INFORMATION SHEET 5.2-2
Waste Management
In the maintenance of training facilities, concern on waste management is vital. Improper or mega dosage use of cleaning chemicals, packing materials of delivered equipment/tools and empty mounting or used from training workshops, welding stubs, electronic devices, are few of the issues to be dealt with in this topic.
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal of waste materials, usually ones by human activity, in an effort to reduce their effect on human health or local aesthetics or amenity. A sub focus in reduce the effect of environment and to recover resources from them.
Waste management practices differ for developed and developing countries, for urban and rural area and for residential and industrial produces. Management for non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.
Waste management can involve solid, liquid or gaseous substances with different methods and fields of expertise for each.
Ecological Waste Management is the proper handling of the thing we throw away in a manner that does not harm anyone or anything, be it human, animal or the environment. The waste hierarchy refers to the “3 Rs” Reduce, Reuse and Recycle which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste minimization. The waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimization strategies. The aim of waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefit from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste.
Recycling is processing used materials as waste into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration, water pollution by reducing the need for “conventional” waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas as compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the waste hierarchy.
Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable wastes – such as food or garden waste– is not typically considered recycling. Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.
In the strictest sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the same material, i.e., used office paper would be converted into new office paper, or used foamed polystyrene into new polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or too expensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so recycling of many products or materials involve their reuse in producing different materials (e.g., paperboard) instead.
Diagram 4
Another form of recycling is the salvage of certain materials from complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (e.g., lead from car batteries), or due to their hazardous nature (e.g., removal and reuse of mercury from various items).