Solid Waste Management (RA 9003), Biodegradable-vs-non biodegradable, and other hazardous wastes

[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9003 ]

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN ECOLOGICAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, CREATING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND INCENTIVES, DECLARING CERTAIN ACTS PROHIBITED AND PROVIDING PENALTIES,APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.



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.



Through proper waste management, it can be converted into valuable products by composting, or energy by waste-to-energy processes such as anaerobic digestion and incineration. As part of an integrated waste management system, waste-to-energy processes reduces the emission of landfill gas

Waste-to-energy

Waste-to-energy or energy-from-waste is the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. WtE is a form of energy recovery...

Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen and is widely used to treat wastewater. As part of an integrated waste management system, anaerobic digestion reduces the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere...

Incineration

Incineration is a waste treatment technology that involves the combustion of organic materials and/or substances. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into incinerator bottom ash,...

Landfill gas;

Production:Landfill gas production results from chemical reactions and microbes acting upon the waste as the putrescible materials begins to break down in the landfill. Due to the constant production of landfill gas, the increase in pressure within the landfill provokes the gas's release

into the atmosphere.
Composting

Composting

Composting is the purposeful biodegradation of organic matter, such as yard and food waste. The decomposition is performed by micro-organisms, mostly bacteria, but also yeasts and fungi...

: converts biodegradable waste into compost. Anaerobic digestion converts biodegradable waste biogas and soil amendment (digestate). Incineration as well as biogas can be used to generate electricity and/or heat for district heating.

The internationally accepted hierarchical approach to management of wastes is:

a) Waste avoidance / minimisation

b) Re-use and recycling (if it does not threaten public health safety and the environment).The biodegradable wastes are a good source for compost and biofuels. Resource recovery is also possible for non- biodegradable wastes if there are no constraints with regard to public health and the environment.

c) Treatment to destroy the hazardous components of the waste:

(i) Land treatment for biodegradable wastes

(ii) Incineration- This is a treatment technology involving destruction of hazardous component of waste by controlled burning at high temperatures. The resulting non- burnable ash and other residue must be removed and transported to a final disposal site. (

iii) Treatment of sewage- The treatment processes produce a liquid effluent and sewage sludge. The liquid effluent is discharged to natural waters subject to applicable standards and regulations. The sewage sludge can be used as a fertilizer on agricultural land (If it does not pose harm to health and the environment), otherwise it is incinerated.

d) Final disposal:

i) Engineered landfill - The open dumps create a nuisance by being unsightly, breeding pests, polluting the air, and polluting ground water and surface water. The engineered landfills (sanitary and secure) are designed to minimise the chance of release of leachate (hazardous liquid substances) into the environment.
(ii) Ocean dumping or disposal at sea (subject to public health and environmental considerations).
(iii) Deep-well disposal:- This entails disposing of waste by injection into deep wells, in the rock which is below and completely isolated from all fresh water aquifers, thereby circumventing contamination of water table. However, disposal of liquid waste in deep wells has been linked to increase in occurrences of earthquakes in seismically active areas.
(iv) Concentrate and contain -This is used for wastes that defy known treatment method.









“In a society where we think of so many things as disposable, where we expect to be constantly discarding last year's gadget and replacing it with this year's model, do we end up tempted to think of people and relationships as disposable? If we live in a context where we construct everything from computers to buildings to relationships on the assumption that they'll need to be replaced before long, what have we lost? God is involved in building to last. He doesn't give up on the material of human lives and He asks us to approach one another and our physical world with the same commitment. God doesn't do 'waste'.”
- Rowan Williams

Ozone Depletion (Causes and Effects)

The ozone layer absorbs UVB ultraviolet light from the Sun, ozone layer depletion is expected to increase surface UVB levels, which could lead to damage, including increases in skin cancer. This was the reason for the Montreal Protocol. Although decreases in stratospheric ozone are well-tied to CFCs and there are good theoretical reasons to believe that decreases in ozone will lead to increases in surface UVB, there is no direct observational evidence linking ozone depletion to higher incidence of skin cancer in human beings. This is partly due to the fact that UVA, which has also been implicated in some forms of skin cancer, is not absorbed by ozone, and it is nearly impossible to control statistics for lifestyle changes in the populace.Increases in surface UVB due to the ozone hole can be partially inferred by radiative transfer model calculations, but cannot be calculated from direct measurements because of the lack of reliable historical (pre-ozone-hole) surface UV data, although more recent surface UV observation measurement programmes exist (e.g. at Lauder, New Zealand).
Because it is this same UV radiation that creates ozone in the ozone layer from O2 (regular oxygen) in the first place, a reduction in stratospheric ozone would actually tend to increase photochemical production of ozone at lower levels (in the troposphere), although the overall observed trends in total column ozone still show a decrease, largely because ozone produced lower down has a naturally shorter photochemical lifetime, so it is destroyed before the concentrations could reach a level which would compensate for the ozone reduction higher up.The main public concern regarding the ozone hole has been the effects of surface UV on human health. So far, ozone depletion in most locations has been typically a few percent and, as noted above, no direct evidence of health damage is available in most latitudes. Were the high levels of depletion seen in the ozone hole ever to be common across the globe, the effects could be substantially more dramatic. As the ozone hole over Antarctica has in some instances grown so large as to reach southern parts of Australia and New Zealand, environmentalists have been concerned that the increase in surface UV could be significant.

Effects of ozone layer depletion on humans

UVB (the higher energy UV radiation absorbed by ozone) is generally accepted to be a contributory factor to skin cancer. In addition, increased surface UV leads to increased tropospheric ozone, which is a health risk to humans.[citation needed] The increased surface UV also represents an increase in the vitamin D synthetic capacity of the sunlight.

The cancer preventive effects of vitamin D represent a possible beneficial effect of ozone depletion. In terms of health costs, the possible benefits of increased UV irradiance may outweigh the burden.

Effects of ozone layer depletion on humans;

1. Basal and Squamous Cell Carcinomas -- The most common forms of skin cancer in humans, basal and squamous cell carcinomas, have been strongly linked to UVB exposure. The mechanism by which UVB induces these cancers is well understood — absorption of UVB radiation causes the pyrimidine bases in the DNA molecule to form dimers, resulting in transcription errors when the DNA replicates. These cancers are relatively mild and rarely fatal, although the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma sometimes requires extensive reconstructive surgery. By combining epidemiological data with results of animal studies, scientists have estimated that a one percent decrease in stratospheric ozone would increase the incidence of these cancers by 2%.

2. Malignant Melanoma -- Another form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, is much less common but far more dangerous, being lethal in about 15% - 20% of the cases diagnosed. The relationship between malignant melanoma and ultraviolet exposure is not yet well understood, but it appears that both UVB and UVA are involved. Experiments on fish suggest that 90 to 95% of malignant melanomas may be due to UVA and visible radiation[21] whereas experiments on opossums suggest a larger role for UVB.[20] Because of this uncertainty, it is difficult to estimate the impact of ozone depletion on melanoma incidence. One study showed that a 10% increase in UVB radiation was associated with a 19% increase in melanomas fo