Tuesday 2 September 2014

How to be Wise with Waste?


Air, land, and water pollution are the major issues we are facing today. Main reason behind all these environmental issues is waste material coming out from different souces. Waste is generally categorized into three types. These types are as follows:

Commercial Waste- it includes pellets and sawdust, wood, woodchips; construction, demolition and other debris; wooden pallets; other wood waste including discarded furniture, crates and boxes; cardboard; paper; discarded fruits and vegetables; and other types of plastic including bottles, pallets containers.

Agricultural Waste- It includes crop waste like sugar cane bagasse and oil palm waste; coconut, pistachio, nutmeg, almond, peanut, walnut shells, coffee bean; olive and peach pits; corn stover (stalks, cobs); nuisance plant materials such as bark beetle-infected trees; invader and thorn bush; rapidly growing renewable fuel crops including jatropha, poplars, willows and switchgrass etc.

It also includes forest residuals including tree and vine trimmings and clippings; bark and brush; and most other types of agricultural and animal waste materials including many types of manure (from poultry, cattle, dairy cows, and horses) and from municipal waste facilities.

Municipal and Utility Waste- It incorporates highway department and utility tree, tree waste and brush from municipal landfills, and tower trimming and gardening activities for use as fuel in hospitals, schools, universities, colleges, town halls and other municipal buildings.

You might have seen heaps of garbage around the streets and roads. This garbage comes from houses as well as different industries. In industries, activities like manufacturing of different products, constructions results into considerable amount of waste which is either burnt openly or dumped into rivers and seas.

In first case, when the waste is burnt openly, it results into the emission of greenhouses gases which causes global warming and depletion of ozone layer.  In second case, when the waste is dumped into seas or rivers, it harms the environment in two ways. The one is when it kept on the land for a long time, chemicals involved in the waste gets absorbed by the land and causes ground water pollution. When it is dumped into rivers it not only pollutes sea water but also harms aquatic life.

So, there should be some ways for managing the waste material. With the advent of briquetting machinery, it has become easy to deal with all kinds of waste. Briquetting machines are the machines that take organic waste as input and provide briquettes as output which are used to produce energy and fuel. These briquettes have been proved as a great alternative to non-renewable resources which are gradually decreasing and are one of the prime reasons of increasing environmental pollution.

You might be shocked but it is true that by properly managing the garbage you can also generate electricity. In addition, other fuels may also generate with the help of waste management. Biomass generation is the best example of it. Rice husks, saw dust, paper, wood chips etc. are also major waste material. They can also be treated in a beneficial way. Waste material like paper can be easily recycled at waste recycling plant. So, treat the waste material properly to save environment and Mother Nature.

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