How People Generate Different

Types of Waste

Figure 1

Waste is an issue in different parts of the world since waste quantities are generally
growing. Waste is generated by human activities in all economic sectors and is
regarded as an unavoidable by-product of economic activities. The generation of waste
reflects loss of materials and energy and imposes economic costs on society for its
collection, treatment, and disposal.
In the Philippines, solid waste management remains a major challenge especially in
urban areas like Metro Manila. Improper waste disposal, inefficient, waste collection,
and lack of disposal facilities are among the dominant concerns in the country. Unless
these are addressed, the waste generated from various sources will continually lead to
health hazards, and serious environmental impacts such as ground and surface water
contamination, flooding, air pollution and spread of diseases.

Waste generations by residents in the Philippines, especially in the urban areas have
accelerated recently due to fast-paced industrialization, urbanization, and population
growth. Since incineration of solid waste is not allowed under Republic Act 9003 or
also known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000,” enacted on
January 26, 2001; for the safety of human health and protection of environment, land
filling and the 3 Rs integrated waste management method (Reduce, Reuse and
Recycle) are the main types of solid waste management in the country. The law also
requires mandatory segregation of solid waste into containers labelled as:
compostable, recyclable, non-recyclable, and special use.
The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) calculated that from 37,
427.46 tons per day in 2012, the country’s waste generation steadily increased to
40,087.45 tons in 2016. On the average, each person in the country produces about
0.5 kilogram and 0.3 kilogram every day in the urban and rural areas respectively. For
Metro Manila, it is estimated that 8,636 tons of garbage is generated per day.
Approximately, 0.7 kilogram of waste per person per day is added to the country’s
waste due to its more modernized lifestyle. The household is the major source of waste
in the Philippines at 74 percent.

Figure 2 Figure 3
Waste Defined
The United Nations Environment described wastes as unwanted or unusable materials
which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed
of by the provisions of national law.
 Solid Waste Gaseous Waste Liquid Waste

Kinds of Waste
There are different kinds of wastes generated by the people around the world.

A. Solid Waste. This type of wastes is in solid form like domestic, commercial, and
industrial wastes such as plastics, Styrofoam, papers, scrap iron, and sludge
from a wastewater treatment plant or air control facility.

B. Liquid Waste. This type of wastes is in liquid form such as chemicals, oils, and
wastewater from ponds and manufacturing industries. It includes sewage as
well as wastewater from industrial processes and agricultural processing.

C. Gaseous Waste. This type of waste is in gaseous form which usually originates
from chopping and dissolution operations. As an example, volatile radionuclides
are discharged to the stack after scrubbing with sodium hydroxide and
filtration through charcoal filter devices. Electrostatic precipitation, wet
scrubbers and gaseous waste treatment are some ways of minimizing gaseous
waste.
 Table 1. Classifications of Waste
Biodegradable Nonbiodegradable Hazardous Non-hazardous

These wastes These wastes Substances unsafe Substances safe to

can be cannot be degraded to use use commercially,
degraded: commercially, industrially,
industrially, agriculturally, and
Examples: Examples: agriculturally, or economically. These
paper bottles economically and substances usually
woods plastics have the following create disposal
fruits machines problems.
properties:
cans ignitability,
corrosivity,
reactivity, and
toxicity

The main objective of waste management is to reduce the quantity and type of
hazardous substances used to avoid adverse impact on human health and
environment. Transformation of waste into usable secondary products can be done
through recycling, reusing, repurposing, reducing, and recovering. Thus, the waste
generated from different industries and societies must be classified to apply the
correct form of management.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

The best way to manage It makes economic and A series of steps that takes a
waste is not to produce it: environmental sense to used material and processes
reuse products: --- remanufactures and sells it
- Avoid disposable goods as a new product.
e.g. Paper plates, - Reuse products
napkins, razors and for the same
lighters purpose
- Avoid overpackaged
goods

e.g. foil, paper, and

plastics
Municipal Solid Wastes
Solid wastes that include household
garbage, rubbish, construction and
demolition debris, sanitation residues,
packaging materials, trade refuges, and
others managed by any municipality.

Industrial Wastes
Liquid and solid wastes that are
generated by manufacturing and
processing units of various industries
like chemical, petroleum, coal, metal,
gas, sanitary, and papers.

Agricultural Wastes
Wastes generated from farming activities.
These substances are mostly
biodegradable.

Fishery Wastes
Waste generated due to fishery activities
like fish viscera, fish bones, and scales.
These are extensively found in coastal
and estuarine areas.

Radioactive Wastes
Wastes containing radioactive materials.
These are commonly by-products of
nuclear processes. Sometimes industries
that are not directly involved in nuclear
activities may also produce some
radioactive waste such as radio-isotopes
and chemical sludge.
E – Wastes
Electronic wastes generated from any
modern establishments. They may be
described as discarded electrical or
electronic devices. Some electronic scrap
components such as CRTs may contain
contaminants such as lead, cadmium,
and beryllium or brominated flame
retardants.

Biomedical Wastes
Solid or liquid wastes including
containers, intermediate or end products
generated during diagnosis, treatment,
and research activities of medical
sciences.

Several wastes disposal practices in the country include concentrate and contain or
also known as isolation specifically for solid waste. Landfills and dumps minimize the
impact of waste in the environment. Landfill is a place to dispose waste material by
burying or covering over with soil and becoming an extending usable land after a few
years. Dump is an excavated piece of land for waste storage and regulated by the
government. A dump is smaller than a landfill. Other useful options are composting,
resource recovery and energy recovery.

A. Landfill B. Dump
 C. Compost Pit D. Material Recovery Facility (MRF)

The 3 Rs of Waste Management

Title: Recycle, Reuse, Recover All You Can at Home
Collect materials which are no longer useful, unwanted, old, and worthless at home.
Convert these waste materials to a more useful one. Make a 3 minute Do It Yourself -
Video showing how these worthless objects turn useful again.
My “Do It Yourself” way is about…..

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Rubric:
Category Beginning Developing Accomplished (4 Exemplary
(2 pts) (3 points) points) (5 points)
Overall DIY video The project The project The project The project
(3 min) reflects beginning reflects reflects reflects excellent
understanding on developing accomplished understanding on
the practice of understanding on understanding on the practice of
waste the practice of the practice of waste
management at waste waste management at
home management at management at home
home home
Reflection The student The student The student The student
reflection shows reflection shows reflection shows reflection shows
cases of a low cases of a cases of a high cases of an
level of insight moderate level of level of insight excellent level of
into how learning insight into how into how learning insight into how
occurred and how learning occurred occurred and how learning occurred
it transformed and how it it transformed the and how it
learned concepts. transformed the learned concepts. transformed the
learned concepts. learned concepts.

ANSWER THIS: PERFORMANCE TASK

A: Define the following terms in your own words and write the answer in paper.
1. composting -___________________________________________________
2. Landfill - _______________________________________________________
3. 3 Rs - __________________________________________________________
4. Biodegradable waste - ___________________________________________
5. Non-biodegradable waste - ______________________________________

B: Practice Makes it Perfect”

Directions: Search for an article from newspapers or journals describing the best practices on
how other countries properly dispose of their waste materials. Paste the article on a short bond
paper and write a five-sentence reflection about the article.

________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Rubric:

Category 5 points 4 points 3points

Content Contain Contain very Contain

exceptional satisfactory satisfactory
practices practices practices

Information complete partly complete incomplete

Reflection reflection shows a reflection shows a reflection shows

high level of moderate level of cases of a low level
insight. insight. of insight.

C: Read the paragraph and answer the given questions below. Write your answer on a
separate sheet.
People depend on many things to satisfy their needs. They often buy packed foods,
bottled drinks, canned foods, medicines, plastics, batteries, petroleum, gadgets,
furniture, equipment, vehicles, and many more. These things will expire and turn out
to waste in due time. These wastes can be as small as an atom and as large as a
truck. Such objects are no longer useful, unwanted, defective, old, worthless, and
toxic. How are these wastes classified? As an individual and responsible citizen, how
are you going to get rid of these waste?

Types of Waste Waste management