SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

LECTURE 1

What is Waste?

Waste is a left over, a redundant product or material of no or marginal value for the owner and which the
owner wants to discard.

It is how the owner values an item

Becoming a waste, may depend on many factors:

Time: during war time or embargo - owner will use and repair items - hard to find them

Location: farming community use food waste for animals feeding

State: whether repairable or not (price, age, type of damage)

Income level: higher income more food wastage or more items discarded, change of FASHION, up to date

Personal Preferences: some people like and keep old things and others throw.

Waste is a consequence of life's daily activities.

Solid waste

Solid wastes are all wastes arising from human and animal activities that are normally solids, semi-solids,
liquids in containers and those are discarded as useless or unwanted.

The term encompasses the heterogeneous mass or throwaways from the urban community as well as the
more homogeneous accumulations of agricultural, industrial and mineral wastes.

Solid waste Management:

The discipline associated with the control of generation, storage, collection, transfer, transport,
processing, recovery and disposal of solid wastes in a manner that is in accordance with the best principles
of health economics engineering conservation aesthetics and which is responsive to public attitude.

History

Sanitary laws were written by Moses (PBUH) 1600 BC.

By 800 BC old Jerusalem had sewers and a primitive water supply

By 200 BC the cities in China had “Sanitary Police” to enforce waste disposal laws

In Athens law was passed in 500 BC to dispose all waste more than a mile from town

Rome had similarly developed waste collection program in 14 AD

Islam preached the concept of Cleanliness to its followers in 700 AD .Safai Nisf Iman' Taharat etc. • In Holy
Quran Allah Almighty says in surah mudassar -keep your clothes neat and keep away from filth and
pollution.- • Then in surah tobah it is said there are men who love to purify themselves and Allah Imes the
purifiers" • City of Medina used to be an exemplary city at the time of Prophet and the Caliphs. And Other
Muslim capitals throughout the history. • Cities of middle ages in Europe were full of filth. Pigs and other
animals roamed in the streets and wastewater was dumped out of windows onto unsuspecting passerby.
• In 1300 the Black Death was result of filth which led to the breeding of rats and their attendant fleas
carrying the germs of disease and people had to leave cities until the industrial revolution in mid1800
which brought people back to cities Solid Waste in Pakistan

In Pakistan about 65,000 tones is generated daily (35,000 tones from urban areas)