Municipal Solid Waste

Municipal Solid Waste

Institution

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Municipal Solid Waste usually includes solid waste materials that are either renewable or non-renewable. Such solid waste could as well be biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Such waste includes only household and small business or office waste (Cengage, 2003). They do not include industrial or construction wastes that could be more hazardous. In the olden days, MSW was not an issue due to the availability of vast lands masses where dumping could be done.

There existed some traditional ways of dealing with wastes apart from open dumping. People could burn it, bury it or store it in dumps. Each of the three methods had its implications to the environment. When burnt, the waste would be converted to smoke and eventually injected into the atmosphere. This happened locally while an industrial technique, incineration, applied the use of furnace usually at high temperatures to burn trash. This was not efficient due to the pollution behind the process, especially large volumes of ash. Going up to the 1970s, sanitary landfills came up as an alternative (NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE, 1997). Most landfills were running out of space and more improved incinerators in which case only the remains would be taken to the landfills. The heat generated was as well used to generate electricity through stream turbines.

These methods never got rid of the use of open dumps. Mostly, open dumps are illegal and involve dumping large quantities of abandoned garbage piles and debris (Cengage, 2003). Most developed countries would fine any person found dumping in such open dumps. They mainly exist for use in developing countries such as Nigeria. They could mainly be found in forests, in abandoned building and estates backyards. They are breading sites for pests and disease causing vectors such as mosquitoes that causes malaria in the tropical regions. Other threats posed by open dump include fire and explosion possibilities, toxic gas generation, water contamination and damaging of animal and plant habitats.

Landfills, termed as better than open dumps are associated with leachate and gas generation especially methane gas. Leachate involve the filtering of toxic chemical from landfill that enter into underground and contaminate water resources. Methane is flammable and very explosive. In landfills, it is produced by the decomposition of organic waste under oxygen poor conditions. An example of early landfill is the Sanitary Landfill in England that was invented in around the 1920s (Agarwal, 2012 ). Garbage dumped in the landfills were covered with a layer of soil every day. Other than leachate and methane gas problems, landfills often ran out of space and some wastes never decomposed completely.

To get rid of such problems, more modernized landfills came up. In South Africa, for instance, the Mariannhill Landfill is based on the modern technology whereby a thick clay wall that are backed by thick plastic sheets are used in lining the modern landfill. At the bottom, pipes are installed to collect and drain leachate. Methane is also collected safely through a piping system for economic use. Unlike the early landfills where leachate was hazardous, Mariannhill has established leachate treatment plant, a biological treatment facility. The final discharge is used for irrigation and for dust control. Methane on the other hand is used to generate electricity. It is first harvested and then converted for that purpose. Mariannhill landfill is considered the first site to be turned into an ecosystem restoration zone. Having been opened in July 1997, Mariannhill has been successful in both controlling waste disposal disasters and generation of money through the production of electricity (Juizi, 2006). It has as well incorporated education center that deals with environmental conservation related lessons such as waste management, recycling, biodiversity of wastes, and its conservation.

References

Agarwal, B. (2012 ). Traditional means of waste management. Retrieved October 24, 2012 , from preservearticles.com: http://www.preservearticles.com/2012030124118/traditional-means-of-waste-management.html

Cengage, G. (2003). Waste Disposal. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from enot.com: http://www.enotes.com/waste-disposal-reference/waste-disposal

Juizi. (2006). Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from impumelelo.org.za: http://www.impumelelo.org.za/what-we-do/impumelelo-innovations-awards/2006/platinum/mariannhill-landfill-conservancy-1

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE. (1997, September 18). Old dump linked to rising birth problems Problems peaked in early 1970s at N.J. Superfund site. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from baltimoresun.com: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-09-18/news/1997261051_1_birth-weight-birth-problems-early-births