Open Text Based Assessment for Class 9 & 11

a) Various wastes are
b) Municipal solid wastes
c) Biomedical wastes
d) Electronic waste
e) Industrial waste
f) Plastic waste.

a) The issues are as follows:
b) Less awareness about reducing waste at source.
c) Lack of segregation, poor collection, illegal dumping, open dumping and burning of waste.
d) Limited involvement of private sector and communities.
d) Relying on Landfills & Composting.
e) Generation of the Green House Gases.

Solid Waste Management (SWM) has been an issue of serious concern in a densely populated country like India and this concern is in terms of both health and environment. This issue arise due to lack of awareness, open dumping, burning of waste, etc. and usage of conventional methods in handling waste.

Recent outbreak of vector borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya, malaria and typhoid were due to profuse and unhygienic method of dumping waste in the open.

Objective of Solid Waste Management system:
a) To control, collect, process and dispose solid waste in an economical and consistent way with public health protection.
b) To reduce the quantity of toxic and hazardous chemicals and materials.
c) To maintain waste recycling programs regularly.
d) To reuse and recover the material from waste.

Waste management involves
(a) Its collection at source.
(b) Its transport.
(c) Various treatments according to the type of waste.
(d) Disposal of treated waste

Under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 the Govt. of India framed Management and Handling Rules 2000, for issuing the guidelines for collection, handling and disposal of solid wastes, as more than 25Va of municipal solid waste is not collected at all. Municipal waste mainly consists of household waste, construction and demolition debris, sanitation residue etc.

Bioreactor technology is an environmental friendly technique in which microbial cultures are used to treat the waste produced and is converted into compost or manures by using the enzymes present in the microbes. Thus, reducing the amount of waste and also generating useful product from the same.

(a) Bioreactor technology reduces time for waste degradation and increased gas generation.
(b) It allows efficient conversion of waste into electricity.

The waste hierarchy simply deals with categorization of the waste in 5R’s category i.e. reduce, reuse and recycle, refuse and regenerate. The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste.

(i) To control, collect, process and dispose solid waste in an economical and consistent way with public health protection.
(ii) To reduce the quantity of toxic and hazardous chemicals and materials.
(iii) To maintain waste recycling programs regularly.
(iv) To reuse and recover the material from waste.

Non-judicious disposal of plastics leads to the choking of drains, reducing the soil fertility, killing animals on ingestion and hindering the recharge of groundwater. Thus, conventional plastics, right from their manufacture to their disposal are a major problem to the environment. As per Plastic waste (Management and handling), Rules, 2011, a State Level Advisory committee has to be constituted to oversee the handling, use and disposing of plastic waste. The rules have introduced the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for the first time with respect to plastic waste.

As an individual, a person can generate awareness amongst people for solid waste management. Following ideas can be shared to reduce solid waste –
(a) Segregation at source i.e., in our homes, schools, offices etc. we should segregate biodegradable from non-biodegradable wastes.
(b) One should manage kitchen waste by making a compost pit and decomposing all the kitchen and garden waste there to make compost.
(c) Reuse bags as much as Possible.
(d) Recyclable goods must be sorted and sent for proper processing units etc.

The Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules, 2016 notified by the Ministry of Environment distinguish hazardous waste from others such as waste tyres, paper waste, metal scrap and used electronic items. The rules recognize the latter as a resource for recycling and their reuse thereby adding to the country’s GDP and reducing the load on the country’s resources.

Sometimes producers of products or services accept a degree of responsibility for the wastes that result from the products they market, by reducing materials used in production, making recyclable goods, and reducing packaging. Yamuna is polluted due to dumping of solid wastes and creating problems to treat the water. If the segregation of the waste is performed at the source level than the additional cost of water treatment can be saved and water can be purified easily. Since Yamuna mainly has industrial pollution, so the industries should, as producers, take responsibility to reduce the discharge of effluents into the river.

Our country needs policy and guidelines to enable the municipal corporations to run the waste services efficiently. In our country, practices and methodologies used for SWM are still following the unscientific and inefficient methods and are mainly dependent on the informal sector. Besides, owing to the population explosion, enormous amount of waste is generated leading to the overflowing landfills. These overburdened landfills pose serious implications including environmental, health, air, water and soil pollution and even global warming. Adding to the woes is the large scale dependence on the informal sector for waste segregation, disposal and recycling working on outdated technology.

Rag Picker segregate mixed waste into paper, plastic and bottles. They get income which is just enough to survive. Waste pickers work for about six days per week and around 9-12 hours per day without protective gear. This puts them at a risk of frequent injuries like cuts and bruises. The disposal of plastic also carries severe health risks as it contains heavy metals like lead, copper, cobalt, selenium, cadmium, and chromium, which are highly toxic.

SWM is a serious concern as ours is a densely populated country and it affects both the health and the environment. The chief issues regarding SWM are
(i) Less awareness about reducing waste at source.
(ii) Lack of segregation, poor collection, illegal dumping, burning of waste.
(iii) Limited involvement of private sector.
(iv) Relying on landfills and composting.
(v) Generation of greenhouse gases.

Unhygienic conditions are major cause of diarrhoea and leads to other major diseases such as cholera, schistosomiasis, and trachoma.

Individual’s working environment presents many potential dangers with almost any form of employment such as:
1. Repetitive strain injury in the office place.
2. Stress related illness in the customer care industries.
3. Labour jobs such as coal miners are at high risk of breathing problems.
4. Family relationships, friends, and peers in the school or work place. These relationships can produce negative peer pressure and potential bullying.

A chemical, Bisphenol A (BPA) has been frequently used in plastic bottles. Which is harmful to humans as it interferes with their hormone levels and possibility of human reproductive disorders is increased.

When liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea mercury enters water resources and gets absorbed by naturally occurring bacteria present there and is converted into another form ‘methyl mercury. If fishes tainted by mercury are consumed by any human, the mercury acting as neurotoxin, interferes with his / her brain and nervous system.

Tobacco smoke has been identified as a major airborne chemical risk to health. It causes a number of diseases like lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking adversely affects the immune system, thereby making smokers more prone to the respiratory infections.

EPA is Environmental Protection Agency of United States. According to EPA, “If high levels of pesticides are used for long time it may cause birth defects, nerve damage and cancer.” So, EPA monitors pesticide use.

People were seen suffering from common ailments of the poor, such as tuberculosis and anaemia. High incidence of lung, eye disease, morbidity, cancer, mental problems and birth defects were also found in the victims.

Various cosmetic products contain different kind of chemicals. Phthalates in nail polish and perfumes is linked to birth defects. While shampoos containing selenium sulphide, used against dandruff is carcinogenic.

Greenhouse gases are responsible for hole in ozone layer present after outer most part of our atmosphere. These ozone hole has led to excess UV radiation reaching the earth. Exposure to UV radiation increases possibility of skin cancer as melanoma and cataract.

The PPCB-PGIMER Report, found that Bathinda surface water was contaminated with arsenic, cadmium, chromium, selenium and mercury. The waste water generated from industry was drained mostly or partially untreated in the local drains, which had led to the pollution of these drains. Pesticides such as heptachlor, ethion and chlorpyrifos were also higher in samples of drinking water, vegetables and blood in the cotton belt of Punjab.

Nitrate is important composition of fertilizers and is essential for plant growth. However, high content of Nitrate is found in water due to fertilizer leaching. Sometimes high content of Nitrate is found in water, which mostly arises due to fertilizer leaching. This increases the risk of methaemoglobinaemia (‘blue babies’) in bottle infants which occurs very rarely.

Sanitation is important for –
(a) Maintaining healthy environment so as to improve quality of life and increasing years of healthy life.
(b) To discard the waste material properly ensuring healthier and happier life.
(c) To maintain the atmosphere free from excess of harmful microbes and particles.
(d) To ensure well cleaned and ecologically balanced environment, free of natural disasters and pollution.

Following points must keep in mind for making a home:
1. Radon is a radioactive gas found in the soil. Our house should be free from Radon as its long term exposure is one of the major cause of lung cancer.
2. Indoor moisture is an important component, it provides favourable conditions for growing mold. Hence it is suggested to test the presence of indoor moisture and mold content.
3. It has been found that paints and plastic pipes contain heavy metals like lead. We should use the paints and plastic pipes that are free from toxic metals and are environment – friendly.
4. For maintaining large lawns use of pesticides and grass cutter machine is common. It causes air as well as noise pollution

The following Suggestive Measures may help from these harmful chemicals:
Using environment friendly and natural products. Make self-aware about the chemicals harmful to us. Look out for the labels found on the products that display the names of their ingredients. Read the label, think over it and act accordingly. Strongly say ‘No’ to the products that contain harmful chemicals. Avoid using plastic bottles, its wear and tear releases toxic chemicals. Then what may be the possible alternatives. Glass is considered as one of the best and safe alternative. Avoid storing food items/eatables in plastic containers and heating food in plastic containers in micro-oven. On heating, plastic releases harmful chemicals into the food. When such food is consumed, these chemicals enter our body.