This
special contains five reports on waste issues, and a
list for further reading: Inner Style
- United Kingdom, Pulp Friction - Italy, Cashing In
- Norway, Vacu-tug - Kenya, andWaste Busters - Pakistan
Inner
Style
In developing countries, there is a culture of reuse
and recycling. Waste collectors roam residential areas
in large towns and cities in search of reusable articles.
Some of the products that result from the reprocessing
of waste are particularly impressive and the levels
of skill and ingenuity are high. Recycling artisans
have integrated themselves into the traditional market
place and have created a viable livelihood for themselves
in this sector.
The process of tyre collection and reuse is a task
carried out primarily by the informal sector. Tyres
are seen as being too valuable to enter the waste
stream and are collected and put to use. There are
many ways in which tyres and inner tubes can be reused
or reclaimed. Waste management dictates that re-use,
recycling and energy recovery are superior to disposal
and waste management options. Old inner tubes have
many uses: swimming aids and water containers being
two simple examples.
Algae
Paper
The paper making industry is widely regarded as one
which has paid little attention to the environmental
effects of its activities. It is seen as using up
natural resources, such as land, trees, water and
energy to make a final product which has a very short
useful life. After only one use, most paper becomes
a waste product which presents a nuisance and which
contributes to the overall waste-disposal problem,
especially in urban areas. Since the 1970s, public
opinion in many parts of the world has put increasing
pressure on the paper companies to improve their attitude
to environmental issues but the industry as a whole
still consumes large amounts of timber as its main
raw material and is a major user of water.
Cashing
In
Globally, there are approximately 700 billion drink
containers currently in circulation. In the United
States alone, more than 100 billion units of aluminium
cans and 15 billion units of lightweight, non-breakable
plastic bottles are produced each year. As the demand
for drinks increases, the need to find an effective
way of dealing with the mountains of plastic cartons,
can and bottles becomes more urgent.
Public legislation plays an important role in encouraging
re-use and recycling. Public services such as "curbside
collection" of recyclable waste, central waste collection
centres and energy efficient incinerators are a step
in the positive direction. Better still, mandatory
deposit/refund systems have proven that consumers
are positively influenced by a monetary incentive
to return empty containers for recycling.
Vacu-tug
Worldwide roughly one billion people lack access
to clean water and more than 1.7 billion do not have
adequate sanitation. Poor sanitation practices are
a major polluter of rivers and ground water resources.
Every year millions of the world's poorest people
die from preventable diseases, such as typhoid and
cholera, which are caused by the lack of safe, adequate
water supplies and sanitation services. Hundreds more
people suffer from regular bouts of diarrhoea, parasitic
worm infections and vomiting caused by contaminated
water. The lack of adequate sanitation for large sections
of the urban population poses a threat to public health
and to the environment.
As far as sanitation and general environmental well-being
are concerned, one of the most serious consequences
of rapid urban expansion is the growth of squatter
settlements and slum areas in run-down city centres.
In most of the cities in developing countries, especially
in the low-income urban settlements, the collection
and disposal of human excreta is a serious problem.
Establishing waterborne sewerage systems in the unplanned
areas of these cities is hampered by a multitude of
limitations.
Waste
Busters
Increases in population and migration into cities
have created serious environmental problems including
inadequate solid and liquid waste management, lack
of safe water and minimal pollution control. Many
southern cities are characterised by overcrowded housing,
contaminated water supplies and lack of proper sewage
disposal, drainage or waste collection, all of which
contribute to an unhealthy urban environment. Communities
living near dump sites also suffer the nuisance of
smoke and smells, and such sites - as well as uncollected
waste in general - attract rodents and flies which
provide a transmission route for disease.
Cities in developing countries have to deal with
increasing quantities of waste - items generated and
discarded as rubbish by households, commercial and
industrial institutions, and hospital waste. Developing
countries produce on average between 300 and 600 grams
of municipal waste, per person, per day. For many
cities in the South, uncollected solid waste has become
a major health hazard, yet municipal waste management
services may only collect as little as 25% of the
total refuse produced.
Further
Reading
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