Waste Management

Sources of Wastes
in the United States
• Mining wastes (3 billion tons per year)
• Agricultural wastes (500 million tons/yr)
• Industrial wastes (400 million tons/yr)
• Municipal solid waste (210 million tons/yr)
– About 4.5 lb/person/day
• Sewage sludge (40 million tons/yr)
 Source of Solid Wastes
• Mining waste consist mainly of rock and soil
overburden from mining operations – an earth
moving project
• Agricultural wastes are typically organic
residuals – biodegradable and recyclable
• Industrial wastes are widely varied – have the
potential of being hazardous
• Municipal solid wastes (MSW) vary greatly in
quantity and composition
• We will focus on the management of MSW
 Composition of Solid Wastes
• Garbage (food rejects, organic wastes)
• Rubbish (nonputresible wastes)
– Combustables (paper,plastic, wood, etc.)
– Noncombustables (metal, glass, dirt, etc.)
• Yard wastes
• Other materials (almost anything can be
found in MSW)
• Water (about 15 to 20% of MSW is water)
Composition of MSW
 Other Solid Waste
• Discarded appliances, furniture, cars, etc.
• Street sweepings and liter
• Construction and demolition debris
• Dead animals
• Hazardous wastes from homes and industry
• Sludge from water and wastewater treatment
plants.
• Conclusion: the solid waste management
engineer must be prepared to deal with a wide
variety of materials
 Municipal Solid Waste
Management System

• On-site Storage
• Collection
• Transport and transfer
• Processing
• Disposal
 Storage
• Responsibility of the generator of solid
waste
• Cans
• Bags (sale can support cost of collection)
• Bins or dumpsters
• Compactors
• Waste separation of recyclables
 MSW Collection
• Type of collection service
– Self
– Curbside pickup (most common)
– Set out, set back
– Backyard (most expensive)
• Frequency of collection
– Daily (large generators)
– Once per week (most common in northern states)
– Twice per week (most common in southern states)
– On demand (discards, special wastes)
– Less frequent for recyclables
• Crew size (1 to 3 for curbside pick up, more for others)
 Types of Collection Vehicles
• Packer trucks (to increase density of MSW and
mass of collection, compacted density ~900
lb/yd3)
– Rear loading
– Side loading
– Front loading
– Manual loading
– Mechanical loading
– Chassis specified by volume (e.g., 20 yd3)
• Roll-off trucks (container left at site)
• Truck for collection of recyclables