Envionmental Health and Safety

Running Head : WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste Management in a Community

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In our everyday living , it is an inevitable part that organisms act as systems that take in something from their environment and would likewise give off something as their wastes . For the purpose of this , waste is defined as those which are given off by organisms and are not processed back or recycled naturally by the environment ( What is waste ' 2008 . When left unmanaged , this

could lead to adverse effects on the aesthetics , health , or the environment ( What is waste 2008

There is an exacerbated picture for the developing countries where solid wastes and hazardous wastes remain to be a problem . In broad terms , the term solid waste may be defined as the non-hazardous industrial , commercial and domestic refuse including household organic trash , street sweepings , hospital and institutional garbage , and construction wastes (Zerbock , 2003 ,

. 2 . On the other hand hazardous wastes are those which take the form of either solid liquid , or gas wastes that can cause death , illness , or injury to people or destruction of the environment if improperly treated , stored transported , or discarded (Engelking , 2006

At the very bottom of the problem of wastes in developing countries are the communities which serve as the basic source of the problem . It is an important part of the cycle that needs to be addressed . Having one hand over truckloads of problem could not help and there is a need to solicit the help of the whole community in for the problem to be solved collectively . There are simple means by which a particular community could help in addressing the problem

First , it is important to inform the community of the importance of being able to segregate from the households (Baud , Post Furedy 2004 . Since the household is the basic component of the community , it could be assumed that this is the main source of the wastes and this is the general picture that may be accepted where it is not a common phenomenon for communities to be filled with industries and agriculture lands to be considered as a community in its most basic sense . By being able to segregate the wastes from the household , the individuals residing in it are able to assess the amount of wastes they generate for different categories that are prescribed . For example , there may be categories of food , bottles , plastics , hazardous , and others that are commonly used in the household . Once an evaluation of the category having the most number of wastes is done , further steps with regard to where the problem could be addressed is easier

Second , the people in the community could also organize livelihood services that fit the purpose of recycling , reducing , and reusing the wastes that are collected from the households . For example , those who would volunteer to bring the wastes to corresponding junk shops would also be given...