Waste Management: How To Properly Dispose Off Your Trash

Waste management (or waste disposal) includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes monitoring and regulation of the waste management process and waste-related laws, technologies, economic mechanisms, as well as the collection, transport, and treatment of waste.

Waste management deals with all types of waste, including industrial, biological, household, municipal, organic, biomedical, and radioactive wastes. Different methods of disposal and management are required for each type of waste.

The entire process of waste management poses a threat to human health in some cases. Health issues can arise indirectly, for example, through the consumption of contaminated water, soil, and food. They can also arise directly, for example, through contact with solid waste. An example of human activity that produces waste is the extraction and processing of raw materials.

Waste management is intended to reduce adverse effects of waste on human health, the environment, planetary resources and aesthetics.

The aim of waste management is to reduce the dangerous effects of such waste on the environment and human health. A big part of waste management deals with municipal solid waste, which is created by industrial, commercial, and household activity.

A report found that usually, effective waste management comprises 20%–50% of municipal budgets and is relatively expensive. Operating this essential municipal service requires integrated systems that are efficient, sustainable, and socially supported.

Municipal solid waste management practices make up a large portion of waste management and MSW is the main waste created by household, industrial, and commercial activity. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expects MSW to reach 3.4 Gt by 2050; however, making policies and laws can reduce the amount of waste produced in different areas and cities of the world.

Measures of waste management include:

• Measures for integrated techno-economic mechanisms of a circular economy

• Effective disposal facilities

• Export and import control

• Optimal sustainable design of products

The history of waste management is full of interesting facts and figures.

Throughout history, the amount of waste produced by humans has changed. In Europe, industrialization and the growth of the urban population resulted in a sudden increase. The waste in the streets started to pile up and affect the hygiene and health of the urban populations because there was a lack of clearance regulations.

Cholera outbreaks in England during the mid-19th century led social reformer Edwin Chadwick to publish a report on ‘The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population’. In this report, he wrote about the need for effective waste removal and management facilities to improve the population’s health and wellbeing.

This act was followed by the introduction of the Public Health Act 1975, which made it compulsory for households to use a 'dust-bin' for the weekly disposal of their waste.

After a sudden increase in waste disposal, incineration plants were created to destroy the waste. At the beginning of the 20th century, other cities in Europe and North America began adapting similar waste systems.

However, waste management differs among countries, regions, and sectors such as the industrial and residential sector.