Sol

i
dwast
emanagement

WHATDOYOUMEANBYSOLI
DWASTEMANAGEMENT?

 Sol
i
dwast
ear
eanyunwant
edandusel
esssol
i
dmat
eri
alsgener
atedf
rom di
ff
erent
domest
ic,
trade,
commer
cial
,agr
icul
tur
alandi
ndust
ri
alact
ivi
ti
es
 I
tref
erst
oanygar
bage,
rubbi
sh,
sludgeandot
herr
eject
edsol
i
dandsemi
-sol
i
d
materi
alsobt
ainedf
rom di
ff
erenti
ndust
ri
al,
commer
cial
,househol
dorot
her
act
ivi
ti
es.
 Thesear
enon-
li
qui
dandnon-
gaseouswast
es(
dur
abl
egoods,
non-
dur
abl
egoods,
cont
ainersandpackagi
ng,f
oodscr
aps,
yar
dtr
immi
ngs,
miscel
l
aneousi
nor
gani
c
wast
es, const
ruct
ionwast
eetc.
)
 Thet
erm sol
i
dwast
eusual
l
yincl
udes:
 Gar
bage:
Incl
udesf
oodwast
eandot
herdegr
adabl
eor
gani
cwast
es
 Rubbi
sh:
Incl
udescombust
ibl
eandnon-
combust
ibl
esol
i
dwast
es,
exceptf
oodwast
e
 Ref
use:
Incl
udesbot
hgar
bageandr
ubbi
sh
 Li
tt
ers:
Incl
udespaperbi
ts,
discar
dedwr
appi
ngs,
bot
tl
eset
c.

Sol
i
dwast er ef
ersher et oallnon-l
iqui
dwast es.Ingeneralthi
sdoesnoti nclude
excreta,althoughsomet imesnappi esandt hef aecesofy oungchildren
maybemi xedwi t
hsol i
dwast e.Sol
idwast ecancr eatesigni
fi
canthealth
problemsandav eryunpleasantlivi
ngenv ironmentifnotdi sposedof
safelyandappr opriat
ely.I
fnotcor r
ectlydisposedof ,wastemaypr ov i
de
breedingsi tesf orinsect-
vectors,pests,snakesandv ermin( r
ats)that
i
ncreaset hel i
kelihoodofdi seasetransmission.I
tmayal sopollut
ewat er
sourcesandt heenv ir
on-ment .

Sour
cesandt
ypesofsol
i
dwast
e

Sour
cesofsoli
dwast e
I
nmostemergencysi
tuat
ionsthemai
nsour
cesofsol
i
dwast
ear
e:

 Medi calcentr
es
 Foodst ores
 Feedingcent r
es
 Fooddi str
ibuti
onpoi
nts
 Slaughterareas
 War ehouses
 Agencypr emises
 Market
s
 Domesti
car
eas

Appr
opriat
e sol i
d wast e management str
ategies may v ar
yf or
i
nstit
utional
,communalanddomest i
csour ces,dependingon
ty
pesand v olumesofwast e.Wastef rom medi calcentr
es
poses speci f
ic healt
h hazards and f or thi
sr eason is
consideredseparat
elyi
nChapter8.

Typeandquant
it
yofwaste
Thetypeandquantit
yofwastegenerat
edinemergencysi
tuat
ions
var
iesgr
eatl
y.Themai
nfact
orsaff
ect
ingt
heseare:

 thegeographicalregion(developedorless-
devel
opedcount
ryorr
egi
on);
 socio-
cult
uralpracticesandmat er
ial
level
samongaf f
ect
edpopul
ati
on;
 seasonalvari
ations( af
fecti
ngt y
pesoff oodav
ail
able)
;
 thestageofemer gency(volumeandcomposi ti
onofwastemaychange
overti
me) ;
and
 thepackagingoff oodr at
ions.

I
ngeneral,t
hev ol
umeofwast egeneratedisl i
kelytobesmal land
largel
ydegr adablewher ethepopulati
oni sofruralori
ginand
the food rat i
ons suppli
ed ar
e unpackaged dr yf oodstuff
s.
Displacedur banpopulati
onsaremor elikelytogenerat
elarger
volumesofnon- degradabl
ewast e,especial
lywherepackaged
foodr at
ionsar eprovi
ded.

Gui
del
i
nev al
uessuggestthateachpersonisli
kelytoproduce0.5-
1.0
li
tr
esofrefuseperdaywi t
hanor ganiccontentof25to35per
centand amoi sturecontentbetween10 and 60 percent
(Adams,1999).Howev er
,thisislikel
yt ov arygreat
lyand
esti
matesshouldbemadel ocal
ly.

Di
ff
erentcat
egor
iesofsol
i
dwast
eincl
ude:

Or
gani
cwast
e: Was
tef
rom pr
epar
ati
onoff
ood,
mar
ketpl
aces,
etc.
Combusti
bles: Paper
,wood,dr
iedleaves,
packagi
ngf orrel
i
efi
tems,et
c.(hi
ghorganicandlow
moistur
econt ent
)
Non-
combust i
bles: Metal
,ti
ncans,
bottles,
stones,
etc.
Ashes/
dust
: Resi
duef
rom f
ir
esusedf
orcooki
ng
Bul
kywast
e: Tr
eebr
anches,
tyr
es,
etc.
Deadani
mals: Carcassesof
domesti
cani
malsandl
ivestock
 Hazar
douswast
e: Oi
l
,bat
ter
yaci
d,medi
cal
wast
e

Const
ruct
ionwast
e:Roof
ing,
rubbl
e,br
okenconcr
ete,
etc.

Publ
i
cHeal
thAspect
s:

Sol
i
dwast
emayconsi
stsof
:

(i
)Humanpat
hogens—handker
chi
efs,
diaper
s,cont
ami
nat
edf
oodandsur
gical
dr
essi
ngs

(
ii
)Ani
mal
pat
hogens—wast
efr
om pet
s

(
ii
i)Soi
lpat
hogens—gar
denwast
e’

Sui
tabl
econdi
ti
onsmustexi
stf
oraper
sont
obeatr
iskf
rom sol
i
dwast
e.

Thesear
e:

(
i)Ther
eshoul
dbeani
nfect
iousdoseoft
hepat
hogens.

(
ii
)Thepat
hogensshoul
dhav
eatr
ansmi
ssi
onr
out
etot
heper
son,
i.
e.aer
osol
,
f
ecal
-or
alr
oute,
handtomout
het
c.

(
ii
i)Theper
sonmustnothav
eimmuni
tyt
othepat
hogen.

Thepathogensshouldbechecked,
from i
nvadi
ngt
hehumanhostbyt
he
fol
l
owingmet hods:

i
.Goodhy
gieneanddi
etar
yhabi
tsmustbef
oll
owed.
i
i.Thosei nv
olv
edr
egul
arl
ywi
thsol
i
dwast
emustbev
acci
nat
edf
orpat
hogeni
c
dis¬eases.

i
ii
.Speci
fi
cwastestor
ageandhandl
ingtechni
quesmustbeintr
oduced.The
wastesmostamenabl
etodiseaset
ransmissi
onmustbeseparatedatsour
ce.
Lessmanualhandl
i
ngandmor eaut
omat edst
orage,
col
lect
ionandsorti
ngis
desi
rabl
e

Off-
sitedisposalopti
ons
Thet echnologychoicesoutl
inedbel
owaregener
alopt
ions
forthefinaldisposalofwasteoff
-si
te.

Landf ill
i
ng
Oncesol idwast eistransport
edoff-sit
eitisnor mallytaken
toal andfil
lsi t
e.Her et he wastei s pl
aced i nal arge
excavation(pitortrench)intheground, whichisback- fi
ll
ed
withexcav atedsoileachdaywast ei sti
pped.I deall
y,about
0.5m ofsoi lshouldcov erthedeposi t
edr efuseatt heend
ofeachdayt opreventanimalsfrom diggingupt hewast e
andfli
esf rom breeding(Figure7.
6).

The l
ocati
on oflandfil
lsit
es should be deci ded upon
thr
ough consul
tat
ion wit
hthel ocalauthorit
iesand t he
aff
ect
edpopulati
on.Sit
esshoul
dpr efer
ablybef enced,and
atl
eastonekil
omet r
edownwindoft henearestdwelli
ngs.

Advant
ages:Asani
tar
ydisposalmethodifmanagedef
fect
ivel
y.
Constr
aint
s:Ar
easonabl
ylargeareaisr
equir
ed.
Manual

SOLI
D WASTE
MANAGEMENT
 Newr
efuse
Gr
oundl
evel

1.
5m

t
o

St
age1

7
Backf
il
lwit
hexcavat
edsoil
Gr
oundl
evel
af
tereachdayofwastet
ipped

0.
5m

St
age2

Ol
dref
use Gr
oundl
evel

St
age3
0.
5m 0.
5m
Pr
evi
ousdays

Fi
gur
e7.
6.Si
mpl
elandf
il
li
ng

I
nci
nerati
on
Although burning ori nci
neration i s of
ten used f
ort he
disposalofcombust i
blewast e,t hisshouldgeneral
lyonl y
takepl aceoff-
sit
eoraconsi derabl edist
ancedownwi ndof
dwel l
ings.Burni
ngr ef
usewi thindwel li
ngareasmaycr eate
asi gnifi
cantsmokeorf i
rehazar d,espe-cial
lyi
fsev eral
fi
resar eli
tsimultaneously.Burningmaybeusedt oreduce
thev olumeofwast eandmaybeappr opri
atewheret here
i
slimited spaceforburi
alorl andf
il
l.Was t
eshould be
i
gni
tedwi t
hinpitsandcoveredwithsoilonceinci
ner
ated,
i
nthesamemannerasl andfi
ll
i
ng.Thesameconst r
aint
s
f
orsit
inglandfi
ll
sit
esshoul
dbeappl i
edherealso.
 Adv
ant
ages:Bur
ningreducesvol
umeofcombusti
blewast
econsi
der
abl
y;andi
t
i
sappr
opri
-atei
noff-
sit
epitst
oreducescav
engi
ng.
Const
rai
nts:
Ther
ecanbesmokeorf
ir
ehazar
ds.

Compost i
ng
Simplecompost i
ngofv eget
ablesandot herorgani
cwast ecanbeappl iedin
manysi tuati
ons.Wher epeopl ehav ethei
rowngar densorv eget
abl
epl ots,
organicwast ecanbedugi nt
ot hesoiltoaddhumusandf i
bre.Thi
smakest he
wasteper fectl
ysafeandal soassi st
st hegrowingpr ocess.Thisshouldbe
encouragedwher everpossi
ble,par
ti
cularl
yint
hel at
erst agesofanemer gency
programme.
Pr
oper
lymanagedcompost
ingr
equi
rescar
eful
moni
tor
ingofdecomposi
ngwast
eto
cont
rol
moistur
eandchemi call
evelsandpr omotemi cr
obi
alact
ivi
ty.Thisi
sdesignedto
producecompostwhi chissaf etohandleandwhi chactsasagoodf erti
li
ser.
Suchsy st
emsr equir
econsi derabl
eknowl edgeandexper ienceandar ebest
managedcentr
ally
.Ingeneral,t
heyar eunl
i
kelytobeappropriatei
nemergencies.

Adv
ant
ages:
Compost
ingi
senv
ironment
all
yfr
iendl
y;andbenef
ici
alf
orcr
ops.
Const
rai
nts:I
ntensivemanagementandexper
iencedper
sonnelar
erequi
redf
or
l
arge-
scal
eoperations.

Recycl
ing
Complexrecy cl
ingsy st
emsar eunl i
kelytobeappr opriatebuttherecycl
ingof
somewast eitemsmaybepossi bleonoccasions.Plasticbags,cont
ainer
s,tins
andglasswilloftenbeaut omat ical
lyrecy
cledsincet heyareli
kelytobescar ce
commoditi
esi nmanysi t
uations.I nmostdev elopingcount rycontext
st here
exi
stsastrongt radit
ionofrecy cli
ngleadingtolowerv olumesofwast ethani n
manymor edev elopedsociet
ies.

Adv
ant
ages:
Recy
cli
ngi
senv
ironment
all
yfr
iendl
y.

Constrai
nts:Therei
sli
mit
edpot
ent
iali
nmostemer
gencysi
tuat
ions;andi
tis
expensiv
et osetup.