Waste Management Essay

Waste management means management of all the activities of handling waste from collecting waste to transporting it to its final destination for disposal. Waste management is essential for the healthy functioning of human and environment. We are generating waste on a faster pace than the disposal of waste is carried out. Many kinds of wastes are generated such as solid, gaseous and liquid. All forms of wastes created go through different processes of waste management. Efficient waste management will lead us to safe and healthy environment.

Long and Short Essay on Waste Management in English

Here are essays on Waste Management of varying lengths to help you with the topic in your exam. You can select any Waste management essay as per your need:

Waste Management Essay 1 (200 words)

Waste management is the overall process of collection, transportation, treatment and discarding of waste products, sewage and garbage. It also includes other legal, monitoring, recycling and regulating activities.

There are many forms of waste such as solid, gas or liquid and each has different process of disposal and management. Waste management manages different types of waste created by industries, household, commercial activities or natural waste. Large segment of waste management deals with municipal solid waste i.e. the waste created by industries, housing and commercial establishments.

The general concepts of waste management are waste hierarchy, that includes three approaches that are reduce, reuse and recycle. Second is life cycle of product that includes designing, producing, distributing followed by the 3 R’s of waste hierarchy. The third concept is resource efficiency that focuses on efficient use of resources. And the fourth concept is polluter-pay principle where the polluter-party i.e. one who generates waste has to pay for the impact caused to the environment. However, waste management carried on in developing and developed countries, cities and villages varies.

Inefficient waste management has several negative effects on health of living beings, environment and economy for e.g. air pollution, soil contamination, spread of hazardous diseases, etc. Waste management is aimed to reduce the adverse effects of waste on environment, health and the beauty of nature.

Waste Management Essay 2 (300 words)

Introduction

Solid waste management has become a major problem in many underdeveloped, developing and developed countries. The chief causes of increase in municipal solid waste are overpopulation, industrialization, economic growth and urbanization.

Waste management is a global issue but its consequences are more pronounced in developing countries. In India, solid waste management system has failed to keep pace with social and economic development in several regions. The inefficiency in management of municipal solid waste can adversely affect public health, environment and our economy.

Chief Factors Influencing Solid Municipal Waste in India

• Over population

Over population is the obvious cause for major issues of our country. Increase in population results in increase in solid municipal waste. High population leads to increasing demand of basic resources which leads to waste generation.

• Urbanization

Increasing population, declining employment opportunities in rural areas and migration from rural areas to enjoy the benefits of urban economic and social growth result in urbanization are some of the other reasons. Urbanization is the major cause for global warming. Industrialization in urban areas produces large amount of waste in the process of production of goods and disposal of goods after use causing waste. In many cities, overcrowding has overwhelmed the capacity of municipal authorities to manage waste.

• Luxurious Life

The materialistic perception and the need of luxury products have increased immensely to lead a comfortable and luxurious life regardless of whether it is needed or not. This results in more waste generation.

• E-waste

As the technology advances, the demand for new technology raises e.g. mobiles, TV’s, play stations, refrigerators etc.  As a result old gadgets and electronics become trash.

Conclusion

Government should initiate awareness campaigns and advertisements informing people about adverse effects of excess waste. New and advanced technology should be used for the disposal of waste. Maximum recycling reuse of the waste should be encouraged.

Waste Management Essay 3 (400 words)

Introduction

The term waste management means the management from collection of waste to the final stage of disposal. The complete process includes collection, transport, disposal, recycling, monitoring, and regulating along with the legal aspects that enable waste management. It includes all types of waste right from the household waste, industrial waste, agricultural waste, sludge, health care waste and waste due to commercialization. The methods of waste management for different kinds of waste vary.

There are different concepts of waste management and some of the general concepts are as follows:

1. Waste Hierarchy

The hierarchical process of waste management includes reducing, reusing and recycling of waste. The most favorable in the waste hierarchy is to reduce i.e. to avoid the consumption and source reduction followed by reuse and recycle. Let’s have a look at all three approaches of waste hierarchy in detail below:

• Reduce: The most preferred approach is not to create waste i.e. to avoid over consumption of goods and services, using eco-friendly products and saving energy. It also includes source reduction by reducing the inputs that go in the production process, production of durable goods, energy conservation and use of eco-friendly technology, hybrid transport, etc. It includes energy efficient production, packaging reduction and use of renewable energy sources.
• Reuse: Reuse is another useful approach to reduce waste. This includes reusing packaging systems which can help in reducing disposable waste. Reuse also includes using second hand products.
• Recycling: In this process, the used products are recycled into raw materials that can be used in the production of new products. Recycling of the products provides raw materials that are energy efficient, cost effective and less polluting. This also avoids the consumption of new raw materials.

2. Life Cycle of a Product

Life cycle of the product includes policy intervention, rethinking the need of product, redesigning to minimize waste and production of durable goods. The main purpose of the life-cycle of the product is to use the resources to the maximum to avoid unnecessary waste.

1. Resource Efficiency

Economic growth and development cannot be sustained with current patterns of production and consumption. We are overusing our natural resources to produce goods and services. Resource efficiency is the reduction of the negative impact on our environment from the production and consumption of goods. Reducing the use of energy associated in packaging and transport of goods by reusing the products. We are wasting our resources by wasting food, e-waste and wasting water.

2. Polluter Pays Principle

In polluter-pay principle, the polluter party i.e. waste generator pays for the impact caused to environment.

Conclusion

These are the most common factors of waste management. However, the waste management practices of underdeveloped, developing and developed countries are not uniform currently.

Waste Management Essay 4 (500 words)

Introduction

Waste management is the complete process of handling, processing, transporting, storage, recycling and disposal of human, industrial and environmental waste. Waste management is a global phenomenon but its ramifications are more prominent in developing countries.

Solid waste management which is a very massive task is getting more complicated with rise in urbanization, overpopulation, commercialization, social and economic growth, etc. Institutional fragility, financial constrains and public attitude towards waste management has made the issue even worse.

There are several methods of waste management and some of the most common methods are as follows:

• Landfills: Throwing away waste and garbage in landfills is the most common method of waste disposal. In this process, the odors and dangers of the garbage are eliminated. The garbage is then buried on the landfill sites. Landfills are also the cause of global warming which is why many countries are reconsidering the use of landfills.
• Incineration: In this method, municipal solid wastes are buried to convert them into residue, heat, ash, steam and gases. It reduces the volume of solid waste by 30% of the real volume.
• Recycling: It is the process in which discarded items are recycled for reuse. The waste materials are recycled to extract resources or convert into energies in the form of electricity, heat or fuel.
• Composting: It is a bio-degradation process in which the organic waste i.e. remains of plants and kitchen waste are converted into nutrient rich food for plants. Composting is the method used for organic-farming that also improves the fertility of soil.
• Anaerobic Digestion: It is also the process that decomposes organic materials through biological processes. It uses oxygen and bacteria-free environment for decomposing. Composting requires air to aid the growth of microbes.
• Waste to Energy: In this process, non-recyclable waste is converted into energy sources such heat, fuel or electricity. This is the renewable source of energy as non-recyclable waste can be used to create energy again and again.
• Waste Minimization: The simplest method of waste management is to create less waste. Waste reduction can be done by you and me by reducing the waste creation and recycling and reusing the old materials. Using eco-friendly products and reducing the use of plastic, paper, etc. is vital. Community participation has a direct impact on waste management system.
• Gasification and Pyrolysis: These two methods are used to decompose organic waste materials by exposing it to low amount of oxygen and high temperature. No oxygen is used in the process of pyrolysis and very low amount of oxygen is used in process of gasification. Gasification is the most advantageous process as no air pollution is created to recover energy by burning process.

Conclusion

Environmental associations have established several methods in dealing with waste management. Strategies are designed by civic bodies keeping in mind the long term vision. The use of new advanced technologies for treating and disposing solid waste is also initiated. The concept of common waste treatment is being encouraged and promoted as it uses waste as resource as raw material or co-fuel in manufacturing processes.

Waste Management Essay 5 (600 words)

Introduction

Waste management or waste disposal, include all the activities required to manage waste from its collection to disposal. Other activities are collecting, transporting, handling, supervising, regulating and discarding of waste and other legal procedures.  We cannot imagine our environment with the waste chunks all around us spreading diseases and damaging environment. Waste management practices performed efficiently and consistently can benefit immensely. There are various pros and cons of waste management.

Let’s have a look at some pros and cons of waste management:

Pros of Waste Management

1. Keeps the environment clean: The process of waste management helps keep the environment clean though we all as individuals need to participate in keeping our surroundings clean to achieve the goal. Waste management units work to collect the garbage and waste materials from public areas and transport to the landfill sites and other disposal units for its disposal. The odor and gases from the garbage are eliminated before disposal thus the whole process results in keeping the environment clean.
2. Conserves energy: The process of waste management includes recycling. Recycling of the products helps in reducing the production of new products and raw materials. Recycling also helps conserve energy as the process of recycling utilizes less energy.
3. Reduce air pollution: Waste management helps reduce pollution and global warming. It reduces the intensity of gases like carbon dioxide and methane emitted from waste.
4. Generate employment opportunities: Huge amount of manpower is needed in all the sections of waste management. From collection to the final stage of disposal there are several job opportunities in waste management sectors.
5. Sustainable use of resources: Minimum use of energy and resources is planned in the process of waste management. The waste management concept life-cycle of the product aims the efficient use of resources.
6. Health: Exposure to waste can effect human health and cause several diseases. Waste management activities include collecting the waste from the landfills around us and transporting to the areas where the waste can be disposed in a safe manner saving us from several health hazards.
7. Inter-generational Equity: Effective waste management practices will provide following generations strong economy and clean environment.

Cons of Waste Management

1. Finance: The amount of waste generated is in very large amounts and so the management of it and the overall process needs a lot of planning and implementing of the various tasks. Secondly, lot of manpower and new technologies are needed to manage the various kinds of waste materials. The complete waste management system and the process of reducing, recycling and reusing in an effective manner needs a lot of funding and investment.
2. Health of workers: The process of waste management includes waste of course that attracts many insects, pests, bacteria and microbes, etc that can cause harm to anyone’s health. The landfills are highly prone to bacterial and fungal growth that may cause various diseases making it an unsafe place for workers involved. Harmful gasses are released in the process of burning disposal that spread widely endangering human health. The sites may get contaminated due to inefficient waste management effecting human health.
3. Inefficient waste management: Waste management in developing countries experience fragile waste collection services and inefficiently managed dumpsites. The waste management practices are not uniform in underdeveloped, developing and developed countries. Waste management units are unable to keep pace with increasing amount of waste generation.

Conclusion

Irresponsible discarding of waste and not considering its negative impact on environment and others is wrong. We all are a part of nature and it’s our duty to prevent nature from the hazardous effects of waste. As managing waste is a massive process it begins by keeping your surroundings clean and the rest will be taken care of by waste management units.

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