Solid Wastes Management (eBook)

Stephen Burnley is a Senior Lecturer in environmental engineering at The Open University, specialising in solid waste management. He is the Director of the University's Environmental Management MSc programme and is responsible for producing and delivering modules at all levels from foundation to MSc. Stephen has a BSc and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. On completion of his studies, he worked on refuse derived fuel technology and waste processing at Warren Spring Laboratory. Following a period of time as an environmental consultant, he joined the Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU) managing waste management research programmes for Government departments and the Environment Agency. Stephen's research interests cover waste processing, energy from waste and life cycle assessment and he has published over 25 journal and conference papers on these subjects.

Section 1: Wastes basics

1.1 Introduction

1.2 What is waste?

1.3 Waste categories

1.4 Waste quantities and composition

1.5 Household wastes

1.6 Waste policy and regulation

1.7 Waste reduction and reuse

1.8 Summary

Section 2: Waste management technologies

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Landfill

2.3 Waste incineration

2.4 Advanced thermal processing techniques

2.5 Anaerobic digestion

2.6 Composting

2.7 Materials recycling

2.8 Mechanical-biological treatment

2.9 Summary

Section 3: Waste management process and environmental impact
modelling

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Leachate formation within a landfill

3.3 Other landfill processes

3.4 Incineration emissions

3.5 Life-cycle assessment

3.6 Summary

Section 4: Health impacts of waste management

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Emissions and impacts

4.3 Critical reading of the literature

4.4 Assessing the health impacts of waste management

4.5 Health and safety issues associated with waste
collection

4.6 Health impacts of landfill

4.7 Health impacts of incineration

4.8 Health impacts of recycling and biological processing

4.9 Summary

Section 5: Integrated solid waste management and waste
strategies

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Integrated solid waste management

5.3 Planning a waste strategy

5.4 Summary

Section 6: The end of waste and the cycle begins
again

Glossary

References

Acknowledgements