Definition and Objectives of Solid Waste Management

The sight of a dustbin overflowing and the stench rising from it are all too familiar sights and smells of a crowded city. You look away from it and hold your nose as you cross it. Have you ever thought that you also have a role to play in the creation of this stench?

That you can also play a role in the lessening of this smell and making this waste bin look a little more attractive if you follow proper methods of handling and disposal of the waste generated in the house?

What is Solid Waste Management?

Solid waste management remains one of the most daunting environmental sanitation challenges facing the country today and it has continually remained at its lowest ebb despite huge investments in the sector.

Currently, as a result of industrialization and rapid population growth in many cities and towns, wastes are generated faster than they are collected, transported and disposed.

Solid waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal, managing and monitoring of solid waste materials.
The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics.

Read Also : Principles of Solid Waste and Waste Management Hierarchy

Management of solid waste reduces or eliminates adverse impacts on the environment and human health and supports economic development and improved quality of life.

Solid waste management is a distinct practice from resource recovery which focuses on delaying the rate of consumption of natural resources.
The various processes involved in effectively managing waste for a municipality which include monitoring, collection, transport, processing, recycling and disposal shall be treated in detail in our subsequent discussions.

Objectives of Solid Waste Management

The underlying objectives of any waste management programmes will include:

• To protect human health and improve quality of life among people living in the area
• To reduce environment pollution and make the area clean
• To promote recycling and reuse of both solid waste
• To convert bio waste into energy for ensuring greater energy security at the community level to generate employment for the poor by offering new opportunities in waste management by adopting cost effective and environmentally sound solid waste treatment technologies.