Waste

Benny Neo

Anything that is thrown away is called waste.

There are two main types of waste disposal: Incineration & Dumping. - **Incineration** uses high temperature burning to readuce the volume of wastes but produces carbon dioxide and other toxic gases that pollutes the air.

- There are three main types of dumping: Open, ocean & landfills.
 * 1) **Open dumping** refers to the disposal of wastes by leaving it in a large pile in the open air
 * 2) **Ocean dumping** as its name implies refers to disposal of wastes by throwing it into the ocean
 * 3) **Landfills** are smilar to open dumping with the exception that the waste is placed into a pit where it would be covered up after the the pit is filled.

Recycling is a method of reducing our wastes by breaking down the materials and remaking new products from it.

Each of these methods have advantages and disadvantages: mantenance due to methane released that leachate (liquid waste) does not seep out of the landfill into the ocean or be reused (Kirsten Rollay, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Michigan Tech (2004). How Does a Landfill Work?. Retrieved from: [] ) || || (Geoffrey Neuss (2007). Environmental chemistry, Waste. Location: Oxford New York)
 * < Methods ||< Advantages ||< Disadvantages ||
 * < Landfills ||< * Efficient method of dealing with large volumes of waste
 * After the landfill is covered, the land can be used for buildings ||< * Local residents may be unhappy with landfilled sites
 * The waste needs time to settle and requires
 * Ground water has to be mointered in order to ensure
 * Leachate must be treated before it can be dumped
 * These cost money to put in place
 * < Open Dumping ||< * Inexpensive (we only have to pay for the cost of land)
 * Convent for the person dumping the waste ||< * Causes air (methane) and ground water pollution
 * Encourages rodents and insects that may cause health problems
 * An eyesore
 * < Ocean Dumping ||< * A source of nutrients for marine life (may not be true eg. Plastics)
 * Inexpensive
 * Convent ||< * A danger to marine life
 * Pollutes the sea ||
 * < Incineration ||< * Reduces volume of waste (Ash)
 * Can be used as a source of energy ||< * Expensive to build and operate
 * Causes air pollution if not properly filtered
 * Requires energy ||
 * < Recycling ||< * Reduces wastes
 * Helps the environment ||< * Expensive
 * Diffculty deparating different materals from each other
 * Not all materals can be recycled ||

Go to http://h2rubyenvironchem.wikispaces.com/Waste+%28Recycling%29 for Recycling page.