Waste is anything that we throw away or discard because we no longer need it.
Waste poses a threat to
our health and environment when they are not properly disposed.
How do we discard waste?
In this unit we are going to learn about the good ways of managing waste.
How do you throw waste away in your school and home?
Many people in Ghana dispose waste in these steps.
1. Put waste in bins. Do not litter around. Keep all waste in bins.
2. Trucks that transport waste collects the waste in the litter from our homes, schools, hospitals
and factories.
3. Waste is dumped in landfills. This involves burying waste in the ground. This means that a vast
land is required for this.
Let us continue to look at good management practices of waste.
We should sort the waste and keep them in separate bins. For example, metals should be kept in
separate bins labelled for metals. Paper waste should also be separated. Doing this make it easier to
recycle the waste.
Recycling
This involves changing waste into new products that could be used again. For example, items such as
buckets, cups and spoons could be obtained from recycling plastic waste.
Reduce
We should make conscious effort to reduce the amount of waste we make.
Reuse
We should find ways of reusing items instead of throwing them away to buy new ones. For example, we
could carry, reusable bags instead of polyethene’s that easily become waste.
We could also donate unused items so that they are used by others.
Incineration is a waste disposable method where solid wastes are burned. Wastes such as
pharmaceutical waste could be incinerated. They should not be disposed of anyhow.
Plasma gasification
In this method, plasma can electronically charged gas is used to convert waste into syngas. The waste is
heated to melt and turn into gas.
We could also make compost out of some waste. Kitchen waste, plant and animal waste could be used to
make compost. These wastes are kept to decay to form soil which is rich in nutrients to supports plant
growth.
Let us look at sustainable waste management practices – reduce, reuse and recycling.
Reduce – this involves effort to use less material and energy in order to reduce waste production. In our
everyday lives, we have to make conscious effort to reduce the amount of waste we generate. We can do
this by buying products that have less packaging or the products that come in recyclable packaging.
We can also reduce waste when we buy local products. Because local products are not imported, they
usually have less packaging. Companies can also reduce their use of paper for communication and use
email and other digital means instead. Bills and receipts could also be sent to customers via digital
platforms such as email and WhatsApp.
Reuse – This involves using products again. For example, instead of buying new water in bottles could
even be used to store other products such as palm oil and other edible liquids. Again, you could go to
market with your own carrier bag or reusable grocery bag. This would help to reduce buying of grocery
bags when you go to shops or markets. If we do not reuse items, they end up being disposed into
landfills.
Recycling – this involve collecting and processing waste into new product to be use again. For example
metal scraps recycled into new products like knifes, cutlasses and metal cans
Innovative ways of waste management
Waste management is one of the most important industries in the world. Without waste management,
the waste produced by thr production inductries are too much and would destroy the environment. The
following are the impact of waste produce on the environment
Waste can cause climate change and flooding
Waste causes air and water pollution
Waste destroys the natural habitat of living organisms
Waste harbours the breeding of disease pathogen insects.
Leaching of toxic-waste substancesmakes soil acidicand infertile
Waste can be managed o prevent the environment from being destroyed or damaged. The followingare
some innovative ways to manage wastefor sustainabledevelopment
Recyclying: this is also knon as rreprocessiing
