• Hazardous waste
• Industrial waste
• Recycling
• Waste 1
• Waste management

Waste

This article is about waste matter. For the computer program, see WASTE.

Waste can exist as a solid, liquid, or gas. When released as a liquid or gas, waste is referred to as emissions. Identifying waste is a subjective matter, and waste is only defined as such when perceived as such. Some see waste as a negative externality, but it can also be viewed as a potential resource as in industrial ecology.

Table of contents

1 Natural waste and Human waste 2 Solid wastes and emission wastes 3 Solid wastes : to eliminate, to reuse, to avoid

Natural waste and Human waste

Sustainable use requires a system view of environment issues. Let's suppose a consumer has a choice between apples coming from his own country, and those imported by ship. Which apple would consume the most energy to acquire? It depends on the consumer: if he goes by bicycle to the shop, the homegrown apple requires less energy. However, if he goes to buy the apple by car, it might be that the energy requirement of the car from home to the shop be higher than the energy required to import the apple to the shop, not even counting CO₂ emissions.

Solid wastes and emission wastes

Solid wastes : to eliminate, to reuse, to avoid

The ecological rucksack of industrial production is the total amount of waste related to a good in the course of its life cycle. For some metals, such as gold, the rucksack can be of a volume of 500 000 times the volume of metal extracted. For each gram of gold produced, 500 kg of mining waste is produced, containing other heavy metals which may pollute the atmosphere in their powdered form. These manufacturing wastes are by far the greatest output of many industrial production systems. In the United States, 93% of natural resources extracted are never transformed in goods, 80% of goods sold are thrown away after only one use, 99% of resources in a good are "waste" within 6 weeks of sale. There are very large potential gains in eco-efficiency, increasing the ratio of production unit per unit of natural resource, and decreasing the ratio of waste generated as a by-product. But mining waste is often perceived as waste only in case of an ecological crisis or as undesirable emissions.

Industry is slowly moving toward better use of its wastes. Industrial ecology for example is a method which consists of using the waste of a factory (matter or heat) as resources for another factory. (See the industrial district of Kalundborg in Sweden). Most wastes issues are due to products rejected outside of the manufacturing process, or those for which industries do not feel responsible: disposable packaging, free goods for advertisement. Shifting from service leasing rather than goods selling might be a solution.

Topics related to waste

Compost | E-waste | Garbage truck | Greywater | Incineration | Landfill | Pollution | Radioactive waste | Recycling | Sewage | Sewage treatment | Toxic waste | Waste management

Source | Copyright