies alone. It has become a subject of importance for engineers as well as doctors, psychologist, economists, and climate scientists and any others. There are huge changes in waste management in different parts of the world at different times in history. To address these issues, an effort has been made by the authors to combine their experience and bring together a new text book on the theory and practice of the subject covering the important relevant literature at the same time.
The collection, transportation and subsequent processing of waste materials is a vast field of study which incorporates technical, social, legal, economic, environmental and regulatory issues. Common waste management practices include landfilling, biological treatment, incineration, and recycling – all boasting advantages and disadvantages. Waste management has changed significantly over the past ten years, with an increased focus on integrated waste management and life-cycle assessment (LCA), with the aim of reducing the reliance on landfill with its obvious environmental concerns in favour of greener solutions. With contributions from more than seventy internationally known experts presented in two volumes and backed by the International Waste Working Group and the International Solid Waste Association, detailed chapters cover: Waste Generation and Characterization Life Cycle Assessment of Waste Management Systems Waste Minimization Material Recycling Waste Collection Mechanical Treatment and Separation Thermal Treatment Biological Treatment Landfilling Special and Hazardous Waste Solid Waste Technology & Management is a balanced and detailed account of all aspects of municipal solid waste management, treatment and disposal, covering both engineering and management aspects with an overarching emphasis on the life-cycle approach.
This book covers a broad group of wastes, from biowaste to hazardous waste, but primarily the largest (by mass and volume) group of wastes that are not hazardous, but also are not inert, and are problematic for three major reasons: (1) they are difficult to manage because of their volume: usually they are used in civil engineering as a common fill etc., where they are exposed to environmental conditions almost the same way as at disposal sites; (2) they are not geochemically stable and in the different periods of environmental exposure undergo transformations that might add hazardous properties to the material that are not displayed when it is freshly generated; (3) many designers and researchers in different countries involved in waste management are often not aware of time-delayed adverse environmental impact of some large-volume waste, and also do not consider some positive properties that may extend the area of their environmentally beneficial application.
Solid waste has become a major consequence of development and modernization, yet some of the greatest challenges to its management are felt most keenly in the developing countries. This is part of the larger paradox of development; namely, that factors that create the most intransigent problems currently facing the developing countries are invariably those which derive from development itself. Introduction This volume presents a collection of papers which, with perspectives from Africa and the Caribbean, raise critical issues in the management of solid waste. It is intended to offer a basis for discussion among the wide range of disciplines and sectors involved in solid waste management and suggest directions for future work both in the theoretical and practical dimensions of the challenge with which developing countries are confronted.
This book presents the application of system analysis techniques with case studies to help readers learn how the techniques can be applied, how the problems are solved, and which sustainable management strategies can be reached.
Solid Wastes Management begins with a focus on processing municipal and similar commercial, as well as industrial wastes; assessing and minimising the environmental impacts of processing and disposal. The second section reviews the treatment technologies available (physical, biological and thermal), their advantages, disadvantages and environmental performance. The third section considers the environmental and health impacts of the technologies and reviews the use of models to predict landfill leachate, gas formation and pollution dispersion. The fourth section is on the human health impact of waste management and draws on the previous sections, bringing in pollutants such as bioaerosols and ultra-fine particulate material. In the fifth and sixth sections, the importance of adopting an integrated approach to waste management is demonstrated through consideration of life cycle assessment and its use to determine optimum waste management solutions. Discover our e-book series on Environmental Monitoring and Protection, published in partnership with The Open University! Find out more about the series editors, the titles in the series and their focus on water, noise, air and waste, and The Open University courses in Environmental Management. Visit www.wiley.com/go/ouebookseries
Solid waste has grown into a relatively difficult problem to solve for those responsible for its management; these responsibilities include the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of solid wastes, particularly wastes generated in medium and large urban centres. This problem is even more intense in economically developing countries, where the financial, human, and other critical resources are scarce in general. In the last decade, there has been a great interest and awareness regarding the environmentally safe management of waste worldwide, centralised in legislative, administrative, standardisation, and research activities in this field. Therefore, it is essential to develop short- and long-term waste management strategies (often named the 3Rs) and their consequent implementation in compliance with the formulated priorities for waste: (1) Reduce, (2) Recycle, (3) Reuse and (4) environmentally safe disposal. Several contradictions and lack of agreement still exist, even regarding the major basic definitions, e.g., which material should be treated as "waste" and which as a "beneficial raw material", which wastes are "hazardous" and which are "non-hazardous", etc. Quite often, different approaches and as a consequence, waste management/disposals are adopted for the same situation/materials. Environmental risk assessment procedures and mode of actions are varied greatly not only within national levels, but also at regional levels within the same country by different groups of scientists and/or policy makers. The general idea of the book has arisen from the mutual experience of many specialists in numerous disciplines from different countries involved in the problem of environmental assessment, economic and monitoring approaches, and control approaches for chemicals generated from solid waste disposal. Solid waste worldwide issues nowadays reflect the complexity and unbalanced development of our world at the beginning of the 21st century. This book covers a broad group of wastes, from biowaste to hazardous waste. The contributors to the book are recognised experts in the diverse fields associated with the issues of waste management and the reuse-recycle of materials, and are from different parts of the world. Authors present their experience and approaches considering both international and national/local specifics. The book is addressed to the wide range of end-users, decision-makers and professionals involved in environmental and agricultural issues: administration, designers, manufacturers, policy makers, farmers, researchers, academics and university students, and is focused on waste properties, environmental behaviour and management in an environmentally safe way. It was not the intention of the editor/authors to exhaust the subject, which is intensely broad, but to give a general idea with updating trends in the field of solid waste management concerning disposal, monitoring, assessment and remedial options, which are demonstrated also in case studies. The authors hope that this book to some extent will contribute to the trials and efforts for the proper, environmentally safe practices of solid waste disposal, and will provide state-of-the-art information and discussion, monitoring strategies, advanced approaches and methods, techniques and equipment for environmentally safe disposal and remediation of solid wastes.
