This chapter mainly focuses on the waste generation, effecting the human
health and environment and how the nanotechnology proved to be the
revolutionized approach in waste management.
Keywords
Waste management · Nanotechnology · Dendrimers · Nanomaterials · Quantum
dots · Nanotubes · Industrialization
12.1 Introduction
Waste can be defined as the
“Organic or inorganic waste materials which are produced by the household or commercial
activities, and has lost their value in the eyes of the first owner but may have a great value to
somebody else.” (Robinson 1986)
Degree of industrialization, urbanization, and increase in the global growth of
processing and production lead to the huge amount of waste production mainly in the
developing countries like in India (Kumar et al. 2017). As in India, the efficiency of
the waste collection is about 50–90%, where 0.1 million tonnes of the municipal
waste is generated on daily basis which is 36.5 million tonnes annually and in total
only 5% of the waste is composted the rest 95% is directly dumped into the land.
From the study, it has also been calculated that the calorific value of this solid waste
is about 600–800 kcal/kg and its density ranges from 330 to 560 kg/m
2 . Therefore
about 90% of the waste generated in India is dumped in the land in a very undesirable manner (Sharholy et al. 2008) and creates lots of problems to the environment.
As the population and the living standards are increasing, the amount of the waste
generation has also been increased. From many centuries, many practices are being
performed such as backyard burning, open dumping, off site dumping, etc. to control
the production and the disposal of the waste, but instead of solving the problem they
are harming the environment indirectly. These practices are causing contamination
to the soil, water, air, food, loss of resources, and much harm to the environment and
human health (Agarwal et al. 2015). Therefore, it is essential for us to focus on the
proper management of waste.
Waste management is the most commonly used term and can be defined as the
“set of the applications of techniques which are used for the orderly execution of the various
functions such as collection, transport, processing, treatment and disposal of waste”
(Robinson 1986).
The waste management rules were proposed in India for the proper management
of the waste based on three principles, i.e., “sustainable development,” “precaution,”
and “polluter pays.” And later this was used as the collective term for the collection,
transportation, disposal, recycling, monitoring and for regulation of waste. The main
254
S. Vyas et al.
health and environment and how the nanotechnology proved to be the
revolutionized approach in waste management.
Keywords
Waste management · Nanotechnology · Dendrimers · Nanomaterials · Quantum
dots · Nanotubes · Industrialization
12.1 Introduction
Waste can be defined as the
“Organic or inorganic waste materials which are produced by the household or commercial
activities, and has lost their value in the eyes of the first owner but may have a great value to
somebody else.” (Robinson 1986)
Degree of industrialization, urbanization, and increase in the global growth of
processing and production lead to the huge amount of waste production mainly in the
developing countries like in India (Kumar et al. 2017). As in India, the efficiency of
the waste collection is about 50–90%, where 0.1 million tonnes of the municipal
waste is generated on daily basis which is 36.5 million tonnes annually and in total
only 5% of the waste is composted the rest 95% is directly dumped into the land.
From the study, it has also been calculated that the calorific value of this solid waste
is about 600–800 kcal/kg and its density ranges from 330 to 560 kg/m
2 . Therefore
about 90% of the waste generated in India is dumped in the land in a very undesirable manner (Sharholy et al. 2008) and creates lots of problems to the environment.
As the population and the living standards are increasing, the amount of the waste
generation has also been increased. From many centuries, many practices are being
performed such as backyard burning, open dumping, off site dumping, etc. to control
the production and the disposal of the waste, but instead of solving the problem they
are harming the environment indirectly. These practices are causing contamination
to the soil, water, air, food, loss of resources, and much harm to the environment and
human health (Agarwal et al. 2015). Therefore, it is essential for us to focus on the
proper management of waste.
Waste management is the most commonly used term and can be defined as the
“set of the applications of techniques which are used for the orderly execution of the various
functions such as collection, transport, processing, treatment and disposal of waste”
(Robinson 1986).
The waste management rules were proposed in India for the proper management
of the waste based on three principles, i.e., “sustainable development,” “precaution,”
and “polluter pays.” And later this was used as the collective term for the collection,
transportation, disposal, recycling, monitoring and for regulation of waste. The main
254
S. Vyas et al.