Unit IV Essay
The sources of municipal solid waste are human activities. The municipality is in place to make sure that it manages the waste that comes from residents. Therefore, the residents of a municipality area are responsible for the solid waste present in a given location. Even though waste is seen as a problem, it can be changed into something useful, which has been seen in municipal waste management (Das et al. 2019). The management of the municipality uses solid waste in different ways. First, recycling is one of the major beneficial uses of solid waste (Malinauskaite et al. 2017). In this case, the materials that are recycled are metals and plastics. They are refined and sold as raw materials to manufacturing organizations.
The second major use pertains to the generation of electric power. Waste products have proven that they can provide electricity power (Malinauskaite et al. 2017). The municipal has worked with other private sectors to initiate projects that make it possible to use waste materials to produce energy (Das et al. 2019). When materials start to decompose, they emit gases that are concentrated and toxic. The gases are harvested through a structured process.
Garbage comes from the kitchen and the bathroom. This is the waste that comes from the activities of the house. Rubbish is a waste that does not come from the activities of the house. Trash is the waste that comes from different areas in the home or organizations (Malinauskaite et al. 2017). However, it has no worth. As opposed to garbage and rubbish that can be recycled, trash is awful; thus, it has no economic value whatsoever.
The first characteristic is that the collection trucks are designed not to have an adverse effect when ferrying the waste. The second characteristic is that the roads used to collect and deliver waste are specifically designed for the purpose. The third characteristic is associated with the handling of the waste. The process of handling waste is safer for the people involved. The fourth characteristic pertains to the routes that are used by the trucks (Malinauskaite et al. 2017). It is common for trucks to use an isolated route to ensure that they do not interfere with the normal traffic.
Transfer stations help to reduce littering. Having a place where the waste can be taken before it is ferried to large trucks is recommendable. Instead of waiting for the big trucks, the waste is taken to a station where the big trucks pick it, thus promoting a cleaner environment. The first positive impact of incinerators is that they present a way of disposing of waste. Second, they motivate the collection of waste because there is a way to dispose of it (Malinauskaite et al. 2017). The first disadvantage is that they promote air pollution. Second, they do not support the disposal of all types of waste.
The purpose of composting is to use waste beneficially. The waste that decomposes can be used for agricultural purposes. With this in mind, it becomes a method of putting waste into good use (Malinauskaite et al. 2017). The first difference is that dumps are not designed while landfills are designed. The second difference is that dumps are not as deep as landfills. The third difference is that dumps have lesser effects on groundwater when compared to landfills. The fourth difference is that dumps are used to dump any waste while most landfills are designed to host a certain type of wastes. For example, people in a population can start a dumpsite by dumping every type of waste. The case changes when it comes to landfills. In many cases, organizations dig landfills with the main objective of disposing of a certain type of waste.
In a year, there are 365 days. When the number of pounds that people generate in each day is multiplied by the number of days in a year, the total number of pounds in a year is 36,500,000.
Calculation
20,000X5=100,000
A hundred thousand is the number of pounds that people generate in a day.
100,000X365=36,500,000
When the daily number is multiplied by the number of days that are present in one year, the above figure becomes the most accurate answer.
Calculations
If 300,000m3 is to 15, what about m2 per year
300,000/15=20,000
20,000×20=400,000
The landfill that is needed in m2 is 400,000.
In this case, it is essential to note that the answer must be bigger than the given figure. The reason behind it is that the units have changed from cubic meters to squared meters.
References
Das, S., Lee, S. H., Kumar, P., Kim, K. H., Lee, S. S., & Bhattacharya, S. S. (2019). Solid waste management: Scope and the challenge of sustainability. Journal of cleaner production, 228, 658-678.
Malinauskaite, J., Jouhara, H., Czajczyńska, D., Stanchev, P., Katsou, E., Rostkowski, P., … & Anguilano, L. (2017). Municipal solid waste management and waste-to-energy in the context of a circular economy and energy recycling in Europe. Energy, 141, 2013-2044.