Waste (also known as rubbish, trash, refuse, garbage, or junk) is unwanted or unusable materials. Litter Throughout human history, people have disposed of unwanted materials onto streets, countrysides and remote places, unpunished. Prior to reforms within cities in the mid to late 1800s, sanitation was not a priority on governments' lists of things to do. Waste was disposed of by the roadside or in small local dumps. It was unsanitary for local is waste which has been disposed of improperly, particularly waste which has been carelessly disposed of in plain sight, as opposed to waste which has been dumped Environmental dumping is the practice of transfrontier shipment of waste from one country to another. The goal is to take the waste to a country that has less strict environmental laws, or environmental laws that are not strictly enforced. The economic benefit of this practice is cheap disposal or recycling of waste without the economic to avoid paying for waste disposal fees.

In living organisms, waste is the unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from them. More commonly, waste refers to the materials that are disposed of in a system of waste management Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is also carried out to recover resources from it. Waste.

Waste is directly linked to human development, both technologically and socially. The composition of different wastes have varied over time and location, with industrial development and innovation being directly linked to waste materials. Examples of this include plastics and nuclear technology. Some components of waste have economical value and can be recycled Recycling involves processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse once correctly recovered.

Waste is sometimes a subjective concept, because items that some people discard may have value to others. It is widely recognized that waste materials are a valuable resource, whilst there is debate as to how this value is best realized.

There are many waste types defined by modern systems of waste management Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is also carried out to recover resources from it. Waste, notably including:

• municipal solid waste Municipal solid waste , also called urban solid waste, is a waste type that includes predominantly household waste (domestic waste) with sometimes the addition of commercial wastes collected by a municipality within a given area. They are in either solid or semisolid form and generally exclude industrial hazardous wastes. The term residual waste (MSW)
• construction waste Construction waste consists of unwanted material produced directly or incidentally by the construction or industries. This includes building materials such as insulation, nails, electrical wiring, and rebar, as well as waste originating from site preparation such as dredging materials, tree stumps, and rubble. construction waste may contain lead, and demolition waste Demolition waste is waste debris from destruction of a building. The debris varies from insulation, electrical wiring, rebar, wood, concrete, and bricks. It also may contain lead, asbestos or different hazardous materials (C&D)
• institutional waste, commercial waste Commercial waste consists of waste from premises used wholly or mainly for the purposes of a trade or business or for the purpose of sport, recreation, education or entertainment but not including household; agricultural or industrial waste, and industrial waste Industrial waste is a type of waste produced by industrial activity, such as that of factories, mills and mines. It has existed since the outset of the industrial revolution (IC&I)
• medical waste Medical waste, also known as clinical waste, normally refers to waste products that cannot be considered general waste, produced from healthcare premises, such as hospitals, clinics, doctors offices, labs and nursing homes (also known as clinical waste)
• hazardous waste U.S. environmental laws additionally describe a "hazardous waste" as a waste (usually a solid waste) that has the potential to:, radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a waste product containing radioactive material. It is usually the product of a nuclear process such as nuclear fission, though industries not directly connected to the nuclear power industry may also produce radioactive waste, and electronic waste Electronic waste, e-waste, e-scrap, or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment describes loosely discarded, surplus, obsolete, or broken electrical or electronic devices. Environmental groups claim that the informal processing of electronic waste in developing countries causes serious health and pollution problems. Some electronic scrap
• biodegradable waste Biodegradable waste is a type of waste, typically originating from plant or animal sources, which may be broken down by other living organisms. Waste that cannot be broken down by other living organisms may be called non-biodegradable

Definitions

Being considered of no further use in relation to the original purpose of a mechanism.

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

According to the Basel Convention The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed: "Substances or objects which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law" (Basel Convention).^[1]

Produced by the United Nations Statistics Division The United Nations Statistics Division , under the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), serves as the central mechanism within the Secretariat of the United Nations to supply the statistical needs and coordinating activities of the global statistical system. The Division is overseen by the United Nations Statistical (UNSD): "Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is products produced for the market) for which the generator has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes of production, transformation or consumption, and of which he/she wants to dispose. Wastes may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, and other human activities. Residuals recycled or reused at the place of generation are excluded." ^[2].

European Union (EU)

Under the Waste Framework Directive (European Directive 75/442/EC as amended), the European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993 upon the foundations of the European Communities. With over 500 million citizens, the EU combined generated an estimated 28% share (US$ 16.5 defines waste as an object the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard.

Once a substance or object has become waste, it will remain waste until it has been fully recovered and no longer poses a potential threat to the environment or to human health.^[3]

The UK's Environmental Protection Act 1990 indicated waste includes any substance which constitutes a scrap Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Often confused with waste, scrap in fact has significant monetary value. Overall, the scrap industry processes more than 145,000,000 short tons [original research?] of material, an effluent or other unwanted surplus arising from the application of any process or any substance or article which requires to be disposed of which has been broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise spoiled; this is supplemented with anything which is discarded otherwise dealt with as if it were waste shall be presumed to be waste unless the contrary is proved. This definition was amended by the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 defining waste as:

any substance or object which the producer or the person in possession of it, discards or intends or is required to discard but with exception of anything excluded from the scope of the Waste Directive.^[4]

The European Union has started a discussion that will end in an End-of-Waste directive which will clarify the distinction between waste, which shall be treated for disposal, and raw materials that can be reused for the same or other purposes.^[5]

Scholars

• Proposed definitions by Pongrácz and Pohjola (2004)

1. Non-wanted things created, not intended, or not avoided, with no Purpose.
2. Things that were given a finite Purpose thus destined to become useless after fulfilling it.
3. Things with well-defined Purpose, but their Performance ceased being acceptable
4. Things with well-defined Purpose, and acceptable Performance, but their users failed to use them for the intended Purpose. ^[6]

• Taiichi Ohno from Toyota Production System describes waste as "Any human activity that absorbs resources but creates no value".

Reporting

There are many issues that surround reporting waste. It is most commonly measured by size or weight, and there is a stark difference between the two. For example, organic waste Biodegradable waste is a type of waste, typically originating from plant or animal sources, which may be broken down by other living organisms. Waste that cannot be broken down by other living organisms may be called non-biodegradable is much heavier when it is wet, and plastic or glass bottles can have different weights but be the same size.^[7] On a global scale it is difficult to report waste because countries have different definitions of waste and what falls into waste categories, as well as different ways of reporting. Based on incomplete reports from its parties, the Basel Convention The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed estimated 338 million tonnes of waste was generated in 2001.^[8] For the same year, OCED estimated 4 billion tonnes from its member countries.^[9] Despite these inconsistencies, waste reporting is still useful on a small and large scale to determine key causes and locations, and to find ways of preventing, minimizing, recovering, treating, and disposing waste.

Costs

Environmental costs

Waste can attract rodents and insects which cause gastrointestinal parasites, yellow fever, worms, the plague and other conditions for humans. Exposure to hazardous wastes, particularly when they are burned, can cause various other diseases including cancers. Waste can contaminate surface water, groundwater, soil, and air which causes more problems for humans, other species, and ecosystems.^[10] Waste treatment and disposal produces significant green house gas (GHG) emissions, notably methane, which are contributing significantly to global climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average . Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth. It can be.^[8]

Social costs

Waste management is a significant environmental justice Environmental justice refers to an equitable spatial distribution of burdens and benefits to groups such as racial minorities, residents of economically disadvantaged areas, or residents of developing nations. Environmental justice emerged as a concept in the United States in the early 1980s. Environmental justice proponents generally view the issue. Many of the environmental burdens cited above are more often borne by marginalized groups, such as racial minorities, women, and residents of developing nations. NIMBY NIMBY or Nimby is an American English and British English acronym for the phrase not in my back yard. The term is used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them. Opposing residents themselves are sometimes called Nimbies. The term was coined in 1980 by Emilie Travel Livezey, and was (not-in-my-back-yard) is a popular term used to describes the opposition of residents to a proposal for a new development close to them.^[11] However, the need for expansion and siting of waste treatment and disposal facilities is increasing worldwide. There is now a growing market in the transboundary movement of waste, and although most waste that flows between countries goes between developed nations, a significant amount of waste is moved from developed to developing nations.^[12]

Economic costs

The economic costs of managing waste are high, and are often paid for by municipal governments.^[13] Money can often be saved with more efficiently designed collection routes, modifying vehicles, and with public education. Environmental policies such as pay as you throw Pay as you throw (also called unit pricing, variable rate pricing, or user-pay) is a usage-pricing model for disposing of municipal solid waste. Users are charged a rate based on how much waste they present for collection to the municipality or local authority can reduce the cost of management and reduce waste quantities. Waste recovery (that is, recycling Recycling involves processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse, reuse Historically, financial motivation was one of the main drivers of reuse. In the developing world this driver can lead lead to very high levels of reuse, however rising wages and consequent consumer demand for the convenience of disposable products has made the reuse of low value items such as packaging uneconomic in richer countries, leading to) can curve economic costs because it avoids extracting raw materials and often cuts transportation costs.^[14] The location of waste treatment and disposal facilities often has an impact on property values due to noise, dust, pollution, unsightliness, and negative stigma. The informal waste sector consists mostly of waste pickers A waste picker, recycler, binner, informal resource recoverer, or a scavenger, is a person who picks out recyclable elements from mixed waste wherever it may be temporarily accessible or disposed of . A person who scavenges for junk, food , materials, or other items is also referred to as a scavenger who scavenge for metals, glass, plastic, textiles, and other materials and then trade them for a profit. This sector can significantly alter or reduce waste in a particular system, but other negative economic effects come with the disease, poverty, exploitation, and abuse of its workers.^[15]

Education and awareness

Education Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another and awareness Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of something. In biological psychology, awareness is in the area of waste and waste management Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is also carried out to recover resources from it. Waste is increasingly important from a global perspective of resource management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective deployment for an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or information technology . In the realm of project management, processes, techniques and philosophies as to. The Talloires Declaration is a declaration for sustainability Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources concerned about the unprecedented scale and speed of environmental pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat, or light. Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign substances or energies, and degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.[citation needed], and the depletion Resource depletion is an economic term referring to the exhaustion of raw materials within a region. Resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources. Use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of replacement is considered to be resource depletion of natural resources Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity existent in various ecosystems. Natural resources are derived from the environment. Many of them are essential for our survival while others are used for. Local, regional, and global air The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.09% nitrogen, 20.9 pollution; accumulation and distribution of toxic wastes; destruction and depletion of forests, soil Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes that include weathering and, and water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state, water vapor or steam; depletion of the ozone layer The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to life on earth. Over 90% of the ozone in Earth's atmosphere is present here. It is mainly located in the lower portion of the and emission of "green house" gases threaten the survival of humans and thousands of other living species, the integrity of the earth and its biodiversity Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or on an entire planet. Biodiversity is one measure of the health of biological systems. Life on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The year 2010 was declared the International Year of Biodiversity, the security of nations, and the heritage of future generations. Several universities have implemented the Talloires Declaration by establishing environmental management Environmental management is not, as the phrase could suggest, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of interaction by the modern human societies with, and impact upon the environment. The three main issues that affect managers are those involving politics , programs (projects), and resources (money, facilities, etc.) and waste management programs, e.g. the waste management universityproject. University A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is a corporation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education. The word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, roughly meaning "community of and vocational A vocation, from the Latin vocare , is a term for an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. Though now often used in secular contexts, the meanings of the term originated in Christianity education are promoted by various organizations, e.g. WAMITAB The Waste Management Industry Training & Advisor Board is a company & registered charity in the UK that is tasked with supporting training & technical competence in the waste management industry. WAMITAB is the awarding body for technical qualifications in the waste industry and Chartered Institution of Wastes Management The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management is the professional organisation of professionals in the Waste Management Industry in the United Kingdom, but also has members in the Republic of Ireland. The CIWM has its headquarters in Northampton and has ten regional centres throughout England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of.

See also

• Environmental dumping Environmental dumping is the practice of transfrontier shipment of waste from one country to another. The goal is to take the waste to a country that has less strict environmental laws, or environmental laws that are not strictly enforced. The economic benefit of this practice is cheap disposal or recycling of waste without the economic
• Fly-tipping Fly-tipping is a British term for illegally dumping waste somewhere else than in an authorised landfill
• Life cycle assessment
• Litter
• Waste by country
• Waste collection
• Waste collection vehicle
• Waste converter
• Waste management

Show All>>

What Links Here:

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Home
• Home: Home Improvement: Chats and Forums: Directory
• Domain Details
• Home: Home Improvement: Decorating: Directory
• Home: Home Improvement: Kitchens: Directory
• Home: Home Improvement: Windows and Doors: Directory
• Home: Home Improvement: Directory
• Business: Construction and Maintenance: Landscaping: Materials and Supplies
• Acid: Blogs
• Household Chore: Encyclopedia

Most Popular Pages:

• Cement: Images
• Acid: Blogs
• Home: Home Improvement: Chats and Forums: Directory
• Quarries: Images
• Household Chore: Encyclopedia
• Used
• Beds and Mattresses: Images
• Toilet Compartments and Cubicles: Images
• Millwork
• Household Chore: Images

Related 'Rubbish' Searches: