Effects of Managing Solid Waste: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycling

In a country like Nigeria, where millions of tons of waste are produced year in and out, disposal becomes a major issue. The effects of toxins in garbage and the sheer physical mass of its presence is a significant concern for waste management agencies in Nigeria.

Improper waste management seems to be one challenging concern in Nigeria. We have come a long way in efficiently dealing with waste. Yet, several vital problems continue to merge and injure the planet at large. Adverse effects of improper waste management end in a disgusting view and affect the overall economy.

Government has to spend a lot of money to counter the effects of improper waste management. Moreover, animals that depend on the environment also face a great threat to life due to the oil spills and leaching of chemicals, which directly cause soil and water contamination. Burning of any disposed waste and plastic materials results in air and environmental pollution.

Reduce

At the top of the hierarchy of waste management is waste reduction. This is the best option because the most effective way to limit the health effects and environmental impacts of waste is not to create waste in the first place.

When evaluating the types of strategies to incorporate to reduce the amount of solid waste disposed of, the primary waste reduction strategy is source reduction. Source reduction involves businesses designing and manufacturing products to reduce waste and toxicity of their products. Source reduction is practiced when individuals & businesses deliberately purchase or use materials to reduce the volume of trash created and reduce the toxicity of waste created.

A product’s packaging serves many purposes. Its primary goal is to protect and contain a product. It also can prevent tampering, provide information, and preserve hygienic integrity and freshness.

Some packaging, however, is mainly designed to enhance a product’s attractiveness or prominence on the store shelf. Since packaging materials account for a large volume of the trash we generate, they provide an excellent opportunity to reduce waste. Besides, keep in mind that as the amount of product in a container increases, the packaging waste per serving or use usually decreases.

In addition to reducing the amount of materials in the solid waste stream, reducing waste toxicity is another important source reduction component. Some jobs around the home may require the use of products containing hazardous components.

Reuse

Reuse involves using a waste product without further transformation and without changing its shape or original nature. It is the second option in the waste hierarchy. Different types of solid wastes can be reused, including bottles, old clothes, books, and anything else used again for a similar purpose to that originally intended.

Reuse means that less solid waste is produced. It brings other benefits by taking useful products discarded by those who no longer want them and passing them to those who do.

The idea of being wasteful makes many people uncomfortable. Yet, most of us continue to waste valuables because we can’t think of a better way to deal with the things we need no more. We are conditioned to think of old, empty, worn, broken objects as useless, so we throw them away without much thought about the consequences. Study shows that people buy more than they can use effectively.

The reusing process starts with the assumption that the used materials that we throw out can be a resource rather than refuse. “Waste, after all, is in the eye of the beholder.” One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Let’s look at things we are throwing away. We can learn to see them as materials that can be reused to solve everyday problems and satisfy daily needs.

Most of us, however, haven’t even begun to exploit the resources in our trash. Reusing saves money, conserves resources, and satisfies the human urge to be creative.

Recycling

Recycling waste means that the material is reprocessed before being used to make new products. Reprocessing activities can have an impact on people’s health and the environment. Still, these impacts are usually lower than those from creating the product from new, raw materials.

Recycling means treating the materials as valuable resources rather than as waste. It has many benefits, but it is essential to have a market for the end product. Otherwise, the process will not be economically sustainable.

The options for recycling depend on the type of waste. For example, we can break down waste paper to its fibers in a process called pulping. The pulp is cleaned and then formed into a new paper to be used for printing or packaging. We can also recycle waste metals and glass by melting them down into new raw materials.

Sheet metals can be beaten and reformed into new products. Plastic bottles can be ground down and used to make plastic rope or plastic coating for electric wires. For some wastes, recycling involves complex technical processes. It requires specialized machinery, but others can be recycled more thoroughly and on a small scale.

All types of organic waste can be recycled by composting, which can be carried out at home or on a larger scale.

Conclusion

The waste hierarchy is a guide to selecting the most environmentally sound strategies for municipal solid waste, which ranks waste management interventions according to their environmental or energy benefits.

The “Three Rs” (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) effort to promote better waste management needs to be done effectively. Sorting out recyclable items may be challenging initially. However, once you get the hang of the system, the related chores will become like effortless habits.

Author: Akanni Olamilekan

Photo credit: www.chron.com