v    Type of Solid Waste:

1.       Municipal Waste:

  ➤The municipal wastes includes garbage, rubbish, demolition debris, dead animals, street sweeping, constructions wastes and plant treatment wastes.

➤  The sources of these wastes are domestic work, restaurants, public places, markets and institutions.

2.       Industrial Waste:

Ø  The industrials waste includes fly ash, toxic materials, paints, chemicals

Ø  These wastes are produced from industrial activities.

3.       Agricultural wastes:

➤  These includes wastes from jute, cotton, tea, coffee, coconut and sugarcane plantations, straw and cattle waste

➤  These are residues from agricultural farms and fields.

4.       Commercial Wastes:

5.       Hazardous Wastes:

➤  The hazardous wastes include radioactive, chemical, biological and flammable wastes and explosives.

➤  The sources of these wastes are hospitals, nuclear plants, industries, research institutes and laboratories.

Garbage:

➤  It is domestic solid wastes containing food wastes.

➤  The food wastes include meat fruit, and vegetable residues

Rubbish:

➤It include both combustible and non-combustible solid wastes except food waste.

➤Combustible rubbish is composed of papers, cardboards, textiles, wood, rubber, leather, and plastic materials.

➤Non-combustible rubbish includes crockery, metals, aluminium cans, tin cans and broken glass.

Disposal of Refuse:

1.       Open Dumping:

➤Oldest method of disposing SW

➤SW collecting from the city zone is dumped in low laying areas located far off from the city

➤Not an eco-friendly method and thus results in contamination of environment

➤. This method is highly unacceptable at it gives unsightly nuisances, obnoxious smell and is a breeding place for flies and mosquitoes.

2.       Sanitary land filling:

➤Dumped into the low laying layer and covered with good earth layer

➤Get stabilized, generally within 2 to 4 months.

➤About 90% Indian refuse is disposed of in this manner

➤Leachate in sanitary land filling: During rainy season, when excess water seeping through the area, may come out of the dump, as a coloured liquid, called leachate. This is highly poisonous and polluted.

➤Gas production:

 Air pollutants can broadly classify into two types

1)      Primary pollutants: Pollutants that are emitted directly from either natural or from human activities are called primary pollutants.

➤  About 90% of global air pollution is constituted by five natural pollutants. These are

                                                            i.            Carbon Oxides (CO and CO₂)

                                                          ii.            Nitrogen Oxides (NO₂, NO₃)

                                                         iii.            Sulphur Oxides (SO, SO₂)

                                                         iv.            Hydrocarbons

                                                          v.            Particulate matter

2)      Secondary Pollutants: When primary pollutants reacting with each other or from basic components of air, forms a new pollutant called secondary pollutants. For example:

                                    I.            Sulphuric acid

                                  II.            Nitric acid

                                III.            Carbonic acid

                                IV.            Ozon

                                 V.            PAN (Peroxyacetyl nitrate) (PAN is formed by the interaction of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons) etc.

v    Particulate Material: thousands of different solid or liquid particles suspended in air, includes soil particles, lead, asbestos, sea salt and sulphuric acid droplets

➤  Particles less than 10 µm float and move freely with the air current. Particles less than 0.02 µm form Persistent aerosols

  ➤According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), particulate size 2.5 µm or less in diameter are responsible for causing the greatest harm to human health.

v  Carbon monoxide (CO): Sources include incomplete combustion of organic materials like gasoline(automobiles), oil, wood and tobacco(smoking), Thermal Power Plants, Fertilise factories

➤  It is produced as a result of incomplete combustion of carbon

➤  It is colourless and odourless gas

➤  Effect of CO are Cardiac attack, asthma, bronchitis, irritation of eyes, Throat, lung cancer

v  Toxic Elements in air:

                                i.            Lead (pb)

                               ii.            Arsenic (As)

                             iii.            Mercury (Hg)

                             iv.            Cadmium (Cd) 

v  Ozone: it occurs naturally in Stratosphere and absorbs harmful Ultra Violate (UV) rays of the sun. However, at the ground level, it is a pollutant (Greenhouse gas) with highly toxic effects.

1.       Tropospheric Ozone:

➤  Man made pollutant in the lower atmosphere

➤  Secondary air pollutant

➤  The majority of tropospheric ozone formation occurs when Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), carbon Monoxide (CO) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), react in the atmosphere in the presence of sunlight, specifically the UV Spectrum

2.       Stratospheric Ozone:

➤  Essential component that screens out UV radiation in the upper atmosphere

➤  Man-made pollutants (Ex: CFCs) can destroy it.