What Exactly Is Waste Management?

Answer 1

Waste management is a term that refers to the industry that deals with the byproducts of human activity on planet Earth. Waste management can deal with any kind of waste. It can deal with simple garbage produced by a family living in a suburban neighborhood. It can also refer to the toxic waste produced by the operation of a nuclear power plant. Whatever the case, people in the waste management industry must find ways to collect, store, and dispose of different kinds of waste produced by human activity.

In fact, nearly every kind of human activity produces waste that must be dealt with. This runs the gambit from the cooking of meals to the production of electronics in high-tech factories. If the waste produced from these activities is not properly dealt with, it can create serious problems. For example, waste not properly stored or disposed of can contaminate water supplies. This can make people who drink water from these sources gravely ill. It can also have a detrimental effect on wildlife.

How this waste is collected and dealt with depends on the situation. In many places in the United States, household waste is collected by trucks after the residents of a home pay for waste disposal services. The waste will then be transported to a disposal site to be dealt with. Special services to dispose of more dangerous kinds of waste can also be paid for. This is often the case for medical waste. Extra precaution must be taken when dealing with this kind of waste due to the risk of infection of dangerous diseases.

After the waste has been collected and transported, it must be either disposed of or stored. How this occurs varies depending on the location and the kind of waste being dealt with. Often in the past, most household waste was either incinerated or buried in a landfill. However, attitudes have changed over the years. For one, there is increasingly limited space in most places to construct new landfills. There has also been concern about the fact these methods may inadvertently create pollution. Today, many kinds of waste that would have been dealt with in these ways are recycled instead. Other ways to reduce waste have also been developed including making industrial processes more efficient and the development of waste byproducts as fuel sources.