Solid Waste Management: Its Sources, Collection, Transportation and Recycling

Solid wastes may be defined as useless, unused, unwanted, or discarded material available in solid form. Semisolid food wastes and municipal sludge may also be included in municipal solid waste. The subject of solid wastes came to the national limelight after the passage of the solid waste disposal act of 1965. Today, solid waste is accepted as a major problem of our society. In the United States over 180 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) was generated in 1988. At this generation quantity, the average resident of an urban community is responsible for more than 1.8 kg (4.0 lbs.) of solid waste per day. This quantity does not include industrial, mining, agricultural, and animal wastes generated in the country each year. If these quantities are added, the solid waste production rate reaches 45 kg per capita per day (100 lb. /c.d.). To introduce the reader to the solid waste management field, an overview of municipal solid waste problems, sources, collection, resource recovery, and disposal methods are presented in this paper. Greater emphasis has been given to the design and operation of municipal sanitary landfills, regulations governing land disposal, and leachate generation, containment and treatment methods.