The Five Priorities in Solid Waste Management

Knowing the five priorities in the management of solid waste is fundamental for every company and all those who want to dedicate themselves to the management of economic activities.

 

According to the Solid Waste Management Policy, there are five priorities that every manager must stick to in order to manage the waste produced by a company:

 

• Non Generation - The first concern in the management of an economic activity is the non generation of waste and there are, at least, two excellent reasons for this: First, if there is no waste, there is no waste in the production process, therefore clean production is also a more profitable production, and second that without the production of waste there is no environmental impact, which is great for people and the environment.
• Reduction - To act in the reduction of waste is to make the company more competitive and it is an environmentally responsible attitude. Each reduction achieved in the production of waste is a direct reduction in the cost of the product or service and, in addition, a lesser impact on the environment.
• Reuse - In Reuse, the waste produced is sorted and treated to be returned to the consumption cycle after being recycled. All waste that is recycled contributes to saving energy consumption and has a positive impact on the environment, reducing the use of available natural resources.
• Treatment - Treatment consists of technology that can be used to treat waste, either for reuse or even as a step prior to final disposal.
• Final Disposal - This is the last step or priority in solid waste management: deposit unusable waste such as unserviceable waste, human waste and ashes from incineration furnaces, for example.

Solid Waste Treatment - A Key Priority

 

Treatment of solid waste must follow certain criteria to be carried out, namely:

 

“Paragraph 1. Technologies aiming at the energy recovery of urban solid waste may be used, provided that their technical and environmental viability has been proven and with the implementation of a monitoring program for the emission of toxic gases approved by the environmental agency.”

 

The use of a specific technology for the treatment of solid waste must take into consideration, first of all, the energy recovery of the waste, that is, it is desirable that the technology used to treat the waste not only eliminates the inherent risks of it, but also reuses it in the process the energy involved in its production.

 

This means that even hazardous waste that cannot be reused to be recycled like infectious waste (health waste), can undergo treatment technology that reuses part of the energy used in its production, through incineration furnaces that take advantage of the heat generated by burning to return part of this waste to society as energy.

 

Types of Solid Waste Treatment

 

Basically when we talk about solid waste treatment we can list three main groups of technologies: mechanical, biochemical and thermal treatment.

 

Mechanical Treatment

 

Mechanical treatment refers to processes such as sorting and separating materials that can be reused through recycling processes, thus returning waste to the consumption cycle.

 

Biochemical Treatment

 

This modality is applied to solid organic waste, such as composting, a treatment method that consists of the decomposition of organic material in an appropriate location and receptacle.

 

 

Another example is the use of biodigesters. In this case, in a simple and summarized way, the organic material is decomposed in a controlled environment without the presence of oxygen.

 

Heat treatment

 

This modality is widely used to treat hazardous wastes such as health wastes and contaminating or infectious industrial wastes.

 

Heat treatment or incineration consists of using blast furnaces to destroy hazardous waste by reducing it to inert ash at the end of the process. Throughout the process, large amounts of thermal energy are generated that can be reused through generators and turbines being inserted, for example, in the public electricity system.

 

Practically all the gases generated in the thermal decomposition process are eliminated through alkaline water filters and activated carbon filters, and only water vapor is returned to the environment.

 

There is also the possibility of using thermal plasma. In this modality, the residues are submitted directly to the plasma flames, which causes a dissociation of the molecular bonds of solid, liquid or gaseous, organic or inorganic residues, which alters the entire composition of these residues.

 

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An important point to choose the best solid waste treatment method is to know how to classify them correctly, that is, it is necessary to know what solid.

 

 

Not correctly classifying solid waste means not treating these waste properly, incurring possible environmental assessments and sanctions and even a suspension or revocation of the company's environmental license.