Solid Waste Management

Solid Waste Management

Maribel U. Cruz , M.D.

Session Objectives1. To define solid wastes and solid waste

management2. To enumerate the general categories,

types and sources of solid wastes3. To describe the situation regarding

solid waste disposal in the Philippines4. To describe the waste hierarchy of

SWM5. To cite the objectives of SWM6. To enumerate and explain the

elements of SWM

Solid WasteDefinition :

All wastes arising from human & animal activities that are normally solid & that are discarded as useless or unwanted

Three General Categories1. Municipal wastes2. Industrial wastes3. Hazardous wastes

Municipal Solid Wastes

Food wastes or GarbageRubbish : paper, cardboard, plastic, textiles, rubber, leather, wood, glass, cans, metalsAshes & residues: materials remaining from the burning of wood, coal & other combustible wastesDemolition & construction wastes: stone, concrete, brick, lumber, plumbing, heating & electrical parts

Municipal Solid WastesSpecial wastes: street sweepings, roadside litter, dead animals, abandoned vehicles, discarded appliances

Industrial Wastes

Wastes arising from industrial activities and typically include rubbish, ashes, demolition and construction wastes, special wastes and hazardous wastes.Can include treatment plant wastes

Hazardous WastesWastes that pose a substantial danger immediately or over a period of time to human, plant & animal lifeWastes which exhibit any of the ff;

> Ignitability > Corrosivity > Reactivity > Toxicity

Types & Sources of Solid Wastes 1. Household wastes2. Commercial & industrial wastes3. Farm & agricultural wastes4. Institutional wastes5. Miscellaneous & special wastes > sludge from water & waste water treatment plants, ash from

incinerators street sweepings, demolition,

constructions

Situationer

Problems associated with solid waste disposal:

1. Pollution of water and food resources

2. Burning of solid wastes destroys the fertility of the soil

3. Exposure to smoke & fumes from burning wastes increases their risk of developing respiratory diseases

4. Solid wastes become breeding sites of disease vectors

Situationer1997 – means of solid waste disposal by HH nationwide included the following:

> Individual burning – 48% > Municipal garbage collection – 30% > Open dumping – 6% > Burying – 5% > Composting – 4% > others – 7% Source: Solid Waste Management Bureau

Solid Waste Management Indicators Philippines 2003

Indicator National MMMSW generated (tons/year) 10 million 2.5 mil

Collection efficiency Urban 73%

Rural 40%

83%

Percentage waste recovered & reused 13% 25%

Percentage MSW composted 10%

Percentage MSW recycled & sold 5% 6-12%

Percentage of MSW disposed in controlled dumps

30%

No. of disposal facilities 909 8

Situationer2004 – MM generated more than 2 million tons of potentially recyclable materials

> Plastic is the most common material recycled followed by metal, paper and glass

MM generated 6,700 tons of garbage daily

Situationer In MM sources of wastes are: > households 74.1% > shops 9.4% > markets 7.6% > restaurants 7.5% > institutions 0.8% > street sweepings 0.4% > river clean-up 0.14%

Situationer In MM, 90% of the wastes are collected

by municipal collection system of which: > 25% are illegally dumped > 30% are collected by sanitary landfills > 33% are disposed in open dumps > 2% is recycled Of the remaining wastes that are

collected, 4% are recycled by HH while 6% are self-disposed generally into the river systems

Data from 47 municipalities revealed that 36% had waste recycling programsOn the industrial side, among the 368 business establishments that were surveyed:

> 49% - used public facilities > 25% - private contractors > 8% - composting > 7% - landfill > 4% - recycling > 1% - incineration

Solid Waste ManagementDefinition: Interrelated system of appropriate technologies and mechanisms involved in the generation, collection, storage and processing, transfer & transport , and disposal of solid wastes at the lowest possible cost and risk to the health of the people and their environment.

National Solid Waste Management

System FrameworkPolicy Objectives:

1. Reduction of wastes generated at the source

2. The reduction of wastes to extend the serviceability of final disposal sites

3. Improvement of collection efficiency4. The provision of safe, environmentally

friendly & acceptable way of disposing

waste collected from source

Waste HierarchyRefers to an ordered sequence of initiatives that can be used to identify steps in addressing the amount of waste produced by societyWaste avoidance Reuse Recovery Recycling Disposal

Functional Elements of Solid Waste Management1. Waste Generation2. On-site handling, storage &

processing3. Collection4. Transfer & Transport5. Processing and recovery6. Disposal

Solid Waste GenerationDefinition : refers to the act or process of producing wasteSource Reduction : reduction of solid waste before it enters the solid waste stream3Rs of Solid Waste Mgt. at the source:

1. Reduce- avoid wasteful consumption of goods & minimize waste2. Reuse- recovering materials intended for the same or different purpose without altering its physical characteristics3. Recycle-solid waste materials are

transformed into new materials

On-Site StorageContainers for on-site storage should meet the following requirements:

1. Provided with fitting covers to prevent access to flies and rodents

2. Sufficient in size or number to store all the wastes between collection

3. Made of water-proof material 4. Small enough to be carried easily when

filled with wastes5. Accessible to the collector, not subject

to flooding & located away from food storage

On-Site Storage

Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 provides that segregation of wastes shall be primarily conducted at the source

Wastes shall be segregated into biodegradable and non- biodegradable

Refuse CollectionImportant points to consider in solid waste collection are:

1. Regular collection is necessary to avoid problems of storage

2. Vehicles transporting refuse should be properly covered to prevent foul odors, eye-sores access to flies & scattering of waste materials in the streets

3. The route to the final destination site should be as direct as possible from the point of origin & should avoid busy streets

Transfer and Transport

Refers to the means & facilities used to effect the transfer of wastes from relatively small to larger vehicles & to transport them to processing centers or disposal sites

Processing Techniques1. Mechanical volume reduction

Compaction Balling of papers for recycling Used to increase the life of landfills

2. Thermal volume reductionIncineration can reduce the volume of wastes by more than 90%Generation of toxic air pollutants: dioxins and furans

Processing Techniques3. Manual component separation

Can be accomplished at the source, transfer stations, centralized processing stations or disposal sitesMaterials to be sorted or salvaged are:

cardboard & high quality paper, newsprint, aluminum cans, glass, iron metals

Resource Recovery Refer to the collection, extraction

or sorting of recyclable materials from the waste stream for purpose of recycling, generating energy or production of a product for beneficial use

The recyclable items are bought by manufacturing plants for processing to produce goods

Disposal of Solid WastesIn the homes particularly in rural areas, solid wastes may be disposed of satisfactorily in the ff. ways:

1. Burial- deposit solid wastes in pits & covered with soil > pit should be located at least 25 m. away from any well used for water supply2. Open burning

3. Feeding to animals4. Composting – controlled decomposition of organic matter by micro-organisms mainly bacteria & fungi, into humus-like product5. Grinding & disposal sewer – “garbage grinders” attached to kitchen sinks6. Sanitary Landfill- involves controlled

disposal of solid wastes on or in the upper layer of earth’s mantle

Criteria for Establishment of a Sanitary Landfill

1. Liners – a system of clay or geosynthetic membranes used to contain the leachate and to prevent contaminant flow to groundwater

2. Leachate collection & treatment system > installation of pipes at the low areas of the liner to collect leachate for storage & eventual treatment & discharge

3. Gas control recovery system > series of vertical pipes or horizontal

trenches containing permeable materials and perforated piping to collect gas for treatment of use as an energy source

4. Groundwater monitoring system – takes water samples representative of ground

water quality5. Cover – 2 forms of cover consisting of

soil & geosynthetic materials to protect the waste

materials

6. A daily cover is placed over the waste at the close of each day’s operations

7. A final cover or cap w/c is the material placed over the completed landfill to control infiltration of water, gas emission to the atmosphere & erosion

Summary We have discussed:1. Definition of solid waste and solid

waste management 2. Three general categories, types and

sources of solid waste3. Situation regarding solid waste

disposal 4. Waste hierarchy5. Objectives of solid waste

management6. Elements of SWM

Health Care Waste Management

Session Objectives

1. To define health care waste2. To enumerate the categories of

HCW and cite examples for each3. To describe the health care waste

minimization scheme4. To describe the color coding

scheme for HCW5. To cite the practices that should

be observed in HCW management

Session Objectives

6. To discuss the different processes in health care waste treatment

7. To discuss the waste disposal systems for HCW

National Objectives for 2005-2010 Health care waste segregation,

treatment and disposal are improvedIndicators

1. Percentage of health care facilities disposing infectious & hazardous wastes according to approved means

Target: 80% Baseline: 51% in NCR, DOH 1997

Indicators , cont.2. Number of approved healthcare waste

treatment facilities at the regional level

Target: at least 1 per region Baseline: 3 in Southern Tagalog, 1 in

NCR Source: DENR, 20023. Number of healthcare facilities served

by approved disposal facilities Target: at least one per region Baseline: to be determined

Indicators, cont.4. Percentage of healthcare facilities

practicing proper waste segregation

Target: 100% of DOH hospitals Baseline: 69% of DOH hospitals Source: DOH, 2004

A study of 144 private & government hospitals in MM showed that

> 86% practiced waste segregation > 59% pre-treated hazardous wastes chemical disinfection and

autoclavingWaste collection was done by: > MMDA (38.9%) > Private contractors (35.4%) > Networking with other hospitals with incinerators (12.9%)

Health Care Waste

Includes all the wastes that is generated or produced as a result of any of the following activities:

1. Diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals

2. Research pertaining to the above activities

3. Production or testing of biologicals4. Waste originating from minor or

scattered sources

Categories of Health Care Waste1. General waste 2. Infectious waste3. Pathological waste4. Sharps5. Pharmaceutical waste6. Genotoxic waste7. Chemical waste8. Waste with high content of Heavy

metals9. Pressurized containers10. Radioactive waste

General Waste Comparable to domestic waste Comes costly from the administrative

or housekeeping functions of health care establishments

May also include waste generated during maintenance of health care premises

Does not pose special handling problem or hazard to human health or to the environment

Infectious Waste Waste is suspected to contain

pathogens This includes:

Cultures & stocks or infectious agents from laboratory workWaste from surgery & autopsies on patients with infectious diseasesWaste from infected patients in isolation wards

Infectious wasteWastes that has been in contact with infected patients undergoing hemodialysisInfected animals from laboratoriesAny other instruments or materials that have been in contact with infected patients or animals

Pathological Waste Consist of tissues, organs, body

parts, human fetus and animal carcasses, blood & body fluids

Anatomical waste- recognizable human or animal body parts

Can also be considered as a subcategory of infectious wastes

Sharps

Includes needles, syringes, scalpels, saws, blades, broken glass, infusions sets, knives, nails & any other items that can cause a cut or puncture wounds

Pharmaceutical Waste Includes expired, unused, spilt,

and contaminated pharmaceutical products, drugs, vaccines and sera that are no longer required and need to be disposed of appropriately

Also includes discarded items used in handling of pharmaceuticals

Genotoxic Waste Includes cytostatic drugs, vomit,

urine or feces from patients treated with cytostatic drugs, chemicals and radioactive materials

Highly hazardous and may have mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic properties

Chemical Waste Consist of solid, liquid and gaseous

chemicals from diagnostic, experimental work, cleaning & housekeeping and disinfecting procedures

Maybe considered as hazardous or non-hazardous

Chemical Waste Chemical waste is considered

hazardous if it has at least one of the following propertiesToxicCorrosiveFlammableReactiveGenotoxic

Waste with High Content of Heavy

MetalsWastes with a high metal contentRepresent a subcategory of hazardous chemical waste & are usually highly toxicMercury wastes generated from spillage of broken clinical equipmentCadmium waste comes from discarded batteriesReinforced wood panels containing lead

Pressurized Containers Includes gases which are stored in

pressurized cylinders, cartridges and aerosol cans

Whether inert or potentially harmful, gases in pressurized containers should always be handled with care

Radioactive Wastes Includes disused sealed radiation

sources, liquid & gaseous materials contaminated with radioactivity, excreta of patients who underwent radionuclide diagnostic and therapeutic applications , paper cups, straws, needles & syringes, test tubes, & tap water washings of such paraphernalia

Waste Minimization Centered on the elimination or

reduction of the health care waste stream

Consist of source reduction, recycling, treatment and residual disposal

Prior to the implementation of a waste minimization program, it is important to develop a baseline data of the amount of waste generated

Principles of Waste Minimization

Identify waste generation rates, current hazardous waste management strategies

Commitment of health care establishment operators/owners to waste minimization

Includes a written policy with specific goals, objectives & timeliness

Train employees in hazardous waste handling & site specific waste minimization methods

Be aware of and keep updated on the hazardous materials regulations

Methods of Waste Minimization Eliminate use of a material or

generate less waste Re-use Recycling Segregation of wastes Composting

Color Coding Scheme for Health Care Waste Black – non-infectious waste Green – non-infectious wet waste Yellow – infectious & pathological

waste Yellow with black band – chemical

waste including those with heavy metals

Orange – Radioactive waste Red – sharps & pressurized containers

The following practices should be observed:Residuals of the general health care waste should join the domestic waste or municipal solid wasteSharps should all be collected together & placed in puncture proof containers with fitted coversBags & containers for infectious waste should be marked with the international infectious substance symbol

Highly infectious waste & other hazardous waste should be treated immediatelyCytotoxic waste should be collected in leak proof containers clearly labeled “Cytotoxic wastes”Radioactive waste should be segregated accdg. to its physical form & to its half-life and potency

Large quantities of chemical waste should be packed in chemical resistant containers & sent to specialized treatment facilitiesWastes with a high content of heavy metals (e.g. cadmium or mercury) should be collected separately & sent to a waste treatment facilityAerosol containers may be collected with the general health care waste. They should not be burnt or incinerated.Anatomical waste should be disposed of in accordance with the local custom

Health Care Waste Treatment Aim: to change the biological &

chemical character of the waste to minimize its potential to cause harm

Incineration used to be the method of choice in treating health care wastesMost common technologies & processes are: thermal, chemical, irradiation, biological processes, encapsulation and inertization

Thermal Processes Rely on high heat to destroy

pathogens Autoclave >

uses high temperature & high pressure steam sterilization to inactivate most microorganisms

> used for sterilization of reusable medical equipment

Chemical Disinfection Presently being applied for treatment

of health care waste Aldehydes, Chlorine compounds,

phenolic compounds, etc. are added to waste to kill or inactivate pathogens

Most suitable in treating blood, urine, stools and sewage or in treating infectious wastes containing pathogens

Biological Processes Uses an enzyme mixture to

decontaminate health care wastes Requires regulation of ph, enzyme level,

temperature & other variables Design application is mainly for regional

health care waste treatment centers Composting & vermiculture for treating

and disposing of placental waste, food waste, yard trimmings & other organic wastes

Radiation Technology Wastes containign potentially infectious

microorganisms ( sewage sludge, biomedical wastes, wastewater) are treated using irradiation systems

Four main elements of the waste handling system are:

1. Identification of the contaminated waste 2. Collection 3. Sterilization 4. Final disposal or recycling

Encapsulation Appropriate for disposal of sharps &

chemical and pharmaceutical residues Uses either cubic boxes made of high

density polyethylene or metallic drums that are ¾ filled with sharps or chemical or pharmaceutical residues

Containers are filled up with a medium like plastic foam, bituminous sand & cement mortar

Reduces the risk of scavengers gaining access to health care wastes

Inertization Suitable for pharmaceutical waste Involves the mixing of waste with

cement & other substances before disposal

Minimize the risk of toxic substances in the waste from migrating into the surface water or groundwater

Mixture composed of 65% pharmaceutical waste, 15% lime, 15% cement, & 5% water

Waste Disposal Systems Sanitary Landfill – designed to

keep the waste isolated from the environment

Safe burial on Hospital premises Septic or concrete vault – for the

disposal of used sharps & syringes

Burial on Hospital Premises Burial site should be lined with a

material of low permeability like clay

Only hazardous health care wastes should be buried

Large quantities (>1kg) of chemical & pharmaceutical wastes should not be buried

Burial site should be managed as a landfill

Burial pit should be downhill & about 50 meters away from any body of water

The bottom of the pit should be at least 1.5 meters higher than the ground water level

On-site burial is for limited period of 1-2 years only & for small amounts of wastes ( 5-10 tons in total)

Summary We have discussed:1. Definition of health care waste2. Categories of health care wastes3. Health care waste Minimization Program4. Color coding scheme for HCW5. Practices that should be observed in

health care waste disposal6. Processes in HCW treatment 7. Waste disposal systems for HCW