Lecture 4: Soil Pollution and Solid Waste Management

 What is Soil Pollu on

 Causes/Sources of Soil Pollu on
 Control/Preven ve /Remedial Measures to Minimize Soil Pollu on
 What is Solid Waste
 Types of Solid Wastes
 How can we manage solid waste? /Solid-Waste Management
 Various methods of disposal of solid waste.

WHAT IS SOIL POLLUTION

• Soil Pollu on can be defined as the introduc on of substances,
biological organisms or energy into the soil that led to a charge in the
quality of soil so that plant growth and animal health is adversely
affected.

CAUSES/SOURCES OF SOIL POLLUTION

• Poor Agricultural Prac ces
• Improper Solid Waste Management
• Unsafe storage of hazardous chemicals and nuclear waste
• Leachates from mismanaged landfills
• Uncontrolled dumping of waste from: households, industrial plants,
mining

1
CONTROL/PREVENTIVE/REMEDIAL MEASURES TO MINIMIZE SOIL
POLLUTION
• Effluents should be properly treated before discharging them on the
soil.
• Solid wastes should be properly collected and disposed off by
appropriate method.
• From the wastes, recovery of useful products should be made.
• Biodegradable organic waste should be used for genera on of biogas.
• Planned afforesta on helps in preven ng soil erosion (which causes soil
pollu on).
• Polluted soil can be treated by bioremedia on. It uses microorganisms
(yeast, fungi or bacteria) to break down or degrade hazardous
substances into less toxic or nontoxic substances (such as CO2 and H2O).

WHAT IS SOLID WASTE

The waste materials which have been rejected for further use and which can
neither readily escape into the atmosphere nor can be transported by water
into streams are called solid waste.

TYPES OF SOLID WASTES

• Municipal Wastes: These include garbage (i.e., biodegradable food
waste), rubbish (i.e., non-biodegradable solid waste from homes,
offices, markets, hotels etc.)
• Domes c Wastes: These include wastes generated from domes c
cooking and serving of food.
• Agricultural Wastes: These wastes result from farms, feed lots and live-
stock yards.
• Industrial Wastes: These include the following:
(a) Process Wastes: Here, waste depends on the products being
manufactured.
(b) Non-process Wastes: Here, waste is common to all industries.

2
• E-waste: It is a new form of waste from discarded mobile phones,
mobile chargers, remotes, CDs, headphones, ba<eries, computers/TVs,
monitors, printers, CPUs, LCD/Plasma TVs, etc.

SOLID-WASTE MANAGEMENT
• For waste management we stress on “three Rs’-Reduce, reuse and
recycle before destruc on and safe storage of wastes.
(a) Reduc on in use of raw materials: Reduc on in the use of raw
materials will correspondingly decrease the produc on of waste.
Reduced demand for any metallic product will decrease the mining of
its metal and would cause less produc on of waste.
(b) Reuse of waste materials: The refillable containers which are
discarded a>er use can be reused. Making rubber rings from the
discarded cyclic tubes which are used by the newspaper vendors
instead of rubber bands reduces the waste genera on during
manufacturing of rubber bands.
(c) Recycling of materials: Recycling is the reprocessing of discarded
materials into new useful products.
(1) Forma on of some old type products e.g., old aluminium cans and
glass bo<les are melted and recast into new cans and bo<les,
respec vely.
(2) Forma on of new products: Prepara on of cellulose insula on from
paper. Prepara on of automobiles and construc on materials from
steel cans
The process of reducing, reusing and recycling saves money, energy,
raw materials, land space and also reduces pollu on.

SOLID-WASTE DISPOSAL
• Compos ng: Compos ng is the thermophilic and aerobic
decomposi on of organic ma<er present in solid waste by
microorganisms, mainly bacteria and fungi. As a result of this
compos ng process, the organic ma<er is transformed into a stable
humus like substance, which is valuable manure for crops.
• Open Dumping: It is the disposal of solid waste by dumping in open
areas, dumped from vehicles along roadsides, and/or dumped late at
night.
• Sanitary Landfills: Sanitary landfill sites have liner systems and other
safeguards to prevent groundwater contamina on. These sites are
consistent with the economic considera ons, hydrogeological
requirements, clima c condi ons and topography.

3
• Incinera on: It is the controlled combus on of organic solids wastes so
as to convert them into incombus ble residue and gaseous products.
The weight and volume of solid waste is reduced and o>en energy is
also produced.