Composition
The composition of municipal waste varies greatly from country to country and changes significantly with time.
In countries which have a developed recycling culture, the waste stream consists mainly of intractable wastes such as plastic film, and un-recyclable packaging. At the start of the 20th century, the majority of domestic waste in the UK consisted of coal ash from open fires
In developed countries without significant recycling it predominantly includes food wastes, yard wastes, containers and product packaging, and other miscellaneousness wastes from residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial sources. Most definitions of municipal solid waste do not include industrial wastes, agricultural wastes, medical waste, radioactive waste or sewage sludge. Waste collection is performed by the municipality within a given area. The term residual waste relates to waste left from household sources containing materials that have not been separated out or sent for reprocessing. Waste can be classified in several ways but the following list represents a typical classification..
- Biodegradable waste: food and kitchen waste, green waste, paper (can also be recycled).
- Recyclable material: paper, glass, bottles, cans, metals, certain plastics, fabrics, clothes, batteries etc.
- Inert waste: construction and demolition waste, dirt, rocks, debris.
- Electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) - electrical appliances, TVs, computers, screens, etc.
- Composite wastes: waste clothing, Tetra Packs, waste plastics such as toys.
- Hazardous waste including most paints, chemicals, light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, spray cans, fertilizer and containers
- Toxic waste including pesticide, herbicides, fungicides
- Medical waste.
Read more about this topic: Municipal Solid Waste
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“The naive notion that a mother naturally acquires the complex skills of childrearing simply because she has given birth now seems as absurd to me as enrolling in a nine-month class in composition and imagining that at the end of the course you are now prepared to begin writing War and Peace.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“When I think of God, when I think of him as existent, and when I believe him to be existent, my idea of him neither increases nor diminishes. But as it is certain there is a great difference betwixt the simple conception of the existence of an object, and the belief of it, and as this difference lies not in the parts or composition of the idea which we conceive; it follows, that it must lie in the manner in which we conceive it.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)