This book will focus on "Waste Management," a serious global issue and engineers' responsibility towards finding better solutions for its sustainable management. Solid waste management is one of the major environmental burdens in both developed and developing countries alike. An alarming rate of solid waste generation trends can be seen as a result of globalization, industrialization, and rapid economic development. However, low-income and marginalized sectors in society suffer most from the unfavorable conditions deriving from poor waste management. Solid waste management is not a mere technical challenge. The environmental impact, socio-economic, cultural, institutional, legal, and political aspects are fundamental in planning, designing, and maintaining a sustainable waste management system in any country. Engineers have a major role to play in designing proper systems that integrate stakeholders, waste system elements, and sustainability aspects of waste management. This book is part of a focused collection from a project on Engineering and Education for Social and Environmental Justice. It takes an explicitly social and environmental justice stance on waste and attempts to assess the social impact of waste management on those who are also the most economically vulnerable and least powerful in the society. We hope that this book will assist our readers to think critically and understand the framework of socially and environmentally just waste management. Table of Contents: Introduction / Towards a Just Politics of Waste Management / Expertise, Indigenous People, and the Site 41 Landfill / Waste Management in the Global North / Waste Management in the Global South: A Sri Lankan Case Study / Assessing the Feasibility of Waste for Life in the Western Province of Sri Lanka

As populations continue to increase, society produces more and more waste. Yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to build new landfills, and the existing landfills are causing significant environmental damage. Finding solutions is not simple; the problem is enormous in size, vital in terms of its impact on the environment, and complex in scope. This book provides a vast look at solid waste management in North America and seeks solutions to the waste crisis. It describes the magnitude and complexity of the problem, focusing on municipal wastes and placing them in the perspective of other wastes such as hazardous, biochemical, and radioactive debris. It describes the components of an integrated waste management program, including recycling, composting, landfills, and waste incinerators, and it presents in detail the scientific and engineering principles underlying these technologies. To illustrate both the problems and solutions of waste management programs, the authors provide seven case histories, among them the Fresh Kills (Staten Island, New York), the East Carbon Landfill (Utah), and the Lancaster County Municipal Waste Incinerator (Pennsylvania). The Waste Crisis is unique in its attempt to analyze waste management in a broader societal context and to propose solutions based on basic principles. And by doing so, it encourages readers to challenge commonly held perceptions and to seek new and better ways of dealing with waste. As such, this book deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone who deals with or feels the need to confront the growing problems of waste management.

This book will focus on "Waste Management," a serious global issue and engineers' responsibility towards finding better solutions for its sustainable management. Solid waste management is one of the major environmental burdens in both developed and developing countries alike. An alarming rate of solid waste generation trends can be seen as a result of globalization, industrialization, and rapid economic development. However, low-income and marginalized sectors in society suffer most from the unfavorable conditions deriving from poor waste management. Solid waste management is not a mere technical challenge. The environmental impact, socio-economic, cultural, institutional, legal, and political aspects are fundamental in planning, designing, and maintaining a sustainable waste management system in any country. Engineers have a major role to play in designing proper systems that integrate stakeholders, waste system elements, and sustainability aspects of waste management. This book is part of a focused collection from a project on Engineering and Education for Social and Environmental Justice. It takes an explicitly social and environmental justice stance on waste and attempts to assess the social impact of waste management on those who are also the most economically vulnerable and least powerful in the society. We hope that this book will assist our readers to think critically and understand the framework of socially and environmentally just waste management. Table of Contents: Introduction / Towards a Just Politics of Waste Management / Expertise, Indigenous People, and the Site 41 Landfill / Waste Management in the Global North / Waste Management in the Global South: A Sri Lankan Case Study / Assessing the Feasibility of Waste for Life in the Western Province of Sri Lanka

Describes how large amounts of garbage are created today, how to recycle effectively, and why it is important to reduce or eliminate garbage.

This book undertakes a measured assessment of the historical evidence on waste, suggesting that waste is absolutely central to industrial and social change. This volume offers crucial insight into how important our wastes really are and moves us forward in the contemporary 'crisis' to a less crisis-ridden future.

This book tells the story of the Mobro 4000, a barge full of garbage, and the issues it came to symbolize, and then discusses why communities are turning to incineration for their garbage.