So we didn’t have a lecture this time and were instead given some reading material; 2 papers and 3 links. Here are the links:
We were supposed to ponder this and update our blog as we saw fit. Well almost.
So I thought I’d begin with a little on solid waste collection and disposal. Collection seems quite straightforward; it’s the moving of the solid waste from point A (consumer or collection of consumers) to point B (disposal site). This can be done by having someone going around collecting the solid waste and transporting it to a certain point or by having the consumers themselves transporting it to a certain point. Then from that point someone transports it to the disposal site (unless that point already was the disposal site).
This is how it is done in most of the industrialized world by using garbage trucks. However, there is a system with pipes running under the city is in use at a few places. This pipe system collects and transports the trash to the disposal site without the use of manpower kind of like a central vacuum cleaner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_vacuum_cleaner).
In the developing world then? Well mostly it’s dumped in the streets and if collected simply dumped someplace else, i.e. collection varies from regular to sporadically to not at all and disposal methods from bad to worse. Well this is not to say that there aren’t a few good examples but those are not an issue and thus not in the scope of this blog.
What can be done then? Well how about using the poor people? Offering them certain amount of money/kg of waste should be an easy enough way (and not too expensive) of getting the streets cleaned? And at the same time some of the poor would get an income in a sort of “lesser evil”-way. Or the people living there could be educated to sort their trash and transport it themselves to designated “hot-spots” from where collection could occur, like in the industrialized world.
Moving on to the disposal. There are numerous ways of disposal, most of which require money, energy, technology, know-how and most importantly (sorted) waste. Most of these methods require a substantial initial investment which might not be an option in the developing world.
But let’s say that we can get the collection working and people sorting their waste, what then? Reuse and recycle to minimize the amount of waste, biowaste taken care of biologically (composting, fermentation etc.) leaving only a small amount left (if the sorting and r&r is done properly). This “small” amount poses no problem to modern technology; it could be turned into energy or given some research used as raw material for some product. I mean if a modern-day watertreatment plant can clean the wastewater and get from that same process biogas, heating, electricity (hydro power) and fertilizer then I do not see a problem with expanding the field of solid wastes likewise. Albeit that modern day waste facilities do produce among other things electricity and heat. But there is always room for improvement and at this point the focus should be on sorting (done by the consumer) and minimizing waste.
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