WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste Management

Waste Management

Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the health effects of waste management. The paper identifies the health effects related to the municipal waste management and its different methods used for disposal. The paper also discusses the ways through which the health effects can be managed and avoided within a community.

Discussion

The different procedures of waste management by the municipal corporations including the collection, disposal and transportation are very significant for the public health and environmental concerns. Waste is any stuff which the individuals, organizations and the household discard (Berry 1997, p. 856). Thus, it can be said that waste is actually a complex mixture of the various components, out of which some components are very dangerous for health. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to describe the negative impact of waste management on the human health. Waste management conducted by the municipality is a good step but it is comprised of different negative impacts associated with the waste management (Zmirou 1994, p. 228).

According to the UK environment agency, there can be two main classifications of waste the controlled and non-controlled waste. Controlled waste is the waste which is developed from the industrial organizations as a result of construction and demolition, commercial purposes and households (Vrijheid 2000, p. 101). On the other hand, non-controlled wastes are those which are developed from different sources including the dredging operations, agriculture, quarries and mines. The generation of wastes in continuously increasing in United Kingdom and it has reached to almost 770 million tons in 2010 (Vianna 1984, p. 1217). This is an alarming situation in such case that it is dangerous for the human health.

There are very negative impacts of waste management on the health of human beings. According to different researches, the municipal waste management is hazardous for the human health; therefore, there is a great need that these hazards should be removed (Upton AC 1989, p. 25). There are different factors and components included in the municipal solid waste including the textiles, food and garden waste, metals, paper and cardboards, metals and glass (Sosniak 1994, p. 251). Though these municipal waste management has very negative impact on the human health. There is a huge literature on the negative impact of municipal waste management options on the human health mainly the incineration and landfill (Schulman 1992, p. 147). However, the literature is also present on the different problems of waste management on the environment (Pheby 2002, p. 78). According to the different researchers, the municipal waste management has negative impact on the general population mainly on the workforce which is involved in the management of waste, the population living near the disposal sites and the people belonging to the occupational health problems. According to the literature provided, the main reason behind the dangers of waste management is the toxicity which is involved in the individual substances. This dangerous toxicity is also presented in the occupational and accidental ...