I.

Introduction

Since the time humans took over as the ruler species, humans have constantly produced
waste. Waste that can potentially harm other species as well as their own and due to this risk,
waste has to be managed in ways that can reduce the potential dangers that comes with it. Waste
management can simply be defined as the management of waste produced by human activities to
eliminate or reduce the harmful and undesirable effects brought about by waste materials.
One can say that the birth of human civilization is also the birth of waste production.
Waste in the old times were significantly lower compared to the 21st century and this is because
population at that time were also significantly less. This means that the bigger the population, the
more waste is produced. Thus, the increasing urbanization contributes to the exponential growth
of waste. The upsurge of urban settlements started in ancient times. Although humans in ancient
times were not as technologically advanced compared to the people in 21st century, ancient
civilizations like the Roman Empire made use of pits and sewage system to manage their wastes
which is quite advanced for that time. However, waste were still rampant because most of
household wastes were just thrown to the streets and this created a perfect environment for
diseases to thrive.
The purpose of waste management aside from bringing about an aesthetic view of the
environment is that it also prevents diseases from spreading. Improper disposal system allows
biodegradable materials to decompose under uncontrolled and unhygienic conditions which
produces foul smell and breeds various types of insects and infectious organisms. Aside from
spreading disease, improper waste disposal can also affect the quality of the soil and its ability to
grow crops. Waste materials could also seep through groundwater which can contaminate our
water source, and many more. This is why humans as the primary manufacturer of waste
materials have an inherent responsibility of managing the waste they produce.

II. Main Topic

Three R’s
Before waste materials are considered for destruction or disposed in landfills, the best
way to manage waste is described in Three R’s. Basically the Three R’s means Reduce, Reuse,
and Recycle.
The first R represents aspect of reducing the waste produced. With regards to industries,
they could reduce the raw materials that is incorporated in their products to produce lesser
wastes. They could also use different materials or change their old machineries which are less
efficient. For households, reducing waste could mean buying lesser processed goods that are
packaged in materials that will inevitable be a refuse. Households can also avoid purchasing
materials that are superfluous and doesn’t really serve a definite purpose. Also, in the advent of
technology, new version of items and appliances are ubiquitous. Avoiding buying new version of
functional items or machineries can greatly reduce the waste that is produced by a household.
Basically the idea is to reduce the demand for goods in order to reduce the amount of waste.

III. Conclusion

References:
Havlíček, F. & Morcinek, M. (2016). Waste and Pollution in the Ancient Roman
Empire. Journal of Landscape Ecology, 9(3), pp. 33-49. Retrieved 27 Jun. 2017, from
doi:10.1515/jlecol-2016-0013

Kaushik, C P., Bhavikatti, S. S., Kaushik, Anabhu. "Basic civil and environmental
engineering." New Delhi : New Age International, 2010.
Waste – a material, substance or by-product eliminated or discarded as no longer useful or required
after the completion of a process (online oxford dictionaries)

A natural part of the life cycle, waste occurs when any organism returns substances to the
environment. Living things take in raw materials and excrete wastes that are recycled by other living
organisms. However, humans produce an additional flow of material residues that would overload
the capacity of natural recycling processes, so these wastes must be managed in order to reduce
their effect on our aesthetics, health, or the environment.

https://enviroliteracy.org/environment-society/waste-management/what-is-waste/