Managing Waste Case Study
2.6 Contemporary methods of managing waste Throughout the annals of human development and societal evolution, man has always found methods and strategies of alleviating the risks posed to his survival by natural occurrences or even by acts provoked by his own relation to the environment. Considering the fact that today’s waste are different from yesterday’s waste although building up over time, the researcher explores the current methods of managing waste in light of the complexities and compositions of today’s waste.
2.6.1 Recycling
The term recycling refers to “minimising waste generation by recovering and reprocessing usable products that might otherwise become waste (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; as cited in Catlin & Wang, 2012). …show more content…
EPA, 2002). According to the World Bank Report (as cited in Kaneesamkandi, 2014) Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) treatment through incineration converts the organic substances in the waste to produce useful heat along with flue gas and ash. The advantage of incineration is that the process plant can be located near the waste generation area. The volume reduction that can be achieved by incineration is 85 to 90%. While the combustion process can generate toxic air emissions, these can be controlled by installing control equipment such as acid gas scrubbers and fabric filters in combustors. Combustion of solid waste can help reduce amount of waste going to landfills. It also can reduce reliance on coal, one of the fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases when burned (U.S. EPA, …show more content…
Particularly in Accra and Kumasi, where over 4,000tons of solid waste is generated daily, waste management departments still grapple with the collection of this huge amount of solid waste. Undoubtedly, the capacity of authorities has been greatly overwhelmed by the ever-increasing amounts of waste at urban centres (Monney, 2014). More so, it is only myopic to view waste management as just a local challenge and yet ignoring the scale of its global impact. Among the several impediments that have rendered efforts by local authorities nearly futile if not a seemingly complete disaster in waste management are as follows as outlined by Ogawa
2.6.1 Recycling
The term recycling refers to “minimising waste generation by recovering and reprocessing usable products that might otherwise become waste (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; as cited in Catlin & Wang, 2012). …show more content…
EPA, 2002). According to the World Bank Report (as cited in Kaneesamkandi, 2014) Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) treatment through incineration converts the organic substances in the waste to produce useful heat along with flue gas and ash. The advantage of incineration is that the process plant can be located near the waste generation area. The volume reduction that can be achieved by incineration is 85 to 90%. While the combustion process can generate toxic air emissions, these can be controlled by installing control equipment such as acid gas scrubbers and fabric filters in combustors. Combustion of solid waste can help reduce amount of waste going to landfills. It also can reduce reliance on coal, one of the fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases when burned (U.S. EPA, …show more content…
Particularly in Accra and Kumasi, where over 4,000tons of solid waste is generated daily, waste management departments still grapple with the collection of this huge amount of solid waste. Undoubtedly, the capacity of authorities has been greatly overwhelmed by the ever-increasing amounts of waste at urban centres (Monney, 2014). More so, it is only myopic to view waste management as just a local challenge and yet ignoring the scale of its global impact. Among the several impediments that have rendered efforts by local authorities nearly futile if not a seemingly complete disaster in waste management are as follows as outlined by Ogawa