Domestic Waste Management to reduce Trash

“There are few things certain in life – one is death, second is change and the other is waste.” No one can stop these things to take place in our lives. But with better management we can prepare ourselves. Here we will talk about waste and waste management. Each of us has a right to clean air, water and food. This right can be fulfilled by maintaining a clear and healthy environment.

Now for the first question, what is waste? Any material which is not needed by the owner, producer or processor is waste. Generally, waste is defined as at the end of the product life cycle and is disposed Most businesses define waste as “anything that does not create value”. In our life millions of tons of municipal solid waste are generated every day. Urban waste management is drawing increasing attention; as we can easily be observe that too much garbage is lying uncollected in the streets and City. It is causing inconvenience, environmental pollution, and posing, public health problems. The problem of solid, liquid, and toxic-waste management in Pakistan has come with urbanization in the developing world. An important feature of the urbanization of the developing world is the rapid growth of cities and metropolitan areas. The high rate of urbanization in Pakistan countries implies a rapid accumulation of refuse. Social and economic changes that most Pakistan countries have witnessed since the 1947s have also contributed to an increase in the waste generated per capita. As a result, municipal waste management constitutes one of the most crucial health and environmental issues facing managers of Pakistan cities. Proper waste management is a public benefit and obligation. Improper waste disposal by one individual affects the entire citizenry, so, as a policy, countries have tasked every individual, establishment or institution to contribute significantly to the process of keeping their communities and environment clean.

Classification of waste

There may be different types of waste such as Domestic waste, Factory waste, Waste from oil factory, E-waste, Construction waste, Agricultural waste, Food processing waste, Bio-medical waste, Nuclear waste, Slaughter house waste etc. We can classify waste as follows:

1. Solid waste is create by home level, after the cutting of vegetable and edible part use for food that is called vegetable waste, during the cooking many things waste that waste is called kitchen waste. The uses of things, comprising of garbage and rubbish such as uses the Cold drink bottles, cans, clothing, compost, disposables, food packaging, food scraps, newspapers and magazines, and yard trimmings that originates from private homes or apartments. It may also contain household hazardous waste.
2. Electronic wasteis describe discarded electrical or electronic Used electronic which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal are also consider e–waste. discarded electronic devices such as computer, TV, music systems etc.
3. Liquid waste can be defined as such Liquids as wastewater, fats, oils or grease (FOG), used oil, liquids, solids, gases, or sludges and hazardous household liquids. These liquids that are hazardous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. water used for different industries, tanneries, distilleries, thermal power plants.
4. Plastic waste is define as plasticdebris, that can vary in size from large containers, fishing nets to microscopic plastic pellets or even particles is discarded every year, everywhere, polluting lands, rivers, coasts, beaches, oceans and home bases are plastic bags, bottles, bucket, etc.
5. Metal waste isconsist of recyclable materials left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, surplus materials and unused metal sheet etc.
6. Nuclear waste is waste that contains radioactive Radioactive waste is usually a by-product of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine unused materials from nuclear power plants Further we can group all these types of waste into wet waste (Biodegradable) and dry waste (Non Biodegradable).

Wet waste (Biodegradable) includes the following:

• Kitchen waste including food waste of all kinds, cooked and uncooked, including eggshells and bones. Flower and fruit waste including juice peels and house-plant waste. Garden sweeping or yard waste consisting of green/dry leaves, Sanitary wastes. Green waste from vegetable and fruit shops. The waste from food and tea stalls shops etc.

Dry waste (Non-biodegradable) includes the following:

The waste like Paper and plastic, all kinds of Cardboard and cartons. Containers of all kinds, excluding those containing hazardous material like packaging of all kinds, Glass of all kinds, Metals of all kinds, Rags, rubber, House sweeping (dust etc.), Ashes, Foils, wrappings, pouches, sachets and tetra packs (rinsed). Discarded electronic items from offices, colonies viz. cassettes, computer diskettes, printer cartridges and electronic parts. Discarded clothing, furniture and equipment.

STRATEGY TO MANAGE DOMESTIC TRASH

Remember 3R’s

1. Reduce b. Reuse c. Recycle
2. How to Reduce?

• Buy only what you need
• Buy multipurpose products
• Buy products that can be reused
• Buy products with little packaging
• Reduce paper waste (unwanted email and prints)
• Reduce the use of plastic bag
• Reduce the use of “disposable”

1. How to Reuse?

• Maintain and repair products
• Prefer reusable over disposable items
• Instead of throwing items away, used them for other roles
• Donate which is extra or not in use

1. How to facilitate “Recycling”

Segregate domestic waste in to following

• Kitchen Waste
• Reusable Waste
• Recyclable Waste
• Refusal (non-recyclable)

About Authors:
Muhammad Nazim¹ and Qurat-Ul-Ain Sadiq^2
2*Department of Agronomy, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef, University of Agriculture Multan, 66000 Pakistan
⁴Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef, University of Agriculture Multan, 66000Pakistan.