MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

Municipal solid waste is trash and garbage that includes commonly used goods such as household appliances, product packaging, paint cans, bottles, batteries, culinary waste, and much more. Businesses, schools, companies, houses, hotels, hospitals, and other institutions generate these wastes. MSW management comprises recycling, incineration, composting, and landfilling (Nanda & Berruti, 2021).  Municipal waste has the following benefits and qualities.

1. Why Unrecyclable municipal wastes make excellent landfills.
2. Recycling protects the environment, enhances community health, reduces pest infestation, and promotes health and cleanliness.

The distinction between garbage, trash, and rubbish in the classification of solid wastes is sometimes misunderstood. Garbage is defined as decomposable food waste and garbage created in bathrooms and kitchens. It is made up of organic wastes like textiles, paper, and food scraps. Rubbish, on the other hand, is defined as dry waste that does not originate in the kitchen or bathroom. Trash, like garbage, is made up of only dry wastes. Trash, however,  also refers to bulky objects such as old computers, cookers, and refrigerators, in addition to the usual dry wastes.

Municipal solid waste management is a critical process that oversees solid waste collection, transportation, processing, sorting, recycling, and disposal. MSW collection trucks are routed optimally to handle solid waste collection and transportation. This system considers collection bins, transfer stations, recycling, and garbage disposal. The optimal routing of collection vehicles aims to reduce disposal costs.

Routing MSW collection vehicles effectively entails scheduling and defining routes for trucks. Its primary goal is to reduce time, cost, and distance. This efficiency is achieved through the application of mathematical tools and GIS technology.

The characteristics of optimal MSW collection truck route.

1. The shortest amount of time required to collect all municipal solid waste.

2. The shortest distance that each truck must go during rubbish collection.

3. Lowest possible collection cost.

4. Complete waste collection.

Transfer stations are critical components of municipal waste management. The majority of people are constantly concerned about transfer stations that are badly planned, operated, or positioned. Stations should not be positioned near residential areas. Transfer stations, on the other hand, play a significant role in solid waste management.

Transfer stations allow waste to be sorted into several categories. This aids in the selection of waste disposal alternatives. Sorting waste aids in the separation of recyclables from the waste stream as well as the identification of hazardous garbage for proper disposal. Waste is consolidated into smaller loads at these stations, increasing the amount of waste that can be carried to disposal places. Consolidating garbage decreases fuel consumption and time because fewer vehicles are needed. Transfer stations also allow garbage to be screened before disposal.

Transfer station waste is either disposed of or recycled. Solid garbage can be disposed of in landfills or incinerated. Due to city population development and increased volume of solid waste, landfills are becoming less acceptable due to lack land space and the stink they emit in their surroundings. In this case, incineration has recently become a more attractive disposal alternative. Incineration as a method offers advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of incinerators.

1. Incinerators can reduce waste quality by up to 95%. This, in turn, leads to a reduction in reliance on landfills.
2. Incinerators are effective waste management tools. Pollutants such as dioxin can be trapped in current incinerators. Keeping hazardous gases out of the environment.

The disadvantages of incinerators

1. Incinerators are quite expensive to purchase and install. They also require well-trained and experienced operators and maintainers. As a result, only a few municipalities can afford to use one.
2. The ash emitted by incinerators has the potential to be detrimental to both people and the environment.

Organic solid wastes that are disposed of in landfills or dumps typically degrade. The goal of composing organic solid wastes is to:

1. Improve soil quality by increasing the development of bacteria and fungus that break down organic materials to form humus.
2. Composts reduce soil erosion by retaining more water. • Composting aids in the reduction of solid waste.

There is some ambiguity in distinguishing between dumps and landfills. Despite the fact that the two appear to be fairly similar, there are significant differences. The table below differentiates between dumps and landfills.

Dump	Landfill
A dump is an excavated plot of ground used to store waste items	landfill is also an excavated plot of land used to store waste materials, however it is under the governments regulations.
Has no leachate collection	Has leachate collection and treatment system
It less expensive with high contamination risk to the environment	Very expensive with less risk of contamination of the environment
Capacity is usually not known and also has no bottom liner for holding liquids	Has a liner at the bottom that retains the liquid produced by solid waste

Questions.

If each person in a city of 20,000 people generates 5 pounds per day of MSW, how many pounds of MSW are generated in a year in the city?

MSW generated daily= 20,000 x 5

=100,000 pounds of MSW

MSW genarated in a year = 100,000 x 365

=  36,500,000 pounds in 1 year

In a different city, if the landfill volume required per year is 300,000 m³, and the average fill depth is 15 m, what is the required landfill area (m²) per year?

Volume  = area x height

Volume = 300,000 m²

300,000 m³ = area x 15 m

Area =