case study

1. I.Definition of Wastes
Waste can be described as "any substance or object the holder discards, intends
todiscard or is required to discard", as defined by the Waste Framework Directive(
European Directive (WFD) 2006/12/EC), (amended by the new WFD (Directive200
8/98/EC, coming into force in December
2010).In the Philippines’ Republic Act No. 9275 (An Act Providing For aComprehen
sive Water Quality management and for Other Purposes), waste means
“anymaterial either solid, liquid, semisolid, contained gas or other forms resulting
fromindustrial, commercial, mining or agricultural operations, or from community
and household activities that is devoid of usage and discarded.”
II, Classification of Wastes
The classification of wastes varies and depends country by country. Waste can be
divided into many different types. The most common method of classification is
by their physical, chemical, and biological characteristics.1. Solid Waste Solid
waste is broadly defined as including non-hazardous industrial, commercial land
domestic refuse including household organic trash, street sweepings, hospital and
institutional garbage, and construction wastes; generally sludge and human waste
are regarded as a liquid waste problem outside the scope of MSW (Zerbock,
2003).These arewaste materials that contain less than 70% water. Example of this
type of waste are thedomestic or household garbage, some industrial wastes,
some mining wastes, and oilfieldwastes such as drill cuttings.2. Liquid WasteThese
are usually wastewaters that contain less than 1%. This type of waste
maycontain high concentration of dissolved salts and metals. Liquid wastes are oft
enclassified into two broad types: sewage and toxic wastes. Generally, there are
varioustypes of liquid waste generated in urban centers: human excreta, domestic
s wastes produced in households, hospital wastes, industrial effluents, agricultural

2. liquid wastesand nuclear wastes. When improperly handled and disposed of,
liquid wastes pose aserious threat to human health and the environment because
of their ability to enter watersheds, pollute ground water and drinking water (US
EPA, 2009).
3. Sludge
It is a class of waste between liquid and solid. They usually contain between
3%and 25% solid, while the rest of the material is dissolved water
.4. Hazardous Waste
Hazardous wastes are wastes which, by themselves or after coming into
contactwith other wastes, have characteristics, such as chemical reactivity, toxicit
y,corrosiveness or a tendency to explode, that pose a risk to human health or the
environment. Hazardous wastes are generated from a wide range of industrial,co
mmercial, agricultural, and to a much less extent, domestic activities. They may
take the form of solids, liquids or sludges, and can pose both acute and chronic
public health and environmental risks It is a class of waste between liquid
and solid. They usually contain between 3%and 25% solid, while the rest of the
material is dissolved water.
.III..Waste Management
A. Waste Management in Developed Countries
Brought basically by their more developed industries and more advancedtechnolo
gy, developed nations have more efficient and standard liquid waste management
plans. Developed countries, however, still employ different methods of waste
disposal (which largely depends on a country’s policies and preferences). The
large amount of solid waste (including its collection, transfer and disposal)
generated in developed nations has been generally assumed by municipal

3. governments. The format varies, however, in most urban areas, where garbage is
collected either by a government agency or
privatecontractor, and this constitutes a basic and expected government function
in thedeveloped world. (Zerbock, 2003)
1.Solid Waste Management A)
Landfill The placement of solid waste in landfills is probably the oldest and
definitely the most prevalent form of ultimate garbage disposal (Zerbock,2003). It
is to be noted, however, that most landfills refer to nothing more thanopen
dumps. Nonetheless, in the case of developed countries, waste disposal is often in
the form of sanitary landfills which differ from open dumps by their higher
degree of engineering, planning and administration. Landfills account for the
disposal of 90% of the United States’ solidwastes. It is also the most common
disposal method in the United Kingdom where annually, approximately 111
million tones of controlled wastes are disposed in their 4000 landfill sites (Baker,
2005).In a modern landfill, refuse is spread thin, compacted layers covered by a
layer of clean earth. Pollution of surface water and groundwater is minimized by
lining and contouring the fill, compacting and planting the uppermost cover layer,
diverting drainage, and selecting proper soil in sites not subject to flooding or high
groundwater levels. The best soil for a landfill is clay because clay is less
permeable than other types of soil. Materials disposed of in landfill can be
further secured from leakage by solidifying them in materials such as cement, fly
ash from power plants, asphalt, or organic polymers(Bassis, 2005)Landfills can
also be shifted to another use after their capacities have been reached. The city of
Evanston, Illinois, built a landfill up into a hill and the now-complete “Mt.
Trashmore” is a ski area. Golf courses built over land fill sites are also increasingly
common (Montgomery, 2000)
.B)Recycling
or the
3R’sAnother method, which sets off before waste disposal is wastereduction
through recycling or often coined as the 3 R’s:reuse,
reduce,and recycle.On the local or regional level, reducing wastes is accomplished

4. through these methods by source separation and subsequent material recovery.
Currently, the United States recycles about 10% of its glass and 25%of its paper
wastes; in countries such as Switzerland and the Netherlands, the proportion in
the glass recycled approaches to 50% while Japan recycles 50%of its paper wastes
(Montgomery, 2000)
C.)Incineration
Some countries, on the other hand, manage most of their solid waste through
incinerators
.
Incineration, or the controlled burning of waste at high temperatures to produce
steam and ash, is another waste disposal option and an alternative
tolandfilling (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). Incinerators aredesigne
d for the destruction of wastes and are commonly employed in developed nations
who could afford the costs of the burning facilities, plus its operation and
maintenance (Mc Cracken, 2005).This type of waste disposal is the second largest
disposal method in most developed countries and ranks next to landfills in the
United States and the United Kingdom. In the UK, approximately 5% of household
waste, 75 % of commercial waste and 2% of industrial waste is disposed of
through this method
(Baker,2005)In spite of its huge capital requirements, incineration presents to be
a promising option for developed island nations whose small land area makesland
filling an unsuitable method for their waste disposal. Reduction byincineration,
along with sanitary disposal of the residue, has been proven useful in nations such
as Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands (Lett some 1998 as cited by Zerbock
2003). A further benefit of incineration can be realized if the
heatgenerated thereby is recovered. For years, European cities have generatedele
ctricity using waste-disposal

5. incinerators as sources of heat (Montgomery,2000).There are negative issues,
however, in the use of this burning method and much of that circulate around its
safety for the environment and to the human health. It is argued that the
combustion process creates air pollution, ash, and
waste water, all of which must be properly managed using technical monitoring,
containment, and treatment systems. Harmful pollutants are released into the
environment whenever these by-products are not controlled (US EPA,
2009).Operators of these facilities must be well-trained and certified to ensure
proper management.1.Liquid Waste Management A)Management Plans b
Management of liquid waste in developed nations often follows rigorous steps
and phases which commonly involves treatment processes.
In BritishColumbia, municipalities are allowed to develop their Liquid WasteMana
gement Plans. The country adopts a proactive strategy that intends to achieve
their Ministry of Environment’s long-term goal of achieving zero pollution. Part of
that strategy includes: pollution prevention, Best Available Control Technology
(BACT) and the principle of polluter pay. This
strategyrepresents a major change in the traditional
regulatory approach toenvironmental protection, which attempted to deal with p
ollution after itoccurred. The future emphasis will be on pollution prevention and
oninvolving all stakeholders in an open and consultative approach toenvironment
al protection (Environmental Protection Division, Ministry of Environment,
Government of British Columbia, 2009).B)Wastewater
TreatmentThe strategy employed by the government of British Columbiacombine
s a number of processes and programs to achieve zero pollution.
However, when it comes to liquid waste management, the simplest approach is
to control the quality of wastewater at its point of treatment and discharge. This

6. places regulation and control at the institutional level as treatment is normally
conducted by a public agency.
The quality of the discharge can then be regulated to fit the type of use. This
alternative assumes that the treatment system is well managed and maintained
and produces a reliable quality of effluent. This approach is utilized in the United
States, Canada, and
Europeand in many cases requires an advanced level of treatment technology(
Zerbock, 2003).C)Injection wells In the USA, industrial wastes that are primarily
liquid are usually disposed of in injection wells. Injection wells receiving aqueous
wastes can be placed in highly permeable, underground geological formations.
These formation sare well below 1000 m underground, which is lower than the
depth of most aquifers used as sources of drinking water. Before injection, liquid
wastes
arefiltered to remove suspended solids and skimmed for phased organiccompoun
ds. Filtration prevents the plugging of the injection formation. If the waste is
reactive, it is converted to less reactive compounds before injection.1.Hazardous
Waste Management Much of the concern of many countries regarding their
waste management circulates around the disposal of hazardous wastes. Due to
their toxicity and
largethreat to human and environment health, this type of waste requires morest
ringent and sophisticated methods of disposal
basically, the United States’ s federal regulations classify their waste
intotwo types: hazardous and solid. In 1976, congress adopted the ResourceCons
ervation and Recovery Act, the primary national law for addressing production
waste (waste generated in the course of ongoing activity or business).In such act,
the term ‘solid’ does not necessarily refer to a waste’s physical property and thus
the waste can also be a liquid or a contained gas (National Society of Professional
Engineers, USA, 2009). The RCRA provides a stringent classification of hazardous
wastes and the necessary treatment that such
wastesshould undergo. Under the law, a ‘comprehensive national “cradle-to-
grave” program for regulating the generation, transportation, treatment, storage
anddisposal of hazardous wastes is established. Such program includes

7. a system for tracking the wastes’ point sources and point of disposal, and a
permitting
systemto control the operation of treatment, storage and disposal facilities (USEn
vironmental Protection Agency).
A.
Waste Management in Developing Countries Although largely limited in terms of
budget and technology as compared to
thedeveloped nations, developing countries also take their share in implementing
waste management policies.1.Solid Waste Management In developing countries,
it is common for municipalities to spend 20-50 percent of their available recurrent
budget on solid waste management .Yet, it is also common that 30-60 percent of
all the urban solid waste
indeveloping countries is uncollected and less than 50 percent of the
population is served. In some cases, as much as 80 percent of thecollection and
transport equipment is out of service, in need of repair
or maintenance. In most developing countries, open dumping with open burning
is the norm (The World Bank, 2009).A)Open Dumps Dump s are long-established
method of waste disposal in many countries. Although this method have been
largely phased-out in most developed countries and replaced by sanitary landfills,
many developing nations still rely on this form of disposal. Open dumps are not
much to been dorsed though. They are unsightly, unsanitary and generally smelly,
they attract rats, insects and other pests; they are also fire hazards. Still, behind
these negative aspects, open dumps continue to be prevalent in countries like
India, the Philippines and Indonesia.
B)

8. Landfill is also a common method of solid waste disposal in mostdeveloping
countries, although many of them harbors open dumps
)Recycling .In many developing countries and countries with economies in
transition there are two types of recycling sectors, a formal sector and
informal sector. Formal recycling sector, using efficient technologies and state-of-
the-art recycling facilities are rare. As a result, recyclable materials are managed
through various informal sectors with low-
endmanagement alternatives such as manual separation of recyclablecomponent
s, burning of some components in open pits to recover precious metals, and
dumping of residues into surface water bodies. This informal sector
of the economy employs thousands of poor people who are not aware of the
hazard of exposure or hazards that exist in some recyclable materials (Basel
Convention Report Paper,2009).1.Liquid Waste Management In spite of the
continuing efforts of many developing nations to cope with the standards of the
developed nations, finance and
technology plus policies still put limit to what they have generally achieved.Accor
ding to the World Resources Institute, it has been estimated that over 90% of the
sewage in developing countries is discharged into surface waters with no
treatment conducted. In India, with its 3,100plus cities and towns, only 209 have
even partial sewage treatment (Montgomery, 2000)
.Hazardous Waste Management
In many countries, current emphasis is more on preventing and minimizing the
production of hazardous wastes by adopting the ‘pollution prevention
hierarchy’.There are several problems that could be associated with poor disposal
techniques and management. One of these problems could be
thefact that many developing countries and countries with economies intransition
do not have the expertise to manage hazardous wastes in an
environmentally sound manner, and most may not employ proper technologies.
Furthermore, many of these countries may not have a system
and infrastructure to ensure that hazardous wastes are managed in a manner

9. which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects
which may result from such wastes. The government soften lack information
about how much and what types of pollutants are released, and what risk they
pose to people and the environment (Basel Convention Paper, 2009).A. Waste
Management: The Philippine Setting1.Philippine Solid Waste Management .In our
country, solid waste management is embodied in RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act of 2000. This law provides “the legal framework
for the country’s systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste
management program that shall ensure protection of public health and the
environment” (Environmental Management Bureau-DENR, 2009).2. Philippine
Liquid Waste
ManagementIn the Philippine setting, disposal of wastewater is turning to be ane
normous
(Magtibay, 2006). The management of liquid wastes requires a coordinatedsyste
m of policies which covers requisites on drainage, sewers, and
wastewater treatment facilities. It is also a complex issue as it traverses across
various sectors:d omestic, industrial, agricultural, etc. Unfortunately, with the
current situation of the country, with its political clashes and poverty situation,
liquid waste management had largely been centered only in the private sectors
(Contreras, 2005). Treatments are largely carried out by industrial groups.
Effective domestic liquid waste management occurs mostly in private households
.In this area, policies once again govern the actions of the concerned agencies.
The treatment and discharge of commercial wastewater (liquid waste generated
by trading or business establishment and or any other related firms
or companies) is regulated and monitored through the provisions of the DENR Ad
ministrative Order No. 2002-16 or the DENR-EMB National Environmental User’s
Fee of 2002, which authors the DENR Wastewater Discharge
PermittingSystem.2.Philippine Hazardous Waste
ManagementBefore the enactment of the Clean Air Act (which included in its prov
isions the banning of incinerators in the country), hazardous wastes such as
medical and laboratory wastes are subjected to burning processes. Some of the
wastes are also recycled. In 2003, hazardous waste management shifted to

10. landfills and open dumping as an answer to the banning of burning. In a case
study conducted in hospitals in the Cagayan Valley Region, Northern Luzon, the
most common method of hazardous waste disposal in the area is through
dumping. Results indicated that proper waste management is not fully
implemented due to budget constraint (Bernardo, 2008)
Vii,Threats and Impacts of Improper Waste Management
With the increase of population comes too the increase in consumption, and
consequently, in the amount of wastes we generate. Through time, problems
resulting from improper and irresponsible management of our wastes have arisen
and continue to do so. Human and ecosystem health can be adversely affected
by all
forms of waste, from its generation to its disposal. Over the years, wastes and wa
stemanagement responses such as policies, legal, financial, and institutional
instruments; cradle-to-cradle or cradle-to-grave technological options; and socio-
cultural practices have impacted on ecosystem health and human well-being.
Examples are evident in all countries. A popular example of how improper waste
management and lack of coordination in policies can bring huge environmental
and human impacts is the “Love CanalIncident”. The Love Canal is an area
situated at Niagara Falls, New York. In 1953,the Hooker Chemical Company, then
the owners and operators of the property, covered the canal with earth and sold
it to the city for one dollar.
In the late '50s, about 100 homes and a school were built at the site. Twenty five
years after the
Hooker Chemical Company stopped using the Love Canal as an industrial dump,
82different compounds, 11 of them suspected carcinogens, have been percolatin
gupward through the soil, their drum containers rotting and leaching their
contents in to the backyards and basements of 100 homes and a public school
built on the banks of the canal. What followed was a catastrophe that

11. caused several deaths, birth defects and abnormalities, lawsuits and ultimately,
the evacuation of the residents. Locally, here in the Philippines, the 2001 Smoky
Mountain tragedy in the Payatas Dumpsite is a constant reminder of how
disastrous the country’s waste management has been regarding the case of that
open dumpsite. The collapse of that “mountain of trash” due to the severe rainfall
had claimed the lives of many people, both young and old. Aside from such
disaster caused by the irresponsible management of a former dumping site,
wastewater discharges, as shown by studies, can also bring harmful impacts to
coastal areas and other bodies of water. In Fiji Island, for example, it has been
concluded that the disposal of untreated human and domestic waste has been
the major contributor to the degradation of the is land’s marine environment.
Development to the island had brought a shift in species dominance from hard
coral to macro-algae (Mosley and Aalbersberg, 2005 as cited in the 2005 WHO
Liquid Waste Monitoring Project).There is also no need to mention the numerous
incidences of mine tail deposits and radioactive discharges in many rivers, lakes
and shores that have undoubtedly caused detrimental effects to marine and
even human life the list goes on and on
VII. Initiatives for Liquid Waste Management
Waste management practices and policies over the last three decade have
resulted
in positive responses in terms of improvement of ecosystems. Some positive impa
cts of theresponses identified are: (Information lifted from
Sridhar and Baker, 2004)
• Waste recycling activities have been found to result in improved resource
conservation andreduced energy consumption as well as reduction of heavy
metal contamination of water sources.• In the Baltic Sea, the mercury levels of
fish caught were reduced by 60% due to stringent pollution control measures.
• Major rivers such as the Thames have supported biodiversity, as is evident from
thereappearance of salmon after rigorous pollution control measures. The ten-

12. year ‘‘clean river’’ program initiated by the Singapore government in 1977 at a
cost of US $200 million has broughtlife back to the Singapore River and the
Kallang Basin, with increased dissolved oxygen levelsranging from 2 to 4 mg per
liter (UNEP 1997).
• Phasing out of lead from gasoline has reduced lead emissions from vehicular
sources.
• Wetlands have been widely reported to absorb significant amounts of
anthropogenic pollutants.
• Ferti-irrigation practices have significantly improved the economic base of low-
incomecommunities in urban areas. In the tropical countries in particular,
controlled and judicious use of aquatic weeds such as water hyacinth (water
hyacinth treatment plant for wastewater) and blue green algae (waste
stabilization ponds) for treating small wastewater flows helped in sanitation and
the by-products provided protein and mineral needs of livestock