Waste Management Systems - Essay Example

Waste Management Systems s Submitted by s: Introduction Waste management typically refers to waste materials that areresult from the activities undertaken by human beings with this material being managed in order to avoid severe effects on the health of humans as well as the environment around them (Lemann, 2008, p. 307). In most instances, waste management is conducted so that resources can be obtained from the waste. Various forms of waste can be managed including liquid, radioactive and solid matter. The approaches to waste management may be different in the case of countries that are industrialized and those that are still developing. The approaches may also be different for urban and rural populations as well as industrial and residential parts of a community. The local governments mainly handle waste management in urban and rural areas; on the other hand, industries usually manage their own waste in the event that it is hazardous (Dhamija, 2006, p. 19). The transition to a sustainable system of waste management requires that leverage points are identified and applied in order to bring about changes. Stakeholders in waste management and roles they play in sustainable waste management Towards the end of the twentieth century, there has been a significant increase in the scope of democracy at the local level in the nations as a result of the devolution of administrations, economies and politics to the local governments. Local governments are usually second or third realms of government and are usually used to create closer connection between the government and the citizens in the locality. While providing services, they should also be political institutions that propagate the voices and choices of the local people. In general, it is the responsibility of the local government to collect and dispose waste making it the legal owner of the collected waste. Therefore, local governments are supposed to develop measures that will ensure that the type of waste management they are associated with is sustainable (Hawkins and Shaw, 2004, p. 79). Sharing of similar experiences and perspectives as well as physical nearness to other people is the main aspect that defines a community. The word community has developed to be identified with terms such as towns, neighbourhoods and villages regardless of the fact that communities can exist in other form of relationships like social, professional or spiritual. The word community is often used too casually as the people may not have the best opinions throughout. This is because people living on the same community may have differing hopes, convictions and identities. This implies that there may be a distribution of the level of literacy, education standards as well as socio-economic status within it. Therefore, as far as waste management is concerned, the community will be affected either positively or negatively depending on the actions of other stakeholders in the sector or their own actions of waste management. Generally, a wide range of voluntary associations that exist between the family and the state make up civil societies. Civil societies are comprised of a collection of organizations that exist between the family on one side and the state on the other. In the developing nations, civil societies have a complicated connection with the state including being on the warpath with the state especially in the instances where the state is repressive. In terms of waste management, the civil societies mainly put the relevant authorities on their toes on behalf of the communities while ensuring the community is aware of sustainable waste management measure (Davies, 2008, p. 172). NGO may exist at the local and international level and are can be defined as voluntary citizen groups that do not seek profit with operations at locally, nationwide or internally (Fonjong, 2007, p. 44). The operations and activities undertaken by NGOs are more often focused on communities along with the improvement of lives of the populations that form these communities and their operation is in varying aspects of development irrespective of the revenues of the country they operate (Bhattarai, 2002, p. 31). They develop and execute technological innovations and collaborate with public service contractors working for the government as they seek to promote development at the grassroots level through self-help, empowering movements and the provision of active advocacy services. NGOs have a significant influence and are very useful since they create a capacity and ability for various communities that enable them take part in management of waste at the local level (Zapata Campos and Hall, 2013, p. 76). Regardless of the attempts and efforts that come for community-based organizations towards developing the communities around them, they continue to be considered informal or small organizations by a number of government administrations (Schneider, 2006, p. 128). By definition, community based organizations are informal institutions which are constituted by members of a particular community with the aim of addressing a specific need. As far as the community based organizations are concerned, introducing community based solutions to waste management requires a creation of awareness in regard to development of measures along with at the organization and technical level (Vliet, Buuren and Mgana, 2014, p. 52). Significance of analyzing and forecasting waste quantity and composition Presently, huge quantities of waste, especially solid waste is generated making it necessary for the waste management authorities to collect, process and dispose the it in a manner that is both economical and environmentally efficient (Singhal and Mehrotra, 2000, p. 347). This makes imperative for the waste managers to obtain accurate forecasts of waste quantities that are generated. A short-term forecast of the rate of future waste generation can lead to better planning in terms of collection, personnel as well as the utilization of trucks used for transporting the refuse to the landfill for final disposal. Additionally, long-term prediction may also be valuable to waste management authorities in the selection of the best technology or scheduling of sites where landfills will be located. Nonetheless, in the process of predicting long-term waste generation rates, it is important to remain aware of the considerable changes in the perceptions of the people who generate the waste or the laws that govern minimization and recycling of waste. Even though projections in terms of growth are among the highly valued aspects that determine the waste management strategies that are to be used, past analysis of growth rates have been poor as it is difficult to make accurate predictions (Goodship, 2010, p. 157). Forecasting the amount of waste that will be produced assists the relevant authorities to develop adequate waste management infrastructures while at the same time gaining an understanding on what has to be achieved in regards to recycling targets and the approaches that might be followed in terms of banking and purchases as well as sales. Forecasts and predictions also assist the authorities to highlight the significance along with the need for minimization of waste generation as a result of the impact of growth rates on the costs of delivery of waste management systems. Lastly, it is greatly useful in highlighting the potential for varied results depending on the approximated rates of growth. This makes it important to improve the quality of data as well as that of monitoring results on a continuous basis in order to observe the variations between the actual outcomes and the ones that were predicted. The possibility for forecasts to be inaccurate demonstrates the value of waste management systems that are not merely based on predict and move mentalities. The waste management systems that integrate flexibility in dealing with the possibilities that the predictions may not be completely accurate have a higher likelihood of being more future proof. An additional benefit of prediction is that aspects that may be significant in the future can be identified in advance thus increasing the need for additional monitoring in the future. This may be meaningful in the cases where new laws are expected or are being introduced. Challenges posed in gaining the acceptance and cooperation of the public to successful operation of waste management systems The foundation of an efficient large-scale system for the management of solid waste is the cooperation of the waste generators to interface with the collection of the waste, its transportation as well as the system of disposal. The officials of the local governments require that people put all their waste in their designated places, at the approved times and sorted in the appropriate ways. However, numerous people do not follow this simple guidelines and this remains the main complaint of solid waste managers. They ate in some cases disappointed and frustrated by recurrent lapses, which are significantly expensive on the local governments while creating general impressions of uncleanliness. Often, households do not adhere to the schedules and regulations of effective waste management, but sometime this is a result of lacking facilities (Powell, Turner and Bateman, 2001, p. 269). For instance, if the point of transfer or site where the waste is supposed to be dumped is relatively far from the house, people develop a propensity to throw their waste in the streets and other open spaces. This can be attributed to the households not having adequate awareness and incentives to adhere to the regulations of the system of collection and the local administration not having authority and sanctions. In other occurrences, people living in a particular area responsible for the immediate environment they live in as well as their homes, but consider the public spaces like streets and drainage canals the obligation of the state. In cases like these, municipalities may not have sufficient funds or workers to deal with this mess and may sometimes consider it the responsibility of the surrounding neighborhoods. Consequently, this has a negative impact on the overall cleanliness of the public areas, the will to pay for cleaning services and the conduct of the households. Clean ups that take place from time to time may have a short-term positive impact on the sanitation of the streets and the public areas. The lacking in social cohesion and regulations in the neighborhoods makes this solution become unsustainable particularly in the low income areas where cooperation become a challenge as a result of the increased mobility of households and the escalating amount of people who are renting houses. The help of large educational campaigns may assist in bringing the necessary changes in the attitudes and conduct of the people and the involvement of local authorities in organizing and education is integral to this. How recycling may have differing relevance within a developing and developed waste management industry With an increase in urbanization, waste management continues to become a concern for public health and the environment in the urban areas in numerous developing countries. This concern is serious especially in capital cities that are in most cases the gateways to the nation’s visitors including dignitaries (Thomas-Hope, 1998, p. 2). Poor appearances visually have negative effects on official and tourist visitations as well as investment by foreign investors. Acknowledging its significance, various developing nations request cooperation with external supporting agencies in a bilateral and multilateral manner so that they can improve waste management in their urban areas. Even though some of the projects succeed in bringing about positive effects on the waste management in the countries receiving the assistance, most of them fail to continue with the same activities after the external support ceases its support. Consequently, this unsustainability of the concerted projects is attributed to technical institutional and economic constraints among others, which are experienced by the cities as well as the supporting agencies. Worldwide, it is becoming more difficult to obtain raw materials and the costs of energy continue to escalate with soil, air and water pollution all over the world increasing by the day. Each day, the issues of waste continue to increase as a result of the changing patterns of consumption, industrial developments as well as increased urbanization. This makes the traditional systems of waste disposal lose their relevance necessitating the need for recycling systems with an ability to produce materials from waste products. On the margins of the urbanized centers, it is commonplace to dispose rubbish in landfills that are not safe or in sewers. The local governments are in most cases not able to introduce incorporated systems of managing waste due to the linked high costs and only a limited number of models are capable of meeting operation costs to operate effectively. Waste management and recycling systems that are sustainable seek to reduce the amount of natural resources used and making sure that the already harvested resources are used and recycled as many times as possible in order to keep the amount of waste to a minimum. Conclusion Even though the type of stakeholders may be the same in numerous waste management systems, the stakeholders are likely to be different from one nation to the other and from one city to the other, making it important to identify it in the local setting. This is important in order to enable researchers as well as practitioners concerned with waste management to gain access to meaningful information regarding theoretical experiences as background information to inform future work and provide feedback for the enhancement of sustainable waste management systems and approaches. A waste management system that is sustainable includes feedback loops while focusing in processes, embodying adaptability and diverting waste from disposal, therefore, the transition to a sustainable system of waste management requires that leverage points are identified and applied in order to bring about changes. Bibliography Bhattarai, M. 2002, Integrated development and management of water resources for productive and equitable use in the Indrawati River Basin, Nepal, International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Davies, A. 2008, The geographies of garbage governance, Ashgate, Aldershot, Hampshire, England. Dhamija, U. 2006, Sustainable solid waste management, Academic Foundation, New Delhi. Fonjong, L. 2007, The challenges of nongovernmental organisations in anglophone Cameroon, Nova Science Publishers, New York. Goodship, V. 2010, Management, recycling and reuse of waste composites, Woodhead Pub, Oxford. Hawkins, R. and Shaw, H. 2004, The practical guide to waste management law, Thomas Telford, London. Lemann, M. 2008, Waste management, Peter Lang, Bern. Powell, J., Turner, R. and Bateman, I. 2001, Waste management and planning, E. Elgar Pub, Cheltenham, UK. Schneider, J. 2006, Social capital and welfare reform, Columbia University Press, New York. Singhal, R. and Mehrotra, A. 2000, Environmental issues and management of waste in energy and mineral production, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Thomas-Hope, E. 1998, Solid waste management, Canoe Press, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Vliet, B., Buuren, J. and Mgana, S. 2014, Urban waste and sanitation services for sustainable development, Routledge, London. Zapata Campos, M. and Hall, M. 2013, Organising waste in the city, Policy Press, Bristol, UK. Read More