Urban waste

Question 1

Waste

Answer 1

unwanted or unusable material, substances, or byproducts
* solid municipal waste services are provided within urban areas
* quantitiy of services and the way in which waste is handled varies massively (developing and developed countries)

Question 2

Urban watse leads to

Answer 2

1. Air + water pollution- leads to health issues
2. Landfill sites- leads to a lack of space
3. Treatment and incineration- expensive
4. Waste
5. Recycling

Question 3

Increasing urban waste

Answer 3

• as wealth increases the amount of waste increases
• average amounts of waste produed per person globally is increasing
• people in cities on average consume/produce more waste than rural areas

Question 4

Impacts of increased urban waste

Answer 4

• high costs of collecting and treating waste
• environmental impacts of waste= source of methane, and contributes to water and air pollution
• untreated/uncollected waste can cause health problems

Question 5

Types of waste

Answer 5

1. Muncipal waste
2. Commercial waste
3. Domestic waste
4. Aminal and vegetable waste
5. Institutional waste
6. Ashes
7. Bulky waste
8. Dead waste
9. Construction and demolition waste
10. Indulstrial waste
11. Electrial waste

Question 6

Domestic waste

Answer 6

residential waste generated from households
* plastics
* metal
* paper
* food
* wood
* (inorganic or organic waste)

Question 7

Municipal waste

Answer 7

comes from activities such as street cleaning
* urban surfaces e.g. landscaping
* produces general waste and tree trimmings

Question 8

Commercial waste

Answer 8

from businesses
* shops
* hotels
* restaurants

Question 9

Animal and vegetable

Answer 9

from food
* organic waste
* compost
* easy to manage

Question 10

Institutional waste

Answer 10

from schools and hospitals
*

Question 11

Ashes

Answer 11

residue from burning materials
*

Question 12

Bulky waste

Answer 12

furniture and white goods
* fridges
* sofas

Question 13

Construction and demolition waste

Answer 13

• bricks
• dirt
• concrete
• steal
• wood

Question 14

Industrial waste

Answer 14

from factories
* construction and demolition materials
* factories

Question 15

Electrical waste

Answer 15

e.g. smart phones, laptops, tablets etc
* hazardous waste
* multi-laminates
* disposal problems

Question 16

Municipal solid waste

Answer 16

MSW
* covers everyday household waste and waste similar in nature and composition to household waste consisting of everyday items discarded by the public

Question 17

Cairo waste

Answer 17

• has more than 50,000 tonnes of hazardous waste/year

Question 18

Unregulated waste disposal

Answer 18

where waste is dumped without any laws, rules or regulations covering its safe disposal

Question 19

Waste management

Answer 19

management of garbage through a variety of methods including reduction, recycling, incineration and landfilling etc

Question 20

Approaches to waste management

Answer 20

1. Waste hierachy
2. Unregulated
3. Recycling
4. Recovery
5. Incineration
6. Burial (landfill)
7. Submergence
8. Trade

Question 21

Waste hierachy

Answer 21

1. Reduce- amount of waste in first place
2. Reuse
3. Recycle and Compost- e.g. for electricity
4. Create energy
5. Disposal- landfill

Question 22

Unregulated

Answer 22

waste is dumped without any laws, rules or regulations, covering its safe disposal
+ free, doesn’t cost anything
- lots of pollution (air, land and water)
-health problems

Question 23

Recycling

Answer 23

materials are reprocessed and replenished into new products
* global market for recycables has increased
+ energy saving
+ reduces amount of waste in landfill
-better still to reduce

Question 24

Recovery

Answer 24

selective extraction of disposed products for specific next use
* recycling
* composting
* energy generation
+ waste is reused- non-renewables (fossil fuels) are used less
- must be done carefully with organic waste as it can cause health problems

Question 25

Incineration

Answer 25

waste is burned at high temperatures
+ reduces volume of waste by 90%
+ produces electricty and heat
-open burning of waste is discuraged
- air pollution
- common in LICs

Question 26

Burial

Answer 26

landfill, waste dumped into old quarries and holllows
+ conveinent and cheap
- running out of space e.g. disposable nappies take 500 years to breakdown
- unsightly threat to groundwater supply and river quality
- contamination of water
- methane- greenhouse gas emitted

Question 27

Submergence

Answer 27

burial of waste at the bottom of the sea
- Banned by international convention

Question 28

Trade

Answer 28

international trade of waste between countries for further treatment, disposal or recycling
+ increase in recycled waste
+ international laws put in place
- toxic hazardous waste is exported from HICs to LICs
- contamination of environments in receiving countries

Question 29

Urban mining

Answer 29

recovering compounds and elements from products and waste that would otherwise be left in the landfill
+ reduced quantities to disposed waste
+ return of materials to economy
- energy used in material recovery- GHG emissions

Question 30

Waste stream

Answer 30

the flow of waste from the point of being created through domestic/ industrial activity to the point of its disposal
* journey of waste/product from production to disposal
* in HICs waste streams are regulated and frequently managed