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8 Waste Management
What is the recycling program established in your local community?
Tom Szaky’s TerraCycle is evidence of how individual initiatives can play a
crucial role in recycling waste. Detailed information on the initiative is found in
the Individual Matter section at the end of the chapter.
Energy recovery and biological reprocessing are common ways of reusing
materials. Organic recoverable materials can be recovered through digestion and
composting. Recycling of organic material is then done to produce mulch or
compost that can be used for agriculture and landscaping. Waste gas can also
be captured and utilized for cogeneration, which is crucial for energy recovery
(Menikpura et al. 2013). Cogeneration involves the conversion of waste materials
that cannot be recycled into usable electricity, heat, or fuel using various processes,
including gasification, anaerobic digestion, combustion as well as landfill gas
recovery. The process of cogeneration leads to the production of a renewable source
and could minimize carbon emissions by balancing the energy demand from fossil
fuels and reducing the generation of methane from landfills.
What is the advantage of cogeneration, and how does it accelerate the
decomposition of organic matter? What is pyrolysis, and how is it important
for energy recovery?
8.4 Waste Treatment
Various processes can be used for the treatment of hazardous wastes. The aim is
to alter the chemical and physical composition of these waste products in order to
reduce their quantity and neutralize their toxicity. Treatments vary depending on
the chemical nature and physical state of the wastes. There are three major types of
waste treatment: physical, chemical, chemical and biological.
8.4.1 Physical Treatment
This entails mechanical segregation and separation to facilitate the process of
disposal. Regarding liquid wastes, it mainly entails phase separation, which involves
a sedimentation process whereby silt, sand as well as other particulates settle at the
bottom (Pichtel 2005). Coagulation combines the fine colloidal particles and enables
them to settle.
8 Waste Management
What is the recycling program established in your local community?
Tom Szaky’s TerraCycle is evidence of how individual initiatives can play a
crucial role in recycling waste. Detailed information on the initiative is found in
the Individual Matter section at the end of the chapter.
Energy recovery and biological reprocessing are common ways of reusing
materials. Organic recoverable materials can be recovered through digestion and
composting. Recycling of organic material is then done to produce mulch or
compost that can be used for agriculture and landscaping. Waste gas can also
be captured and utilized for cogeneration, which is crucial for energy recovery
(Menikpura et al. 2013). Cogeneration involves the conversion of waste materials
that cannot be recycled into usable electricity, heat, or fuel using various processes,
including gasification, anaerobic digestion, combustion as well as landfill gas
recovery. The process of cogeneration leads to the production of a renewable source
and could minimize carbon emissions by balancing the energy demand from fossil
fuels and reducing the generation of methane from landfills.
What is the advantage of cogeneration, and how does it accelerate the
decomposition of organic matter? What is pyrolysis, and how is it important
for energy recovery?
8.4 Waste Treatment
Various processes can be used for the treatment of hazardous wastes. The aim is
to alter the chemical and physical composition of these waste products in order to
reduce their quantity and neutralize their toxicity. Treatments vary depending on
the chemical nature and physical state of the wastes. There are three major types of
waste treatment: physical, chemical, chemical and biological.
8.4.1 Physical Treatment
This entails mechanical segregation and separation to facilitate the process of
disposal. Regarding liquid wastes, it mainly entails phase separation, which involves
a sedimentation process whereby silt, sand as well as other particulates settle at the
bottom (Pichtel 2005). Coagulation combines the fine colloidal particles and enables
them to settle.