Waste Management - Research Paper Example

Waste management The realization that businesses have an ethical responsibility towards the society is a core hallmark of the modern society. This occurs as the society realizes that businesses possess a larger role beyond making profits. It is essential to highlight that this attitude, however, stems from the realization that businesses create externalities to the environment through their practices. Environmental sustainability, therefore, is an essential issue in every business because it entails creating a better world for the future generations. Incineration, in the context of environmental sustainability, is a crucial issue since it considerably helps in waste management. Incineration occupies a major role in a world whereby landfills are getting bigger. It is essential to highlight that habitable places are increasingly getting squeezed as populations and settlements’ needs bulge. Waste management, therefore, caters for this phenomenon. Instead of seeking space for more landfills, incineration creates more space. This occurs as it reduces the mass of wastes by up to 95 percent (Sands, Peel, Fabra, & Mackenzie, 2012). This fact does not necessitate the removal of landfills but emphasizes why landfills could be reduced. It is crucial to highlight that landfills, which occur in most cities pose even greater environmental dangers. This is because they mostly retain the wastes that are considered harmful for human beings. Landfills ease the spread of contagious diseases, as they contain harmful chemicals and piled-up wastes that encourage the build-up of organisms. In the UK, landfill operations have been noted to result in notable hazardous impacts. These impacts occur in incidents such as lethal accidents, surrounding environmental pollution, damage to infrastructure, production of methane gases, unfavorable effect over wildlife, and other related problems. The vehicles and machines that help mange landfills create noise and dust that affect surrounding environments. Landfills do not perform a major role in waste management because they simply entail the redistribution of wastes. In an age whereby governments and stakeholders are striving for livability in areas previously considered inhabitable, incineration would be an essential way of creating more capacity. This also means incineration plants, in comparison to landfills, offer an aesthetic benefit. Landfills form an ugly and frothy look that is displeasing top the sight. This, especially, is disgusting in town areas that are supposed to maintain proper aesthetes in the city arrangement. Incineration has been useful in land reclamation for restoration of beautiful environments. Human needs for recreation have increasingly expanded. In turn, the contemporary tastes and preferences for leisure are increasingly demanding the ecological outlook in related areas. For instance, landfills are highly likely to be converted into parks, golf courses, and sports’ fields. Such parks entail planted trees and grass that accords the same a green outlook. Such feats are only possible if waste management concerns with reducing the mass of wastes and landfills thereby reducing the areas under which they occur. Incineration plants are more responsive to regulatory compliance than other waste management methods such as landfills. To begin with, incineration plants entail the involvement of machines that may easily face the modification that define the required amount of emissions. In addition, incineration managers can easily control and choose the nature of materials for combustion. This provides an essential for basis for guiding the combustion and non-combustion of materials such as carbon monoxide, fumes containing intolerable odors, volatile organic compounds, and photo-reactive organic compounds. Besides, the operation of incineration plants allow for the work of specialists who can modify given machines and create efficient operations that synchronize with local and international regulations on the environment. Incinerations allows for central engagements of wastes. This is because the costs involved in building an incineration plant are high. In this sense, it would be costly, for instance, to build four incineration plants in one city. In most cases, the fears over the possible harmful effects of the gaseous substances, which incineration plants produce, is a major reason for building fewer incineration plants in residential areas. This creates an advantage of central management of wastes, as wastes occur in a central area. Multiple management of waste distills the focus that would be useful in a central area. In case of incineration plants, experts and agree upon a central and coherent system of combusting wastes from different parts of an area. In addition, incineration may provide a single way of tackling waste in an area. In this perspective, specialists may uncover systems of tackling the limitation that characterizes incineration plants. Since incineration mainly aims at waste management, the production of energy is a by-product that can really help people living in areas close to incineration plants. Incineration plants, in their primordial outlook, cannot generate massive energy for operating plants. These plants, however, reduce the amount of energy that could households could utilize for lighting, heating, operating certain technological appliances. It is crucial to underscore the fact that heating accounts for major costs of electricity in households. Although certain schools of thought complain of the high cost of operating an incineration energy plant, they do not consider the economic benefits of other advantages that incineration provides (Niessen, 2002). In a comprehensive calculation, it is essential to highlight that energy production is part of the aggregate benefits of incineration plants. In the end, the social benefits of disease management and excess land capacity cannot be computed within an empirical realm. Production of energy from landfills, therefore, is an economic opportunity out of wastes. This is a major hallmark of industrialization as countries strive to build useful substances from items considered useless and harmful. Waste, as a nuisance to living, would considerably reduce if countries tap into the energy opportunity in the same. This, especially, is crucial in a world whereby petroleum energy products are causing environmental havoc. A case study of Taiwan reveals an interesting scenario about the importance of incineration in environmental sustainability and energy production. To begin with, it is crucial to underscore the fact that Taiwan mostly imports its energy, amounting to the country’s 97 % consumption of energy. Taiwan is also a densely populated place with limited resources natural resources to maintain the needs of the relatively high population (Tsaia & Choub, 2004). Energy, therefore, plays a major socio-economic role in the country. This is coupled with the fact that it is a highly expensive commodity in the country. Due to the high cost of imported fuels and environmental issues with petroleum products, the country has recently considered renewable energy a major prospect. The waste-to-energy source is part of this attraction. In the country’s waste-to-energy strategies, incineration is the core MSW (municipal solid waste) treatment technique. Rapid industrialization and economic advancement in the previous decades influenced massive environmental loadings. In turn, this influenced air quality deterioration, uncontrolled dumping, river water pollution, and unnecessary landfills in the country. The incineration programs, therefore, became a product of tackling the environmental issues facing the country. A major hallmark of incineration plants is their ability to combust metal packages. This, especially, is notable in the case of aluminum packages. Apart from iron, aluminum is one of the most available components of incinerators’ bottom ash. Aluminum is one of the most widely used packaging materials since it is a non-ferrous metal. In addition, aluminum oxidizes at high temperatures, thereby, offering limited chances of reacting with given packaged chemicals and food. There are different standard thicknesses for various forms of packages. Extremely thin and laminated foil packages are employable in wrapping sensitive foods such as roasted meat. On the other hand, there are thicker aluminum covers such as those of beverage cans. Compared to other types of packaging materials, aluminum has the exceptional ability for thinning. A basic hypothesis in incineration plants state that thinner materials encourage faster combustion. Combusted aluminum packages help control the piling up and dangerousness of landfills to people. Besides, combusted aluminum provides several industrial uses. Mining minerals is not cheap and easy prospect for most countries. In addition, continuous mining pose the threat of extinction to certain kind of metals. In this incineration plants provide an easy access for recycling plants to used the combusted aluminum in making new products such as packaging foils. In the combusted states, the aluminum is lighter thereby providing the convenience of handling. In addition, the exclusion of metals such as aluminum from landfills eases the management of landfills and lessens the cost of managing wastes possessing substantial mass. Incineration is essential for detoxification of sewage treatment plants. Sewage treatment plants suffer the fate of organic substances that sometimes block its flow. Besides, sewage systems encourage the decomposition of substances thereby creating the capacity for existence of biologically active elements. In the end, incinerations help in the detoxification of sewage systems through combustion of carcinogens, toxic organic compounds, and pathological elements that may attain route into domestic water and food. In close relation to this point, incineration helps in environmental impact mitigation. This, especially, is crucial in the cases of organic compounds whose combustion release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Research has found out that the amount of carbon dioxide, as a greenhouse gas, released from incinerating plants is way less that methane and carbon dioxide released from landfills’ operations. There are several disadvantages, however, with the incineration plants. To begin with, it is costly to set up an incineration plant. In addition, the investor only initial investment costs after a very long time. Such costs also include feasibility studies and setting up of machines and plants that require significant costs to build. In operations, incineration plants may pose the problems of equipment unreliability, unpredictable waste composition, and intricate maintenance requirements. In addition, incineration plants face the problem of staffing due to few interested individuals and limited expertise in performing crucial roles. Incineration plants also pose secondary environmental impacts in terms of emissions. Possible emissions include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate fumes, bad odors, and other toxic materials. The most common gases, which arouse public health attention, include furans and dioxins. These emissions threaten the anti-global warming efforts since they entail greenhouse gases. In addition, the emissions, such as carcinogenic materials, may trigger health problems in a surrounding population. Besides, waterborne emissions such as dissolved solids, pathogenic organisms, and heavy metals infect ware systems and pose health risks. The claimed thermal impacts are countered by a robust planning system. Before setting up an incineration plant, it is crucial to attain environmental permit and socio-economic permit from the relevant authorities. Such permits promote a wide-range discussion that will assess the benefits and disadvantages of setting up such a plant. Positive impacts include elements such as creation of jobs, sustainable waste management strategies, and a decline of greenhouse gas emissions. Negative impacts may include noise, visual intrusion, and increased road congestions. Discussion factors enable a decision that favors the welfare of concerned parties. It is crucial to emphasize that concerns about emissions in thermal treatment plants are common. However, the concentrations of such substances in combustion chambers are low. In addition, research has not uncovered any detectable health impact from incineration plants (Klemeš, Smith, & Kim, 2008). While it is disastrous to completely rule out the potential damage of emissions, modern and properly managed incinerators have improved to lessen the amount and toxicity of emissions. Empirical research has found out that the emissions from thermal treatment plants are less as compared to sources such as traffic. Indeed, incineration performs a critical role in modern waste management. Incinerators reduce the necessity for landfills, which possess serious environmental effects. In this sense, incinerators help create more space for residential houses, recreation, and offices. In addition, incinerators are capable of forming energy as a by-product of combustion. A case study in Taiwan reveals how the small country reorganizes its wastes to produce energy and manage extra wastes in the country. Such energy source is safer than petroleum fuels, which create considerable emissions to the atmosphere. Besides, incinerators allow for central management of wastes. It is notable that incinerators help towards the detoxification that purifies sewage systems. This is possible through the combustion of dangerous organic substances, which pose substantial health risks to populations. There are, however, notable disadvantages of incineration systems such as emissions. Over time, such elements are mitigated by proper regulatory systems, efficiency controls, proper planning, and improvement of plant machines. References Klemeš, J. J., Smith, R., & Kim, J.-K. (2008). Handbook of water and energy management in food processing. Cambridge, UK: Woodhead Pub. Niessen, W. (2002). Combustion and incineration processes: applications in environmental engineering. New York, NY: CRC Press. Sands, P., Peel, J., Fabra, A. A., & Mackenzie, R. (2012). Principles of international environmental law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tsaia, W., & Choub, Y. (2004). An overview of renewable energy utilization from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration in Taiwan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 10 (1):491–502. Read More